Diablo 4: best Barbarian build guide

Use these skills to make the most of the Barbarian's bulky skill set

Contents

1. Diablo 4: best Barbarian skills
2. Diablo 4: best Barbarian passive skills
3. Diablo 4: Barbarian weapons expertise system

Diablo 4 is very much built for long-range attackers, as many of our boss guides will confirm — getting up close and personal with big beefy bosses is almost always a bad idea. Still, with the right build, Barbarians can get by alright, even becoming quite useful in multiplayer lobbies.

In this guide, we’ll take you through what we think is a pretty solid build for Barbarians in Diablo 4, including the best level-up skills in each skill cluster and more.

Be sure to check out our Diablo 4 tips and tricks for more handy pointers to make your time in Sanctuary a little bit easier, and read our Diablo 4 review if you’re still on the fence about jumping in. If you haven’t settled on a class yet, you can also check out or guide for the best starting class in Diablo 4.

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Diablo 4: best Barbarian skills

The Barbarian is a bit of a strange class, in terms of its skills. Unlike other classes, there aren’t clear “paths”, and players can mix and match between what little path separation there is without too much worry about messing up their build. Having said that, there are still a few skills that are largely necessary, especially since you’ll be up close and personal with the most terrifying bosses the series has seen. We’ve tried to stick to skills that are the most flexible, and the most useful, regardless of which weapons you find, but feel free to swap out skills you’re not keen on if you see something you might enjoy better.

Basic skill - Lunging Strike

Lunging Strike is a solid basic skill that dashes you forward a small distance and deals a good chunk of damage. Enhanced Lunging Strike heals you a little bit when you hit enemies, while Battle Lunging Strike inflicts bleed damage for a few seconds, which is a nice touch.

Whirlwind is a tried and true skill in every game in which Barbarians appear, and it’s just as useful and enjoyable as it always is. It’s a channeled skill, which means you can keep holding down the button and spinning until you run out of Fury, and fully upgraded it even gets a big damage buff after using it for a couple seconds.

Defensive skill - Ground Stomp

The Barbarian actually has a few decent defensive skills, with Rallying Cry and Iron Skin both having their place in the toolbar. Ground Stomp just takes the cake due to its secondary effect — activating the skill will deal damage to surrounding enemies, but also stun them for 3 seconds, which is a huge amount of time in a game like this. You can even upgrade it into Tactical Ground Stomp to refill a big chunk of your Fury bar.

Brawling skill - Leap or Charge

This is probably the only time we’ll recommend two skills from a skill branch in our build guides, and that’s only because it’s really difficult to choose between them. Both Leap and Charge do similar things: deal big damage to multiple enemies and knock them back. Leap does a little bit more damage and is a bit better for positioning, but Charge makes you unstoppable, and cleaves a path through a group of enemies. Both have their place, so you should give them both a try and see which one you like the most. Maybe even grab both and switch between them as the situation calls for it.

Weapon mastery skill - Steel Grasp

Steel Grasp chucks out a few chains, deals a bit of damage, and brings them to you. Alone that doesn’t sound too exciting, but there’s incredible combo potential with Whirlwind that makes picking this skill absolutely crucial. If you picked Leap too, you can combo Leap into Steel Grasp into Whirlwind, which is a great combo for dealing with large enemy groups.

Ultimate skill - Call of the Ancients

Call of the Ancient brings forth three ancient beings to help fight by your side for a few seconds, each of whom does a different thing. One will leap at enemies and deal a good chunk of damage, another does a whirlwind, and another upheaves the ground for massive damage. It’s a great skill, even if they’re only around for 6 seconds, and can really help in a pinch.

Key passive - Walking Arsenal

Walking Arsenal increases the damage of direct hits from two-handed and dual-wielded weapons, which is pretty much the endgame for the Barbarian anyway. There’s not much more to say about this — other key passives are fine, but they’re a fair bit more situational.

Diablo 4: best Barbarian passive skills

Throughout the skill tree, there are a number of passive skills that are worth picking up, and if you’re waiting to unlock the next branch of the tree, it’s worth picking up some of them to round out your skills a bit.

Here are the passives we suggest picking up when you can, along with brief descriptions:

• Pressure Point - Core skills can make enemies vulnerable
• Tough As Nails - Gain thorns, and your thorns do damage over time with bleeding damage
• Quick Impulses - control impairing effects last for less time
• Swiftness - increases movement speed
• Pit Fighter - deal more damage to close enemies
• Heavy Handed - Higher crit damage with two-handed weapons
• Invigorating Fury - Heal a little bit when you spend 100 Fury

Diablo 4: Barbarian weapons expertise system

The weapons expertise system is pretty simple to wrap your head around. The more you use specific weapons, the more they’ll level up, and they’ll get perks for doing that. For example, leveling up a two-handed axe has you dealing more damage to vulnerable enemies, while leveling up two-handed swords will make you deal bleeding damage. You’ll naturally get stronger as you use more weapons, so use whatever feels best to you and make the most of your weapon expertise bonuses.