Best Diablo 4 Barbarian builds for leveling, endgame & PvP in Season 1

The Barbarian class returns in Diablo 4, but just how effective is this melee class when you’re using the best Barbarian build in Season 1 of the game? Our handy guide has everything you need to know.

The Barbarian is physically the strongest class in the Diablo series and has been for a long time. They use pure strength and melee weapon mastery to defeat hordes of enemies. If a one-person army sounds like the playstyle for you, then the Barbarian is a great option. The question is, what’s the best Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1?

Having made their original debut in the Hellfire Expansion of the original Diablo, Barbarians have been featured in every Diablo game since, and there are multiple ways to build them. So, if you want to survive the legions of Hell, then using the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build is essential. Here are the best Barbarian builds in Diablo 4, for PvE leveling, endgame, and PvP during Season 1.

Contents

• Best Barbarian leveling build
• Best Barbarian endgame build
• Best Barbarian PvP build

Best Barbarian build in Diablo 4 for leveling

The Rend Barbarian build remains the best Barbarian build for leveling in Season 1 of Diablo 4. Remember this is only the best build for leveling through the game’s story, as opposed to the best in PvP or endgame activities.

Diablo 3 players will recognize the Rend build as it was also a popular playstyle in that iteration of the hack-and-slash series. Now, Diablo 4 has its own version of Rend and the build is absolutely slaying it in Season 1.

To summarize the best Barbarian leveling build in Diablo 4, here it is in table form:

Level	Skill
2	Lunging Strike
3	Enhanced Lunging Strike
4	Rend
5	Enhanced Rend
6	Furious Rend
7	Battle Lunging Strike
8	Rallying Cry
9	Enhanced Rallying Cry
10	Tactical Rallying Cry
11	Rend
12	Rend
13	War Cry
14	Enhanced War Cry
15	Power War Cry (Place two-handed swords in your Technique Slot)
16	Rend
17	Rend
18	Hamstring
19	Death Blow
20	Enhanced Death Blow
21	Fighters Death Blow
22	Death Blow
23	Death Blow
24	Death Blow
25	Call of the Ancients
26	Prime Call of the Ancients
27	Supreme Call of the Ancients
28	Death Blow
29	Booming Voice
30	Booming Voice
31	Booming Voice
32	Pit Fighter
33	Pit Fighter
34	Pit Fighter
35	Unbridled Rage
36	Rallying Cry
37	Rallying Cry
38	Rallying Cry
39	Rallying Cry
40	Raid Leader
41	Raid Leader
42	Raid Leader
43	Guttural Yell
44	Guttural Yell
45	Guttural Yell
46	Tempered Fury
47	Invigorating Fury
48	Invigorating Fury
49	Invigorating Fury
Renown 1	Cut to the Bone
Renown 2	Cut to the Bone
Renown 3	Cut to the Bone
Renown 4	Aggressive Resistance
Renown 5	Prolific Fury
Renown 6	Prolific Fury
Renown 7	Prolific Fury
Renown 8	Pressure Point
Renown 9	Pressure Point
Renown 10	Pressure Point

When choosing weapons and techniques from the Barbarian’s unique skills, the Rend build favors two-handed swords. Therefore, we’d recommend equipping one of those in your main hand and two smaller swords for your off-hand weapons.

Best Caged Hearts

Here are the best Caged Hearts to use for the Rend Barbarian build in Season 1:

• Caged Heart of Creeping Death
• ‍Caged Heart of Focused Rage
• ‍Caged Heart of Determination
• ‍Caged Heart of the Malignant Pact
• ‍Caged Heart of the Picana
• ‍Caged Heart of the Lionheart
• ‍Caged Heart of Punishing Speed
• ‍Caged Heart of Resurgent Life

Legendary Aspects

While there are lots of useful Legendary Aspects in the Codex of Power that will help this build, there are three in particular that you need to prioritize for this build. Here’s what they are and where to find them:

• Offensive Aspect of the Expectant – (Underroot, Scosglen)
• ‍Edgemaster’s Offensive Aspect – (Oldstones, Scosglen)
• Utility Aspect of Anemia – (Kor Dragan Barracks, Fractured Peaks)

Each one will essentially buff your damage in various ways and make your Barbarian build even more powerful.

We’d recommend not imprinting these Aspects on your weapons, as you’re likely to replace these many times on your Leveling journey. Instead, add offensive Aspects to your jewelry, this way, it can continue to serve you well into endgame.

Best Barbarian endgame build

Once you get past level 50 and have seen the ending of Diablo 4, you’ll then enter the endgame. This means the build you used up to this point may no longer be viable. The above build is designed for leveling, but after this, there are other builds that will help you survive the difficulty spike.

Remember, if you want to switch from the above leveling build to the below endgame build, you’ll need to respec your skill points. We’ve included our recommendations for that build alongside the levels as a guide to which ones you should choose first, but you’ll still have all your points ready to allocate so could do them in any order you wish.

Here’s the best endgame Barbarian build in Diablo 4 which is currently the Whirlwind Barbarian:

Level	Skill
2	Lunging Strike
3	Enhanced Lunging Strike
4	Whirlwind
5	Enhanced Whirlwind
6	Furious Whirlwind
7	Combat Lunging Strike
8	Rallying Cry
9	Enhanced Rallying Cry
10	Tactical Rallying Cry
11	Whirlwind
12	Whirlwind
13	Whirlwind
14	Whirlwind
15	War Cry (Place 2H Swords in your Technique Slot)
16	Enhanced War Cry
17	Power War Cry
18	Leap
19	Enhanced Leap
20	Power Leap
21	Hamstring
22	Booming Voice
23	Booming Voice
24	Raid Leader
25	Call of the Ancients
26	Prime Call of the Ancients
27	Supreme Call of the Ancients
28	Aggressive Resistance
29	Prolific Fury
30	Prolific Fury
31	Prolific Fury
32	Pit Fighter
33	Pit Fighter
34	Pit Fighter
35	Unbridled Rage
36	Rallying Cry
37	Rallying Cry
38	Rallying Cry
39	Rallying Cry
40	Raid Leader
41	Raid Leader
42	Booming Voice
43	No Mercy
44	No Mercy
45	No Mercy
46	Heavy Handed
47	Heavy Handed
48	Heavy Handed
49	Pressure Point
50	Your choice
1 – Renown	Pressure Point
2 – Renown	Pressure Point
3 – Renown	Guttural Yell
4 – Renown	Guttural Yell
5 – Renown	Guttural Yell
6 – Renown	Thick Skin
7 – Renown	Thick Skin
8 – Renown	Counteroffensive
9 – Renown	Counteroffensive
10 – Renown	Counteroffensive

The Whirlwind build makes use of dual weapons, in this case, the Barbarian having a two-handed mace in one hand and a two-handed sword in the other. Of course, the Barbarian class can swing two-handed weapons in one single hand as part of their unqiue character skills.

Paragon Board

At level 50 you’ll gain access to the Paragon Board to continue building your character to level 100. Here are the boards you need to focus on to maximize the potential of the best endgame Barbarian build:

• Starting board
• Blood Rage board
• Decimator board
• Warbringer board
• Flawless Technique board

Glyphs

Here are the Glyphs we’d recommend activating as your work through the Paragon board:

Choose at Level 15

• ‍Exploit
• ‍Wrath
• ‍Territorial
• ‍Might
• ‍Undaunted
• ‍Marshal

Choose at Level 21

• ‍Exploit
• ‍Wrath
• ‍Marshal
• ‍Might
• ‍Territorial
• ‍Undaunted

Caged Hearts

Here are the best Caged Hearts to use for the Whirlwind Barbarian build in Season 1:

• ‍Caged Heart of Focused Rage
• ‍Caged Heart of Revenge
• ‍Caged Heart of The Barber
• ‍Caged Heart of the Dark Dance
• ‍Caged Heart of the Picana
• ‍Caged Heart of the Calculated

Legendy Aspects

As this is an endgame build, it pays to unlock as many Legendary Aspects for the class as possible. Try to unlock the following Aspects as soon as possible in Season 1 to take advantage of their buffs, as each will have its own use within an endgame build:

• ‍Anemia (Kor Dragan Barracks, Fractured Peaks)
• ‍Berserk Ripping (Mournfield, Dry Steppes)
• ‍Dire Whirlwind (Garan Hold, Scosglen)
• ‍Disobedience (Halls of the Damned, Kehjistan)
• ‍Echoing Fury (Siroccos Caverns, Kehjistan)
• ‍Edgemaster’s (Oldstones, Scosglen)
• ‍Expectant (Underroot, Scosglen)
• ‍Ghostwalker (Broken Bulwark, Scosglen)
• ‍Iron Blood (Forgotten Ruin, Kehjistan)
• ‍Numbing Wrath (Heathen’s Keep, Hawezar)
• ‍Retribution (Abandoned Mineworks, Kehjistan)

You can also find Aspects by gambling with Obols or farming through Helltides and Nightmare Dungeons.

Endgame item build

Here are the items you should aim to equip for your endgame Barbarian build in Diablo 4:

Item name	Item type
‍Runic Skullcap of the Iron Warrior	Helm
Runic Mail of Numbing Wrath	Chest Armor
Edgemaster’s Runic Gloves	Gloves
Iron Blood Runic Leggings	Pants
Ghost Walker Runic Cleats	Boots
Bonebreaker of Retribution	Main Hand
Boneblade of Endless Rage	Offhand
Amulet of Disobidience	Amulet
Bold Chieftan’s Band	Ring 1
Band of Echoing Fury	Ring 2

Best Barbarian PvP build

Interestingly, the best PvP Barbarian build in Diablo 4 in the current meta is also the Whirlwind Barbarian. To make the best possible Barbarian for PvP battles in Diablo 4, craft the Endgame build above, complete with items and Paragon information.

If you’re not feeling these builds, check out our alternative Barbarian builds guide.

So there you have it, the best Barbarian build to use in Diablo 4 Season 1. Check out some more of our Diablo 4 guides below:

Diablo 4 Review | Diablo 4: Best way to make money | Diablo 4: Fastest ways to get XP & level up | How to Transmog gear in Diablo 4: Armor, weapons & more | Best Diablo 4 Sorcerer builds | Best Diablo 4 Druid build | Best Diablo 4 Rogue build