Diablo 4 was announced last year in November and fans are eager to return to their favorite hack-and-slash dungeon crawler series. So far, 3 classes for the next edition of Diablo have been unveiled with a decent amount of detail. 2 other classes have yet to be revealed for Diablo 4, but so far players are analyzing what they know.
The Barbarian class had been a staple of the Diablo franchise since the beginning. Diablo 2 had the first official appearance of the Barbarian, but console commands in the Hellfire expansion for Diablo 1 could unlock it as well. In Diablo 4, the Barbarian class will continue to be the physical damage powerhouse that it was meant to be. In previous Diablo games, the Barbarian was known for being the tankiest class that started with the most health and the most strength attribute points. Barbarians also utilize a fury pool that replaces the standard mana pool to execute their special abilities after gaining fury from dealing and taking damage.
Barbarian Basics
Diablo 4 introduces a new mechanic to the Barbarian's kit called the Arsenal system. The Arsenal is a passive ability that gives the Barbarian the ability to have 4 weapons equipped at a time, 2 one-handed and 2 two-handed weapons. While the Barbarian can only use up to 2 one-handed weapons or 1 two-handed weapon for each attack, the Arsenal allows the Barbarian to swap between all of the equipped weapons to make efficient use of specific weapons that exploit enemy weaknesses.The Barbarian's skills, in Diablo 4, can be assigned to each item in the Barbarian's Arsenal which allows for a ton of character customization.
All classes in Diablo 4 have skills that create modifiers for damage and produce different types of attacks. The basic skills for the Barbarian in Diablo 4 are bash, flay, frenzy, and lunging strike. All basic skills with the exception of lunging strike are an update to skills from previous Diablo games. Bash gives a chance for blunt weapon attacks to stun enemies, flay gives slashing weapon attacks a chance to make enemies bleed, and frenzy gives a bonus to attack speed after 3 attacks while dual wielding. Lunging strike is a new basic skill that causes the barbarian to leap forward in the direction of enemies and strike for every basic attack. Each basic skill generates fury at different rates for the Barbarian to expend and have no cooldown after use.
Barbarian Offense and Defense
The Barbarian in Diablo 4 generates fury by attacking and uses fury to activate special abilities. Barbarians have access to 5 different fury abilities: Rend, Hammer of the Ancients, Double Swing, Upheaval, and Whirlwind. Rend requires a slashing weapon and makes the Barbarian attack in a cone in front of them which deals damage and sets a bleed effect on all enemies hit. Hammer of the Ancients makes a return from Diablo 3 and requires a blunt two-handed weapon to deal high damage to a small area in front of the Barbarian, Double Swing requires the Barbarian to dual wield one-handed weapons and swings both of them in wide cones that cross in front of the Barbarian, and Upheaval is a long ranged attack for two-handed weapons that damages everything in a straight line. Whirlwind is a channeled skill that makes the Barbarian attack in all directions while granting immunity to knockback and immobilization.
Barbarians also have access to a roster of defensive skills in Diablo 4. Rallying Cry, Ground Stomp, Undying Rage, and Challenging Shout all generate some amount of rage, except for Undying Rage, and grant special bonuses to the Barbarian. Rallying Cry grants the Barbarian and their allies immunity to crowd control, increased movement speed, and reduced damage from all sources for 6 seconds, Ground Stomp makes the Barbarian stun all enemies in a large radius around them for 4 seconds, and Undying Rage grants the Barbarian a chance to avoid dying by getting a kill in 5 seconds to regain some health after taking lethal damage. Challenging Shout taunts all nearby enemies and grants the Barbarian a temporary boost to defense.
The Ultimate Brawling Barbarian
A new category of skills have been added to the Barbarian in Diablo 4 called brawling skills. Kick, War Cry, Leap, and Charge are all considered brawling skills, which cost no fury to use and do not require any specific weapon to use. Kick knocks a single target away from the Barbarian and all enemies that the target collides with are also knocked away, while War Cry gives the Barbarian and their allies a damage buff of up to 50% for 10 seconds based on how many enemies are nearby on cast. Leap causes the Barbarian to jump forward and slam the ground with their weapon. Charge rushes the Barbarian through enemies, knocking them back, and finishes with an attack. Charge is the only brawling skill with no cooldown.
The second to last skill category for Barbarians in Diablo 4 are the weapon mastery skills. Primal Axe, Rupture, and Death Blow are all skills that have a cooldown but do not require fury to activate. Just like Kratos from God of War, the Primal Axe skill pulls in all enemies in a straight line by throwing the assigned weapon attached to a chain and reeling them in. Requiring a two-handed slashing weapon, Rupture sets a bleed effect on all enemies in a straight line and any kills from the bleed will reset the cooldown on rupture. Death Blow uses a two-handed slashing weapon and deals massive damage to all enemies in front of the Barbarian, and just like Rupture, any killing blows will reset the cooldown on Death Blow.
The last set of skills that the Diablo 4 Barbarian has are their ultimate skills. The Barbarian's ultimate abilities are Wrath of the Berserker, Call of the Ancients, and Iron Maelstrom which cost no fury and have long cooldowns. Wrath of the Berserker gives the Barbarian a bonus to damage and movement speed for 15 seconds and the bonus increases every time fury is spent while active, while Call of the Ancients summons 3 companions to fight alongside the Barbarian for 12 second and have stats comparable to the Barbarian. Iron Maelstrom attaches the assigned weapon to a chain and whirls it around the Barbarian dealing massive damage.
Fans of Diablo 4 are no doubt pleased with the return of the Barbarian. It is the perfect choice for players looking to be up close and personal with their enemies and tank endless amounts of damage. More classes will be revealed in time and Diablo fans are waiting with bated breath.
Diablo 4Â is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
