Here is a Torchlight 2 Berserker Dual Claws Build / Guide by realroku.
Introduction
I thought I would share my zerker build with you guys that has been doing really well for me and also is a blast to play. This build focuses on using your basic auto attack to deal most your damage. It saddens me to see that regular auto attacks are being completely ignored and more priority has been on getting a lot of focus and just spamming an ability to do most of your damage on pretty much all the classes. I dont find this very fun or rewarding at all and my build reflects this mindset because only very little to none points are put in the focus attribute.
I use this build on elite difficulty when playing with my friends, but when they are busy i am playing this solo on veteran difficulty. This build is most likely just as viable on solo elite, but I just havent personally tested it yet. I have not beaten the game yet, but I hope to do so soon and reach level 100 soon after that. Also note that since i havent beaten the game, I will probably be putting more points into other abilities as i see fit as i progress into higher levels. Use this guide as what you need to do in order to get started on your zerker and have a general idea on the direction you are going. By following my core build, i can gurantee you that you won’t regret in wasting points in anywhere and having to re roll your character. Great build for new zerkers and with a lot of extra points available for you to put where you see fit based on your playstyle.
Build continued after the page break.
GEAR
To get started you need to find 2 good pair of claws. Life steal is almost a must on at least one of the claws. Having a socket on the claws is even better so you can insert a life steal gem into it if you have one (ive been using a lifesteal gem since lvl 20).
With the rest of the armor pieces you can actually be very flexbile with it. As i progressed in the game i used a variety of different armor pieces and they all worked just fine. Most my armor pieces had + health or + vit on them so I do recommend trying to get a good amount of health from gear where you can.
Skills
Now the skills you level are probably very important to the effectiveness of the build. I started off getting 5 points in shadow burst pretty early on and left it there. Probably my favorite skill on the zerker. The escape + heal is just too good and on top of that, it has a pretty low mana cost so you can spam it multiple times when in a tough situation and nearing death.
Storm Claw – Got 1 point in it when it became available. Since the downside of using claws is that it has no aoe splash damage, storm claws becomes a must. This is going to be your main skill early on for clearing out trash mobs. It has a 20 sec cd with a 40 second up time, meaning you can have this on at all times as long as you are paying attention. Just make sure you turn it on before every fight.
Howl – Got 1 point in it early as well. Since you are going to be in the middle of everything, howl is going to be very useful in helping you tank, as well as increasing yours and your teams effectiveness against a pack of enemies, but most importantly it will make boss fights easier as well.
Raze – Got 1 point in it when it became available. Raze is a very strong ability and you will most likely be using it only when trying to take down the stronger or boss enemies. The downsides to this ability is that it builds up no charge and it has a high mana cost. Spam this ability on boss enemies only once you are fully charged and frenzy becomes active. Since you are in frenzy, this ability will Crit 100% of the time which means massive damage.
And since you are already fully charged, the downside of it not building up any charge is pretty much negated. I will probably start putting more points into this ability soonish and am considering maxing it or not. I will let you guys know once i figure this out my self. But you can’t go wrong with just having 1 point in it and waiting and see if you need more or not later on. I mapped this ability to my right click in place of the default evicerate, fyi.
Battle Standard – Amazing ability. Great utility and helps your charge and mana regen rate. Goign to be great on this build. Consider maxing this as well.
Battle Rage – Another great ability to help you tank and deal more damage at the same time. Have 5 points into it, but consider maxing it at some point later in the game.
Passives – As I was leveling up, I have mostly been putting my points into the passive abilities whenever it allowed me to. You will want to max executioner since you are dual wielding and this will help you get into that super powered frenzy state which is amazing on this build. You will also want to max shred armor. This will make you tankier while debuffing your enemies so you and your allies will deal more damage. Very great passive. You will also be maxing frenzy. Due to executioner + using your auto attacks most of the time means you will be getting into frenzy state pretty fast and when you are there, you want to spend as much as time you can in that super powered state. I have only 1 point in blood hunger due to increasing the percent max health gain isnt that effective at early levels, but i may consider putting more points into it in later levels once i start having a larger health pool. But you do definitly want 1 point in it early on and this will turn you into god mode when you have frenzy active because you are critting for 100% of the time.
As I progress in the game, will most likely be getting more abilities that I havent mentioned. Especially when it comes to the passives. The other passives that i have put no points into yet, seem very good as well and I am going to start experimenting with them soon. I just provided what your core build should look like. If there is a passive or even an active ability that you love, go for it. I left room for a lot more skill points to be used. Red wolf passive seems to synergize with this build extremly well, and probably should be maxed.
There has been a bug (maybe intended) that causes only one of the abilities to proc (either storm claw or red wolf) so it wasnt going to be effective in getting both of these. This is just something i read somewhere a day or 2 ago, and if this is not the case, red wolf is a passive that will need to belong in this build. Cold steel may also be a passive we want in order to boost damage if you feel like you need it. Ive been doing great damage so far, so i havent invested anything into it yet. I also may consider putting points into wolf pack. Seems like a pretty cool ability and can help with your aoe damage and isnt going to cost much mana. Also consider maxing storm claw to help with aoe clear times especially when soloing.
Stat point allocation
I have been leveling up my stats on a ratio like 2:3:<.05: 1 (str:dex:foc:vit)
Having a good amount of dex is great in this build. Dodge for the tankiness and crit chance for the damage and tankiness because whenever you crit you gain health due to the blood hunger passive. And since you are not a pure tank and more of an off tank, you want to be dealing a lot of damage so strength gets the next priority.
And sprinkling in some vitality when you can is always nice to help your survivability, but since you are going to be sustaining your health via a constant flow of life steal, you dont need too much vit to be effective. And shadow burst will help bail you out of a lot of situations. I had put a little bit into focus to help with execute procs, but not much is needed at all. You mostly just want to execute for the increase charge rate and by maxing executioner and putting a little into focus is all you need in keeping that charge rate buff passive proced most of the time.
Playstyle
In most fights this is how you want to play your zerker. You want to first make sure you have storm claw activated. Then dash into the thick of things with shadow burst. Use your utility abilities such as howl, battle standard and battle rage, when you can/when neccesarry. And auto attack away. If you see yourself starting to get low, shadow burst through a pack of enemies to safety, then pop a potion, then shadow burst back in. Continue to auto attack away.
Make sure you keep your active passives on at all times during all this. Shadow burst whenever needed and if your are running out of mana and wont be able to shadow burst when you need to, make your you use a mana pot. When fighing tougher enemies such as bosses, remember to spam raze once you are in frenzy mode. I usually pop a mana potion, right when i start the raze spam since it gonna go through your mana fast. Auto attack bosses when you cant afford to raze of course.
Conclusion
I hope you guys enjoyed this guide I made! I will keep this guide updated as i progress to level 100 as a zerker and share my thoughts and experiences on what abilities i decided to get and believe are the most effective and fun. I will post my build with the build calculator tool once I am 100% sure on what abilities are goign to be the most effective on this build and only way i can be sure is once i try it out myself. I will be playing this game a lot over the next few days so hopefully it wont be too long. But I have included enough in this guide to get you started and give you guys an idea on the general direction you should be going in order to have a fun and viable dual zerker build!