Diablo 4 Barbarian Beginners Guide

Introduction

Welcome to our Diablo 4 Barbarian beginners guide! In this section, we go over the various pros and cons the Barbarian class has to offer, as well as their gameplay options. If you have been wondering whether or not The Barbarian is for you – look no further!

As expected from previous Diablo titles, the Barbarian prides itself in being the unrivaled master of physical combat, getting up in their enemy’s face with intense bloodlust. As a result, the Barbarian class is an incredibly fun class with a plethora of melee options. To further the idea of being a melee master, the Barbarian also can master multiple weapons for increased benefits!

Pros

Fairly tanky while maintaining good movement
Unique buff that gives both a 15% movement speed boost and a 25% damage buff
Insane burst damage when Fury is managed correctly

Cons

Very Fury reliant
Melee only
More of a late-game scaler

Resources

In Diablo 4, the Barbarian class uses Fury as their resource and is very much their bread and butter when it comes to dishing out damage.

Barbarian is very reliant on Fury to swing for the highest echelons of damage it can provide, as a result, keeping good management of your Fury can be much more beneficial than other classes.

Weapons

Barbarian in Diablo 4 has access to many melee weapons, as a result, this allows for decent variety in your preferred playstyles and build paths as some skills may require a specific weapon. The Barbarian can currently use the following:

Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons
Two-Handed Slashing Weapons
Main Hand Weapons (such as One-Handed Swords)
Off-Hand Weapons

Currently, we personally recommend using whatever you prefer the most when playing the Barbarian. The Barbarian has so many legendary options in Diablo that you would best work on the stats and effects it provides rather than the weapon itself! Throughout leveling, feel free to experiment and try all the combinations. It is worth noting however that base weapon damage is relevant for the Barbarian so always keep checking on the damage numbers when possible! Whichever main weapon you focus on, equipping any other weapon is always beneficial as a result of giving you the stats still. In terms of the Barbarian, you can equip a fair amount of weapons which each provide you with their stats.

Equipment Slots

Should you choose to play the melee master Barbarian class, you can currently equip twelve items in the available slots:

Two-handed Bludgeoning Weapon
Two-handed Slashing Weapon
Main Hand
Off-Hand
Head
Chest
Hands
Legs
Feet
Amulet
Ring 1
Ring 2

Starting out with your Barbarian, feel free to equip every better piece of gear you find, ideally in the endgame the best in slot set is when you want to try and find specific pieces. As a beginner, getting a good idea of the class definitely comes first before optimizing and build min/maxing.

Stats

The Barbarian in Diablo 4 much like every class in the game relies on specific stats that excel them more than others. Each class such as the Barbarian receives specific benefits based on the Core Stats of the game:

Core Stats

Strength – 0.1% Skill Damage
Intelligence – N/A
Willpower – 0.1% Resource Generation + 0.25% Overpower Damage
Dexterity – 0.02% Critical Strike Chance

Offensive Stats

Offensive Stats for the Barbarian are largely dependent on the build path you choose, however your weapon damage is important. As a result, acquiring high Strength and some Willpower for example on your weapon comes in handy. You can also use the following offensive stats on your Barbarian build:

Critical Strike Chance
Critical Strike Damage
Other Stats that are build-dependent such as Vulnerable or Overpower based builds

Defensive Stats

Much like the Class-Specific stat benefits you can receive, your Core Stats also assist your base defensive stats, however, this applies the same to all classes:

Strength – +1 Armor per Stat
Intelligence – +0.05% All Resistance per point
Willpower – 0.1% healing Received and 0.25% Overpower damage per point
Dexterity – 0.025% Dodge Chance per point

PvP Stats

PvP is a real thing in Diablo 4 was more of a dedicated focus to it. There are two stats that every class uses in PvP to keep things as level or simple as possible:

Damage Reduction – decreases the damage reduction granted against other players
Armor Contribution – a secondary armor stat that is PvP specific, giving you increased base damage reduction

There are various other stats useful to each class. To see more options for your Barbarian such as Utility Stats and more Defensive stats such as elemental resistances – check out our full Stats Guide!

Class Skill Groups

Diablo 4 does a great job of grouping sets of Skills to show their synergies and playstyle mechanics. Barbarian has the following groups:

Basic – resource generation skills, spam-able between skills and earning combo points
Core – core damage-dealing abilities that use the primary resource, your bread and butter
Defensive – Barbarians’ vast defensive and disruptive options
Brawling – skills that add utility to your build, mainly offensive battle engages with various boosts
Weapon Mastery – potentially the most important skill group for the Barbarian, huge DPS increases, some with potential cooldown resets for massive damage windows – fairly long cooldowns
Ultimate – the more powerful attacks you have access to, as a result, they have longer cooldowns

Most skills are also grouped depending on the weapons they need to use to activate them:

Two-Handed Bludgeoning Skills
Slashing Skills
Duel-Wield Skills
Two-Handed Skills

Class Mechanic – Weapon Arsenal System

Each class has a unique mechanic, defining the class and separating it from others. For the Barbarian in Diablo 4, this mechanic is known as the Weapon Arsenal System (Weapon Expertise).

The Barbarian has the ability to use their weapon expertise to truly master and bring out the best of their arsenal. Hence, the unique mechanic of the Weapon Arsenal System! This mechanic allows the Barbarian to use four different weapons simultaneously to bring out the absolute maximum potential of their kits.

The majority of the Barbarian’s Skills revolve around using specific weapons, and they cannot be used without that weapon. As a result, picking which weapons you wish to “master” and working your build towards those weapons is key for optimal output. When using each weapon the Barbarian can equip, through general gameplay the experience bars will gradually increase through use in combat, and with each rank of expertise – the specific weapon gains increased bonuses. Make sure to take the time to truly hone the weapons you want to use! To summarize, in short, the Barbarian’s unique mechanic achieves the following:

Unlocking the ability to wield four weapons at once, gaining all the gem, stat and legendary effects from them
Gaining “Expertise” with every available weapon, allowing the Barbarian to gain bonuses for using those weapons

Aspects

Aspects are legendary powers that can be extracted or also imprinted onto items. You can grab these Aspects through dungeons, Codex of Power, and finding Legendary items. Take a look at the current potential options you can build your Barbarian towards through Legendary Items:

Aspect of Ancestral Echoes – Damaging enemies with Leap, Upheaval, or Whirlwind has up to a 40% chance to summon an Ancient to perform the same Skill
Aspect of Echoing Fury – Your Shout Skills generate 2 Fury per second while active
Aspect of Ancestral Force – Hammer of the Ancients quakes outwards, dealing 32-50% of its damage to enemies (this Aspect in particular is incredibly power and likely a mainstay with a Two-Handed Weapon)
Aspect of Berserk Ripping – Whenever you deal direct damage while Berserking, inflict 22% of the base damage dealt as additional Bleed damage over 5 seconds
Aspect of the Expectant – Enemies hit with Basic Skills increases the damage of your next Core Skill by x5%, up to a x50% cap (another powerful Aspect that is likely to be a mainstay in a Two-Handed Weapon build)
Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind – Whirlwind’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by +5% for each second it’s channeled, up to a +20% cap
Relentless Berserker’s – Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Core Skill has up to a 22% chance to extend the duration of Berserking by 1 second. This duration is doubled if it was a Critical Strike

Barbarian Builds