26.04.2023
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Barbarian in Diablo IV: What is it like and is it good?
Barbarian is truly an iconic class for the Diablo series. It's present in each game, except for the first one. And even in the first one it could become an expansion class but that has been scrapped for some reason. Anyway, barbarian is an instantly recognizable brutal warrior wielding huge weapons and destroying everything in their line of sight. Will barbarian in Diablo 4 remain that killing machine? Or will it be reimagined in some unexpected way? Let's find out!
What is Barbarian in Diablo IV?
Barbarian is mostly what it has always been. A huge person, half-naked, half-covered with furs and skins of poor crushed animals. It's a survivor who learned to deal with the hardest challenges and those challenges do not always come from the living plane. The brutality of this fighter is not anger-driven. It's more about mastery, knowing how to crush your opponent without leaving it a second chance to retaliate. Take a look at the official trailer to have a better idea:
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What is its gameplay like?
Barbarian's primary focus is on weapons. Some abilities can be also performed with a particular weapon type. You have a convenient system of arsenal that lets you swap weapons among 4 choices effectively even during combat. You can build your rotation and strategy based on as many as 4 very different types of weapons in this arsenal.
Obviously, barbarian excels in melee combat. You should take that into consideration at once: don't expect lots of kiting, jumping, keeping your enemies at a distance with various tricks. Although it's somewhat possible to play this class that way, it's definitely not what it was designed for. Barbarian feels at home in the midst of hordes of enemies swinging those axes back and forth. Here's a no-commentary gameplay footage:
Weapon specialization AKA Arsenal
There are several types of weapons that barbarian can use and they all give you an additional bonus. So it's not only about stats – you should bear in mind that some types of weapons are generally better in particular regards. Let's take a closer look at what types of weapons barbarian can make use of:
- 1-handed Axes (+ crit chance against injured enemies)
- 1-handed Maces (+ damage to stunned enemies)
- 1-handed Swords (+ fury generation when hitting crowd controlled enemies)
- 2-handed Axes (+ damage to vulnerable enemies)
- 2-handed Maces (+ fury generation when hitting any enemies)
- 2-handed Swords (applies the Bleeding DOT)
- Polearms (+ lucky hit chance)
As you can see, all those weapons focus on their own way to increase your effectiveness. Each of them has 10 expertise levels and you get more of those bonuses with each such level. Here's a closer look at it all:
Skills
Barbarians have several types of skills:
- Basic
- Core
- Defensive
- Brawling
- Weapon Mastery
- Ultimate
Basic abilities are meant for constant spamming since they consume no resource and have a very short cooldown. They also generate fury so you should use them to have enough resource to use stronger abilities. Most of those stronger abilities are a part of the so called "core": Hammer of the Ancients, Rend, Upheaval, etc.. They consume fury and deal a moderate amount of damage. Basically, core abilities will contribute to your total damage most.
Defensive abilities help you control your enemies and improve resilience of your character and the team if you have one. Brawling skills are about utility and mobility, they include skills like: Leap, Charge, Kick, War Cry, and many others. Weapon Mastery skills are focused on dealing huge damage with long breaks. That is, they have long cooldowns. Rupture, Death Blow, and Steel Grasp are among such skills.
Finally, we have Ultimate skills that have the longest cooldown and resource consumption and are meant to deal an insane amount of damage to break defences of particularly powerful enemies. Among those abilities are Wrath of the Berserker, Iron Maelstrom, and Call of the Ancients. Here you can see all the skills of the class in one video (at least the already known ones):
What resources does Barbarian use?
Fury is the main resource of the Barbarian and it is generated when you deal damage to your enemies. There are plenty of such abilities in your arsenal and they can all be classified as basic (see the above section to learn more).
What items does Barbarian use?
Barbaian's primary focus in terms of stats are Strength, Intelligence, Willpower, and Dexterity (in the given order, more or less). Strength increases your armor, Intelligence – your resistance, Willpower – your resource generation, incoming healing, and damage in the Overpower mode, and Dexterity improves your dodge chance. So as you can see they all are important but each in their own way.
As for unique things that make Barbaian stand out in terms of itemization, you will find lots of them during your journey. One of the most notable items is the Butcher's Cleaver which is a one-handed axe that both looks cool and has great stats and effects, including the one that stuns your enemy when you do a crit strike. Here's a video concerning itemization:
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All in all, Barbarian is a great melee class for anyone who's into wrecking armies of zombies with a might axe whirlwind or something like that. You can enjoy ploughing through the hordes of enemies from one point of the map to another like no problem. If that sounds like your idea of fun, then go for it!
And if you need help with leveling up or gearing up your Barbarian, always feel free to check out our Diablo 4 boosts section of the catalog or just get in touch with us to request any sort of help for your character or learn more about what we can do for you!
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