Here's the setup you'll need to build yourself a strong bleed-based Barbarian.
The best Diablo 4 Barbarian build for my ticket utilises the class’s incredible bleed abilities. Attacks like Rend can be absurdly strong, stacking damage on bosses and enemies that’ll keep ticking down even when you’re trying to evade or make some space. There are also a tonne of great aspects that synergize with bleed, giving you stuns, extra damage, or even added survivability when nearby enemies are bleeding.
Since the upcoming Diablo 4 beta has a level cap of 20, I haven’t addressed ultimates, but have instead focused on skills you’ll be able to access. So, if you’re planning on checking Barbarian out or didn’t have a chance during the previous betas because you were distracted by shiny Necromancers and Druids, here’s a strong Diablo 4 Barbarian build that’ll get you far.
Bloody Barbarian build guide
Skills: Frenzy, Rend, Challenging Shout, Leap, Death Blow or Rupture Expertise: Two-handed sword and two One-Handed Swords Legendary Aspects: Aspect of Anaemia, Skullbreaker’s Aspect, Aspect of the Prickling, Iron Blood Aspect
Bleed is one of the best abilities that the Barbarian possesses, letting them stack damage on bosses and tough enemies to eat away their health. Rend, in particular, is very strong, cleaving a wide arc in front of your character that applies big bleed to everything it touches. To generate Fury for your Rends, you’ll want to use either Fighter’s Death Blow or Combat Frenzy. The former is a powerful single strike that resets immediately on kill, and grants 20 Fury provided you damage an enemy.
Of course, you won’t have this unlocked at first since it’s a Weapon Mastery skill, but Combat Frenzy will do a good job generating Fury for you while also reducing the damage you take. Once you’re able to unlock the Hamstring passive that slows bleeding enemies and get the Arsenal upgrade at rank ten for One-Handed Swords, you’ll have a 20% chance to generate extra Fury through Frenzy, too, provided the opponent you’re hitting has been slowed by your bleeds, and therefore crowd controlled. Using a Two-Handed Sword for your Rends is also best since it boosts bleed damage in the Arsenal upgrades.
(Image credit: Blizzard)
(Image credit: Blizzard)
Both Challenging Shout and Leap add a little survivability to the build, since the former grants damage reduction, and the latter helps overcome the Barbarian’s lack of manoeuvrability, giving you the means to escape enemies bleeding out while also generating Fury or slowing them. If you’re not particularly enjoying Death Blow and are finding it hard to chain those kills, Rupture is an alternative skill from the same cluster that’ll help expedite enemies dying of bleed, dealing 100% of bleed damage straight away. If you upgrade it down the Fighter’s Path, it’ll also heal you by 15% provided you damage an enemy.
For Legendary Aspects, you’ll want Aspect of Anaemia and Skullbreaker’s Aspect, which play very nicely together. The first adds a lucky hit chance to stun enemies with bleed when you damage them, while the second damages enemies with bleed who get stunned for a portion of their remaining bleed damage. Iron Blood Aspect is another great option if you want extra survivability, as you gain damage reduction for each bleeding enemy nearby. Finally, Aspect of Prickling has a chance to grant you Thorns that damage attacking enemies for a short duration when you use Rend.
It’s a pretty simple build on the whole: generate Fury with successive Death Blows on weaker enemies, before moving into Rend. If that cycle is ever broken, use Frenzy and its damage reduction to farm up Fury instead, while periodically using Challenging Shout to stay alive, and Leap to manoeuvre or escape while the bleed does its job—especially if you’re facing a fast boss. You’ve also got some wiggle room in terms of swapping Death Blow for Rupture, but that will make your Fury farming entirely reliant on Frenzy, which might slow down how fast you can get Rends out.
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