Diablo 2: Resurrected is the upcoming remaster of the beloved second entry into the series, Diablo 2. Originally released in 2000, the game has had a lasting impact on fans of the action RPG genre, so much so that a remaster has been on fans' wish lists for over a decade. The community continues to grow even 20 years after its release, with fans creating mods for Diablo 2, players speedrunning the game. Even going so far as to complete an entire "Holy Grail" challenge, where the player finds every single Unique and Set item in the game by themselves. Suffice to say, Diablo 2: Resurrected will only continue this trend.
Diablo 2: Resurrected will launch in 2021 and will be much more accessible to a new generation of gamers. Because Diablo 2: Resurrected is coming to consoles, as well as having much better PC support than the original, more players than ever will have access to the addictive nature of kill-loot-repeat that Diablo 2 has mastered. On top of this, players will have access to seven classes to choose from, these being the Amazon, Barbarian, Necromancer, Paladin, Sorceress, and the two expansion classes Assassin and Druid. Depending on a player's control scheme (on console or PC), they may want to opt for the easier-to-play Barbarian.
The Barbarian Legacy
When it comes to classes focused on close-quarters combat, not many can compare with the Barbarian. Diablo 1 had come out in 1996 and had three classes available: The Warrior, Rogue, and Sorcerer. The Warrior was like the Barbarian in that he was strong and utilized a lot of weapons in close quarters, but also had access to spells. Diablo 1 had an expansion released the following year called Hellfire which included the Monk, Bard, and Barbarian classes. Unlike Warrior, the Barbarian focused less on magical abilities and more on physical prowess, such as the ability to hold two-handed weapons with one hand, and receives greater bonuses from Strength than Warrior.
Since Diablo: Hellfire, the Barbarian has been included in every Diablo game. The Barbarian has carved out a niche that only he can fill, and does so well. As a result, the Barbarian can be experienced in Diablo: Hellfire, Diablo 2, Diablo: Immortal, Diablo 3, and the upcoming Diablo 4. Some fans choose to play the Barbarian as their class simply out of convenience that it was the class they played prior, while some enjoy the ruthless feeling of being an unstoppable physical force to be reckoned with.
Diablo 2: Resurrected's Barbarian
Diablo 2 is arguably the perfect Diablo game, as some fans would argue. This is because Diablo 3 was a departure from what made Diablo 2 good, while the mobile release Diablo: Immortal may have pay to win elements. Diablo 4's Barbarian and his arsenal looks very promising, but with Blizzard making changes to the game in every blog post update, it could share the same fate as Diablo 3. Even though each game includes the Barbarian in some form, Diablo 2: Resurrected will showcase why its version of the Barbarian is the best in the series.
Diablo 2 was a masterpiece in terms of game design and character building. A player's build was dictated more on their choices, rather than the gear they found. A player didn't need to find every piece of a gear set in order to play the best variant of Whirlwind, for example, leaving little room to play around with other items. This was the issue with Diablo 3 and its itemization, where a player had very little choice in how they built their character. Diablo 2 puts the choice in the player's hands allowing any skills they want to spec into. Alongside stat distributions, players can then put together the gear they find to supplement that build, not the other way around.
Diablo 2: Resurrected Barbarian Builds
Because of the fluid nature players can build their character in, there is no be all end all decision to a class build in Diablo 2. Though because the game has been out for over two decades at this point, fans have found a handful of diverse builds that utilize a structure that players can follow when building their own. As such, here are a handful of varied builds for the Barbarian.
- Whirlwind Barb, also known as Tornado Barb or WW, is a build that doesn't have any other skill synergies with its main skill Whirlwind, so the player can customize how they want to play this version of Barbarian however they'd like. Any Weapon Mastery (except for Throwing Mastery) is viable, so a player can use any weapon they want. This is one of the more common builds players will use as it deals with groups of enemies well, and does really nice damage to bosses too.
- Frenzy Barbarians utilize two one-handed weapons to strike their opponents, dealing massive damage. With each hit, the Frenzy Barbarian's movement, attack speed, and damage increase making him very good against bosses. There is plenty of wiggle room to customize this build depending on the player's desired weapon type and play style.
- The Horker Barb is an interesting build in that its main function is to gamble. Gambling costs gold, and so this build is centered around making gold and using the Find Item skill on corpses, which is affected by Magic Find.
- The Dragoon Barbarian is a build that centers around Leap and Leap Attack. This is a unique type of build a player can build around that not only can make the chill effects from Cold attacks be ignored, but it also looks pretty cool. It also has lots of room to play around so as to stand out among other Dragoon Barbarians.
Once again, these aren't specific blueprints such as what one would find when following a Diablo 3 build, but more a guide with plenty of breathing room to experiment. With Diablo 2: Resurrected supporting controller, playing a melee-focused class would probably feel really nice, so all the more reason to choose Barbarian as a starting class when it comes out.
Diablo 2: Resurrected is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, and will be released in 2021.