Barbarian Guide

Table of Contents:

I. Pros and Cons
II. Attributes
-A. How each stat affects your other attributes
-B. How much Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, and Magic does a Barbarian need?
III. Main Stat Builds
-A. Str-Based Damage Dealer
-B. Hybrid
-C. Tanker (Recommended Build)
IV. Equipment
-A. Accuracy Rings and Soul Gems
-B. Gear Requirements for Dual Axes and Heavy Armor
V. Skills
-A. Which Skills to Learn
-B. Sage or Demon Path at level 89?
-C. Tips on Using Skills
----1. Tanking
----2. Training
----3. PVPing
VI. Additional Tips - Read if you dare!
-A. In-depth guide to Tanking - a Barbarian's #1 role in PVE
-B. Tanking Magic Bosses - Use Alacrity of the Beast To Cancel Their Ultimate Attack

Background Info:
Barbarians (also known as Werebeasts in other versions)
Gender: Male
Attack Type/Range: Physical/Close Range
Specializes in: axes and hammers
Parties need you for: tanking. DO NOT play this class if you’re looking for a melee damage dealer but don’t like tanking. Be a Blademaster instead


Barbarian/Werebeast Guides I used so far:
Teichen's Hybrid WB Guide [focus on Armageddon dmg] – looks more like a tank build IMO though
IamNobita's Path to the Ultimate WEREBEAST – focuses on which skills to max first
xkwisite's Tanker Barbarian Guide - about the usage of skills and being in a party

I. Pros and Cons really depend on your build/gear, but here are the overall assumptions.
Pros:
High HP
High HP Recovery Rate
Good Physical Defense
Skills to help keep aggro/hate of monsters
Best Tank / Wanted in Parties
Catapult Pullers = Essential in Territory Wars
Great damage at endgame
Cons:
Low accuracy(due to low DEX in most builds. Can be solved at later levels with the skill Blood Bath, as well as +50% accuracy rings (Lv. 77?))
Low damage in the beginning/mid levels
Low Magic Defense
High repair cost
High potion/charm cost
Requires patience. Many give up before reaching lv 89+ due to high costs & other classes excelling more in terms of damage. (Barbarians rock at endgame though)

II. Attributes

A. How each stat affects your other attributes
Strength (+4 Str adds +1 DEF; +6 Str adds +4 DEF)
increases attack power for melee weapon
increases physical defense
Armor stat requirement: Usually 0.5 STR every level for magic robes, 1 STR for light armors, and 2.5 STR for heavy armors.

Dexterity (+1 Dex = Accuracy +8 and Evasion +
increases attack power for range weapon
increases evasion
increases accuracy
increases critical hit rate (Every 20 DEX gives 1% more critical hit rate)
Armor stat requirement: Usually 1 DEX every level for light armors, 0.5 DEX for heavy armors, and of course 0 for magic robes.

Vitality (+1 Vit = Max HP +17)
increases physical defense
increases magic defense
increases HP
increases HP regeneration rate (NOTE: HP regen is reduced by 75% when in combat mode)

Magic (+1 Mag = Max MP +7)
increases magic attack power
increases magic defense
increases MP
increases MP regeneration rate (NOTE: MP regen is reduced by 75% when in combat mode)

Lv Up Bonus: Max HP +34, Max MP +14

B. How much Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, and Magic does a Barbarian need?
The amount of Strength in any build is simply the latest axe/hammer requirement for your level, nothing more & nothing less. There's no point adding more Str than necessary because the Str requirement of axes/hammers are already so high, that you'll barely have enough points to put in other stats.

I recommend adding at least 1 Dexterity every 2 levels until you get 60 Dex no matter what build (if you have great accuracy/Dex gear though, just stop at around 50 Dex).
And remember, try to keep Dex in terms of 20s (+20 Dex = +1% critical hit rate). Most Barbarians try to have only 62, 80, or 104 Dex endgame; depending on your gears. 62 Dex is the heavy armor requirement for Lv 105; 104 Dex is the last light armor requirement.
80 Dex is the max you should have unless you’re going for a pure PK build, then maybe around 104 Dex. Anymore than that is a waste.

Add as much points in Vitality as you can (after all, more Vit = a better tank, which is the whole purpose of a Barbarian. Also, more HP = higher Armageddon damage -> more dead people).

Barbarian builds do not add any Magic. Why? Because Barbarians don’t have any magic attacks and the magic defense you get from Mag is too little; you might as well add those points to Vit instead. Don't raise your Magic for MP either. MP can easily be recovered with MP potions and charms