[Grim Dawn Guide] Berserker Mechanics and Mastery Synergies [Fangs of Asterkarn]

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The Berserker is the new mastery coming in Grim Dawn’s latest expansion, Fangs of Asterkarn.

In this article, I’ll go over everything we know about the mastery before release, the mechanics that will still need testing, and some potential build ideas.

Berserker Basics

The Berserker primarily deals Cold, Bleeding, and Piercing damage. It also has ways to convert some of those damage types into Chaos.

Its two main mechanics are Onslaught, a default attack replacer that increases the power of attacks with cooldowns, and its shapeshifting abilities.

Unique Mechanic #1: Onslaught

Onslaught is the Berserker’s unique mechanic.

Each time you attack with Onslaught, its default attack replacer, you build stacks that increase the damage of skills with cooldowns.

This will need testing: does “attacks with a cooldown” refer only to mastery skills, or does it also include Devotion skills and skills granted by components? If it includes the latter, the range of possible Berserker builds could become enormous.

Onslaught itself deals a combination of weapon damage and flat Cold damage.

At skill level 1:

• 100% Weapon Damage
• 6 Cold Damage

At skill level 16:

• 130% Weapon Damage
• 66 Cold Damage

For comparison, here is the Demolitionist’s Fire Strike.

At level 1:

• 100% Weapon Damage
• 6 Fire Damage
• +4% Physical Damage

At level 16:

• 145% Weapon Damage
• 55 Fire Damage
• +56% Physical Damage

Looking at them side by side, Onslaught seems a little weak for a default attack replacer when judged purely by its direct damage.

It looks like this is very much a skill designed to be combined with cooldown-based attacks.

Covenant of Ch’thon, an Onslaught modifier, can convert 100% of its Cold and Piercing damage into Chaos.

The three masteries capable of reducing Chaos Resistance are Occultist, Inquisitor, and Demolitionist, so those are possible combinations.

However, all three of those masteries can also reduce Elemental Resistance, which includes Cold. Unless you are going all-in on Chaos damage, there may not be much reason to perform the conversion in the first place.

Berserker itself also has plenty of ways to increase Piercing and Cold damage, but relatively few bonuses to Chaos damage. That makes the conversion a little awkward to work with.

Open Wounds and Its Extremely High Bleeding Damage

Open Wounds, one of Onslaught’s modifiers, deals up to 456 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds and applies 15% Reduced Target’s Damage.

The damage reduction only affects enemies you actually hit, but 15% is still substantial. Combining it with an area-of-effect WPS could be an effective way to spread the debuff around.

More importantly, though, being able to deal 152 Bleeding Damage per second with a default attack replacer feels slightly ridiculous.

Our old friend Savagery only deals 49 Bleeding Damage per second. Fighting Form deals 212 per second, while Whirling Death deals 109.

In other words, Open Wounds effectively gives a default attack replacer Bleeding damage comparable to a WPS.

Explosive Strike is probably the most famous example of a skill that adds damage over time to a default attack replacer, but that only deals 68 Burn Damage per second.

Open Wounds deals 2.2 times as much.

Admittedly, Explosive Strike also gives your default attacks an exciting 3.8-meter explosion radius, so the two skills are trying to accomplish different things.

Building More Stacks with Endless Rage

Endless Rage increases your Onslaught stacks while also boosting Cold and Bleeding damage.

We will need to test what “increases stacks” actually means. Does it increase the number of stacks gained with each attack, or does it increase the maximum number of stacks you can hold?

Unique Mechanic #2: Shapeshifting

The Berserker can transform into two different forms.

Werewolf is a warrior-style form whose skills all include weapon damage.

Wereraven is a caster-style form whose skills do not include weapon damage at all.

Transforming does not appear to grant any inherent statistical bonuses on its own. It primarily replaces your available attacks.

Only by taking the Tier 9 skill Form of the Beast do you gain the extremely powerful transformation-only bonuses of:

• 18% Total Damage Modified
• 15% Damage Absorption

The wereforms come with the restriction that they cannot trigger Weapon Pool Skills, but it is still unclear exactly how broad that restriction will be.

There are a lot of questions that will need testing:

• Does the restriction only apply to active skills, allowing passive skills to function normally?
• Does it only restrict weapon-based attacks, leaving active skills such as resistance-reduction abilities usable?
• Can WPS and default attack replacers still trigger while transformed?
• What happens to your equipment when you transform while dual wielding?
• Do Devotion skills still activate normally while transformed?
• Can attacks performed in wereform generate Onslaught stacks?

And those are only the obvious questions.

Both transformations also come with attacks that have cooldowns.

That raises another very interesting question:

• Do attacks granted by the transformations receive Onslaught’s damage bonus?

There is going to be a lot to test here.

Werewolf

Werewolf attacks deal either Piercing and Bleeding damage or Chaos and Bleeding damage. Every attack in the form includes weapon damage.

Werewolf lowers enemy Defensive Ability while increasing your Critical Damage, making it a crit-focused attacker.

Both of its form-exclusive attacks, Feral Claws and Rip and Tear, can hit multiple enemies. Both add weapon damage and flat Piercing damage.

Rip and Tear has a 2.6-second recharge, but in exchange, it deals up to 819 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds—or 273 per second—to enemies in a small area.

That is quite a number.

Rend, the Devotion skill from Huntress, deals 325 Bleeding Damage per second at maximum level. Rip and Tear’s Bleeding damage is therefore absolutely enormous.

The question is whether we will actually be able to use them together.

The value of Werewolf could change dramatically depending on whether resistance-reduction skills remain usable while transformed and whether Devotion skills can be assigned to its transformation attacks.

Blight of Ch’thon, another modifier, can convert 100% of the form’s Piercing damage into Chaos.

Taking Voracity adds up to 25% Attack Damage Converted to Health to Feral Claws. It also grants +40% Critical Damage and +146% Piercing Damage, further reinforcing a crit-focused Piercing setup.

Recklessness increases Bleeding and Piercing damage, applies a massive 250-point reduction to enemy Defensive Ability, and has a chance to extend the transformation whenever you kill an enemy.

Its +190% Bleeding Damage is exceptionally high. Mogdrogen’s Howl, one of the strongest Bleeding-focused Devotion skills in the game, grants +275%, so Recklessness comes surprisingly close.

Wereraven

Wereraven deals Piercing and Cold damage while combining wide-area attacks with crowd control.

Its attacks include Ice Talons, an enormous 10.5-meter Piercing and Cold attack, and Cold Snap, which launches eight piercing projectiles that deal Piercing, Cold, and Frostburn damage while also freezing enemies.

Glacial Talons, one of its modifiers, expands the already-large area of Ice Talons even further. It also adds Frostburn damage over time and up to 50% Reduced Total Speed.

Fifty percent!?

Everwinter increases Piercing, Cold, and Frostburn damage while extending both the transformation duration and Frostburn duration.

Because Werewolf skills include weapon damage, a Werewolf build should still be able to fight reasonably well by swinging its weapon while the transformation is unavailable.

Wereraven, on the other hand, has no weapon damage at all.

While waiting to transform again, would a Wereraven build have to rely mainly on the flat Cold damage added to Onslaught?

The lack of weapon damage, combined with the fact that Wereraven cannot benefit from Voracity’s additional ADCtH, puts it at a clear defensive disadvantage.

Now, how serious will that disadvantage be?

When I think of masteries that compensate for poor durability with area damage and crowd control, Demolitionist and Arcanist immediately come to mind.

The problem is that those guys can handle regular enemies just fine, but tend to turn into sheets of paper against bosses…

The Berserker’s Attacks Outside of Wereform

Dual Wielding and Bleeding Damage

Implements of War or Frenzied Cry allows the Berserker to dual wield.

The Implements of War line adds Bleeding damage while dual wielding, increases Bleeding damage, and gives you a chance not to consume an Onslaught stack.

Implements of War provides 183 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds, while Open Wounds provides 456 over 3 seconds.

Together, that gives your normal attacks the equivalent of 213 Bleeding Damage per second.

Considering that Rend from Huntress deals 265 Bleeding Damage per second, being able to produce something similar with ordinary attacks is pretty outrageous.

Dual wielding may become the Berserker’s default equipment setup simply because it allows you to build Onslaught stacks more quickly.

Two Weapon Pool Skills

Bloodfangs deals Piercing and Bleeding damage.

Its description includes “100% Chance to Pass Through Enemies,” so it is obvious how the skill works with ranged attacks. But what happens in melee? Does it gain additional targets instead?

Avalanche deals Piercing and Cold damage and has a range of 10 meters.

That is the same range as Forcewave.

It should be long enough for a melee build, but could feel rather underwhelming on a dedicated ranged build.

Leap: The Berserker’s Cooldown Attack

Leap is the Berserker’s only regular attack skill with a cooldown.

It has a three-second recharge. With its modifier Fault Line also maxed out, it can reach:

• 6.9-meter radius
• 275% Weapon Damage
• 245 Physical Damage
• 325 Piercing Damage
• 618 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
• +50% Critical Damage

The weapon damage component is fairly modest, but the enormous Critical Damage bonus immediately stands out.

That said, the Berserker’s own Offensive Ability bonuses are limited to a temporary +120 bonus from Rallying Cry and the +14% bonus from the exclusive skill Heart of Asterkarn.

To land critical hits consistently, you may need to lower enemy Defensive Ability by 250 with Recklessness while in Werewolf form, or reinforce your Offensive Ability through your second mastery.

Berserker Defensive Tools

With each relevant skill maxed, the Berserker’s defensive options look like this:

• 15% Reduced Target’s Damage from Open Wounds, an Onslaught modifier.
• 15% Damage Absorption from Form of the Beast while transformed.
• 25% ADCtH from Voracity while in Werewolf form.
• 50% Reduced Total Speed from Glacial Talons while in Wereraven form.
• +120 Defensive Ability and +125 Armor from Amatok’s Pact.
• +30% Poison & Acid Resistance and Vitality Resistance from Icebound.
• Up to 30% instant Health restoration from Rallying Cry. If Frenzied Cry is taken to enable dual wielding, its recharge is reduced from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. Taking Impulse as well grants up to 25% Entrapment and Slow Resistance.
• Battle Surge activates on a critical hit with a 100% chance, restoring 11% Health per second for three seconds. It has a five-second recharge and also increases Energy Regeneration by 70%.
• Untamed Rage activates when Health drops below 40%, granting 20% Damage Absorption and +20% Offensive Ability for five seconds. It also has a five-second recharge.

The instant heal from Rallying Cry is very welcome, and transforming causes the Berserker’s durability to spike dramatically.

Considering that critical hits can also trigger guaranteed healing, building around critical hits seems extremely important.

The main concern is what happens while the shapeshifting skills are on cooldown.

Covering the Berserker’s durability outside of wereform may be an important job for its second mastery.

Berserker Mobility

Rallying Cry grants:

• +18% Movement Speed
• +10% Maximum Movement Speed

That is a substantial speed boost.

Berserker Resistance Reduction

Bonechilling Cry reduces enemy Defensive Ability by up to 80 while lowering the following resistances across a wide area:

• 25% Piercing Resistance
• 25% Cold Resistance
• 25% Chaos Resistance
• 40% Bleeding Resistance

It is an attractive all-in-one ability capable of reducing resistance to every damage type naturally supported by the Berserker.

Its biggest weakness is its relatively long six-second recharge.

More importantly, its usability will differ enormously depending on whether it can be cast while transformed.

We will have to see how that turns out.

Berserker Exclusive Skills

Bloodborne

At maximum level, Bloodborne provides:

• 90 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
• +35% Critical Damage
• +35% Piercing Damage
• +135% Chaos Damage
• +135% Bleeding Damage
• +75% Bleeding Duration
• +20% Healing Effects

It covers three of the Berserker’s four main damage types—Bleeding, Piercing, and Chaos—while also boosting the mastery’s numerous self-healing effects.

It further increases the Critical Damage that forms one of the Berserker’s defining strengths.

Because it boosts Bleeding damage, works with Chaos damage, and can be combined with Recklessness’s enormous Defensive Ability reduction, it appears to have particularly strong synergy with Werewolf.

Heart of Asterkarn

At maximum level, Heart of Asterkarn provides:

• 39–48 Cold Damage
• +135% Cold Damage
• +135% Frostburn Damage
• +75% Frostburn Duration
• 15% Physical Damage converted to Cold Damage
• 40% Piercing Damage converted to Cold Damage
• +14% Offensive Ability
• 25% Slow Resistance

This one specializes entirely in Cold damage, with the two conversion effects being particularly noteworthy.

A percentage increase to Offensive Ability may increase your expected damage by more than a simple Critical Damage bonus would.

This looks like an exclusive skill designed to complement the Cold-focused Wereraven form.

And naturally, the Slow Resistance is also very welcome.

Choosing a Second Mastery

Which Cooldown Attacks Synergize with Berserker?

Among the masteries with attack skills that have cooldowns, I picked out the ones that deal Cold, Bleeding, Piercing, or Chaos damage—the four types that naturally synergize with Berserker.

All skills are compared with every modifier raised to its maximum level.

Soldier Cooldown Attacks

Soldier has two relevant attacks:

• Blade Arc
• Forcewave

With the Clean Sweep modifier, Blade Arc becomes an attack with a cooldown and can deal:

• 405% Weapon Damage
• 1,653 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds

That comes to 551 Bleeding Damage per second, giving it the highest Bleeding output among cooldown-based mastery attacks.

Forcewave

Requires a shield or two-handed melee weapon

With every modifier maxed, Forcewave deals:

• 285% Weapon Damage
• 688–746 Physical Damage
• +25% Critical Damage
• +175% All Damage
• 573–750 Internal Trauma Damage over 3 seconds
• 603 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
• +20% Attack Speed

Because of its equipment restriction, using Forcewave means giving up the Berserker’s dual-wielding setup.

Physical damage also makes up a large proportion of its output, so in that respect it does not mesh particularly well with Berserker either.

Nightblade Cooldown Attacks

Amarasta’s Blade Burst

With a 1.8-second recharge:

• 230% Weapon Damage
• 381–413 Cold Damage
• 410 Frostburn Damage
• 5-meter circular area

Shadow Strike

With a 3.5-second recharge:

• 440% Weapon Damage
• 410 Piercing Damage
• 410 Cold Damage

This is primarily a single-target skill.

Taking Nightfall causes an additional area attack to trigger, but that area damage is treated separately from Shadow Strike for skill modifiers and damage conversion. That could make it more difficult to scale.

Blade Trap

A deployable attack with a two-second recharge:

• 98 Piercing Damage
• 248 Bleeding Damage over 2 seconds
• -35% Defensive Ability
• 181 Vitality Damage
• +98% Piercing Damage
• +124% Vitality Damage
• 70% Attack Damage Converted to Health

The Defensive Ability reduction only applies while the enemy is caught in the trap, and bosses tend to break free almost immediately.

The Health conversion is enormous, but the skill’s actual damage is quite restrained.

Well, it is a trap, after all.

The assassins in Diablo II? Those people are professional trap masters. Best not to think too hard about it.

Phantasmal Blades

Phantasmal Blades has a three-second recharge and throws five knives in a fan.

All five knives can hit the same enemy. Note that their Bleeding damage does not stack.

The following values are for a single knife:

• 85% Weapon Damage
• 165–210 Piercing Damage
• 825 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
• 157 Cold Damage
• 125–156 Chaos Damage
• 135 Vitality Damage
• +40% Critical Damage
• 10% Attack Damage Converted to Health
• 100% Chance to Pass Through Enemies
• +100% Bleeding Damage
• +40% Bleeding Duration

With all five knives hitting the same target:

• 425% Weapon Damage
• 825–1,050 Piercing Damage
• 825 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
• 785 Cold Damage
• 625–780 Chaos Damage
• 675 Vitality Damage
• +40% Critical Damage
• 10% Attack Damage Converted to Health
• 100% Chance to Pass Through Enemies
• +100% Bleeding Damage
• +40% Bleeding Duration

Its paper statistics are overflowing with romance.

The concerns are that its damage is split across far too many types and that it requires a huge number of skill points.

Still, Piercing, Cold, Chaos, and Bleeding are all damage types supported by the Berserker. Vitality is the only part that the mastery has no obvious way to boost.

Demolitionist Cooldown Attacks

By taking High Potency and turning Blackwater Cocktail into a cooldown skill, it can deal:

• 112–200 Chaos Damage

However, Fire still accounts for a larger share of its damage than Chaos.

Blackwater Cocktail is also fundamentally a debuff skill designed to reduce resistance and Offensive Ability, so it probably cannot be relied upon as a major damage source.

Grenado, Canister Bomb, Mortar Trap, and the other obvious Demolitionist cooldown attacks all use incompatible damage types, so I have omitted them.

Arcanist Cooldown Attacks

Olexra’s Flash Freeze

Olexra’s Flash Freeze affects a 16-meter area and applies the following effects for 4.5 seconds:

• 114 Cold Damage per second
• 318 Frostburn Damage over 3 seconds
• -100% Fire Resistance
• 50% Reduced Total Speed
• -40% Physical Resistance
• -35% Freeze Duration Reduction

Its modifier further increases the skill’s Cold damage by 74%.

Like Blackwater Cocktail, this skill is primarily a debuff outside of the very early game rather than a source of damage.

Reducing Fire Resistance does not help much when Berserker has no Fire attacks to begin with.

Shaman Cooldown Attacks

Primal Strike

Requires a two-handed weapon

Three-second recharge.

Against enemies within 4.4 meters:

• 355% Weapon Damage
• 387–516 Lightning Damage
• 804 Electrocute Damage over 3 seconds
• 430 Bleeding Damage over 2 seconds
• 2.6–4.0 seconds of Stun
• +96% Physical Damage
• +96% Bleeding Damage
• +100% Bleeding Duration

Because Primal Strike requires a two-handed weapon, you would have to give up the Berserker’s dual-wielding setup.

It might still be possible to dual wield while using Stormrend, though…

Grasping Vines

Grasping Vines has a 1.2-second recharge and creates thorny vines across a 7.5-meter area.

Enemies touching them receive:

• 71 Physical Damage
• 71 Bleeding Damage over 1 second
• 75% Reduced Movement Speed
• 174 Vitality Decay Damage over 2 seconds
• 30% chance to become Immobilized for 1.5 seconds
• 35% Reduced Attack Speed for 2 seconds
• 9% Retaliation Damage Added to Attack
• +100% Physical Damage
• +100% Bleeding Damage

The Physical and RAtA portions hit twice per second, and those parts of the damage accumulate when multiple patches of vines overlap.

However, the Bleeding damage—the part the Berserker would most want—does not stack.

Also note that the Berserker has no means whatsoever of producing or increasing RAtA.

Necromancer Cooldown Attacks

Bone Harvest

Bone Harvest has a three-second recharge and hits an area up to nine meters away.

It deals:

• 335% Weapon Damage
• 145 Piercing Damage
• 234 Cold Damage
• 234 Vitality Damage
• 966 Vitality Decay Damage over 3 seconds
• 45% Reduced Movement Speed for 3 seconds
• 35% chance to Confuse targets for 2 seconds
• +175% All Damage

After hitting with Bone Harvest, you receive the following bonuses for eight seconds:

• +76 Cold Damage
• +88 Vitality Damage
• +87% Cold Damage
• +87% Frostburn Damage
• +87% Vitality Damage
• +87% Vitality Decay Damage

This could be a very strong candidate for a build focused on Cold and Piercing damage.

If you give up dual wielding and equip a two-handed weapon, Harvester of Death reduces the attack’s range by three meters but grants:

• 20% Total Damage Modified
• 100% Physical Damage converted to Cold Damage

Ill Omen

Five-second recharge.

• Five-second duration
• Three contagion targets
• Maximum of 20 contagion targets
• 87 Cold Damage
• 117 Vitality Decay Damage per second
• 30% Reduced Movement Speed
• 25% Reduced Target’s Damage

Its main purpose is debuffing rather than dealing damage, but I have included it for completeness.

Because it is a contagious, persistent skill, it could be useful for generating critical hits that trigger Battle Surge’s healing.

Then again, do we really want Ill Omen’s damage consuming Onslaught stacks?

I am not so sure about that.

Recap: Berserker’s Own Cooldown Attacks

Leap has a three-second recharge. With Fault Line also maxed, it can deal the following in a 6.9-meter area:

• 275% Weapon Damage
• 245 Physical Damage
• 325 Piercing Damage
• 618 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds, or 206 per second
• +50% Critical Damage

Rip and Tear, available only in Werewolf form, has a 2.6-second recharge and reaches up to 14 meters.

At maximum level, it deals:

• 280% Weapon Damage
• 297 Piercing Damage
• 819 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds, or 273 per second

Cold Snap, available only in Wereraven form, fires eight piercing projectiles with a 2.8-second recharge.

At maximum level, it deals:

• 351 Piercing Damage
• 438 Cold Damage
• 909 Frostburn Damage over 3 seconds, or 303 per second

Which Masteries Have Resistance Reduction That Synergizes with Berserker?

The Berserker already looks like a rather busy mastery.

You have default attacks, cooldown skills, and transformations to manage. On top of that, stopping your attacks also stops your Onslaught stack generation and lowers your DPS.

Ideally, we want resistance reduction that activates automatically.

Here, I’ll compare the masteries capable of reducing resistance to the Berserker’s four main damage types:

• Cold
• Piercing
• Bleeding
• Chaos

Demolitionist Resistance Reduction

Hellfire Mine reduces Chaos Resistance by 35%.

Thermite Mine reduces Elemental Resistance, including Cold, by 30%.

Both require you to stop attacking in order to deploy them.

Demolitionist has no way to reduce Piercing or Bleeding Resistance.

That makes it difficult to call this an especially good fit for either Werewolf or Wereraven.

Occultist Resistance Reduction

Curse of Frailty and its modifier Vulnerability can reduce:

• Elemental Resistance, including Cold
• Bleeding Resistance
• Physical Resistance
• Chaos Resistance

They cannot reduce Piercing Resistance.

Because Curse of Frailty is an active skill, you also have to stop attacking each time you cast it.

Occultist has useful support for both Werewolf and Wereraven, but the lack of Piercing Resistance reduction and the need to interrupt your attacks are noticeable disadvantages.

Inquisitor Resistance Reduction

Death Sentence reduces:

• Piercing Resistance by 25%
• Chaos Resistance by 25%

Aura of Censure reduces Elemental Resistance, including Cold, by 25%.

Aura of Censure continuously applies its debuff around the player, so it requires almost no additional input.

Inquisitor cannot reduce Bleeding Resistance, so it seems more suitable for a Wereraven build.

Nightblade Resistance Reduction

Night’s Chill provides an aura that reduces:

• Cold Resistance by 25%
• Piercing Resistance by 25%

Because it is an aura, you never have to stop attacking.

Nightblade has no way to reduce Bleeding or Chaos Resistance.

However, its Piercing and Cold Resistance reduction fits Wereraven perfectly.

This one looks made for the bird.

Shaman Resistance Reduction

Raging Tempest reduces Elemental Resistance, including Cold, by 30%.

Because the debuff is automatically applied by Wind Devil, it is extremely convenient.

Devouring Swarm reduces Bleeding Resistance by 35%.

However, you have to stop attacking in order to cast it.

Shaman cannot reduce Piercing or Chaos Resistance.

For Wereraven, the ability to reduce Cold Resistance without interrupting your attacks is a clear advantage.

Its Bleeding Resistance reduction is substantial, but having to stop attacking makes it slightly less attractive for Werewolf.

Primal Strike mainly deals Lightning and Bleeding damage, so combining it with Wereraven makes me want to try some kind of Elemental and Bleeding hybrid build.

But would that spread the damage types too thin?

Probably.

Necromancer Resistance Reduction

Spectral Wrath can reduce Cold Resistance by 25% whenever you take damage.

However, Spectral Wrath also deals damage itself. That creates a potentially serious risk of it consuming Onslaught stacks automatically.

Necromancer has no way to reduce Piercing, Bleeding, or Chaos Resistance.

This makes it primarily a Wereraven option.

Oathkeeper Resistance Reduction

Celestial Presence reduces:

• Elemental Resistance, including Cold, by 25%
• Bleeding Resistance by 25%

The invulnerable, player-scaled pets automatically spread the resistance-reduction debuff, so you do not have to stop attacking.

As an additional bonus, assigning Frostburn- or Bleeding-based Devotion skills—other than Rend—to the Guardians allows their damage-over-time effects to stack.

That opens the door to a multi-layered DoT strategy.

Oathkeeper has no way to reduce Piercing or Chaos Resistance.

Even so, it appears compatible with both Werewolf and Wereraven.

Quick Compatibility Table by Transformation

Because continuously attacking is important for generating Onslaught stacks, I rated masteries more highly when their resistance reduction does not force you to stop attacking.

Second Mastery	Werewolf	Wereraven
Demolitionist	△	△
Occultist	○	○
Inquisitor	△	◎
Nightblade	○	◎◎◎
Shaman	○	◎
Necromancer	×	△?
Oathkeeper	◎	◎

Necromancer’s Wereraven rating is uncertain because Spectral Wrath may automatically consume Onslaught stacks.

In terms of how easy their resistance reduction is to use, Inquisitor, Nightblade, and Oathkeeper look like the most promising second-mastery candidates.

Nightblade appears almost perfectly suited to a specialized Wereraven setup.

Oathkeeper, meanwhile, supports both Bleeding-focused Werewolf builds and Cold-focused Wereraven builds.

That versatility is a big deal.

Which Masteries Have WPS That Synergize with Berserker?

Onslaught is a default attack replacer, so it naturally synergizes with Weapon Pool Skills.

Here, I narrowed the selection down to masteries with WPS that deal Piercing, Cold, Bleeding, or Chaos damage.

Nightblade WPS

Belgothian’s Shears

• 143% Weapon Damage
• 38 Piercing Damage
• 56–88 Physical Damage

Amarasta’s Quick Cut

• 110% Weapon Damage
• 68 Piercing Damage
• +35% Critical Damage

Whirling Death

• 135% Weapon Damage
• 80 Piercing Damage
• 327 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds

Execution

• 265% Weapon Damage
• 110 Cold Damage
• 23% Reduction to Enemy’s Health

Dual Blades, the prerequisite for these skills, also grants:

• 66 flat Piercing Damage
• +60% Cold Damage
• +106% Piercing Damage
• +20% Armor

Nightblade has the largest number of WPS whose damage types align with the Berserker.

Shaman WPS

Feral Hunger

• 180% Weapon Damage
• 204 Bleeding Damage over 2 seconds
• Up to 33% ADCtH

Upheaval

• 140% Weapon Damage
• 348 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
• 74 Lightning Damage
• Activates only on critical hits

Necromancer WPS

Necrotic Edge

• 155% Weapon Damage
• 92 Cold Damage

Inquisitor WPS

Chilling Rounds

• 90% Weapon Damage
• 41 Piercing Damage
• 41 Cold Damage
• 339 Frostburn Damage over 3 seconds

Which Masteries Have Cooldown Reduction?

If the entire game plan is to build Onslaught stacks and spend them on cooldown attacks, a mastery with cooldown reduction becomes very tempting.

Be warned that both of the cooldown-reduction skills listed here are exclusive skills.

Arcanist Cooldown Reduction

Star Pact

Exclusive skill

• 102 Frostburn Damage over 3 seconds
• +135% Cold Damage
• +135% Frostburn Damage
• +135% Lightning Damage
• +135% Electrocute Damage
• 15% Physical Damage converted to Cold Damage
• 40% Aether Damage converted to Cold Damage
• 10% Cooldown Reduction

For a Cold-focused caster build that fights in Wereraven form, Star Pact can simultaneously increase damage and reduce cooldowns.

Onslaught itself adds up to 66 flat Cold Damage, while Avalanche adds 64 Cold Damage, so the build would still have Cold-based attacks available outside of Wereraven form.

Compared with Heart of Asterkarn, Star Pact adds Frostburn rather than flat Cold damage.

Heart of Asterkarn also offers:

• 40% Piercing Damage converted to Cold Damage
• +14% Offensive Ability

Arcanist can raise Offensive Ability by another 12% with Inner Focus. The additional Spirit also increases Cold damage and Energy.

There is an incredible amount of potential here for a caster-style Berserker and Arcanist combination.

Oathkeeper Cooldown Reduction

Path of the Three

Exclusive skill

• 150 Poison Damage over 5 seconds
• +135% Acid Damage
• +135% Vitality Damage
• +135% Poison Damage
• +135% Vitality Decay Damage
• +75% Poison Duration
• 15% Physical Damage converted to Acid Damage
• 40% Fire Damage converted to Acid Damage
• 10% Cooldown Reduction

Aside from its cooldown reduction, none of its damage bonuses naturally support a Berserker-focused build.

It might still be useful in a build that invests only in the Onslaught portion of Berserker, then uses Aegis of Thorns to convert the Oathkeeper’s Aegis of Menhir into an Acid-damage skill.

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