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Diablo 4 Beginner Whirlwind Barbarian Leveling BuildGuide: In this Diablo 4Barbarian ClassBuild, I’ll show you how to play a Whirlwind Barbarian, which is a melee Diablo 4 Build for the Barbarian that quickly kills large groups of enemies. If you’ve been looking for a goodDiablo 4Whirlwind Barbarian Buildthat focuses on slaying numerous enemies, then this guide is for you!
Be sure to check out the advancedlevel 50+ Vortex version of this Diablo 4 Whirlwind Build, that’s aimed at World Tier 3, Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons and more!
Also, be sure to check out ourDiablo 4 WikiandInteractive Mapif you need help finding specificAltars of Lilith,Dungeons, orSide Quests!
The main feature of thisDiablo IV Buildis theWhirlwind Skill, which deals damage to multiple enemies at the same time allowing you to decimate huge groups in seconds.
The idea is to start by usingLunging Striketo close the gap between you and the enemies, followed byRallying Cryto generate enough Fury before activatingWhirlwind. Once you have them in your clutches, you should triggerWar Cryto acquireBerserkingin order to significantly improve your damage. These combinations of buffs will allow you to maintain Whirlwind while moving forward through any dungeon without having to worry about Fury as long as there are enemies you can hit.
For Elites and Boss fights, you can activateWrath of the Berserkerfor an even greater boost in damage and movement speed. Since Shout Skills have a limited duration, you’ll need to manage them depending on the situation.
Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian Build - Skill Distribution
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 Whirlwind Barbarian Diablo 4 Build. Your Skill distribution should look something like this:
LEVEL 25 BARBARIAN SKILLS
Points Spent
Lunging Strike
Enhanced Lunging Strike
Battle Lunging Strike
Enhanced Whirlwind
Furious Whirlwind
Pressure Point
Rallying Cry
Enhanced Rallying Cry
Tactical Rallying Cry
Enhanced War Cry
Booming Voice
Aggressive Resistance
Prolific Fury
Wrath of the Berserker
Prime Wrath of the Berserker
Supreme Wrath of the Berserker
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’re able to get new Active Skills when you level up.
How to Handle Packs of Enemies
So there are really several different strategies to employ with this Diablo IV Build for the Whirlwind Barbarian, and these change depending on whether 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.
Against multiple enemies, regardless of the range, you’ll want to start by using Lunging Strike. Not only will this allow you to charge forward through the battlefield to compensate for your initial lack of mobility, but you’ll also deal moderate individual damage. The good thing about this Basic Skill is it generates enough Fury, which you’ll then use later on for Whirlwind. Next, we’ll be addingEnhanced Lunging StrikeandBattle Lunging Strike, which will be useful against any type of enemy.
Enhanced Lunging Strike heals a portion of your HP when you attack a Healthy target whereas Battle Lunging Strike inflicts Bleeding to deal damage over time (DoT).
Both upgrades increase single-target damage, which comes in very handy for Bosses.
This best way to enhance Fury generation and Movement Speed with this Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian Build, is by triggering Rallying Cry, especially with theTactical Rallying Cryupgrade. This lets you automatically gain sufficient Fury to start using Whirlwind and to be able to quickly fill the gauge at the beginning of a fight.
What makes it even better, is that withEnhanced Rallying Cry, you becomeUnstoppable, which essentially removes and prevents any crowd control effects inflicted on you. So for instance, if you’re Stunned or Slowed, you’ll be able to immediately break out of it in addition to receiving immunity over them. Overall, Rallying Cry is the best Skill to gain a consistent amount of Fury while protecting yourself from any impairments. It’s also a good fallback should things get too dicey on the battlefield, especially if you get stun locked.
Once you have sufficient Fury, you should start channeling Whirlwind. This is the Whirlwind Barbarian’s bread-and-butter Skill that lets you deal massive AoE damage to as many enemies as possible with this Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian Build.
The reason why it’s best to be surrounded by multiple targets is that you’ll want to keep your Fury generation up at all times. The more of them you damage, the more Fury you end up saving thanks toEnhanced Whirlwind, allowing you to keep Whirlwind active at all times.
While casting Whirlwind, you’ll be able to move through enemies without impairments, so the trick is to keep spinning over as many enemies as possible, and to avoid hitting isolated enemies, otherwise, you’ll waste the resource you should’ve gained.
Last but not least, theFurious Whirlwindupgrade will apply a bleeding effect and thePressure Point Passivewill make enemies vulnerable, allowing you to take full advantage of most of the equipment effects.
War Cry is another Shout Skill that further increases your damage output, and more so when you takeEnhanced War Cry. Enhanced War Cry instantly grantsBerserking, which considerably boosts your damage and Movement Speed, as well as enabling some Aspects and effects that require the Berserking Status. You’re going to need a lot of mobility for this Whirlwind Build to not only attack enemies, but also create breathing room if you need to.
During the early game, I don’t recommend getting an upgrade for War Cry because you’ll only get the boost for a very limited duration, so you’ll be best off using those points to increase your other passives with this Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian Build.
Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian Build for Boss Fights
Boss fights are handled a bit differently with this Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian Build because you won’t be able to sustain fury generation by hitting a single target. For this reason, we have to change our tactics a bit.
You’ll want to start off by landing a couple of Lunging Strike hits to set some bleeding and build up some fury. After you’ve done this, cast Rallying Cry, War Cry and Wrath of the Berserker and then start using Whirlwind moving in circles around the boss to avoid his attacks.
Wrath of the Berserker is perfect for this Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian Build when used in combination with both upgrades,Prime Wrath of the BerserkerandSupreme Wrath of the Berserker. When cast, you’ll gain Movement Speed, Fury Generation, Berserkering, and Unstoppable. The increased attack speed in combination with the other effects and Rallying Cry allows you to keep up with Fury Generation even when targeting a single enemy.
Berserker will provide 25% bonus damage for every 50 Fury spent, which we’re constantly using because of Whirlwind. The buff only lasts for 5 seconds, but you’re able to use a single Lunging Strike to refresh its duration. This Basic Skill will also be useful in inflicting Bleed and whittling down the Boss’s Health in addition to momentarily escaping precarious situations.
Once the buffs wear off, you won’t be able to sustain whirlwind. You’ll want to swap into Lunging Strike, hit a couple of times and use Whirlwind again. Repeat until you’re able to cast both Rallying Cry and War Cry again and use them together to finish off the boss.
Maxing out the Booming Voice passive is crucial for this build, as it’ll allow you to maintain your shouts, and thus your whirlwind, for longer.
Arsenal System and Weapon Expertise
Arsenal System
The Barbarian has access to a unique mechanic called the Arsenal System. Each skill can use either one or several types of Weapons from your Arsenal, being: “Bludgeoning” (Left Slot), “Dual Wield” (Mid-Slots) and “Slashing” (Right Slot). When performing a skill, you can choose which Weapon you’ll use while attacking with that skill.
To set a specific Arsenal Weapon Type for a skill, open the skill menu, and hover over the skill on your toolbar. Press the “Cycle Weapon” button and select the type of weapon you want to use. Now, each time you attack with that particular skill, you’ll use that specific weapon.
This serves two purposes, first, each weapon has a unique Expertise passive that will apply when using that Weapon. For this build, you’ll want to use one of the following Weapon Types for your slashing weapon:
The second purpose is weapon swapping. Many Aspects and Passives provide you with bonuses each time you swap weapons. In this case, you’ll want to set Bludgeoning for Lunging Strike and Slashing for Whirlwind (Slashing for Whirlwind is a must, or your Furious Whirlwind effect will not trigger).
Weapon Technique
Once you hit Lvl 15, you’ll get access to the Class Mechanic Quest,Masters of Battle. Once complete, it will unlock the Technique Slot, allowing you to select a Weapon Expertise Effect that will be applied to all attacks, regardless of the weapon.
For this build, you’ll ideally want to have either a Two-Handed Axe or a Two-Handed Sword equipped. You should slot the Technique of the opposite weapon type to get both bonuses while using Whirlwind.
Don’t make this a priority though, and focus on getting the best possible weapon while you level up.
Final Tips
For this Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian Build, be on the lookout forStrength, +Rank to Active Skills, +Rank to Whirlwind, Damage to Close Enemies, Vulnerable Damage, Critical Strike Damage and Fury Cost Reduction.
You’ll notice that you have 1 empty active slot, this is intentional as you’ll want to maximize damage with your whirlwind instead of adding more active skills. When you level up enough, you can addCharge, as it provides Unstoppable allowing you to remove control impairing effects.
This is one of the most powerful Diablo IV Builds of the Barbarian Class due to how quickly you’ll clear mobs of enemies, but you’ll need some Aspects to get it going. Remember that the Barbarian has 4 Weapons Slots, and two of those are two-handed, which provide 100% bonus to their aspects. Here are some Codex of Power Aspects you’ll want to search for, but make sure to include any lucky drops as well:
Fury Generation
Since you’re going to activate Berserk frequently, remember to also invest inAggressive Resistance, mainly to gain access toProlific Fury. So every time you enter this powerful state, your Fury increases, which will allow you to maintain Whirlwind longer. What we’re going for here is the maximum amount of Whirlwind uptime possible.
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 ourUltimate Beginner GuideandBest Class to Playif you are looking for more Diablo 4 content!
