I'm going Berserk!

[Brouhaha]

Call me crazy, but I've just started a Berserker with the intent of maxing his path before doing anything else! I'm not fool enough to be 100% pure about it, but I was only planning on spending 8 points in skills. I figure 6 in Double Hit (for LMB dual wielding), 1 in Brutal Weapon Training to gain some boosts, and 1 in the Resolute stance to shrug off the annoying slow/trap/etc effects. Level 28 is when I'll shine, but my regeneration will rival that of Wolverine's well before then. Until that point, bosses are going to hurt and gear will be my only friend. Wish me luck!

- Brouhaha

Has anybody really played a Berserker? If I take enough skills to render my armor useless, will I be able to survive? Is there a second path that makes up for my effectively naked self?

[Darklightr]

I don't see why this shouldn't work, though it'll be messy... Godspeed, my good friend

[Brouhaha]

Quest update!
Saving the farmer's horse was dead easy, thank Zeus! I'm convinced the horse is just laughing at the pitiful monsters who can't seem to harm it. The shaman was a pain, but a brigand's bow with prometheus flame did the trick. I'm not even dual wielding yet, just beating on things with the best axe or club I can find. Currently level 10, wielding Frostbite, and just managed to defeat the big centaur. We'll see how the spiders treat me. I'm considering staying there until I find a deathweaver's helm for the poison resist.

- Brouhaha

[ShadowLAnce]

I'd recommend going easy on STR. If you're going for lots of negative armor absorb skills then armor will end up being useless like you said. Try keeping just the bare minimum stats for the best low-stat weapons you can use. Pump tons of points into health, that's your main soaking tool. Also theres a few berserker skills that block a % of physical damage, those help a lot too. Grab that health rune at the top of the zerker tree, gives physical resist too.

Be sure to get a bit of pierce resist in items, since arrows will hurt you a lot. (no armor, no shield).

Make use of the different stances too.

Good luck!

[Brouhaha]

Low strength means end-game armor choices will have to be... creative. I'll want good stats over good armor value, but the armors with the best stats are typically the high strength stuff. Of course, I can just make sure my second path either covers my weaknesses or gives me the power to wear the better armor. Gotta say, I love the idea of skills being more important than gear when planning your guy.

- Brouhaha!

[ShadowLAnce]

The magic bonuses on armor aren't that great really, for how many points you have to spend on strength purely to get them. Try low level armor-sets, the bonuses tend to be amazing. Also, if you're set on having good armor, try going axes. Berserker gives lower strength req on weapons so you end up spending a lot of points in dexterity. You can even go axe+sword and still get the Berserker weapon passive. Then just use dex armor.

But overall, spending points on str/dex/int purely to get better armor when you're running a -100% armor absorb build is a waste. Having tons of extra health makes a much bigger difference.

And thankya!