The Barbarian class is the go-to choice for players who want to raise hell through sheer brute force, and in Diablo 4 Season 9, this class received some fun new toys to play with. However, the best of those toys are only obtainable in the endgame, which means you'll need to rush through the early game if you want to use them.
The following is a leveling build for Barbarians that focus on speed and AoE to help with those Horadric Strongroom blitzes in Diablo 4 Season 9. Here's what you need to make it work.
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Best Leveling Build for Barbarians in Diablo 4 (Season 9)
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Pros |
Cons |
|---|---|
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Upheaval remains one of the best skills for leveling a Barbarian in Diablo 4 thanks to its high AoE damage. It can kill mobs very quickly without being overly-reliant on good gear and Legendary Aspects, making it very attractive for fresh characters. This build focuses on improving Upheaval to make it viable throughout the leveling process and the early Torment grind.
Active Skills
|
Furious Upheaval (5/5) |
Deal up to 200% more damage with Upheaval when you hit enemies with other skills. |
|
Battle Frenzy (5/5) |
Speeds up Upheaval's slow speed while dealing decent single-target damage. |
|
Strategic Ground Stomp (1/5) |
Stuns enemies and reduces the cooldown of your Ultimate by up to 15 seconds. |
|
Tactical Rallying Cry (1/5) |
Boosts Movement Speed and Fury Generation while generating 20 Fury and making you Unstoppable. |
|
Fighter's Death Blow (5/5) |
Grants you 20 Fury if it hits at least one enemy. Change this to Warrior's Death Blow if you want easy Berserking access. |
|
Wrath of the Berserker (5/5) |
Big damage buff that also groups enemies. |
Upheaval is our main damage skill here, but we'll also be using Frenzy and Death Blow for DPS as well. Ground Stomp is also surprisingly good as a damage skill with the Tactical upgrade, so consider using that if you want more damage.
When playing this build, your goal is to build Fury while grouping enemies up for big Upheaval casts. Passives and Aspects will help you deal more damage with this playstyle.
Use 2H Bludgeoning Weapons for Upheaval and 2H Slashing Weapons for Death Blow. If needed, replace Death Blow with 
War Cry for more damage buffs or 
Challenging Shout for survivability.
Passives
-
Endless Fury
(3/3)
- Belligerence (3/3)
-
Swiftness
(3/3)
-
Booming Voice
(3/3)
-
Pit Fighter
(3/3)
-
No Mercy
(3/3)
-
Duelist
(3/3)
-
Heavy Handed
(3/3)
-
Wallop
(3/3)
These are the core skills needed to maximize this build's damage output and Fury generation. For the rest of your skill points, invest them in passives like 
Furious Impulse for better Fury generation or 
Invigorating Fury for health sustain. Skills like 
Thick Skin and 
Defensive Stance are also great for improving survivability.
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Weapon Technique
For this Diablo 4 Barbarian leveling build, we'll be using 2H Mace as our Arsenal Expertise bonus to maximize our Fury generation with Frenzy. Since the build uses Unbridled Fury, you'll want to get as much Fury as you can between Upheaval casts to maximize its damage through passives and Aspects.
Alternatively, you can use 2H Axe for extra Vulnerable damage. Change Ground Stomp's upgrade from Strategic to Tactical, then shift some of Wrath of the Berserker's skill points to the Pressure Point passive. This will let you take advantage of the 2H Axe bonus at the cost of less Wrath of the Berserker uptime.
Horadric Spells
The Horadric Spells you use early on doesn't matter much, but the default Thunderous Particle + Celestial Surge combo pairs well with Ground Stomp. Celestial Surge groups enemies together, making them easy targets for a big Upheaval cast..
Your choice of late game spells depend on what build you want to transition to. If you still want to use Upheaval, then Smoldering Ember + Astral Pillar is good for grouping enemies and making them vulnerable. For Arcanas, use the following:
- Bottled Wind to generate Barriers.
- Reactive Ooze for more Fury generation.
- Pressurized Steam to make Astral Pillar stun enemies.
Equipment and Aspects
Upheaval itself is decent early on, but in order to max out its damage, you'll need to use Legendary Aspects that boost its damage. Some good options include:
-
Aspect of Sundered Ground
-
Aspect Of Limitless Rage
-
Aspect Of The Expectant
-
Edgemaster's Aspect
-
Aspect Of Inner Calm
-
Aspect of Adaptability
As usual, mix in some Defensive Aspects here so you can keep yourself alive. 
Aspect Of Might and 
Aspect Of Disobedience are always helpful, but if you want to scale your Overpower damage, anything that Fortifies you will do just fine.
The following Uniques will help this build a lot if you manage to get them early:
-
Battle Trance
- Lets you do more damage with Frenzy.
- Ugly Bastard Helm - Converts damage to Fire damage and grants bonus Fire damage while Wrath of the Berserker is active.
-
Hellhammer
- Lets you burn enemies with Upheaval. Also makes you deal more damage to Burning enemies.
As for stats, you'll want the following:
- Crit Chance and Crit Damage
- Attack Speed
- Cooldown Reduction
- Upheaval Size
- Chance for Upheaval to deal double damage
- Ranks to Upheaval
- Ranks to Wallop
- Strength
- Resource Cost Reduction
- Life
- Armor
- Resistances
Diablo 4
- Released
- June 5, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Publisher(s)
- Blizzard
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Cross Save
- All platforms
- Franchise
- Diablo
- Number of Players
- 1-2 players
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Hack and Slash
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 players (console only)
- How Long To Beat
- 26 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 158.25 GB
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
