Hailing from the barbarian tribes of the Western Heartlands, Dorn Redbear of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 serves as the melee powerhouse of the action RPG. With his sheer strength deeming him capable of using otherwise two-handed greatswords in each hand, Dorn Redbear’s search for glory will eventually motivate him to defend the city of Baldur’s Gate from an imminent threat. And for players who want to smash opponents to oblivion, Dorn Redbear is the guy to choose.
However, despite Dorn’s straightforward melee nature, the main challenge in building him as an effective character lies in reinforcing both his innate defenses and potential to strike back. Being built as a frontline tank, Dorn needs the right build to ensure enemies won’t be able to pass him and harm his allies.
Gameplay Style: Frontline Defender
Given Dorn's specialization in both heavy offense and formidable defense, the Human Barbarian easily becomes a recommended play for first-timers of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 - especially if going solo. His natural tendency to rely on Great Weaponry and Heavy Armor allow Barbarian users to try being tanks, equally ensuring enemies aren't able to damage them as frequently as other classes. In turn, Dorn is able to repel enemy threats from afar or even devastate their ranks before they can even recuperate. However, his lack of sheer speed means players won't be as mobile in terms of exploration, encouraging more careful playstyles.
Attributes: Prioritize Tankiness
Being a frontline tank, Dorn needs to ensure he’s more than capable of taking damage as much as he can dish them out. In the context of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 gameplay, the best approach when building Dorn’s stats is to focus on his defensive potential. In that regard, building as much power via Strength so he can strie back is key, as well as geting him high Constitution for the bonus Hit Points.
- Strength: 27 (+8 Hit, +8 Damage)
- Dexterity: 10 (+0 Armor)
- Constitution: 14 (+2 Hit Points)
- Intelligence: 10 (+0 Max Energy)
- WisDorn: 11 (+0-percent Experience)
- Charisma: 11 (+0-percent buy/sell)
Skills: Melee Supremacy
Since Dorn is assigned the role of being the team's designated tank means the Human Barbarian is the last line of defense between the enemy and his party's demise. Thankfully, Dorn's naturally-high Strength and Constitution makes him one of the beefiest characters in the game, and he's easily capable of dispatching threats before they become dangerous enough for the party to deal with.
Build Focus
Players can maximize their Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 experience once they're able to capitalize on Dorn's innate potential in using Great Weapons, as well as his capacity to obliterate enemies much faster than usual. In that regard, here are some Skills that Dorn should prioritize as a Human Barbarian:
- 2 Barbarian Rage: Enters a Barbaric Rage. This boosts Dorn’s overall combat performance while removing his blocking opportunities.
- 5 Great Fortitude: This boosts the regeneration rate for Hit Points.
- 1 Hero’s Arm: This lets Dorn wield Great Weapons in one hand.
- 5 Toughness: This gives players extra Hit Points.
- 5 Two-Weapon Fighting: This allows players to fight with two (2) weapons at once more efficiently.
General Focus
When it comes to other skills in Dorn’s repertoire, it may help for him to ensure he’s more than capable of adjusting to some basic combat situations in Dark Alliance 2. These include being able to defend himself from various attacks through dodging and armor, being able to dish out more damage through situations like criticals, and even getting better damage output through specific weapons. Here are some things to focus on:
- 5 Combat Reflexes: This greatly improves the speed of the player’s attacks.
- 5 Death Blow: This vastly improves the damage from Critical Hits.
- 5 Dodge: This enables the player to avoid enemy strikes more efficiently.
- 5 Great Weapon Focus: This boosts the player’s performance when fighting with two-handed Great Weapons.
- 5 Hero’s Mantle: This greatly reduces the player’s resistance to Physical Damage.
- 5 Improved Critical: This vastly improves the player’s chances of landing a Critical Hit with melee attacks.
- 4 Endurance: This vastly increases the carrying capacity of players.
- 3 Armor Proficiency: This allows Dorn to wear Heavy Armor for greater defense.
Equipment: Focus On Great Weapons
Compared to other characters in Dark Alliance 2, it’s perhaps Dorn who is the only one capable of being able to wield Great Weapons as one-handers. That’s because Great Weapons are traditionally treated as two-handed weapons in the game. But courtesy of Hero’s Arm, a Barbarian-exclusive Skill, Dorn can get the benefit of a Great Weapon’s damage output in just a single swing. This makes him far more capable of dishing out damage at base in Dark Alliance 2 far more than other characters. In that regard, his ideal weapon pairing would be two (2) Great Weapons, one for each hand. And in this regard, the Superior Dervish’s Great Axe and the Grand Bastard Sword of Coldfire hit the best of both worlds, especially with their varying damage output.
- Weapon 1: +4 Superior Dervish's Great Axe
- Weapon 2: +5 Grand Bastard Sword of Coldfire
- Chest Armor: +4 Imperial Chain Mail of Rage (AC 35)
- Shield: None
- Helmet: +3 Grand Half Plate Helmet (AC 12)
- Gloves: Grand Full Plate Gloves (AC 11)
- Boots: Superior Half Plate Boots (AC 8)
- Ring 1: +3 Flawless Ring of Fire
- Ring 2: +2 Grand Ring of Fire
- Amulet : +1 Fine Keen Amulet
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 was re-released in 2022 for the PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S