Frozen Whirlwind Barbarian Endgame Build for Diablo 4 (Season 3)

This is a legacy build that is not viable for the current version of Diablo 4, and which we do not recommend using. It only exists for documentation purposes.

Build Introduction

This is your comprehensive guide for building an ice-imbued warrior who freezes any enemies his Whirlwind touches, pulling enemies towards him as their cries of death are silent and frozen as they shatter to the ground. Welcome to our Frozen Whirlwind Endgame build. This is a blast to play! A spin to win playstyle with Uniques who possess a chance to freeze enemies with every hit. With great mobility, and two sources of Unstoppable, this build makes your enemies’ blood run cold.

This build is a variant of the Whirlwind Barbarian. To access the original version of the build, click the button below:

Whirlwind Barbarian

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

Amazing single-target & group DPS
Strong crowd control against enemies
Strong defenses
Good mobility

Weaknesses

Fury management
Requires positioning

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

Build Requirements

This build has several Legendary Aspects that are required before it will function properly. The Legendary Aspects you will need the following at a minimum to make the build work at its most basic level. These Aspects are all non-codex, which means you will need to find them on a Legendary Item then imprint them onto specific gear.

In addition, this build uses three required Uniques to activate the cold mechanics surrounding Whirlwind.

Required Uniques

Required Aspects (Non-codex)

To even begin this build, we recommend you have these Aspects ready for imprinting at a minimum. We also recommend the new Season 2 Aspect of Elements. For the build it become fully functional, we recommend you have all the Legendary Aspects listed further in this guide for the build to work optimally.

Season of the Construct

Season 3 Patch Updates

The following list details the changes in the Season 3 Update (Patch 1.30) that may pertain to Barbarians.

Skills

Leap
- Base damage increased by 30%.

Passives

Weapon Expertise
- Expertise leveling has been cut by 50%.

Paragon

Marshal Glyph
- Now reduces the cooldown of every non-Shout skill by 4 seconds, instead of every other Shout skill by 1.2 seconds.

Aspects

Resource Aspect of Echoing Fury
- You now generate 6–10 Fury per second while any Shout skill is active, instead of 2–4 Fury per second for each Shout skill active.
Offensive Aspect of Encroaching Wrath
- Reduced bonus Weapon Mastery damage from 82–100% to 40–60%.
- Damage bonus now has a 5-second duration to be used.

Seneschal Construct Companion Powers

The Season 3 theme introduces a Seneschal Construct Companion that can deal damage or provide support to complement your character. Equip the Seneschal with 2 Governing Stones to activate their abilities, and then link them to 3 Tuning Stones each to augment the abilities. There are 12 different Governing Stones and 27 different Tuning Stones that can be found in Vaults scattered across Sanctuary. Fuse together duplicate stones to level them up, increasing the potency of Governing Stones or adding augments to Tuning Stones.

Listed below are the general recommended Governing Stones and their linked Tuning Stones for Barbarians, ranked by importance.

Tempest: Electrically charge an enemy causing it to deal damage to themselves and 1 additional enemy each second over 5 seconds. If the enemy is killed, Tempest spreads to another enemy gaining 2 additional seconds and 20%[x] bonus damage. These bonuses are also applied if Tempest is reapplied onto the same enemy.
- Evernight: The supported Skill grants you +4 to all Skills when used for 2.0 seconds.
- Resource Support: Player gains an amount of Primary Resource when the supporting Skill first deals damage.
- Efficiency Support: When the supporting skill deals damage, you gain Critical Strike Chance to the same targets hit.
- Swift Support: The supported Skill gains 40% Attack Speed bonus.
Flash of Adrenaline: Administers a quick flash of adrenaline into the player, granting bonus damage for a duration.
- Genesis: Increase the effectiveness of the supported Skill by 150%.
- Safeguard Support: When used, the supported Skill grants Damage Reduction to you.
- Tactical Support: Decrease the cooldown of the supported Skill.
- Duration Support: Supported Skills have their durations increased.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

Follow the points allocated in the image above for the complete 58 point build. The additional 10 skill points are completed using the Renown system.

Priority Skills	Cluster
Lunging Strike Level 5, Enhanced Lunging Strike, Combat Lunging Strike	Basic Skill
Whirlwind Level 5, Enhanced Whirlwind, Violent Whirlwind	Core Skill
Rallying Cry Level 1, Enhanced Rallying Cry, Tactical Rallying Cry, Imposing Presence Level 1, Martial Vigor Level 3	Defensive Skill
War Cry Level 1, Enhanced War Cry, Mighty War Cry, Booming Voice Level 3, Raid Leader Level 3, Leap Level 1, Enhanced Leap, Power Leap, Aggressive Resistance Level 3, Prolific Fury Level 3, Swiftness Level 2	Brawling Skill
Pit Fighter Level 3, No Mercy Level 3, Hamstring Level 1, Thick Skin Level 1, Counteroffensive Level 3, Defensive Stance Level 3	Weapon Mastery Skill
Heavy Handed Level 3, Wrath of the Berserker, Prime Wrath of the Berserker, Supreme Wrath of the Berserker	Ultimate Skill
Unbridled Rage	Key Passives

Weapon Expertise – The Barbarian Specialization

Weapon Expertise is a set of benefits tied to which weapons you use as a Barbarian. To unlock your Expertise, simply hit Level 5 and the tab below will be made available. By using a certain weapon type, you will begin to gain ranks with that weapon as you fight. The ranks are from 0 to 10 and will level up moderately quickly as your character gains experience. Once your expertise hit rank 10, you will be maxed out on the benefit for using that weapon with your skills. As a reminder, to swap your assigned weapon to the skill you are using, go to your Skill selection list (not Skill Tree) and you will see how to switch it. For mouse and keyboard users, you can access this by pressing the middle mouse button. At Level 15, you will unlock the Masters of Battle quest. This quest will be available in the township of ‘Ked Bardu’ from the Forgemaster Gerti. Upon completing this quest, you will unlock the Technique slots as seen below. This will offer you an additional permanent bonus from one of the weapons regardless of whether you have it equipped to a skill or not.

For the Whirlwind build, we will be focused on using the expertise of Two-Handed Axe for the bonus damage against Vulnerable Damage.

Weapon Selection

Barbarians have an unique mechanic in Diablo 4 where you can assign a weapon type to certain skills. This is a critical component for all builds to function properly, and failure to match your weapon to the proper skill may cause the build to perform poorly. For this build, we will be assigning the following weapons to our skills:

Whirlwind – Slashing
Lunging Strike – Slashing
Leap – Slashing

Paragon

We recommend using these Legendary nodes and Rare Glyphs to truly take this build into the endgame. Note that each Rare Glyph’s information listed below is for the Level 21 version.

Rare Node	Effect
Exploit	– For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [8%] increased damage to Vulnerable targets. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Dexterity points are purchased in the glyph’s range: When an enemy is damaged by you, they become Vulnerable for 3 seconds. This cannot happen more than once every 20 seconds per enemy.
Territorial	– For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal +[10]% increased damage to Close targets. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Dexterity points are purchased in the glyph’s range: You gain 10% Damage Reduction against Close enemies.
Wrath	– For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [15%] increased Critical Strike Damage. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Dexterity points are purchased in the glyph’s range: Skill that Critical Strike generate 3 Fury.
Undaunted	-For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal + [8%] increased damage while Fortified. -Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Willpower points are purchased in the glyph’s range: You gain 10% Damage Reduction the more Fortify you have.
Marshal	– Grants +[125%] bonus to all Magic nodes within range. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 40 Strength points are purchased in the glyph’s range: After casting a Shout Skill, the active Cooldown of every non-Shout Skill is reduced by 4 seconds.
Ire	– For every 5 Strength purchased within range, you deal +[5.3]% increased damage while Berserking. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 40 Strength points are purchased in the glyph’s range: While Berserking, you take 10% reduced damage from Elites.
Warbringer	For every 75 Fury you spend, gain 12% of your Maximum Life (164) as Fortify.

Let’s break down each of these beneficial nodes and where our Paragon Points are positioned in each of the Paragon Boards we use. This part of the build is presented in order of importance. If you do not have enough Paragon Points to use in your Paragon Tree, just slowly work towards each step.

Starting Board

Take the pathway up the right hand side of the board towards the open Glyph slot, taking Brawn along the path.
Now insert Territorial into the Glyph slot and take the needed Dexterity nodes for the added bonus to Close enemies.
Take both Rare Nodes, Iron Strength and Raw Power, this will boost your raw Damage and overall Armor.
Move down to the Rare Node at the bottom left hand side of the glyph radius, Tenacity, for the boosted Maximum Life and Armor.
Continue to the top of the board and attach the next Paragon Board, Warbringer.

Warbringer

Head towards the open Glyph slot and insert Wrath, this glyph will increase your Critical Strike Damage and grant Fury for every Critical Strike.
Now take both the Rare Nodes, Conditioned and Raw Power, for increased Armor and Resistances. Be sure to take the all the Dexterity as shown above.
Now take the pathway to the left hand side of the board, continue passed this point and towards the Rare Node Hungering Fury.
Keep going along the pathway to the Legendary Node Warbringer, this will help to Fortify us as we continue to channel Whirlwind.
Take the Rare Node Fire Resilience for the Maximum Life increases.
Take the next nearby Rare Node Guarded Advance for the damage and Fortify generation.
Now the next nearby Rare Node Core Reserve Maximum Life increases and Fury Maximum increases.
Now go back to the left hand connection point and attach the Flawless Technique Paragon Board.

Flawless Technique

Path towards the open Glyph slot and pick up the Rare Node Havoc. This will boost your Critical Strike Damage.
Insert Undaunted into the open Glyph slot, this will boost your damage while Fortified and increase your Damage Reduction while Fortified.
Now take the Rare Nodes Brash for the Damage Reduction against Close Enemies.
Now head to the top of the board, and attach the Decimator Paragon Board.

Decimator

Head towards the open Glyph slot and insert Ire, this glyph will increase your damage while Berserking.
Now take the two Rare Nodes inside the glyph radius, Arrogance and Demolish, these will will increase your offenses and defenses against Vulnerable Enemies.
Be sure to take the needed Strength nodes for the bonus.
Now take the path towards the right hand side connection point and pick up the Rare Node Brawn.
Finally, take the connection point on the right hand side and attach the Weapons Master Paragon Board.

Weapons Master

Head towards the open Glyph slot, picking up the Rare Node Iron Strength along the pathway.
Insert the Glyph Marshal, this will boost all the Magic nodes in the radius and help our Cooldowns.
Now take the next Rare Node in the radius, Raw Power, this will boost our Physical Damage.
Take the next Rare Node Hunter Killer, this helps increase our damage towards Elites.
Now move to the top of the board and attach the next Paragon Board, Bone Breaker.

Bone Breaker

Head towards the open Glyph slot and insert Exploit, this will boost our damage against Vulnerable targets. Take all the Dexterity nodes shown above.
Lastly, take the Rare Node Vigor for the increased Damage Reduction.
This completes the Paragon Tree for this build.

Paragon board images courtesy of d4builds.gg.

Build Mechanics and Playstyle

This build fears nothing, jumping into action with Whirlwind and watching the enemies freeze all around you. First, we use our Leap on top of a pack of mobs and gain 40 Fury for you to start spinning with Whirlwind. Next, you want to activate of your Rallying Cry. This will keep our Fury generation high and also increase our Movement Speed so we can head towards the next group.

As you move pack to pack, you will be assisted by your Godslayer Crown which will drag mobs towards you as you freeze them with ice. Your War Cry skill is used when you need to jump back into a state of Berserking. Another way to accelerate yourself between packs of mobs is to use your Leap jump to another pack of mobs.

This rotation of leap-frogging to groups of mobs, keeps us in control of how many mobs we drag into the fight. This keep you in control of your positioning and allows you to maximize the number of mobs we are hitting at one time. The more mobs, the more you freeze and the more Cold Damage that hits the enemy. Also, remember to assign your skills to swords for the Fury on kill effect to keep your Fury generation up.

Fury Generation

One major component to this build is the Fury Generation to help you continue to spin endlessly. To succeed at this we have several ways to gain Fury:

Critical Strikes – we gain Fury for each enemy that gets hit by a Critical Attack, we enhance our Critical Strike Chance further with Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind.
While we have any Shout activate we will gain Fury through Aspect of Echoing Fury.
We target Affixes like Fury Cost Reduction and Resource Generation to amplify each source of Fury.
Prolific Fury helps us gain more Fury while Berserking.
Enhanced Whirlwind gives us 1 Fury per strike and 4 per strike on an Elite.
Lastly, we can use our basic attack Lunging Strike to top ourselves off if we need.

Berserking

Berserking gives us a base increase of 25% damage and 30% movement speed, we also benefit from the passives Aggressive Resistance and Prolific Fury. This is why we want to target to be in Berserking as much as possible. To do this we can Critically Strike an enemy with Combat Lunging Strike, use our War Cry which will be on a relatively short Cooldown because of Bold Chieftain’s Aspect. We can also instantly go into a state of Berserking by using Wrath of the Berserker. We also use the Relentless Berserker’s Aspect to increases our chance to extend our Berserking state. With all of these options available to you, staying in a state of Berserking should be relatively easy.

Cold Mechanic

This is really where the fun of the build is. We use three different Uniques in combination to create devasting results while we use Whirlwind as a trigger. Let’s look at those Uniques below:

Azurewrath – this weapon offers a freeze and a burst of Cold Damage on a Lucky Hit.
Frostburn – these gloves offer a second chance for a Lucky Hit to freeze the enemy.
Penitent Greaves – These boots amplify the freezing duration and keep enemies chilled all around you.

While each of these may not seem overly significant, it is the combination of them that really brings this build to a whole new level. We also have added Godslayer Crown to the build, which can pull mobs together when you freeze them.

Escapes

If you find yourself overrun while playing this build, you have two options to reset the playing field. Rallying Cry for you to become Unstoppable, allowing you to find an escape path from almost every situation. You can also use Leap to instantly remove yourself from a situation and reset your positioning. This is especially helpful if you run into a pack of Elites or a Boss that has the ability to crowd control you non-stop. While the build itself fights in close proximity to the enemy, we wanted to ensure you have a way out if you need it.

Gear Choice and Stat Priority

As you begin to farm in World Tier 3 and 4, Rare and Legendary item drops will begin to appear with some regularity depending on your luck. We recommend saving the targeted Legendary items that have the needed Legendary aspects listed below. We also recommended to keep multiple copies of the build’s Aspects in your Stash for future upgrades.

As for the Rare items, you will need to inspect each one for targeted affixes for use in each specific slot and do your best to match the recommended rolls. We have listed our targeted affixes in order of importance. Check the chart below and make note of what affixes you are searching for when you see a Rare gear piece drop.

Frostburn — Please note this is a very specific build so must have all the uniques to attempt it.

Gear Slot	Targeted Affixes
Helm	Godslayer Crown
Chest	1. Damage Reduction 2. Damage Reduction from Close Enemies 3. Damage Reduction while Fortified 4. Maximum Life 5. Strength
Gloves	Frostburn
Pants	1. Damage Reduction from Close Enemies 2. Damage Reduction while Injured 3. Damage Reduction while Fortified 4. Maximum Life 5. Strength
Boots	Penitent Greaves
Amulet	1. Cooldown Reduction 2.Damage Reduction From Close Enemies 3. Movement Speed 4. Ranks of Heavy Handed 5. Fury Cost Reduction
Rings	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Lucky Hit Chance 3. Damage to Close Enemies 4. Maximum Life 5. Critical Strike Damage
Weapons	1. Strength 2. Core Skill Damage 3. Damage to Close Enemies 4. Critical Strike Damage 5. Damage to Bleeding Enemies 6. All Stats
One-handed Weapon	Azurewrath

Please note that these affixes are the recommended picks for this build, but that is simply our opinion. Other affixes could certainly work instead of the ones listed above, but may not be optimal. Also, there are several very specific affixes that are required to make the build work, they are as follows:

Fury Cost Reduction
Rank ups to selected Skills
Berserking Increases to both damage and duration

A final point on acquiring the right Affixes and Legendary Aspects, use your Obols to target farm them. Obols are awarded from many different activities in the game, you will always stockpiling them until you hit your maximum. Instead of just randomly spending them on a random pick, use them to target what you might be missing from this build. It is a great way to target a specific slot of loot and find what you need.

If you are interested in checking out a new tool for gambling Obols check out this link below from Icy Veins.

Obol Gambling Optimization Tool

Legendary Aspects

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary items that are important for the Cold Whirlwind Barbarian build. Aspects from the Codex of Power can be used if you cannot find the proper Legendary drops, but they have weaker effects. Extract Aspects from lower level Legendary items and imprint them onto better Rare items with preferred stats. The endgame itemization goal will be to imprint Aspects with the best values Ancestral Rare items with Item Power above or as close to 800, then upgrade them through the Blacksmith. Each aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each aspect in the slot it was posted with.

Gear Slot	Legendary Aspect	Legendary Aspect Power
Helm	Godslayer Crown
Chest	Relentless Berserker’s Aspect	Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Core Skill has up to a [22-40%] chance to extend the duration of Berserking by 1 second. Double this duration if it was a Critical Strike.
Gloves	Frostburn
Pants	Iron Blood Aspect	Gain [2.0-4.0%] Damage Reduction for each Nearby Bleeding enemy up to [10-20%] maximum.
Boots	Penitent Greaves
Amulets (50% bonus)	Aspect of Disobedience	You gain [0.25-0.50%] increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [15.00-30.00%].
Ring	Aspect of Echoing Fury	You generate [6.0-10.0] Fury per seconds while any Shout skill is active.
Ring	Bold Chieftain’s Aspect	Whenever you cast a Shout Skill, its Cooldown is reduced by [1.0-1.9] seconds per Nearby enemy, up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
Bludgeoning Weapon (200% bonus)	Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind	Whirlwind’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by [3-8%] for each second it is channeled, up to [9-24%] .
Slashing Weapon (200% bonus)	Aspect of Elements	Gain +[20-30]% increased damage to a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between 2 sets: Fire, Lightning and Physical//Cold, Poison and Shadow.
Dual-Wield Weapon 1	Azurewrath
Dual-Wield Weapon 2	Aspect of Berserk Ripping	Whenever you deal direct damage while Berserking, inflict [20-30%] of the Base damage dealt as additional Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.

Uber Uniques

The chart below is our recommendation for Uber Uniques that will work within this build. However, all Uber uniques are extremely powerful and can shine in different situations. Good Hunting!

Gems

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

Weapon: Royal Emerald for critical strike damage to Vulnerable enemies.
Armor: Royal Ruby for Maximum Life.
Jewelry: Royal Diamond for All Resistances, however, certain bosses may require you to switch to their corresponding resistances.

Elixirs and Health Pots

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. Use an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Assault Elixir to increase Attack Speed.

Return to the Alchemist again when you reach Level 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80 and 90, to upgrade your potion. The extra healing is essential to survival.

Changelog

January 30th 2024: Marshal Glyph changes.
January 21st 2024: Season 3 speculative changes.
November 19th 2023: Tweaked the build for performance.
October 23rd 2023: Revamped build for Season 2.
October 13th 2023: Build Adjusted to prepare for Season 2 launch.
September 1st 2023: Build Creation Season 1.

Uber Uniques	Recommended(Y/N)	Replaces
Andariel’s Visage	No
Harlequin Crest	Yes	Replaces Godslayer Crown
Melted Heart of Selig	No
Ring of Starless Skies	No
Doombringer	No
The Grandfather	Yes	Aspect of Elements will be dropped
Ahavarion, Spear of Lycander	No