The Barbarian
You pretty much know what you’re getting when you roll a Barbarian in… well, just about anything. The big brutes crush their foes with one or two-handed weapons, and can take absurd amounts of damage with their heavy armor and high HP. Their main stats, Strength and Vitality, both make them powerful, beefy tanks, able to leap to the front of the battle for melee domination. Strength increases their damage and armor with a 1:1 ratio, and every point in Vitality earns them 28 life – not too shabby, considering there will be plenty of items with both of those stats scattered around the foes you’ll slay.
Solo Build
- Primary: Cleave (Rupture)
- Secondary: Hammer of the Ancients (Smash)
Action Bar:
- Ground Stomp (Wrenching Smash)
- Revenge (Vengeance is Mine)
- Call of the Ancients
- Wrath of the Berserker
Passive Skills:
Ruthless, Nerves of Steel, Bloodthirst
This build is made specifically for cleaving through hordes of enemies while flying solo. Cleave with the Rupture rune blows enemies up when they die (dealing additional damage and causing more to blow up), and Ground Stomp with Wrenching Smash will pull enemies in close, making it easier to take down multiple enemies at once. We’d also recommend selecting two abilities from the Rage category – Call of the Ancients and Wrath of the Berserker. Later in the game it doesn’t pay to have them both, but at level 30, Berserker gives you enough of a boost for any situation, and the Ancients pets can tank and spank any foe with your help.
Group Build
- Primary: Cleave (Rupture)
- Secondary: Seismic Slam (Stagger)
Action Bar:
- Ground Stomp (Wrenching Smash)
- Furious Charge (Battering Ram)
- War Cry
- Wrath of the Berserker
Passive Skills:
Pound of Flesh, Nerves of Steel, Bloodthirst
This build has a lot in common with the solo build save for a few vital changes. Seismic Slam is swapped in to stun enemies and keep them in place for your allies. Furious Charge replaces Revenge to let you dash into battle and save your allies (or dash out of battle if the enemies are too powerful). War Cry is swapped in for its team-wide HP buff, and Pound of Flesh is added into a passive slot. Pound of Flesh spawns the occasional extra health globe, which helps you keep your team full of life during battles.
Boss Build
- Primary: Frenzy (Sidearm)
- Secondary: Hammer of the Ancients (Smash)
Action Bar:
- Ignore Pain (Bravado)
- Revenge (Vengeance is Mine)
- War Cry
- Wrath of the Berserker
Passive Skills:
Ruthless, Nerves of Steel, Bloodthirst
This boss build might look like an amalgamation of skills from the Solo and Group builds, and that’s because it is. Take skills like War Cry to give your teammates HP, but also grab some selfish abilities, such as Revenge and Ignore Pain. Also make sure to swap out Cleave for Frenzy, which is sort of the go-to boss ability for its focus on a single target. It’s also good to use Hammer of the Ancients with the Smash rune, just to have a super powerful attack for chunking away the boss’s hefty HP.
Best Follower
The Scoundrel. Since the Barbarian is melee, it’s good to have a dependable ranged character. The Scoundrel fits the bill well, both for his ranged and his last skill, which can boost players’ Critical Hit Chance by a few percent.
