In this Diablo 4 guide, we’ll showcase some of the best Barbarian leveling builds in the game.
This guide covers the best Barbarian leveling builds in the game to help you level faster from 1 to 50 in no time. If you want to take your time (which we recommend), these Barbarian builds will help you for smoother gameplay and enjoyment. Choosing a good starter build is important because it’s easier for the player to target the Legendary Aspects for that specific build.
We’ve played all these builds and find them the best for the Barbarian class. If you enjoy these guides or want more Diablo 4 builds or guides, we recommend our Diablo 4 Complete Guide.
Whirlwind Barbarian Build
The Whirlwind build is one of the best Barbarian builds in the game. As the name suggests, this build focuses on the Whirlwind ability coupled with the Lunging Strike Fury generator for that extra healing and the bleed dot on the targets.
Main Skills
Technique
Legendary Aspects
- Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind – Whirlwind’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by [5 – 10%] for each second it is channeled, up to [20 – 40%]. Add this power to your amulet for the 50% bonus. Unlocked by completing Garan Hold in Scosglen.
- Aspect of Echoing Fury – Your Shout Skills generate [2.0 – 4.0] Fury per second while active. Unlocked by completing Sirocco Caverns in Kehjistan
- Aspect of Berserk Ripping – Whenever you deal direct damage while Berserking, inflict [20 – 30%] of the Base damage dealt as additional Bleeding damage over 5 seconds. Unlocked by completing Mournfield in Dry Steppes.
Gameplay
The Whirlwind Barb is a pretty strong build for both leveling and endgame. However, for this build to work at its finest, we need the Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind, which boosts the ability considerably. It’s not to say that without it won’t perform, but you’ll notice a big shift in power once you get it.
This is a heavy Bleed build, enabled by the Fury generator, Lunging Strike, and Whirlwind. By choosing Pressure Point as our passive, we also have a 30% chance to apply Vulnerable to our enemies while using Whirlwind.
Rallying Cry further augments the build, offering increased movement speed, 40% Fury generation, and a 10% Base Life as Fortify. Challenging Shout is used as a survivability cooldown, debuffing the target with a 40% damage reduction, a bonus to your max life, and a Fury generation component.
War Cry is our on-demand buff, granting 15% damage increase to your and your party, as well as Berserking and 15% more life. Using the Aspect of Berserk Ripping, we’ll also gain another Bleed while War Cry is active.
Call of the Ancients is our long cooldown buff, summoning 3 Ancients to aid you in the battle for 6 seconds. The damage is pretty good, but due to the long cooldown, it can be used as our “oh sh^t” moment or when fighting Elites.
Our Key Passive for this build is Unconstrained, increasing Berserk’s maximum duration by 5 seconds and its damage bonus by 25%.
Lastly, we’re going with the 2H Sword for our Technique slot since it applies up to 30% of your damage as Bleeding to the targets.
Skill Tree
Here’s the complete build for our Whirlwind Barbarian leveling build, including the Skill Tree and all the necessary nodes. Click on the image below to go to the skill planner.
Rend Barbarian Build
The Rend Barbarian build is based on debuffing your enemies with Vulnerable while cleaving your targets with Rend. The build has a powerful Bleed component, further amplified by passives and the Iron Maelstrom Ultimate. Let’s dive into the core build and skills.
Main Skills
Technique
Legendary Aspects
- Aspect of Might – Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0 – 6.0] seconds. This Aspect will be imprinted on the amulet for the 50% bonus. Unlocked by completing Dark Ravine in Dry Steppes
- Rapid Aspect – Basic Skills gain 15% Attack Speed.
- Aspect of Retribution – Distant enemies have a 8% chance to be Stunned for 2 seconds when they hit you. You deal [20 – 40]% increased damage to Stunned enemies. Unlocked by completing Abandoned Mineworks in Kehjistan
Gameplay
The Rend Barb build is an engaging build that focuses on applying Bleed to your enemies and doing heavy AoE and single damage. Lunging Strike is our Fury generator and one of the main sources of applying Vulnerable.
Rend is our heavy hitter, doing mass amounts of damage in both single target and AoE situation while also extending Vulnerable on the targets. Rend also generates up to 20 Fury per hit, increasing its uptime.
Ground Stomp is our low cooldown CC ability which Stuns surrounding enemies for 3 seconds. What’s also good about Ground Stomp is that it also lowers the cooldown of Iron Maelstrom, for each enemy hit.
Next, we have Leap as our mobility spell, with a knockback on hit and 40 Fury generated per use.
Rupture is the second heavy hitter of this build, consuming all the Bleeds from the targets and doing the damage instantly. It’s also a good AoE attack since 30% of the bleeding damage is applied as a Bleed for all the targets in the vicinity.
Iron Maelestrom is our 60-second Ultimate, which hits like a truck with all your equipped weapons. The cooldown is lowered each time we hit enemies with Ground Stomp, forming a good synergy.
Lastly, for our Key Passive, we’re running Walking Arsenal; every time we deal direct damage with a Two-Handed Bludgeoning, Two-Handed Slashing, or Dual Wielded weapons, 10% increased damage is granted for 6 seconds. While all three damage bonuses are active, you gain an additional 15% increased damage.
We’re using 2H Axe for our Technique, which increases our damage to Vulnerable enemies by 15% and 10% Critical Strike Chance.
Skill Tree
Here’s the complete build for our Rend Barbarian leveling build with the Skill Tree and all the necessary nodes. Click on the image below to go to the skill planner.
HotA Barbarian Build
The HotA Barbarian Build uses Hammer of the Ancients as its main Core ability. This build’s main mechanic is spending large amounts of Fury when using Hammer of the Ancients. That’s because HotA deals 1% damage per Fury point spent. Let’s dive into the main skills, aspects, and gameplay mechanics.
Main Skills
Technique
Legendary Aspects
- Aspect of Berserk Ripping – Whenever you deal direct damage while Berserking, inflict [20 – 30%] of the Base damage dealt as additional Bleeding damage over 5 seconds. Imprint this on the amulet for the 50% extra bonus. Unlocked by completing Mournfield in Dry Steppes.
- Aspect of Ancestral Force – Hammer of the Ancients quakes outwards, dealing [32 – 50%] of its damage to enemies. Unlocked by completing Sunken Ruins in Scosglen.
- Aspect of Retribution – Distant enemies have a 8% chance to be Stunned for 2 seconds when they hit you. You deal [20 – 40]% increased damage to Stunned enemies. Unlocked by completing Abandoned Mineworks in Kehjistan
Gameplay
Hammer of the Ancients (HotA) is a potent ability that does 70% damage as AoE and gains x3% more Fury for each enemy hit. The best part? It stacks 10 times. If you continuously attack with HotA, your Fury levels stay on the upper side. While the ability itself is pretty strong, once you get the Aspect of Ancestral Force, the damage ramps up even more.
Since this is a pure Beserking build, we’re using Wrath of the Berserker as our Ultimate ability. The Barbarian gains Berserking and Unstoppable for 5 seconds, making it immune to CC and boosting its damage via Berserking. Wrath of the Berserker synergizes very well with HotA, while it’s active, every 50 Fury you spend increases Berserk’s damage bonus by 25%. Remember when we talked about spending large amounts of Fury for HotA? 🙂
Challenging Shout is pretty straightforward; we spam it on cooldown for that extra survivability and Fury regen.
Death Blow is an interesting choice here; it does 120% damage to any target it hits, gains Berserking for 3 seconds, and if it kills it, the cooldown is reset. Moreover, it deals 100% more damage to bosses, which makes it a very good addition to the build.
Steel Grasp is our Scorpion moment, pulling enemies to the Barbarian, applying Vulnerable for 2.5 seconds, and granting Beserking for 2 seconds. The ability has 2 charges, and it’s a pretty decent gap closer since the build doesn’t have one. Get over here!
For our Key Passive, we’re using Unconstrained, which increases Berserk’s maximum duration by 5 seconds and its damage bonus by 25%.
Lastly, we’re using 2H Axe for our Technique, which increases our damage to Vulnerable enemies by 15% and 10% Critical Strike Chance.
Skill Tree
Here’s the complete setup for the HotA Barbarian Leveling Build, including the full skill tree and its abilities. Plan accordingly when choosing your points since the build benefits early game from some passives more than others.
