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The best Barbarian build for endgame - Diablo 4

Our Diablo 4 Barbarian build for the endgame centers on the devastatingly powerful Whirlwind ability.

Josh Broadwell

June 29, 2023 6:01 PM

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Our choice for the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build for the endgame centers on the classic Whirlwind ability, a skill that serves you just as well after the campaign as it does while you’re leveling.

A Whirlwind Barbarian can deal heavy damage to single targets and enemy mobs, and we opted for some enhancements that cause your attacks to inflict bleed, dealing even more damage while you restore Fury or retreat to recover.

Our support options include three shouts to maximize your damage reduction and output, along with some additional support skills to bump those damage numbers up even higher.

Diablo 4 Barbarian build for endgame

Whirlwind is our primary skill, as you’d expect from a Whirlwind build, and we double dipped in the defensive abilities with two shout skills. While War Cry and Leap are popular choices for any Barbarian build, we skipped them in favor of some extra Berserking power. Our build uses Pit Fighter for the weapon mastery branch instead of the actual skills. 

This setup leaves you essentially with just two offensive skills, your basic skill, and your ultimate, so you may want to shuffle some skill points around and experiment with something such as Rend as an alternative to one of the shouts. It shakes up your rotation and gives you an additional means of causing bleed – always a good thing when you’re facing tougher foes.

On the Aspects side, we recommend Windstriker, Anemia, Numbing Wrath, Acceleration, and, of course, Dire Whirlwind.

Diablo 4 Barbarian skills for endgame

Here’s how it all breaks down.

Basic Skill – Frenzy (Enhanced Frenzy, Combat Frenzy)

Frenzy offers a fast and easy way to build Fury, and Combat Frenzy gives you some extra damage reduction when you build frenzy stacks by using the skill. Since you’re only using this to build Fury and get damage reduction, we don’t recommend spending more than two skill points in it.

Core Skill – Whirlwind (Enhanced Whirlwind, Furious Whirlwind)

Whirlwind is the build’s cornerstone skill and sees your Barbarian swirl around with their weapon – ideally a two-handed slashing weapon – and damage all nearby enemies. Enhanced Whirlwind lets you generate Fury with each hit, which keeps Whirlwind going for longer, and Furious Whirlwind inflicts Bleed.

Invest five skill points in this one.

Defensive Skill – Rallying Cry (Enhanced Rallying Cry, Strategic Rallying Cry)

Rallying Cry is one of the most important skills in your setup. This one gives you a movement speed boost and a generous increase in your Fury generation, and the Enhanced version makes you unstoppable, which means you won’t get affected by movement debuffs. 

Tactical Rallying Cry is a popular choice since it gives you even more Fury generation, but we prefer Strategic Rallying Cry, since it helps keep you alive longer. Strategic grants you Fortify when you take damage, which is a handy way to mitigate damage while you’re in the thick of combat.

Put five skill points into Rallying Cry.

Second Defensive Skill – Challenging Shout (Enhanced Challenging Shout, Strategic Challenging Shout)

Challenging Shout taunts nearby foes and reduces your damage taken by a significant amount. The Enhanced version gives you extra life, and Strategic Challenging Shout gives you Thorns. These damage enemies, which, combined with the Bleed effects from your Whirlwind skill, make short work of mobs and Elites.

These skill should also have five points invested in it.

Brawling Skills – War Cry (Enhanced War Cry, Power War Cry)

War Cry is another important skill since it increases the damage you deal. Enhanced grants you Berserking for a few seconds, and Power raises the damage dealt even more if you’re surrounded by six or more enemies. Put two points into this one.

Max out Booming Voice to enhance all your shout skills and Gutteral Yell to reduce incoming damage.

Put one point each in Aggressive Resistance (damage reduction while berserking) and Prolific Fury (increased Fury generation while berserking).

We also recommend putting one skill point in Leap. It’s not the most useful skill from a damage or status ailment perspective, but it can help get you out of a tight situation.

Weapon Mastery Skill – Pit Fighter

We’re foregoing an actual skill in favor of maxing out Pit Fighter, which increases the damage you deal to nearby foes.

Barbarian Ultimate Skill – Wrath of the Berserker (Supreme)

Wrath of the Berserker sends you into a Berserking frenzy and lets you extend Berserking’s duration by using basic skills. The Supreme version increases Berserking damage for every 50 Fury you spend, which ends up being a lot of damage.

If you're wondering what else to do after defeating Lilith, check out our Diablo 4 endgame guide. Our Sorcerer leveling build and Necromancer leveling build have tips for how to use those classes if you're keen on starting over as well.

Josh Broadwell

Contributing Editor

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or VG 24/7 or on Twitter, shouting about Trails. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or curled up with an RPG of some description.