Diablo 4 offers five classes for players to choose from when creating their character. One of these classes is the returning Barbarian, a large tank-like character who excels in getting up close and personal with any enemy.
The Barbarian is able to withstand deadly barrages of attacks while also dealing out powerful AOE damage. That make it a perfect class for Crowd Control. While the Barbarian may seem powerful with any build or play style, here are some tips and tricks to maximize your build.
10 Use Your Arsenal
The Barbarian is unique in that they have multiple weapons equipped at once. Each attack is associated with a different weapon, and using different skills will have you switch to different weapons upon activation of the corresponding attack.
While many games will have you finding your favorite weapon type and sticking to it, it's important for Barbarians to utilize all of their available weapons in combat. As you find more unique weapons and have different types for different playstyles, you can quickly switch up your strategy to counter whatever your opponents throw at you. The Barbarian also earns weapon expertise the more he or she uses a specific weapon. This makes them more effective and rewards you for fighting with all of the available weapons.
9 Close The Gap
The Barbarian comes with multiple abilities that allow you to jump around the battlefield to get up close and personal with your opponents. Many of these abilities may not excel in damage, but the quick movement is incredibly worthwhile.
While there are other more important skills to work on, finding some armor pieces that give additional movement speed can be quite beneficial. When playing in a party, other classes will be able to attack from a distance, and the additional movement speed will help you get within range at the same time as spell casters.
8 Build Up Fury
Fury is the consumable energy that Barbarians utilize for their more powerful attacks. Some stronger abilities will constantly drain your Fury to deal tons of damage, like the all-too-famous Whirlwind ability. While Barbarians may seem like a tank-focused class, Fury is what helps them deal damage.
Different abilities and passives will help you gain your Fury back quickly, and these should be a priority for any build. Many abilities quickly drain your Fury, you need to get it back just as quickly.
7 Whirlwind Is Back Again
The Whirlwind ability is the cornerstone of the Barbarian class for a very good reason. This ability is easy to use, great in any situation, and deals a level of damage that would make Diablo himself tremble in fear.
Whirlwind is unlocked in the second set of skills for the skill tree, allowing players to get it very early in the game. This skill also has the ability to generate Fury upon hitting enemies, allowing you to use it for longer and wipe out large groups.
6 Damage Over Time With Bleed
Bleed is another powerful effect the Barbarian is able to put on his enemies. Through both weapons and skills, you can affect many enemies with Bleed quickly, damaging them further over the next few seconds on top of the initial hit.
You can also scale the damage of Bleed to make it powerful against both bosses and elite enemies. With some abilities you'll barely hit weaker enemies before they drop dead.
5 Who Needs Intelli... How Do You Spell It?
Building the perfect character in Diablo 4 requires you to find weapons and armor that increase the right stats for that class. True to form, the most important stat to focus on for your Barbarian is Strength, with Intelligence offering only a boost in resistance.
While finding tons of new items to equip on your character, prioritize gear that increases your strength, and ideally, stay away from an increase in most of the other stats. This helps make building a Barbarian be very simple but has incredibly effective results.
4 Upgrade Your Potions
Being on the front lines means you'll be getting hit from all angles by the demons you're fighting. While the Barbarian is built to take a few hits, it's inevitable that your health will get low, and you'll need to heal up With only four weak starting potions, that may be a problem.
As you achieve more renown in a region; you'll be able to increase the number of potions you hold at a time, allowing you to stock more up for bigger fights. As you level up your character, you'll also be able to increase the efficacy of your potions at the alchemist using different resources, and these potion upgrades are vital.
3 Crowd Control
The Barbarian has many powerful AOE attacks and abilities, and these should be the base for any strong build. The land of Sanctuary is full of many hordes of weaker enemies, and the Barbarian is made to cleave through them with relative ease.
When playing in a party, your top priority should be thinning the herd and letting the other classes focus on the larger enemies. While the Barbarian does have many abilities that focus on taking down singular strong enemies, your AOE attacks are unmatched, and that is where this class truly shines.
2 Build Up Thorns
Thorns is a powerful passive ability that can be built up from both skills and bonuses from armor. Thorns deals damage back to enemies that hit you. As a Barbarian that charges straight into large packs of enemies, this couldn't be a better ability.
Through skills and armor pieces, focus on building up thrones as much as possible, They can continue to stack and deal more damage. You'll eventually be dealing more damage back to enemies than they are dealing to you, and that's on top of all of your usual attacks.
1 Tank It Up
The Barbarian is the closest class to a full tank. While this class does offer a ton of abilities that make you focus on dealing damage, never forget to invest some armor pieces and skills into staying alive and grabbing the attention of your enemies.
When playing multiplayer, you'll be able to draw the attention of nearby enemies with your shout. This will have you receiving more damage, but you can take it, and tacking on bonus thorn damage will have your enemies taking themselves out. With the right armor and abilities, you'll be able to outlast even the worst of attacks.