Diablo 4 – Barbarian Skills Guide

The Barbarian is one of the classes you can choose from in Diablo 4. They may seem foolish and rough around the edges, but these warriors are also brave and unwavering even in the most difficult situations. Here is our general Diablo 4 Barbarian skills guide to help you with various skills you can unlock.

Diablo 4 Barbarian Abilities

Diablo 4 Barbarian’s abilities use fury as a resource and often rely on the Arsenal system. Basically, your abilities will sometimes require a particular type of weapon or combination of weapons (i.e. blunt, slashing, dual wielding, or two handed). As such, it’s up to you to equip the ones you need or change them accordingly. Additionally, Diablo 4 Barbarian’s abilities can be categorized into general use (grey), bleed (red), shout (blue), crowd control (yellow), and recharge charges (purple).

In any case, the classes in the game use levels/groupings for each skill and talent, which are unlocked once you’ve spent enough skill points. We list them in the sections below, further subdividing them based on the connected nodes/updates. Similarly, you can take a look at our separate article on Barbarian talents and perks.

Diablo 4 Barbarian Basic Abilities

Basic skills are always available for use. They deal fairly low damage, but they are his basic abilities when generating rage.

rushing strike (any full Arsenal weapon) – Lunge forward and hit a target.

• Enhanced: Increases damage and heals you when you hit a healthy enemy (i.e. at 80% HP or higher).
  • Battle – Causes bleed damage.
  • Combat: Crits cause frenzy (i.e. +25% increased damage and +15% movement speed; lasts five seconds).

Tried (blunt weapon) – Hit a target with your weapon; your fourth Bash will stun the enemy (longer duration if you use a two-handed weapon).

• Improved: Damaging a stunned enemy grants a percentage of your base health as Fortification (meaning you take 10% less damage).
  • Battle – Generates extra fury.
  • Combat: Critical hits with a two-handed weapon will cause the next primary ability or Weapon Mastery to overlap (i.e. deal bonus damage based on your current health and your fortified health).

Frenzy (dual wield weapons) – Unleash various strikes that can also increase attack speed.

• Improved: When you gain 60% bonus attack speed, you generate bonus fury.
  • Battle: Increased attack speed for other abilities from each Frenzy stack if you are frenzied.
  • Combat: Damage reduction for each stack of Frenzy that is active.

Flay (slashing weapon) – Deals damage and inflicts bleeding.

• Improved: Chance to make an enemy vulnerable (i.e. take more damage).
  • Battle: Flay’s direct damage also deals increased bleed damage.
  • Combat: Flay’s direct damage grants you damage reduction and spikes.

Diablo 4 Barbarian Basic Abilities

Basic skills (and those of later levels/groups) are all the rage. They are quite reliable in combat. You will unlock them once you have spent at least two skill points.

Whirlwind (any full weapon from the Arsenal) – Quickly attack surrounding enemies; channeled capacity.

• Improved: Gain Fury when Whirlwind deals direct damage; additional fury from the elites.
  • Furious – Whirlwind also deals a portion of its base damage as bleed if you are using a slashing weapon.
  • Violent: increased damage after using Whirlwind for two seconds; lasts until cancelled.

hammer of the ancients (two-handed blunt weapon): Strike the hammer to deal area damage.

• Improved: Gain more fury for each enemy damaged; stacks up to 10 times.
  • Furious: Grants additional damage for each point of Fury you have when you used it.
  • Violent: Mastering with Hammer of the Ancients grants bonus damage.

Seizure (two-handed weapon) – Pound the ground with your weapon, throwing debris in a forward arc.

• Improved: Chance to stun all enemies.
  • Furious: Dealing damage with any other ability causes the next cast of Agitation to gain additional damage; stacks up to 10 times.
  • Violent: Damaging enemies grants frenzy.

double swing (dual wield) – Sweep your weapons from opposite directions; enemies caught in the center are damaged by both weapons.

• Improved: Gain Fury if Double Swing damages a stunned or knocked down enemy.
  • Furious – Casting Double Swing while berserk extends its duration by two seconds.
  • Violent: Applies vulnerable to a target hit by both weapons.

Tear (slashing weapon) – Makes a frontal slash that deals damage and bleeds.

• Improved: Direct damage dealt by Rend extends the duration of vulnerable.
  • Furious: Direct damage with Rend grants Fury (max 20 Fury).
  • Violent: Increased damage against vulnerable enemies.

Diablo 4 Barbarian Defensive Abilities

Defensive skills are used to get out of a bind. They will keep you protected or give you crowd control capabilities. Also, they do not require a specific weapon from the Arsenal. Spending at least six skill points will allow you to choose between these options.

stomp – Deals AoE damage and stuns enemies.

• Improved: Increases duration.
  • Strategic: Reduces the cooldown of your Ultimate ability for each enemy hit by Ground Stomp.
  • Tactic – Generate Fury.

War cry – Increases the movement speed and resource generation of your character and allies.

• Improved: Grants Unstoppable while active (meaning effects that impede control are removed and prevented).
  • Strategic: Grants a portion of your base health as Fortification and a bonus amount when you take or deal direct damage.
  • Tactician: Grants additional fury and resource generation.

iron skin – Gain a barrier that absorbs a portion of your lost life.

• Improved: The barrier absorbs 5% more of your maximum health.
  • Strategic: Grants a portion of his base health as Fortification, and doubles the amount if he is below 50% HP.
  • Tactical: While active, gradually heal a percentage of the amount of the barrier.

defiant cry – Taunts nearby enemies and grants damage reduction.

• Improved: While active, gain additional max HP.
  • Strategic: While active, gain spikes equal to half your maximum HP.
  • Tactician: While active, gain Fury whenever you take damage.

Diablo 4 Barbarian Fighting Skills

The fight emphasizes getting to the heart of the fray or using skills that can bolster your melee prowess. These will become available once you have spent 11 skill points.

Kick (no specific weapon required) – Kick and knock down enemies in front of you; those that hit terrain features will be stunned.

• Improved – Kick makes enemies vulnerable.
  • Powerful: Kicked enemies deal damage to other hostiles when knocked down; causes them to be shot down as well.
  • Power: Consume all of your Fury to deal additional damage for every 10 Fury spent; no longer causes knockback.

War cry – Increases the damage you and your allies deal.

• Improved: Also grants berserking.
  • Mighty: Grants a percentage of your base health as a fortification.
  • Power: The damage bonus is further increased when there are six or more enemies nearby when War Cry is cast.

Carry (any full Arsenal weapon) – Become unstoppable while rushing forward; pushes enemies and knocks them down.

• Improved: Those who are knocked down against terrain features are also stunned.
  • Powerful: Applies vulnerable when you hit an enemy with Charge.
  • Power: Reduces the cooldown of the charge if you push enemies into the terrain.

Leap (any full Arsenal weapon) – Jump forward and hit the ground; knocks down enemies on impact.

• Improved: Reduces the cooldown of Leap if it does not damage enemies.
  • Powerful: Damaged enemies are also slowed down.
  • Power: Gain Fury when Leap damages at least one enemy.

Diablo 4 Barbarian Weapon Mastery Skills

Weapon Mastery abilities are devastating spells that can help turn the tide of every battle. These can be selected once you have spent 16 skill points.

Breaking off (Slashing Weapon): Punctures enemies to deal damage based on the total amount of bleed, then removes all bleed damage.

• Improved: Causes an explosion that deals bleed damage.
  • Fighter’s: Hitting an enemy increases your attack speed.
  • Warrior’s: Hitting an enemy heals you for a percentage of your maximum health.

death Punch (any full weapon from the Arsenal) – Attempt a killing blow; if you manage to kill an enemy with this move, its cooldown is reset.

• Improved: +100% more damage against bosses.
  • Fighter’s: Gain Fury if Deathblow damages at least one enemy.
  • Warrior’s: Gains berserking if Deathblow damages at least one enemy.

steel grip (no specific weapon required) – Throws chains and pulls in enemies.

• Enhanced: Makes enemies vulnerable.
• Fighter’s: Damaging an enemy grants frenzy.
• Warrior’s: Earn an additional charge.

Diablo 4 Barbarian Ultimate Abilities

In Diablo 4, Ultimate abilities are those that really make a difference, dealing tremendous damage or enhanced effects. You can choose only one ult after spending at least 23 skill points.

call of the ancients (no specific weapon requirements) – Call upon a trio of ancient barbarians to temporarily assist you. Korlic does Leap and Frenzy; Talic does Whirlwind; Madawc makes agitation.

• Prime: While active, gain attack speed and bonus damage.
  • Ultimate: Korlic grants you additional fury if he damages enemies with Frenzy; Talic slows enemies hit by Whirlwind; Madawc has a chance to stun opponents with Agitation.

iron maelstrom (Must Equip a Full Arsenal of Weapons) – Can be activated three times to attach chains to your weapons and perform attacks. Two-handed blunt weapons do an AoE hit and stun; two-handed slashing weapons make a frontal slash with a bleed effect; Dual-wield weapons swing around you.

• Prime – Increased Critical Chance and Critical Damage.
  • Ultimate: Dealing direct damage to enemies after switching weapons reduces the cooldown of Iron Maelstrom.

berserker’s wrath (no specific weapon required) – Grants berserking and unstoppable; Basic skills grant berserking.

• Prime – Increased movement speed and fury generation while active.
  • Ultimate: Damage increased for every 50 Fury you spend while this ability is active.