Diablo 4 Hammer Barbarian Build Guide
May. 11, 2023Diablo 4 Hammer Barbarian Build Guide
Diablo 4 Hammer Barbarian Build Guide: In this Diablo 4Barbarian ClassBuild, I’ll show you how to play a Hammer Barbarian, which is a melee Diablo 4 Build for the Barbarian that specializes in quickly smashing enemies to bits and pieces by combiningLeapfor optimal positioning withHammer of the Ancientsas the primary Skill. If you’ve been searching for a goodDiablo 4 Hammer Barbarian Buildthat deals great burst damage, then this guide is for you!
The main goal for thisDiablo IV Buildis to maintain high levels of Fury in order to fully utilize the burst damage caused by Hammer of the Ancients. Specifically, theFurious Hammer of the Ancientsupgrade lets you deal extra damage based on the amount of Fury you’ve started with right before activating the corresponding Core Skill. But thankfully, there are a number of ways to generate this resource effectively. On top of equipping aTwo-Handed Mace, which also synergizes well withBash, you’ll be making use of Leap,Rallying Cry,andDeath Blow.
Leap is the Skill you’ll want to engage with because this allows you to hop from one group of enemies to the next while pairing it with Bash for efficient resource generation. You can then trigger Hammer of the Ancients when your Fury is high or at a maximum to effectively obliterate them. In cases when they manage to survive the persistent smashing of your hammers, you can finish them off with Death Blow, which is also very handy against Bosses.
And finally, you’ll be reservingCall of the Ancientswhen facing Elites and Bosses to not only deal massive damage but also to incapacitate them with Slow and Stun.
Each Diablo 4 Barbarian Build is made up of the 6 Active Skills they have equipped and changing theseSkillscan drastically alter the way the Barbarian Class in Diablo IV plays. In this section, we’ll take a look at what Skills you should slot for the Hammer Barbarian Diablo 4 Build. Your Skill distribution should look something like this:
The above list gives you the general order to invest in Skills, but keep in mind that you should prioritize picking up new Active Skills over investing in passives, so pick up passives later if you can get new Active Skills when you level up.
So there are really several different strategies to employ with this Diablo IV Build for the Hammer Barbarian, and these change depending on whether or not you’re facing a large group of enemies or a Boss. Let’s start with a group of enemies first, and we’ll cover how to handle Bosses in the next section.
As mentioned earlier, Leap is the Skill you’ll be using to initiate combat. It provides the necessary mobility to instantly hurl yourself on top of enemies to slam and knock them back while dealing a bit of Splash Damage. To make the most out of Leap, you’ll want to unlockEnhanced LeapandPower Leap.
Here’s the thing with this Hammer Barbarian D4 Build. This Brawling Skill is also useful when you need to create space between you and your targets to escape dangerous situations. In such instances, Enhanced Leap will take effect because you’re less likely to inflict any damage on an enemy. Doing so would reduce the cooldown of Leap by 4 seconds. Alternatively, you can zip in and out of combat just to be able to use this Skill more frequently. When you harm at least 1 target you gain decent Fury as fuel for Hammer of the Ancients thanks to Power Leap.
Out of the rest of the available Basic Skills for this Diablo IV Build, Bash stands out because it provides the highest amount of base Fury. Here’s where equipping a Two-Handed Weapon starts to become essential. While you’re dealing massive Bludgeoning Damage, you’ll be able to inflict Stun, but with a Two-Handed Weapon, the duration at which your targets remain immobilized increases.
The conditions for impaired enemies significantly improve once you gain access toEnhanced BashandBattle Bash. Every time you damage them, Enhanced Bash grantsFortify, thereby considerably reducing the damage you take to keep you alive longer in combat. Later on, you can allocate 1 point toThick Skinto further raise your resilience even by a small amount. Meanwhile,Battle Bashgrants more Fury, especially when you’re wielding a Two-Handed Weapon. This works hand-in-hand withEndless Fury, which further boosts Fury Generation every time Bash is triggered.
Rallying Cry is a versatile Shout Skill for this Diablo 4 Hammer Barbarian Build, because of its ability to boost your Movement Speed, which is a requirement for Barbarians to traverse areas efficiently, and Fury Generation on top of removing crowd control effects. So even though it has a relatively long cooldown, you’ll find this handy to consistently maintain the uptime of Hammer of the Ancients.
For Rallying Cry’s upgrades, you’ll want to obtainEnhanced Rallying Cryfollowed byTactical Rallying Cry. With Enhanced Rallying Cry, you becomeUnstoppableso you can’t be Stunned, Rooted in Place, or Slowed. What’s more, is that you gain immunity to these conditions, letting you move without fear. On the other hand, Tactical Rallying Cry significantly raises your resource by granting 20 Fury and +20% extra Fury every time this Defensive Skill is activated.
Hammer of the Ancients is the main draw of this D4 Build, which lets you slam a hammer to deal devastating burst damage in a specific area. Aside from fully investing in this Core Skill, you’ll want to gain access toEnhanced Hammer of the Ancientsto continually generate more Fury every time you attack a target as well asFurious Hammer of the Ancients.
As mentioned earlier, the higher your Fury is before using Hammer of the Ancients, the more potent your damage will be. So ideally, you’d want to trigger this every time your resource is at its maximum level. You’ll then use other Fury-generating Skills in order to make the most out of this Core Skill. Of course, you’re not limited to the ones I’ve mentioned before since it’s better to utilize Death Blow, especially when you need to finish off your already weakened targets.
Boss fights are handled a bit differently with this Diablo 4 Hammer Barbarian Build because you’re going to have to rely on a few more Skills such as Death Blow and Call of the Ancients on top of Hammer of the Ancients to successfully deal greater burst damage.
Death Blow is a great way to slay enemies with low HP, regardless of the type. But against Elites and Bosses, you’ll want to gainEnhanced Death Blowto considerably amplify the damage you deal against them. Meanwhile,Fighter’s Death Blowlets you generate additional Fury as long as you attack a single enemy.
Death Blow is amazing, and one that you’ll want to often use, especially when you’re about to kill an enemy. Doing so would instantly reset this Weapon Mastery Skill’s cooldown. So if you’ve sufficiently softened Bosses with Hammer of the Ancients and Bash, you can keep activating Death Blow to annihilate them one by one.
Call of the Ancients is an interesting ultimate because, unlikeWrath of the Berserker, you’ll be employing the help of 3 Ancients to destroy enemies for you. It works best in combination with both upgrades,Prime Call of the AncientsandSupreme Call of the Ancients. You’ll gain extra Attack Speed, increased damage, and additional Fury.
Fury is replenished when one of the Ancients, specifically Korlic, deals damage usingFrenzy. Meanwhile, Talic can inflict Slow withWhirlwindwhile Madawc can Stun them withUpheaval. So it’s a great mix of Barbarian Skills that will greatly benefit this Build in terms of quickly dealing with the Elites you’re facing. You’ll not only inflict multiple status effects but also obliterate them with huge burst damage.
For this Diablo 4 Hammer Barbarian Build, be on the lookout forStrength,Dexterity,Damage to Close Enemies,Life on Kill,Damage Reduction,Cooldown Reduction,Maximum Fury, andFury Cost Reduction. Of course,Critical Strike ChanceandCritical Strike Damage Bonusare good to have to land crits frequently. This is a great Diablo IV OP Build of the Barbarian Class that’s beginner-friendly due to the huge damage you deal.
For the Legendary Aspects, the two mandatory ones you’ll want to chase after areAspect of Unrelenting FuryandAspect of Ancestral Force. Unrelenting Fury is an incredible aspect because every time you cast Hammer of the Ancients and subsequently kill an enemy, a portion of the Fury you’ve spent will be refunded so this will come in handy when facing mobs. But remember that it can only be triggered once for each time this Core Skill is used. Meanwhile, Ancestral Force increases the AoE and damage of Hammer of the Ancients.
Lastly, you may also want to consider acquiring theAspect of Ancestral Echoesand theAspect of Bul-Kathosfor this Diablo 4 Build. Ancestral Echoes gives you a chance to summon an Ancient when you deal damage with Leap. The Ancient will then perform the same Brawling Skill against enemies. On the other hand, Bul-Kathos also makes use of Leap but it conjures an Earthquake to deal extra Physical Damage. And as long as you remain within the Earthquake’s area, the damage you take will be lower.
Be sure to check out ourDiablo 4 Wikifor any other questions you have about the game and theBuildspage if you are looking for more Diablo IV Builds, as well as ourGetting Started GuideandBest Class to Play in the Beta Guideif you are looking for more Diablo 4 content!
Reiku
Writer at Fextralife. I enjoy playing RPGs, narrative-driven games, and platformers. Outside of gaming, I like watching meaningful movies and reading sci-fi and dystopian books.
