Bleed builds have always been a fan-favorite for the Barbarian class in the Diablo 4 franchise. With the release of Diablo 4, veterans and fans alike are likely going to want to revisit their old playstyles by making a Thorns Bleed Barbarian build.
The Thorns Bleed build in D4 is pretty easy to play and understand. It has a fairly simple skill rotation to remember. Most importantly, it is an excellent build to level up in Diablo 4, so you will be running those World Tier 3 dungeons in no time.
Something else to note is that you do not require multiple high-end gears to make this build work. The Thorns Bleed Barbarian build can easily take down multiple enemies (including mini-bosses) and more.
You are going to empower your defensive and offensive capabilities by using three different shouts in this build. Moreover, the selection of a Hook will help you control the flow of the battlefield.
The most significant advantage of this Thorns Bleed build is that you need little investment in the start, but your character scales fast if you select the correct stats.
- Skills and unlock order
- Specialization
- Playstyle and skill rotation
- Gear, Gems, and Stats
- Paragon Boards
- Unique Items
- Legendary Aspects
- Elixirs and Potions
Thorns Bleed Barbarian skills and unlock order
Below are the five main skills that form the foundation of the Thorn Bleed Barbarian build in Diablo 4. You can learn more about them from your Barbarian skill tree or continue reading below to know their unlock order and more.
- Flay (basic skill)
- Rend (core skill)
- Rallying Cry (shout skill)
- Challenging Shout (shout skill)
- War Cry (shout skill)
Follow the table below to understand how you should unlock your skills and upgrades for this Barbarian build.
| Unlock Order | Skill (Rank) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Flay |
| 2 | Enhanced Flay |
| 3 | Rend |
| 4 | Enhanced Rend |
| 5 | Combat Flay |
| 6 | Violent Rend |
| 7 | Rallying Cry |
| 8 | Enhanced Rallying Cry |
| 9 | Strategic Rallying Cry |
| 10 | Challenging Shout |
| 11 | Enhanced Challenging Shout |
| 12 | War Cry |
| 13 | Enhanced War Cry |
| 14 | Rend |
| 15 | Rend (Rank 2) |
| 16 | Rend (Rank 3) |
| 17 | Mighty War Cry |
| 18 | Strategic Challenging Shout |
| 19 | Outburst |
| 20 | Outburst (Rank 2) |
| 21 | Outburst (Rank 3) |
| 22 | Tough as Nails |
| 23 | Tough as Nails (Rank 2) |
| 24 | Tough as Nails (Rank 3) |
| 25 | Steel Grasp |
| 26 | Enhanced Steel Grasp |
| 27 | Fighter’s Steel Grasp |
| 28 | Hamstring |
| 29 | Cut to the Bone |
| 30 | Cut to the Bone (Rank 2) |
| 31 | Cut to the Bone (Rank 3) |
| 32 | Pit Fighter |
| 33 | Pit Fighter (Rank 2) |
| 34 | Pit Fighter (Rank 3) |
| 35 | Gushing Wounds |
| 36 | No Mercy |
| 37 | No Mercy (Rank 2) |
| 38 | No Mercy (Rank 3) |
| 39 | Expose Vulnerability |
| 40 | Expose Vulnerability (Rank 2) |
| 41 | Expose Vulnerability (Rank 3) |
| 42 | Heavy Handed |
| 43 | Heavy Handed (Rank 2) |
| 44 | Heavy Handed (Rank 3) |
| 45 | Booming Voice |
| 46 | Booming Voice (Rank 2) |
| 47 | Booming Voice (Rank 3) |
| 48 | Raid Leader |
| 49 | Raid Leader (Rank 2) |
| 50 | Raid Leader (Rank 3) |
You just have to follow and assign the skills points mentioned above to bring out the best damage output for this Thorns Bleed Barbarian build in D4. With these skills, you will have enough Bleed Damage and fury generation to bring down any enemy.
Best Thorn Bleed Barbarian Specialization
In this build, we will select the 2H Axe Technique, which provides increased damage against all kinds of Vulnerable foes. You can easily keep your enemies Vulnerable, so this technique will ensure we quickly bring down our targets.
Thorn Bleed Barbarian playstyle and skill rotation
This Thorn Bleed build highly depends on the generation of Fury and high damage output in D4.
The three shouts in this build allow us to take an offensive stance and provide enough defense to fight against the most challenging bosses.
Let us now go through the playstyle and skill rotation you must follow for this Barbarian builds in Diablo 4.
Damage rotation
It is time to go through the actual playstyle and usage of skills in the D4 thorns bleed Barbarian build. Let us see the order of the skills and then go through the explanation.
- Flay
- Challenging Shout
- Rallying Cry
- War Cry
- Steel Grasp
- Rend
The Flay will allow us to develop fury and provide us with damage reduction and Thorns. You have to ensure that you maintain four stacks to benefit from this skill significantly.
Make use of Challenging Shout to taunt nearby enemies, forcing them to attack you so that you can get a massive Thorn bonus during the combat. Moreover, utilize the Rallying Cry as soon as possible, as it will buff your fury generation, and you will generate enough to keep on spamming the heavy attacks.
Activate the War Cry to improve your damage output and use the Steel Grasp to pull enemies into melee range. On top of that, Rend will give you the bleed damage so you can leave your enemies bleeding to death.
You have to use these skills rotation to win all the fights easily.
Gear, Gems, and Stats
Each class extracts benefits from each Diablo 4 stat differently than the others. Being a Barbarian means having a good amount of strength and Willpower to overcome enemies. So for this Diablo 4 Thorns Bleed Barbarian build, we will be following the given order:
- Strength
- Willpower
- Dexterity
- Intelligence
The strength is essential for this class as it provides you with substantial armor and energy generation that cushions you against enemy attacks. Moreover, Willpower improves your healing capacity from the skills so you can survive the battle as a victor.
Dexterity and Intelligence combine to improve your damage and Critical strike chance, making you a killing machine.
We are going with the following for this Barbarian builds in Diablo 4 for our Gems.
- Weapon: Amethyst so we can build our damage over time.
- Armor: Emerald so you can give a boost in your Thorns
- Jewelry: Skull for a substantial increase in your armor.
For gear affixes, we are going to select the one that improves your stats and provides different other benefits during combat, such as
- Damage Overtime
- Bleeding damage
- Lucky Hit Chance
- Strength
- Willpower
- Vulnerable damage
Paragon Boards
The Paragon Boards provide a boost to the stats that you get from your gear. Additionally, you can use the Glyph Sockters to increase the effects exponentially, but you must meet the requirements.
For this Thorns Bleed Barbarian, build, we are suggesting the following Glyphs in D4.
- Brawn
- Marshal
These will help you polish damage output skills, and your hits will leave your enemies dead. But to get all this, you must fulfill the bonus requirements for these glyphs.
Unique Items
The unique items are something that you will hardly come across in Diablo 4. However these items have great value, but our build can also be completed if you do not have any such items.
For this D4 thorns bleed Barbarian build, we are going with the Rage of Harrogath. This Barbarian unique item provides severe physical damage and a higher critical strike chance against Elite enemies. Moreover, you also receive a boost in your damage reduction and Thorns.
Legendary Aspects
The legendary aspects are crucial for the damage output and cooldown on your skills in D4. The proper set of aspects will take your combat potential to the next level, and you will have the upper hand in all kinds of combats.
For our thorns bleed Barbarian build, we are going with the following Legendary Aspects:
- Edgemaster’s Aspect: You can deal up to 10-20 percent extra damage based on your primary resources
- Bold Chieftain’s Aspect: Your shout abilities cooldown will reduce as long as you stay near the enemies after activating the shout skill
- Rapid Aspect: Provides you with substantial attack speed
- Aspect of the Expectant: Your core skill deals increased damage after the usage of basic skills.
- Death Wish Aspect: You will gain Thorns while using Berserk.
Elixirs and Potions
You can visit the Alchemists present in the main towns to get yourself some pretty valuable items, including Elixirs. You can go with the Elixirs of Slaying to improve your damage against certain types of enemies, or you can get the Elixir of Magic Resist to protect yourself in battle.
Additionally, try to carry Irob Barb Elixir for this Barbarian build, as it increases your armor and provides you with Thorns.
Moreover, you do not have to upgrade your healing potion to its maximum but get it to at least 45 levels and try to increase your potion capacity by doing Renown Activities.
