Best Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 5 for levelling & endgame

Best Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 5 for levelling & endgame

The best Barbarian build for levelling will take your Diablo 4 class to new heights, so we've got all you need to know about its skills and gems, alongside a build for the endgame.

08th Aug 2024 12:05

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If your ideal journey through Diablo 4 Season 5 involves swinging large weapons as hard as you can, then this Barbarian endgame build is for you.

What is the best Barbarian build?

According to Maxroll.gg, one of the best levelling builds for Barbarians is the Upheaval Barbarian build. It's a pretty straightforward build that relies on Upheaval, one of the Barbarian's few ranged attacks, to clear out groups of enemies. 

The general plan of this build is to rush past a group of enemies, buff yourself with some shouts, turn around, and delete the group charging at you with a single blast of Upheaval. At least, that's the plan. This method should be really strong in early-to-mid-game content, and easily clear out the mobs in dungeons.

The only thing it lacks is single-target damage for bosses, but by incorporating Lunging Strike for its damage, Fury generation, and movement, you can adjust the build to take on bosses quite well.

If you are playing through the campaign or just levelling up a Barb for Season 5, this build will easily carry you through World Tier 1 and into World Tier 2.

Upheaval Barbarian Active Skills List

Here are the skills we recommend for this build:

Ability Skill Tree
Frenzy (1\5) Basic
Upheaval (5/5) Core
Charge (5/5) Brawling
Leap (5/5) Brawling
Death Blow (5/5) Weapon Mastery
Iron Maelstrom Ultimate

Half of these skills are buffs and debuffs, with good reason. It might seem like busy work, but activating these buffs before diving in and using Upheaval can be the difference between wiping out a group of enemies in one swoop, and being left with a bunch of half-dead monsters still charging at you.

Image of the Barbarian in Diablo 4

Upheaval Barbarian Passive Skills List

Passive Skill Tree
Imposing Presence (3/3) Defensive
Swiftness (3/3) Brawling
Pit Fighter (3/3) Weapon Mastery
Thick Skin (1/3) Weapon Mastery
Counteroffensive (3/3) Weapon Mastery
Defensive Stance (3/3) Weapon Mastery
Brute Force (3/3) Ultimate
Wallop (1/3) Ultimate
Concussion (3/3) Ultimate
Walking Arsenal Key Passive

These passives give you a lot of extra utility, but mostly focus on boosting your overall damage potential.

Upheaval Barbarian gear stats

Here are the stats you want to prioritise throughout your gear. The most important thing you need is to keep a two-handed weapon in your hands, as Upheaval requires one.

Upheaval item stats list

While the skills you have are important, getting the weapons with the right stat boosts is a key part of rounding out your build with extra effects.

Image of the Barbarian in combat in Diablo 4

Here are the stats you'll want to incorporate:

Weapons

  • Strength
  • Maximum Life
  • Damage
  • Life per Hit

Armour

  • Strength
  • Fury per Second
  • Ranks to Death Blow
  • Ranks to Upheaval
  • Maximum Life
  • Resistances
  • Attack Speed
  • Critical Strike Chance
  • Armour
  • Movement Speed

Jewellery

  • Cooldown Reduction
  • Movement Speed
  • Ranks to Weapon Mastery Skills
  • Strength
  • Maximum Life
  • Resistances
  • Damage

There are plenty of factors that play into making this build stronger, which also means there are plenty of items you can equip that will be beneficial. So long as you focus on the stats above, you should have a build that wipes hordes of monsters off the map.

Legendary Aspects

Legendary Aspects can also add a lot to a build when you have a Rare or Legendary item to imprint the effects onto. Here are the best three for this build:

  • Aspects of the Relentless Armsmaster - Gain [35-65]% increased Fury Generation and 15% reduced Fury cost while all damage bonuses from the Walking Arsenal Key Passive are active
  • Earthstriker's Aspects - After swapping weapons 8 times, your next non-Basic Skill will Overpower and deal [15-30]% increased Overpower damage
  • Aspect of the Expectant - After attacking enemies with a Basic Skill, increase the damage of your next Core Skill cast within 5 seconds by [5-10]%, up to 30%

Best Gems for Barbarians

Here are the best gems to use with your Barbarian:

Gem Uses
Ruby
  • Weapon: Boosts Overpower Damage
  • Armour: Boosts Maximum Life
  • Jewellery: Increases Fire Resistance
Ruby
  • Weapon: Boosts Overpower Damage
  • Armour: Boosts Maximum Life
  • Jewellery: Increases Fire Resistance
Diamond
  • Weapon: Increased Ultimate Damage
  • Armour: Extra Barrier Generation
  • Jewellery: Boosts Resistance to All Elements
Diamond
  • Weapon: Increased Ultimate Damage
  • Armour: Extra Barrier Generation
  • Jewellery: Boosts Resistance to All Elements
Diamond
  • Weapon: Increased Ultimate Damage
  • Armour: Extra Barrier Generation
  • Jewellery: Boosts Resistance to All Elements

My recommendation is to put a Ruby in the Armour and Weapons slot, then the Diamonds in the Jewellery slots.

Best Barbarian endgame build in Diablo 4

I'd recommend sticking with the Upheaval build due to its ease-of-use and high damage potential. However, in the endgame, you can switch to a Thorns Barbarian build for something more complex and varied in approach.

With the Masterwork and Ancestral Tempering mechanics that were introduced last season, you can go even further with any build you have in the endgame portion as well.

How good is the Barbarian in Diablo 4?

While it might not be as strong as those at the top, the Barbarian has the potential to be a strong class, mixing damage and tank-like playstyles in Diablo 4. On our Diablo 4 class tier list, we've ranked it rather low in the C Tier for solo play, but all classes are powerful in the right hands. This is because Barbarians are huge, hulking characters that can hit very hard, but are also very slow in return.

A Barbarian from Diablo 4 standing in a dusty market

That said, if you enjoy whacking demons with big hammers, then you can’t go wrong with the Barbarian class, and there aren't any 'bad' classes in Diablo 4 - they all shine in different ways.

We used a variety of resources, including Maxroll, as well as our own experience with the game when putting this build together.

If the Barbarian isn't quite scratching that itch though, why not try out one of our other class builds? There's always time to test something new with the seasonal characters too:

Joshua Boyles

About The Author

Joshua Boyles

Joshua is the Guides Editor at GGRecon. After graduating with a BA (Hons) degree in Broadcast Journalism, he previously wrote for publications such as FragHero and GameByte. You can often find him diving deep into fantasy RPGs such as Skyrim and The Witcher, or tearing it up in Call of Duty and Battlefield. He's also often spotted hiking in the wilderness, usually blasting Arctic Monkeys.

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