Pathfinder 2E Barbarian guide: Best options for melee builds

❘ Updated: 2024-04-01T08:54:28

The power of pure anger is a great ally in combat, which is why the Barbarians of Pathfinder are so feared. Here are the best low-level builds for the Barbarian in Pathfinder 2E.

The Barbarian is a staple of fantasy media, with Conan and Red Sonja being some of the prime examples of warriors from a more savage age, where sharp steel is the solution to most problems, and physical strength is a prerequisite for leadership.

In Pathfinder 2E, the Barbarian uses their Rage Ability to provide temporary boosts in combat. This increases your damage output and grants temporary hit points but lowers your Armor Class score and makes it impossible to concentrate. As such, playing a Barbarian is all about knowing when to use Rage rather than spamming it.

The Barbarian walks a line between swiftness and savagery. They also have some interesting ways of shutting down enemies before combat begins, which players shouldn’t ignore, as dealing with foes without bloodshed might be the best course of action.

Best Ability Boosts for the Barbarian

Barbarians are frontline fighters who specialize in dishing out damage. As such, the Strength stat should be your highest priority, as you’ll need it for hurting enemies.

Your next priority should either be Constitution or Dexterity. As a frontline fighter, you’ll be taking lots of hits, so Constitution will help you tank them, while Dexterity boosts your Armor Class and Reflex scores, making it easier for you to avoid damage. Dexterity has the lead in this case, as you’ll have lots of hit points anyway, but Constitution should be your next choice.

In terms of the mental stats, Wisdom is the top priority due to how it boosts the Will save. The last thing your party needs is you getting confused or mind-controlled into hitting them, so a strong Will is a great choice. After that, Charisma and Intelligence are a toss-up, as you’re not particularly suited to using either of them.

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Best Ancestries for the Barbarian

For the Barbarian, you’ll want an Ancestry that provides at least one Strength Boost and a few extra powers to aid you early on in the campaign, some of which belong to the monster races.

The Human, Gnoll, Lizardfolk, and Orc are the best options available. The Half-Orc should also be mentioned, as it can choose Feats from both the Human and Orc lists.

The best Human Feats for Barbarian are:

General Training or Natural Ambition – These provide either a General or Class Feat, giving you an extra selection from the powers listed further down the article.
Haughty Obstinacy – Drastically improves your Intimidation abilities, hopefully allowing you to prevent combat from occurring.
Viking Shieldbearer – Gives you the useful Shield Block Reaction in case you want to boost your defenses as a frontline fighter.

The best Gnoll Feats for Barbarian are:

Crunch – Greatly improves your unarmed Jaw attack, ensuring you’re never without a weapon.
Hyena Familiar – Provides access to a familiar with useful abilities that the player can tailor.
Sensitive Nose – Grants Imprecise Scent at 30ft, which is incredibly useful when facing invisible enemies or fighting in magical darkness.

The best Lizardfolk Feats for Barbarian are:

Lizardfolk Lore – Trains you in Nature and Survival, two of the best skills for a Barbarian to have.
Reptile Rider – Provides the Ride Feat for free and a bonus for Handle an Animal checks for certain creatures. It’s especially helpful if you want to ride a dinosaur.
Sharp Fangs – Gives you a powerful unarmed attack, ensuring you’re never without a weapon.

The best Orc Feats for Barbarian are:

Orc Ferocity – Makes it a lot harder to kill you in combat, as you can spend your Reaction to survive a lethal blow (though you take points in the Wounded condition).
Orc Superstition – Provides a bonus to saving throws against most spells and magical effects.
Orc Warmask – Trains you in a skill and gives you the Dubious Knowledge Skill Feat, while also providing a bonus to the skill. The mask can be improved with Feats at later levels.

Best Backgrounds for the Barbarian

Character Backgrounds provide Ability Boosts and give access to useful skills & Feats. While the Barbarian might not seem like it can come from a range of varied backgrounds, there is a ton of scope for coming up with interesting reasons why a character walks the path of rage.

Bounty Hunter – Provides a Strength Boost and a Free Pick, as well as the Survival skill and the Experience Tracker Feat, both of which are useful in groups without Rangers. You also get Legal Lore, for those who want to play a Barbarian inspired by Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men.
Guard – Provides a Strength Boost and a Free Pick, as well as the Intimidation and Legal Lore/Warfare Lore skills and the Quick Coersian Skill Feat. This choice is ideal for those who want to play a more charismatic and forceful Barbarian, rather than just an axe swinger.
Martial Disciple – Provides a Strength Boost and a Free Pick. You can pick Acrobatics skill training to gain the Cat Fall Skill Feat, allowing you to take less damage from falls. You also gain the Warfare Lore skill.
Tax Collector – Provides a Strength Boost and a Free Pick, the Intimidation skill and the Quick Coersian Skill Feat. You also get Lore for your settlement, making it ideal for campaigns where you use a central location. Who knew tax agents were just as scary in Golarion as they are in the real world?

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Best Skills for the Barbarian

Barbarians are trained in the Athletics skill as well as three additional skills + intelligence modifier. You gain skills from several sources, like Ancestry and Background, and there are a few that will be more useful in most campaigns.

Acrobatics – Makes it easier to use the Tumble Through ability in combat, allowing you to avoid counters, and is often used to avoid hazards in dungeons.
Intimidation – While Barbarians generally aren’t known for their Charisma skills, they can boost their Intimidation abilities through various Feats, preventing combat before it starts.
Nature and Survival – Barbarians are known as outdoor types, so having access to these skills is useful, especially in parties that lack a Ranger.
Stealth – Barbarians aren’t exactly known for being stealthy, but they do know the benefit of getting the jump on the enemy. Stealth helps considerably in this regard, allowing you to surprise foes and get the first attacks in.

Best Barbarian class Feats

The Barbarian uses its class Feats to improve its combat abilities or to gain new Actions that can be unleashed against foes. These are the best level 1 Barbarian Feats:

Raging Intimidation – Lets you use Intimation abilities (like Demoralize) while raging, giving you more options in combat outside of multiattack.
Raging Thrower – Adds your Rage damage bonus to thrown weapons, drastically improving your ranged options in combat.
Sudden Charge – Let’s you perform two Strides and a Strike for two Actions as your opening move (as it has the Open trait). This is the perfect opener for combat encounters and lets you perform an extra Action on top.

These are the best level 2 Barbarian Feats:

Furious Finish – A risky attack Action that lets you add your remaining Rage rounds to damage, hopefully finishing the fight, as your Rage ends when you use it.
No Escape – A useful Reaction that lets you follow enemies trying to escape from combat without burning your regular Actions.
Shake it Off – Removes Frightened 1 and can remove 1-3 Sickened, all for the cost of an Action.

These are the best level 4 Barbarian Feats:

Fast Movement – If you’re playing an Ancestry with a shorter movement speed, then this can help you keep up with the rest of the party.
Oversized Throw – Useful when combined with Raging Thrower, as you can turn the scenery into powerful weapons, truly living up to the Barbarian name.
Swipe – Strike two opponents with one attack without inflicting the multiattack penalty (though it will be applied to future attacks in the same round.)
Wounded Rage – Lets you enter Rage as a Reaction to damage, so you don’t need to do it on your turn.

Best General & Skill Feats for the Barbarian

General Feats are mostly used to improve the Barbarian’s combat skills, rather than giving them fresh new powers, while Skill Feats tend to be more useful. If you’re able to acquire a General Feat at level 1, these are the best options:

Armor Proficiency – If you want to eschew Dexterity and go for a heavy armor build, this Feat is essential, as it will provide heavy armor proficiency.
Combat Climber – Let’s you fight one-handed while climbing.
Diehard or Toughness – Barbarians have a ton of hit points, but they also take a lot of damage. These Feats help your chances of surviving.
Incredible Initiative – Going first in combat is always a plus and this provides a bonus to your initiative score, regardless of what stat is being used to roll for it.
Titan Wrestler – Gives you more combat options against larger foes.

There aren’t many great Level 2 Skill Feats (the reason why is explained below), but you can take an additional choice from the Level 1 list instead, should you meet the prerequisites.

The best level 3 Feats are technically available at level 2, but it’s harder for Barbarians to meet the prerequisite (Expert in specific skills) than other classes. The best level 3 Feats are:

Armored Stealth – This Feat reduces the Stealth check penalty for armor, which is extremely useful for sneaky warriors.
Intimidating Prowess – Gives you a bonus to certain Intimidation Actions based on your Strength modifier, which is ideal for Barbarians.
Lasting Coercion – You’re able to keep people you intimidate on your side for up to a week.
Terrifying Resistance – If you’re able to Demoralize an enemy caster, this provides a bonus against their spells.

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Best weapons & armor for the Barbarian

Barbarians start with trained levels in simple and martial weapons, unarmed attacks, unarmored defense, light armor, and medium armor.

When it comes to Armor, a Barbarian player can go the heavy route by gaining heavy armor proficiency via the Armor Proficiency Feat. If Dexterity is a low priority, then heavy armor is the way to go, as you’ll have the Strength to avoid penalties. If so, then try and buy some splint mail or half plate as soon as possible.

Barbarians tend to work better in the light/medium group, where they can balance use of their Dexterity. If you have a high Dexterity (+3 or more), go for a chain shirt. If your Dexterity is lower, go for scale mail.

For weapons, go for the biggest damage die possible by choosing the greataxe (which has the Sweep trait for multi-attacking), the maul (which can Shove), and the greatsword (which can switch between Slashing and Piercing damage).

The javelin is a great choice for ranged weapons, as it has the Thrown trait, allowing you to add your Strength modifier to damage. It’s also handy to have a longbow or shortbow in case you need to fight foes from afar.

Best Instincts for the Barbarian

Barbarian players choose an Instinct at level 1, which comes with a downside called an Anathema, where you lose the Instinct’s ability if you perform certain actions. These Anathema can really hurt the Instinct’s viability, as is the case with Dragon and Superstitions. These are the best Instincts to choose from:

Elemental Instinct

The Anathema (disrespecting elemental creatures) is something that will rarely come up, unless the DM is out to mess with you. Meanwhile, your Rage damage increases and switches to an elemental type, and you can shroud yourself in energy that offers concealment against ranged attacks.

Giant Instinct

The Anathema about failing to meet a challenge of strength shouldn’t be too hard to avoid for a strong character. Meanwhile, you get the Titan Mauler ability, letting you use a bigger weapon and upping your Rage damage from 2 to 6 at the cost of -1 to hit.

Spirit Instinct

The Anathema about disrespecting the dead means you might have to keep the party in line sometimes when exploring, but the ability to strike incorporeal enemies is worth it, especially in campaigns where you know a lot of undead will be faced.

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