Introduction
Welcome to our Diablo 4 Barbarian Leveling Guide. In this guide we will show you exactly what skills to take to bring Barbarian to the next level. In Season One we will be taking advantage of one of the best builds currently available to the Barbarian to level, Whirlwind. This is a build that will be very strong to level with as long as you take advantage of the aspects that are easily obtainable early on as we level up. To learn more about how to play this build in the endgame, please refer to our Whirlwind Barbarian Build Guide
Skill Tree Progression
Below we will go over the skill tree progression for this Diablo 4 Barbarian Leveling Guide. Focusing on the active abilities first and taking the passives where we need to fill up to reach the next active ability.
Skill progression per point
Below we will go over the skill tree progression for this Diablo 4 Sorcerer Leveling Guide. Below is how to spend each Skill point while leveling the Sorcerer as well as an image of the finished Skill Tree.
| 1-5 | Lunging Strike 1/5 – Enhanced Lunging Strike – Whirlwind 1/5 – Enhanced Whirlwind – Furious Whirlwind |
| 6-10 | Pressure Point 1/5 – Rallying Cry 1/5 – Enhanced Rallying Cry – Strategic Rallying Cry – Whirlwind 2/5 |
| 11-15 | Whirlwind 3/5 – Challenging Shout 1/5 – War Cry 1/5 – Whirlwind 4/5 – Whirlwind 5/5 |
| 16-20 | Enhanced Challenging Shout – Pit Fighter 1/3 – Pit Fighter 2/3 – Pit Fighter 3/3 – Hamstring 1/3 |
| 21-25 | No Mercy 1/3 – No Mercy 2/3 – No Mercy 3/3 – Tactical Challenging Shout – Wrath of the Berserker |
| 26-30 | Prime Wrath of the Berserker – Supreme Wrath of the Berserker – Heavy Handed 1/3 – Heavy Handed 2/3 – Heavy Handed 3/3 |
| 31-35 | Combat Lunging Strike – Aggressive Resistance 1/3 – Prolific Fury 1/3 – Prolific Fury 2/3 – Unbridled Rage |
| 36-40 | Aggressive Resistance 2/3 – Prolific Fury 3/3 – Pressure Point 2/3 – Pressure Point 3/3 |
| 41-45 | Booming Voice 1/3 – Raid Leader 1/3 – Booming Voice 2/3 – Booming Voice 3/3 – Raid Leader 2/3 |
| 46-50 | Raid Leader 3/3 – Thick Skin 1/3 – Counteroffensive 1/3 – Counteroffensive 2/3 – Counteroffensive 3/3 |
| 51-55 | Tempered Fury – Invigorating Fury 1/3 – Invigorating Fury 2/3 – Invigorating Fury 3/3 – Mighty War Cry |
| 56-58 | Defensive Stance 1/3 – Defensive Stance 2/3 – Defensive Stance 3/3 – Swiftness 1/3 – Swiftness 2/3 |
Skill Tree and Aspects
Technique
The expertise system applies passive bonuses to all of your weapons that are currently active. The technique slot allows you to passively apply a weapon expertise bonus to all attacks from a weapon that is not being actively used. Two-Handed Sword Expertise will be great for leveling!
- Two-Handed Sword – [20%] of direct damage you deal is inflicted as Bleeding damage over 5 seconds – Rank 10: You deal x30% increased Bleeding damage for 5 seconds after killing an enemy
Stat/Affix Priority
Below we will go over the stats and affixes that you should prioritize for this Diablo 4 Barbarian Leveling Guide. We will list them from most important to least. For a more in depth view make sure to check out our Stats and Affix guides!
Stats
- Strength – +1 Armor per Stat and 0.1% Skill Damage
- Willpower – 0.1% healing Received, 0.25% Overpower damage per point and 0.1% Resource Generation
- Intelligence – +0.05% All Resistance per point
- Dexterity – 0.025% Dodge Chance per point and 0.02% Critical Strike Chance
Affixes
- +X Rank(s) to SKILL
- +X Strength
- +X% Strength
- +X% Damage Over Time
- +X% Damage to Targets That Are DOT
- +X% Damage While Fortified
- +X% Damage to Near Targets
- +X% Damage When Swapping Weapons
As a side note it is very important to keep up your resistances, as content becomes more difficult it will require higher resistances to compensate, the following affixes can become very important:
- +X% Cold Resistance
- +X% Fire Resistance
- +X% Lightning Resistance
- +X% Poison Resistance
- +X% Resistance to All Elements
- +X% Shadow Resistance
Legendary Aspects
Legendary Aspects are one of the most powerful parts of any build. Below are the Legendary Aspects that go well with our Diablo 4 Barbarian Leveling Guide. Each build has a limited amount of Offensive, Defensive, and Utility Aspects that it can use. Here is a reminder of the slot limitations for Legendary Aspects:
- Offensive – Amulets, Gloves, Ring, Weapons
- Defensive – Amulets, Chest, Helm, Legs, Shield
- Mobility – Amulets, Boots
- Resource – Rings
- Utility – Amulets, Boots, Chest, Gloves, Helm, Shield
Recommended
Aspects are an incredibly powerful addition to our leveling journey. These will help to amplify our leveling speed by providing extremely potent effects. These should be prioritized as they will drastically increase leveling speed. The aspects listed below are easily obtainable and synergize with the build
- Aspect of Dire Whirlwind (Offensive) – Whirlwind’s Critical Strike Chance is increase by +[5% – 10%] for each second it is channeled up to [20% – 40%].
- Edgemaster’s Aspect (Offensive) – Skills deal up to x[24% – 34%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource.
- Aspect of the Expectant (Offensive) – Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast by x[5% – 10%] up to 50%.
- Aspect of Echoing Fury (Resource) – Your Shout skills generate [2 – 4] Fury per second while active.
- Bold Chieftain’s Aspect (Resource) – Whenever you cast a Shout Skill, its Cooldown is reduced by [1-4] seconds per Nearby enemy, up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
- Relentless Berserker’s Aspect (Utility): Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Core Skill has up to a [22% – 40%] chance to extend the duration of Berserking by 1 second. Double this duration if it was a Critical Strike.
Aspect Locations
- Aspect of Dire Whirlwind (Offensive) – Location: Garan Hold, Scosglen
- Aspect of the Expectant (Offensive) – Location: Underroot, Scosglen
- Edgemaster’s Aspect (Offensive) – Location: Oldstones, Scosglen
- Bold Chieftain’s Aspect (Resource) – Location: Chapter 2, Season One Journey
- Aspect of Berserk Ripping (Offensive) – Location: Mournfield, Dry Steppes
- Aspect of Echoing Fury (Resource) – Location: Sirocco Caverns, Kehjistan
- Relentless Berserker’s Aspect (Utility) – Location: Hakan’s Refuge, Kehjistan
Optional
- Aspect of Might (Defensive) – Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0 – 6.0] seconds
- Iron Blood Aspect (Defensive) – Gain [2.0 – 4.0%] Damage Reduction for each nearby Bleeding enemy up to [10 – 20%] maximum
- Slaking Aspect (Resource) – Lucky Hit: You have up to a [30 – 50%] chance to fain 20 Fury when Rend deals direct damage to at least one Bleeding enemy
- Aspect of Unrelenting Fury (Resource) – Killing an enemy with a Core Skill refunds [10 – 20%] of its base Fury cost. Can only happen once per Skill cast
- Rapid Aspect (Offensive) – Basic Skills gain [15 – 30%] Attack Speed
- Aspect of the Expectant (Offensive) – Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast by [5 – 10%] up to 30%
- Skullbreaker’s Aspect (Offensive) – Stunning a Bleeding enemy deals [22 – 40%] of their total Bleeding amount to them as Physical damage
The following Aspects are unlocked in Act 1 Fractured peaks: Slaking Aspect (Maulwood) and Aspect of Unrelenting Fury (Hallowed Ossuary). Make sure to complete the dungeons and use them when available.
Best Way to Obtain Barbarian Build Aspects From The Purveyor
| Best Gambling Option | ||||||
| Offensive | One-handed Weapon | |||||
| Defensive | Pants | |||||
| Resource | Rings | |||||
| Utility | Boots | |||||
| Mobility | Boots | |||||
Thanks to Don The Crown for the information!
Season 1: Malignant Hearts
The Seasonal Affix tied to Season One will add a huge boost to all builds in Diablo 4. This will provide you essentially bonus gem slots that will add unique effects which may provide massive damage, defensive, or utility boosts. For more information on this, please refer to our Season 1 Malignant Hearts Guide
Below you will find the suggested Malignant Hearts for this build:
Recommended
- Focused Rage (Vicious, Offensive): After spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds, your next Non-Basic Skill’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%.
- Revenge (Brutal, Defensive): 10-20% of incoming damage is instead supressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360 – 2040 Fire damage to Nearby enemies.
- The Barber (Wrathful, Super): Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0 – 4.0 seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second.
NOTE: While leveling you might not be able to get your hands on some of the recommended hearts, you can utilize any of the recommended hearts as a filler until you find the recommended hearts.
Optional
- Ignoring Pain (Wrathful, Super): Incoming damage has a 5-15% chance of being ignored and instead Healing your for 17 – 68.
- Malignant Pack(Wrathful, Super): Cycle through a Malignant bonus every 20 kills:
- Gain 20% Attack Speed
- Core and Basic Skills have a 15% chance to fully restore your Primary Resource
- Every 21 seconds, gain a Barrier absorbing 85 – 102 damage
- Picana (Vicious, Offensive): Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75 – 2.50 seconds, causing lighting to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68 – 136 lightning damage.
- Dark Dance (Vicious, Offensive): Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 51 – 68 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10% – 20% increased damage.
- Resurgent Life (Brutal, Defensive): While below 40% – 60% Life, you receive 50% – 60% more Healing from all sources.
Barbarian Leveling Tips
Our first tip for this Diablo 4 Barbarian Leveling Guide is to team up with someone, be it a friend or someone you meet in Diablo 4. Teaming up greatly improves the leveling process and allows you to progress faster and easier.
Use abilities such as Lunging Strike and Rallying Cry for mobility to quickly gather enemies. Try your best not to grab one pack and burst them down. Do your best to gather as many packs as you can handle then use Whirlwind in synergy with your Passives and Aspects to defeat enemies quickly. Be sure to prioritize Elite packs!
Whirlwind will be your top source of damage, so be sure to effectively spend your Fury. Try your best not to waste time on a single target.
Rotation:
- Engage enemies with Lunging Strike
- Use War Cry, Challenging Shout and Rallying Cry after engaging (Try to hold War Cry for Elites or large packs, and Shout when there are 5+ enemies around)
- Whirlwind until enemies are defeated
- Use Lunging Strike for Fury generation or as a filler
- Hold Wrath of the Berserker for Bosses or large Elite packs
Diablo 4 Barbarian Leveling Guide Conclusion
This concludes our guide for Barbarian Leveling in Diablo 4! For more information, guides, builds and much more, be sure to check out our Diablo 4 home page!
If you want to continue playing Whirlwind in the endgame, please reference our Endgame Whirlwind Barbarian Build Guide.