Berserker

Classes (back)

Description

Berserkers are melee fighting machines focused on dealing damage.

Stengths/Weaknesses

Pros

• • This wiki is not accurate to the current state of the game, augs, disciplines, and epic are not as posted**
• Amazing DPS potential
• Low positioning concerns, you'll do most DPS behind a mob but still do the majority even from the front
• Snare/Stun abilities
• Chain armour and knight table HP makes for a reasonable tank in a pinch
• Group-wide Warcry that gives overhaste similar to Monks hundred hands effect (lowers weapon delay calculation)

Cons

• Low utility, you exist to DPS, nothing else
• Extremely gear dependant
• Not the most exciting class to play
• Your journey to 60 (or at least 55) will be that of a subpar warrior or rogue that hasn't learned to use the backstab button, you must persevere, all the goodness is at max level!
• Managing aggro with a poor jolt ability is hard, it's either turn off auto-attack and sacrifice DPS or die

General

Stat Priority

1. Attack - Higher chance to hit, higher damage
2. Haste - 2 handers are slow by their nature, max worn haste at all times
3. Accuracy - Increases chance to hit
4. Strength - Increases max/average damage
5. Dexterity - Increases critical damage and proc rate
6. Stamina - More health means less time being dead
7. Agility - More AC is never a bad thing

Charm

Get the best Phosphorous Charm you can afford! Save for the 100K version and strive for the 500K version. The accuracy focus and additional accuracy/atk on it is amazing.

Focuses

• Cleave - Increases your chance to crit. A critical hit is a hit for higher damage with no additional threat
• Ferocity - Increases your chance to double attack. A double attack is great as it opens a chance for a triple attack, which is also great as a triple attack opens a chance for a flurry (once you have the AA)
• Simmering Rage - Increases your throwing damage by 5%. This directly improves Rage Volley which is $$$. This is an essential focus. Currently the only item available in game with this focus is Leggings of Wrath which drop from Venril Sathir and Drusella Sathir. Happy farming!

Aura

Our level 55 aura is Aura of Rage and increases the amount critical hits do. It is available as a global tome drop but can be bought from Jason in the hub. Keep it up at all times!

Augments

The appropriate nanostone for your 2 hander:

• Nanostone of Slashing - +5% 2HS
• Nanostone of Blunting - +5% 2HB
• Nanostone of Poke - +5% 2HP

And for your throwing damage:

• Nanostone of Throwing - +5% Throwing **This aug is not in game currently**

Unless you're in a duo and need to keep aggro do not equip a Blackened Lava Rock in your weapon, aggro is enough of an issue and you'll just get killed! You'll do far better getting the appropriate +5% weapon mod aug for your current weapon.

Berserker Auras

Auras can be purchased from Researcher Brinn in the hub with a version every 10 levels starting at level 25. Auras do not stack with the same aura, higher level auras will overwrite lower level auras. Auras that are different will stack up to 6 (a full group).

Berserker - Aura of Rage - Increases the damage of critical strikes for you and your companions.

Alternate Advancement

Kunark General AA

Kunark Archtype AA

• Combat Fury 3
• Fear Resistance 1
• Finishing Blow 1
• Natural Healing 1

Kunark Class AA

• Flurry 2
• Tactical Mastery 2

Combat Skills

Zerker skills such as stun, snare or jolt require a reagent. These are the axes that can be summoned (and used for ranged DPS). The axe required for abilities is appropriate to the level range of the ability.

You can buy axe components from any hometown where Berserkers can be created.

Buy Axe Components > Summon Axes > Use snare/stun/jolt > Profit!

Level	Name	Effect	Recast	Timer	Reagent	Location
1	Corroded Axe	Summon a Corroded Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Basic Axe Components	Location
5	Blunt Axe	Summon a Blunt Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Basic Axe Components	Location
8	Leg Strike	Snare	12 seconds	9	Blunt Axe	Location
10	Steel Axe	Summon a Steel Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Basic Axe Components	Location
15	Bearded Axe	Summon a Bearded Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Basic Axe Components	Location
16	Head Strike	Stun	12 seconds	9	Blunt Axe	Location
20	Mithril Axe	Summon a Mithril Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Basic Axe Components	Location
24	Divertive Strike	Jolt (250)	12 seconds	1	Blunt Axe	Location
25	Balanced War Axe	Summon a Balanced War Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Basic Axe Components	Location
30	Bonesplicer Axe	Summon a Bonesplicer Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Axe Components	Location
32	Leg Cut	Snare	12 seconds	9	Bonesplicer Axe	Location
30	Fleshtear Axe	Summon a Fleshtear Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Axe Components	Location
40	Cold Steel Cleaving Axe	Summon a Cold Steel Cleaving Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Axe Components	Location
40	Head Pummel	Stun	12 seconds	9	Bonesplicer Axe	Location
45	Mithril Blood Axe	Summon a Mithril Blood Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Axe Components	Location
48	Distracting Strike	Jolt (400)	12 seconds	1	Bonesplicer Axe	Location
50	Rage Axe	Summon a Rage Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Axe Components	Location
54	Leg Slice	Snare	12 seconds	9	Rage Axe	Location
55	Bloodseeker's Axe	Summon a Bloodseeker's Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Balanced Axe Components	Location
60	Battlerage Axe	Summon a Battlerage Axe (x20)	6 seconds	7	Balanced Axe Components	Location
60	Confusing Strike	Jolt (550)	12 seconds	1	Rage Axe	Location
60	Head Crush	Stun	12 seconds	9	Rage Axe	Location

Rotation

Reality check, this is not the most dynamic class to play. Here's the 3 step guide:

• Level 1 - 5: Auto-attack and press Kick on cooldown
• Level 6 - 54: Auto-attack and press Frenzy on cooldown (never use Kick again)
• Level 55 - 60: Auto-attack and alternate Frenzy and Rage Volley on cooldown

Rage Volley is a huge chunk of DPS. This is a global tome drop but can also be bought from Jayson in the hub. Get this the very second you turn 55 and use it every time it comes off cool down. It's amazing how many people get to 60 and don't have this!

Ancient Rage Volley is an upgrade to Rage Volley that drops from T6+ raid targets.

Discs

Realistically I only ever use Blind Rage/Burning Rage and Battle Cry of Dravel. The others feel subpar save for Reckless and Battle Focus in an "oh shit!" situation. Here's the complete list for reference:

Level	Name	Effect	Duration	Timer	Location
30	Resistant Discipline	Increase resists by 16-20	5 minutes	4	Location
40	Fearless Discipline	Immune to fear	1 minute	4	Location
50	War Cry	20 ATK and Hundred hands effect (lowers weapon delay)	1 minute	8	Location
53	Inspired Anger	Increase chance to hit by 10000%	30 seconds	3	Location
54	Cleaving Rage	Increase chance to critical hit by 10000%	30 seconds	3	Location
56	Reckless Discipline	Increase chance to riposte by 10000%	12 seconds	2	Location
57	Battlecry of Dravel	30 ATK and Hundred hands effect (lowers weapon delay)	1 minute	8	Location
57	Focused Fury Discipline	Increase all skill checks by 50%	1 minute	3	Location
58	Blind Rage Discipline	Increase DMG by 100% and minimum DMG by 400%	30 seconds	3	Location
59	Battle Focus Discipline	Increase melee avoidance by 10000%	12 seconds	2	Location
60	Burning Rage Discipline	Increase DMG by 30%	1 minute	3	Location

Grouping

You're there to DPS primarily and potentially off-tank when needed. You can peel mobs off casters with a quick Leg Strike as it generates a fair amount of aggro.

Snare mobs with the Leg Strike line of abilities and stun casters with the Head Strike line of abilities.

Raiding

Best advice

Situational awareness!!! a dead Zerker does 0 DPS!

General advice

• Use the same rotation as a group, ensure auto-attack is on and mash Frenzy and Rage Volley on cooldown
• Ensure you're assisting and on the correct target
• Make sure you're using bane weapons for the appropriate mob type
• If you see a caster getting beaten about and there's no tank available, let a healer know and go save a life! You can rip aggro pretty easily
• Make sure you're in a group with a Bard. Whine, moan and complain until you are. 25% over haste is the absolute best thing you can have in terms of a raid buff

Discs

• • • • This list is not accurate for current game****

• Pair Battle Cry of Dravel with Blind Rage/Burning Rage for maximum pew pew
• If you've got other melee classes in your group (MNK/ROG/BST etc.) tell them when you're firing Battle Cry, they can disc at the same time for more dps
• Burning Rage lasts twice as long as Blind Rage but only has a 30% DMG modifier compared to 100% DMG modifier and 400% minimum DMG modifier. Generally Blind Rage is the superior DMG disc. As it only lasts 30 seconds make sure A) Avatar is up (pester a shaman or swap to a ST weapon and proc it), B) Frenzy and Rage Volley is off cooldown before you use Blind Rage and C) You're not about to have to joust out of an AoE. You need to make the most of every one of those 30 seconds

Managing Aggro

We don't get the fancy evade ability of rogues and managing aggro can be tricky at times. Good tanks will help with this but learning the encounters and letting tanks build aggro will be key:

• Let the tank build aggro for a few seconds before engaging. This is the most important advice, starting a fight with the main tank fully in control and high on the threat list will allow you to DPS freely with no thought of your aggro other than a cursory eye on the threat meter. Don't worry about any other classes piling in and engaging on the pull, sit back for 5-10 seconds then step in and open fire (you'll soon catch and pass everyone that started DPS early :P)
• If you do over aggro you have to sacrifice DPS. Jolt is on the same timer as Rage Volley and only decreases aggro by 550 (which is not alot). If that doesn't work your only other choice is to get a CoTH (mages will hate you) or turn off auto-attack and stand there like a lemon. This is why the above point is so important!
• For fights where the mob wipes aggro you need to be aware and ready to disengage and allow the tank to rebuild aggro before re-engaging
• If you do overaggro and can't drop it pop either of our defensive discs; Reckless (riposte) or Battle Focus (avoidance) and move to the tanks to turn the mob so the other melee dps don't get roflstomped

Endurance

Sadly there is nothing in the game currently that speeds up endurance regen asides from sitting out of combat. You will go through your endurance surprisingly fast using Rage Volley on cooldown and discing. Sit between fights! Better gear and augs will raise your END pool to mitigate this but I've been caught short a few times low on endurance starting an encounter. If you're not moving to a mob or engaging a mob, sit down!

Tribute

For maximum DPS:

• Arm of Power | Tier 3 | Raises STR cap by 6
• Juggler's Grace | Tier 3 | Raises DEX cap by 6
• Vengeful Aura | Tier 4 | Raises ATK by 59

Eyes of the Hunter (accuracy) and Fury of Combat (double attack) are potentially viable but I haven't parsed them or checked if they stack with other worn effects/AAs etc.

Spells & Abilities

The following is a list of spells available (or modified here) that are not available on strictly classic servers:

• Confusing Strike - This is a level 65 jolt skill but was lowered to level 60 to make managing aggro easier
• Ancient Rage Volley - This is a custom combat skill. Rage Volley has a modifier of 32, Ancient Rage Volley has a modifier of 35

Berserker Changes

After the patch of 16/01/2022 several changes were made to reduce throwing damage using summoned axes as it was achieving more DPS than VT weapons + volley combined. Throwing skill was also dropped temporarily from 280 to 140 during the changes but is now back at the original value of 280.

Parses of the changes to the max level summoned axe (Battlerage) are shown below:

Weapon	Skill	Nerf Wave	Damage/Delay	Note	Aug	DPS	Total Damage	Time
Battlerage Axe	Throwing	Nerf #1	32/30	ATK 1892 @ 280 skill	+5% Throwing	238	428709	30 minutes
Battlerage Axe	Throwing	Nerf #2	27/30	ATK 1892 @ 280 skill	+5% Throwing	212	381476	30 minutes
Battlerage Axe	Throwing	Nerf #3	27/30	ATK 1905 @ 140 skill	+5% Throwing	180	324572	30 minutes
Battlerage Axe	Throwing	Nerf #4	16/30	ATK 1924 @ 280 skill	+5% Throwing	150	270228	30 minutes

As a result all summoned axes have been scaled back significantly in terms of damage:

Level	Name	Damage/Delay
1	Corroded Axe	1/30
5	Blunt Axe	2/30
10	Steel Axe	3/30
15	Beared Axe	4/30
20	Mithril Axe	5/30
25	Balanced War Axe	6/30
30	Bonesplicer Axe	7/30
35	Fleshtear Axe	8/30
40	Cold Steel Cleaving Axe	10/30
45	Mithril Bloodaxe	11/30
50	Rage Axe	13/30
55	Bloodseeker's Axe	14/30
60	Battlerage Axe	16/30

Additionally:

• Rage Volley skill mod was dropped from 38 > 25, and then increased to 32
• Ancient Rage Volley skill mod was dropped from 41 > 28, and then increased to 35

Alternate Advancement

• • NOT ACCURATE**

I would prioritise these AAs at level 60 for maximum DPS:

Name	Effect	Ranks
Throwing Mastery	Increases throwing damage (rage volley!)	3
Frenzied Volley	Gives a chance to throw an additional axe on rage volley	1
Combat Fury	Increases crit rate	6
Veteran's Wrath	Increases crit damage	1
Punishing Blade	Increases double attack rate	3
Blur of Axes	Increases Frenzy damage	3
Tactical Mastery	Increases chance to bypass dodge/parry/block etc.	3
Planar Power	Increase stat cap by 5 per rank (+30 STR and DEX is $$$)	6
Spell Casting Reinforcement	Increases clicky duration and most importantly War Cry duration!	4
Hastened War Cry	Reduces Way Cry recast by 3 minutes per rank	3

After this I would chase the defensive AAs; Combat Agility, Combat Stability, Natural Durability. Then fill out the other AAs that best fits your playstyle.

In addition, all classes get access to some general abilities such as Origin, Run Speed, Bandolier Slots, Improved Stats and Stat Caps, Increased Max Buffs, Improved Regen, and more.

Weapons Overview

Zerkers are one of, if not the most, gear dependant class in EQ. This is especially true when it comes to your weapon. All upgrades should be focused primarily on improving your weapon, either an upgraded weapon (ratio), or augs for it (like the +5% skill nanostones).

Epic is not worth doing currently, nerfed hard. Tormax/Dain axe is far better.

Here's some weapon progression to aim for:

Name	Drops in	Damage	Extra Damage	Delay	Theoretical Ratio
Blackened Acrylia Greatsword	Acrylia Caverns	36	0	40	0.90
Kerasian Axe of Ire	Epic Quest	39	0	38	1.03
Goldenrod	SSRA	40	3 (disease)	32	1.34
The Sword of Ssraeshza	SSRA	52	2 (magic)	42	1.29
Halberd of Destruction	Vex Thal	30	27 (fire)	42	1.36
Great Sword of Pestilence	Vex Thal	40	20 (disease)	42	1.43

I've omitted the Petrified Heartwood Flamberge from the list. Whilst the ratio is excellent (50/39) the root proc is just a shit-show in groups and raids and isn't worth the trouble it causes.

Likewise I've omitted Bloodied Berserker's Blade. The ratio is amazing (53/40) but the rune proc is an aggro magnet. Might work well for duo's and small groups but probably won't win you any friends in a raid.

Weapons Ranking Chart

Not all of these are attainable, namely the higher-end PoP and GoD weapons currently, but this gives a good guide on judging weapons based on their theoretical DPS potential.

Note: The epic is ranked much lower than shown on this list as it's ratio has been lowered compared to Live (39/38 from 46/37)

Note: This isn't my data, I found it as an image on the wayback machine back from 2004/2005. I used an AI converter to turn it into table data and tidied it up a bit. If anyone wants to do any work on this to make it a bit more relevant the raw data can be found here:

Media:ZerkerWeaponsTable.csv

Weapons Parsing

Pure white damage (auto-attack only) from behind on an undead training dummy corner in the Hub.

• Mods: Ferocity 3 + Cleave 1 + Simmering Rage
• Buffs: Shaman DEX/AGI/STA/Focus + Enchanter Brood haste + Predator + Ancient Avatar + Grim Aura + Poison Nimbus
• Songs: Trusik + SotS + PoV
• Auras: Rage + Insight

ATK @ 1935, Accuracy @45, Haste @ 225

Rank	Weapon	Aug	DPS	Total Damage	Time
#1	Great Sword of Pestilence	+5% 2HS	208	376599	30 minutes
#2	Goldenrod	+5% 2HB	206	371359	30 minutes
#3	Lace of the Flame Knight	+5% 2HP	201	362549	30 minutes
#4	Halberd of Destruction	+5% 2HP	190	341637	30 minutes
#5	The Sword of Ssraeshza	+5% 2HS	188	338831	30 minutes
#6	Kerasian Axe of Ire	+5% 2HS	163	293747	30 minutes

Further help or advice

Hit me up in game!