Best Builds for Barbarian in Diablo 4
Introduction
Are you looking for one of the Best Barbarian Builds in Diablo 4? Well, you've come to the right place! Using the right build for your preferred playstyle is very important, so you must carefully choose your skills, gear, and stats.
First, we'll start with the basics, clarify what a build is, look into every barbarian build component and how it affects the gameplay, and cover the best barbarian build for beginners and for leveling.
Then, we will go through some of the top builds, showcasing the Best PvE & PvP Build for Barbarians in Diablo 4. Finally, by the end of this guide, you'll be aware of the best barbarian builds in the ongoing meta, so you can easily choose the perfect option for your character to match your play style.
Key Takeaways
The Best Barbarian Builds in Diablo 4 are:
- Best Build for Barbarian (Melee): HotA
- Best Build for Barbarian Beginners: HotA
- Best Build for Leveling as a Barbarian: HotA
- Best Build as a Solo Barbarian: HotA
- Best Build for DPS Barbarians: Double Swing
- Best Barbarian Speedfarming Build: Whirlwind
- Best Hardcore Build for Barbarians: HotA
What is a Build in Diablo 4?
In Diablo 4, builds are composed of a specific set of gear, skills, talents, stats, paragon tiles, and glyphs selected by the player, designed for a specific PvE or PvP activity like Nightmare Dungeons or Fields of Hatred.
Like any ARPG game, Diablo 4 has a complex character progression system that revolves around various types of gear, skills, and end-game activities that require specific, powerful builds to be prepared.
Table of Contents
Here is what we are going to focus on in our guide regarding the Barbarian's Best Builds in Diablo 4:
- Build components
- Choosing the best build
- Best Build for Beginners
- Best Melee Barbarian Builds
- Best Solo & Group Builds
- Best PvE & PvP Builds
- Best Speedfarming Builds
- Best Support Builds as a Barbarian
- Best DPS Barbarian Builds
- Best Softcore & Hardcore Builds For a Barbarian
- Best Builds for Barbarians in Diablo 4 - FAQ
- Final Thoughts
In the next section of our guide, we will speak about every component that goes into a barbarian build.
Build components for a Diablo 4 Barbarian
The core elements of a build for barbarians in Diablo 4 are:
- The Weapons
- The Gear
- The Skills
- The Stats
- The Unique Class Mechanic
- The Legendary Aspects
- The Paragon Tile & Glyphs
You must consider these components when creating a build for your character. When chosen carefully, all the components come together to create a powerful synergy that will show the excelling power of the barbarian class.
Barbarian Weapons
Barbarian's weapons are the first thing you must choose for the perfect build to fit your playstyle. Barbarians can equip up to four weapons, giving them the ability to deal big chunks of damage to enemies in a close-combat playstyle.
Weapons come in various qualities in the game: legendary weapons, unique weapons, sacred weapons (higher tier legendary), and ancestral items (higher tier sacred). The Barbarian can equip and use up to 4 weapons at the same time: 2x one-handed weapons and 2x two-handed weapons.
Barbarian Gear
Just like the weapons, players must choose from various types of gear when creating the best build, such as Unique Items and God-rolled Legendary Items. There are eight gear slots that you must fill with the best variants for your build: helm, chest, gloves, pants, boots, amulet, and two rings.
While trying to create a specific build, you want to look for particular pieces of equipment containing legendary aspects or to apply these aspects to a better piece of gear. As a general rule, most of the gear pieces, if not all, should contain a legendary aspect.
Note: The aspect placed on the Amulet will gain 50% more power, so choosing the best aspect is very important.
Barbarian Skills
Best skills to use as a barbarian - Skill tree explained
While most of the skills deal damage, you can opt for a more survivability-based skill set. We will go further into detail later in the article.
Basic Skills
Basic skills are mostly used as a filler or fury generation since they have a low damage output and use no fury. They can also inflict crowd control like Stun and Vulnerable to enemies:
- Bash
- Flay
- Frenzy
- Lunging Strike
Core Skills
When going for the best build as a barbarian, core skills play a vital role if you want to maximize the damage output. Core skills are the fury consumers, abilities with no cooldown that are the centerpiece of any build:
- Hammer of the Ancients
- Rend
- Whirlwind
- Double Swing
- Upheaval
Defensive Skills
Defensive skills are the best way for a barbarian to survive the enemies' attacks:
- Ground Stomp
- Iron Skin
- Challenging Shout
- Rallying Cry
Brawling Skills
Brawling skills are here to boost the damage or crowd control the enemies:
- War Cry
- Kick
- Leap
- Charge
Weapon Mastery Skills
Weapon mastery skills provide a nice selection of either executes or debuffing skills :
- Death Blow
- Rupture
- Steel Grasp
Ultimate Skill
If you aim for one of the meta builds for your barbarian, you should definitely use an adequate ultimate skill as well. By far the most powerful skills, the ultimate skills have a high effectiveness, the only drawback being the high cooldowns:
- Call of the Ancients
- Iron Maelstorm
- Wrath of the Berserker
Best Barbarian Talents in D4
Top builds use top talents! This applies to all classes - barbarians included. Talents are passive abilities found alongside skills in the skill tree and are extremely important when going for one of the best builds in the game. There are 34 different talents to choose from, and they are distributed in all the skill categories except the basic skill category.
Each build has its selection of Best Talents, depending on the activity or playstyle, so we can't give you a general selection.
Best Stats for Barbarian
Regardless of the class or playstyle you choose in Diablo 4, the stats are critical, especially when going for one of the best builds in the game.
Diablo 4 Barbarian Stats Overview
The barbarian benefits the most from the Strength stat, as it increases the skill damage and offers an increased armor. Also, please remember that higher-level items will provide more stat points, so feel free to change your items often until you find the perfect ones.
Barbarian Stat Priority
Overall, the most common stat priority for barbarians in Diablo 4 would look like this:
Barbarian Offensive Stats: Strength > Dexterity > Willpower > Intelligence
Note: Strength will always be the first choice, no matter the build.
Best Gear for Barbarian Class
Choosing the best gear for our build
Getting better gear in Diablo 4 is pretty straightforward; the higher the difficulty you are playing on, the better the rewards will be. For example, Veteran difficulty's top items are Unique, Nightmare's top items are Sacred, and Torment's top items are Ancestral. We expect activities like Nightmare Dungeons or Helltide events to be the best place to farm these kinds of items.
Arsenal System
Does arsenal matter when choosing a meta build for our barbarian? Absolutely. The Arsenal is Barbarian's unique class mechanic that can be unlocked early in the game. All the arsenal choices are used to Empower your character's damage.
The Arsenal lets you equip the following four weapons and level up their expertise level to gain bonuses:
- Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon
- Two-Handed Slashing Weapon
- One-Handed Weapon
- Off-hand
Strongest Aspects and Legendaries for Barbarian in Diablo 4
The Legendary Aspects are powerful bonuses granted to Legendary items that can be extracted and applied to other items. They can be obtained by completing dungeons or extracting the Legendary Aspects from Legendary items.
Note: Please keep in mind that imprinting legendary aspects from the Codex of Power to an item will grant the lowest possible roll value.
Considering the fact that every build has its own vital Aspects, we will go further into detail about this subject in each of the builds that can be found below.
Paragon Board, Tiles, and Glyphs
Just like the other components of a barbarian build, the Paragon Board, Tiles, and Glyphs play a significant role in taking your character to maximum power. Choosing which tile to unlock, what paragon board to stick next to a gate tile, and what glyph to use is critical if you want to be one of the most powerful barbarians in Diablo 4.
In the next section of our guide, we will teach you how to choose the best build for your barbarian to perfectly match your playstyle.
Choosing the Best Build as a Barbarian
In this section, we will cover the basics and go through the different types of barbarian builds, explain what the meta builds are, and how to fit a build to your play style.
Types of Barbarian Builds
In Diablo 4, there are numerous ways to play a class. While not limited to choosing between the melee skills, combining them in the right way might be difficult. Each build comes with its own particularities, like the aspects, talents, and specialization mentioned beforehand.
In terms of playstyle, the Barbarian can be played as:
- Melee DPS
- Melee AoE DPS
- Melee DoT DPS
- Tank
Whichever build you choose, the barbarian is good at dealing damage at close range. The overall high life pool and choice of fundamental defensive skills make the Barbarian viable for a Tank build. On top of that, the barbarian lacks healing capabilities, restricting him from having a Healer build.
In the following section of our guide, we will cover the best builds for barbarians depending on playstyle, game mode, and role. Sound good, right?
What is the Best Barbarian Build in Diablo 4?
"What is the Best Build as a Barbarian in Diablo 4?" This might be the most frequent question asked in most of the Diablo franchise games, and even though it's so common, there is no easy answer. The best builds excel in one or a few types of activities while having weaknesses in others, so multiple builds will be needed to cover every end-game aspect of the game.
If you are looking for a detailed overlook of the best builds for every category of activities, look no further. Later in the guide, we will analyze each build separately.
For now, let's cover the easiest-to-play play builds for barbarians, shall we?
Best Barbarian Build for Beginners
Looking from a beginner player's perspective, we selected the best playstyle for this build. Considering that the barbarian has a very low Life pool and barbarians need to move a lot and position correctly, we tailored this build with the easiest skills to use, combined with the best talents to boost survivability and damage output.
The gear will often be changed as you level up, so there isn't a fixed list of items. It would be best if you focused on equipping the highest item level available, with the stat priority that can be found further in the article.
For the skills, we will choose the following:
- Frenzy with the Enhanced and Combat upgrades
- Upheaval with the Enhanced and Furious upgrades
- Rallying Cry with the Enhanced and Strategic upgrades
- War Cry with Enhanced and Mighty upgrade
- Death Blow with the Enhanced and Warrior upgrades
- Call of the Ancients with the Supreme upgrade
The best talents for beginners would be:
- Booming Voice - Shout skills duration is increased
- Endless Fury - Basic skills using two-handed weapons generate more Fury
- Imposing Pressence - Overall increased life
- Tough as Nails - Increase the percentage of Thorns
- Outburst - Gain thorns for bonus max life
- Guttural Yell - Shout skils decrease damage dealt by enemies
The stat priority would be: Strength > Dexterity > Willpower > Intelligence
The best properties that you should focus on are:
- +% Core Skill Damage
- +% Cooldown Reduction
- +% Critical Strike Chance
- +% Critical Strike Damage
- +% Damage to Close Enemies
We won't go into legendary aspects, since that will be a bit more complicated. While using this build, you will get accommodated to the barbarian and the play style, and you can easily transition to the leveling build, which we will go into next.
Note: If you want to change the Upheaval skill to the Whirlwind, the easiest way is to have an extra skill point, invest it into Whirlwind then refund one point from Upheaval. If you have multiple points in Upheaval, repeat the process.
Best Barbarian Leveling Build
From our experience with the beta phase, we could say that the best leveling build would be one of the AoE Builds. While leveling, you must complete the main quest line, strongholds, side quests, and much more.
The AoE Builds are by far the quickest way to slay big packs of demons while also having significant movement speed so that you can complete activities quickly.
The highest-item level should be a priority for the gear since it will offer more stats and a higher percentage of affixes.
For the skills, we will choose the following:
- Basic Skill - Frenzy with the Combat upgrade
- Core Skill - Whirlwind with the Furious Whirlwind upgrade
- Defensive Skill - Rallying Cry with the Strategic upgrade
- Brawling Skill - War Cry with the Mighty upgrade
- Weapon Mastery Skill - Death Blow with the Warrior upgrade
- Ultimate Skill - Call of the Ancients with the Supreme upgrade
Note: All the skills except the ultimate skill include the Enhanced upgrade.
The best talents for leveling would be:
- Booming Voice - Shout skills duration is increased
- Endless Fury - Basic skills using two-handed weapons generate more Fury
- Imposing Pressence - Overall increased life
- Tough as Nails - Increase the percentage of Thorns
- Outburst - Gain thorns for bonus max life
- Guttural Yell - Shout skils decrease damage dealt by enemies
The stat priority would be: Strength > Dexterity > Willpower > Intelligence
The best properties that you should focus on are:
- +% Core Skill Damage
- +% Cooldown Reduction
- +% Critical Strike Chance
- +% Critical Strike Damage
- +% Damage to Close Enemies
The legendary aspects recommended would be:
- Aspect of Ancestral Echoes - Has a chance to summon an Ancient to perform the same skill
- Aspect of Anemia - Hitting bleeding enemies has a chance of stunning them
- Aspect of Berserk Fury - Gain fury while Berserking
- Aspect of Burning Rage - While Berserking, deal fire damage to enemies surrounding
- Aspect of Echoing Fury - Shout skills generate fury
- Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind - Whirlwind pulls enemies to you
Does this look like too much? Well, you can always buy a Leveling Boost. Let our professional boosters do the time-consuming part so you can enjoy the end-game content quickly.
Best Barbarian Build for Melee
In this part of the article, we will look at the most powerful melee builds to use as a damage dealer (DPS) Barbarian that performs very well in most of the PvE activities in diablo 4, such as Strongholds, Dungeons, Leveling and world events.
Single Target Melee Builds for Barbarian
Rend Barbarian Build:
AoE Melee Builds for Barbarian
Whirlwind Barbarian Build:
HotA Barbarian Build:
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All of the builds mentioned above are considered best melee barbarian builds as general builds. We will go into detail about specific builds for different activities later in the guide, but until then, we will continue with the solo and group builds.
Best Solo Barbarian Builds
What are the best solo builds for Barbarians in Diablo 4? Even if you are a new or experienced player in the Diablo franchise, at some point, you will search for a build that fits your needs, with simple mechanics but huge potential for every activity out there, right?
Well, the best advice is to find a build that really fits your playstyle, so you'll enjoy the game to the fullest. To make it easy for you, we have compiled a list of the best solo builds for barbarians.
The best builds for Barbarian as a solo player are:
- Whirlwind Build
- HotA Build
- Double Swing Build
Whirlwind Build
The Whirlwind build is a very powerful choice if you are looking for a combination of bleed and AoE clear.
HotA build
If you are looking for a very powerful AoE clearer with strong single-target damage, then the HotA build is the perfect choice for you.
Double Swing Build
If you want to play the most powerful single-target Barbarian build, the Double Swing Build might be the best for you.
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In the next section, we will look into the best Barbarian builds for group play, shall we?
Best Barbarian Builds for Groups
Eventho the barbarian lacks group utility skills, they are excellent damage dealers. Paired up with a tank and a support player, the barbarian can deal massive amounts of damage with close to no drawbacks. We will look into some builds that have the potential mentioned above.
The best builds for Barbarian as a group player are:
- Whirlwind Build
- HotA Build
- Walking Arsenal Build
Whirlwind Build
The Whirlwind build is great for soloing, but now imagine having a support to enhance all its abilities.
HotA Build
The HotA build is a great all-rounder that gets even more powerful when paired up with a support by its side.
Walking Arsenal Build
The Walking Arsenal build is a great all-rounder that gets even more powerful when paired up with a support by its side.
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Following up, we will look into the best barbarian builds for PvE and PvP activities.
Best PvE Barbarian Builds
In this section, we will review the Top Builds to use as a damage dealer for any PvE activity in Diablo 4, such as Strongholds, Dungeons, Nightmare Dungeons, and Helltide events. These builds revolve around different gear and playstyles, as they are meant to provide the highest damage output for the activity at hand.
The best Barbarian DPS builds to use for PvE in Diablo 4 are:
- HotA Build
- Whirlwind Build
- Leapquake Build
HotA
The Hammer of the Ancients build is a great AoE clearer, with decent single target damage, perfect for pushing nightmare dungeons or breezing through any activity out there.
Whirlwind
Spin for the win! While the Whirlwind build has a small AoE range, the damage and how easy it is to play surely makes up for it.
Leapquake
Wanna see your enemies bleed to death while you continue on your journey? Then the Leapquake build is the perfect choice for you.
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Next, we'll take a look at the other side of the gameplay, the mighty PvP.
Best PvP Barbarian Builds
This article category presents the best PvP barbarian builds to use as a DPS in the Fields of Hatred open-world PvP zone. These builds stand out and transform you into a player slayer. Compared to the PvE, in competitive fights, each of the elements of the build, as well as your skills, really make the difference, so practice is also needed.
The best build to use as a barbarian for PvP in Diablo 4 is the Thorns Build.
Thorns Build
What is better than seeing your enemies die while trying to kill you? This build makes it so easy that you don't even need to move. The Thorns build centers around all the defensive affixes and skills you can get.
That looks like a lot, doesn't it? Well, there's an easy way to get the perfect build for you, so you can jump straight into slaying other players. You can buy the Thorns Build straight from our store!
Next in the article, we will dive deep into the best barbarian build for Speedfarming dungeons without worrying about anything.
Best Speedfarming Barbarian Builds
In this section, we will debate which is the best barbarian build for speed-farming activities like Dungeons, world events, or Helltide events.
The best Speedfarming builds for Barbarian are:
- Whirlwind
- HotA
Whirlwind Build
HotA Build
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Now that we've covered the speed farming builds, let's look at the best Support builds for barbarians in Diablo 4.
Best Support Barbarian Builds
In the end-game, having a support in your group is a must, so let's check out support builds for barbarians.
The best Barbarian Support build in Diablo 4 is the Rend Build.
While most of the builds use the shouts to support, the Rend build might be the best one to use for this role.
Rend
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Following up, we'll take a look at the DPS builds for the barbarian in Diablo 4.
Best DPS Barbarian Builds
Being a DPS is something that barbarians do best, so let's have a look at the best DPS builds you can use to maximize your damage output.
The best Barbarian DPS builds in Diablo 4 are:
- Double Swing Build
- HotA Build
- Whirlwind Build
- Leapquake Build
As we have said earlier, there is no one best build for barbarians in Diablo 4. The best builds are divided by playstyle, activity, role, and game mode.
Knowing that, let's have a look at the best Softcore and Hardcore builds for barbarians.
Best Barbarian Builds for Softcore
Softcore builds are created for pushing as hard as you can, with the focus primarily on damage and speed, even if that might result in death sometimes.
The best Barbarian Softcore builds to use in Diablo 4 are:
- HotA Build
- Whirlwind Build
HotA Build
While Whirlwind is better for speed farming, HotA Build is better for pushing and higher-tier nightmare dungeons.
Whirlwind Build
The whirlwind build is a great choice when it comes to any activity in the game except pushing high-tier nightmare dungeons.
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In the final part of our guide, we will talk about the hardcore builds, and why they are different from the softcore builds.
Best Barbarian Builds for Hardcore
Just like in Diablo 3, if you die in hardcore mode, you are done. So compared to the softcore build, we'll approach a more defensive based builds so that surviving won't be an issue, and you won't have to start over again and again.
The best Barbarian Hardcore build in Diablo 4 is the Hammer of the Ancients (HotA) build.
HotA Build
We chose the HotA build for the high damage, overall high range for the Hammer of the Ancients, and good survivability.
If interested, you can also buy the HotA Build from our store, and we will prepare your custom build directly on your account in no time.
Now that we have gone through all the builds we could think of, we are approaching the end of the guide. Hopefully, by now, you learned what makes a build good and what are the best builds for barbarians in Diablo 4 based on various factors such as difficulty, playstyle, activity, and game mode.
Best Diablo 4 Barbarian Builds - FAQ
1. What is the best build for Barbarians in Diablo 4?
There is no wonder-build in Diablo 4 for barbarians, but if you are looking for the best build for a specific activity, we have everything covered in this guide.
2. What is the easiest build to play as a Barbarian in D4?
The best Diablo IV Barbarian Beginner build is definitely the "HotA" build, considering how powerful and easy it is to play.
3. What is the best Diablo 4 Barbarian leveling build?
The best Diablo 4 Barbarian Leveling build is, for sure, the "HotA" build. The speed of clearing mobs and the mobility makes leveling a breeze.
4. What is the best solo build for Barbarian in Diablo 4?
The best Solo build for Barbarians in D4 is "HotA" for melee.
5. What is the best Diablo 4 Hardcore Barbarian Build?
The best Diablo 4 Hardcore build for Barbarians is "HotA" because of the damage output and the survivability.
6. What is the best Diablo 4 PvP Barbarian Build?
The best Diablo 4 PvP build for Barbarians is the "Thorns build" because of its survivability.
7. What is the best DPS Barbarian Build?
As we said, there is no best dps build as a whole, but there is a best build for any activity out there.
Final Thoughts
We designed our Best Barbarian Build Guide to help you make the right decisions from the early game and create the meta Barb for the end-game quickly. We hope that our tips & tricks will help you progress fast and build the most powerful Barbarian in D4.
Keep an eye on our Diablo 4 Barb Builds guide because we will do the research as soon as Blizzard releases new content and regularly update information.
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