The “Arsenal System” is the name of a special class mechanic that is exclusive to the Barbarian class in Diablo 4. This is what distinguishes the Barbarian from every other class.
The Arsenal System is basically a weapons system where you can equip up to four weapons at once. This is not possible on any other class. They are all limited to just two slots.
The Barbarian, however, has four slots and can equip dual-wield two-handed weapons from different weapon categories as well.
What makes the Arsenal System even more impress is that you can assign one of your four weapons to each skill in Diablo 4. This allows you attach different bonuses to different skills.
How to unlock the Barbarian Arsenal System in Diablo 4
All you have to do to unlock the Arsenal System is to hit level 5 on your Barbarian character in Diablo 4. This isn’t that high of a level, which means you can start using this class mechanic early on in the game.
Once you have unlocked the Arsenal System, you will gradually upgrade it as you progress through the game – primarily by defeating enemies and gaining XP.
Each weapon you use to land a hit will gain a little bit of XP points, but not on the kills. However, they can only gain XP in PvE situations, not PvP. Your goal is to rank up each weapon to Rank 10.
How to use the Barbarian Arsenal System in Diablo 4
After unlocking the Barbarian’s Arsenal System, get access to another tab on your menu. This tab is called the “Expertise” Tab and you can open it by pressing the “Shift” key and the “C“ key simultaneously.
The Expertise tab shows you all of the different types of weapons you have along with their bonuses. Your weapon’s rank will determine the type of bonus it can handle. Needless to say, your best chance of applying stronger bonuses would be to increase your weapon’s rank.
In the table shown below, we will highlight the bonuses granted to each of the types of weapons at rank ten. Note that for each bonus for the one-handed weapons, the effect of the bonus is doubled if you use two of them.
| Armament | Rank 10 Bonus | Rank 10 Additional Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Handed Mace | Increases the damage dealt to stunned enemies. | Increases the chance to get Berserking for a short while upon hitting a stunned enemy. |
| 1 Handed Sword | Slightly increases the chance to gain 5 Fury upon hitting a Crowd Controlled enemy (Lucky Hit). | Increases your Attack Speed for a short while when you kill a Crowd Controlled enemy. |
| 1 Handed Axe | Slightly increases the chance to land a Critical Strike on injured enemies. | Greatly increase your chances to boost your Attack Speed for a short while with Critical Strikes. (Lucky Hit). |
| 2 Handed Mace | Slightly increases your chances to get double the Fury by hitting an opponent. | Greatly increases your Bleeding damage for a few seconds upon killing an opponent. |
| 2 Handed Sword | Some of the direct damage dealt by you is inflicted as Bleeding for a few seconds. | After killing an enemy, you deal 30% increased Bleeding damage. |
| 2 Handed Axe | Increases your overall damage output against Vulnerable enemies. | Slightly increases your chances to land a Critical Strike Chance on Vulnerable enemies. |
| Polearm | Increases your overall Lucky Hit chances | Slightly increases your damage against enemies while in a Healthy state. |
The Arsenal System allows Barbarians to sling around four different arms of war at once. All of the other classes can either use two or three weapons, which means that the Barbarian can hold the most amount of weapons thanks to this class mechanic.
Mentioned below are the four types of weapons that the Barbarian can use:
- Main hand weapon
- Off-hand weapon
- Bludgeoning weapon
- Slashing weapon
Moreover, along with carrying four weapons with an added buff, you also have the option to assign different weapons to most Barbarian Skills.
Upon activation of the skills, the game automatically selects the best weapon that corresponds with it, so you don’t have to worry about choosing the right one.
However, if you want to know how to swap weapons for the Barbarian yourself in Diablo 4, you can choose which one to use from the inventory tab.
In order to do so, you first have to head over to the “Skills” tab. From there, you can hover over a skill to open up the Cycle Weapon option.
You can use this option to cycle through the weapons and select the one you deem perfect for the skill. Remember that this is exclusive to the Barbarian class only.
The Technique Slot
A special thing about the Arsenal System is the Technique Slot, which unlocks at level 16. It is at this time that you receive the Barbarian: Masters of Battle quest, located at Ked Bardu.
Assigning a selected weapon to share its buffs with the rest of the weapons is exactly the purpose of the Technique Slot. This is a very useful mechanic because it offers a lot of variety and flexibility to your weapons.
For example, the Bleed applied to enemies with the two-handed Sword Expertise synergizes pretty well with Hamstring.
