As a returning staple to the Diablo franchise, the Barbarian class is a poster child of overwhelming power, brute strength and weapon mastery. Barbarian Class in Diablo 4 has undergone a lot of changes with new mechanics and systems as compared to the previous entry. Still, the veterans of the series and fans of this class will find themselves at home while controlling the Barbarian character.
The Diablo 4 Barbarian class is best suited for players who want to get up close and personal with their foes. Barbarian is hands down the best class to choose for the newcomers to the franchise. With massive strength and complete mastery over melee weapons, there is no skull in Diablo 4 a Barbarian can’t smash.
Things tend to get messy in ARPGs as massive as Diablo 4 due to the convoluted nature of their gear and skill systems. But fret not, if you want to go the barbaric route in Diablo 4, read our complete overview guide for the Barbarian class to find out what is in store for you.
Jump To:
- Barbarian Strengths and Weaknesses
- Barbarian Skills
- Barbarian Dismount Skill
- Barbarian Arsenal Expertise System
- Legendary Aspects
- Barbarian Stats
- Summary
Barbarian class strengths and weaknesses in Diablo 4
The Barbarian class is capable of dealing devastating damage to enemies. This is further sweetened by the ability to go berserk as a Barbarian which not only enhances the skills of Barbarians but also gives them extra attack power.
Despite having a tanky build, Barbarians are swift on their feet and can easily dodge incoming attacks. Due to their tanky nature, Barbarians have a large health pool and defense which allows them to withstand a lot of punishment.
However, this force of nature has a few weaknesses too that enemies can exploit. Barbarians are highly dependent on resources to use their core skills and burn through them at a rapid pace. Barbarian skills have unusually long cooldown times when compared to other classes. They can’t be used as ranged characters and this puts the Barbarian class at a distinct disadvantage against Elites and Bosses.
Barbarian skills overview in Diablo 4
There are 6 skill groups available for the Barbarian class in Diablo 4. Each Barbarian skill tree offers unique offensive, defensive and utility skills that can be assigned in their respective slots. The skill groups of the Barbarian class are listed below with their unique skills.
| Groups | Description | Skills | Enhancements (for all skills) | Passives |
| Basic | Early-game skills that players basically start with. Basic skills play an important role in introducing the character to the players. | – Bash – Flay – Frenzy – Lunging Strike | – Enhanced – Combat – Battle | None |
| Core | Main skills around which players usually build their character. These skills are special and require a lot of resources to activate. | – Hammer of the Ancients – Rend – Whirlwind – Double Swing – Upheaval | – Enhanced – Violent – Furious | – Pressure Point – Endless Fury |
| Defensive | Barbarian defensive skills not only allow them to toughen their hides, but they can also knock-back and stun enemies with AoE damage. | – Ground Stomp – Iron Skin – Challenging Shout – Rallying Cry | – Enhanced – Tactical – Strategic | – Imposing Pressure – Martial Vigor – Outburst – Tough as Nails |
| Brawling | A skill group that is exclusive to the Barbarian class. Its skills mainly focus on giving the players inhuman strength and buffs up their allies in the process. | – War Cry – Kick – Leap – Charge | – Enhanced – Mighty – Power | – Booming Voice – Guttural Yell – Raid Leader – Aggressive Resistance – Battle Fervor – Prolific Fury – Swiftness – Quick Impulses |
| Weapon Mastery | The skills of this group have the ability to deliver extremely high damages to the enemies. | – Death Blow – Rapture – Steel Grasp | – Enhanced – Fighter – Warrior | – Pit fighter – No Mercy – Slaying Strike – Expose Vulnerability – Hamstring – Cut to the Bone – Thick skin – Defensive Stance – Counteroffensive |
| Ultimate | Just like the rest of the classes, Barbarian can equip one ultimate skill at a time. These are the souped versions of other skills and can totally change how a session of Diablo 4 is progressing. | – Call of the Ancients – Iron Maelstrom – Wrath of the Berserker | – Prime – Supreme | – Duelist – Tempered Fury – Furious Impulse – Invigorating Fury – Heavy Handed – Wallop – Brute Force – Concussion |
The barbarian class in Diablo 4 also has access to ultimate key passives in addition to all the skills available in above 6 groups. The key passives activate automatically upon using a skill that belongs to a particular group.
- Unconstrained
- Walking Arsenal
- Unbridled Rage
- Gushing Wounds
Dismount ability for the Barbarian Class
Just like the rest of the classes in Diablo 4, the Barbarian class has a unique dismount ability. The Barbarian leaps from the mount and slams into the ground, causing massive AoE damage to the enemies in the surroundings. However, the dismount ability won’t become active if the players get dismounted by taking damage from the enemies.
Diablo 4 Barbarian Arsenal Expertise system
Diablo 4 offers some unique mechanics for each class. Just like the sorcerer class has enchantment mechanic, there are two unique mechanics associated with the Barbarian class.
Arsenal System: This mechanic allows the Barbarian to use and switch between different weapons. These weapons include Two-Hand Bludgeons, Two-hand Slashers (swords/knives), Main hand and Off-hand. This system not only increases the weapon choice for players but also allows the Barbarian to use the correct weapon required to perform a particular skill.
Expertise: This unique system is associated with Arsenal System. Any of the four weapons that players use earn experience with their proper usage. Expertise grants the weapons additional bonus effects depending on their experience level.
Barbarian Legendary Aspects
Aspects are the legendary bonuses in Diablo 4 that can be affixed to rare and legendary gear in specific slots. Aspects store legendary affixes that are transferred to the items they are attached to. Aspects can be obtained from the codex of power by completing dungeons or by looting legendary gear items.
Aspects from the legendary items can only be extracted by an Occultist and they have the ability to transform a rare gear item into a legendary. Here is a complete overview of all the Aspects for the Barbarian class in Diablo 4.
| From Codex of Power | From Legendary Items |
| Aspect of Ancestral Echoes | Aspect of Berserk Fury |
| Aspect of Ancestral Force | Aspect of Burning Rage |
| Aspect of Amnesia | Aspect of Echoing Wrath |
| Aspect of Berserk Ripping | Aspect of Giant Strides |
| Aspect of Bul-Kathos | Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind |
| Aspect of Echoing Fury | Aspect of Limitless Rage |
| Aspect of Numbing Wrath | Aspect of Unrelenting Fury |
| Aspect of Perpetual Stomping | Battle-Mad Aspect |
| Aspect of Tempering Blows | Bear Clan Berserker Aspect |
| Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind | Bold Chieftan’s Aspect |
| Aspect of the Iron Warrior | Devilish Aspect |
| Aspect of the Relentless Armsmaster | Dust Devil’s Aspect |
| Brawler’s Aspect | Earthquake Aspect |
| Death Wish Aspect | Luckbringer Aspect |
| Earthstriker’s Aspect | Skullbraeker’s Aspect |
| Iron Blood Aspect | Steadfast Berserker’s Aspect |
| Relentless Berserker’s Aspect | Weapon Master’s Aspect |
| Slacking Aspect | Windlasher Aspect |
| Veteran Brawler’s Aspect |
Diablo 4 Barbarian stats breakdown
Barbarian class has 4 main stats just like the rest of the classes in Diablo 4. Every time players invest in a particular stat; it creates two effects. Primary and Secondary. Primary effects are class specific while the secondary effects remain same for all 5 classes in Diablo 4. Here is a complete breakdown how primary effects change for the Barbarian class by investing one skill point in each stat.
| Stat | Primary Effect | Secondary Effect |
| Intelligence | No effect | A 0.05% increase in resistance to all elements |
| Willpower | – A 0.1% increase in resource generation – A 0.25% increase in overpower damage | A 0.1% increase in amount of healing received |
| Dexterity | A 0.02% increase in critical strike chance | A 0.025% increase in chance to dodge |
| Strength | A 0.1% increase in damage by the skills | A fixed 1 increment to Armor with each strength point |
Summary
Barbarians are basically brawlers that excel in melee and close-quarters combat. They are a true force of nature who can devastate enemies with a large variety of weapons, belonging to various groups like Axes, Swords, Lances and Hammers.
With their unique abilities, Barbarians can not only equip up to 4 weapons but they can increase this number with dual wielding. The main resource used by the Barbarian class in Diablo 4 is Fury, which is required to cast all skills regardless of their types.
Barbarians are extremely compatible with other players and their minions, due to their ability to strengthen their allies over the time. Barbarians have access to a plethora of powerful close combat skills which can be assigned to the character from specific trees like Brawling and Weapon Mastery.
Some noteworthy skills of the Barbarian class are Whirlwind, Leap, Charge, War Cry and Hammer of the Ancients. Players who love to get close to their foes and learn their patterns, while dealing insane amounts of damage, can never go wrong with the Barbarian class.
