Butcher 2.0 Barbarian BUILD for Diablo IV [RDY-4-Launch]

(Leap & Stomp on your foes, Bleed them dry & Rupture the Gushing Wounds)

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Diablo IV launches on June 6th, 2023 for PC (Battle.Net), XBOX, & PlayStation with a 4 days Early Access (no wipe) for pre-orders (so kind of really launching June 2nd).

Diablo IV‘s Launch is getting closer and it’s time to make some Ready-For-Launch full Builds/Theorycrafts that should be good for both ‘fresh-into-endgame’ characters as well as late endgame. I also plan to evolve them further when the game is released & keep them updated when we get rebalance updates. This is one such build for the Barbarian Class called Butcher 2.0.

I’ve also made spreadsheets for those builds (see the links below) that have shortlisted the active and passive skills + legendary aspect + unique item + gems & sockets + suggested stat rolls + paragon boards that work well with the build which you can use to tinker. Alternatively, I’ve added build calculator links (mostly needed for the paragons)

This build will be updated post-launch to a new & expanded version when I have more in-game information as reference.

Video Version:

Skill Trees

Below you’ll see ONLY the Active & Passive skills that were selected for this build. For additional skills that can be taken + alternative skill options, you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Butcher 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Basic Skill (Resource Generator/Builder) (Required Points: 0 )

• (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Lunging Strike – Lunge forward and strike an enemy for 30% (X – ?) damage. Generate Fury: 9 Lucky Hit Chance: 50% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Basic,
  • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Lunging Strike – Lunging Strike deals 30% (multiplicative) increased damage and Heals you for 2% Maximum Life when it damages a Healthy enemy.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Battle Lunging Strike – Lunging Strike also inflicts 20% Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.

Core Skill(s) (Resource Spender) (Required Points: 2 )

• (active) Rend – Cleave enemies in front of you, dealing 12% (X – ?) damage and inflicting 96% (X) Bleeding damage over 5 seconds. Requires a slashing weapon. Fury Cost: 35 Lucky Hit Chance: 33% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Core,
  • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Rend – Dealing direct damage with Rend extends the duration of Vulnerable on enemies by 2 seconds.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Furious Rend – Direct damage with Rend grants 4 Fury per enemy hit, up to a maximum of 20 Fury.
• (passive) did not pick any Core passives to save points

Defensive Skills (Required Points: 6 )

• (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Ground Stomp – Smash the ground, dealing 10% (X – ?) damage and Stunning surrounding enemies for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 16 seconds Damage: Physical ; Tags: Defensive,
  • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Ground Stomp – Increase Ground Stomp’s duration by 1 second.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Tactical Ground Stomp – Ground Stomp generates 25 Fury.
• (passive – ONLY put 1 point here) Imposing Presence – Gain 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) additional Maximum Life.
  • (upgrade) Martial Vigor – Damage Reduction against Elites, is increased by 4%/8%/12% (multiplicative).
• (passive) did not pick other Defensive passives to save points

Brawling Skills (Required Points: 11 )

• (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Leap – Leap forward and then slam down, dealing 33% (X – ?) damage and Knocking Back surrounding enemies on impact. Cooldown: 17 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 33% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Brawling,
  • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Leap – If Leap doesn’t damage any enemies, its Cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Power Leap – If Leap damages at least one enemy, gain 40 Fury.
• (passive) did not pick any Brawling passives to save points

Weapon Mastery Skills (Required Points: 16 )

• (active) Rupture – Skewer enemies in front of you, dealing 13% (X – ?) damage, then rip your weapon out, damaging enemies for their total Bleeding amount removing all Bleeding damage from them. Requires a slashing weapon. Cooldown: 10 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 50% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Weapon Mastery,
  • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Rupture – Ripping your weapon out of enemies during Rupture causes an explosion that deals 30% Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Fighter’s Rupture – Hitting at least 1 enemy with Rupture Heals you for 15% of your Maximum Life.
• (passive – ONLY put 2 points here) Pit Fighter – You deal 3%/6%/9% (multiplicative) increased damage to Close enemies and gain 2%/4%/6% Distant Damage Reduction.
  • (upgrade) No Mercy – You have +3%/+6%/+9% increased Critical Strike Chance against Immobilized, Stunned, or Slowed enemies.
  • (upgrade) Slaying Strike – did NOT take this one
  • (upgrade) Expose Vulnerability – Dealing direct damage with a Weapon Mastery Skill causes your next Core Skill to make enemies Vulnerable for 1/2/3 second(s).
• (passive) Thick Skin – Each time you take direct damage gain 0.4%/0.7%/1.1% Base Life as Fortify.
  • (upgrade) Counteroffensive – While you have Fortify for over 50% of your Maximum Life, you deal 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased damage.
  • (upgrade) Defensive Stance – did NOT take this one
• (passive – ONLY put 1 point here) Hamstring – Your Bleeding effects Slow enemies by 10%/20%/30%.
  • (upgrade) Cut to the Bone – Your Bleeding effects deal 6%/12%/18% (multiplicative) increased damage to Vulnerable Enemies.
• (passive) did not pick other Weapon Mastery passives to save points

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

• (active) Wrath of the Berserker – Gain Berserking and Unstoppable for 5 seconds. For the next 10 seconds, dealing direct damage with Basic Skills grants Berserking for 25 seconds Cooldown: 60 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 40% Tags: Ultimate,
  • (1st upgrade) Supreme Wrath of the Berserker – While Wrath of the Berserker is active, gain +20% increased Movement Speed and increase Fury Generation by 30% (multiplicative)
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Prime Wrath of the Berserker – While Wrath of the Berserker is active, every 50 Fury spend increases Berserk’s damage bonus by 25% (multiplicative)
• (passive) Wallop – did NOT take this one
  • (upgrade) Concussion – did NOT take this one
• (passive ) Heavy Handed – While using Two-Handed weapons you deal 5%/10%/15% (multiplicative) increased Critical Strike Damage.seconds.
  • (upgrade) Brute Force – Your Overpower deals 15%/30%/45% (multiplicative) increased damage when using a Two-Handed weapon
    *NOTE: Unlocking this skill upgrade requires investing into either Wallop OR Heavy Handed (can still get both if you want)
• (passive) did not pick other Ultimate passives to save points

Specializations (Required Points: 33 )

• (passive) Gushing Wounds – When causing an enemy to Bleed, you have a chance equal to your Critical Strike Chance to increase the Bleed amount by 100% of your Critical Strike Damage bonus. Overpowering a Bleeding enemy creates an explosion that inflicts 11% Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.

Class Mechanic:

The Barbarian class mechanics is called Arsenal and this is how I believe it works:

The Barbarian class can equip 4 weapons at the same time: a Dual-wielding set of 2x One-Handed weps + two separate Two-Handed weapons (not dual-wielding those). They switch in combat between those based on what weapon is assigned to specific skills via the class unique Arsenal System. So each skill can have its own weapon assigned to it as long as it’s one of the 4 weapons equipped. The weps you don’t actually use work as ‘stat sticks’, even any aspects slotted on them. Here are the types:

• Dual Wielded 1-Handed Weapons on Barbarians can be either Slashing or Bludgeoning such as: Swords, Axes, or Maces. The game seems to clump all 1-Handed weapons together under the “Dual-Wielding” as far as Barbarians and their skill tags are concerned so regardless of Slashing or Bludgeoning type, a 1-Handed weapon will apparently not count as either.
• The two slots of Two-Handed Weapons can be occupied by Slashing type weps like Swords, Axes, & Polearms and/or by Bludgeoning Maces
• Ideally 1x 2h Slashing, 1x 2h Bludgeoning and a Dual-Wield 1h combo for the 4 weps if you go for a swap-centric build

Unique Item

In Diablo IV apparently (I have multiple sources that confirmed this) we can equip more than one unique item at the same time (not so ‘unique’ if we can get decked out in full uniques I guess). It seems that the one unique per build idea that Unique inherited from the Mythical gear they supposedly replaced was scrapped even before the closed beta tests. My top pick will be the following one but check the notes under the Aspects list for some additional picks:

Fields of Crimson (Two-Handed Sword)

+[17.5%] Critical Strike Damage While using this weapon, damaging at least one enemy with Rupture creates a blood pool that inflicts N Bleeding damage over 6 seconds. Enemies standing in the pool take x[0.18 – 0.34]% increased Bleeding damage.

+[7 – 14]% Damage with Two-Handed Slashing Weapons
+[7 – 14]% Damage Over Time
CDR_Rupture (Struck’s note: I’m 100% sure this is cooldown reduction for Rupture)
+[2 – 4] Ranks of Rupture

“We’ve been fighting these flesh-eaters for so long, been soaked in so much blood, that after a while it’s difficult to tell what side you’re truly on.” – Daelyr, Crane Tribe warrior

Sockets & Gems

There are various possible good/viable choices for the gem slots. I’ve shortlisted what works by slot. I’d recommend picking one of those:

Weps: Saphire, Skull, Ruby, Amethyst, or Emerald.
Armor: Skull, Saphire, or Ruby.
Jewelry: Diamond unless you need specific resistance more than all.

Legendary Aspects / Powers

I will only list the Legendary Aspects that have been selected for the build and the slots in which I advise putting those. For in-depth information you can check my RDY-4-Launch Builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Butcher 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

• Helm: Exploiter’s Aspect
• Amulet: Aspect of Veteran Brawler
• Chest: Weapon Master’s Aspect
• Pants: Iron Blood Aspect
• Gloves: Aspect of Anemia
• Boots: Aspect of Perpetual Stomping
• Ring 1: Aspect of Quickening Pulse
• Ring 2: Slaking Aspect
• 1H Weapon: Aspect of Berserk Ripping
• Off-hand: Skullbreaker’s Aspect
• 2-H Weapon 1: Aspect of Encroaching Wrath
• 2-H Weapon 2 (see NOTE below): *Smiting Aspect Until The Unique goes here

NOTE 1: Smiting Aspect goes in the second 2-Handed slot ONLY until you get the Fields of Crimson Unique Two-Handed Sword. 
There are two other alternative picks for Uniques you could use if you get those first: Rage of Harrogath (Chest Armor) & Harlequin Crest (Helm). See the 2nd note below:

NOTE 2: How to re-arrange if using any of the alternative Uniques:
- For Rage of Harrogath (Chest Armor): Smiting Aspect gets removed from the 2nd 2-handed slot & Aspect of Veteran Brawler replaces it. Exploiter’s Aspect goes in the now empty Amulet slot, emptying the Helm slot. Weapon Master’s Aspect goes in the now empty Helm slot to make room for the Unique Chest.
- For Harlequin Crest (Helm): Smiting Aspect gets removed from the 2nd 2-handed slot & Aspect of Veteran Brawler replaces it. Exploiter’s Aspect goes in the now empty Amulet slot & makes room for the Unique Helm.

Paragon Boards:

Use the links below to check the paragon boards selected and the nodes I’ve taken. One link is for what the boards will look like at lvl 93 without any paragon points from renown (so more paragon points will be obtained on the way to 100 as well as from renown. The other link will be what the boards will look like when fully maxed out on paragon points.

• LVL 93 & no Points from renown: Click THIS LINK
• MAXed out points: Click THIS LINK

Suggested Gear Rolls to look out for (NOT in order of priority):

I’ve shortlisted 43 different affixes that work well with the build of almost 300 total. I’ll highlight in Orange the ones I think should get higher priority

Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):

For all of my Diablo IV RDY-4-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet

For my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Class Skill Trees (can be used as mini-calculator): This Spreadsheet

For all of my Diablo IV Pre-Launch Theorycrafts/Builds: This Spreadsheet

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This concludes the Butcher 2.0 Barbarian Build for Diablo IV. If you’re interested in the game below are links to the various platforms where one can buy it (you can just click the links to open a new tab):

PC (Battle.Net)

XBOX

PlayStation

Official Website