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BARBARIAN SAFETY TIPS BY Shar___MoY

Barbarians are often desired on hunts for their ability to stand up to the bigger critters in the game. They make GREAT targets.  BUT, they can also be very dangerous to their hunt partners or grab and even break things from the ground if care is not taken. This can be a VERY bad thing if you are trying to help recover a players gear from a Death Pile. Below are a few of the ways to help minimize these problems.

***DO NOT STACK your berserk commands***. This is the number one cause of hostility towards what I call an inexperienced Barb player (no matter WHAT the experience or skill level). Wait until you see the timer dots (next to the exp/level indicator) blink green before adding another command to the stack. This gives you a chance to run away in case you have targetted a friend because all the crits managed to move offscreen or the last one got killed.

Use the DASH command for the game front end. This will place another visual clue to round timing like this ------- between each set of round messages in the text window. Just type dash (the word, not the symbol) in the command line and press enter. dash off will turn it off. (Thanks, Cobra_ZAND)

When the last critter has left the screen and you have targetted a friendly, move offscreen immediately until you can no longer see the friendly and you can see an UNfriendly to retarget on. Once you have done that, you can move back to your friends area and help protect them.

or you can place your bracers in your right hand (weapon hand) and try to retarget on the monster. if you are holding your gauntlets and zerk, you will not attack anyone.  if you go to frothy while holding your gaunts the only problem you will have is putting them back on. (one of Danny's Tips)

Do NOT try to talk or make twigs, or drink potions or climb ladders while berserk if friendlies are on the screen. You will target them and attack if you persist.

When you are fighting a lair critter, you can unzerk by using the normal fight commands or buttons instead of continueing to berserk. If you start to come down by the last heart or two (depending on how fast the critter is dieing and how pumped up you are) you can usually be back in control again before it dies. As long as you have a good healer along on the hunt, you shouldn't have a problem with needing to heal during this period.

If you are zerked and want to minimize damage to others (like in town) you can switch your weapon to your left hand or stick a shield or bottle in it.

Avoid developing Martial skill on a barbarian until you have a well developed sense of timing and rythym for NOT stacking commands. If you are zerked and twig back to town, you can kill smaller players even without a weapon in your right hand .

If you have any other hints or tips you would like to pass on for Barbarians or any other class drop me a note via the comments link or email

Sharbie_MoY "So, you want to DANCE, do you???"