Best Diablo 4 Barbarian build

What is the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build? You won’t be able to go far without hearing about the Whirlwind Barbarian. It’s the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build right now, and there’s little reason to believe it’ll be trumped by another anytime soon. In fact, despite getting a timely nerf just a few days into early access, it still ended up being the setup to carry the first player to level 100 in Hardcore.

While that player did lose their character a few dozen hours later, it wasn’t through any fault of this exceptional Barbarian build. It’s still the best of the best, but even it can’t save you from the woes of a shoddy internet connection. So if spinning like a Beyblade isn’t for you, consider rerolling with the best Diablo 4 Necromancer build, Sorcerer build, Druid build, or Rogue build instead. Be sure to check out our ultimate guides to every Diablo 4 class and the best Diablo 4 builds, too.

What is the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build?

The best Diablo 4 Barbarian build is the Whirlwind Barbarian, beating out a Hammer of the Ancients or Rend build with ease. It’s fundamentally different from what you may have played in Diablo 3, but the core feeling remains the same. It’s a proper spin-to-win approach to the game. Here’s the basic idea:

• Basic
  • Battle Frenzy (1/5)
• Core
  • Violent Whirlwind (5/5)
  • Pressure Point (3/5)
• Defensive
  • Tactical Rallying Cry (1/5)
  • Tactical Challenging Shout (1/5)
• Brawling
  • Power War Cry (1/5)
  • Booming Voice (3/3)
  • Raid Leader (3/3)
  • Aggressive Resistance (3/3)
  • Prolific Fury (1/3)
• Weapon Mastery
  • Pit Fighter (3/3)
  • Slaying Strike (3/3)
• Ultimate
  • Supreme Wrath of the Berserker (1/1)
  • Tempered Fury (3/3)
  • Invigorating Fury (3/3)
  • Heavy Handed (3/3)
  • Wallop (3/3)
  • Brute Force (3/3)
• Key Passives
  • Unconstrained (1/1)

How do I use the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build?

Here’s how to play the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build:

• Use your Basic skill to build Fury at the start of a fight.
• Keep Rallying/War Cry and Challenging Shout on cooldown to build Fury between pulls.
• Reserve Rallying Cry for breaking from crowd control if needed.
• Whirlwind.
• Use your Ultimate and Whirlwind some more.

You might be wondering why this is known as the Whirlwind Barbarian build when it’s more of a Shouty Barbarian build. While it’s true the battle shout skills outnumber the titular talent, Whirlwind is what actually solves the problem of having too many monsters nipping at your heels.

The objective is to have Rallying Cry, Challenging Shout, and War Cry feed you essentials like Fury generation, increased damage, survivability, and a means to bring enemies in for your Whirlwind to mow down.

Choice talents also allow for Whirlwind to generate the Fury it needs when you’re churning through large groups as required, with its damage increasing through Violent Whirlwind and Pressure Point all the same.

The build also serves to burn through Fury at an alarming rate while generating even more, activating plenty of stat-stacking boons and piling on enemy debuffs. You should use your shouts whenever they come off cooldown, but if you’re playing Hardcore, you’ll want to save Rallying Cry as a way to break out of a sudden stun or freeze.

Once you’re all set up, the aim is to stay using the same cast of Whirlwind for as long as possible, stacking even more bonuses. Whatever you can do to stop yourself from needing to take a break in the same fight will increase your DPS exponentially, so make identifying and fixing any gaps your priority.

Best Whirlwind Barbarian weapon mastery

Because your main damage output will be coming from the constant use of Whirlwind, you should invest in a solid two-handed mace or axe.

Spend those Obols and try for a legendary whenever you can, and use your Technique slot to activate the expertise skill of whichever Diablo 4 weapon type you’re not using to spin like a ballerina, giving you the best of both worlds.

Best Whirlwind Barbarian gems

Here are the best Whirlwind Barbarian gems:

• Skulls
• Emeralds
• Diamonds

Because you should already be dealing sufficient damage with the core build itself, the best gems for Whirlwind Barbarian tend to be Skulls. They won’t increase your damage in any way other than helping to keep you alive. You can’t spin if you’re dead, after all.

Slot those into your armor, let Diamonds deal with resistances in your jewelry, and slam those gorgeously green emeralds into your weapons to stack Critical Damage.

Best Whirlwind Barbarian Aspects

Here are the best Whirlwind Barbarian Aspects:

• Essential
  • Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind
  • Aspect of Ancestral Echoes (if using Call of the Ancients)
• Recommended
  • Aspect of Echoing Fury
  • Aspect of Limitless Rage
  • Aspect of Berserk Ripping

Though there are stacks of Diablo 4 Aspects and Codex of Power benefits you can splice into the Whirlwind Barbarian build, we’ll keep it simple and point out the only absolutely necessary one: Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind.

It hammers home the idea of focusing on a single, long skill cast. You can learn how to get it in our Diablo 4 dungeon location guide. Remember that any of these skills you extract from a Legendary or Diablo 4 Unique item will always be more potent than those unlocked via dungeons. Swap them out if you get the chance.

Best Whirlwind Barbarian Nodes, Glyphs, and stats

Gear plays a major role as well, to a point where you could argue the build isn’t viable over another until you have absolutely every skill point, weapon roll, and Aspect. It might not be the best until then, but it’s wickedly fun all the same. If anything, practice makes perfect, so it’s fine to use it as a leveling build as well.

Once you’re at Diablo 4 level 50 and able to spec out your Paragon Board, you’ll want to look out for a few specific nodes and glyphs. These all come recommended by others using the build. Just be aware that it will take some time to see the benefits of them all:

• Legendary
  • Blood Rage
  • Carnage
  • Decimator
• Rare
  • Wrath
  • Cleaver
  • Marshal
  • Ire
  • Exploit
  • Imbiber
  • Territorial

On the stats side of things, there are plenty, but we’ll keep things simple: aim for raw damage on your Whirlwind weapon, Critical Strike damage, and – if you’re especially lucky – gear that gives you free ranks to the skills you’re using. Anything else is either going to come from the build itself or is seldom used.

With all that setup sorted, you should have the best Barbarian build in Diablo 4 all up and running. Shout the good shouts and spin to win, lunging from target to target or relishing in your naturally high movement speed to keep the brawl going with an endless steel tornado. And if you’re still leveling up, our words on the Diablo 4 endgame, Diablo 4 loot system, and the Diablo 4 best settings can all help in your journey.