Barbarian Skills That Should Be Unblockable or Always Hit

General Discussion
1

Speaking in terms of PVP

Leap Attack - Always Hit

Leap Attack is slow / cumbersome. Therefore, it should be always hit, just like Impale.

Berserk - Unblockable

Casters attacks always hit, with the logic that the character has low defense to compensate. Berserk removes all of the players defense, leaving you wide open for attack. Yet, it often requires multiple attacks to land a single hit, vs shield. In the mean time, your character is dead.

Alternate option is to increase max life by 100% while Berserk is active;
(decrease defense by 100% & increase life by 100%)
The magic damage/“high” (normal when compared to other classes) damage doesn’t make up for the loss of defense, considering the above.

Double Throw - Unblockable

Similar to above, Most ranged attackers are bestowed with always hit, and or some form of wide area damage / following missile, allowing the player to attack arbitrarily while they run. However, Double Throw requires a full stop to perform an attack, and a direct aim to potentially hit, leaving very little distance between opponents. In the mean time, Double Throw is not only attack rating dependent, but also blockable. While the character must sacrifice defense ( #1 - shield, and #2 defense for throw speed ) the ranged benefit just isn’t there due to the skill mechanics.

Stun - Always Hits

The damage is so weak that it needs this to give a reason for use, especially considering that stun no longer functions as it did since the FHR change.

Warcry - Unblockable

It is supposed to be sound, and sound will not be blocked by a shield. The damage is low at the very highest skill investment, and damage reduction reduces it. Also, Warcry no longer stuns continuously since the FHR change, so you are left with a weak, blockable attack.

2 Likes
2

I dont agree with war cry, its already too powerfull skill as it is.

In my modification i gave -%enemy block chance to battle cry. That way you can lower block but you have to invest some skill points to do so.

3

Will we just keep asking for inconsistent things? The core of chance to hit must change, not single skills.

1 Like
4

Buts its related to block chance as for example baal hell has block like 55%. So no matter yourattack ratting, you will not hit in 55% cases anyway.

Also different characters have different issues. I dont think global change is good idea.

5

Of course its a good idea to change core. Every character basing on attack rating has problems. We need changes like 10 AR per dex point instead of 5(or even more), and make level less valuable in formula (because 90% of the time your level will be much lower than monsters’ level.
This way you fix it for everyone not just for single skill.
About block - just decrease it overall not for single skills.

Also remember this would help meme builds that dont use skills with +ar%
Like bow necro, bow paladin etc

6

I am just saying that just changing ar doesnt help that much when monsters have 50% to block the attack.

I dont exactly want to see everyone hotting at 100% or 95% with most attacks. I dont want this to work as d3.

General chages are not good idea, skills just be changed individualy.

7

I agree with War Cry. If war cry is blocked, then all of the other spells should be blocked (except piercing spells, and piercing attacks for that matter).

However, I hate “unblockable” or “always hits” mechanics. They are a band aid that only highlights the problem. With your changes, you made Bash and Concentrate even less appealing than they currently are…

Instead they should just remove block chance from act bosses (they don’t have a shield). And all the “always hits” should be replaced with -enemy defence or +attack rating, or both. Half of the skills %AR bonuses should also be replaced with flat +AR (to give more opportunities for optimization, but overall AR levels with max skills should be more or less equal). And the level part of the CtH equation should be removed\reduced.

2 Likes
8

I dont really agree with any.

I would only change Concentrate to be Unblockable as it makes thematic sense. In lore about the skill it says so.

And maybe would lean towards Leap attack being Unblockable rather than Always hit. Reason is imagine a big barbarian landing a strike on you with big old Hammer with full might. You raise your shield but it smacks so hard you get hurt over your shield anyway.

I am playing SSF Frenzybarb with a twist that I was maxing Battle cry after Frenzy and Mastery was maxed.
Boi o boi I underestimated this skill for all those years. Its so good in increasing barb dmg by making you hit monsters most of the time.

Maxing it and 2x3 warcry sticks on swap makes it -100% defense and -50% dmg from monster. It removes Attack rating from hit chance calculation, that is massive against Ubers for example.
I even notice something that I didnt before. Like flat Damage reduction is very useful in combination of Battle cried monster.

Only downfall to Battle cry is that its not a direct synergy to any damaging skill. I would like if it was a synergy for Frenzy instead Taunt, as it helps to survive the shieldless barb.