A suggestion for a video. As you've done things like Warlock chants, visicious mockery and stuff, why not phrases wizards can say as verbal components?
To maintain the rage, you only have to make an attack. No where does it say you have to hit. My dex Halfling barbarian carries a bunch of throwing Stars (darts) to make at least one attack while moving across the field of battle.
the weak high level features of Barbarian always make me think it was more designed for Multiclassing than anything else. Take any Barb to Level 7 and add pretty much any Fighter and you get a more interested and powerful character than a pure Barbarian.
Barbarian is very front loaded with abilities, rage and unarmored defense make you very powerful in the beginning and they keep you powerful throughout. Some heretics speak of 'dex barbarians', and while they have some valid points we all know that barbarians strength is STR
So, about frenzy and death spirals. First off, while it is true that death spirals were pretty much abandoned in D&D5, they are alive and well in other systems and I must say I enjoy them. For example, in shadowrun, being wounded reduces all your dice pools. That adds a lot of tension to battles and it's a good incentive to retreat before bodies hit the floor. Also: frenzy, limited spells per day and usable items have a place even in D&D. It enables you to push yourself when a battle is really important, accepting that you are weakened afterwards. This aspect is what makes spellcasters in earlier editions more interesting to me than in 5th edition: you have to carefully consider when going full out is necessary or worth it.
this is nice, but I think your new class Ranking format is way better !!! where you list the core class features and then go through the subclasses. Can't wait to see you cover all the classes ^_^
Thezerowulf evidently you have never seen the complexities of invitations and favours owed between the fey. They can singlehandedly drive an entire encounter, or possibly a campaign
I mean, the Zealot is sooooo strong. It single handedly makes Persistent Rage stronger. It's also the Frenzied barbarian from 3.5e, but only at level 14...
Zealot is amazing. Bonus damage on each hit that scales as you level. Rage beyond death is broken. And the ability to provide your allies a round with advantage on attacks and saves is legit.
@@CthulhuTheory woah there m8... each hit??? "While you're raging, the first creature you hit on each of your turns with a weapon attack takes extra damage equal to 1d6 + half your Barbarian level." its a once a turn thing. Rage beyond death... ehh berserkers better. why be at 0 health when the enemies can be at 0 health? yeah but that ability is once a day, wolf would be much more helpful since level 3 in this regard.
@@CthulhuTheory Berserker is far stronger than Zealot as early as lvl 3, and becomes immune to charm and fright debilitation while being the strongest martial archetype in the game.
Personal ranking from low to high in just subclasses, not class features: Battlerager, Berzerker are both low tiers Totem, Zealot, Storm Herald, Ancestral Guardian in higher tiers, and it’s all very tight.
A slight criticism if I may. I'm not playing 5e, and so far I loved your vids because they were easily applicable to any DnD edition (or even just most TTRPGs in general). I know it's selfish to ask, but I'd be so happy if you could keep your content, at least partially, this way...
I like a troll-y Half-elf build: 15+1 Str, 13+1 Dex, 14 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 12+2 Cha. That's how you can actually charm with those abs. Plus you get extra skills or extra mobility or an extra cantrip... thank you SCAG variant half-elves. (or you can put 1 point into Int, 5 into Wis and dump Cha, that's still 10, and later take Resilient Wisdom for lulz - at level 5 you'll reach +5 to Wisdom saves! and that's not counting better Perception and possibly Survival and Animal Handling checks or Insight/Medicine for a more niche pick)
I've got a concept in mind for a wood elf barbarian. Forgo strength and focus dex/con instead, with a decent wis score. Uses a finesse weapon, of course. Leans heavily on the shamanistic side of things with a mixture of wolf and elk totem features.
Yeah it's good but instead I recommend you to also go Ancestral Guardians. It will let you be really effective in battle while maintaining what you want
The value of frenzied rage is entirely dependent on what kind of game your table is running. If you tend to do fewer fights per adventuring day, then having that huge DPS boost in your back pocket for the boss fight is amazing. Three reckless, "great weapon master" strikes per turn is brutal.
I think it was a hard to get a good picture of the class from the way this is presented. At least write next to each ability what level you get it at, and if it belongs to a subclass. But beter yet imo would be to go through each ability in level order and put the rating next to them, and also do each subclass seperatly. Thanks for the vid, great channel!
I'd like to speak on behalf of Frenzy (and Berserker) for a second. The ability states that during your rage you CAN enter a frenzy, which IF YOU DO SO, allows you to do a bonus attack, and applying the exhaustion after the rage is over. So, its not that after EVERY rage you get one point, its after every "Frenzy" use. And on that note, the Berserker's Abilities and overall the Barbarian's allow them to overcome some exhaustion penalties. The first level is disadvantage on ability checks, considering you're a Barbarian let loose on battle with bloodlust in your eyes, probably your most used check would be strenght for grapple, and what do you know, Rage lets you counter that with advantage on strenght checks, sure you lose said advantage but youre potentially dealing double damage, the whole thing of the subclass, disregard everything to murder some bastards. The second is half movement, which while, severe can be worked around with unarmored movement. Beyond 2 levels of exhaustion you are playing with fire, so I suggest keeping it simple at 1, and going to 2 if really, REALLY necessary. Again, its all about choice. What about saves against stuff that would harm you/control you? Yeah, this is a clear problem for damaging spells, but you're eventually an uncontrollable beast, the Berserker's Mindless Rage ability , prevents you from being charmed or scared of anything, which counters anything short of lot of damage from stopping you. *(You also get Relentless Rage at level 10, which keeps you at 1 HP) *(Forgot danger sense! That also helps against aoe spells and the such! at level 3 exhaustion. Reckless attack also counters the disadvantage for attcks from lvl 3 exhaustion, but I still think its a bit too much, 2 long rests are not easy to manage...) Besides later on you gain Barbarian's Persistent Rage, which prevents you from losing rage unless you stop it yourself or you fall unconscious, that exhaustion wont bother you until the fight is over. Not saying its a flawless subclass, but its features are there to allow for dedicated moments where you definitely need to slaughter stuff, at your own discretion. It requires a little of foresight from the player, is it worth suffering 1-2 exhaustion penalties to do a bonus attack every turn? Thats for you to choose. Thematically and gameplay wise I think it does what its supposed to do. Are the better options? Probably. Is it the best? Hardly. But is it fun to go b*alls to the walls and try to chop down your way thru a legion while probably embracing the doom ahead? Yes, yes it is, in this one's opinion. Sorry for the long rant, I've been lookin into trying this class for a while so studies have been made, and while its flavor is less charming that the others, sometimes a player just wants to put big numbers on the big baddy. Thanks for reading this far.
Mastahopo to add to it... really the barbarian alone without any of the paths is more then enough to put in the work during the early to mid levels of dnd, so you could be level four clearing out a bugbear cave with your companions and have no need to frenzy even at the end of the adventure when fighting the BBEG, of course that’s generally how things are meant to go, but dnd is a chaotic game so anything can happen but in general you don’t need to use your frenzy till your against a powerful final boss type enemy after which all the enemies are dead and the party will be looking to long rest So in short frenzy is a powerful weapon that’s best used against powerful enemies, if you find hitting things with your axe with no flavor to be boring then might I suggest grappling? Next to totem warrior the berserker is one of the better paths to take to compliment grappling
Frenzy is viable, but only if your DM isn't allowing you to take feats. Both improved two weapon fighting and polearm mastery give you less costly ways to turn your bonus action into an attack. It seems really ironic that (in a game with feats) the frenzy feature incentivizes the use of a shield.
@@Loalrikowki lol you really think dwf and polearm mastery is comparable to 1d12+7 damage a turn? Youre joking... youd waste all that power of a greataxe for a mere shield?
@@xaviervega468 honestly i hear these min maxers talk about monk like monks shit with its flurry of blows, yet somehow ONE STRIKE OF 1D4+STR IS SO AMAZING SO POWERFUL??? monks flurry of blows literally doubles that for jsut 1 ki point and the dice size grows up to 1d10
My very first character ever was a bear totem barbarian. I only had an AC of 13 most of the campaign but I was still an amazing tank because I effectively had double HP. I love the barbarian
Feels this Ranking is less fun than going indept with each Sub-class I really love my Goblin Zealot Barbarian who Intimidate using STR (didn't even ask the DM they just added it with a comment that Guc always use STR when intimidate) and also have a happy of Either chopping people in half or chopping a Hydra head off after being told not to. Also a picture of Grung Cleric in discord ended up with Guc becoming a God :p Esper tell me what the story about Dwarf and Drow ad 1:39?
I once played a level 20 battle royal agenst my friends. My DM wanted to introduce me to his friends by having a fun battle agents each other. We were allowed three magic items. All of his friends wanted to play wizards, druids and your other spell casters in order to play with 9th level spells. When the time came, the DM was describing saying how there were floating wizards with books of Eldritch power and then he described me. A large half orc with a pretty black and red iron blade. Most of the guys were just thinking "oh, he'll never win". Battle begin's and there's spells flying, one guy turns into a dragon and it's pretty intense. It took me two turns to get into melee with a warlock. In one turn I was almost able to down him. It was a wizards turn next and he spent a 9th level and sent great flaming rocks from the sky to "kill two birds one stone" as he put it. When the smoke cleared up, they saw me completely unphased. They were surprised but thought I must have very low health left. So the dragon comes up and does some very respectful damage that should have downed me but I was still up and all of them were confused on how I was alive. My next turn I rolled and everyone watched in horror as it's head rolled of his neck. And that's how the battle pretty well went. I was able to kill the last guy and at the very end after everyone was dead, I drank a potion of health. Every one wanted to know how while me and the DM just smiled at each other. I was a half orc Zealot Barbarian (15 levels) with five levels in champion fighter. The thing about zealots is there rage last beyond death and can only stop if the are basically put under by a sleep spell. Had a vorpal blade, belt of storm giant str and a potion of health. Could we get a video on Zealot Barbarians please
Frenzy isn't bad at all, you dont need to use it, and even then you can use it 3 full times a day until itll finally affect your combat prowess People overestimate exhaustion levels
Absolutely. During that big fight you're not gonna give two flips about reduced ability checks. And to be perfectly honest if you're already engaged with the creature you're not likely to care about reduced movement speed either. Frenzy is situational but it's an absolute game changer in those situations,.
@@xaviervega468 but somehow the community didn't see that... They see "you'll get exhuastion" and then cry that it has a negative effect... Nevermind you don't HAVE to use it and it's far superior than every other martial subclass in game like other barbarian abilities to gain a small amount of dmg once a turn for example. Even worse is everything the rest of berserker offers like it's lvl 6th ability, and level 14th ability. It's lvl 11s not much but you don't need rage for it either and you can do it while frenzying or even just out of combat. After actually reading the effects of exhuastion and the barbarian core class, it's like this subclass was made for this.
I don't plan to ever play a barbarian, but it's fun to watch somone else play a barbarian. Bards are fun to watch too, if they are played well. Then there's Bard-barians.
Regarding Frenzy I've heard of a party who laughed at the drawbacks. The guy who posted a game report had a 14 year old sister. She played Berserker. Party has great time management in-game and had a Cleric ready to cast Greater Restoration, twice per day if needed. That way it justified the upkeep of their blender.
I have to disagree. At first I thought that Berserker was bad, yet the Berserker is putting more Barbarian into your barbarian. Sure the mechanics of Frenzy and exhaustion levels could have been better been, one use per long rest until 10th level, than 2 uses and 3 uses at 17th level barbarian or something along those lines. The worst part about Berserker is how Intimidating Pressens works, still it's something that can be useful outside of combat. Give the Berserker GWM at level 4 and he will maw through through mooks. Save the Frenzy for the boss fight and enjoy making 3x a GWM attack per turn. This consistant nova ability is nothing to sneeze at.
An idea about Primal Champion (could be broken but why not). Let's say that from level 1-5 the Barbarian gets +1 Str and Con, 6-10, +2, 11-15 +3 and 16-20 +4 up to a maximum of 24. This means a 22 is possible at level 8, and this also means that people can play a Tiefling and still get decent scores. Maybe not 22 or 24, but they can rock 16 Int and still hit like a truck. I would totally run this in a crazy homebrew campaign.
well, if you use frenzy once a day it could work well without a problem, because you can lose one frenzy after a long rest with provisions. (providing that your master doesn t use that mechanic a lot itself)
This is was really helpful and awesome. I didn't know the full extent of the totem variants and how useful they were =0 this gives me so many ideas for a new character. Pls make more, this was so cool
My favorite Barbarian I made was a noble shifter. Her name was Claudia Fenrir and she was a noble woman cursed with lycanthropy. Claudia was a polite and calculating noble who would loose herself to the wolf when in her life was in danger.
Frenzy could been so better.... What i house ruled frenzy as is that you suffer the effects of the Slow spell until you succeed at a CON Save made at the end of your turn DC = 8 + 4 (times you frenzied since your last long rest), entering a new frenzy suspends this for it's duration and finishing a short rest makes you automatically succeed at the save.
I'm loving my mountain dwarf barbarian, it's making me happy I chose the bear totem, it is so fun to play especially since I can play her as fairly intelligent when not in battle but she's super strong while fighting.
You should add balance to the class rankings. It’s never fun to be the weakest guy in the group when you were planing to be a prodigy who feels terrible about his talent. If you’re weak on purpose that’s fine but it should be up to the player.
I have a barbarian that is actually a samurai, I flavor his rage as he focusing really hard on doing precise movement, and his greatsword is a nodachi, he has been really fun to play, I can play a fun class while not falling to the raging warmorgering berserker stereotype.
I play a barb that is focused too. He is an Aiel Warrior from the wheel of time books. They are strong, fast, athletic, and great fighters. Uses a spear instead of javelins.
This one was awesomely awesome. You normally just make the awesome ones. Thanks for this one. Please please do the other classes and maybe do the races like this too. Thanks again!!!!
If the wording of a spell says the target is charmed or frightened for the duration, such as hypnotic pattern or fear, then it will work. Spells with such wording are limited by the susceptibility of the target to those conditions. Somilarly, that makes fear harder to use against halflings and hypnotic pattern against elves.
House rule we implemented is that rage ends if "your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature or you haven't been attacked" so even missed opportunity attacks count towards keeping your rage
Rage does not say the attack has to be a melee attack, pick up a stone and throw it, or an empty potion bottle, or your knapsack, or any of that gear the party made you lug around.
Had a dwarf barbarian who joined the City Watch in Waterdeep...he wanted to make a good impression, so he was very by-the-book and opted to go clean-shaven. This unfortunately had the result of him being mocked...especially by other dwarves. "Oy, hey! Get o' look at the fookin' GNOME ere...! What sort o' dwarf shaves his own beard?!" Eventually, this resulted in the barbarian losing his cool during what should have been a simple arrest...the guardsmen accidentally started a particularly violent tavern brawl. Then the tavern brawl became a riot. Then the riot became a fire which went on for several city blocks. It got so bad, that the guardsman had to flee the city...and outside the city, without the structure and laws he'd spent his life dedicating himself to...he began to hallucinate and devolve into the barbarian-state. He had visions of animal spirits, and they helped him survive outside the city. He developed very animalistic tendencies. Out of spite, however, he still shaved his beard. He became something of an urban legend...the mad, clean-shaven death-bringer of the forest, punishing law-breakers.
Maybe this should have been a subclass ranking list? Hilarious idea of a barbarian Nezumi who attacks from the shadows and fights like a cornered rat!:)
I personally love the Zealot barbarian's features more than the others and it's by far my most played barbarian. I mean I only do Radiant damage cause why necrotic but it's fine to do so I just happen to be fighting enemies who would hate to feel the holy burn than the necrotic rot. I also like it thematically and personally think most features are B to S tier, surprised you didn't have Xanatar Guide and what not.
Yeas and no. Strength checks are a thing. A barbarian should be aiming for those. The only annoying thing is the requirement for rage to be attacking as it doesn't allow you to use rage for other things. The Barbarian is the guy who should be breaking walls in fights, breaking open doors with a single push. Taking trees out of the earth with his bare hands, etc... There's a flying enemy and you don't have anything ranged? Try to take a Boulder from the earth and next turn throw it. Etc... Jump walls climb things with ease. Etc.. The barbarian is kinda a superhero let him do stuff like that.
I have a really fun barbarian build I like to run. His name is Kartagh. On the surface... He looks like your typical barbarian. Low INT, axe, loincloth... But, he's far from the brute slasher you'd expect. First of all, he only rages in the defense of himself or others; he's never really an aggressor. In fact, out of combat he's kinda a big ol teddy bear. Secondly... He's all about *battlefield control*. To go completely AL legal, he uses PHB and Xanathars. Variant human, picks up Prodigy, with expertise in Athletics. This is *very important*. That expertise is what allows him to function. And no... he's not a grappler. Goes Totem Warrior, Bear all the way, as he's supposed to be the thorn in the opponent's side that they can't remove. He picks up Shield Master at 4th level, and uses his bonus action to shove around his foes with a huge modifier to his athletics, and advantage to the check because Rage. He positions them where his allies can most often utilize their skills, and freqently shoves enemies prone so his allies have advantage too. Then it's stats, and if you have room for another feat, Sentinel makes it nearly impossible for any opponent to focus on the squishy casters behind you.
The grouping got me so confused. It would be better to just list the abilities then rank them instead of list them by rank especially when they aren't gained at the same points
Thoughts on a Yuan Ti video? I have one that is a homebrew barbarian. He is an Anaconda Yaun Ti who works as a brawler to tie down enemies like a luchador!
I would also like to see your opinion on the barbarian battle rager from sword coast. It looks like the worst honestly, even making the berserker look decent in comparison. Though that is my opinion and I would love to see yours.
Its kinda wierd to hear their how the abilities were showede but over all I find it enjoyable, It woulb be easier to track abilities if they were to be made by subclass and then you rate each subclass and then rate their abilities
barbarian is the first class I ever played 2 years ago right a the beginning of year 7. barbarian is my personal favourite, even though the only other class I have ever played is the cleric. i really love your d&d videos, alongside, talking 20, Mr rhexx and AJ pickket. also what are your thoughts on pathfinder?
Having watched the other class ranking videos, the format of this seems off. I like the level order better (with order) and separate sub class. This just isn't as easy to follow
I like all your ranking videos but please re-cover some like this one includeing all official books currently in hard copy. Part 2+'s to include such would be nice as the current coverage feels incomplete. For your next Claass abilities ranking I suggest covering Warlock Feature from Fiend/Undying/Celestial/Arch Fey/GOO/Hex blade abilities. Another interesting one would be Ranking all the Cleric abilities from Xanath and PHB. I realize how much that would be to cover but I would like to see them even if split into multi videos.
Frenzy isn’t that bad. 1 level of exhaustion isn’t bad. To list it as an F is dumb. An extra attack with a great axe before level 5 is super powered. You listed Extra Attack as A Tier, but frenzy that gives an extra attack at F due to disadvantage on skill checks until you rest 👎
Yeah, this is a not logical at all. At frist glance I thought Frenzy was bad but if you treat it as a once per long rest resource, you can't go wrong. Before level 5, this is a 100% damage increase and otherwise it is 50%. If paired with reckless attacks and GWM, this is really the nova of the classic berserker barbarians, ideal for the boss fight. GWM's cleave part makes sur that you don't need Frenzy if multiple smaller minions show up.
Exactly. People really overrate the effects of exhaustion. When you dishing 3 attacks per turn at 5th level in the big fights you're not going to give two flips about reduced ability checks. Hell If you're already engaged with the monster you might not give a flip about reduced movement speed either.
You are seriously underestimating Frenzy. Hitting 3x with a Greataxe at 5th level is no small thing. Especially if you have GWM and use reckless attack along with it. it's a situational ability (boss fights) but it's one that SHINES in that situation. It also has better synergy with Greater Resto magic than just about anything else.
Cant wait for clerig turn, and, there 15 domains. Good luck with that.
do not snark at this sir may the gods have mercy on anyone who can get all 16 domains (ravnica has one now)
A suggestion for a video. As you've done things like Warlock chants, visicious mockery and stuff, why not phrases wizards can say as verbal components?
great suggestion, thanks I just might have to do this!
Clickety clackety, I make a ranged attackety.
Wizard party member in my current campaign has gone with latin. 'Protego' for Mage Armor, 'Fuego' for Firebolt, 'Lumen' for Light, etc.
Korica does he use flickum bicus for The Light cantrip?
@@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet No, Light is 'Lumen'. But he is a Dresden fan.
PC: chooses the Bear Totem Spirit
DM: * Vicious Mockery *
@Tate Ramessar u laugh until the disadvantage makes u nat 1 and cleave your ally in blind fury
@Tate Ramessar laughs in advantage on plane shift
Definitely make more of these sorts of videos, although i'm surprised that you only covered PHB content
Part 2 is up now, with the SCAG and XGE options. I'm trying to make videos that aren't super long currently. Thanks Alexander!
To maintain the rage, you only have to make an attack. No where does it say you have to hit. My dex Halfling barbarian carries a bunch of throwing Stars (darts) to make at least one attack while moving across the field of battle.
I like to take 3 levels in Fighter Champion to get Improved Critical in order to improve The Barbarian Brutal Critical feature.
It's a really good trade. You sacrifice Tankiness for damage. But you get so much damage than you start being one of the best dps of the whole game.
the weak high level features of Barbarian always make me think it was more designed for Multiclassing than anything else. Take any Barb to Level 7 and add pretty much any Fighter and you get a more interested and powerful character than a pure Barbarian.
Barbarian/Fighter is one of the best multi-classes around for combat.
I would kill to play a game of 3.5 with this man.
This would have been so much better with all the published subclasses.
I second that, maybe cover the add-ons from the other source books as a sequel. They should amount to a similar run time.
P0IS0N I assume you have seen pt2 by now but there is a part 2
@@alexmccullough1961 I assume you realize the comment was posted before part 2 was out.
That's why assumed you had seen it@@-POISON-
Barbarian is very front loaded with abilities, rage and unarmored defense make you very powerful in the beginning and they keep you powerful throughout. Some heretics speak of 'dex barbarians', and while they have some valid points we all know that barbarians strength is STR
So, about frenzy and death spirals.
First off, while it is true that death spirals were pretty much abandoned in D&D5, they are alive and well in other systems and I must say I enjoy them. For example, in shadowrun, being wounded reduces all your dice pools. That adds a lot of tension to battles and it's a good incentive to retreat before bodies hit the floor.
Also: frenzy, limited spells per day and usable items have a place even in D&D. It enables you to push yourself when a battle is really important, accepting that you are weakened afterwards. This aspect is what makes spellcasters in earlier editions more interesting to me than in 5th edition: you have to carefully consider when going full out is necessary or worth it.
this is nice, but I think your new class Ranking format is way better !!! where you list the core class features and then go through the subclasses. Can't wait to see you cover all the classes ^_^
I learned a lot from this first attempt at a class breakdown. Thank you Coca!
Fey ranking please, Esper! Do it for the gnomes!!!
It has been prophesied that the fey ranking shall come to pass ...
They all suck. Hard F- across the board.
Thezerowulf evidently you have never seen the complexities of invitations and favours owed between the fey. They can singlehandedly drive an entire encounter, or possibly a campaign
I mean, the Zealot is sooooo strong. It single handedly makes Persistent Rage stronger.
It's also the Frenzied barbarian from 3.5e, but only at level 14...
Berserker is better though
Zealot is amazing. Bonus damage on each hit that scales as you level. Rage beyond death is broken. And the ability to provide your allies a round with advantage on attacks and saves is legit.
@@elgatochurro Not really, but you're a cat churro so you probably wouldn't know better.
@@CthulhuTheory woah there m8... each hit??? "While you're raging, the first creature you hit on each of your turns with a weapon attack takes extra damage equal to 1d6 + half your Barbarian level." its a once a turn thing.
Rage beyond death... ehh berserkers better. why be at 0 health when the enemies can be at 0 health?
yeah but that ability is once a day, wolf would be much more helpful since level 3 in this regard.
@@CthulhuTheory Berserker is far stronger than Zealot as early as lvl 3, and becomes immune to charm and fright debilitation while being the strongest martial archetype in the game.
Rankings in the Order of the More Recent Videos:
*Barbarian (all)*
Rage (1st): 14:24
Unarmored Defense (1st): 9:12
Danger Sense (2nd): 7:27
Reckless Attack (2nd): 8:47
Extra Attack (5th): 11:52
Fast Movement (5th): 4:03
Feral Instincts (7th): 8:07
Brutal Critical (9th): 6:09
Relentless Rage (11th): 12:26
Persistent Rage (15th): 3:09
Indomitable Might (18th): 4:14
Primal Champion (20th): 12:58
*Berzerker*
Frenzy (3rd): 1:48
Mindless Rage (6th): 6:58
Intimidating Presence (10th): 2:41
Retaliation (14th): 11:06
*Totem Warrior (Part 1)*
Spirit Seeker (3rd): 9:32
Totem Spirit- Bear (3rd): 13:58
Totem Spirit- Eagle (3rd): 7:38
Totem Spirit- Wolf (3rd): 11:35
Aspect of the Beast- Bear (6th): 4:52
Aspect of the Beast- Eagle (6th): 5:52
Aspect of the Beast- Wolf (6th): 5:13
Spirit Walker (10th): 9:56
Totemic Attunement- Bear (14th): 8:24
Totemic Attunement- Eagle (14th): 10:38
Totemic Attunement- Wolf (14th): 6:32
If you do class feature rankings, I would suggest adding a "thematic" category
Personal ranking from low to high in just subclasses, not class features:
Battlerager, Berzerker are both low tiers
Totem, Zealot, Storm Herald, Ancestral Guardian in higher tiers, and it’s all very tight.
Thanks for all the insight and analysis! As a D&D novice it was very helpful!
A slight criticism if I may. I'm not playing 5e, and so far I loved your vids because they were easily applicable to any DnD edition (or even just most TTRPGs in general). I know it's selfish to ask, but I'd be so happy if you could keep your content, at least partially, this way...
I like a troll-y Half-elf build: 15+1 Str, 13+1 Dex, 14 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 12+2 Cha. That's how you can actually charm with those abs. Plus you get extra skills or extra mobility or an extra cantrip... thank you SCAG variant half-elves. (or you can put 1 point into Int, 5 into Wis and dump Cha, that's still 10, and later take Resilient Wisdom for lulz - at level 5 you'll reach +5 to Wisdom saves! and that's not counting better Perception and possibly Survival and Animal Handling checks or Insight/Medicine for a more niche pick)
Love your content man. Great videos all around, great info, great music, just great stuff. Cheers, mate.
Also Tortle Barbarian for life!
I've got a concept in mind for a wood elf barbarian.
Forgo strength and focus dex/con instead, with a decent wis score. Uses a finesse weapon, of course.
Leans heavily on the shamanistic side of things with a mixture of wolf and elk totem features.
Yeah it's good but instead I recommend you to also go Ancestral Guardians. It will let you be really effective in battle while maintaining what you want
The value of frenzied rage is entirely dependent on what kind of game your table is running. If you tend to do fewer fights per adventuring day, then having that huge DPS boost in your back pocket for the boss fight is amazing. Three reckless, "great weapon master" strikes per turn is brutal.
I think it was a hard to get a good picture of the class from the way this is presented. At least write next to each ability what level you get it at, and if it belongs to a subclass.
But beter yet imo would be to go through each ability in level order and put the rating next to them, and also do each subclass seperatly. Thanks for the vid, great channel!
I hear you, actually I re-did the presentation format on the this video so many times trying to figure out the best way to show/rank everything.
I'd like to speak on behalf of Frenzy (and Berserker) for a second.
The ability states that during your rage you CAN enter a frenzy, which IF YOU DO SO, allows you to do a bonus attack, and applying the exhaustion after the rage is over. So, its not that after EVERY rage you get one point, its after every "Frenzy" use.
And on that note, the Berserker's Abilities and overall the Barbarian's allow them to overcome some exhaustion penalties.
The first level is disadvantage on ability checks, considering you're a Barbarian let loose on battle with bloodlust in your eyes, probably your most used check would be strenght for grapple, and what do you know, Rage lets you counter that with advantage on strenght checks, sure you lose said advantage but youre potentially dealing double damage, the whole thing of the subclass, disregard everything to murder some bastards.
The second is half movement, which while, severe can be worked around with unarmored movement.
Beyond 2 levels of exhaustion you are playing with fire, so I suggest keeping it simple at 1, and going to 2 if really, REALLY necessary. Again, its all about choice.
What about saves against stuff that would harm you/control you? Yeah, this is a clear problem for damaging spells, but you're eventually an uncontrollable beast, the Berserker's Mindless Rage ability , prevents you from being charmed or scared of anything, which counters anything short of lot of damage from stopping you. *(You also get Relentless Rage at level 10, which keeps you at 1 HP) *(Forgot danger sense! That also helps against aoe spells and the such! at level 3 exhaustion. Reckless attack also counters the disadvantage for attcks from lvl 3 exhaustion, but I still think its a bit too much, 2 long rests are not easy to manage...)
Besides later on you gain Barbarian's Persistent Rage, which prevents you from losing rage unless you stop it yourself or you fall unconscious, that exhaustion wont bother you until the fight is over.
Not saying its a flawless subclass, but its features are there to allow for dedicated moments where you definitely need to slaughter stuff, at your own discretion. It requires a little of foresight from the player, is it worth suffering 1-2 exhaustion penalties to do a bonus attack every turn? Thats for you to choose. Thematically and gameplay wise I think it does what its supposed to do.
Are the better options? Probably. Is it the best? Hardly. But is it fun to go b*alls to the walls and try to chop down your way thru a legion while probably embracing the doom ahead? Yes, yes it is, in this one's opinion.
Sorry for the long rant, I've been lookin into trying this class for a while so studies have been made, and while its flavor is less charming that the others, sometimes a player just wants to put big numbers on the big baddy. Thanks for reading this far.
Mastahopo to add to it... really the barbarian alone without any of the paths is more then enough to put in the work during the early to mid levels of dnd, so you could be level four clearing out a bugbear cave with your companions and have no need to frenzy even at the end of the adventure when fighting the BBEG, of course that’s generally how things are meant to go, but dnd is a chaotic game so anything can happen but in general you don’t need to use your frenzy till your against a powerful final boss type enemy after which all the enemies are dead and the party will be looking to long rest
So in short frenzy is a powerful weapon that’s best used against powerful enemies, if you find hitting things with your axe with no flavor to be boring then might I suggest grappling? Next to totem warrior the berserker is one of the better paths to take to compliment grappling
Frenzy is viable, but only if your DM isn't allowing you to take feats. Both improved two weapon fighting and polearm mastery give you less costly ways to turn your bonus action into an attack. It seems really ironic that (in a game with feats) the frenzy feature incentivizes the use of a shield.
@@Loalrikowki lol you really think dwf and polearm mastery is comparable to 1d12+7 damage a turn?
Youre joking... youd waste all that power of a greataxe for a mere shield?
@@elgatochurro Exactly. PAM is a great feat, but people REALLY over estimate it's bonus attack
@@xaviervega468 honestly i hear these min maxers talk about monk like monks shit with its flurry of blows, yet somehow ONE STRIKE OF 1D4+STR IS SO AMAZING SO POWERFUL???
monks flurry of blows literally doubles that for jsut 1 ki point and the dice size grows up to 1d10
My very first character ever was a bear totem barbarian. I only had an AC of 13 most of the campaign but I was still an amazing tank because I effectively had double HP. I love the barbarian
Feels this Ranking is less fun than going indept with each Sub-class
I really love my Goblin Zealot Barbarian who Intimidate using STR (didn't even ask the DM they just added it with a comment that Guc always use STR when intimidate) and also have a happy of Either chopping people in half or chopping a Hydra head off after being told not to.
Also a picture of Grung Cleric in discord ended up with Guc becoming a God :p
Esper tell me what the story about Dwarf and Drow ad 1:39?
Before watching: If Storm Herald/ other supplemental barbarian subclasses aren't here, I will riot
RIP friend
Honestly I don’t know why he only included the berserker and totem Warrior.
Because PHB? Idk I've always loved the Storm Herald most
RRRIIIIOOOOOTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!
Jordan White I know it’s obvious now, but I assume he always had that this is was part one in the title?
It’s pretty clear it’s a part 1
I once played a level 20 battle royal agenst my friends.
My DM wanted to introduce me to his friends by having a fun battle agents each other. We were allowed three magic items. All of his friends wanted to play wizards, druids and your other spell casters in order to play with 9th level spells. When the time came, the DM was describing saying how there were floating wizards with books of Eldritch power and then he described me. A large half orc with a pretty black and red iron blade. Most of the guys were just thinking "oh, he'll never win". Battle begin's and there's spells flying, one guy turns into a dragon and it's pretty intense. It took me two turns to get into melee with a warlock. In one turn I was almost able to down him. It was a wizards turn next and he spent a 9th level and sent great flaming rocks from the sky to "kill two birds one stone" as he put it. When the smoke cleared up, they saw me completely unphased. They were surprised but thought I must have very low health left. So the dragon comes up and does some very respectful damage that should have downed me but I was still up and all of them were confused on how I was alive. My next turn I rolled and everyone watched in horror as it's head rolled of his neck. And that's how the battle pretty well went. I was able to kill the last guy and at the very end after everyone was dead, I drank a potion of health. Every one wanted to know how while me and the DM just smiled at each other. I was a half orc Zealot Barbarian (15 levels) with five levels in champion fighter. The thing about zealots is there rage last beyond death and can only stop if the are basically put under by a sleep spell. Had a vorpal blade, belt of storm giant str and a potion of health.
Could we get a video on Zealot Barbarians please
They also added a new subclass too. Wild soul Barbarian.
Why the fifth level of champion though? It doesn't give you anything but +1 HP to second wind.
Frenzy isn't bad at all, you dont need to use it, and even then you can use it 3 full times a day until itll finally affect your combat prowess
People overestimate exhaustion levels
Absolutely. During that big fight you're not gonna give two flips about reduced ability checks. And to be perfectly honest if you're already engaged with the creature you're not likely to care about reduced movement speed either.
Frenzy is situational but it's an absolute game changer in those situations,.
@@xaviervega468 but somehow the community didn't see that... They see "you'll get exhuastion" and then cry that it has a negative effect... Nevermind you don't HAVE to use it and it's far superior than every other martial subclass in game like other barbarian abilities to gain a small amount of dmg once a turn for example.
Even worse is everything the rest of berserker offers like it's lvl 6th ability, and level 14th ability. It's lvl 11s not much but you don't need rage for it either and you can do it while frenzying or even just out of combat.
After actually reading the effects of exhuastion and the barbarian core class, it's like this subclass was made for this.
A berserker can choose when to frenzy though right, and use normal rage in other instances.
Esper the bard: tier listing before it was trending
This was great! Do the Warlock next, and I recommend ranking your favorite Eldritch Invocations alongside the class features :)
I don't plan to ever play a barbarian, but it's fun to watch somone else play a barbarian.
Bards are fun to watch too, if they are played well.
Then there's Bard-barians.
Regarding Frenzy I've heard of a party who laughed at the drawbacks. The guy who posted a game report had a 14 year old sister. She played Berserker. Party has great time management in-game and had a Cleric ready to cast Greater Restoration, twice per day if needed. That way it justified the upkeep of their blender.
I love the flavour of the Berserker, but is such a suboptimal choice
agreed
I have to disagree.
At first I thought that Berserker was bad, yet the Berserker is putting more Barbarian into your barbarian.
Sure the mechanics of Frenzy and exhaustion levels could have been better been, one use per long rest until 10th level, than 2 uses and 3 uses at 17th level barbarian or something along those lines.
The worst part about Berserker is how Intimidating Pressens works, still it's something that can be useful outside of combat.
Give the Berserker GWM at level 4 and he will maw through through mooks. Save the Frenzy for the boss fight and enjoy making 3x a GWM attack per turn.
This consistant nova ability is nothing to sneeze at.
I LOVE these. Would love to see for Arcane Trickster, War Cleric and Bard. :)
An idea about Primal Champion (could be broken but why not). Let's say that from level 1-5 the Barbarian gets +1 Str and Con, 6-10, +2, 11-15 +3 and 16-20 +4 up to a maximum of 24. This means a 22 is possible at level 8, and this also means that people can play a Tiefling and still get decent scores. Maybe not 22 or 24, but they can rock 16 Int and still hit like a truck. I would totally run this in a crazy homebrew campaign.
well, if you use frenzy once a day it could work well without a problem, because you can lose one frenzy after a long rest with provisions. (providing that your master doesn t use that mechanic a lot itself)
This is was really helpful and awesome. I didn't know the full extent of the totem variants and how useful they were =0 this gives me so many ideas for a new character. Pls make more, this was so cool
My favorite Barbarian I made was a noble shifter. Her name was Claudia Fenrir and she was a noble woman cursed with lycanthropy. Claudia was a polite and calculating noble who would loose herself to the wolf when in her life was in danger.
I would love to see more of these. Regardless of the ranking, I love seeing an analysis of various class abilities.
Frenzy could been so better....
What i house ruled frenzy as is that you suffer the effects of the Slow spell until you succeed at a CON Save made at the end of your turn DC = 8 + 4 (times you frenzied since your last long rest), entering a new frenzy suspends this for it's duration and finishing a short rest makes you automatically succeed at the save.
I always love your rankings, so much thought put into them. Can't wait for the other classes!
Hahahahaha. Worlds most Hipster Beholder..... Xanithar approves.
This type of video is a really cool idea
I'm loving my mountain dwarf barbarian, it's making me happy I chose the bear totem, it is so fun to play especially since I can play her as fairly intelligent when not in battle but she's super strong while fighting.
You should add balance to the class rankings. It’s never fun to be the weakest guy in the group when you were planing to be a prodigy who feels terrible about his talent. If you’re weak on purpose that’s fine but it should be up to the player.
I loved this! You should absolutely do similar videos for the rest of the classes
I have a barbarian that is actually a samurai, I flavor his rage as he focusing really hard on doing precise movement, and his greatsword is a nodachi, he has been really fun to play, I can play a fun class while not falling to the raging warmorgering berserker stereotype.
I play a barb that is focused too. He is an Aiel Warrior from the wheel of time books.
They are strong, fast, athletic, and great fighters. Uses a spear instead of javelins.
This one was awesomely awesome. You normally just make the awesome ones. Thanks for this one. Please please do the other classes and maybe do the races like this too. Thanks again!!!!
I love all your ranking videos. I would love to see one of these for warlocks.
17:28 Wait! So one of the books we have was written by a *BEHOLDER?!!*
I want that book!
I'm begging you! Please do a fey list! I'm dying to see where the Annis Hag ranks!
My guess is at least B tier. Even the sea hag is likely to be no lower than C tier
B or A
Check out the new Wild soul Barbarian. I don't play D&D yet, but I think that new subclass could offer a lot of the flavor you're looking for.
Any chance you'll redo these in the new format where you go by subclass and not each tier so they're easier to compare?
Cant forget the cape and sunglasses
more!! and for Bard!!
If the wording of a spell says the target is charmed or frightened for the duration, such as hypnotic pattern or fear, then it will work. Spells with such wording are limited by the susceptibility of the target to those conditions. Somilarly, that makes fear harder to use against halflings and hypnotic pattern against elves.
Both of those spells would quickly end a barbarians rage too if they worked
Stoked for the sorcerer episode!
These kinds of vids are great. I’d like to see more of your takes and house rules/tweaks to stuff.
Well done Esper; Very interesting!
Also persistent rage let's you rage for hours, Days, years without ever stopping
I need more of these in my life great video man
I like these videos a lot! Definitely would've like most subclasses included but I understand that's a lot of work. Either way, I'm excited for more!
I liked the video. You should of included the ancestral guardian and storm herald subclass as well.
I've always wanted an arcane barbarian. Hit'em with that mage rage! A lot of spell spamming and empowering magic even incurring exhaustion.
Well barbarians are good with Berserker rage that's why I think about these guys
House rule we implemented is that rage ends if "your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature or you haven't been attacked"
so even missed opportunity attacks count towards keeping your rage
Rage does not say the attack has to be a melee attack, pick up a stone and throw it, or an empty potion bottle, or your knapsack, or any of that gear the party made you lug around.
Picked Bear totem for the resistance to all damage (except psychic) because we we're facing elementals XD
weapon ranks. Axe, Great axe, glave, ect.
Had a dwarf barbarian who joined the City Watch in Waterdeep...he wanted to make a good impression, so he was very by-the-book and opted to go clean-shaven.
This unfortunately had the result of him being mocked...especially by other dwarves.
"Oy, hey! Get o' look at the fookin' GNOME ere...! What sort o' dwarf shaves his own beard?!"
Eventually, this resulted in the barbarian losing his cool during what should have been a simple arrest...the guardsmen accidentally started a particularly violent tavern brawl. Then the tavern brawl became a riot. Then the riot became a fire which went on for several city blocks.
It got so bad, that the guardsman had to flee the city...and outside the city, without the structure and laws he'd spent his life dedicating himself to...he began to hallucinate and devolve into the barbarian-state. He had visions of animal spirits, and they helped him survive outside the city. He developed very animalistic tendencies. Out of spite, however, he still shaved his beard.
He became something of an urban legend...the mad, clean-shaven death-bringer of the forest, punishing law-breakers.
Maybe this should have been a subclass ranking list?
Hilarious idea of a barbarian Nezumi who attacks from the shadows and fights like a cornered rat!:)
I personally love the Zealot barbarian's features more than the others and it's by far my most played barbarian. I mean I only do Radiant damage cause why necrotic but it's fine to do so I just happen to be fighting enemies who would hate to feel the holy burn than the necrotic rot. I also like it thematically and personally think most features are B to S tier, surprised you didn't have Xanatar Guide and what not.
My current favorite character is my Bear-knuckles, Bare-bones, bear-totem barbarian bear. His name is Mister Fuzzles. He approves of this video.
Why I'm not huge on Barbarians in DnD-almost all the cool stuff they do is solely combat based!
Yeas and no. Strength checks are a thing. A barbarian should be aiming for those. The only annoying thing is the requirement for rage to be attacking as it doesn't allow you to use rage for other things.
The Barbarian is the guy who should be breaking walls in fights, breaking open doors with a single push. Taking trees out of the earth with his bare hands, etc... There's a flying enemy and you don't have anything ranged? Try to take a Boulder from the earth and next turn throw it. Etc... Jump walls climb things with ease. Etc..
The barbarian is kinda a superhero let him do stuff like that.
Great video, next time write down what level you get the feature.
Love this idea for videos. Please, do an analysis of all the classes and their features!
I have a really fun barbarian build I like to run. His name is Kartagh. On the surface... He looks like your typical barbarian. Low INT, axe, loincloth... But, he's far from the brute slasher you'd expect. First of all, he only rages in the defense of himself or others; he's never really an aggressor. In fact, out of combat he's kinda a big ol teddy bear. Secondly... He's all about *battlefield control*. To go completely AL legal, he uses PHB and Xanathars. Variant human, picks up Prodigy, with expertise in Athletics. This is *very important*. That expertise is what allows him to function. And no... he's not a grappler. Goes Totem Warrior, Bear all the way, as he's supposed to be the thorn in the opponent's side that they can't remove. He picks up Shield Master at 4th level, and uses his bonus action to shove around his foes with a huge modifier to his athletics, and advantage to the check because Rage. He positions them where his allies can most often utilize their skills, and freqently shoves enemies prone so his allies have advantage too. Then it's stats, and if you have room for another feat, Sentinel makes it nearly impossible for any opponent to focus on the squishy casters behind you.
This was awesome!
I hope to see a fighter vid some time soon!
Keep up the awesome work!
Just noticed you said Primal champion increases max str and con from 20 to 40. May need to double check that one lol
Lets be real, if youre a barbarian and youre not recklessly attacking, are you really a barbarian?
No. The answer is no
Amen.
The grouping got me so confused. It would be better to just list the abilities then rank them instead of list them by rank especially when they aren't gained at the same points
Do a video on sorcerers, including divine Sorcerer.
where were the feature from the zealot barbarian ? Seriously it is player handbook material and they are super flavorful !
Zealot, Ancestor, and Storm are in Xanatar's not in PHB
Thoughts on a Yuan Ti video? I have one that is a homebrew barbarian. He is an Anaconda Yaun Ti who works as a brawler to tie down enemies like a luchador!
I would like to see more of this, but can you tell us what the features do next time?
I would also like to see your opinion on the barbarian battle rager from sword coast. It looks like the worst honestly, even making the berserker look decent in comparison. Though that is my opinion and I would love to see yours.
I'll definitely have to get that in part 2
Excellent video
Def more of these! Thx!
4:44 And it involves grappling. There's a reason why everyone dreads grappling in tabletop games...
Its kinda wierd to hear their how the abilities were showede but over all I find it enjoyable, It woulb be easier to track abilities if they were to be made by subclass and then you rate each subclass and then rate their abilities
Good breakdown
barbarian is the first class I ever played 2 years ago right a the beginning of year 7. barbarian is my personal favourite, even though the only other class I have ever played is the cleric. i really love your d&d videos, alongside, talking 20, Mr rhexx and AJ pickket. also what are your thoughts on pathfinder?
Having watched the other class ranking videos, the format of this seems off. I like the level order better (with order) and separate sub class. This just isn't as easy to follow
This was my first one, and I was still figuring out the format.
@@esperthebard a bars follows me in neverwinter
I like all your ranking videos but please re-cover some like this one includeing all official books currently in hard copy.
Part 2+'s to include such would be nice as the current coverage feels incomplete.
For your next Claass abilities ranking I suggest covering Warlock Feature from Fiend/Undying/Celestial/Arch Fey/GOO/Hex blade abilities. Another interesting one would be Ranking all the Cleric abilities from Xanath and PHB.
I realize how much that would be to cover but I would like to see them even if split into multi videos.
What about tier lists for each of the classes' archetypes?
It's a bummer you only did the main 3 types in the PHB. I would love to see where you rank Zealot barbarian traits.
They're in part 2, link at the end of the video
Frenzy isn’t that bad. 1 level of exhaustion isn’t bad. To list it as an F is dumb. An extra attack with a great axe before level 5 is super powered. You listed Extra Attack as A Tier, but frenzy that gives an extra attack at F due to disadvantage on skill checks until you rest 👎
Yeah, this is a not logical at all. At frist glance I thought Frenzy was bad but if you treat it as a once per long rest resource, you can't go wrong.
Before level 5, this is a 100% damage increase and otherwise it is 50%.
If paired with reckless attacks and GWM, this is really the nova of the classic berserker barbarians, ideal for the boss fight.
GWM's cleave part makes sur that you don't need Frenzy if multiple smaller minions show up.
Exactly. People really overrate the effects of exhaustion. When you dishing 3 attacks per turn at 5th level in the big fights you're not going to give two flips about reduced ability checks. Hell If you're already engaged with the monster you might not give a flip about reduced movement speed either.
Could you redo this video at some point in your new style doing things in order of when you get them? I really love the newer style.
You are seriously underestimating Frenzy. Hitting 3x with a Greataxe at 5th level is no small thing. Especially if you have GWM and use reckless attack along with it. it's a situational ability (boss fights) but it's one that SHINES in that situation. It also has better synergy with Greater Resto magic than just about anything else.