Bladestorm 2.0 Barbarian BUILD for Diablo IV [RDY-4-Launch]
Diablo IV launches on June 6th, 2023 for PC (Battle.Net), XBOX, & PlayStation with a 4 days Early Access (no wipe) for pre-orders (so kind of really launching June 2nd).
Diablo IV‘s Launch is getting closer and it’s time to make some Ready-For-Launch full Builds/Theorycrafts that should be good for both ‘fresh-into-endgame’ characters as well as late endgame. I also plan to evolve them further when the game is released & keep them updated when we get rebalance updates. This is one such build for the Barbarian Class called Bladestorm 2.0.
I’ve also made spreadsheets for those builds (see the links below) that have shortlisted the active and passive skills + legendary aspect + unique item + gems & sockets + suggested stat rolls + paragon boards that work well with the build which you can use to tinker. Alternatively, I’ve added build calculator links (mostly needed for the paragons)
This build will be updated post-launch to a new & expanded version when I have more in-game information as reference.
Video Version:
Skill Trees
Below you’ll see ONLY the Active & Passive skills that were selected for this build. For additional skills that can be taken + alternative skill options, you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Bladestorm 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.
Basic Skill (Resource Generator/Builder) (Required Points: 0 )
- (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Frenzy – Unleash a rapid flurry of blows, dealing 20% (X – ?) damage with each pair of hits. If Frenzy hits an enemy, its Attack Speed is increased by +20% for 3 seconds, up to +60%. Requires dual-wielding weapons. Generate Fury: 4 Lucky Hit Chance: 30% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Basic,
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Frenzy – While Frenzy is granting +60% bonus Attack Speed, it also generates 2 additional Fury.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Battle Frenzy – While Berserking, your other Skills gain +5% Attack Speed for each stack of Frenzy you have.
Core Skill(s) (Resource Spender) (Required Points: 2 )
- (active) Whirlwind – Rapidly attack surrounding enemies for 12% (X – ?) damage. Fury Cost: 20 per seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 20% Damage: Physical
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Whirlwind – Gain 1 Fury each time Whirlwind deals direct damage to an enemy, or 6 Fury if the enemy is Stunned.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Violent Whirlwind – After using Whirlwind for 2 seconds, Whirlwind deals 30% (multiplicative) increased damage until it is cancelled.
- (passive) Pressure Point – Lucky Hit: Your Core Skills have up to a 10%/20%/30% to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.
- (passive) did not pick any other Core passives to save points
Defensive Skills (Required Points: 6 )
- (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Rallying Cry – Bellow a rallying cry, increasing your Movement Speed by +30% and Resource Generation by 50% (multiplicative) for 6 seconds, and Nearby allies for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 25 seconds Tags: Defensive, Shout
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Rallying Cry – Rallying Cry grants you Unstoppable while active.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Tactical Rallying Cry – Rallying Cry generates 25 Fury and grants you an additional 50% (multiplicative) Resource Generation.
- (passive) Imposing Presence – Gain 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) additional Maximum Life.
- (upgrade) Martial Vigor – Damage Reduction against Elites, is increased by 4%/8%/12% (multiplicative).
- (passive) did not pick any other Defensive passives to save points
Brawling Skills (Required Points: 11 )
- (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Leap – Leap forward and then slam down, dealing 33% (X – ?) damage and Knocking Back surrounding enemies on impact. Cooldown: 17 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 33% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Brawling,
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Leap – If Leap doesn’t damage any enemies, its Cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Power Leap – If Leap damages at least one enemy, gain 40 Fury.
- (passive) Booming Voice – Shout Skill effect durations are increased by 10%/20%/30% (multiplicative).
- (upgrade – did NOT put points here) Raid Leader
- (upgrade – ONLY put 1 point here) Guttural Yell – Your Shout Skills cause enemies to deal 8%/16%/24% (multiplicative) less damage for 5 seconds.
- (passive) Aggressive Resistance – Gain 4%/8%/12% Damage Reduction while Berserking.
- (upgrade – ONLY put 1 point here) Battle Fervor – When a Brawling Skill damages at least one enemy, gain Berserking for 1/2/3 second(s).
- (upgrade) Prolific Fury – While Berserking, Fury Generation is increased by 6%/12%/18% (multiplicative).
- (passive) did not pick any other Brawling passives to save points
Weapon Mastery Skills (Required Points: 16 )
- (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Steel Grasp – Throw out a trio of chains that deal 23% (X – ?) damage and Pull In enemies. Charges: 2 Charge Cooldown: 11 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 25% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Weapon Mastery,
- (1st upgrade) Enhanced Steel Grasp – Steel Grasp also makes enemies Vulnerable for 2.5 seconds.
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Warrior’s Steel Grasp – Steel Grasp gains 1 additional Charge.
- (passive – ONLY put 1 point here) Pit Fighter – You deal 3%/6%/9% (multiplicative) increased damage to Close enemies and gain 2%/4%/6% Distant Damage Reduction.
- (upgrade) No Mercy – You have +3%/+6%/+9% increased Critical Strike Chance against Immobilized, Stunned, or Slowed enemies.
- (upgrade) Slaying Strike – did NOT take this one
- (upgrade – ONLY put 2 points here) Expose Vulnerability – Dealing direct damage with a Weapon Mastery Skill causes your next Core Skill to make enemies Vulnerable for 1/2/3 second(s).
- (passive) Thick Skin – Each time you take direct damage gain 0.4%/0.7%/1.1% Base Life as Fortify.
- (upgrade) Counteroffensive – did NOT take this one
- (upgrade) Defensive Stance – did NOT take this one
- (passive) did not pick any other Weapon Mastery passives to save points
Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )
- (active) Wrath of the Berserker – Gain Berserking and Unstoppable for 5 seconds. For the next 10 seconds, dealing direct damage with Basic Skills grants Berserking for 25 seconds Cooldown: 60 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 40% Tags: Ultimate,
- (1st upgrade) Supreme Wrath of the Berserker – While Wrath of the Berserker is active, gain +20% increased Movement Speed and increase Fury Generation by 30% (multiplicative)
- (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Prime Wrath of the Berserker – While Wrath of the Berserker is active, every 50 Fury spend increases Berserk’s damage bonus by 25% (multiplicative)
- (passive) Wallop – did NOT take this one
- (upgrade) Concussion – did NOT take this one
- (passive ) Heavy Handed – While using Two-Handed weapons you deal 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased Critical Strike Damage.seconds.
- (upgrade) Brute Force – did NOT take this one
- (passive) did not pick other Ultimate passives to save points
Specializations (Required Points: 33 )
- (passive) Unbridled Rage – Core Skills deal 135% (multiplicative) increased damage, but cost 100% (multiplicative) more Fury.
Class Mechanic:
The Barbarian class mechanics is called Arsenal and this is how I believe it works:
The Barbarian class can equip 4 weapons at the same time: a Dual-wielding set of 2x One-Handed weps + two separate Two-Handed weapons (not dual-wielding those). They switch in combat between those based on what weapon is assigned to specific skills via the class unique Arsenal System. So each skill can have its own weapon assigned to it as long as it’s one of the 4 weapons equipped. The weps you don’t actually use work as ‘stat sticks’, even any aspects slotted on them. Here are the types:
- Dual Wielded 1-Handed Weapons on Barbarians can be either Slashing or Bludgeoning such as: Swords, Axes, or Maces. The game seems to clump all 1-Handed weapons together under the “Dual-Wielding” as far as Barbarians and their skill tags are concerned so regardless of Slashing or Bludgeoning type, a 1-Handed weapon will apparently not count as either.
- The two slots of Two-Handed Weapons can be occupied by Slashing type weps like Swords, Axes, & Polearms and/or by Bludgeoning Maces
- Ideally 1x 2h Slashing, 1x 2h Bludgeoning and a Dual-Wield 1h combo for the 4 weps if you go for a swap-centric build
Unique Item
In Diablo IV apparently (I have multiple sources that confirmed this) we can equip more than one unique item at the same time (not so ‘unique’ if we can get decked out in full uniques I guess). It seems that the one unique per build idea that Unique inherited from the Mythical gear they supposedly replaced was scrapped even before the closed beta tests. My top pick will be the following one but check the notes under the Aspects list for some additional picks:
Gohr’s Devastating Grips (Gloves)
Whirlwind explodes after it ends, dealing [50 – 70]% of the total Base damage dealt to surrounding enemies as Fire damage.
+[4 – 10]% Attack Speed
+[7 – 14]% Lucky Hit Chance
[12 – 20] Fury On Kill
+[2 – 4] Ranks of Whirlwind
“The brutish construction of these gloves belies the strength they bestow. Gohr was clearly no craftsman, but it would be foolish to ignore the triumph of his work.” – Barrett’s Book of Implements
Sockets & Gems
There are various possible good/viable choices for the gem slots. I’ve shortlisted what works by slot. I’d recommend picking one of those:
Weps: Emerald, Saphire, Skull, Ruby, or Topaz.
Armor: Skull, Saphire, or Ruby.
Jewelry: Diamond unless you need specific resistance more than all.
XYZ Diamond (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Ultimate Skill Damage
• Armor: +N% Barrier Generation
• Jewelry: N% Resistance to All Elements
+5%/+5%/5 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Skull (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N Life On Kill
• Armor: +N% Healing Received
• Jewelry: +N Armor
+13/+5%/+170 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Saphire (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Fortified
• Jewelry: N% Cold Resistance
+7.5%/5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Ruby (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Overpower Damage
• Armor: +N% Maximum Life
• Jewelry: N% Fire Resistance
+15%/+5.5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Emerald (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
• Armor: +N Thorns
• Jewelry: N% Poison Resistance
+7.5%/39/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
XYZ Topaz (Requires Level XY)
• Weapon: +N% Basic Skill Damage
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Control Impaired
• Jewelry: N% Lightning Resistance
+16.7%/8.2%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)
Legendary Aspects / Powers
I will only list the Legendary Aspects that have been selected for the build and the slots in which I advise putting those. For in-depth information you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Bladestorm 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.
- Helm: Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind Aspect
- Amulet: Exploiter’s Aspect
- Chest: Weapon Master’s Aspect
- Pants: Steadfast Berserker’s Aspect
- Gloves: Dust Devil’s Aspect Until The Unique goes here (see notes below)
- Boots: Relentless Berserker’s Apect
- Ring 1: Aspect of Giant Strides
- Ring 2: Aspect of Berserk Fury
- 1H Weapon: Rapid Aspect
- Off-hand: Aspect of The Expectant
- 2-H Weapon 1: Aspect of The Dire Whirlwind
- 2-H Weapon 2: Accelerating Aspect
NOTE 1: Dust Devil’s Aspect goes in the Gloves slot ONLY until you get the Gohr's Devastating Grips Unique Gloves. After that discard it from the build. There are three other alternative picks for Uniques you could use if you get those first: Battle Trance (Chest Armor) & Harlequin Crest (Helm) & Ancients' Oath (Two-Handed Axe). See the 2nd note below: NOTE 2: How to re-arrange if using any of the alternative Uniques: - For Battle Trance (Amulet): Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind gets removed from the Helm and Exploiter’s Aspect replaces it to make room for the Unique Amulet. - For Harlequin Crest (Helm): Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind gets removed from the Helm slot to make room for the Unique Helm. - For Ancients' Oath (2-Handed Axe): Aspect of Berserk Fury gets removed from the Ring 2 slot & discarded. Accelerating Aspect goes in the now empty Ring 2 slot to make room for the Unique 2-Handed Axe.
Paragon Boards:
Use the links below to check the paragon boards selected and the nodes I’ve taken. One link is for what the boards will look like at lvl 89 without any paragon points from renown (so more paragon points will be obtained on the way to 100 as well as from renown. The other link will be what the boards will look like when fully maxed out on paragon points.
- LVL 89 & no Points from renown: Click THIS LINK
- MAXed out points: Click THIS LINK
Suggested Gear Rolls to look out for (NOT in order of priority):
I’ve shortlisted 41 different affixes that work well with the build of almost 300 total. I’ll highlight in Orange the ones I think should get higher priority
Bonus to All Damage | ||||
Critical Strike Chance/Critical Damage Bonus | ||||
Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Fire/Slashing Skills | ||||
Critical Chance/Critical Damage with Core/Basic/Brawling Skills | ||||
Damage with Core/Basic/Brawling Skills | ||||
Lucky Hit Chance | ||||
+ X Ranks to Core/Basic/Brawling/Defensive Skills | ||||
+ X Ranks to Whirlwind/Frenzy/Leap/Steel Grasp/Rallying Cry | ||||
Lucky Hit Chance with Physical/Fire/Slashing Damage | ||||
Physical/Fire/Slashing Damage Bonus | ||||
+ % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Fire/Slashing Damage | ||||
Resistance to All Elements | ||||
Overpower Damage | ||||
+ % Physical/Fire/Slashing Damage to Elites | ||||
+ % Critical Strike Chance with Physical/Fire/Slashing Damage Against Elites | ||||
+ % Damage for X Seconds After Killing an Elite | ||||
Damage Reduction for X Seconds After Killing an Elite | ||||
Damage Reduction from Elites | ||||
Damage to Close Enemies | ||||
Critical Chance / Critical Damage Against Close Enemies | ||||
Critical Chance / Critical Damage Against Crowd Controlled Enemies | ||||
Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies | ||||
Critical Chance / Critical Damage Against Vulnerable Enemies | ||||
Vulnerable Damage | ||||
Damage while Healthy | ||||
Fortify Generation | ||||
Damage while Fortified | ||||
Chance When Struck to Fortify for X Life | ||||
Overpower Chance | ||||
Overpower Damage with Whirlwind/Frenzy/Leap | ||||
Overpower Damage with Core/Basic/Brawling Skills | ||||
Overpower Damage with Slashing/2-handed/Swords/etc. Weapon |
+ All Stats | ||||
Damage vs Injured Enemies | ||||
Damage vs Healthy Enemies | ||||
Weapon Damage (not sure if there are any bonuses to that as rolls) | ||||
Fury Generation / Regeneration/ On Kill | ||||
Movement Speed | ||||
Attack Speed | ||||
Strength | ||||
Resource Cost Reduction |
Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):
For all of my Diablo IV RDY-4-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet
For my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Class Skill Trees (can be used as mini-calculator): This Spreadsheet
For all of my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet
♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦
This concludes the Bladestorm 2.0 Barbarian Build for Diablo IV. If you’re interested in the game below are links to the various platforms where one can buy it (you can just click the links to open a new tab):
PC (Battle.Net)