Season 4 Barbarian Builds from PTR
It’s been a couple of days since the PTR enough time to sit back and really chew on my thoughts for Barbarian builds going into Season 4 and how I’d rank them based on their current performance.
So, that’s what we’re going to do today! ranking all the core Barbarian builds and talking a little about each, their strengths, weaknesses, and changes.
For context, we’ll be rating builds primarily on how they performed in a T200 pit run that was cleared in time. This was the most challenging content available in the PTR and is as good a benchmark as any I’d reckon.
Don’t miss our video explanation below as well!
1. Rend
Let’s start with the worst build going into Season 4, and that has to be Bleed builds in general.
It’s unfortunate because this is a very popular archetype that I know a lot of people love to play, However, since all the way back to the game’s launch, Bleed builds have not once been in a spot where it felt good to play.
And unfortunately, there have not really been any noteworthy changes going into Season 4.
Bleed builds do have one saving grace and that is Rupture, an incredible AoE skill with tons of damage and better now thanks to the new tempering office which increases the size of the AoE.
Still, the build has always lacked any single target DPS whatsoever. I mean seriously it’s so bad that bleed builds are more often than not the only build for the Barbarian that can’t clear the higher-end content in the game, which is not a high bar to pass in all honesty.
It all boils down to Rend having terrible scaling and even bad baseline damage, it’s practically useless past level 40 when compared to the other Core skills and even most Basic Skills these days. So unfortunately Rend continues to sit right at the bottom of the list for the fourth Season in a row.
Pros
- Rupture God Tier AoE
- Hit-and-run damage
- Very low cooldown
- Blood
Cons
- Low single-target DPS
- Clunky
2. Whirlwind
Now coming up second to last we have Whirlwind and it pains me every time I can’t put this build at the top of the list. However I do want to start by saying despite being only one spot above Bleed, in my opinion, it’s a gulf between these two builds.
Whirlwind still does what it always did well, and that’s great AoE with the most chill’n gameplay, I mean you just spin into things and they die, it’s awesome! And with the new tempering affixes that allow you to increase the size of Whirlwind, it just does all of this better!
As always though Whirlwind still has the same crutch it has always had too, and that is a lack of single target DPS, though, unlike Rend, Whirlwind synergizes much better with skills that can be used to cover this shortcoming, Deathblow or Hota for example, or more recently Dust Devils.
This in my opinion is both a blessing and a curse as though it allows us to use Whirlwind further into the endgame the build starts to lose some of its identity and becomes a HoTa build instead, as a recent example.
Whirlwind is still one of my favorite builds in the game but until it receives some changes to its late-game scaling we’ll sadly keep seeing it lower down on the list.
Pros
- Fantastic AoE
- Easy to play
- Simple
- Spin me right round baby right round
Cons
- Low single-target DPS
- Simple
- Scales poorly
3. Upheaval
Upheaval looked like it was going to have a lot of potential coming into the PTR and it kind of does, BUT, it’s still a far cry from a top spot on our list. It’s a bit unfortunate but Upheaval was clipped by the general nerfs to Overpower aspects such as Earthstrikers which was most likely prompted by HoTa last season.
Now it’s not weak, but it did lose its endgame scaling thanks to those nerfs, so damage numbers aren’t as high as you’d like to see from one of the more un-wieldy attacks in the Barbarian’s arsenal.
The increase to AoE size fand the super juicing on stuns from the tempering aspects are very nice and still make Upheaval a devastating AoE. And honestly the most satisfying visually.
But like with most things low down on the list it lacks that boss-killing oompf and at times can be rather clunky. One last disappointment was that despite in my opinion being the best pick for a Walking Aresnal build Upheaval still works much better with Unconstrained, leaving Walking Arsenal without a champion core skill that actually makes use of the key passive.
Pros
- Big satisfying AoE
- Interesting builds
- Several viable variations
- Hellhammer damage reduction
- Long range
Cons
- End-game scaling
- clunky
- Resource-hungry
4. Hammer of the Ancients
We all know that HotA took a beating with the PTR with nerfs to the skill directly with the removal of the max fury scaling which resulted in a huge damage loss and the nerfs to all overpower aspects.
But it’s far from unusable, especially the Whirlwind HoTa variation which remains a viable pick for endgame for those of you who enjoyed this build the past two seasons.
But we are also seeing an emergence of a crit-focused HoTa build which plays more like the original HoTa from pre-Season 2. It’s pretty slick as a 100% critical hit chance is pretty darn easy to hit.
Then like with a lot of skills in the PTR we also get the increased AoE size through tempering as well which makes the skill feel a lot more satisfying to use despite the drop in damage because after all who doesn’t love smashing every enemy on screen to bits with one attack.
Pros
- Big satisfying AoE
- Interesting builds
- Several viable variations
- Strong speed farmer
Cons
- High fury consumption
- Not what it used to be
5. Leapquake
Finally! A Leapquake build that actually slaps and slaps hard, thanks to a number of buffs including flat damage scaling for Aspects like Earthquake or Develish, tempering affixes, and uniques, Leapquake is now not just viable but actually a meta contender for the Barbarian.
And as you’d expect it’s a ton of fun to play, bouncing around the map like a kangaroo leaving massive earthquakes in your wake, oh and a crap ton of Dust Devils, the build is pure mayhem and I love it.
The cherry on the cake is it’s a really tanky build to boot, thanks to the Bul’ Kathos aspect this is one of the few builds with built-in damage reduction, something that has become a lot rarer these days.
Leapquake has earned its top-three position and I want to note that the top three builds are all significantly more powerful than everything before, and the distance between themselves is pretty tight so it was very hard deciding how to order them.
Pros
- Giant earthquakes
- Built-in DR
- Several viable variations
- Kangaroo mode
- Huge AoE
- Strong boss killer
Cons
- Gear requirement on the higher side
- Clunky if you miss enemies with your leap
6.Double Swing
I think we can all agree Double Swing with Dust Devils is something else, I’ve personally been a huge fan of this build since the beginning of Season 2 so naturally I was mega excited when reading the PTR patch notes. But man, it ended up way crazier than I expected.
With dust devils spawning faster than you could hope to count and now scaling with your damage you have the recipe for a serious S Tier build.
This build is strong, incredibly fast, and tanky, it’s everything you’d want from a top-end meta build BUT, it has a problem and those of you who’ve played or seen this build in action will know what I’m about to mention.
The goddamn tornado spam! I still love this build it’s got that ultra-rapid high attack speed double swing flavor but you have to be very prepared to play without being able to see a thing lol. But don’t get me wrong I love what they’re doing here, it’s so refreshing to have this ability to really change a build and I hope to see more builds like this.
Assuming there are no major changes Double Swing builds will most likely be one of the strongest all-around builds for the Barbarian.
Pros
- Tornados
- Ultra-fast
- Huge DPS
- Tanky
- High Sustain
- Perma Berserker
Cons
- Tornados
- Tornados
- & Tornados
7. Bash?!
Now this might cause some controversy but at rank 1 I have Bash, that’s right the basic skill. Before you get mad, hear me out. Imagine the Double Swing build without the GPU melting Tornados, better DPS, more tanky, and much easier to gear, and the only trade-off is you have a reduction in AoE.
Not a bad trade right? And that’s exactly what you get with Bash thanks to the new tempering affix which juices the damage to the high heavens and turns Bash into a frontal cleave, much like vanilla Double Swing.
Add this with all the amazing things added in Season 3 like Hectic and Adaptability and goddamn!
I knew this build was going to be good but I was not prepared for how effortlessly it mowed through T200 content and even Uber bosses like they were nothing.
It’s a simple build sure, but damn it felt good, just so much movement speed, and attack speed and it is easy as pie to get ramping, I won’t be surprised if I end up using this for leveling, midgame and endgame for the most of the season, it’s that good. If nothing else at least you can see with this build.
Pros
- Ultra-fast
- Huge DPS
- Tanky
- High sustain
- Perma Berserker
- Low gear requirements
- Versatile build variations
Cons
- Might get nerfed?
In Conclusion
And there it is. I hope you found this article helpful, don’t forget to leave your thoughts below, would love to hear from you, Season 4 looking to be a positive shake-up for the game and it’s meta and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t starting to get a little excited for D4 again. Thanks for reading!
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