The best Barbarian builds for leveling in Diablo 4 season 4 (2024)

Barbarians are a relatively simple class in Diablo 4: They smash stuff. However, Diablo 4 is underscored by math that’s so complex that even the simple act of smashing stuff becomes a dizzying equation. That’s where we come in, with our suggestions of the best Barbarian builds for Diablo 4 season 4.

Barbarians are big, muscular, and powerful. They excel at using Bleed to kill their enemies over time. And their unique weapon-swapping system means they get to have more Legendary powers at their disposal than any other class.

In this Diablo 4 guide, we’ve gathered and simplified the best Diablo 4 Barbarian builds for season 4. If you need even more information on item affixes or other more complex ideas, we’ve been sure to link out to the more detailed versions of these builds, as well as where to find their original creators.

Best Barbarian leveling build in Diablo 4 season 4

The best Barbarian builds for leveling in Diablo 4 season 4 (1) Image: Blizzard Entertainment

This build is based off Lexyu’s Barbarian leveling guide at IcyVeins, and is purely for leveling: i.e., allocating your 58 skill points between levels 1 and 50. If you want more detailed information about the item affixes you want to look for on your gear, or which other Legendary powers are great for your build, check out the original IcyVeins guide.

Best skills for leveling

Most Barbarian leveling guides you’ll find make use of Hammer of the Ancients as your primary skill, as it deals massive damage while remaining very cheap to cast. In this build, you’ll also use Frenzy, Death Blow, Rallying Cry, Leap, and Wrath of the Berserker.

Here are the best skills for a Barbarian leveling build, organized by the exact order you should purchase them in — bearing in mind that some skills require you to allocate a number of skill points in the tree in order to unlock them. As such, you’ll need to unlock new skills before enhancing existing ones:

  1. Frenzy / Enhanced Frenzy
  2. Hammer of the Ancients / Enhanced Hammer of the Ancients / Furious Hammer of the Ancients
  3. Combat Frenzy
  4. Rallying Cry / Enhanced Rallying Cry / Tactical Rallying Cry
  5. Hammer of the Ancients (ranks 2-3)
  6. Leap / Enhanced Leap / Power Leap
  7. Hammer of the Ancients (ranks 4-5)
  8. Death Blow / Enhanced Death Blow / Warrior’s Death Blow / Death Blow (rank 2-5)
  9. Wrath of the Berserker / Prime Wrath of the Berserker / Supreme Wrath of the Berserker
  10. Pit Fighter (ranks 1-3)
  11. Tempered Fury
  12. Furious Impulse (ranks 1-3)
  13. Walking Arsenal
  14. Hamstring
  15. No Mercy
  16. Expose Vulnerability (ranks 1-3)
  17. No Mercy (ranks 2-3)
  18. Swiftness (ranks 1-3)
  19. Thick Skin (ranks 1-3)
  20. Counteroffensive (ranks 1-3)
  21. Defensive Stance (ranks 1-3)
  22. Slaying Strike (ranks 1-3)
  23. Aggressive Resistance
  24. Prolific Fury

Best Weapon Expertise setup for leveling

Once you unlock the Weapon Expertise system for your Barbarian, you’ll want to place the two-handed sword in your Technique slot. This will cause all of your Hammer of the Ancients damage to make enemies Bleed.

Best Legendary Aspects for Barbarian leveling build

When you first start your new character, complete these three dungeons first in order to collect their Aspects. Then place them on a piece of gear (ideally jewelry, when possible). Just keep in mind that you should replace these Legendaries with new versions using the imprint system every few levels.

  • Aspect of Ancestral Force (Sunken Ruins dungeon in Scosglen) — Hammer of the Ancients quakes outwards, dealing X% of its damage to enemies
  • Aspect of the Expectant (Underroot dungeon in Scosglen) — Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast by X% up to X%
  • Edgemaster’s Aspect (Oldstones dungeon in Scosglen) — Skills deal X% increased damage based on Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource

Best Barbarian endgame build for season 4 — Double Swing Twisters

This build is based off of Snail’s Double Swing Twisters Barbarian endgame guide at MaxRoll.gg, and is a general endgame guide capable of finding success in all activities. This guide assumes that you’re over level 50, have access to all 58 skill points, and are making progress on your Paragon Boards. If you want more detailed information about the item affixes you want to look for on your gear, or why these Legendary powers are great for your build, check out the original MaxRoll guide.

Best skill points for Double Swing Twisters Barbarian build for endgame

This build utilizes Double Swing as its core skill. It also uses Leap, Rallying Cry, Charge, Bash, and Wrath of the Berserker.

Since you need all 58 points for this build, the order you select these skills in doesn’t matter as long as you have the pre-requisite points in the earlier skill tree tiers. Here is how you should spend your skill points for this build:

  • Bash / Enhanced Bash / Combat Bash
  • Double Swing (rank 1-5) / Enhanced Double Swing / Furious Double Swing
  • Rallying Cry / Enhanced Rallying Cry / Tactical Rallying Cry
  • Imposing Presence (rank 1-3)
  • Martial Vigor (rank 1-2)
  • Charge / Enhanced Charge / Power Charge
  • Leap (rank 1-5) / Enhanced Leap / Power Leap
  • Booming Voice (rank 1-3)
  • Guttural Yell (rank 1-3)
  • Aggressive Resistance (rank 1-3)
  • Prolific Fury (rank 1-3)
  • Battle Fervor
  • Pit Fighter (rank 1-3)
  • Thick Skin
  • Counteroffensive (rank 1-3)
  • Wrath of the Berserker / Prime Wrath of the Berserker / Supreme Wrath of the Berserker
  • Wallop (rank 1-3)
  • Concussion (rank 1-3)
  • Unconstrained

Arsenal System for the Double Swing Twisters Barbarian build

For this build, you’ll want to take Two-Handed Axe Expertise as your Technique.

Legendary Powers and Uniques for Double Swing Twisters Barbarian build

To make this build work, you’re going to need powerful Legendary Powers and Unique items to augment your build.

Snail recommends these Aspects:

  • Helm: Tuskhelm of Joritz the Mighty (Unique) or Aspect of Concussive Strikes
  • Chest: Undying Aspect
  • Gloves: Aspect of Ancestral Charge
  • Pants: Tibault’s Will (Unique) or Aspect of Bul-Kathos (dungeon drop)
  • Boots: Yen’s Blessing (Unique) or Wind Striker Aspect (dungeon drop)
  • Two-handed Bludgeoning: Aspect of Fierce Winds
  • Two-handed Slashing: Windlasher Aspect
  • Sword: Ramaladni’s Magnum Opus (Unique) or Aspect of Inner Calm (dungeon drop)
  • Off-hand: Accelerating Aspect
  • Amulet: Devilish Aspect
  • Ring 1: Aspect of Giant Strides
  • Ring 2: Aspect of Vocalized Empowerment (dungeon drop)

If you want to get into the nitty gritty of stat priorities, refer to Snail’s original guide.

Paragon Boards for Double Swing Twisters Barbarian build

The Paragon Board system is very complex, and you’ll want to carefully pair your Glyphs with specific boards for your class:

  1. Starter Board / Twister Glyph
  2. Blood Rage / Exploit Glyph
  3. Warbringer / Territorial Glyph
  4. Carnage / Ambidextrous Glyph
  5. Decimator / Ire Glyph
  6. Flawless Technique / Undaunted Glyph

You should level your Glyphs to 15 in this specific order:

  1. Twister
  2. Exploit
  3. Ire
  4. Ambidextrous
  5. Undaunted
  6. Territorial

You can path your own way through the Paragon Boards following these basic guidelines. However, for the best results, follow Snail’s path exactly.

How to make a great Barbarian build

The best Barbarian builds for leveling in Diablo 4 season 4 (2) Image: Blizzard/Activision via Polygon

Barbarians are Diablo 4’s only pure melee class, with the other classes having hybrid builds for multiple ranges. There are four main ideas that all Barbarian builds stem from:

  • Fury dumping
  • Weapon swapping
  • Bleed
  • Berserk

Fury dump builds make use of the Unbridled Rage Key Passive, which causes your Fury spenders to cost double the Fury but deal more than double the damage. These kinds of builds obviously require very steady Fury generation, as it’s easy to starve yourself. Berserk builds that use the Unconstrained Key Passive are all about keeping your Barbarian in the Berserk stage at all times, which nets you a hefty bonus. All Barbarian builds will likely use some skills that make them go Berserk, the Unconstrained Key Passive just enhances the effect.

Bleed builds use the Gushing Wounds Key Passive to create a critical strike heavy build that’s great for whittling down groups of enemies with damage over time and explosions. Weapon swapping builds offer what is almost certainly the most unique playstyle for Barbarians and takes advantage of the Walking Arsenal Key Passive. The idea here is that you’re constantly swapping between your skills and weapons to give yourself massive damage buffs.

When making a build, you want to have one of these Key Passives in mind and choose your skills accordingly. Thankfully skills that share certain aspects (like Bleed) are color-coded on the skill tree, and you can even use the in-game search function to find them all. Other Barbarian builds let you take advantage of mechanics like Thorns or Shouts. But they still typically end with one of these Key Passives.

Looking for other Diablo 4 builds? We have explainers on the Sorcerer, Rogue, Druid, and Necromancer classes.

  1. Polygon
  2. Diablo 4 guides
  3. Altar of Lilith map
  4. Endgame bosses
  5. How to farm XP
  6. All Vampiric Powers
  7. All Aspect and dungeon locations
The best Barbarian builds for leveling in Diablo 4 season 4 (2024)

FAQs

What is the most powerful Barbarian build in Diablo 4? ›

Diablo 4 Best Barbarian PvP Build

In a twist of fate, the most dominant PvP Barbarian build in the current Diablo 4 meta is none other than the Whirlwind Barbarian. Harness the power of this Endgame build, armed with its recommended items and Paragon details, to become an unstoppable force in PvP encounters.

What is the fastest leveling Barbarian in Diablo 4? ›

The recommended World Tier to level in is 2 (Veteran) for the fastest experience. You can play on World Tier 1 (Adventurer), but with the changes to Helltide and the increased experience gain from 20% to 50%, we recommend World Tier 2 in almost all cases due to the significant increase in leveling speed.

What is the fastest way to level up Barbarian expertise? ›

The quickest way to farm Expertise for the Barbarian's Arsenal System is by using a Whirlwind build, as Whirlwind is the only Core Skill that can use any Arsenal weapon type. To maximize gaining Expertise ranks with Whirlwind, equip two different one-handed weapon types like Sword & Mace, Mace & Axe, or Sword & Axe.

What is the easiest class to play in Diablo 4 endgame? ›

The great news about Diablo 4 is all the classes — including Druid, Sorcerer, and Rogue — all have simple builds and complex builds. While Barbarian and Necromancer are probably the easiest for most players, they might not be the best first choice for you.

What's the best build for a Barbarian? ›

Weapon swapping builds offer what is almost certainly the most unique playstyle for Barbarians and takes advantage of the Walking Arsenal Key Passive. The idea here is that you're constantly swapping between your skills and weapons to give yourself massive damage buffs.

What is the most powerful Barbarian subclass? ›

While Totem Barbarian is the best all-rounder class, and Zealot arguably has the highest consistent damage output, Ancestral Guardian is the king of tanking with a well-organized party. Ancestral Protectors summons spirits that hinder enemies struck by the Guardian's first attack in a turn.

What is the hardest class to play in Diablo 4? ›

Like a Rogue, players will need to keep on edge to remain out of reach of enemies while also balancing the use of their mana. With all this in mind, Sorcerer may be one of the hardest classes to master, but still one of the best for players to enjoy if they are looking for a challenge.

What is the most picked class in Diablo 4? ›

Diablo 4's most popular classes are the Sorcerer and Necromancer, offering unique experiences with distinct builds and loadouts. The Sorcerer has experienced a resurgence in popularity due to its top-tier crowd-control mechanics and revamped loot potential.

What is the best Barbarian key passive in Diablo 4? ›

What makes Walking Arsenal the best Barbarian Key Passive in Diablo 4 is sheer versatility. Almost every build can use this Key Passive. While it is true that this skill restricts weapon selection to an extent, most endgame Barbarian builds are focused on Two-Handed weapons or Dual Wielding weapons anyway.

What is the secret in Barbarian? ›

After AJ - the owner of the Airbnb - finds himself face-to-face with Frank in the tunnels Barbarian reveals that The Mother is the result of Frank's decades-long reign of terror against women in Detroit.

What stat is best for Barbarian? ›

The primary ability score for all Barbarians is Strength. This is the key stat for wielding the biggest melee DnD weapons, like the Barbarian's iconic Greataxe. The class feature Rage (at first level) and Reckless Attack (at second) provide extra bonuses to Strength-based melee weapon attacks.

What is the strongest solo class in Diablo 4? ›

Best Diablo 4 Class For Solo Players
  1. Rogue. Sure enough, Rogues' twisting blade ability has diminished in this gaming season, but their versatility still helps them stand out. ...
  2. Barbarian. Barbarians come in a close second for Diablo 4 endgame in solo mode. ...
  3. Druid. ...
  4. Necromancer. ...
  5. Sorcerer.
Feb 15, 2024

What is currently the strongest class in Diablo 4? ›

The best class in Diablo 4 is the Rogue.

The Twisting Blades Rogue is an incredibly powerful build thanks to its ability to consistently inflict enemies with the Vulnerable and Infect status effects.

What is the least popular class in Diablo 4? ›

Druid suffers as the least played class in Diablo 4.

What is the strongest class Diablo 4? ›

1. Rogue. The Rogue is a high damage, high mobility class in Diablo 4, and it has one really strong build that sets it apart: Twisting Blades. Rogues have access to a powerful synergy using Twisting Blades and Shadow Imbuement.

What is the best construct build in Diablo 4? ›

For nearly every build in Diablo 4, the best construct build is to use Flash of Adrenaline with the Genesis, Tactical, and Duration supports. Flash of Adrenaline gives you a 25% multiplicative damage buff for eight seconds.

Is Rend Barbarian good in Diablo 4? ›

Strengths and Weaknesses for Rend Barbarian

Rend is a good build with high built-in damage, but it lacks AoE and mobility.

References

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