Barbarians don’t spend a lot of time talking. They jump straight into battle and lay waste to armies with any weapon they get their hands on. In Diablo IV, Barbarians are basically walking weapons racks. During our recent cover story visit to Blizzard, we went hands on with the game for two whole days. Here’s a breakdown of everything we learned about the Barbarian class in that time.
Skills
Basic Attacks
- Bash: Bash the enemy with your weapon, dealing damage. Has a chance to stun enemies for a bit.
- Warlord: Flay the enemy, dealing damage and inflicting bleed over a few seconds.
- Frenzy: Unleash a rapid flurry of blows, dealing damage with each pair of hits. Your attack speed is increased for a few seconds. (shown)
- Lunging Strike: Lunge forward and strike an enemy.
Fury Attacks
- Rend: Cleave enemies in front of you, dealing damage and inflicting bleed over a few seconds.
- Hammer of the Ancients: Slam your hammer down with the fury of the Ancients, dealing damage to a concentrated area.
- Double Swing: Sweep your weapons from opposite directions, dealing damage with each weapon. Enemies caught in the center are hit by both.
- Upheaval: Tear into the ground with your weapon and fling debris forward. (shown)
- Whirlwind: Rapidly attack nearby enemies.
Defensive
- Rallying Cry: Bellow a rallying cry, granting all allies Unstoppable, increased movement speed, and reduced damage for a few seconds. (shown)
- Ground Stomp: Smash the ground, stunning nearby enemies for a few seconds.
- Undying Rage: When you take fatal damage, you have a few seconds to fight for your life. Killing an enemy in time will revive and heal you.
- Challenging Shout: Fortify yourself for bit and taunt nearby enemies. During this time, you generate additional Fury when hit.
Brawling
- Kick: Kick an enemy for a few seconds and knock them backwards. On collision, enemies in the area take additional damage.
- War Cry: Bellow a mighty war cry. You and nearby allies deal increased damage per nearby enemy for a few seconds.
- Leap: Leap forward and slam downward, dealing a lot of damage. (shown)
- Charge: Rush forward and push enemies, then swing through them for extra damage.
Weapon Mastery
- Primal Axe: Throw your weapon with a chain attached, dealing damage and pulling in enemies.
- Rupture: Skewer enemies in a line, inflicting a lot of damage over a few seconds. If an enemy dies while bleeding, the cooldown is reset. (shown)
- Death Blow: Attempt a killing strike, dealing a lot of damage to enemies in front of you. If this kills an enemy, the cooldown is reset.
Ultimate
- Wrath of the Berserker: Go Berserk for a few seconds. As you generate Fury, you increase these effects. (shown)
- Call of the Ancients: Call upon the ancients to aid you in battle for a few seconds.
- Iron Maelstrom: Whirl your weapon around on a chain, continually dealing damage.
Talent Tree
- Battle Frenzy: Using a Brawling skill grants Berserk for a short time.
- Blood Thirst: Enemies bleed for a percent of your critical strike damage over a few seconds.
- Booming Voice: Shout duration is increased by a percent.
- Close Quarters Combatant: You deal increased damage to enemies within melee range, but take a bit more damage from enemies outside of melee range.
- Concussion: Enemies struck by your Brawling skills are slowed for a few seconds.
- Combat Prowess: Damage increased by a percent against immobilized, stunned, or slowed enemies.
- Cut to the Bone: Stunning an enemy increases bleeding on them.
- Defy Pain: When you Evade, you gain damage reduction for a short time.
- Endless Fury: Fury generation is increased.
- Endurance: While out of combat, gain some Life per second.
- Fierce Brawler: Attack speed is increased by a percent while using one-handed weapons. Critical strike damage is increased while using two-handed weapons.
- Guttural Yell: Your Shouts cause enemies to deal less damage for a few seconds.
- Gushing Wounds: Bleeding effect deals a lot more damage.
- Martial Vigor: Damage reduction is increased.
- Master of Arms: After using your Weapon Mastery skill, your next Fury skill is free and deals a bit more damage.
- Momentum: A chance to generate extra fury.
- Slam: A chance to knock enemies down.
- Slaying Strike: Damage increased against enemies below 30 percent health.
- Swiftness: Movement speed is increased.
- Thick Skin: Non-physical damage reduction is increased.
- Unbridled Rage: Fury skills deal increased damage, but costs a bit more.
- Unstoppable Force: Berserking grants Unstoppable and increases damage.
- Walking Arsenal: Using a different weapons increases your damage for a few seconds.
- Quick Impulses: While moving, your damage reduction is increased.
For more on Diablo IV, be sure to check out our online coverage hub, which includes deeper dives into the Sorceress and Druid classes.
