Forsaken berserker

The Forsaken Berserker is one of the absolute best damage dealers in the game, berserker duelist allows him to effectively hit twice, deal with armour easier than similar greatsword users and build his focus fast.

He's a strong, but squishy unit, that has to be taken care of, as he takes damage himself in exchange for the output he has himself. Since enemies retaliate against his berserker duelist, enemies that also have first strike, retaliate, preemptive strike are difficult nuts to crack, as you'll basically be trading hits 1:1 which the zerker isn't built to handle. In order to avoid that, you should pair him with a shielding ally and give him sustain mutators. His focus, double strike, is excellent, as it allows him to chain a 3rd attack after berserker duelist. You can also use it on other units to take advantage of bleeding, stuns, farm patience faster and also increase your net focus gain per turn. It allows some units to become decent off-DPS.

Like all berserkers, he comes equipped with flagrant, which adds extra damage to his original attack after he gets hit. It's worth noting that this also generates extra focus. He also comes with his own mutator, blood lust 2. In order to proc it, you have to physically finish off an opponent, which is why you want to avoid using bleeding on him, unless coupled with blood drinker.

In Epic and below difficulties, his sustain is very decent with blood lust 2 and he makes good use of improvizer to give himself a pseudo-furious, making him attack 3 times in 1 turn if you finish your focus bar with your attacks.

In Desolation, his tools change a bit, as he gains furious and is afflicted by penalties to healing and CON. Since he gains furious, improvizer is now practically useless on him, as he has a much more useful version, and no longer even needs to use up his own focus. His absorption slots also go up to 3 if you start with him, giving him a bit more room for mutators that help him sustain. Berserkers with less than 110 focus will frequently find themselves using their own double strike, since they don't generate enough focus per turn to proc furious. You can combo his double strike with his furious when you need just enough focus to fill the bar as the double strike would give you, therefore proccing a 2nd one via furious.

Stat wise;

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-   STR is a very important one due to him hitting twice.

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-    VIT is a necessary stat, you want to level it enough to where you can safely put points in STR while keeping in mind to have a safe buffer in case of first strike/retaliate.

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-    AGI is also important to hit breakpoints and half-way breakpoints, since sometimes he gets 2-3 attacks and sometimes more or less. You want 82 in the early game, and slowly move up to 122 in the mid to late game.

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-    CON is not as important for the zerker in difficulties below deso

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As for mutators, I'll mention some of the ideal mutators and some that you might be tempted to equip, but shouldn't.

- Raw stat boosts are some of the best mutators around, especially to get a build going. The forsaken berserker makes excellent use out of karwla speed, as it gets him from 78 to 128 stamina, enough for 4 attacks right off the bat at lvl 4. This makes it so that you don't have to invest in agility until much later in the game, and are free to start increasing STR right after you get a decent amount of HP, leading to an eventual huge damage boost. Athletic is a good substitute if you didn't pick karwla speed or roll it from the Urtuk mutations.

Strong body is a very good mutator to absorb as +40% HP not only makes him less squishy, but also increases any future HP gains. It's important for the berserker to be able to tank a few hits, both in scenarios where he has to attack into first strike + retaliation and when receiving unexpected damage.

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Sudden Strike is the berserker staple. Berserker duelist leads to twice the damage, but also nearly twice the focus gain. That translates into a very easy to fill focus bar, which will practically allow your zerker to hit 3 times whenever he fills it, 4 on Deso. Worth noting for deso players, furious will proc before sudden strike, so you'll need 122+ stamina to proc it, as it won't take an HP toll but use your stamina instead.

Retaliation is also one of the best mutators for the zerker. It sets up a bunch of situations such an enemy unit surviving with low HP and attacking will immediately be finished off afterwards and heal you. It's also worth noting that the retaliation action against berserker duelist can only happen with melee weapons, therefore ranged units will instead attack the zerker, proccing his own retaliate, making it so that you effectively hit 3x against them. Another reason why it's good is it can proc furious on the enemy turn if you fill your focus, allowing you 2 free hits.

Flesh eater is the sustain mutator of choice. Blood lust 2 is decent but from epic difficulty and onwards, the healing penalties severely limit it's impact, not to mention that you often trade hits in order to kill an enemy unit, making it unviable to heal from when at low HP. Flesh eater solves that, comboing with blood lust in order for your zerker to not only be immediately healed, but to also have passive preemptive healing in the next 2 turns, and bonus damage which go very well with crits and build more focus.