Best Barbarian Builds in Diablo 4

Are you ready to unleash your rage with the best Barbarian builds in Diablo 4? Read our guide to find out which Barbarian builds are the most bone-crushingly awesome.

Barbarian is one of the most popular classes in Diablo 4. The in-your-face style of gameplay with unrelenting attacks using a war chest of weapons appeals to many players. Masters of both dishing out and taking damage, the hulking warriors are a strong contender for the most user-friendly class. But even in that measure, there are some builds that are better than others. In this guide, we will list our picks for the currently best five Barbarian builds in Diablo 4.

Top 5 Barbarian Builds in Diablo 4

Barbarians use a variety of weapons to deal damage. All of their skills synergize with the use of one or more of their weapon arsenal. Being melee fighters, survivability and mobility are important staples for good builds. Therefore, many builds incorporate Legendary Aspects that enable these class traits.

Double Swing Barbarian

Seemingly simple on the surface, this build is decked in crowd control capabilities through the roof. With a full complement of shouts, and Ground Stomp for hard CC, this build then utilizes simple attack skills to demolish enemies. 

• Active skills:
  • Lunging Strike – gap closer and Fury generator
  • Double Swing – main damage skill and Fury generator
  • War Cry – damage buff shout
  • Rallying Cry – mobility and Fury generator shout
  • Challenging Shout – survivability and taunt shout
  • Ground Stomp – crowd control skill
• Passive skills:
  • Imposing Presence
  • Martial Vigor
  • Booming Voice
  • Raid Leader
  • Guttural Yell
  • Aggressive Resistance
  • Pit Fighter
  • No Mercy
  • Counteroffensive
  • Duelist
  • Wallop
  • Invigorating Fury
  • Unbridled Rage

With this build, you aim to use dual-wielding weapons. The best options are Maces, but Swords or Axes can work too. Some standout Legendary Aspects that fit this build include:

• Accelerating Aspect
• Aspect of Audacity
• Bold Chieftain’s Aspect
• Exploiter’s Aspect
• Aspect of Limitless Rage
• Smiting Aspect

Upheaval Barbarian

This Barbarian build is the closest thing this class can get to being ranged. As the name suggests, this build uses Upheaval as its main source of damage. This skill can deal damage to many enemies at once, so you’ll use Ground Stomp to keep them in place and generate resources, and Lunging Strike to dash around the battlefield. As with most Barbarian builds, even this build uses the whole slew of shouts for buffs.

• Active skills:
  • Lunging Strike – gap closer and Fury generator
  • Upheaval – main damage skill with great AoE and range
  • War Cry – damage buff shout
  • Rallying Cry – mobility and Fury generator shout
  • Challenging Shout – survivability and taunt shout
  • Ground Stomp – crowd control skill and Fury generator
• Passive skills:
  • Swiftness
  • Booming Voice
  • Thick Skin
  • Counteroffensive
  • Raid Leader
  • Endless Fury
  • Unbridled Rage
  • Guttural Yell
  • Pit Fighter
  • Imposing Presence
  • Martial Vigor
  • Heavy Handed
  • Tempered Fury
  • Invigorating Fury

The main weapon for this build is two-handed bludgeoning. Therefore, make sure that you put your best weapon in that slot and maintain it as the strongest. Some useful Legendary Aspects include:

• ‍Relentless Berserker’s Aspect 
• ‍Aspect of Echoing Fury
• ‍Aspect of the Umbral
• ‍Aspect of Berserk Ripping
• ‍Aspect of Disobedience
• ‍Aspect of Might
• ‍Iron Blood Aspect
• ‍Ghostwalker Aspect

Rend Barbarian

This build makes Barbarian’s enemies bleed to death with a single swing of his sword. If you enjoy playing with damage-over-time effects, this is a great build for you. It revolves around using mobility, shouts, and the Rend skills to kills mobs and bosses alike. 

• Active skills:
  • Lunging Strike – gap closer and Fury generator
  • Rend – main damage skill with damage-over-time bleed effect
  • Steel Grasp – utility skill that pulls enemies into your range
  • War Cry – damage buff shout
  • Rallying Cry – mobility and Fury generator shout
  • Challenging Shout – survivability and taunt shout
• Passive skills:
  • Hamstring
  • Swiftness
  • Cut to the Bone
  • Pit Fighter
  • Gushing Wounds
  • Imposing Presence
  • Booming Voice
  • Guttural Yell
  • Raid Leader
  • Martial Vigor
  • Aggressive Resistance
  • Prolific Fury
  • Heavy Handed

This build uses two-handed swords as it’s main weapon of choice. However, look to invest equally in Two-handed Sword and Two-Handed Axe Expertise in your Arsenal. Then, use the Axe expertise in conjunction with Sword for greater effect. For Legendary Aspects, look for:

• Relentless Berserker’s Aspect
• Ghostwalker Aspect
• Aspect of Disobedience
• Aspect of Echoing Fury

HotA Barbarian

Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian, usually abbreviated to HotA Barb, was among the most powerful builds in the game. While it received several nerfs, it’s still a very strong build to play with. It uses its namesake skill to deal AoE damage, greatly helped with an important building block, the Aspect of Ancestral Force. This build is still very strong and rewarding, but requires good Fury management and usage of Barbarian shouts.

• Active skills:
  • Bash – main Fury generator and moderate crowd control skill
  • Hammer of the Ancients – main damage skill with great damage and AoE
  • War Cry – damage buff shout
  • Rallying Cry – mobility and Fury generator shout
  • Challenging Shout – survivability and taunt shout
  • Ground Stomp – main crowd control skill
• Passive skills:
  • Booming Voice
  • Guttural Yell
  • Raid Leader
  • Swiftness
  • Aggressive Resistance
  • Prolific Fury
  • Pit Fighter
  • Thick Skin
  • Counteroffensive
  • Heavy Handed
  • Brute Force
  • Wallop
  • Unbridled Rage

This build utilizes the full power of two-handed bludgeoning weapons to deal AoE damage with Hammer of the Ancients. Moreover, with the skill setup, this build only uses two-handed maces, so other arsenal slots are mere stat-sticks. There are a few important Legendary Aspects with this build, including:

• Aspect of Ancestral Force
• Edgemaster’s Aspect
• Aspect of Disobedience
• Aspect of Might
• Bold Chieftain’s Aspect
• Aspect of Limitless Rage
• Aspect of the Expectant
• Earthquake Aspect

Whirlwind Barbarian

Spin-to-Win is an old Barbarian strategy, and in Diablo 4, that’s represented by fan-favourite Whirlwind Barbarian. In theory, for this build to work all you need to do is hold one button and move around the screen. In practice, of course, there is more to it. This is a preferred speedfarming build for Barbarians, with great mob pack clear speeds. Notably, it is also the only build on our list that uses an Ultimate skill.

• Active skills:
  • Lunging Strike – gap closer and Fury generator
  • Whirlwind – main damage skill with channeled effect
  • War Cry – damage buff shout
  • Rallying Cry – mobility and Fury generator shout
  • Challenging Shout – survivability and taunt shout
  • Wrath of the Berserker – Ultimate skill that provides a major damage buff
• Passive Skills:
  • Imposing Presence
  • Booming Voice
  • Raid Leader
  • Guttural Yell
  • Swiftness
  • Aggressive Resistance
  • Prolific Fury
  • Pit Fighter
  • Counteroffensive
  • Wallop
  • Concussion
  • Unbridled Rage

This build utilizes dual-wielding weapons to deal damage with Whirlwind. Ideally, you’d use both a sword and a mace, and even better if you manage to get Ramaladni’s Magnum Opus to drop. This Unique Legendary weapon is an enormous damage boost. For Legendary Aspects, look out for:

• Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind
• Aspect of Disobedience
• Aspect of Echoing Fury
• Bold Chieftain’s Aspect
• Aspect of Limitless Rage
• Smiting Aspect
• Aspect of Numbing Wrath
• Ghostwalker Aspect
• Edgemaster’s Aspect

Before breaking skulls with your Barbarian, make sure to check out more Diablo 4 guides by N4G Unlocked, like How to Get Accursed Touch, Diablo 4 Season 2 Pacts, and How To Get The Seeker Keys.