The Barbarian is one of the best classes for beginners in Dark and Darker, as they’re pretty easy to learn how to play and they have access to powerful axe weapons.
They lack in versatility and overall speed, but they more than make up for it with sheer power. Barbarians have some of the highest damage output in the entire game. They can also surprise foes by busting down doors, which makes them great for ambushing unaware players!
If you want to make the best out of the Barbarian, prepare your axe and read on for our guide on how to build and play this class.
Best Barbarian Axe Build Guide & How To Play
Perks and Skills
When it comes to Perks, we will be focusing on things to improve on the Barbarian’s flaws while bolstering survivability. This is why, despite aiming to make the best use of axe weapons, we’ll be ignoring the Axe Specialization Perk. As such, here’s our recommended Perks:
- Berserker – Increases your damage the lower your health is. It can go all the way up to a 33.33% damage increase, which can come in clutch for making a comeback when you’re at death’s door.
- Crush – Allows you to break down unreinforced doors and sturdy containers. Your interaction speed is slow as molasses, so break stuff instead!
- Iron Will – Greatly increases your Magic Resist and also makes you immune to knock-back. It’ll help you stay close to enemies, which is your ideal range.
- Robust – Increases your Max Health Bonus by 15%. Some extra health is always welcome!
When it comes to Skills, the Barbarian has a lot of options. However, there are two Skills that simply stand out from the rest:
- Rage – Gives you +10 Strength and Vigor, as well as 12% more Movement Speed. It’s a quick boost of power and survivability, so it’s good to use it at the start of combat. However, you also get a reduction of 25% to your Physical Damage Reduction, so keep that in mind.
- Reckless Attack – Trade 85 of your Armor Rating to gain 85% Armor Penetration on your next physical melee attack. The massive Armor Penetration buff can help you quickly topple heavily-armored foes, be they regular mobs or other players.
With the best Perks and Skills ready for our Barbarian axe build, it’s time to dive into what kind of gear you should pick up in Dark and Darker!
Gear and Stats to Look Out For
When it comes to gear for this axe build, your best is to go for a relatively medium-weight setup. You want to have solid defense, but without further hindering the Barbarian’s slow movement speed.
For weapons, you want the Felling Axe alongside a set of Horseman’s Axe + Round Shield. The Felling Axe is strong but really slow and lacks the defense. The Horseman’s Axe is faster but weaker, and the Round Shield will allow you to block.
Overall, the recommended gear setup is as follows:
- Head – Viking Helm
- Chest – Northern Full Tunic or Studded Leather
- Gloves – Strength Gloves
- Legs – Loose Trouser
- Footwear – Lightfoot Boots or Rugged Boots
- Weapon Set 1 – Felling Axe
- Weapon Set 2 – Horseman’s Axe + Round Shield
As for the stats you want on your gear, you primarily want to boost your damage and movement speed by any means possible. These are the specific stat boosts to look out for:
- All Attributes Increases – An all-around increase to all your Attributes, making you better in every way. This is the top stat you want to prioritize, due to its versatility.
- Any Physical Damage increase – Your damage is pretty much all physical as a Barbarian in Dark and Darker. If you want to get the best damage on your axe, this is a must-have.
- Movement Speed – Mobility is very limited in Dark and Darker, especially for Barbarians. Since you want to get up close and personal for your axe attacks, this is one of the best stats you want to increase.
- Strength – Increases both your Health and Physical Damage. What else could a Barbarian want, right?
Now that you’re all decked out in all the best Barbarian gear for your axe build, it’s time to go over how to play with this build!
Barbarian Playstyle Breakdown | How to Play Barbarian in Dark and Darker
Before we go all out on detailing the Barbarian’s playstyle, make sure you have a basic understanding of the game itself. Check out our top 10 tips for beginners if you need to!
Anyway, the Barbarian class is very simple to play, overall. That’s why it’s ideal for new players! Your goal during encounters is to try to get as close as possible to your enemies to start wrecking them with your axes. Use your Felling Axe to deal with slower enemies, and your Horseman’s Axe + Round Shield set for dealing with quicker foes.
Truth be told, you can even use your fists to take down foes if need be. They’re much quicker than the Felling Axe, so they’re a surprisingly viable option if you don’t have an Horseman’s Axe yet.
Your skills with this build are similarly straightforward, as well. Use Reckless Attack when you encounter any armored enemies and Rage whenever you need an extra boost of speed and damage. You’ll be able to quickly take down most foes before they do too much damage to you.
Barbarians excel at quickly taking foes down, thanks to their extremely high damage output. Not many enemies can withstand an axe to their nogging, lemme tell ya! On top of that, you can be surprisingly tanky with this build. You’ll have a much larger Health pool than most other classes, making you quite hard to take down.
Additionally, the Crush perk also gives you massive potential to surprise hostile players by breaking doors. Players never expect a crazed Barbarian to just burst through a door and attack them. Use the element of surprise to give you an edge over hostile players playing faster classes!
Barbarian’s Flaws and How to Overcome Them
Now, the biggest issues for the Barbarian class are their limited ranged options and low overall speed. If you have to deal with archers or hostile players with ranged weapons, your best bet will be to try to use the dungeons’ maze-like nature as cover. That said, don’t underestimate the Francisca Axe utility items, which are your only ranged option.
As for the speed, you move noticeably slower than other classes. Your slow movement speed can make dealing with enemies very tricky at times. This is why Rage is such an important skill: it gives you a decent boost of speed in emergency situations. Make good use of Rage to able to close gaps when approaching enemies, or even just to flee.
What’s even worse is that you don’t just have slower movement speed than other classes… you also have a slower interaction speed! Even opening doors can take too long for Barbarians. This is why we recommend the Crush Perk for this build; just chop down doors and containers instead of opening them.
Overall, this Barbarian axe build excels when fighting in melee range and is very easy to play. However, you have to be careful against enemies with ranged weapons and you also have to be extra careful when interacting with objects.
Is the Barbarian playstyle not your cup of tea? Maybe check out our Warlock build guide. It’s a more nuanced class, combining spells with melee weapons for great versatility!
