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The Barbarian class in Diablo 4 retains its theme of a brutal and visceral melee fighter, leaping knee-deep into the fray wielding a literal arsenal of weapons to bash, slash, and pulverize demons into oblivion. It is an extremely tanky class with a somewhat methodical playstyle that perfectly fits the juggernaut fantasy that many fans of the series have come to expect.

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Regarding builds, the Barbarian has several that perform notably better than others in Diablo 4's early game. Here are three setups designed for efficient progression from levels 1 through 35 that do not necessarily rely on having good gear to work.

Our best early game Barbarian Leveling Build guide for Diablo 4 is still accurate, even with the changes made with the 1.0.3 patch released on June 27, 2023.

Frenzied Upheaval Build

Upheaval skill in Diablo 4

This is a high-impact build that can come online as soon as players hit Level 6. As its name implies, it uses Frenzy and Upheaval as its main generator and spender, and both will be supported by Shouts and utility skills for a smooth leveling experience. The full Skill Tree setup is as follows:

  • Arsenal Weapon Technique: Two-Handed Sword
  • Frenzy (1/5)
    • Combat Frenzy
  • Upheaval (5/5)
    • Furious Upheaval
  • Challenging Shout (1/5)
    • Tactical Challenging Shout
  • War Cry (1/5)
    • Mighty War Cry
  • Leap (1/5)
  • Guttural Yell (3/3)
  • Pit Fighter (3/3)
  • Slaying Strike (3/3)
  • No Mercy (3/3)
  • Hamstring (1/5)
  • Duelist (3/3)
  • Wrath of the Berserker
    • Supreme Wrath of the Berserker
  • Key Passive: Unconstrained

Furious Upheaval increases the ability's damage every time the Barbarian hits an enemy with a different skill. Each swing of Frenzy generates two stacks of Furious Upheaval, making it the fastest way to ramp up its damage.

Challenging Shout and War Cry are here to help against Elites and big monster packs, and Leap is meant to help players reposition so they can get better angles with Upheaval. Wrath of the Berserker is great for fighting bosses, especially with the Unconstrained Key Passive.

Hamstring is a subtle passive ability that enables all the Barbarian's damage to scale with Damage vs. Slowed and Damage vs. Crowd-Controlled stats when paired with the Two-Handed Sword Arsenal bonus.

Later on, players should try to find a legendary item with the Aspect of the Expectant and Aspect of Limitless Rage affixes, as they both tie in with the constant use of Frenzy and the build's thriftiness with Fury. These aren't necessary for the very early levels of the game, but players should try to inscribe these affixes into their items whenever possible.

Bloody Thorns Build

Iron Maelstrom in a Barbarian bleed build in Diablo 4

This is a tanky build that's a little bit more gear reliant than the Upheaval one above. It uses Flay and Rend to inflict massive bleeding against bosses and elites, while high Thorns damage deals with everything else.

It is one of the strongest character builds in Diablo 4, but some players may not enjoy the delayed gratification of bleed builds and the overall passiveness of utilizing Thorns. The skill setup is as follows:

  • Arsenal Weapon Technique: Two-Handed Axe
  • Flay (1/5)
    • ​​​​​​​Combat Flay
  • Rend (1/5)
    • ​​​​​​​Violent Rend
  • Pressure Point (3/3)
  • Iron Skin (1/5)
  • Challenging Shout (1/5)
    • ​​​​​​​Strategic Challenging Shout
  • Outburst (3/3)
  • Tough as Nails (3/3)
  • Rupture
    • Fighter's Rupture
  • Hamstring (1/5)
  • Cut to the Bone (3/3)
  • Pit Fighter (3/3)
  • No Mercy (3/3)
  • Call of the Ancient
  • Key Passive: Gushing Wounds

Enemies will basically be bleeding all the time, assuming they don't die from Thorns damage outright. Challenging Shout and Iron Skin offer amazing survivability while the rest of the passives work together to increase Thorns and Damage vs. Vulnerable targets.

This build has a high chance of making the enemy Vulnerable, greatly increasing the damage they take from all sources until the effect wears off. This makes Rupture a powerful execute and burst damage tool against targets.

RELATED: Diablo 4 - How to Beat Astaroth​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​Call of the Ancients is great against bosses. However, if players prefer stronger horde clear, Iron Maelstrom is the better option as it inflicts bleed and direct damage over a large area.

As for gear, the Iron Blood aspect can help improve survivability immensely as it increases damage resistance for every nearby bleeding enemy. Death Wish can make Thorns deal more damage, but this is best reserved for later in the game when players have better access to effects that enable the Berserking status. Otherwise, it's best to slot Emeralds into Socketed items to raise Thorns damage.

Furious Hammer Build

Edgemaster's Aspect for a Barbarian Hammer of the Ancients build in Diablo 4

This build plays similarly to the Upheaval build, but it hits harder in a more concentrated area. Fury management will have a bigger role in this setup, so players must rely on items and effects that increase Fury generation or decrease its cost. Here's the skill setup:

  • Arsenal Weapon Technique: Two-Handed Sword
  • Lunging Strike (1/5)
    • ​​​​​​​Enhanced Lunging Strike
  • Hammer of the Ancients (5/5)
    • ​​​​​​​Furious Hammer of the Ancients
  • Endless Fury (3/3)
  • Ground Stomp (1/5)
    • ​​​​​​​Tactical Ground Stomp
  • Challenging Shout (1/5)
    • ​​​​​​​Tactical Challenging Shout
  • Leap (1/5)
    • ​​​​​​​Power Leap
  • Hamstring (1/5)
  • Pit Fighter (3/3)
  • Slaying Strike (3/3)
  • Wrath of the Berserker
    • ​​​​​​​Supreme Wrath of the Berserker
  • Tempered Fury (3/3)
  • Furious Impulse (2/3)
  • Key Passive: Walking Arsenal

The build focuses on maintaining full Fury at all times, so Hammer of the Ancients can deal over double damage every time it hits something. This comes with a combo-oriented playstyle that involves weaving HotA between Lunging Strike, Leap, and Ground Stomp casts to make sure it always hits at max damage potential.

Wrath of the Berserker greatly increases damage and Fury generation per hit. With this ability active, players will be able to regain all the Fury they spent on Hammer of the Ancients in just one or two Lunging Strike hits, depending on their gear stats. Activate this Ultimate when fighting bosses or large monster packs.

Unbridled Rage is the ideal Key Passive for this build, but considering how hard it is to get 70 Fury quickly in the early game, Walking Arsenal will have to take its place. Make sure to manually set what weapons Lunging Strike and Leap use to make this passive work.

Gear-wise, players should look out for the Aspect of the Edgemaster affix, which increases the damage of Core Skills when cast while the player's main resource is maxed out.

​​​​​​​Limitless Rage aspect increases the damage of Core Skills for every point of Fury generated past the maximum. Ancestral Force solves HotA's small AoE, but this is more of a quality-of-life improvement.

Diablo 4 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.