Barbarians. When we think of a particular image of ruthless, aggressive, and outright violent character class, Barbarians often top the list – aside from their monster counterpart, Orcs. In Diablo Immortal, the Barbarian class has one of the best statistics in Strength and Vitality among all the character classes while excelling in Fortitude for a somewhat tanky build. While Barbarians are optimized for melee combat, there are particular strategies and builds you can make. In this Diablo Immortal Barbarian guide, we will highlight most of these as you start your journey as a mighty Barbarian. We will look at builds specifically for player-vs-player (PVP) and player-vs-environment (PVE) and give my thoughts after.
Barbarian Build for PVP
For the most part, the Barbarian class relies on two important crowd control (CC) skills, Hammer of the Ancients and Whirlwind. Hammer of the Ancients deals damage and knockback, which is not always applicable in a PVE setting, as some AI enemies have immunity to knockback and CC skills. On the other hand, Whirlwind is a skill that can be used in PVP and PVE situations. It deals damage per second (determined by the energy spent for casting the ability), and, most important of all, the skill can be moveable, meaning the player can use it both as an offensive tool to strike enemies or get out of duels while still dealing damage if enemies try to pursue; however, the user has reduced speed of 70%. Of course, it is recommended to equip the penultimate Barbarian skill, Wrath of the Berserker, which gives a 50% increase to critical hit chances and a 20% movement speed bonus. The downside to this skill is the lengthy cooldown of 60 seconds.
To round out this build, equip Undying Rage (available at Level 44) to give you a second wind through a five-second “cheat death” mechanism where the character gains up to 30% healing on every attack hit, similar to a lifesteal function. Couple this with Whirlwind, and you get all the offensive and defensive perks.
I would also swap Hammer of the Ancients, in some cases, for Sprint, which gives a movement speed bonus. This is due to my aggressive playstyle and, in part, to the damage scaling versus the damage absorption (determined by Fortitude and the armor ranks of items). Since enemies in Diablo Immortal deal a lot of damage and Barbarians need to deal damage from close range, I find it necessary to have Sprint as my escape skill.
Barbarian Build for PVE
Since PVE is not that difficult, I think it would be best to experiment with all the skills available. For instance, you can have an all-offense combo of Hammer of the Ancients, Cleave, and Leap. Cleave is a three-part attack that deals damage to a small area. Leap is another CC skill that damages enemies within the area and slows them down by 50%. To execute this combo, activate Cleave for your desired amount (up to three times), then choose either Hammer of the Ancients or Leap as the next ability to cast. For desktop users, the default key bind for the skills is 1 until 4. My mapping is 1 for Cleave, 2 for Leap, and 3 for Hammer of the Ancients. So I can do 1 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 1 or 1 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 3, or 1 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 3, or variations thereof. To continue the offense while waiting for the other skills to cool down, I have Whirlwind as the 4th ability. The video at the end of this article shows how I use this combo. You can also use this combo for PVP matches, provided your party has enough support skills.
Barbarian Item Build
For item builds, my general rule is to equip the best items to boost your stats and complement your abilities. Remember to prioritize the Strength, Vitality, and Fortitude stats when upgrading your items. As such, the priority is as follows:
- Off-hand: The Remembered – Compliments Hammer of the Ancients. Summons Spirit of the Ancients which stuns the target area and fights alongside the character for a period of time.
- Main Hand: Eager Maelstrom – Increases the radius of Whirlwind but also decreases its movement speed further.
- Chest: The Gathering – Whirlwind attracts all enemies it damages.
- Legs: Screaming Fury – This is the best Legs equipment for Barbarian. However, it compliments Furious Charge, an ability not mentioned in this guide. You may choose a different Legs item for this slot.
- Head: Spiritbreaker – Sprint leaves tornadoes in its path, dealing some damage to enemies.
- Shoulders: Broken Grasp – Sprint increases dodge chance by 20%.
Gems For Barbarian Builds
This section applies to both PVP and PVE builds. I highly recommend Legendary Gems that boost damage output, give area-of-effect bonuses, and either damage resistance or armor penetration. For this, I recommend three Legendary Gems and three Regular Gems.
Legendary Gems:
- Chained Death – +1.5% damage output per target. Up to 4.5% for 3 targets.
- Trickshot Gem – -8.0% on energy consumption for Channeled Skill(s). Very useful for Whirlwind.
- Lightning Core – Primary attacks and movement give lightning charge. When fully charged, the next Primary attack deal bonus lightning damage (90% base damage) while chaining to nearby enemies for a fixed 1,134 damage.
Regular Gems:
- Tourmaline: Increases damage output
- Sapphire: Armor Penetration
- Topaz: Resistance
Conclusion
Barbarian builds are relatively straightforward and focus on some of his core abilities. I highly recommend keeping Whirlwind as the main channeled skill because it is the only ability in the Barbarian arsenal that is strong enough to deal damage while also providing some defense. Of course, with the Trickshot Gem decreasing its consumption, Whirlwind becomes the Barbarian’s signature skill.
Experiment with combo chains and how much damage they deal. But you can also provide some necessary support for your team during PVP matches. Assess the situation and adapt to it. This is why this article gives some options to try out. Lastly, don’t forget to enjoy the builds, no matter what they are.
Video Credits to A Cat Who Purrs via YouTube
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