Butcher 2.0 Diablo IV Barbarian Build [RDY-4-Launch]

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

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

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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.

XYZ Diamond (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Ultimate Skill Damage
• Armor: +N% Barrier Generation
• Jewelry: N% Resistance to All Elements

+5%/+5%/5 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Skull (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N Life On Kill
• Armor: +N% Healing Received
• Jewelry: +N Armor

+13/+5%/+170 for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Saphire (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Crowd-Controlled Enemies
• Armor: N% Damage Reduction While Fortified
• Jewelry: N% Cold Resistance

+7.5%/5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Ruby (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Overpower Damage

• Armor: +N% Maximum Life
• Jewelry: N% Fire Resistance

+15%/+5.5%/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Emerald (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
• Armor: +N Thorns
• Jewelry: N% Poison Resistance

+7.5%/39/14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

XYZ Amethyst (Requires Level XY)

• Weapon: +N% Damage Over Time
• Armor: N% Damage Taken Over Time Reduction
• Jewelry: N% Shadow Resistance

+5%/+8.2%/+14.3% for chipped (the 2nd grade at lvl 20)

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.

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

Bonus to All Damage
Critical Strike Chance/Critical Damage Bonus
Critical Chance / Critical Damage with DoT/Physical/Bleeding Skills
Critical Chance/Critical Damage with Core/Weapon Mastery/Brawling Skills
Damage with Core/Weapon Mastery/Brawling Skills
Lucky Hit Chance
+ X Ranks to Core/Weapon Mastery/Brawling Skills
Lucky Hit Chance with DoT/Physical/Bleeding Damage
DoT/Physical/Bleeding Damage Bonus
+ % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with DoT/Physical/Bleeding Damage
Resistance to All Elements
Overpower Damage
+ % DoT/Physical/Bleeding Damage to Elites
+ % Critical Strike Chance with DoT/Physical/Bleeding Damage Against Elites
+ % Damage for X Seconds After Killing an Elite
Damage Reduction for X Seconds After Killing an Elite
Damage Reduction from Elites
Damage to Close Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Close Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Close Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Crowd Controlled Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Critical Strike Chance Against Vulnerable Enemies
Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies
Vulnerable Damage
Damage while Healthy
Fortify Generation
Damage while Fortified
Chance When Struck to Fortify for X Life
Overpower Chance
Overpower Damage with Rupture/Rend/Leap
Overpower Damage with Core/Weapon Mastery/Brawling Skills
Overpower Damage with Slashing/2-handed/Swords/etc. Weapon
Higher Priority
+ All Stats
Damage vs Injured Enemies
Damage vs Healthy Enemies
Weapon Damage (not sure if there are any bonuses to that as rolls)
Fury Generation / Regeneration/ On Kill
Movement Speed
Attack Speed
Strength
Resource Cost Reduction
Lower 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

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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

Butcher Diablo IV Barbarian Build

Butcher Barbarian BUILD for Diablo IV

(flay the skin off of their bones and bleed them dry)

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

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 Open Beta Tests are almost here and I felt motivated to make some Pre-Launch theorycrafted semi-builds that should be good for ‘fresh-into-endgame’ characters when the game launches. I also plan to evolve them into FULL builds when the game is released & keep them updated when we get rebalance updates. This is one such build for the Barbarian Class called Butcher.

The Beta tests will only let us reach lvl 25 and only let us play in the first Act/Zone (Fractured Peaks) so those builds will be more useful for the actual game launch and ideally for characters around lvl 50+ or 60+. I’ve used 50+ and 60+ skill points when making the build instead of the full 100 so that they can be used to jumpstart a player’s post-story endgame grind.

I’ve also made spreadsheets for those builds (see the links below) that have shortlisted the active and passive skills + legendary aspect that work well with the build so one can spend the extra skill points on the way to lvl 100 into those other skills.

This build will be updated post-launch to a new & expanded version when I have actual 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 on the way to lvl 100 + alternative skill options, you can check my pre-launch builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Butcher) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

Some of the skill icon images you see could be outdated & differ from what is seen in the Full release version. I plan to replace them once the Beta ends or after the full launch

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

  • (active) Flay – Flay the enemy, dealing 9.58% (X – ?) damage. Inflicts 80.48% (X) Bleeding damage over 5 seconds. Requires a slashing weapon. Damage: Physical Generate Fury: 9 Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
    • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Flay Flay has a 10% chance to make the enemy Vulnerable for 2 seconds. Double this chance when using a Two-Handed weapon.
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Battle Flay When Flay deals direct damage to an enemy, they take 10% (multiplicative) increased Bleeding damage for the next 3 seconds.

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

  • (active) Rend Cleave enemies in front of you, dealing 23.00% (X – ?) damage and inflicting 183.96% (X) Bleeding over 5 seconds. Requires a slashing weapon. Damage: Physical Fury Cost: 35 Lucky Hit Chance: 33%
  • (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 – NOT INVESTED INTO IT but good to consider) Pressure Point – Lucky Hit: Your Core Skills have up to a 10% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.
  • (passive) Endless Fury Basic Skills generate 5% (multiplicative) more Fury when using Two-Handed weapons.
  • (passive) did not pick any other Core Passives to save points

Defensive Skills (Required Points: 6 )

  • (active) Challenging Shout Taunt nearby enemies and gain 40% (multiplicative) Damage Reduction for 10.4 seconds. Cooldown: 16.0 seconds
  • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Challenging Shout While Challenging Shout is active, gain +20% bonus Maximum Life.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Tactical Challenging Shout While Challenging Shout is active you gain 3 Fury each time you take damage.
  • (passive) Imposing Presence Gain 15% (multiplicative) additional Maximum Life.
    • (upgrade) Martial Vigor Damage Reduction against Elites, Bosses, and Players is increased by 4% (multiplicative).
  • (passive) did not pick any other Defensive Passives to save points

Brawling Skills (Required Points: 11 )

  • (active) Charge Become Unstoppable and rush forward pushing enemies with you then swinging through them for 47.91% (X – ?) damage and knocking them back. Cooldown: 17.0 seconds Damage: Physical
  • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Charge Enemies who are Knocked Back into terrain by Charge take 28.74% (X – ?) damage and are Stunned for 3 seconds.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Power Charge Reduce Charge’s Cooldown by 3 seconds if it Knocks Back an enemy into terrain.
  • (passive) Booming Voice Shout skill durations are increased by 30% (multiplicative).
    • (upgrade) Raid Leader did not pick to save points
    • (upgrade) Guttural Yell Your Shout Skills cause enemies to deal 8% (multiplicative) less damage for 5 seconds.
  • (passive) Aggressive Resistance Gain 4% Damage Reduction while Berserking.
    • (upgrade) Battle Frenzy did not pick to save points
    • (upgrade) Prolific Fury did not pick to save points
  • (passive) did not pick any other Brawling Passives to save points

Weapon Mastery Skills (Required Points: 16 )

  • (active) Rupture Skewer enemies in a line, inflicting 13.65% (X – ?) damage then rip your weapon out, damaging enemies for their total Bleeding amount receiving all Bleeding damage from them. Requires a slashing weapon. Cooldown: 15.0 seconds Damage: Physical Tags: Weapon Mastery Lucky Hit Chance: 50%
  • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Rupture If an enemy dies while being skewered by Rupture, then reset its Cooldown. Enemies who survive take 20% (multiplicative) increased Bleeding damage for the next 8 seconds.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Warrior’s Rupture Killing enemies with Rupture increases your Attack Speed by +20% for 4 seconds.
  • (passive – only put 1 point to unlock the upgrades) Pit Fighter You deal 3% (multiplicative) increased damage to Close enemies and gain 2% Distant Damage Reduction.
    • (passive – did not put any points here) No Mercy You deal 5% (multiplicative) increased damage against Immobilized, Stunned, or Slowed enemies.
    • (passive – only put 1 point to unlock the next upgrade) Slaying Strike You deal 8% increased damage against Injured enemies.
    • (passive – only put 1 point to save points) Expose Vulnerability Dealing direct damage with a Weapon Mastery skill causes your next Core Skill to make enemies Vulnerable for 1.5 (multiplicative) seconds.
  • (passive – did not pick but worth considering) Thick Skin Each time you take direct damage gain X Fortify.
    • (upgrade – did not pick but worth considering) Counteroffensive While Fortified for over 50% of your Maximum Life, you deal 5% (multiplicative) increased damage.
    • (upgrade – did not pick but worth considering) Defensive Posture Increase the Damage Reduction gained while you are Fortified by an additional +3%.
  • (passive – only put 1 point to save points) Hamstring Your Bleeding effects Slow enemies by 10%
    • (passive) Cut to the Bone Your Bleeding effects deal 6% (multiplicative) increased damage to Vulnerable Enemies.

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

  • (active) Call of the Ancients Call upon 3 Ancients to aid you in battle for 6 seconds. Korlic leaps at enemies, dealing 80.00% (X – ?) damage and swings his weapon in a Frenzy dealing 30.00% (X – ?) damage per hit. Talic spins in a Whirlwind rapidly attacking enemies for 50.00% (X – ?) damage. Madawc Upheaves the ground, dealing 150.00% (X – ?) damage. Cooldown: 50.0 seconds Damage: Physical Tags: Ultimate
  • (1st upgrade) Prime Call of the Ancients While Call of the Ancients is active, gain +10% bonus Attack Speed and 10% (multiplicative) increased damage.
  • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Supreme Call of the Ancients Each of the Ancients gains additional power: Korlic: You gain 10 Fury each time Korlic damages an enemy with Frenzy. Talic: Enemies are Slowed by 50% for 1 second when damaged by his Whirlwind. Madawc: 30% chance to Stun enemies for 3 seconds when using his Upheaval.
  • (passive – did not pick but worth considering) Tempered Fury Increase your Maximum Fury by 3.
    • (upgrade) Furious Impulse – DID NOT INVEST in this to save points
    • (upgrade – did not pick but worth considering) Invigorating Fury Heals you for 2% of your Maximum Life for each 100 Fury spent.
  • (passive – did not pick due to using Slashing) Wallop Your Skills using Bludgeoning weapons deal 5% (multiplicative) increased damage if the enemy is Stunned or Vulnerable.
    • (upgrade – did not pick due to using Slashing) Concussion Lucky Hit: Skills using Bludgeoning weapons have up to a 10% chance to Stun enemies for 3 seconds, or up to a 15% chance when using a Two-Handed Bludgeoning weapon.
  • (passive) Heavy Handed While using Two-Handed weapons you deal 5% (multiplicative) increased Critical Strike Damage.
    • (upgrade) Brute Force Your Overpower deals 15% (multiplicative) increased damage when using a Two-Handed weapon *NOTE: It seems that unlocking this skill upgrade requires investing into either Wallop OR Heavy Handed (can still get both if you want)
  • (passive) did not pick any other Ultimate Passives to save points

Specializations (Required Points: 33 )

  • (passive) Gushing Wounds Killing a Bleeding enemy creates an explosion that inflicts 11.55% (X) Bleeding damage over 3 seconds.

Arsenal (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-weilding 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’. Here are the types:

  • Dual Wielded 1-Handed Weapons are Slashing and can be Swords, Axes, or Maces (strange why the 1H Maces are clumped together with Swords & Axes under Slashing and not listed as Bludgeoning maybe the information I found is incorrect… hopefully 1h Maces are not Slashing)
  • 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 got for a swap-centric build

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 pre-launch builds spreadsheet on this link. This build (Butcher) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

  • Helm: Aspect of Shared Misery
  • Amulet: Aspect of Pummeling
  • Chest: Aspect of Anemia
  • Pants: Aspect of Numbing Wrath
  • Gloves: Relentless Berserker’s Apect
  • Boots: Wind Striker Aspect
  • Ring 1: Aspect of Echoing Fury
  • Ring 2: Aspect of Unrelenting Fury
  • 1H Weapon: Aspect of Berserk Ripping
  • Off-hand: Aspect of Veteran Brawler
  • 2-H Weapon One (see Class Mechanic for info): Aspect of Retribution
  • 2-H Weapon Two (see Class Mechanic for info): Aspect of The Dire Whirlwind

Useful Links (Spreadsheets & more):

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

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

♦ ◊ ♦ ◊ ♦

This concludes the Butcher 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