Berserker's All Around Guide
Introduction
Ok, before we start, I'm doing this guide as a summary to what I have gathered about this class, therefore if there's some credit to take from this, please don't give it to me, give it to all the berserkers that have helped me and will certanly help you too. The point of this guide is to have a place to look at if you need help building up a berserker.
The Class
There's a good story behind the name "berserker", they are mentioned in eddas, and pretty much any part of norse mythology. They are described as "warriors who fought in uncontrollable rage", wich fits precisely with berserkers on this game.
Before we go any further, please have in mind some things if you plan on choosing this class.
Reasons why you shouldn't play a berserker:
If you are too concerned about dying, please stop reading this guide now
If you don't like hard-to-play classes
If you are an impatient person
Reasons why you should play a berserker:
You like high damage outpots
You like to kill fast
You like a challenging gameplay
Berserkers are very versatile, some of them can be glass cannons, some others can simply run in front of you and laugh at your damage; my point is, there's A LOT MORE on berserkers than just the charge-skull-ldb-dead everyone seems to hate (or love) now; being a class with only one thing to trully concern about (damage), it leaves an open space for you, to build it up as you like, some people go for resist, others for defense, quite a few for hp, and many for crit, or why not, a mix of all of them, is trully all up to how you want to build your berserker.
With that being said, I've divided berserkers in 3 types to make it easier for you to understand their differences and what to expect (or not) from them.
Types:
Skill Spam Berserker (SS): The first type you'll see, in fact, the moment you create a warrior, you are forced to play this style. Skill Spam is exactly that, spam skills to make damage. At the very first levels it can be a pain to level up since there are not many skills to choose from, that changes at around level 40 when you have 4 to spam and the occasional Auto-attack hit.
Weapon: 2h Sword
Armor: FoC Set, s2 Biskra Sets, Slaughter Set
Pros: Fast killer, specially against casters of equal level (and sometimes more), higher crits (due to more skill crit additional).
Cons: Far too dependable on skills accuracy (wich aren't exactly the best for melee classes), huge disadvantage against higher level targets (skills accuracy are even more affected by level difference), lack of mp forces to rely on a secondary mp pot.
Berserkers playing this style: Hulkz, BaltazarS and a bunch of 65 twinks.
Auto Attack Berserker (AA): Unlike their SS counterparts, AA berserkers are something almost exclusive for higher levels; at what level you can think to use AA, that depends on what weapon you plan to use and what equipment you have; basically, at what level you get cap attack speed (1.0), or get close enough to it. I personally don't recommend going AA until you are at least on 1.2 attack speed, some people might even tell you wait till 1.1. AA berserkers weapon of choice is usually 2h Axe, however, if you can get 1.0 speed with 2h Sword before getting it with axe (not everyone will achieve this with axe, as it requires an s1 belt combined with s2 gloves, I'll explain this later), you might aswell use the 2h sword to AA then, since the speed will usually compensate the lack of dmg.
Weapon: 2h Sword, 2h Axe
Armor: s1 Fierce Storm, s2 Fierce Storm (gloves and boots), s2 Biskra sets, s2 Inmortality
Pros: Doesn't depend on mp, in fact, will hardly ever use a mana pot, faster dps.
Cons: Loses defense due to using reckless attack (will explain this later), lose evasion from wrath awakening (explain later).
Berserkers playing this style: Argail, Hayate.
Hybrid Berserker: Hybrid is basically a berserker that is built to do well in both, SS and AA with just changing equipment, however, it will never excel a berserker that is exclusively built to SS, as it lacks the skills to do so, still, it can do AA just as fine as any other AA berserker. Also, is a matter of playstyles, an hybrid can AA you and the next second he might start spamming you, they do things like switching reckless attack on and off depending on the situation, switch type of weapon, etc... Basically, is a variation made to get adapted to x or y situation. Least common one as is a bit more challenging to play, and you pretty much need to know everything about all other classes to use it properly.
Weapon: 2h Sword, 2h Axe
Armor: s2 Biskra sets, FoC set, s1 Fierce Storm, s2 Fierce Storm (gloves and boots), s2 Inmortality, Slaughter
Pros: As they can rely on both styles, they don't run out of mana fast, both: fast dps and high crits
Cons: Might be affected by skill accuracy, aswell as might be affected by losing defense due to reckless attack, basically, it shares the same cons as the other ones, difference is they can simply switch to lose that disadvantage.
Berserkers playing this style: Marbod, Dizdar, Arktur, myself.
Overall, and I'm sure you have guessed by now, they all share similar pros and cons, berserkers are susceptible to any kind of binding skill, as we lack a buff to nullify them, hence why we must always try to strike first, afterall, berserkers are supposed to be front liners. I'm sure some are already wondering, "what about defense?", well, let's be glad there's only one class with high defense that is able to do something before we strike first (commander), I know some might say avenger, but you will hardly ever face one 1 vs 1 and even so, traps aren't exactly hard to ignore, simply move away and don't fall in their gameplay, anyways, saying much about how to face x or y class, is not something I'm willing to give out unless people ask me to or if higher leveled berserkers allow me to, if you think I should add a part with pvp tips, then let me know and I'll see what other berserkers think.
Skills
Ok, it's time to explain skills, I'll say something about ALL of them, and wich one you shouldn't, you should or you must take, and for that, I'll mark them with different colors, also each one comes with a link to further details about it on the wiki.
Green: Must take
Orange: You should take, but is not a must
Blue: Filler
Red: For the love of god, don't take it
Warrior Skills
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/c/cc/Warrior_Power_Attack.gifPower Attack: Spamming Skill, you'll have to take this if you want to level up fast and you just started, only take it to level 1, is also part of a skills chain to get slayer, either way, if you plan to go AA later, you'll have to reset your skills anyway.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/6/6f/Warrior_Fighting_Will.gifFighting Will: Please don't take this, if you already did and still a low level, please reroll. Accuracy is broken after certain amount (that is easily reachable without this skill) so this skill does absolutely nothing.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/9/95/Warrior_Titan%27s_Strike.gifTitan's Strike: Same as power attack.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/2/2b/Warrior_Final_Wrath.gifFinal Wrath: Filler for Courage.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/b/b3/Warrior_Armor_Breaker.gifArmor Breaker: There's a lot of controversy about this skill, ok let's make something clear, just because it says it will take down 10% out of defense, doesn't mean you will hit 10% higher, that is as false as hot ice. Armor breaker takes down 10% defense (20% with dna), and based on the amount armor breaker left your opponents defense, your hits will be affected. Since defense is logarithmic, this skill does absolutely nothing against high defense opponents, only place I might think this skill does actually something, is when solo'ing bonys in JS, where it takes down the remaining defense as a -450 enchant falls short, still, is limited to very few uses hence is not a functional skill, on pvp, you'll be wasting a hit with this, and people will laugh at how you killed them in 3 hits instead of 2. Filler for Terror.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/8/8c/Warrior_Charge.gifCharge: Finally! A must have skill. Your opening skill, comes with a 1 second stun, it can reach up to 30 meters, max it and enjoy it, this will keep those annoying hoppers in place, is also part of your 2 dash chasing combo, very good when pursuing un-stealthed rogues.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/b/b6/Warrior_Courage.gifCourage: Your first, actually useful, buff. Max it.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/f/fd/Warrior_Terror.gifTerror: Ah, what a lovely skill this one is, very versatile, can be used for offense and defense. Puts your target on fear effect for up to 15 seconds, the effect is lost when attacked but don't worry, it has many uses. For pve, is the best skill to split aggro (those who solo js know what Im talking about), increases your survivability drastically by making one opponent (in case of dealing with 2) completely unable to attack you, very good for pvp when taking on several foes, is also a locking skill when facing an opponent that might take longer to kill, basically, a bread and butter skill, max it and enjoy it.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/1/1f/Warrior_Slayer.gifSlayer: 2nd Strongest attack skill, keep it at level one if going hybrid, if you plan on going AA in higher levels, you don't really need this one, if you plan to stick with SS (and by that I mean, no reckless or wrath awakening, just pure SS) max it. Up to you.
Berserker Skills
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/7/76/Warrior_Skull_Crasher.gifSkull Crasher: HUGE mainstay, bread and butter skill, 3 Seconds stun, please max it. This is the skill you want to use right after charge, gives you time for 3 AA hits (sometimes 4 with how laggy this game can be) or 2 SS hits (sometimes 3), I know some are familar to what comes after this one is landed, and to be honest, not many survive.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/c/c2/Warrior_Reckless_Attack.gifReckless Attack: Now you're wondering what was that reckless attack thingy I've been mentioning since I started this guide, well here it is. Attack speed buff, problem is that it comes with a defense reduction aswell, so you might have to think twice before getting it, HOWEVER, this skill will be a must wether you want it or not, at least for 2 types (Hybrid and AA). If you plan on going full SS, you don't need this, except for a filler to hyper mode later. Max it if you will take it tho.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/0/01/Berserker_Burning_Dash.gifBurning Dash: Your 2nd dash, it reaches 35 meters wich give you a huge advantage against casters without an instant binding skill. Is also your only aoe, keep this one at level 6 as that is where it reaches its max range.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/f/fd/Warrior_Two-Handed_Weapon_Mastery.gifTwo Handed Weapon Mastery: Damage passive, max it, end of story.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/6/62/Warrior_Shackle.gifShackle: Instant slow skill, 20m range. This depends completely on your play style, I personally did not take it as charge comes with a stun now, and the main use of this was to slow down an opponent to make it reachable, appart from that, it can be used for pulling in wich case, level one is more than enough. I'm guessing you can always take this if you want that extra control on your opponent, SS berserkers should have enough points to put it at level 5 (was enough for me before the charge stun udpate), notice the values in wiki are kinda off, I can tell you is -2 m/s at level 5 for 14 seconds.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/e/ee/Warrior_Lethal_Death_Blow.gifLethal Death Blow: The redundance of the name of this skill has a meaning, is your most important attack skill and so far the most devastating melee skill in the game, in terms of damage. Very few people can survive a ldb crit being used by a berserker of equal level, I've seen people hit up to 8.5k with it. Also, it disables any way of evasion (skill wise), so this skill will NEVER MISS on someone of equal level, and will hardly ever miss on people higher than you. Max it and put all the dna on it.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/9/9f/Warrior_Wrath_Awakening.gifWrath Awakening: Critical buff, it depends on your playstile. Notice that this skill affects PHYSICAL critical only, and not skill critical, therefore is only useful for AA and hybrids, if you will stick with SS, you don't need this, except for a filler to get hyper mode. Something else to notice, the % gain is good from level 1 to 5, at that level it gives you 10% physical critical, but levels 6 and 7 (max with current cap) combined only give 1% more, so I highly suggest you, if you are going to take it, to leave it at level 5 and save those 2 spare points for something else. Also, you lose some evasion when buffed with this, but not much and the changes affect AA only, so is not that much of a disadvantage.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/a/a4/Warrior_Soul_of_Berserker.gifSoul of Berserker: Another damage buff, take it and max it.
http://requiem-wiki.org/w/images/0/03/Berserker_Hyper_Mode.gifHyper Mode: Yet another damage buff, this one comes with a special quality though, it gives damage by porcentage rather than a fixed amount, wich means, the more dmg you have, the more it will give when buffed. Doesn't last long, but enough to land a few ldbs in max level. I calculated my end dmg when using this, and I was scrapping the 2k with a decent 75 2h sword, don't even want to imagine how much it would be with a 2h axe, just to give you an idea how good this buff can be.
I saw this from another forum and decided to post it here. Hope this helps. Currently im going for hybrid type and doing weapon switching. It works wonders! But i dont have the complete set yet. Ill post my own build when its already complete.
