With the limitations imposed by the Diablo 4 beta, the Barbarian suffers compared to other classes. While playing a Waterspout or Hammer of the Ancients build is possible, especially on groups of enemies, it’s different with big bosses that will tear you to pieces. This is why the Barbarian meta build relies on a mix of bleeds, thorns, and damage reduction.
Table of Contents
Gameplay and building principle
The principle is quite simple: hit the enemy to make him bleed as much as possible, and every time he attacks, he will also hurt himself and bleed even more. Normally you will be able to use Rend quite often, without worrying too much about Fury with this build, if you have the right legendaries. You still need to use Flay regularly to maintain the damage reduction. Use the Galvanize and the Provocative Cry at the same time to absorb the damage. They must be used at the right time to maximize their impact. Healing potions should also be used sparingly to be the one to survive the fight. The call of the elders and especially the Coup de Grace are mainly there to help you with the bosses. Builder link.
Active skills
Here’s our suggested choice of skills in the skill bar. Also keep in mind that there are alternatives in the choice of skills. Whenever possible, look for items that give bonus points to these skills, especially Rending.
Passive bonuses
We only list the main passives, required for the build to function, that are used to reach the next level points requirement. There are other useful passives.
expertise
At the 5th level, the barbarian begins to gain experience with weapons that he regularly uses. At level 15, he unlocks a quest to access the next level of this feature, with special technique. Unfortunately, it cannot be completed in the beta version. So there’s not much to say about it at this point, except that the Barbarian should perform better, if he gets it.
Legendary powers and aspects
Powers are no longer necessarily tied to specific items, you can extract and administer them through the Occultist and the Power Codex. Here’s a list of the main powers you’ll need for this build:
- Thorns have a chance to do damage around you.
- You have a chance to get Fury every time Rend deals direct damage to a bleeding enemy.
- Skills deal bonus damage based on your resource level.
- Your next weapon skill deals extra damage for every 100 Fury you spend.
- For every 100 Fury you spend, you unleash a Tornado with your next main attack.
- Your basic attacks reduce the damage taken.
