The best Barbarian builds and skills in Diablo 4

The Barbarian is by far the beefiest class in Diablo 4, significantly tougher than the Sorcerer or the Rogue. With passives that enhance its overall health and health regeneration capabilities, the Barbarian can stand toe to toe with almost any boss. They are a valuable asset to players looking to clear harder content, as they are capable of tanking damage and even stunning enemies with some skills.

However, while the Barbarian is extremely sturdy, its damage potential is severely lacking by comparison. Though it can deliver debilitating debuffs to enemies, you won’t find yourself taking down swaths of foes as fast as the Sorcerer (unless you choose hyper-specific builds). Running a Barbarian requires a lot of investment into Legendary items and aspects in order to make it shine.

Here are the best Barbarian skills to get in Diablo 4.

Best Diablo 4 Barbarian Build — Single Target:

How to create the best Diablo 4 single target Barbarian build:

• Flay → Enhanced Flay → Combat Flay
• Lunging Strike → Enhanced Lunging Strike
• Rend → Enhanced Rend → Furious Rend
• Pressure Point 3/3
• Rallying Cry → Enhanced Rallying Cry → Tactical Rallying Cry
• Leap → Enhanced Leap → Power Leap
• Pit Fighter 3/3
• Swiftness → Quick Impulses
• Death Blow → Enhanced Death Blow → Warrior’s Death Blow
• Thick Skin → Defensive Stance → Counteroffensive
• Wrath of the Berserker → Prime Wrath of the Berserker → Supreme Wrath of the Berserker
• Duelist 3/3
• Walking Arsenal

Best Diablo 4 Barbarian Build — AoE

How to create the best Diablo 4 AoE Barbarian build:

• Flay → Enhanced Flay → Combat Flay
• Lunging Strike → Enhanced Lunging Strike
• Whirlwind → Enhanced Whirlwind
• Upheaval → Enhanced Upheaval
• Rallying Cry → Enhanced Rallying Cry → Tactical Rallying Cry
• Leap → Enhanced Leap → Power Leap
• Pit Fighter 3/3
• Death Blow → Enhanced Death Blow → Warrior’s Death Blow
• Thick Skin → Defensive Stance → Counteroffensive
• Steel Grasp → Enhanced Steel Grasp → Warrior’s Steel Grasp
• Iron Maelstrom → Prime Iron Maelstrom → Supreme Iron Maelstrom
• Gushing Wound

How to make a great Barbarian build in Diablo 4

Much like other classes, Barbarian has the ability to make enemies Vulnerable — meaning you’ll deal 20% more damage to said enemy. The Barbarian can also inflict Bleeding, which functions similarly to the Rogue’s poison as a form of damage over time. The Barbarian is also capable of Stunning enemies if you choose specific paths through its skill tree. All-in-all, it is a class that is focused more or less on debuffs and soaking damage to deal it back through Thorns.

However, this class is almost as agile as the Rogue. Players will want to invest at least a single skill point into Leap, as you can actually jump over or across terrain you cannot with the other classes. It’s also great in general as a traversal tool or to avoid damage from area of effect skills from bosses.

You can further enhance the power of your skills through the use of aspects, passive skills that are found on gear that you can remove and reapply on better gear. Here’s how that process works.

Image: Blizzard/Activision via Polygon

Additionally, the Barbarian can provide support for party members through the Rally Cry skill, which increases movement speed and resource regeneration while active. This makes the Barbarian more or less feel like a true support, or something similar to the Crusader in Diablo 3. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but instead facilities a very specific kind of play that encourages grouping up with other players.

The Barbarian has a multitude of Glyphs you’ll want to account for concerning weapon choice. Additionally, certain Glyphs work well with damage over time builds that focus on bleed, this includes the Bloodfeeder Glyph or the Legendary Blood Rage Glyph. However, you will want to read each Glyph carefully before deciding what you want to select, as a lot of it is dictated by whether or not you want to use Axes, Maces, or even both. Your Rare Glyphs are as valuable as Legendary Glyphs in the case of the Barbarian, so you will want to plan accordingly and build around what you’ve chosen to that point when you read the Legendary Nodes.

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