Diablo 2 Resurrected best Barbarian build - beginners guide

When gamers start playing a new RPG for the first time, in most cases they will opt to go with a basic melee class, as it is the safest and most familiar choice for many.

Fighters, Warriors, Brutes... or in the case of Diablo 2 Resurrected, the good old Barbarian.

The iconic Barbarian class from Diablo 2 relies on brute force, with skills focusing on proficiency in melee weapons, the strength of your body, and various Warcries that will boost you in battle and weaken your foes.

If you like to meet your enemies up close and personal and if wielding mighty weapons is your way to go, then the Barbarian is the right class for your to experience Diablo 2 Resurrected for the first time.

In this Diablo 2 Resurrected Barbarian guide, we will provide you with the necessary information and tips on how you should play the Barbarian, where to allocate your Skill and Attribute points, and which gear is best suited for this mighty warrior born and raised in the Northern Steppes.

The best Barbarian build in Diablo 2 Resurrected

While usually considered as a starter class in Diablo 2 Resurrected, the Barbarian is actually one of the hardest classes in the game to play if you don't know what you are doing and you end up budling your character in the wrong way.

While he is great in the early Acts, many players have experienced being stuck in later stages of the game, as he can become particularly vulnerable to potent magic which some casters have at their disposal at later stages of the game.

The Barbarian is always exposed to damage and thus requires a lot of micromanagement and planning. Hoarding healing potions is a must, and that's where his Find Potion skill comes in handy.

Kitting (running around your enemies) is also crucial, but fortunately, our mighty Barbarian is not a weakling, as he has the highest amount of stamina out of all classes in the game, allowing him to run around for days.

As you might have guessed by now, as a powerful melee character, the Barbarian heavily relies on finding an equally powerful weapon to unleash a massive amount of damage upon their enemies.

While you can play the Barbian both with a two-handed weapon and a combination of one-handed and shield, we think that the best and most reliable build includes a strong two-handed weapon.

This is because all of the extra (enhanced) damage from the weapon, items, skills, and other equipment is applied directly to your based damage, meaning the higher your base damage the bigger value you are getting from percentage-based bonuses.

How to spend your Attributes (stats) points

Proper allocation of your attribute points is crucial for any build in Diablo 2 Resurrected.

With some builds and classes, there's a space for experimentation but when it comes to the Barbarian and his Combat Masteries tree, it is essential to know from the get-go which weapon type you want to use and then start investing in that mastery until you max it out (20).

For the Barbian in particular, it's crucial to always have some points in reserve, as you could always find some great weapon for your build, and you don't want to be in a situation that you don't have enough strength or dexterity to meet the requirements for wearing it.

With that being said, this is how you should spend your stat points as you progress through the game.

• Strength: Always spend just as enough as you need to equip a weapon or armour that you need.
• Dexterity: Enough to equip your weapon.
• Vitality: This is the most important one for the Barbarian, is it will improve your Health and Stamina, both necessary for his survival, being a melee character.
• Energy: This is the least important attribute, don't spend any points here.

Barbarian skills

There are generally three popular builds for the Barbarian, each revolving around the main damage skill (Combat Skills) you will choose.

They are all quite similar in terms of how you spend your skill points and the only difference is which of these damage skills you choose to max out.

Those three builds are Berserk Build, Whirlwind Build, and Concentrate Build.

The other difference, of course, is in your weapon mastery, as you will only spend skill points on a weapon mystery based on the type of weapon you choose to use. Pick one mastery and put points into it until it reaches 20 (maximum).

Asides from weapon proficiency, there are four other passive skills in the Weapon Mastery tree, and you should put 1 point in each of them: Iron Skin, Natural Resistance, Increased Stamina, and Increased Speed.

The general advice for beginners is to go with the Whirlwind build, which is probably the easiest one to play and much simpler in terms of required equipment. It is also one of the most iconic Barbarian skills.

Keep in mind that Increased Attack Speed will be one of the main factors for this build, but only from your weapons, about which we will talk later in this article.

When it comes to Warcries, the two absolutely most important are Battle Orders and War Cry, which you should both max out. War Cry can cause serious damage on top of stunning enemies around you almost constantly. It's a great crowd control skill and one of the cornerstones of any Barbarian build.

Battle Orders will almost double your current Life, Stamina, and Mana at later stages of the game, making it also an essential skill to max out. 

There are a few other Warcries in which you should invest at least a point, in order to have them at your disposal, as they might be useful in various situations, and we will list them below.

Here's how you should spend your skill points:

Combat Masteries

• Iron Skin -1
• Natural Resistance - 1
• Increased Stamina - 1
• Increased Speed - 1
• Weapon Mastery - 20 (based on your preferred weapon)

Warcries

• Battle Orders - 20
• War Cry - 20
• Battle Cry - 1
• Howl - 1
• Taunt - 1
• Shout  - 1
• Battle Command - 1
• Find Potion - 1
• Find Item - 1

Combat Skills

• Whirlwind  - 20
• Berserk - 1
• Concentrate - 1
• Stun - 1
• Bash - 1
• Leap Attack - 1
• Leap - 1

Even if you go with the Whirlwind build it is important to have at least 1 point allocated to Berserk, as it is a magic attack that will allow you to attack and kill monsters immune to physical damage, which is absolutely crucial as there are many which will be completely immune.

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As an alternative to spending points on Find Potion/Item, you might stumble upon Heart Carver, which provides you with +4 to both Find Item and Find Potion. You can keep this as your switch weapon, which you keep in your inventory and only equip it to use these skills.

Weapon for Whirlwind build

There are many good weapons you can find that will support the Whirlwind build just be sure that is the weapon type you want to play with and stick with it.

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Whirlwind counts your weapon's IAS and that's why it is important to take this into consideration when choosing weapons.

Some of the weapons that should be relatively easy to find and great for this build are Ribcracker, Oath (4 Socket Swords or Axes and these runes: Shael + Pul + Mal + Lum), and Steeldriver.

Armour

There are several good body armours that go well with this build, depending on if you want to be more aggressive or defensive.

Duriel’s Shell and Shaftstop are the two we would recommend, both are great defensive options.

Duriel’s Shell

• Defense: (528-650) - (610-732)
• Required Level: 41
• Required Strength: 65
• Durability: 150
• +160-200% Enhanced Defense
• + (1.25 Per Character Level) 1-123 Defense (Based On Character Level)
• + (1 Per Character Level) 1-99 To Life (Based On Character Level)
• Fire Resist +20%
• Lightning Resist +20%
• Poison Resist +20%
• Cold Resist +50%
• Cannot be Frozen
• +15 To Strength

Shaftstop

• Defence: 599-684
• Required Level: 38
• Required Strength: 92
• Durability: 45
• +180-220% Enhanced Defense
• Damage Reduced By 30%
• +250 Defense vs. Missiles
• +60 To Life

Helm

When it comes to helms, we opt to be a bit more aggressive here, by choosing to go with Guillaume's Face, one of the four pieces of the Orphan's Call item set.

It is one of the only two helms in the game that provides Crushing Blow (35% Chance), and definitely, one of the best options we want for this build.

Alternatively, if you want something more defensive you can go with Rockstopper.

Guillaume's Face

• Defense: 217 (Base defense: 85-98)
• Required Level: 34
• Required Strength: 115
• Durability: 40
• +120% Enhanced Defense
• +30% Faster Hit Recovery
• 15% Chance of Deadly Strike
• 35% Chance of Crushing Blow
• +15 to Strength

Rockstopper

• Defence: 163-201
• Required Level: 31
• Required Strength: 43
• Durability: 18
• +160-220% Enhanced Defense
• Damage Reduced By 10%
• 30% Faster Hit Recovery
• Cold Resist +20-40%
• Fire Resist +20-50%
• Lightning Resist +20-40%
• +15 To Vitality

Other gear - Belt, Boots and Gloves

The String of Ear sash is a great choice for Whirlwind builds. It provides you with a 15% damage reduction across the board, and more importantly, it gives you around 8% leech on your attacks, which is one of the best ways to stay alive when you are constantly whirlwind around.

Laying of Hands will increase our Attack Speed by 20%, and we have already emphasized how important that is for this build. In addition, it offers us an insane +350% Damage Against Demons bonus.

When it comes to boots, just try to find some that will increase your running/walking speed, as this can be rather tedious in Diablo 2, plus it is actually important to be fast when playing a Barbarian, as you will need to constantly close the gap in order to kill, or run away from enemies to stay alive.

For rings and amulets, Angelic Raiment is great for this build - Angelic Wings and Angelic Halo. This combination will give you an enormous Attack Rating boost. For the second ring slot, try to find a ring that will give you some life leech.

With that said, our best Barbarian build guide is now completed. While this guide provides you with a lot of information, non of it is set in stone, and there's room for experimentation. 
Once you start learning how to play the class, you will understand better how would you like to play it, and then you can freely tweak this build to suit your preferred playstyle.

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