Diablo 4 is the latest installment of the popular action RPG series by Blizzard Entertainment. It features five classes, each with its own unique skills, skill trees, and playstyles. One of these classes is the barbarian, a fierce warrior who relies on brute strength, rage, and weapons to crush their enemies.
The barbarian has various skills, but Whirlwind is one of the most iconic and beloved. This skill allows the barbarian to spin around with their weapon, hitting multiple enemies in a wide area. Whirlwind is fun to use and very effective in clearing large groups of enemies, especially when combined with other skills and items that enhance its damage, speed, and fury generation.
In this article, we will show you how to build a whirlwind barbarian for the endgame content of Diablo 4, such as Nightmare Dungeons, World Bosses, and PvP zones. We will cover the following topics:
• The best skills and skill upgrades for whirlwind barbarian
• The best skill tree choices for whirlwind barbarian
• The best gear and legendary items for whirlwind barbarian
• The best gameplay tips and tricks for whirlwind barbarian
Skills and Skill Upgrades
The whirlwind barbarian build revolves around using Whirlwind as your main damage dealer while using other skills to support it. Here are the recommended skills and skill upgrades for this build:
• Whirlwind: This is the primary skill that you will use to spin around and hit enemies with your weapon. You can choose between two skill upgrades: Blood Funnel or Hurricane. Blood Funnel gives you a life leech for each enemy hit by Whirlwind, which helps you survive longer in combat. Hurricane increases the radius of Whirlwind by 50%, which helps you hit more enemies and generate more fury. Both are viable options, but we prefer Hurricane for its higher damage potential.
• Rallying Cry: This defensive skill gives you and your allies a temporary shield that absorbs damage. You can choose between two skill upgrades: Inspiring Presence or Hardened Wrath. Inspiring Presence increases the duration of Rallying Cry by 100%, which gives you more time to spin without taking damage. Hardened Wrath increases the shield amount by 50%, which gives you more protection from burst damage. Both are viable options, but we prefer Inspiring Presence for its longer uptime.
• Ancient Spear: This utility skill allows you to pull enemies towards you or yourself towards enemies. You can choose between two skill upgrades: Harpoon or Rage Flip. Harpoon allows you to pull up to 3 enemies towards you with each cast, which helps you group them up for Whirlwind. Rage Flip allows you to pull yourself towards an enemy with each cast, which helps you close the gap or escape from danger. Both are viable options, but we prefer Harpoon for its crowd-control effect.
• Furious Charge: This mobility skill allows you to charge through enemies, dealing damage and generating fury. You can choose between two skill upgrades: Battering Ram or Merciless Assault. Battering Ram increases the damage of Furious Charge by 100%, which helps you burst down enemies faster. Merciless Assault reduces the cooldown of Furious Charge by 2 seconds for each enemy hit, which helps you charge more often and generate more fury. Both are viable options, but we prefer Merciless Assault for its higher frequency.
• Battle Rage: This offensive skill gives you and your allies a temporary boost to damage, critical chance, and fury generation. You can choose between two skill upgrades: Marauder's Rage or Swords to Plowshares. Marauder's rage increases the damage bonus of Battle Rage by 50%, which helps you deal more damage with Whirlwind and other skills. Swords to Plowshares cause critical hits to heal you and your allies for a percentage of your maximum life, which helps you sustain longer in combat. Both are viable options, but we prefer Swords to Plowshares for its healing effect.
Skill Tree
The skill tree of Diablo 4 allows you to customize your character's abilities and attributes by spending points in different branches when you have plenty of Diablo 4 gold. For the whirlwind barbarian build, we recommend spending points in the following branches:
• Weapon Mastery: This branch focuses on improving your weapon skills and damage. You should spend points in the following nodes: Weapon Expertise, Mighty Blows, Fury, Critical Strike, Overpower, and Bloodthirst.
• Berserker: This branch focuses on enhancing your rage and survivability. You should spend points in the following nodes: Berserker Rage, Unstoppable Force, Rampage, Relentless, and Nerves of Steel.
• Juggernaut: This branch focuses on increasing your defense and crowd control. You should spend points in the following nodes: Tough as Nails, Iron Skin, Stun Mastery, and Seize the Initiative.
Gear and Legendary Items
The gear of Diablo 4 consists of different types of items that can be equipped for your character, such as weapons, armor, jewelry, and charms. Each item can have different attributes, such as rarity, quality, level, stats, sockets, and affixes. The affixes are the most important part of the gear, as they can provide various bonuses and effects to your skills and performance.
For the whirlwind barbarian build, you should aim for gear that has the following affixes:
• Whirlwind Damage: This affix increases the damage of your Whirlwind skill by a percentage. It would help if you looked for this affix on your weapon, helmet, chest armor, gloves, and charms.
• Fury Generation: This affix increases the amount of fury you generate with your skills and attacks by a percentage. It would help if you looked for this affix on your weapon, belt, boots, and charms.
• Critical Damage: This affix increases the damage of your critical hits by a percentage. It would help if you looked for this affix on your weapon, amulet, ring, and charms.
• Critical Chance: This affix increases the chance of your attacks to deal with critical hits by a percentage. It would help if you looked for this affix on your weapon, helmet, gloves, ring, and charms.
• Attack Speed: This affix increases the speed of your attacks by a percentage. It would help if you looked for this affix on your weapon, gloves, ring, and charms.
• Life Leech: This affix causes you to heal for a percentage of the damage you deal with your skills and attacks. It would help if you looked for this affix on your weapon, amulet, ring, and charms.
In addition to the regular gear, legendary items have unique effects that can change or enhance your skills and playstyle. Some legendary items are especially useful and powerful for the whirlwind barbarian build. Here are some examples:
• The Undisputed Champion: This legendary belt gives you the Blood Funnel skill upgrade for Whirlwind for free. This means you can simultaneously choose Hurricane as your other skill upgrade and benefit from both effects. This item also increases the damage of Whirlwind by 100%.
• Skull Grasp: This is a legendary ring that increases the damage of Whirlwind by 300%. This item also reduces the fury cost of Whirlwind by 50%, which allows you to spin longer and more often.
• Lamentation: This legendary charm allows Whirlwind to stack up to 10 times on each enemy. Each stack increases the damage of Whirlwind by 10%. This item also causes enemies hit by Whirlwind to bleed for 1000% weapon damage over 5 seconds.
• Bul-Kathos's Oath: This is a set of two legendary one-handed weapons that increase the damage of Whirlwind by 100% when dual-wielding. They also increase the attack speed of Whirlwind by 30% and generate 15 furies per second while spinning.
Gameplay Tips and Tricks
The gameplay of the whirlwind barbarian build is fairly simple and straightforward: you spin around with Whirlwind and hit as many enemies as possible while using other Diablo 4 skills to boost your damage, defense, mobility, and utility. Here are some tips and tricks to help you master this build:
• Always keep Battle Rage active to increase your damage, critical chance, and fury generation. Use it before engaging enemies or when it is about to expire.
• Use Rallying Cry when enemies surround you or when you need extra protection from incoming damage. Try to time it with big hits or burst damage from enemies or bosses.
• Use Ancient Spear to pull enemies towards you or yourself towards enemies. Use it to group up enemies for Whirlwind or to chase down fleeing or ranged enemies. You can also use it to escape danger or reposition yourself in combat.
• Use Furious Charge to charge through enemies, dealing damage and generating fury. Use it to move around quickly or to initiate combat. You can also use it to escape danger or reposition yourself in combat.
• Try to maintain a high level of fury at all times. Fury is your main resource that fuels your Whirlwind and other skills. You can generate fury by hitting enemies with Furious Charge or basic attacks or using items or skills that increase fury generation.
• Try to hit as many enemies as possible with Whirlwind by considering the below.
The radius of the Whirlwind: The radius of the Whirlwind determines how wide the area of effect is. You can increase the radius of Whirlwind by choosing the Hurricane skill upgrade, which increases it by 50%. You can also use items or skills that increase your attack range, such as the legendary charm Lamentation or the skill tree node Overpower.
The position of enemies: The position of enemies determines how many of them you can hit with Whirlwind at a time. You want to position yourself in the center of a large group of enemies or in a narrow corridor where they are clustered together. You can use skills or items that help you move around or pull enemies towards you, such as Furious Charge, Ancient Spear, or the legendary weapon, Bul-Kathos's Oath.
The movement of enemies: It determines how long you can hit them with Whirlwind before they escape or move away. You want to prevent enemies from moving out of your Whirlwind range or follow them if they do. You can use skills or items that slow down, stun, or immobilize enemies, such as the skill tree node Stun Mastery, the legendary ring Skull Grasp, or the legendary charm Lamentation.