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BarbarianlevelingSmashmeleeSeason 8

Hammer of the Ancients – Barbarian Leveling Build for Diablo 4 (Season 8)

A powerful leveling build to help you destroy any enemy crossing your path!

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Mathris

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Updated:

Lunging StrikeHammer of the AncientsWar CryRallying CryChargeWrath of the Berserker


Updated for Season 8


Build Introduction

This build focuses on using Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients to quickly decimate groups of enemies and sunder elites and bosses with powerful slams. While leveling, we use the class-exclusive Berserking status effect to increase our damage, movement speed, and resource generation even more, so we can continue smashing away at hoards of demons.

  • Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients – The centerpiece of the build and your main Fury spender.
  • Lunging StrikeLunging Strike – Our basic attack and Fury generator. This skill provides us with movement, which is invaluable while leveling.
    • Enhanced Lunging StrikeEnhanced Lunging Strike– This gives us a bit more damage and sustained healing while we lunge into packs.
    • Combat Lunging StrikeCombat Lunging Strike– This will help us trigger the Berserking status for a short time, which we will improve with other skills and aspects to increase our movement speed and damage.

The main gameplay loop with these two skills will be diving into packs with Lunging StrikeLunging Strike or ChargeCharge , triggering Berserking, and slamming down with Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients to finish everything off. This build sports strong single-target damage, allowing us to quickly finish off dungeon bosses or seasonal questline bosses fairly easily.

Quick Navigation

Gear, Gems, and RunesSkill Tree
Rotation and PlaystyleSeason Updates

Allocation of Skill points

Below is the recommended order for spending your points as you level up. If you are missing skill points, complete Renown tiers 1-3 in every zone.

Skill Point OrderSkillSkill Cluster
1Lunging StrikeLunging StrikeBasic Skills
2Enhanced Lunging StrikeEnhanced Lunging StrikeBasic Skills
3Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the AncientsCore Skills
4Enhanced Hammer of the AncientsEnhanced Hammer of the AncientsCore Skills
5Violent Hammer of the AncientsViolent Hammer of the AncientsCore Skills
6Combat Lunging StrikeCombat Lunging StrikeBasic Skills
7Rallying CryRallying CryDefensive Skills
8Enhanced Rallying CryEnhanced Rallying CryDefensive Skills
9Tactical Rallying CryTactical Rallying CryDefensive Skills
10Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients Level 2Core Skills
11Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients Level 3Core Skills
12ChargeChargeBrawling Skills
13Enhanced ChargeEnhanced ChargeBrawling Skills
14Power ChargePower ChargeBrawling Skills
15War CryWar CryBrawling Skills
16Enhanced War CryEnhanced War CryBrawling Skills
17Mighty War CryMighty War CryBrawling Skills
18Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients Level 4Core Skills
19Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients Level 5Core Skills
20Endless FuryEndless FuryCore Skills
21Endless FuryEndless Fury Level 2Core Skills
22Endless FuryEndless Fury Level 3Core Skills
23SwiftnessSwiftnessBrawling Skills
24Wrath of the BerserkerWrath of the BerserkerUltimate Skills
25Prime Wrath of the BerserkerPrime Wrath of the BerserkerUltimate Skills
26Supreme Wrath of the BerserkerSupreme Wrath of the BerserkerUltimate Skills
27SwiftnessSwiftness Level 2Brawling Skills
28SwiftnessSwiftness Level 3Brawling Skills
29Aggressive ResistanceAggressive ResistanceBrawling Skills
30Battle FervorBattle FervorBrawling Skills
31Battle FervorBattle Fervor Level 2Brawling Skills
32Battle FervorBattle Fervor Level 3Brawling Skills
33Prolific FuryProlific FuryBrawling Skills
34UnconstrainedUnconstrainedKey Passive
35ChargeCharge Level 2Brawling Skills
36ChargeCharge Level 3Brawling Skills
37ChargeCharge Level 4Brawling Skills
38ChargeCharge Level 5Brawling Skills
39Prolific FuryProlific Fury Level 2Brawling Skills
40Prolific FuryProlific Fury Level 3Brawling Skills
41Pit FighterPit FighterWeapon Mastery Skills
42Pit FighterPit Fighter Level 2Weapon Mastery Skills
43Pit FighterPit Fighter Level 3Weapon Mastery Skills
44Imposing PresenceImposing PresenceDefensive Skills
45Imposing PresenceImposing Presence Level 2Defensive Skills
46Imposing PresenceImposing Presence Level 3Defensive Skills
47Thick SkinThick SkinWeapon Mastery Skills
48CounteroffensiveCounteroffensiveWeapon Mastery Skills
49CounteroffensiveCounteroffensive Level 2Weapon Mastery Skills
50CounteroffensiveCounteroffensive Level 3Weapon Mastery Skills
51Heavy HandedHeavy HandedUltimate Skills
52Heavy HandedHeavy Handed Level 2Ultimate Skills
53Heavy HandedHeavy Handed Level 3Ultimate Skills
54WallopWallopUltimate Skills
55WallopWallop Level 2Ultimate Skills
56WallopWallop Level 3Ultimate Skills
57Brute ForceBrute ForceUltimate Skills
58Brute ForceBrute Force Level 2Ultimate Skills
59Brute ForceBrute Force Level 3Ultimate Skills
60Wrath of the BerserkerWrath of the Berserker Level 2Ultimate Skills
61Wrath of the BerserkerWrath of the Berserker Level 3Ultimate Skills
62Wrath of the BerserkerWrath of the Berserker Level 4Ultimate Skills
63Wrath of the BerserkerWrath of the Berserker Level 5Ultimate Skills
64WarpathWarpathCore Skills
65WarpathWarpath Level 2Core Skills
66WarpathWarpath Level 3Core Skills
67Booming VoiceBooming VoiceBrawling Skills
68Booming VoiceBooming Voice Level 2Brawling Skills
69Booming VoiceBooming Voice Level 3Brawling Skills
70Aggressive ResistanceAggressive ResistanceBrawling Skills
71Aggressive ResistanceAggressive ResistanceBrawling Skills

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Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

HotA Leveling Skill Bar (Placement of skills is completely optional)
Hammer of the Ancients Hammer of the Ancients Lunging Strike Lunging Strike Rallying Cry Rallying Cry War Cry War Cry Charge Charge Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker

If you are unsure how to best use these skills, read our Build Mechanics section after setting up your skill bar.

Wondering what comes after level 60 or which paragon boards to choose? Head to the Barbarian Builds Page and choose an endgame build to continue progressing your character beyond level 60 and into the endgame.

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Barbarian Class Mechanic – The Arsenal System

The Barbarian is unique among classes in Diablo 4. As a master of weapons and combat it can wield four different weapons simultaneously and effortlessly swap between them when we use different skills. We have a Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon, a Two-Handed Slashing Weapon, and a pair of Dual-Wield Weapons. At level 15 a quest becomes available in Ked Bardu called “Masters of Battle” given by Forgemaster Kerdi. After you complete this short quest chain, you gain access to the second part of the Arsenal System. Weapon Techniques.

Barbarians gain various bonuses by using specific weapon types that are only active while wielding those weapons. After unlocking the Weapon Technique class feature you can choose ANY weapon type and slot it into your technique slot and that bonus will always be active no matter what weapon you’re actually using.

For this Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients build we will be using the Two-Handed Axe technique for its bonus damage to vulnerable enemies.

Keep in mind that while you will always benefit from the Two-Handed Axe bonus once it’s slotted in your technique slot, you will still gain the bonuses of the weapon types you’re actually wielding as well letting you gain more power through this system.

Finally, Barbarians can assign their skills to different weapons allowing for seamless transitions when using various skills. We MUST assign Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients to our Two-Handed Bludgeoning weapon, but this is fine as we will benefit from the WallopWallop passive skill. Lunging StrikeLunging Strike can be assigned to any weapon type as well as it isn’t our main source of damage. A small quality of life is to assign it to your Dual-Wield Weapons for their faster attacks so you can build resources faster but this is relatively minor. For ChargeCharge we can assign this to our Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon as well to gain the same benefits as our Hammer.

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Gear, Stats, Gems, and Runes

When selecting your items, higher item power generally indicates stronger gear, but you also need to consider the affixes and effects that are relevant to your class and build. When making gear decisions during leveling keep an eye on both the item power and the specific attributes that compliment the build.

Legendary Aspects

For general information on how to unlock the Codex of Power, head to our Aspects and Codex of Power guide. You can also imprint Aspects onto items by visiting The Occultist in town.

Listed below are all the aspects that are important to this build as well as what slot they are best placed in. However, you can move the slots around during the leveling process especially since early on some of these aspects can only be found via random drops and might not be on the most ideal slot.

Gear SlotLegendary AspectLegendary Aspect Power
HelmAspect of MightAspect of MightBasic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0-6.0] seconds.
ChestAspect of DisobedienceAspect of DisobedienceYou gain [0.6 – 1.1%] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [36 – 66%].
GlovesAspect of Ancestral ForceAspect of Ancestral Force (MUST HAVE!)
Relentless Berserker's AspectRelentless Berserker’s Aspect (If Ancestral Force is on your Bludgeoning Weapon)
Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients quakes outwards, and its damage is increased by [5%-15%]

Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Core Skill has up to a [22-40%] chance to extend the duration of Berserking by 2 seconds. Double this duration if it was a Critical Strike
PantsIron Blood AspectIron Blood AspectGain [2.0-4.0%] Damage Reduction for each Nearby Bleeding enemy up to [10-20%] maximum.
BootsGhostwalker AspectGhostwalker AspectWhile Unstoppable and for 4 seconds after, you gain +[10 – 25]% increased Movement Speed and can move freely through enemies.
Amulets(50% bonus)Edgemaster’s AspectEdgemaster’s AspectSkills deal up to [10-20%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource
RingAspect of Vocalized EmpowermentAspect of Vocalized EmpowermentYour Shout skills generate [6-10] Fury per second while active.
RingAspect of Unrelenting FuryAspect of Unrelenting FuryKilling an enemy with a Core Skill refunds [10.0-20.0%] of its base Fury cost. Can only happen once per Skill cast.
Bludgeoning Weapon (100% bonus)Aspect of Ancestral ForceAspect of Ancestral Force (MUST HAVE!)
Aspect of the ExpectantAspect of the Expectant (If Ancestral Force is on your gloves)
Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients quakes outwards, dealing [32-50]% of its damage to enemies.

Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast within 5 seconds by [5-10%] up to 30%
Slashing Weapon (100% bonus)Aspect of Berserk RippingAspect of Berserk RippingWhenever you deal direct damage while Berserking, inflict [20-30%] of the Base damage dealt as additional Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
Dual-Wield Weapon 1Rapid AspectRapid AspectBasic Skills gain [15-30%] Attack Speed.
Dual-Wield Weapon 2Earthstriker's AspectEarthstriker’s AspectAfter swapping weapons 8 times, your next skill will Overpower and deal [30-50%] increased Overpower damage.

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Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

During your leveling journey, you may stumble across items with incredible affixes. Tempering these items can provide you with a significant boost in power, so make sure you understand how tempering works!

As a reminder, tempering is only possible if you’ve found the tempering manuals while leveling.

Keep an eye out for the following stats that are beneficial for this build. We will list the most ideal stats and the best tempering affixes if you’re lucky enough to find the relevant manual.

Gear SlotTargeted AffixesTempering Affixes
Helm1. Strength
2. Cooldown Reduction
3. Maximum Life
Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients size Brute InnovationBrute Innovation
Maximum Life Worldly EnduranceWorldly Endurance
Chest1. Strength
2. Maximum Life
3. Needed Resistance
Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients size Brute InnovationBrute Innovation
Maximum Life Worldly EnduranceWorldly Endurance
Gloves1. Attack Speed
2. Critical Strike Chance
3. Ranks to Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients
Damage While Berserking Berserking FinesseBerserking Finesse
Damage With Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons Arsenal FinesseArsenal Finesse
Pants1. Ranks of ChargeCharge
2. Strength
3. Maximum Life
Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients size Brute InnovationBrute Innovation
Maximum Life Worldly EnduranceWorldly Endurance
Boots1. Movement Speed
2. Strength
3. Fury Per Second
Movement Speed Natural MotionNatural Motion
Berserking Duration Berserking InnovationBerserking Innovation
Amulet1. Movement Speed
2. Cooldown Reduction
3. Critical Strike Chance
Damage to Close Enemies Natural FinesseNatural Finesse
ChargeCharge cooldown reduction Barbarian MotionBarbarian Motion
Rings1. Critical Strike Chance
2. Attack Speed
3. Fury on Kill
Damage While Berserking Berserking FinesseBerserking Finesse
Resource Generation Worldly StabilityWorldly Stability
2-Handed Weapons1. DPS (Bludgeoning Weapon Only)
2. Strength
3. Maximum Life
4. Critical Strike Damage
5. Fury on Kill
Chance for Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients to deal Double Damage Core Augments — BarbarianCore Augments — Barbarian
Damage to Close Enemies Natural FinesseNatural Finesse
1-Handed Weapons1. Strength
2. Maximum Life
3. Critical Strike Damage
4. Fury on Kill
Chance for Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients to deal Double Damage Core Augments — BarbarianCore Augments — Barbarian
Damage While Berserking Berserking FinesseBerserking Finesse

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Gems and Runewords

Gems

Listed below are the best gems to socket into gear for each slot type.

  • Weapon: TopazTopaz for Basic Skill Damage (before Level 40) RubyRuby for Overpower damage (after Level 40)
  • Armor: RubyRuby for the increase to Strength.
  • Jewelry: DiamondDiamond for the All Resistances.

Runes

While leveling in Vessel of Hatred, you may come across Runes, a unique gem that can be placed into an item with two sockets such as a helm, chest, pants, or two-handed weapon. Putting one Ritual Rune and one Invocation Rune into the same item creates a Runeword which can enhance your gameplay and grant powerful boons. Ritual Runes generate Offering when the conditions are met, and once enough Offering has been met, the associated Invocation Rune’s effect will trigger. Here are some early Rune suggestions for leveling

Rune NameRune Effect
CirCirGain 30 Offering: Cast the same Non-Channeled Skill 3 times
ZanZanGain 150 Offering: Cast an Ultimate skill
GarGarRequires 25 Offering: Cooldown 1 second, Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%
LumLumRequires 5 Offering: Cooldown 1 second, Restore 2.5% Primary Resource

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Boss Powers (Season 8)

Season 8 brings a slew of powers to equip from slaying bosses, world bosses, and special boss encounters from Belial’s summoning events! 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. As a reminder, you cannot acquire the lair boss powers until Torment 1. So while leveling we’ll be recommending the powers acquired from the enemies slain during the Apparition Events. For this build we recommend the following combination:

Main Power

Modifier Powers

  • Torusk’s Rage – Gives us some nice attack speed to help get those strikes and hammers out faster
  • Hatred’s Embrace’s Haste – Grants us extra critical strike chance based on our Shadow Resistance
  • Flesh Reaper’s Disruption – Grants us a 5% vulnerable damage multiplier for that extra bit of power to crush the harder enemies under our hammers

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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

Our Reinforcement Mercenary will be Raheir, the Shieldbearer

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Build Mechanics

Rotation and Playstyle

Normally this build is very straight forward. We want to do the following:

However things get a bit more complex if you come across Earthstriker's AspectEarthstriker’s Aspect which is recommended in our gear section above. This guarantees an Overpower that deals extra damage after swapping 8 times allowing us to plan our huge Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients. Once this aspect is acquired, make sure we’re assigning Lunging StrikeLunging Strike to the Dual-Wield Weapons, Hammer of the AncientsHammer of the Ancients can’t be assigned it stays on the Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons, but we change our assignment for ChargeCharge to two-handed slashing weapon so we get yet another weapon swap letting us reach this bonus faster for more efficient demon slaying.

Berserking

Berserking is a unique status effect for the Barbarian class. When it triggers, we will gain a damage multiplier and movement speed for a certain amount of time. We can increase the value of this damage buff through various skills, passives, and aspects, as well as through the paragon board once we move into the endgame. While leveling, we will be triggering this status pretty reliably through Battle FervorBattle Fervor whenever we hit something with ChargeCharge. We are also able to enter it on-demand through either War CryWar Cry or our ultimate Wrath of the BerserkerWrath of the Berserker. Lastly, we have a chance to enter it early on whenever we critically strike with Lunging StrikeLunging Strike, thanks to Combat Lunging StrikeCombat Lunging Strike. Our key passive, UnconstrainedUnconstrained, provides us with a substantial buff to this status, so we will want to be in it as often as possible while fighting.

Which Elixir Should You Use?

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials during your adventures; they randomly spawn around the world. We recommend using Elixir of AdvantageElixir of Advantage for the attack speed or Elixir of ResourceElixir of Resource but while leveling, any Elixir will do, as they all provide a 5% to 8% increase to your experience gains, making you level that much faster.

Return to the Alchemist again every 5 to 10 levels to upgrade your healing potion. The extra healing they provide will be essential to surviving as you advance.

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Season 8 Updates

For a complete overview of Season 8, its mechanics and theme, new leveling activities, and other changes coming with the Season of TBD, please check out our Season Hub!

Season 8 brings some new updates to the Barbarian. Below are the changes related to this build:

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Difficulty & Endgame

Once you hit level 60 with this build, you will be ready to tackle harder difficulties as you transition into more challenging content. Make sure to pick one of our recommended Endgame Builds to continue the journey. Additionally, we recommend keeping your Obols until you reach maximum level (60), then spend them on a weapon to help kickstart your preferred endgame build.


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 16th 2025: Build updated for Season 7.
  • October 3rd 2024: Build updated for Season 6 and Vessel of Hatred.
  • August 4th 2024: Guide updated for season 5 and patch 1.5.0
  • May 7th 2024: Guide restructured, updated for season 4, added early paragon boards.
  • April 4th 2024: Ownership of page transferred, page restructured for improved readability, explanations, and options.
  • February 6th 2024: Adjustments to build.
  • January 21st 2024: Season 3 speculative changes.
  • October 23rd 2023: Revamped build for Season 2.
  • October 13th 2023: Build adjusted to prepare for Season 2 launch.
  • September 16th 2023: Leveling Guide revamp.
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