The Berserker Leap Barbarian build is not traditional for Diablo 4 and is not even considered a contender for the endgame builds regarding the Barbarian class. This whole build revolves around two main skills, Leap and Ground Stomp.
Our purpose here is to take a skill universally used for traversal and convert it into an offensive one to deal massive AoE damage. You can add support skills, which add extra status effects on enemies and keep the damage rotation going.
And don’t forget Berserking, which adds bonus damage icing to an already violent cake. Before we start digging and creating one of the unique Barbarian builds so far, we recommend players having at least level 85 to find and equip a particularly unique item needed for the Berserker Leap Barbarian in D4.
This makes our build an extremely endgame one making it undesirable for most players. In the meantime, you can check out our Whirlwind Barbarian or Deathblow Barbarian builds until you reach the required levels.
- Skill Distribution
- Barbarian Arsenal System
- Gameplay and Skill Rotation
- Gem and Stat Priorities
- Paragon Boards
- Unique Items
- Legendary Aspects
- Elixir and Potion choices
Berserker Leap Barbarian skill progression and unlock order
Leap skill belongs to the Brawling node of the Barbarian class, making the players extremely vulnerable against close enemies. Leap is used to close the distance between players and enemies while dealing as much AoE damage as possible.
While it is effective against smaller enemies, it allows bosses and elites to punish the players to their heart’s desire. Below is a list of all the skills you need for the Berserker Leap Barbarian build in Diablo 4.
- Frenzy (basic)
- Double Swing (core)
- Ground Stomp (defensive)
- Leap (brawling)
- Steel Grasp (weapon mastery)
- Call of the Ancients (Ultimate)
All players should have 58 skill points available, which can be respec to the following skills.
| Unlock Order | Skill Name |
| 1 | Frenzy (Rank 1) |
| 2 | Enhanced Frenzy |
| 3 | Battle Frenzy |
| 4 | Double Swing (Rank 1) |
| 5 | Enhanced Double Swing |
| 6 | Furious Double Swing |
| 7 | Pressure Point (Rank 3) |
| 8 | Ground Stomp (Rank 2) |
| 9 | Enhanced Ground Stomp |
| 10 | Tactical Ground Stomp |
| 11 | Leap (Rank 5) |
| 12 | Enhanced Leap |
| 13 | Mighty Leap |
| 14 | Aggressive Resistance (Rank 3) |
| 15 | Battle Fervor (Rank 3) |
| 16 | Steel Grasp (Rank 1) |
| 17 | Enhanced Steel Grasp |
| 18 | Fighter’s Steel Grasp |
| 19 | Pit Fighter (Rank 3) |
| 20 | No Mercy (Rank 3) |
| 21 | Slaying Strike (Rank 3) |
| 22 | Thick Skin (Rank 1) |
| 23 | Defensive Stance (Rank 3) |
| 24 | Counter Offensive (Rank 3) |
| 25 | Call of the Ancients |
| 26 | Prime Call of the Ancients |
| 27 | Supreme Call of the Ancients |
| 28 | Heavy Handed (Rank 3) |
| 29 | Wallop (Rank 3) |
| 30 | Concussion (Rank 3) |
| 31 | Unconstrained (Key Passive) |
All the skills selected above are to enforce Leap skills and protect the players from close damage. Battle Frenzy increases the attack speed of all other skills while Berserking. In contrast, Furious Double Swing increases Berserking duration by up to 2 seconds after players cast the Double Swing skill.
Passive Skills
Pressure Point passive skill increases chances by 10% of making enemies vulnerable while Tactical Ground Stomp generates much required Fury with each cast.
Mighty Leap slows the enemies by up to 70% and deals massive AoE damage. Aggressive Resistance reduces incoming damage while Berserking, while Battle Fervor grants Berserking by using any Brawling skill in Diablo 4.
Fighter’s Steel Grasp grants additional 2 seconds of Berserking for directly hitting an enemy with chains. Pit Fighter increases damage against close enemies and grants protection from distant ones. Slaying Strike and No Mercy deal additional damage to enemies afflicted with status effects. Thick Skin passive grants Fortify for taking direct damage.
Defensive Stance provides additional protection when Fortified, while Counteroffensive increases damage output once the players have more than 50% fortification.
Supreme Call of the Ancients summons three ancients which deal varying amounts of damage to enemies while generating Fury in Diablo 4. Heavy Handed complements the arsenal system and increases critical strike damage with two-handed weapons.
Wallop increases damage against vulnerable enemies by using any bludgeoning weapon. A concussion is a Lucky Hit that increases the chances of stunning enemies using two-handed bludgeoning weapons.
For the critical passive, we have selected Unconstrained, which increases Berserking duration by up to 5% and damage while Berserking by up to 25%, making the Berserker Leap Barbarian build in Diablo 4 a non-stop killing machine.
Barbarian Arsenal System
The arsenal system is a unique mechanism specific to the Barbarian class in D4. This allows the players to equip one skill on any weapon type. Players can also choose from one technique to be enabled, which further grants passive bonuses.
For Berserker Leap Barbarian build, we recommend applying Leap skill to the two-handed bludgeoning weapons and using the two-handed axe technique for additional damage in Diablo 4.
- Two-Handed Axe; This technique deals an additional 15% damage against vulnerable enemies.
We will focus on inflicting Vulnerable to enemies, and the above-selected weapon expertise only enhances the damage against them.
Berserker Leap Barbarian playstyle and skill rotation
Berserker Leap Barbarian is a master of inflicting closing distance fast while dealing massive damage to enemies in the surrounding. This build is created to inflict as much AOE damage as possible while maintaining Berserker’s form.
All the passives help provide additional damage against vulnerable enemies and grant additional protection from bosses and elites. Below is a detailed explanation of all the mechanics required to make this build work and how to achieve those goals with specific skills and gear items.
Damage per Second
No build-in Diablo 4 is worth looking at if they don’t focus on dealing as much damage as possible. A lot of skills and passives increase the damage output of players with every passing second, making the specific build even more desirable. Below is a list of skills and gear items to increase damage output against enemies.
- Melted Heart of Selig; This unique item increases core skills damage by up to 19.5% and grants additional damage output of 23% when healthy.
- Aspect of the Ancestral Echoes; This legendary aspect summons one ancient upon using the Leap skill that casts the same skill with the same damage output.
- Veteran Brawler’s Aspect; Using Double Swing to inflict direct damage on enemies increases the damage output of the Leap skill by up to 300% using this legendary aspect.
- Aspect of Bul-Kathos; This legendary aspect allows Leap to summon earthquakes. If the players stand in earthquakes, they deal additional damage with each successive hit to the enemies.
- Pit Fighter; This passive skill increases damage against close enemies by up to 3%.
- Slaying Strike; This passive skill allows you to deal additional damage against Injured enemies.
- Heavy-handed; Players can deal up to 5% more damage from critical strikes by equipping this passive skill.
Fury Generation
Fury is the leading resource used by Barbarians to cast skills in Diablo 4. The Fury generation from passive sources is significant to keep the damage rotation going, as it doesn’t recover fast enough. Here are a few skills and items that can generate Fury at a much faster pace.
- Aspect of Berserk Fury; Players can generate up to 6 Fury per second by dealing direct damage to enemies once this legendary aspect is equipped.
- Supreme Call of the Ancients; One of the summons from this ultimate generates 10 Fury every time he hits an enemy with his Frenzy skill.
- Enhanced Double Swing; Hitting a stunned or knocked down the enemy with double Swing generates 25 Fury.
- Enhanced Frenzy; This enhanced Core skill generates 2 Fury per attack passively.
Increased Defense
Berserker Leap Barbarian build mostly focuses on dealing damage with defense as an afterthought. This makes the players vulnerable against stronger enemies that don’t go down during a single rotation. Below is a list of some items and skills that can strengthen the player’s defenses.
- Aspect of Disobedience; Players gain additional 0.25% armor with each direct hit from enemies that can stack up to 25% by equipping this legendary aspect.
- Aspect of Numbing Wrath; Players gain additional Fortify if they generate Fury with a full Fury meter.
- Melted Heart of Selig; This unique item grants additional protection against elemental attacks up to 17%.
- Aggressive Resistance; This passive skill grants an additional 3% damage reduction while Berserking.
- Thick Skin; Players obtain 0.4% of base life as Fortify upon dealing direct damage.
- Pit Fighter; This passive skill reduces damage from distant enemies by 2%.
Cooldown
Cooldown is one of the most important aspects of any build as it resets the active skills or decreases their time to cast in Diablo 4. Keeping a damage rotation going becomes impossible if proper passives and gears are not used to cooldown skills. Below is a list of skills and items to support this important gameplay aspect.
- Aspect of perpetual Stomping; Using this legendary aspect allows the Leap skill to cool down immediately after Ground Stomp is used.
- Enhanced Leap; If no enemy is hurt using Leap, its cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds.
- Strategic Ground Stomp; This modifier reduces the cooldown of the Ultimate skill by 1 second for each strike to the enemies with the Ground Stomp skill.
- Aspect of Giant Strides; Leap skill can be cooled down up to 9 seconds by dealing direct damage while this legendary aspect is equipped.
Berserking
Berserker is a Barbarian class-exclusive mode that allows players to deal more damage to enemies while taking less damage. Holding the character in the Berserking state for as long as possible should be the main goal of any Barbarian build to deal massive damage.
- Battle Fervor; This passive skill grants an additional 1 second of Berserking for hitting enemies with Leap skill (per hit).
- Fighter’s Steel Grasp; Players gain additional 2 seconds of Berserking for every enemy they hit with Steel Grasp.
- Unconstrained; This key passive increases the duration of Berserking by 5 seconds and damage output by 25% while Berserking.
Berserker Leap Barbarian Damage Rotation
Damage rotation involves using active skills non-stop during a combat scenario. This can only be possible if the current build supports good passives and gear items that keep the rotation going. Berserker Leap Barbarian builds target both small and big enemies and tries to unleash Berserking with Frenzy on top. Below is the list of active skills we recommend following at all costs in a specific order.
- Leap
- Ground Stomp
- Frenzy
- Double Swing
- Steel Grasp
- Call of the Ancients
As Leap is our main skill for this build, always start the rotation by casting it. It makes the Barbarian jump and leap toward enemies while physically damaging them. Follow this immediately with Ground Stomp, which creates spikes from the ground and deals physical AoE damage to surrounding enemies.
Before enemies can recover, immediately move to Frenzy skill. It also increases Fury’s regeneration and attack speed with each hit landing on the enemies.
As our focus is mainly on two-handed weapons for this build, Double Swing allows the players to crush enemies between their two weapons while making them vulnerable and increasing the Berserking time by a few seconds.
Now is the time to cast Steel Grasp to deal further physical damage to enemies while inflicting vulnerable on them. End the rotation with Call of the Ancients ultimate, summoning three ancients with their unique damage output.
At this point, all players must do is repeat this order. With many passive skills and gear items supporting the build, Berserker Leap Barbarian takes minuscule damage from the enemies while cooling down the ultimate with each hit delivered. It will be available once you down casting all the other five active skills making this rotation infinite.
Gear, Gems, and Stats Priorities
In Diablo 4, each stat impacts different classes differently, making them extremely important for the endgame builds and dungeons. Each increment of any primary stat has two effects, primary and secondary.
| Order | Stat Name | Primary Effect | Secondary Effect |
| 1 | Strength | Each increment in Strength stat increases skill damage by 0.1%. | Dodge chances improve by 0.025% with each Dexterity upgrade as a secondary effect. |
| 2 | Willpower | Each increment in Willpower increases resource generation by 0.1% and overpower damage by 0.25%. | The secondary effect of Willpower involves the improvement of healing by 0.1%. |
| 3 | Dexterity | Each increment in Dexterity increases the chance for critical strikes by 0.02%. | With each upgrade, intelligence passively increases resistance against all elemental attacks by 0.05%. |
| 4 | Intelligence | Increasing Intelligence stat has no primary effect on Barbarian class. | Increasing Intelligence stat has no primary effect on the Barbarian class. |
The gems we will use with the Berserker Leap barbarian build in Diablo 4 are listed below.
| Type | Gemstone | Effect |
| Weapon | Emerald | Jewelry |
| Armor | Topaz | Topaz in armor grants additional defense to the Barbarians while making them control impaired. |
| Skull in Jewelry slot adds massive amount of additional armor for Barbarian. | Skull | Skull in Jewelry slot adds a massive amount of additional armor for Barbarian. |
The item affixes provide passive bonuses that enhance the overall build extremely positively. The affixes we seek for our Berserker Leap barbarian build in D4 are listed below.
- Increased Damage Output
- Increased Skills Damage
- Increased Critical Strike Chance
- Increased Damage from Critical Strikes
- Increased Damage against Close Enemies.
- Increased Damage against Stunned Enemies
- Increased Damaged against Slow Enemies
- Decreased Cooldown Time for Skills
- Increased Chance for Lucky Hits
- Permanent Increase to Leap Ability levels
- Permanent Increase to Ground Stomp Ability Levels
- Decreased Damage from Enemies
- Increased Chances of Crowd Impairment
Paragon Boards
Berserker Leap Barbarian build is an endgame build that starts after level 50 in Diablo 4. Players earn paragon points (4 points per upgrade) instead of skill points which can be used to purchase specific nodes and glyphs from the paragon board.
These nodes and glyphs provide powerful passive bonuses to survive the nightmare dungeons and their bosses towards the late-game sections.
- Brawl; This rare glyph adds an 11% bonus to surrounding nodes with physical damage and damage reduction. It also allows skills from Brawling Tree to deal 18% more damage.
- Ire; Increases Berserking damage by 1.3% for every 5-strength purchased from the surrounding nodes. It also reduces the damage by 10% from elites while Berserking.
- Crusher; Allows players to deal 1.3% more damage with a bludgeoning weapon for every 5-strength purchased. It also increases overpower damage by 30% while wielding a mace.
- Butcher; This rare node adds ten ranks to the strength stat and increases physical damage by up to 20% over time.
- Grit; Adds ten additional ranks to the Strength stat and increases defense against bleeding enemies.
- Flayer; This rare node deals 10% more DOT and 10% additional damage to bleeding enemies.
- Lacerator; This rare node deals 10% additional physical damage and another 10% additional physical DOT.
- Revel; This rare node adds ten additional ranks to the Strength stat and increases damage against bleeding enemies by 10%.
- Enraged; This rare node increases Berserking duration by up to 15% and damage output while Berserking by up to 20% against all enemies.
- Carnage; This legendary node increases the attack speed by up to 8% for the next 6 seconds if the players land critical strikes while Berserking.
- Brash; This rare node adds ten additional ranks to the Strength stat and increases defense against close enemies by up to 9%.
Unique Items
Unique items in Diablo 4 are the strongest ones that can completely alter how a run will go. Sadly, they are extremely rare to find, and depending on them for a build can become a chore (unless you have already acquired them). We won’t focus on the unique items for our Berserker Leap Barbarian build, but we still recommend finding and equipping the following one if you can.
- Melted Heart of Selig; This unique amulet can be obtained after level 85, granting an additional 17.2% resistance against all elemental attacks. It also increases resource generation by up to 12% and grants 30% additional resources to the players. Up to 19.5% increase in core skills damage, additional 18 ranks to all primary stats, and players deal up to 23% more damage when healthy.
Legendary Aspects
Legendary aspects are affixes that can be applied to legendary or rare gear items to reap their benefits. These aspects can be obtained from either Codex of power or extraction from a legendary item drop. Below is a list of our favorite legendary aspects for the Berserker Leap Barbarian build.
- Aspect of the Giant Strides; This legendary aspect cooldown Leap skill by up to 5 seconds per hit up to a maximum of 9 seconds.
- Aspect of the Ancestral Echoes; This legendary aspect summons one of three ancients upon using the Leap skill if Call of the Ancients is selected as an active skill. This is a Lucky Hit.
- Veteran Brawler’s Aspect; Dealing direct damage with any core skill increases the damage output of the Leap skill by up to 300%.
- Aspect of Bul-Kathos; This legendary aspect creates earthquakes from Leap attacks with bonus damage output. Standing in the quakes increases defense by up to 15%.
- Aspect of Perpetual Stomping; This legendary aspect immediately cooldown Leap skill by hitting an enemy with Ground Stomp.
- Earthquake Aspect; This legendary aspect generates earthquakes from Ground Stomp, which damages enemies more physically. Standing in the earthquake increases the attack damage of the players by up to 15%.
- Aspect of Berserk Fury; This legendary aspect generates up to 6 Fury per second while Berserking.
- Aspect of Numbing Wrath; This legendary aspect grants Fortify for generating Fury while having a full Fury meter.
- Aspect of Disobedience; This legendary aspect increases total armor by 0.25%, with each direct hit up to a maximum of 25%.
- Aspect of Berserk Ripping; This legendary aspect deals additional bleeding damage to enemies, almost 30% of the direct physical damage dealt right before.
- Aspect of Burning Rage; This legendary aspect inflicts additional fire damage to the surrounding enemies while Berserking.
Elixir and Potion choices
As the Berserker Leap Barbarian build is prone to damage against bosses, we recommend upgrading potions to the max, with the help of an alchemist, to survive the nightmare dungeons. Below is a list of our favorite elixirs for this particular build. Remember, only one elixir and its effects can be activated at a time. Using another one will remove the previous bonuses making it a complete waste of resources.
- Heady Vampirism Elixir; This elixir generates up to 2% of players’ maximum health by directly damaging enemies for the next 30 minutes (with every hit).
- Iron Skin Elixir increases the overall armor by a whopping 900 for 30 minutes.
A lot of elixirs in Diablo 4 are enemy specific. You can always craft an elixir that grants you additional perks against a headache-inducing boss or elite.
