Best Diablo 4 Barbarian build: Best skills for the Barbarian

Looking for the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build? As you might expect, the Barbarian in Diablo 4 is a DPS powerhouse that can cut through hordes of enemies with ease. Our Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian build ensures that you can get the most out of this ferocious warrior.

In this guide, we break down the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build, covering which skills you need to take for the Whirlwind Barbarian. We'll also cover the attack pattern for this build, so that you can build Fury and unleash a mighty Whirlwind that'll finish off almost any horde, along withi the attributes and gems you should focus on for your gear.

Best Barbarian build in Diablo 4

The Whirlwind Barbarian is a Diablo classic, so we absolutely had to build it in Diablo 4. This build focuses on using one skill - Whirlwind - as much as possible. This allows you to clear groups of enemies with ease, making it perfect for solo and co-op dungeon runs.

Simply kite enemies around while building Fury, and then leap into the fray and activate Whirlwind for as long as possible. In solo, you might need to pick off stragglers with Frenzy, but those in co-op can rely on allies who might be better suited to focusing on single targets.

Of course, using Whirlwind spends Fury, so you'll need to use your basic builders to generate Fury between big fights. For this build, we'd recommend upgrading Leap and Death Blow and using them alongside your basic Frenzy attack, as they also build Fury upon dealing damage to an enemy.

Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian build skills

Below, you'll find a full list of the skills that you should acquire for the Whirlwind Barbarian, in order:

1. Frenzy (Basic)
2. Enhanced Frenzy
3. Whirlwind (Core)
4. Enhanced Whirlwind
5. Violent Whirlwind
6. Whirlwind lvl 2
7. Rallying Cry (Defensive)
8. Enhanced Rallying Cry
9. Tactical Rallying Cry
10. Whirlwind lvl 3
11. Whirlwind lvl 4
12. War Cry (Brawling)
13. Enhanced War Cry
14. Power War Cry
15. Leap
16. Enhanced Leap
17. Power Leap
18. Death Blow (Weapon Mastery)
19. Enhanced Death Blow
20. Fighter's Death Blow
21. Whirlwind lvl 5
22. Battle Frenzy
23. Rallying Cry lvl 2
24. Call of the Ancients (Ultimate)

The Diablo 4 open beta is capped at level 25, so you'll only earn 24 skill points to spend. To create our Whirlwind Barbarian build, we focused on skills that will generate Fury, or increase stats such as damage and movement speed.

Since much of the Fury generation in this build comes from a range of upgraded skills, it's important to note that we wouldn't recommend substituting any upgrades in this build for other skills. While other skills might be tempting, offering new attacks or abilities, these upgrades are important if you want to have plenty of Fury at the ready whenever you run into a group of enemies.

Whirlwind

Whirlwind, the signature skill in this build, does exactly what you'd expect - it causes your Barbarian to spin and swing their weapons, dealing massive AoE damage to nearby enemies.

Whirlwind is the best tool in your arsenal for dealing with enemy hordes, so it'll act as your main form of attack. Enhanced Whirlwind is an essential upgrade, as it generates Fury whenever it deals damage to an enemy.

Frenzy

Of course, your Fury will eventually run dry, so you'll need a basic builder - a skill that generates Fury, rather than spending it. In this build, we've opted for Frenzy.

Frenzy quickly generates Fury, but it also triggers increased attack speed that stacks for a short amount of time, making it a useful skill to use before triggering Whirlwind.

Leap

Leap is also an effective Fury generator, thanks to the Power Leap upgrade. This grants 40 Fury if Leap damages at least a single enemy, giving you a helpful boost as you jump into a crowd.

Death Blow

Like Leap, Death Blow also has an upgrade that grants Fury upon damaging an enemy. Death Blow is particularly effective, as using it to kill enemies will skip its cooldown, allowing you to spam it in crowds of enemies that are almost dead to rapidly regenerate Fury.

Rallying Cry

Rallying Cry increases Fury generation by 50% when active, but the Tactical Rallying Cry upgrade will raise it by a further 50%. This is a crucial skill for the Whirlwind Barbarian, as it significantly raises the Fury gained by Enhanced Whirlwind and ensures that you won't run out in the middle of a horde.

War Cry

War Cry pairs well with Rallying Cry, boosting your attack damage so that you can kill enemies faster. This means Whirlwind will be more effective, again lowering the chance of draining your Fury before managing to clear a group of enemies.

Call of the Ancients

Call of the Ancients summons three ancients to fight by your side, and they're essentially going to use Barbarian skills to pile even more damage onto your enemies. One will use Leap, the second will use Upheaval, and the third will use Whirlwind.

Since Call of the Ancients has a 50 second cooldown and isn't going to be ready for every fight, we recommend saving it for extra DPS when fighting Elite enemies and bosses.

If you're not sure how to use these skills effectively, follow the attack pattern below:

1. Activate Rallying Cry and War Cry.
2. Use Leap to jump into a crowd of enemies.
3. Activate Whirlwind and use it until the crowd is dead, or your Fury is depleted.
4. Use Death Blow to generate more Fury, focusing on enemies that are low on health.
5. If a single target remains, use Frenzy to finish them off. If there are crowds remaining, use Whirlwind again.

Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian build attributes

While we can't provide a list of gear, as there isn't any endgame gear available during Act 1 in the beta, there are attributes that you should look out for on randomly-rolled loot.

For our Whirlwind Barbarian, we'd suggest focusing on gear that raises your Strength stat, as this will increase your damage. This will affect all skills, including Whirlwind, and help you kill enemies slightly faster. It'll only be a small increase, but that still means bigger damage numbers and, ultimately, faster kills.

Secondly, we'd opt for gear that boosts your Willpower, as this will raise your Fury generation. We've already covered this a lot in the skills section above, but it never hurts to have a little more Fury coming your way from all sources. More Fury means more time spent Whirlwinding in crowds of enemies, and that's where our Barbarian build thrives.

Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian build gems

Gems are items that you can slot into gear for additional effects, and we can use them in our Whirlwind Barbarian build to push Fury generation even higher.

To increase Fury generation, you'll need to use Rubies. Insert a Ruby into any available sockets on your weapons to ensure that you're getting every possible drop of Fury.

If there are empty sockets available in your armor, use Topaz to decrease the damage you take from enemies. This will grant you a little more survivability when using Whirlwind in a crowd, ensuring that you can tank through enemy attacks while delivering high DPS.

That wraps up our Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian build guide. If you're looking for more, make sure to check out our recent Diablo 4 preview, which covers our thoughts on the current beta content.