Make the character
Two clicks, then you're playing.
- Pick Barbarian.
- Tick Seasonal Realm — that's where Season 15 content, the seasonal questline and the good loot are.
- Difficulty: start on Normal, or Hard if you've played before. Either way the rule is the same: go up when packs die quickly, and come back down if fights get noticeably longer.
The plan in one line
You're building toward a Barbarian who holds Whirlwind inside the pack while Dust Devils do the area damage. Levelling is about getting Whirlwind early, fixing your Fury, and picking up the Tornado upgrade at level 15.
Your first skill bar
This is one complete bar with a level-by-level order, so you always know where the next point goes. Where there is a real choice, it is noted. You get 83 skill points in total: 69 from levels and 14 bonus points.
Your basic attack, from level 2. It builds Fury and closes the gap to the next enemy. It stays at rank 1.
GeneratorYour damage, from level 3. Hold it and keep moving through the pack. It costs Fury the whole time.
Main damageFrom level 4. Movement speed and Fury. Early on, press it before the fight, not during — it costs Fury as well as giving it.
ShoutFrom level 8. A damage buff, and with the Mighty Roar upgrade at level 20 it grants Berserking.
ShoutFrom level 26. Jump into bigger packs. With the Pull upgrade it groups enemies and gives more Fury.
Press — to engageYour Ultimate, from level 19. It has the lowest cooldown and the biggest damage multiplier of your Ultimates.
Elites and bossesHow you actually play
Lunging Strike into the pack to build Fury, or Leap in once you have it. Rallying Cry for speed and Fury, then War Cry when you're inside the pack with a full bar. Now hold Whirlwind and keep moving through as many enemies as you can. Add Call of the Ancients on elites, bosses and very large packs. When Fury runs low or the pack is dead, let go of Whirlwind, rebuild with Lunging Strike or Leap, and move on.
Where your skill points go
Spend them top to bottom — finish one line before starting the next. Don't spread them around.
| Order | Skill | Why | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Whirlwind | Your damage. Take Cost Damage Bonus at level 6, Channel Damage Bonus at 10 and Tornado at 15. Levels 30 to 39 all go here. | Rank 15 |
| 2nd | Rallying Cry | One point at level 4, then the Fortify, Potency and Booming upgrades by 16. Levels 40 to 53 take it to the top. | Rank 15 |
| 3rd | Call of the Ancients | One point at 19 and its three upgrades by 25. Levels 54 to 67 max it. | Rank 15 |
| 4th | War Cry | One point at 8, then Ferocity, Duration Increase and Mighty Roar by 20. Maxed last, mostly with the bonus points. You can max it second instead if you want the damage buff sooner. | Rank 15 |
| 5th | Leap | One point at 26, then Pull and Resource Generation. The very last points go here. | Rank 4 |
| 6th | Lunging Strike | One point, plus the Resource Generation, Berserking and Skewer upgrades by level 14. It only exists to refill Fury. | Rank 1 |
Made a mess of it?
Respeccing is cheap at low level. Open the skill tree, refund the lot, and spend again in this order. It costs a few gold, not a new character.
Level 15: the Technique Slot
The Barbarian's class mechanic is the Arsenal System. You carry four weapons at once (a two-handed bludgeoning weapon, a two-handed slashing weapon and a dual-wield pair), and the game swaps between them depending on the skill. At level 15 you get the quest Masters of Battle from Forgemaster Kerdi in Ked Bardu, in the Dry Steppes. It is a short quest chain. It unlocks the Technique Slot: you pick one weapon type, and its Expertise bonus stays on at all times, whatever you're holding. Don't assume the quest completes itself.
Slot the Polearm
There are two ways to fill this slot. The Polearm gives Lucky Hit Chance, and at Expertise level 10 it adds +15% damage while Healthy, which means above 80% Life. That bonus is on whenever your health is high and needs no set-up. The Two-Handed Axe gives more damage to Vulnerable enemies instead. Take the Polearm: it is also what the endgame Whirlwind build uses. The Technique bonus stacks with the bonus of the weapon actually in your hands. Expertise grows from level 1 to 10 as you use that weapon type.
Nothing changes about the buttons you press — it's a permanent passive bonus. What you should do is check which weapon Whirlwind uses. It should always be a two-hander; stick with a Two-Handed Mace or Polearm if you have the choice. If you want to set it by hand, put Whirlwind on the Two-Handed Mace, Lunging Strike on the dual-wield pair and Leap on the Polearm, so every skill swap counts toward Battle-Mad Aspect. If that sounds like a lot, leave it alone: by default the game picks your strongest weapon, and you needn't worry about it until 70.
The road to 70
What changes, and when.
Start your first War Plan (favour Helltide activities), pick a mercenary, activate your pet and follow the seasonal intro quest. Lunging Strike arrives at level 2, Whirlwind at 3, Rallying Cry at 4 and War Cry at 8. Tempering unlocks at level 10.
Take Whirlwind's Tornado upgrade: Whirlwind now spawns Dust Devils, and this is where the build takes off. Bursting (Fire damage and a Burn) is the other option at this node, but Tornado is what the endgame build uses. Do the class quest the same level. On difficulty, there are two approaches: Hard or Expert gives the fastest experience if packs still die quickly, while starting on Normal or Hard and only going up when they do is safer. If a tier slows you down, drop back.
Call of the Ancients. Its three upgrades follow by level 25. Use it on elites, bosses and very large packs.
From 25, War Plans offer the Undercity of Kurast. Choose it, or Helltide farming, as your main route and stick with it. Leap arrives at 26 and the bar is complete. No skill is swapped out from here to 70.
Every point goes into Whirlwind, which reaches rank 15 at level 39. Try the first Capstone Dungeon between 30 and 40, often around 35. It gives extra skill points.
Levels 40 to 53 max Rallying Cry; Call of the Ancients follows from 54. Between 50 and 60 the second Capstone Dungeon plus Season Rank objectives bring Pit access and more skill points. Around 60, clear every Stronghold for a large experience boost.
Paragon opens. Refresh your gear with new tempers and imprints, then complete Pit Tier 10 to unlock Torment 1. The bonus points finish War Cry and put Leap at rank 4. Then move across to Whirlwind, our main Barbarian build. Its starter bar keeps Lunging Strike and Call of the Ancients and swaps Leap for Challenging Shout, so very little changes on day one.
Gear rules for beginners
You don't need to understand affixes yet. These rules cover it.
- Upgrade your weapons first. Damage on the weapon Whirlwind uses beats its affixes, and usually beats an aspect on it too. On the weapon slots your skills aren't using, the aspect matters more.
- Whirlwind goes on a two-hander. Aspect of Heavenly Strength only works with one. A Two-Handed Mace or Polearm is best.
- Look for: Strength, Maximum Life, Resource Regeneration (your Fury) and Movement Speed. Put Resource Regeneration on helm, chest, pants and boots, and temper the Lucky Hit affix that restores Fury onto jewellery. Once Fury feels stable, stop stacking Fury stats and go back to Strength, Life and damage.
- Any legendary beats a rare early on, even with an irrelevant aspect, because it has extra stats. Higher item power is usually stronger, but check the affixes.
- Aspects to keep: Channeling (all damage +50–70% while channelling), Heavenly Strength (damage reduction while you use a two-hander), Heavy Hitting (more damage for skills that create Dust Devils) and Crushing (45–65% more damage while Fortified — Rallying Cry's Fortify upgrade provides it). Put your best offensive one on the amulet. You replace it least often.
- Two aspects for permanent Berserking: Anger Management (above 50 Fury: 15–20% damage and Berserking, at the cost of 3 Resource Regeneration) and Berserk Fury (7–11 Fury per second while Berserking). Put either on the moment you find it.
- Temper early and cheaply. You need Tempering Manuals, which drop as you level. Use Damage to Close on weapons, gloves and jewellery, Maximum Life on armour and Movement Speed on boots.
- Gems and Soul Splinters: Rubies in armour and Diamonds in jewellery. In weapons there are two options: Rubies, or Skulls, which is what the endgame build uses. Take Skulls. For Splinters there is a choice too. Lies gives 25% bonus experience, but you are permanently Weakened and Vulnerable; Hellfire, Black Soulstone or Mother give power instead. Take Lies if you are comfortable, and drop it if you start dying. Avoid Pain — it costs movement speed.
- No unique is required. Gohr's Devastating Grips, Tuskhelm of Joritz the Mighty, Sabre of Tsasgal and Ramaladni's Magnum Opus are great finds for this build. Wear them if they drop; don't farm for them.
Mercenary
Hire Raheir. He is great defensively and his Inspiration gives a decent damage multiplier. There are two ways to fill the reinforcement slot: Aldkin for the damage reduction from Field of Languish, or Varyana, whose Bloodthirst gives attack speed. Take Aldkin, which is also what the endgame build runs. Subo with Varyana reinforcing is the alternative pairing if you would rather have the map revealed.
Words the game doesn't explain
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fury | The bar your skills run on. It caps at 100 and drains slowly out of combat. Basic skills like Lunging Strike build it; Core skills like Whirlwind spend it. |
| Arsenal System | The Barbarian's class mechanic. You equip four weapons at once, each skill is tied to one, and the game swaps automatically. Stats on all four count even when they're not in your hands. |
| Weapon Expertise | A bonus for each weapon type, active while you wield it. It grows from level 1 to 10 as you use that type, with an extra effect at level 10. |
| Technique Slot | The level 15 unlock. One weapon type's Expertise bonus stays on at all times, whatever you're holding. |
| Berserking | A temporary Barbarian-only buff: +25% damage and +30% movement speed. On this bar it comes from War Cry's Mighty Roar, Lunging Strike's Berserking upgrade, and the Anger Management and Battle-Mad aspects. |
| Shout | War Cry, Rallying Cry and Challenging Shout. Cooldown buffs that give damage, movement speed and Fury, or a taunt. |
| Dust Devils | Small tornadoes that Whirlwind spawns once it has the Tornado upgrade. They are the build's area damage. |
| Channelling | Holding a skill down so it keeps firing. Whirlwind deals damage while channelled and lets you keep moving. |
| Codex of Power | Legendary powers you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. You unlock an entry by salvaging an item that carries it. |
| Runeword | A pair of runes. The Ritual rune builds Offering when its condition is met; the Invocation rune fires once enough is stored. |
Mistakes new Barbarians make
- Spinning between packs. Early on, Fury is what limits you. Let go of Whirlwind when nothing is nearby and save the Fury for the next group.
- Spinning on empty. If Fury runs low, stop for a moment and rebuild with Lunging Strike or Leap.
- Casting Rallying Cry mid-fight at low level. It generates Fury but also costs Fury. Press it before you attack.
- Keeping an old weapon for its affixes or aspect. Damage on Whirlwind's weapon matters more.
- Whirlwind on the wrong weapon. It should use your strongest two-hander, and Heavenly Strength's damage reduction only applies with one.
- Ignoring defence. You fight inside the pack. Maximum Life first; Resistances and Armour become necessary around Penitent.
- Pushing difficulty too high. If a higher tier slows you noticeably, drop back down.
At 70 you're done levelling — move across to an endgame build: Whirlwind · Hammer of the Ancients · Charge.