Diablo 4: BEST Barbarian Build [Skills & Gear]

Out of all classes in Diablo 4, the Barbarian is one that deals the most damage. The brute is capable of carrying some of the heaviest and deadliest weapons in the game. Barbarian’s strikes and blows can put down the enemies in a matter of seconds.

To make things easier for you, here’s the Barbarian Build Summary:

Skills	Ultimate Skill	Weapons	Aspects	Armor	Jewelry
- Flay - Rend - Whirlwind - Iron Skin - Rallying Cry - Challenging Shout - Charge - War Cry - Death Blow - Rupture - Call of the Ancients	Call of the Ancients	- Legendary Two-handed Sword - Legendary Sword - Legendary Two-handed Mace - Legendary Mace/Polearm	- Aspect of the Iron Warrior - Needlefare Aspect - Aspect of Might - Veteran’s Brawler’s Aspect - Brawler’s Aspect - Aspect of Anemia - Death Wish Aspect	Legendary Variants of choice	- Relentless Berserker Necklace - Vigo’s Protecting Amulet - Devilish Band - Band of Berserk Ripping - Slaking Loop

Best Barbarian Build In Diablo 4

The Barbarian class has come a long way since the start of the series, and now players can utilize the class yet again in Diablo 4. From an option of multiple different classes, the Barbarian stands out as the most devastating and bloodthirsty one. However, in order to beat Diablo 4, you need to have a good image in your mind to help you come up with the Best Barbarian build.

However, as you progress through the game, the enemies and bosses will start getting tougher. At this point, it will become necessary to get the best upgrades for your Barbarian in order to get them up and ready for the fights.

With the Barbarian class, players can carry up to 4 weapons at a time in Diablo 4. The diversity will allow you to switch between different weapons depending on the enemy you’re facing. You can equip two-handed as well as single-handed weapons.

There are many different elements that are combined together to make the optimal Barbarian build in Diablo 4. Players will need to take certain things into account, which include:

• Skills.
• Armor.
• Weapons.

A few important elements related to the Barbarian build are the following:

• Aspects of Codex of Power and top-tier gems enhance armor and weapons
• Skills are the most important factor for creating a high-damage build
• Exploration and loot can provide powerful and useful items for improving builds
• The Barbarian is a melee and close-range damage character
• Focus on maximizing damage output, and defense or Thorn set up
• Skills are essential for progression in the game and can be fully customized under the skill tree
• Perks, ultimate abilities, and passive abilities can be chosen for the Barbarian build.

Skills

Type	Best Skills
Basic	Flay
Fury	Rend, Whirlwind
Defensive	Iron Skin, Rallying Cry, Challenging Shout
Brawling	Charge, War Cry
Weapon Mastery	Death Blow, Rupture
Ultimate	Call of the Ancients

As we mentioned earlier, the skills selection you make for your Barbarian will either make or break the class. Hence, if you want to come up with the best variant of the brute character, you need to pick the most effective abilities carefully. Whether you’re starting the game from scratch or just respecing, it’s still worth knowing all the Best Skills that are available at your disposal.

On each level, you will get a single skill point which you can spend at the Skill Tree to buy a new or upgrade an older skill.

Diablo 4 offers tons of different skills to choose from, and it is practically impossible to unlock each skill for your Barbarian due to the level cap. Therefore, the skill selection should be well thought out so that you can get the best out of your Barbarian build.

There are a few types of skills that can be found within the tree system of Diablo 4. For the Barbarian class, the skill types include:

• Basic.
• Fury.
• Defensive.
• Brawling.
• Weapon Mastery.
• Ultimate.

Among these skill types, you can further unlock their subvariants or you can also choose to upgrade them. With that said, here are some of the top picks that are worth going for while you’re leveling up your Barbarian in Diablo 4.

Flay

Skill Category	Type	Fury Generation	Cooldown	Requirement
Basic	Active	9	N/A	Slashing Weapon

The basic skills on offer for the Barbarian are pretty much the same as Diablo 3, except for a few changes. Even though there are multiple basic skills that offer more damage at hand, Flay has been the best pick for Diablo 4 players so far.

Despite inflicting lesser damage, the Flay skill will allow players to induce the Bleed effect on enemies. And we all know how good the Bleed effect is, especially in RPGs that push you to face multiple enemies at once.

Additionally, the Bleed effect can also be stacked while using the Flay skill with the Barbarian. However, the bleed effect can not be implemented without a slashing weapon. So keep a sword or axe in hand. On top of that, we also advise you to go for Enhanced Flay and Combat Flay in the skill tree.

• Enhanced Flay: Increases the chance of making the enemy vulnerable for a few seconds.
• Combat Flay (base level): When inflicting damage with Flay, you will get a 3% reduction in damage taken and Thorns effect (42) for 2 seconds.

Rend

Skill Category	Type	Fury Cost	Cooldown	Requirement
Fury	Active	25	N/A	Slashing Weapon

The Fury Skills have a bunch of good options at their disposal. However, if you’re aiming to build a high-damaging tanky Barbarian, then it’s important to only focus on two of these skills. The most common and best Fury skills are Rend and Whirlwind.

The Whirlwind is surely one of the most used skills with the Barbarian class in Diablo. However, we recommend going for Rend instead.

Similar to Flay, Rend will also inflict damage as well as a bleeding effect on the enemies. Although, keep in mind that Rend and Flay are completely different moves and will impose separate bleed effects. We also advise you to increase your Rend skill further on.

• Enhanced Rend: Increase vulnerability effect on enemies by 2 seconds after dealing damage with Rend.
• Furious Rend: Earn Fury upon every direct damage dealt to enemies.

Rallying Cry

Skill Category	Type	Fury Generation	Cooldown	Requirement
Defensive	Active	10	20 seconds	N/A

Apart from focusing on the offensive side of Barbarian, it is extremely important to pay as much attention to the defensive abilities as well. Since you’ll be facing enemies up close, the Barbarian will take unavoidable damage. Nevertheless, that can be minimized with the right Defensive skills.

The first one to go for, in our opinion, has to be the Rallying Cry. The skill will enhance the movement speed as well as make the character immune to crowd control. The effects of Rallying Cry will also be granted to your allies in battle.

Thus if you’re playing with friends, then the Rallying Cry is an easy pick. Although, you could also opt for the Challenging Shout too. Also, if you go for the Challenging Shout, you can then also proceed to unlock the Strategic Challenging Shout skill that will grant you even more Thorns.

Iron Skin

Skill Category	Type	Fury Generation	Cooldown	Requirement
Defensive	Active	N/A	14 seconds	N/A

Iron Skin is probably the best Defensive Skill that you can get for the Barbarian. This is an easy pick and should remain constant, regardless of what playstyle you’re focusing on. The Iron Skin will help you take on multiple enemies with ease without having to worry about your health too much.

The Defensive skill will conjure up a Barrier for your player that will help absorb 50% of your health for five seconds. This can obviously be increased by investing more skill points into the Iron Skin. After unlocking the extended branches, it’s best to go for the following route in Diablo 4’s Iron Skin set.

• Enhanced Iron Skin: Barrier will now concede an additional 6% of the Barbarian’s missing life.
• Tactical Iron Skin: Whenever the skill is active, you will also get healed in accordance with a proportion of the Barrier’s amount.

Charge

Skill Category	Type	Fury Generation	Cooldown	Requirement
Brawling	Active	N/A	N/A	N/A

Next up, we have the Brawling Skills for the Barbarian. Players will have a few different options here. Although, these skills are not that groundbreaking. Hence, we recommend that you do not spend too many of your skill points here. Nevertheless, that does not mean that you should totally ignore it.

Two skills stand out in the Brawling section. These are Charge and War Cry. However, for this Bleed/Thorns Barbarian build, it’s best to go for Charge since it will give you a little diversity on the battlefield.

The Charge skill is quite self-explanatory. Whenever you activate it, your player will charge toward the direction it is facing and deal damage to everything that falls under its path. It’s a useful skill to use, especially in areas where there are a bunch of enemies.

On the other hand, War Cry will add a statistical bonus to your Barbarian and your allies. With this skill, you and your companions will get a 3.6% increase in damage/enemy for up to ten seconds.

Death Blow

Skill Category	Type	Fury Generation	Cooldown	Requirement
Weapon Mastery	Active	N/A	15 seconds	Two-handed Slashing Weapon

Next up, we have a few special skills to choose from in the Weapon Mastery category. The ones that stand out for all kinds of Barbarian Builds are Deal Blow and Rupture. You can get both. However, you’ll be able to fully upgrade only one of them.

It is better to go for the Death Blow Weapon Mastery skill. It is a high-damaging skill that is capable of unleashing 663 damage on the opponent. Of course, this will further increase with each skill point you put in Death Blow. After that, you can follow the skill path we have mentioned below.

• Enhanced Death Blow: Deals 100%+ damage on all bosses in Diablo 4.
• Strategic Death Blow: Offers 20 Fury whenever Death Blow damages an enemy.

However, you can skip Strategic Death Blow and instead go for the Rupture skill. Rupture will allow you to cause a bleeding effect on multiple enemies at once. 

Call Of The Ancients

Skill Category	Type	Fury Generation	Cooldown	Requirement
Ultimate	Active (Summoning)	N/A	75 seconds	Slashing Weapon

Last but not least, for your Ultimate Skill, it is best to go for “Call of the Ancients.” From time to time, you will end up at the receiving end of the battle. Hence, whenever you’re overwhelmed, you can utilize this skill to summon the Ancients, who will help you in the fight for up to 12 seconds (base-level skill).

Having the skill can get you out of a lot of sticky situations. Therefore, it’s always best to have a backup plan. On top of that, the skill extensions also offer some juicy bonuses such as:

• Prime Call of the Ancients: Your character will get a 10% boost in damage and attack speed during the time Ancients are active on the battlefield.
• Supreme Call of the Ancients: For each ancient, you will get a unique buff. These buffs will include stuff like gaining Fury, Enemy slowdown, and a chance to stun enemies.

Gear And Equipment

Moving on with the Barbarian build, it is also essential to get some of the best gear for your character. The Gear consists of the types of weapons and armor you use. As you probably know, the gear is completely randomized in Diablo 4. Therefore, there isn’t any right pick for these slots. However, you should always aim for high-rarity weapons and armor. 

On top of that, pay close attention to the stats and buffs that come along with each gear. As they will help you get the Best Barbarian Build in Diablo 4. 

Weapons

As we mentioned earlier, the Barbarian is capable of carrying four different weapons. Another great thing about the Barbarian is that it will automatically switch to the preferred weapon by itself depending on the skill you’re using. Nevertheless, to get the most out of the class, your weapon setup should look something like this.

• Legendary Two-handed Sword.
• Legendary Sword.
• Legendary Two-handed Mace.
• Legendary Mace/Polearm.

Your main aim should be to get the following weapons in the legendary rarity. Of course, the buffs and stats should be considered as well before you use them. However, that is completely out of your hand.

Fortunately, you can apply new aspects to your weapons using the Codex of Power. These add-ons will allow you to imprint new buffs on your weapons. You can unlock up to 100+ Codex of Power by beating dungeons in Diablo 4. Players will also need to unlock the Occultist, who will help you imprint the Aspect into your gear.

Since there are so many aspects to look out for, it can get a bit confusing as to which ones you should go for. To make things easier, here are all the worthy Aspects you should try getting for your Barbarian build.

• Aspect of the Iron Warrior: The defense skill, Iron Skin, will also make the character Unstoppable.
• Needlefare Aspect: Damage from thorns has a 20% chance of also harming nearby opponents.
• Aspect of Might: 25% Damage Reduction is provided by Basic Skills for 4.0 seconds.
• Veteran’s Brawler’s Aspect: Your next Charge or Leap deals x15% more damage, up to 225%, every time a Core Skill delivers physical damage to an opponent.
• Brawler’s Aspect: If you kill an enemy within 2 seconds after using Kick/Charge on them, they will explode.
• Aspect of Anemia: Chance to stun a Bleeding Enemy.
• Death Wish Aspect: Get additional thorns effects whenever your Barbarian is berserk.

It’s best to create a mix of both Defensive and Offensive Aspects on your Barbarian Build. If you want, you can slightly tip more toward the defensive side since the Barbarian is capable of dealing a good amount of damage through the skills on its own.

Additionally, it’s also recommended to unlock the Jeweler and then craft Gems. You can then apply these to the free slots of your weapons to get minor buffs. The Amethyst (% increase in Damage Over Time) and Emerald Gems (% increase in Damage to Elites) are the most useful ones for the Barbarian.

Armor

As for the Armor, your goal should be to get a Legendary variant of the Boots, Pants, Gloves, Chest Armor, and Helmet. Before equipping the armor pieces, make sure to thoroughly go through their built-in stats. Your main aim should be to go for something which offers good damage reduction and also increase some of the skill abilities of the Barbarian.

After you find a capable armor piece, then you can proceed to imprint an Aspect on it by visiting the Occultist. On top of that, it’s also advised to Add Sockets to your armor so that you can slot in some useful Gems as well.

With that said, here’s a quick look at some of the Gems and Aspects you could seek out for your Armor set in Diablo 4. (You can also use the same Aspects we mentioned in the Weapons section).

• Aspect of the Protector: Get a Barrier every 10 seconds that can stop a certain amount of damage.
• Ghostwalker Aspect: You will be able to roam around enemies without any hindrance whenever you’re below 40% HP.
• Aspect of Tempering Blows: Gain a certain amount of Fortify after every 6 switches of your weapons.
• Aspect of Disobedience: For 4 seconds, gain 0.25%+ armor on every hit you land (can be stacked up to 25%)
• Aspect of Deflecting Barrier: 20% chance to avoid damage from enemies that are farther away from you. (Only activates when you have Barrier).

Since this build focuses on having a good Thorns setup, hence, try getting the Emerald Gems for all the slots on your armor gear. The Crude Emerald will grant you +19 Thorns, whereas the Chipped Emerlad will grant you +39 Thorns. Apart from that, Ruby, Diamond, and Skull Gems are also some viable options for the Barbarian.

Items

Finally, to top your Barbarian Build, you should get the best items/jewelry for your character in Diablo 4. There are tons of different jewelry items that you can acquire while looting the dungeons in Diablo 4. These items can be equipped on your character class to provide them additional buffs and stat increases.

The two kinds of jewelry that you will come across in Diablo 4 are:

• Rings.
• Amulets.

You can also upgrade your Items in Diablo 4 by heading to any of the Jewelers. Although, make sure you find the perfect jewelry before you begin upgrading it. Even though Rings and Amulets are totally random to come across, however, here are some that you could keep an eye out for, these include:

• Relentless Berserker Necklace.
• Vigo’s Protecting Amulet.
• Devilish Band.
• Band of Berserk Ripping.
• Slaking Loop.

On top of that, if a jewel happens to have a socket, then you can also add a Gem to it. Some of the best Gems to go for on the Rings and Amulets are:

• Ruby: Offers resistance against the Burn effect.
• Emerald: Offers resistance against the Poison effect.
• Diamond: Offers resistance against all elements in the game.
• Skull: Increases the Armor stat of your character.

To get the best out of the Items section, you should focus on maximizing damage resistance along with Armor stats. You can also focus on adding more Thorns to your build if you can. Other than that, the gems are also a crucial aspect since they will allow you to fortify your Barbarain against elemental damage.

Final Words

So there you have it; this was our complete Barbarian Build for Diablo 4. The build consisted of every element there is to grasp. However, the main focus remained on Thorns and the Bleeding effect. The Thorns effect will help you get close to enemies without worrying too much about taking damage. Other than that, it is also important that players carefully select Legendary rarity gear and equipment to top off the whole build. 

If you have just begun your journey in Diablo 4, then make sure to read the Beginner Tips since the game has the tendency to overwhelm new players. Apart from that, if you’re looking to hop off the Barbarian bandwagon then you can feel free to check out the Druid Build. Last but not least, here is a quick guide on all the Waypoints you can fast-travel to in Diablo 4 to make things a lot easier.

Thank you for reading through our detailed guide on the Barbarian class. For more Diablo 4 related stuff, feel free to surf through eXputer!