D&D 5E Barbarian Duel-Wielding

[CapnZapp]

Hi,

I'm trying to put together a Drow Barbarian dancing around with two blades.

As far as I can see, I can forget about the dual-wielding until I can get her hands on the Dual Wielder feat? (Before that, attacking with 1d6+Mod in one hand and 1d6 in the other doesn't seem to give any benefit over simply mauling everything with 2d6+Mod)

Then, I gather I should give her one level of Fighter for the "Two-Weapon Fighting" Fighting Style. Thankfully, that's only a one level dip, that also provides the nifty Second Wind feature.

So, as a level 5 character (Brb 4/Ftr 1) she can hope to see 1d8+Mod in each hand.

If I understand the complex interplay between actions and attacks, I can hope for her to be able to eventually make five attacks each turn, yes?

a) With two weapons, you make two stabs/swipes each time you attack, one with each weapon.
b) At five levels in a fightery class you get to make two attacks each turn.

This makes 2*2=4. Then add frenzy from Path of the Berserker for the fifth stab/swipe.

She will then look at AC 17, assuming Con 16, Dex 16 and the +1 AC from the feat, no? It is really difficult to justify going unarmored for a barbarian in this edition (since I can't drop Strength and use twin Rapiers)



Or, am I doing this wrong? Perhaps I should make her into a Fighter, with only one level of Barbarian for that Unarmored Defense?

 

[Rilak]

First of all, you are better off taking Ftr 1 after you get Bbn 5 (for the extra attack).

Second, you have misunderstood how dual wielding works in 5e. You make one extra attack (without STR mod) with the off-hand weapon at the cost of a bonus action.
The fighting style adds the damage mod to the off-hand.
The feat (if your DM allows you to use the feat variant) allows you to use non-light weapons and gives +1 AC (so 1d8 instead of 1d6, and 1 AC).

Note that you get at most one bonus action per turn. So if you use Frenzy, you cannot use the off-hand attack and the bonus frenzy attack. Also, entering a Rage costs a bonus action. So you cannot make the extra attack from either two-weapon fighting or frenzy on the turn you enter the rage.

Thus, two-weapon fighting for Barbarian (Berserker) is pointless. A totem warrior could potentially use it, but the cost is quite high.

The maximum number of attacks you would get is 3 (1 for 5th level, 1 for frenzy or two-weapon fighting).

 

[charliebananas]

Using two weapons, the second attack is a bonus action and you get just one bonus action per turn, so with two attacks per turn and a off hand weapon you would get three attacks - two attacks + bonus action attack, Frenzy is also a bonus action so you have to make a choice between off-hand attack or frenzy.

 

[Stalker0]

One other note, is that the rage damage bonus DOES apply to TWF attacks. So even without the ability mod it at 1st level it would be:

1d6+4, 1d6+2 vs 2d6+6. Effectively even, but TWF gets you more crit chances and more flexibility.

 

[Paraxis]

I would go with polearm master feat. You get the two attacks d10+str mod+rage & d4+str mod+rage, AoO's when enemies come within 10' of you, reach on both attacks, I mean polearms are the king of melee.

 

[Leatherhead]

nm that.

 

[Dausuul]

As others have said, dual wielding with a barbarian is tough. You don't have access to the Two-Weapon Fighting style, so you don't get Dex to your off hand; you don't get your off-hand attack on the first round since you have to use your bonus action to hulk out; and you can't combine with frenzy.

Still, it's not impossible, and there are upsides. First of all, you're building with Dex instead of Str, which means you can have a really good unarmored AC. Second, you do get the extra attack, which means another application of your rage bonus, and you don't have to pay the frenzy penalty. Third, you get major cool points.

How committed are you to being a drow? Assuming your DM lets you use the optional variant, being a human would let you have Dual Wielder at level 1; and while you only get +1 Dexterity, you can put the other +1 into Constitution. That Charisma boost isn't doing much for you. I'm on the fence about whether it's worth a 1-level dip into fighter or ranger. That would get you Two-Weapon Fighting, which is a big boost to your off hand; but since you don't even get the off-hand attack on your first round, I'm not convinced it's worth delaying all your barbarian abilities.

 

[Mandragola]

I don't have my book on me but I remember trying to build a dex-based barbarian and hitting a really solid brick wall. I think it was that you only add rage damage when you're attacking using strength as your attribute. It was something not immediately obvious like that, but I definitely remember feeling that it made the exercise pointless.

I honestly can't see a drow DW barbarian coming anywhere near to something like a DW fighter/rogue. Say using the assassin's ability to make all attacks in the first round crit combined with a fighter's two attacks and action surge, plus maybe some superiority dice. I think a really devastating drow dual wielded is possible, but not as a barbarian.

 

[Juriel]

TWF + Rage combine well enough, even without the fighting style, because that's an extra hit to add the Rage bonus to.

As such, one should not multiclass out of Barb before lv5 and the second attack.

It just really does not work for Dex primary.

 

[Fion]

I'm playing in a game soon and have decided upon a duel-wielding Drow Fighter/Bladelock myself. It's not the sharpest build ever, nor the most powerful but with Thirsting Blade at lvl 5 (so long as that level is a Warlock level) I can make 3 attacks per turn. 2 with primary, one with offhand as a bonus action. I'm thinking Eldritch Knight so I can get Weapon Bond and have 2 weapons 'bound' to me... that or Battlemaster for some extra battlefield control.

And yes, I'm still home this morning so looking through the PHB, rage damage bonus is Strength only. Just one more piece of evidence that I'm finding that 5e isn't all that good at accommodating that idea in your head for a character, especially if that idea duel wields. Guess that's why I'm more a Savage Worlds fan than D&D. In SW if you can imagine it, you can build it and it'll rock. Good news is you can still duel wield with a Strength build (primary-Barb), you'll just want that feet sooner rather than later so your not stuck with light weapons. Granted that makes Drow less than advantageous but hey.