The Barbarian in the Diablo franchise has always been a nasty combatant in PvP. With excellent movement capabilities and a huge life pool to boot, the character has enjoyed some great times in PvP. Yet Diablo 4 may be the very best time that gamers have with a Barbarian on the battlefield.
The Fields of Hatred can be a free for all but no class should dive in against the Barbarian with a great PvP build unless they're ready to receive some punishment. Some classes in Diablo 4 can prevent others from moving or using skills and, somehow, there is a PvP build for the Barbarian that can still win fights in these situations.
Updated on June 30th, 2023 by Hodey Johns: This guide has been updated for the huge rebalance patch in 1.0.3. Many guides have remained untouched because most skills got a simple numerical buff or nerf to bring them in line with the rest of the skills in the game. Especially with Vulnerable builds becoming so powerful, this was an appropriate rebalance. However, not every skill received a small buff or nerf. Some of these were significant enough to change builds for and this build was one of those. Some of these buffs weren't to damage but to cooldown or resource reduction which alters the skill rotation entirely. The old build might still be better than it was before but this new guide gets the absolute most out of the class.
Skill Tree
Skill | Points |
Flay | 5 |
Enhanced Flay | 1 |
Combat Flay | 1 |
Rend | 5 |
Enhanced Rend | 1 |
Violent Rend | 1 |
Pressure Point | 3 |
Outburst | 3 |
Tough as Nails | 3 |
Leap | 5 |
Enhanced Leap | 1 |
Mighty Leap | 1 |
Swiftness | 3 |
Quick Impulses | 1 |
Rupture | 5 |
Enhanced Rupture | 1 |
Fighter's Rupture | 1 |
Hamstring | 3 |
Cut to the Bone | 3 |
Steel Grasp | 5 |
Enhanced Steel Grasp | 1 |
Warrior's Steel Grasp | 1 |
Iron Maelstrom | 1 |
Prime Iron Maelstrom | 1 |
Supreme Iron Maelstrom | 1 |
Gushing Wounds | 1 |
At the maximum level and with all the Renown gathered, players will have 58 skill points to invest. This PvP Barbarian build hits all the right notes: Bleed damage, slows, Vulnerable Debuffs, mobility, and, if for some reason the opponent gets the jump on the Barbarian, some return damage from Thorns so that they end up hurting themselves too.
This puts enemies in a no-win situation. Either they run and get pulled back with Steel Grasp. They also won't win in a footrace to retreat with the extra movement speed and Leap. Or they can try and fight, subjecting themselves to ridiculous Bleed and Thorns damage. Short of tackling the PvP Barbarian with a party, it's best to run against anybody using this build.
Paragon Boards
Board | Paragon/Legendary Nodes | Glyph |
Start | Raw Power, Brawn | Disembowel |
Hemorrhage | Lacerator, Hemorrhage, Flayer, Grit, Butcher | Bloodfeeder |
Blood Rage | Blood Rage, Grit, Revel, Craving | Revenge |
Warbringer | Guarded Advance, Warbringer, Raw Power | Territorial |
Weapons Master | Raw Power, Brute, Weapons Master | Undaunted |
The paragon boards and glyphs can be a bit tough to figure out. It's a matter of adjusting the boards so that they snake properly. Few players will get to the maximum 200 paragon points but those that do will find that their powers are enhanced by enormous magnitudes.
Listing all nodes would be tedious and impossible to read, but if gamers move between the major nodes listed, it shouldn't be an issue. Make sure to purchase all relevant stat bonus nodes inside the designated glyph areas.
Naturally, for a Bleed-first build, the majority of the paragon points should be spent on the Hemorrhage and Blood Rage boards. Don't forget that Bleed is not a magical effect. It is physical and will therefore increase with any nodes that boast an increase in physical damage.
The best PvE Barbarian build is similar to this one but focuses less on survivability and more on knocking enemies around. With how unpredictable human-controlled enemies can be, it's best to choose nodes that buff the skills that are easiest to land.
Gear
Slot | Aspect/Piece |
Helm | Harlequin Crest |
Chest | Razorplate |
Gloves | Skullbreaker's Aspect |
Pants | Iron Blood Aspect |
Boots | Aspect of Anemia |
Amulet | Weapon Master's Aspect |
Ring | Aspect of Encroaching Wrath |
Ring | Needleflare Aspect |
Two-Handed Slashing | Ancients' Oath |
Two-Handed Bludgeoning | Edgemaster's Aspect |
Main Hand | Ramaladni's Magnum Opus |
Off-Hand | Doombringer |
With the new aspect system, gamers have a ton of freedom to take the piece of gear they find with the best stats and then add their favorite effect to it. Increasing potion efficiency helps out a bit but these aspects are game-changing. Note that some of these aspects can be swapped in and out on other pieces of gear; which piece has which aspect is not important.
The Ancient's Oath launches additional chains from Steel Grasp so be sure to have this weapon equipped when using the skill. Following this build, that will give players three casts of the ability and no chance an opponent can continue to run. The rest of the equipment emphasizes the excellent bleed damage ceiling and gives some more return damage to opponents that make the mistake of taking the PvP Barbarian head-on.
It can be tempting to forego Thorns damage in exchange for other aspects that may be more offensively-minded but the PvP Barbarian excels in the long game. Trying to shorten it up gives the advantage to bust classes like the Sorcerer. If this doesn't seem fun, try out the best Whirlwind Barbarian build and take a break from the Fields of Hatred.
Technique
- Two-Handed Sword Expertise
World Tiers can get out of control when it comes to difficulty. Thankfully, techniques are a simple way to keep pace with the escalating challenge. The Two-Handed Sword expertise turns adds 20% bleed damage to all attacks, further adding damage over time to the targets struggling to escape.
For this reason, the two-handed slashing weapon should be the default weapon when the ability allows a choice of weapons. With this build, only Maelstrom uses other types of weapons (though this, too, uses the two-handed slashing weapon in addition to the others).
Diablo 4 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.