This is a Season 3 leveling build for Barbarian that uses an easy-to-learn skill rotation for Hammer of the Ancients spam in Diablo 4 (D4). Read on to learn all the Gear, Skills, Aspects, and Stones that you will need, and how to play the build to level from 1 to 50 for Season 3 (Version 1.3.0).
List of Contents
HotA Leveling Build Pros and Cons |
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Deals a Large Amount of Damage Easy-to-Learn Skill Rotations Very Beginner Friendly Takes a While to Come Online Damage is Dependent on Fury Level
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The HotA Leveling Build is an easy-to-use leveling build for players new to the Barbarian playstyle. Simply put, we spam the Lunging Strike basic attacks until we have max Fury, then we unleash a cast of Hammer of the Ancients (HotA) to deal damage.
While leveling up during the Season, we'll also need to collect the Aspect of Ancestral Force for our Codex. This Aspect, when slotted into our Gloves slot, gives HotA a larger area-of-effect, increasing both its damage and effectiveness per cast.
Governing Stone | Tuning Stone | ||
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Reconstruct | Tactical Support | Duration Support | Safeguard Support |
Lightning Bolt | Swift Support | Resource Support | Efficiency Support |
Since this is a leveling build, most of the suggested Governing and Tuning Stones will be early game rares. Reconstruct provides a decent stream of healing and, when paired with Safeguard Support (Rare), grants Damage Reduction as well.
Lightning Bolt with Resource and Efficiency Support will provide your Barbarian with an alternative means to getting Fury Regeneration as well as bonus Critical Strike Chance.
How to Level Governing and Tuning Stones
Put simply, this build has you spam Lunging Strike until you hit max Fury. Once full, you use Hammer of the Ancients to deal a high-damage strike with your weapon. The utility of your other skills are as follows:
Since this is a leveling build, we'll be aiming to fill up the Active Skills bar as quickly as possible in order to get a feel for the build's general skill rotations. By Level 27, you should have everything needed to fill your Active Skills bar including a maxed out HotA.
Recommended Skill Progression | |||
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Lv.2 | Lv.3 | Lv.4 | Lv.5 |
Lunging Strike | Enhanced Lunging Strike | Combat Lunging Strike | Hammer of the Ancients |
Lv.6 | Lv.7 | Lv.8 | Lv.9 |
Enhanced Hammer of the Ancients | Furious Hammer of the Ancients | Rallying Cry | Enhanced Rallying Cry |
Lv.10 | Lv.11 | Lv.12 | Lv.13 |
Tactical Rallying Cry | Hammer of the Ancients | Hammer of the Ancients | Charge |
Lv.14 | Lv.15 | Lv.16 | Lv.17 |
Enhanced Charge | Power Charge | Hammer of the Ancients | Hammer of the Ancients |
Lv.18 | Lv.19 | Lv.20 | Lv.21 |
Leap | Enhanced Leap | Power Leap | Endless Fury |
Lv.22 | Lv.23 | Lv.24 | Lv.25 |
Endless Fury | Endless Fury | Aggressive Resistance | Wrath of the Berserker |
Lv.26 | Lv.27 | Lv.28 | Lv.29 |
Prime Wrath of the Berserker | Supreme Wrath of the Berserker | Tempered Fury | Furious Impulse |
Lv.30 | Lv.31 | Lv.32 | Lv.33 |
Furious Impulse | Furious Impulse | Prolific Fury | Prolific Fury |
Lv.34 | Lv.35 | Lv.36 | Lv.37 |
Prolific Fury | Walking Arsenal | Battle Fervor | Battle Fervor |
Lv.38 | Lv.39 | Lv.40 | Lv.41 |
Battle Fervor | Lunging Strike | Lunging Strike | Lunging Strike |
Lv.42 | Lv.43 | Lv.44 | Lv.45 |
Lunging Strike | Swiftness | Swiftness | Swiftness |
Lv.46 | Lv.47 | Lv.48 | Lv.49 |
Pit Fighter | Pit Fighter | Pit Fighter | Imposing Presence |
Renown Skill Points (+10) | |||
R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
Imposing Presence | Imposing Presence | Charge | Charge |
R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 |
Charge | Charge | Leap | Leap |
R9 | R10 | ||
Leap | Leap |
One of the best parts about using a HotA build for leveling is that its only required Aspect is a Codex Aspect. Once you have Aspect of Ancestral Force, imprint it into your Gloves since you won't replace them as often as your weapon.
To recap, Ancestral Force increases HotA damage and AoE, Unrelenting Fury helps with Fury regeneration, and Edgemaster syncs with your skill rotation, allowing HotA to deal more damage at max Fury.
Aspect | Effect and How to Get |
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Aspect of Ancestral Force
(Offensive) |
How to Get: Sunken Ruins (Dungeon Clear)
Hammer of the Ancients quakes outward and its damage is increased by (5-15)%. |
Aspect of Unrelenting Fury
(Resource) |
How to Get: Hallowed Ossuary (Dungeon Clear)
Killing an enemy with a Core Skill refunds (10.0-20.0)% of its base Fury cost. Can only happen once per Skill cast. |
Edgemaster's Aspect
(Offensive) |
How to Get: Oldstones (Dungeon Clear)
Skills 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. |
Aspect | Effect and How to Get |
---|---|
Aspect of Ancestral Charge
(Offensive) |
Charge calls forth 4 Ancients who also Charge, dealing (20-30)% of normal damage. |
Charge, a Barbarian Brawling skill, has been a popular addition to builds in Season 3 after it got multiple damage and cooldown buffs in Patch 1.3.0.
If you happen to get a Legendary equipped with the Aspect of Ancestral Charge, consider equipping it to transform Charge into a mob-clearing beast of a skill.
The only weapon that really requires specific stats will be your 2-Handed Bludgeoning weapon since this is what you use when casting HotA. All other weapons in your Arsenal will be stat sticks to power the build.
Recommended Stats and Affixes | |
---|---|
2H Weapons | ・+% Damage to Close Enemies ・ +% Basic Skill Damage ・ +% Core Skill Damage |
1H Weapons | ・+% Damage to Close Enemies ・ +% Basic Skill Damage ・ +% Core Skill Damage |
Since leveling will require to replace all of your armor constantly, we recommend only fixating on the stats and affixes of your Gloves slot during the 1-50 grind.
Once you find a decent pair of Gloves with + Ranks to Hammer of the Ancients, you can keep it and only replace it once you get a better rare or a legendary with Aspect of Ancestral Force. All other slots will focus on stacking defensive affixes.
Recommended Stats and Affixes | |
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Gloves | Most Important Gear Slot while Leveling ・+ Ranks of Hammer of the Anciensts ・+% Attack Speed ・+% Critical Strike Chance |
Helm | ・+% Maximum Fury ・+ Maximum Life ・+% Total Armor |
Chest | ・+ Maximum Life ・+% Total Armor ・+ Strength |
Pants | ・+ Ranks of Charge ・+% Total Armor ・+ Maximum Life |
Boots | ・+% Berserking Duration ・+% Movement Speed ・+ All Stats |
Gem Type | Effect Explanation |
---|---|
Topaz
(Weapon) |
+15.0% Basic Skill Damage
Provides additional damage to your Lunging Strike since you'll be spamming it during your Basic Attack and Core Skill rotations. |
Ruby
(Armor) |
3.0% Maximum Life
Increases your maximum Life. Since Barbarian is a melee class, you'll want all the HP you can get to avoid getting one-shot in close quarters. |
Diamond
(Jewelry) |
3.0% Resistance to All Elements
Very helpful since a lot of the traps inside the Season 3 Vault Dungeons do elemental damage. |
Season 3 Leveling Builds | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barbarian HoTA | Sorcerer Chain Lightning | ||||
Rogue Twisting Blades | Necromancer Blood Surge | Druid Poison Creeper |
All Classes | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barbarian | Druid | Sorcerer | |||
Rogue | Necromancer | Uber Lilith Builds |
List of Builds | ||
---|---|---|
Barb Leveling
(Leveling) |
Double Swing
(PVE) |
HotA
(PVE) |
Rend Bleed
(PVE) |
Thorns
(PVE) |
Upheaval
(PVE) |
Walking Arsenal
(PVE) |
Whirlwind
(PVE) |