Flay – Barbarian Build for Diablo 4 (Season 8)

Updated for Season 8

Strengths and Weaknesses

Build Introduction

Welcome to the comprehensive guide for the Flay Barbarian! A new generator build that emerged during Season 4 and has proven to be a powerful endgame and pit boss killer. If you like DoT-based playstyles and ramping up massive bleeds, this build is for you. The previous season added a ton of power to this, making it even better. So without further delay, let’s dive right in!

Build Requirements

Required Uniques

Rage of Harrogath

Fists of Fate

Required Aspects (Non-codex)

Aspect of the Moonrise

Wanton Rupture Aspect

Aspect of Adaptability

Quick Navigation

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Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Recommended

Suggested Skill Bar

Flay Rupture Iron Skin War Cry Challenging Shout Steel Grasp

Follow the points allocated in the image above for the complete 71-point build. The additional 10 skills are completed using the Renown system.

Barbarian Class Mechanic – The Arsenal System

The Barbarian can wield four weapons simultaneously as well as choose a weapon expertise to use as their Technique allowing them to gain that weapon’s bonus even if they’re wielding another weapon type. Finally, the Barbarian can assign its skills to use different weapon types shuffling between Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons, Two-Handed Slashing Weapons, and Dual-Wield Weapons.

For this Flay build, we will be using Two-Handed Axe as our weapon technique for its bonus to Vulnerable damage as this is still our strongest option. For this build, we’ll be assigning our weapons to the following skills.

• Flay – We want to use our Two-Handed Slashing weapon, and ideally a Polearm for its damage bonus and to trigger our Executioner paragon glyph.
• Rupture – We want to use the same as our Flay. a Two-Handed Slashing weapon, ideally a Polearm.

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Gear, Stats, Gems, and Runes

The following sections will cover all systems that are critical if you want to improve the power of your character and move towards the highest difficulties in the endgame of Diablo 4.

Legendary Aspects

Below you will find all of the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary items that are important for this build. Remember that all Legendary powers can be added into your Codex of Power once you salvage or extract the item. You can still find some aspects through dungeons though they will always be at the minimum power level. To get the most out of this system, combine these Aspects with the right stats.

Slot	Gems	Legendary Aspect / Unique Item	Aspect / Unique Power
Helm	Grand Ruby	Iron Blood Aspect	– Gain [2-5%] Damage Reduction for each nearby Bleeding enemy up to [10-25%] maximum
Chest	Grand Ruby	Rage of Harrogath	– Lucky Hit: Inflicting Bleeding on an enemy has up to a [20-60%] chance to reduce the cooldowns of your skills by 1 second
Gloves	N/A	Fists of Fate	– Your attacks randomly deal 1% to [200-300%] of their normal damage
Pants	Grand Ruby	Aspect of the Iron Warrior	– Iron Skin grants Unstoppable and [25-35%] Damage Reduction
Boots	N/A	Hectic Aspect	– After casting 5 Basic Skills, one of your active cooldowns is reduced by [1-2] seconds.
Amulet	Grand Diamond	Aspect of Adaptability	– When cast below 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills generate 3 of your Primary Resource once per cast. When cast at or above 50% maximum resource, Basic Skills deal x [20-80%] increased damage
Ring 1	Grand Diamond	Bold Chieftain’s Aspect	– Whenever you cast a Shout Skill its active cooldown is reduced by [10-30%] per nearby enemy up to a maximum of 50%
Ring 2	Grand Diamond	Conceited Aspect	– You deal x [10-25%] increased damage while you have an active barrier
Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon	Lith and Wat Runes OR Grand Amethyst	Aspect of the Moonrise	– Damaging an enemy with a Basic Skill grants you 4% attack speed for 10 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Upon reaching maximum stacks, you enter a vampiric bloodrage, gaining x [40-80%] basic skill damage and 15% movement speed for 10 seconds
Two-Handed Slashing Weapon	Xol and Yom Grand Amethyst	Aspect of Creeping Death	– You deal [5-20%] increased damage over time to enemies for each crowd control effect they’re afflicted by. Unstoppable enemies and staggered bosses take [10-40%] increased damage over time from you instead.
Dual Wield Weapon 1	Grand Amethyst	Wanton Rupture Aspect	– Your Rupture does not remove the Bleeding damage from enemies. This can occur every [30-15] seconds.
Dual Wield Weapon 2	Grand Amethyst	Shard of Verathiel	– Basic Skills deal x [50-200%] increased damage but additionally cost 25 Primary Resource

To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

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Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

Below are the affixes to prioritize on gear. Each line of affixes is listed in order of importance. Tempering Manuals and their recommended affixes are provided in the second column, and the bolded yellow affixes are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. Be sure to check our Tempering and Masterworking guides for more details about these topics.

Slot	Gems	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Helm	Grand Ruby	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Strength 3. Maximum Life	1. Iron Skin Cooldown Reduction Barbarian Strategy 2. Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize for 2 Seconds Worldly Fortune
Chest	Grand Ruby	1. Strength 2. Armor 3. Maximum Life	1. Iron Skin Cooldown Reduction Barbarian Strategy 2. Crowd Control Duration Natural Schemes
Gloves	N/A	1. Lucky Hit Chance 2. Strength 3. Critical Strike Damage	1. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse 2. Lucky Hit: Chance to Stun for 2 Seconds Worldly Fortune
Pants	Grand Ruby	1. Ranks to Flay 2. Strength 3. Needed Resistance	1. Iron Skin Cooldown Reduction Barbarian Strategy 2. Crowd Control Duration Natural Schemes
Boots	N/A	1. Ranks to War Cry 2. Armor 3. Strength	1. Movement Speed Natural Motion 2. Crowd Control Duration Natural Schemes
Amulet	Grand Diamond	1. Ranks of Cut to the Bone 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Ranks to Heavy Handed	1. Critical Strike Damage – Worldly Finesse 2. Iron Skin Cooldown Reduction Barbarian Strategy
Ring 1	Grand Diamond	1. Attack Speed 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Critical Strike Damage	1. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse 2. War Cry Cooldown Reduction Brawling Efficiency
Ring 2	Grand Diamond	1. Attack Speed 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Vulnerable Damage	1. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse 2. War Cry Cooldown Reduction Brawling Efficiency
Bludgeoning Weapon	Grand Amethyst	1. Strength 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Maximum Life	1. Flay Duration Furious Augments 2. Critical Strike Damage – Worldly Finesse
Slashing Weapon	Grand Amethyst	1. Strength 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Maximum Life	1. Flay Duration Furious Augments 2. Critical Strike Damage – Worldly Finesse
Dual-Wield Weapon 1	Grand Amethyst	1. Strength 2. Maximum Life 3. Vulnerable Damage	1. Flay Duration Furious Augments 2. Critical Strike Damage – Worldly Finesse
Dual-Wield Weapon 2	Grand Amethyst	1. Strength 2. Maximum Life 3. Vulnerable Damage	1. Flay Duration Furious Augments 2. Critical Strike Damage – Worldly Finesse

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Uniques and Mythic Uniques

Uniques received a large rework a few seasons ago. They can now roll much higher ranges and break all the traditional itemization rules for what stats can appear on which slots. Below, you will find the Uniques and Mythic Uniques useful to this build.

• Rage of Harrogath – A powerful chest for Bleed based builds that was updated in patch 1.4 and maintains its potency in Season 5. Since we’re applying bleeds constantly through Flay we’ll be resetting our Shouts and defensive cooldowns all the time.
• Fists of Fate – What used to be a meme item or one recognized as not particularly powerful has received a large buff in Season 5. Now boasting up to a massive 51.8% Lucky Hit chance, this item can get us to trigger our various effects on nearly every cast of our skills. The damage bonus might look bad at first, seeing 1% but on average the item results in a 50% damage increase if you’re attacking fast enough and we aim to strike fast and hard with Flay.
• Shard of Verathiel – A new unique in season 5. This turns basic skills in powerhouses that cost a bit of resource. As Flay is a Basic Skill, the damage will be buffed by this new item significantly. Flay geneates 15 Fury per swing and costing 25 means the net Fury loss is only 10, we can mitigate this through paragon nodes, rolls on our gear, and our tempers meaning this cost is largely negligible but the damage increase is massive. A must have for any Basic Skill build.

Mythic Uniques

Mythic Uniques are extremely rare items that only drop from very end-game bosses such as Duriel and Andariel as well as the Tormented versions of all bosses. Below, you will find a list of Mythic Uniques useful to this build. If a Mythic Unique isn’t listed, it isn’t useful to this setup.

• Harlequin Crest – The infamous “Shako” helm is one of the most powerful items in the entire game. With a newly buffed 20% cooldown reduction and massive stats to resource generation, life, and +4 to all skills if you’re lucky enough to acquire one equip it right away.
• Ring of Starless Skies – A powerful unique that’s been the cornerstone of a few builds in the game’s lifespan but newly buffed midway through Season 4, it retains its killer potency for Season 5. If you’re lucky enough to acquire one, you drop the Bold Chieftain’s Aspect for it and it should provide you a nearly endless source of Fury from your Flay despite the Shard of Verathiel’s cost.
• Tyrael’s Might – Pound for pound the best defensive item in the game. In Vessel of Hatred this is no less true. With powerful move speed, resistances basically solved, and a built in damage reduction if you’re fortunate enough to get this chest, replace your Rage of Harrogath with it.

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Gems and Runewords

Listed below are the best gems to socket into your items for each slot type

Gems

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Grand Amethyst for increased Damage Over Time	Grand Ruby for increased Strength	Grand Diamond for increased all resistances

For your jewelry, it may be necessary to change the Grand Diamond for another gem of a specific type such as Grand Sapphire to ensure all of your resistances are capped at 70% and your armor is at 1000.

Runes

Runewords return from Diablo 2 in Vessel of Hatred! You are limited to two Runewords across your gear and it requires two sockets in the same item. So this limits creating Runewords by combining two Runes to either Helm, Chest, Pants, or Two-Handed Weapons. We generally recommend them in both of your Two-Handed Weapons for Barbarian. Let’s jump in.

Runes	Rune Effects
Lith	Gain 25 Offering: Stand still for 0.3 seconds
Wat	Requires 100 Offering: Cooldown 1 seconds, Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify slowing enemies, reducing their damage and letting you execute them
Xol	Gain 150 Offering: Evoke a power from another Class
Yom	Requires 500 Offering: Cooldown 5 seconds, Evoke the Druid’s Petrify stunning enemies, and granting 100 Primary Resource

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Paragon Board

We recommend using the following Legendary nodes and Glyphs to truly take this build into the endgame. Note that each Glyph’s information and radius listed below is for the Level 100 version. As a note, Glyph’s reach their maximum radius and Legendary Bonuses at level 46. Let’s take a look!

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Boss Powers (Season 8)

Season 8 brings a slew of powers to equip similar to Season 2’s Vampiric Powers. You can equip a total of 4 powers. A single main power that will trigger its primary effect when certain conditions are met and three modifier powers that modify the main power and other skills for even more power. For this build we recommend the following combination:

Main Power

• Allek’s Talons – Casting our main damaging skill Flay applies another damage over time, giving us a free benefit to Aspect of Creeping Death for even more damage

Modifier Powers

• Andariel’s Flaming Skull – Makes enemies take 10.5% more damage from our damage over time effects, a wonderful modifier to have.
• Flesh Reaper’s Disruption – Gives us an extra 5% vulnerable damage multiplier, up to 10% based on Crowd Control duration, while we don’t go out of way to get more, it’s still a nice bonus
• Torusk’s Rage – Gives us 5% more attack speed scaling up to 10% based on our crowd control damage. Similar to the above power, we don’t go out of our way to grab more but it’s a nice bonus allowing us to layer on even more Flay bleeds

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Mercenaries

As you play through the campaign in Vessel of Hatred, you will unlock various NPC Mercenaries who can join you on your quest to slay demons. Each Mercenary has their own small talent tree that will give them bonuses and skills to help you. Additionally, you can assign a Mercenary that you don’t take with you as a reinforcement to jump in when you activate certain skills. Let’s take a look at how we want to set this up for this build.

We hire Varyana, the Berserker Crone:

• Core Skill: Cleave
• Core Skill Passive: Hysteria
• Iconic Skill: Bloodthirst
• Iconic Skill Passive: Bloodlust

Our Reinforcement Mercenary will be Subo, The Drunken Archer:

• Opportunity Skill: War Cry
• Reinforcement Skill: Trip Mines

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Build Mechanics

Rotation and Playstyle

This is a fairly straightforward DoT-based playstyle. We want to be spamming Flay as often as we can. It has an innately high Lucky Hit chance, 50%! This will trigger our various sources of crowd control from our tempers. This will amplify the damage from the Aspect of Creeping Death. Once we’ve stacked Flay high enough, we can Rupture to rip it all out and cause huge damage. Let’s quickly go over how each skill is used:

• Flay our main attacking skill. We want to attack with this at all times.
• Rupture to be used against Elites and Bosses once we’ve stacked enough Bleed on them through Flay to finish them off.
• War Cry for Berserking and give us a large damage increase.
• Challenging Shout and Iron Skin for survival.
• Steel Grasp to trigger Berserking and group enemies up to bleed them out easier.

Runeword Synergy

Let’s take a moment to review our runes and how they interact with this build

• Lith grants us offering for standing still. Once we grab everything together using Steel Grasp we’ll be standing still slashing them to bleed with Flay
• Wat paired with Lith will cause us to trigger Wat every 1.2 seconds as long as we’re standing still fighting. Wat will make enemies slow, reducing their damage and let them execute when they reach low health
• Xol grants us offering whenever we trigger the power from a class that isn’t Barbarian. In our case the Wat rune will trigger a Necromancer skill so Xol will trigger whenever Wat triggers and grant us 150 Offering.
• Yom requires 500 offering, which means at least 4 activations of Wat and then stun all enemies granting us additional survival while they bleed.

Which Elixirs Should You Use?

When in town you can visit the Alchemist to craft helpful elixirs which will provide a special effect and increase your experience gain. Crafting has been simplified as of Patch 1.4.0, and there are fewer specific flowers to harvest; instead, almost all herbs in the world drop as Bundled Herbs, allowing you to craft the elixirs you want. Some elixirs cannot be crafted and can only drop from things like Helltide or Nightmare Dungeons.

For this build, we recommend Elixir of Advantage for the increased attack speed so we can continue to spam Flay and rack up a ton of bleeding on our target for Rupture. Craft the highest-value Elixir you can so you get the most attack speed possible.

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Season 8 Updates

For a comprehensive look at what’s new in Season 8, please check out our Season Hub

Here is a quick list of the changes this season that are relevant to this build:

• Hamstring now only applies the slow the first time you apply a Bleeding effect to an enemy, slowing them by 70% for 2/3/4 seconds.
• Fighter’s Steel Grasp now also increases Steel Grasp damage by 200% in addition to its other effects

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Obol Gambling

A final point on acquiring gear is using your Obols to target farm specific slots instead of randomly spending them on random drops. Similar to Kadala in Diablo 3, you can use Obol vendors in town to try and get what you’re missing. With the expansion when a level 60 Character spends Obols, all gear from that vendor will be 750 item power, the highest non-ancestral power allowing you to fill out gear with the affixes or Legendary Aspects you need while also having a small chance to grant Ancestral item power 800 gear.

Check out our Obol Gambling Tool Guide HERE.

ths we took on your boards that we didn’t take in our initial journey or any normal nodes for stats you might be lacking to gain bonuses for your various rare nodes. Congratulations on making it this far!

Changelog

• April 25th 2025: Reformatted and updated for Season 8
• March 31st 2025: Skill tree recommendations updated
• January 19th 2025: Tooltips and Seasonal section updated for Season 7
• January 14th, 2025: Build updated for Season 7.
• October 3rd, 2024: Build updated for Season 6 and Vessel of Hatred.
• August 5th, 2024: Guide created.