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Double Swing is a Skill that's often overlooked. It might not hit as hard as the Barbarian's other abilities in Diablo 4, but with the right setup, this simple Skill can become a fun and effective meat grinder that can take on the game's more challenging difficulties.
Unlike the Barbarian's more popular builds, Double Swing makes use of every mechanic that makes the class unique, from its many forms of Crowd Control to Bleed synergies, the weapon-swapping system, and the class' big, meaty swings. It's fast, dynamic, and deadly, perfect for the Diablo 4 player who's bored of spinning and shouting all the time.
Those wondering if the recent 1.0.3 update for Diablo 4 has changed our Barbarian Double Swing Build guide should have no worries. Our guide remains accurate and relevant.
Diablo 4: Barbarian Double Swing Build Main Skills
Skills | Total Points |
Enhanced Lunging Strike | 2 |
Furious Double Swing | 7 |
Tactical Rallying Cry | 3 |
Tactical Challenging Shout | 7 |
Warrior's Death Blow | 5 |
Supreme Iron Maelstrom | 3 |
This build boasts long stuns, high DPS, and near-permanent Berserking uptime thanks to a combination of item bonuses and passive skill nodes.
Enhanced Lunging Strike is the preferred Basic Skill for its mobility. Neither of its branching upgrades are required for this build. This can be swapped for Bash for a consistent source of Stun.
Furious Double Swing will be the build's main damage dealer, and it will be supported by Warrior's Death Blow. The latter deals extreme damage to bosses and can one-shot the majority of trash mobs on Torment difficulty. Both skills also provide Berserking, which the player can maintain just by hitting things with Double Swing.
Challenging Shout and Rallying Cry are staple defensive skills in many Barbarian builds that help boost damage reduction, Fury generation, and movement speed while also providing a safety net against stuns. Charge can replace Rallying Cry if players want an on-demand Stun without losing an Unstoppable source.
Lastly, Iron Maelstrom is here to counter Double Swing's and Death Blow's weakness against large hordes. Use it to thin out an elite pack before cleaning up the rest with other abilities.
Passive Skills
Skills | Points |
Booming Voice | 3 |
Pit Fighter | 3 |
No Mercy | 3 |
Hamstring | 1 |
Aggressive Resistance | 3 |
Prolific Fury | 3 |
Tempered Fury | 1 |
Invigorating Fury | 3 |
Furious Impulse | 3 |
Walking Arsenal | 1 |
Here, players will want to focus on building additional damage resistance and Fury generation.
Invigorating Fury will heal the Barbarian for 9% of their max Life after spending 100 Fury. This passive is ridiculously good with Double Swing because of how quickly it attacks, especially with the Accelerating Aspect, which increases attack speed whenever a Core Skill crits.
Aggressive Resistance and Prolific Fury are two more great choices for this build since the player will be Berserking in every fight.
Staple passives include Pit Fighter and No Mercy for their strong damage buffs as well as Hamstring for the Slow against Bleeding targets.
Walking Arsenal increases the player's DPS by up to 45% when all three of its buffs are active. A quick rotation between the build's three attacks enables this effect, and it will pile on top of Berserking's added damage. Each cast of Iron Maelstrom will also proc the individual buffs.
For the Expertise bonus, use Two-Handed Sword for its synergy with Hamstring and one of the important Aspects below.
Gear and Aspects
Offensive | Defensive | Utility |
Accelerating | Protector | Anemia |
Encroaching Wrath | Might | |
Weapon Master | ||
Retribution | ||
Inner Calm |
The 100,000 Steps Unique boots synergize well with any build that relies on Stuns, including this one. It's not necessary to have, but it will make for a good addition.
Despite having Double Swing as its main DPS tool, this build will make heavy use of Death Blow for its burst damage and high Lucky Hit Chance. Aspect of Encroaching Wrath can buff this skill's damage by up to 200% if slotted into a two-handed weapon, while Weapon Master's Aspect gives it a chance to stun as well as an additional charge.
Aspect of Anemia gives players a chance to stun Bleeding targets whenever they deal direct damage. With the high Lucky Hit chances on this builds attacks, this procs fairly often. This is important because Enhanced Double Swing refunds its base Fury cost whenever it hits stunned targets.
There's enough space in the setup above for additional Aspects of the player's choosing. Any effect that synergizes with Berserking or the Walking Arsenal passive is highly recommended.
As for weapons, use Dual Swords for Double Swing to gain increased attack speed when killing a Crowd-Controlled enemy. Make sure to assign Two-Handed Bludgeoning and Slashing weapons to Lunging Strike and Death Blow to proc Walking Arsenal.
Paragon Boards
Flawless Technique is a good first Paragon Board to use with Double Swing. It increases the player's chance to crit when hitting enemies with one-handed weapons. Take Wild Force, Slayer, and Heavy Blows for bonus one-handed weapon damage, armor, and Critical Strike Damage respectively.
Carnage is an excellent second board thanks to its bonuses to Berserking. Players will hit harder and faster once they unlock enough nodes in this Paragon Board.
For Glyphs, use Exploit on the starting board and Ambidextrous on Flawless Technique. These will increase the damage dealt by one-handed weapons while making every enemy Vulnerable for a few seconds during a fight.
Diablo 4 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.