With most of the hype for the Barbarian class in Diablo 4 leaning towards using popular builds like infinite Whirlwind and million-damage Hammer of the Ancients, it's hard to find a good, non-meta setup that can keep players alive in the endgame. However, there are a few ways to make underused skills viable even for Torment difficulty.
The Barbarian's Brawl skills make the slow and lumbering Diablo 4 warrior into a wrecking ball with environment-based stuns and high mobility. Builds around these skills won't be as competitive as the popular triple Shout setups, but they are loads more fun and interactive, perfect for the player who wants to spice up their experience with the Barbarian. Here's one endgame Brawl build that can easily clear Torment-level content, including low-tier Nightmare Dungeons.
Several changes have been made to Diablo 4 since Patch 1.0.3 was released on June 27, 2023. Our endgame brawler barbarian build guide is still relevant even after the balancing changes and such.
Diablo 4: Barbarian Brawl Build
Skill | Total Points |
Battle Lunging Strike | 3 |
Furious Hammer of the Ancients | 7 |
Mighty Kick | 7 |
Power Charge | 3 |
Power Leap | 7 |
Death Blow | 7 |
Battle Lunging Strike and Furious Hammer of the Ancients are this build's main damage dealers because of their high base damage. Furious Double Swing is a viable alternate Core Skill for players who want permanent Berserk uptime.
Power Leap and Mighty Kick are the primary Brawl skills here. They loop off of each other thanks to one of the Legendary Aspects below, and they provide Crowd Control, mobility, and protection. Get into position with Leap, Kick an enemy into a wall, then Leap onto them again.
Charge grants even more mobility and damage, but it will make surviving against CC-heavy enemies much harder. Feel free to replace this with Rallying Cry for the Unstoppable buff.
Death Blow is the build's main way of going Berserk. Soften enemies up, then execute them with Death Blow to constantly regain the skill's charges. This is also a very strong damaging tool against bosses in dungeons.
Passive Skills
Skills | Points |
Imposing Presence | 1 |
Aggressive Resistance | 3 |
Prolific Fury | 3 |
Pit Fighter | 3 |
No Mercy | 3 |
Hamstring | 1 |
Wallop | 3 |
Tempered Fury | 3 |
Invigorating Fury | 3 |
Unconstrained | 1 |
Two-Handed Axe Expertise |
The skills listed above are fairly standard for many late-game Barbarian builds. However, players should swap Wallop for either Slaying Strikes or Duelist if they want to use Double Swing instead of Hammer of the Ancients.
It's worth emphasizing that the Aggressive Resistance and Prolific Fury are mandatory for this build since their bonuses are too good to pass up. As long as players can keep killing with Death Blow, they'll be able to gain a semi-permanent bonus to Fury generation and damage reduction.
Take the Two-Handed Axe Expertise for the extra Vulnerable damage, then take Unconstrained as the Key Passive. This can be swapped out for Walking Arsenal or Unbridled Rage.
Gear and Aspects
Offense | Defense | Utility |
Edgemaster (Two-Handed Weapon) | Disobedience (Helm) | Eluding (Gloves) |
Encroaching Wrath (Two-Handed Weapon) | Steadfast Berserker (Chest) | Perpetual Stomping (Boots) |
Ancestral Force (One-Handed Weapon) | Bul-Kathos (Pants) | Bear Clan Berserker (Ring) |
Rapid (One-Handed Weapon) | Giant Strides (Ring) | |
Veteran Brawler (Amulet) |
This build is very reliant on getting the right Aspects together. Much of the player's damage and survivability will rely on these, so make sure to follow the setup above strictly.
Aspect of Bul-Kathos makes up for the absence of Challenging Shout. It adds a bit of AOE damage as well as more damage reduction as long as players are standing on the Earthquake it creates. Giant Strides and Perpetual Stomping lets players use Leap without worrying about its cooldown much, allowing them to make plenty of Earthquakes across the battlefield.
Steadfast Berserker, Disobedience, and Eluding are also mandatory defensive Aspects. They grant players Fortify, more damage reduction, and an emergency stunbreak in case they get locked in place.
Encroaching Wrath can double Death Blow's damage, while Edgemaster grants Furious Hammer of the Ancients an extra damage multiplier. The latter can be swapped out for Retribution for more stuns and more damage against stunned enemies, but players will be forced to play around kicking enemies into walls.
Paragon Boards
Use the Exploit Glyph on the starting board, then take Warbringer as the first attachment. This lets Hammer of the Ancients deal more damage while also providing more Fortify and Fury generation.
The Blood Rage board is an excellent follow-up choice thanks to its Berserking bonuses. It's also generally useful, which means players will gain its benefits regardless of what weapon type or Core Skill they decide to use.
As for other Glyphs, players should use ones that fit their needs more. Disembowel can help reduce cooldowns even further, Bloodfeeder boosts Critical Strike Chance, Territorial grants more damage reduction, and so on.
Diablo 4 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.