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

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

(keep Juggling those weapons & never let them know your next move)

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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 Juggler 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 (Juggler 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

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

  • (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Flay Flay the enemy, dealing 5% (X – ?) damage and inflicting 36% (X) Bleeding damage over 5 seconds. Requires a slashing weapon. Generate Fury: 9 Lucky Hit Chance: 50% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Basic,
    • (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) Combat Flay When Flay deals direct damage to an enemy, you gain 3% Damage Reduction and X Thorns for 3 seconds. This stacks up to 4 times.

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) Pressure Point Lucky Hit: Your Core Skills have up to a 10%/20%/30% to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.
  • (passive) did not pick any other 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) Strategic Ground Stomp Reduce the Cooldown of your Ultimate skill by 1 second for each enemy damaged by Ground Stomp..
  • (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Challenging Shout Taunt nearby enemies and gain (40/45/50/55/60) Damage Reduction for 8 seconds. Cooldown: 25 seconds Tags: Defensive, Shout
    • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Challenging Shout While Challenging Shout is active, gain 20% (multiplicative) bonus Maximum Life.
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Strategic Challenging Shout While Challenging Shout is active, gain Thorns equal to +50% of your Maximum Life.
  • (passive) 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) Outburst Gain 2/4/6 Thorns. Also gain 2 Thorns for each 2 bonus Maximum Life you have.
    • (upgrade) Tough as Nails Increase your Thorns by +20%/+40%/+60%. When enemies hit you, they take an additional 1% of your Thorns as Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
  • (passive) did not pick any other Defensive passives to save points

Brawling Skills (Required Points: 11 ) Not taking an active Brawling skill

  • (active)
    • (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)
  • (passive) Booming Voice Shout Skill effect durations are increased by 10%/20%/30% (multiplicative).
    • (upgrade) Raid Leader – did NOT take this one
    • (upgrade) Guttural Yelldid NOT take this one
  • (passive) did not pick any other Brawling passives to save points

Weapon Mastery Skills (Required Points: 16 )

  • (active – ONLY put 1 point here) Steel Grasp Throw out a trio of chains that deal 23% (X – ?) damage and Pull In enemies. Charges: 2 Charge Cooldown: 11 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 25% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Weapon Mastery,
    • (1st upgrade) Enhanced Steel Grasp Steel Grasp also makes enemies Vulnerable for 2.5 seconds.
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Fighter’s Steel Grasp If Steel Grasp damages an enemy, gain Berserking for 2 seconds.
  • (passive) Pit Fighter You deal 3%/6%/9% (multiplicative) increased damage to Close enemies and gain 2%/4%/6% Distant Damage Reduction.
    • (upgrade) No Mercy did NOT take this one
    • (upgrade) Slaying Strike You deal 8%/15%/23% increased damage against Injured enemies.
    • (upgrade) Expose Vulnerability – did NOT take this one
  • (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) did not pick any other Weapon Mastery passives to save points

Ultimate Skills (Required Points: 23 )

  • (active) Iron Maelstrom –
    First your Two-Handed Bludgeoning weapon slams into the ground, dealing 60% (X – ?) damage and Stunning enemies for 2 seconds.
    Second your Two-Handed Slashing weapon swipes in front of you, dealing 20% (X – ?) damage and inflicting 120% (X) Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
    Third your Dual Wield weapons swing around you, dealing 33% (X – ?) damage per hit. Requires a Full Arsenal of weapons.
    Cooldown: 60 seconds Lucky Hit Chance: 40% Damage: Physical ; Tags: Ultimate,
    • (1st upgrade) Prime Iron Maelstrom Iron Maelstrom gains +10% increased Critical Strike Chance and deals 20% (multiplicative) increased Critical Strike Damage
    • (2nd upgrade – my pick of the 2) Supreme Iron Maelstrom Dealing direct damage to an enemy after swapping weapons reduces Iron Maelstrom’s Cooldown by 1 second.
  • (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 – ONLY put 2 points here) Brute Force Your Overpower deals 15%/30%/45% (multiplicative) increased damage when using a Two-Handed weapon
      *NOTE: Unlocking this skill upgrade/passive 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) Walking Arsenal Dealing direct damage with a Two-Handed Bludgeoning, Two-Handed Slashing, or Dual Wielded weapons grants 10% (multiplicative) increased damage for 6 seconds. While all three damage bonuses are active, you gain an additional 15% (multiplicative) increased damage.

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:

100,000 Steps (Boots)

Attacks Reduce Evade’s Cooldown by [X] Seconds; After gaining the final damage bonus from the Walking Arsenal Key Passive, you automatically cast Ground Stomp and gain [32 – 50] Fury. This cannot happen more than once every 30 seconds.

[28 – 42] Dexterity
+[14 – 28]% Damage with Skills that Swap to New Weapons
+[16.5 – 23.5]% Damage to Stunned Enemies
+[2 – 4] Ranks of Ground Stomp

“While many Barbarians remained in the Dreadlands, small groups from the Oxen, Crane and Bear tribes instead chose to search the land for a new home.” – A History of the Children of Bul-Kathos

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: Emerald, Saphire, Ruby, Amethyst, or Skull.
Armor: Ruby, Emerald, Saphire, or Skull.
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 (Juggler 2.0) is one of the builds on that spreadsheet.

  • Helm: Aspect of Anemia / Harlequin Crest (see notes below)
  • Amulet: Earthquake Aspect / Exploiter’s Aspect
  • Chest: Weapon Master’s Aspect / Rage of Harrogath (see notes below)
  • Pants: Aspect of Tempering Blows
  • Gloves: Windstriker Aspect / Weapon Master’s Aspect (see notes below)
  • Boots: Exploiter’s Aspect / 100,000 Steps (see notes below)
  • Ring 1: Slaking Aspect
  • Ring 2: Death Wish Aspect
  • 1H Weapon: Aspect of The Prickling OR Needleflare Aspect (IF Aspect of Prickling doesn’t exist anymore)
  • Off-hand: Earthstriker’s Aspect / Accelerating Aspect (see notes below)
  • 2-H Weapon 1: Skullbreaker’s Aspect
  • 2-H Weapon 2: Accelerating Aspect / Ancients’ Oath (see notes below)
NOTE 1: Earthquake Aspect goes in the Amulet slot ONLY until you get the 100,000 Steps Unique Boots. After that discard it & put Exploiter's Aspect in the Amulet slot to make room for the Unique Boots. 
There are three other alternative picks for Uniques you could use if you get those first: Rage of Harrogath (Chest Armor) & Harlequin Crest (Helm) & Ancients' Oath (Two-Handed Axe). See the 2nd note below:

NOTE 2: How to re-arrange if using any of the alternative Uniques:
- For Rage of Harrogath (Chest Armor): Windstriker Aspect gets removed from the Gloves slot and Weapon Master’s Aspect replaces it to make room for the Unique Chest Armor.
- For Harlequin Crest (Helm): Aspect of Anemia gets removed from the Helm slot to make room for the Unique Helm.
- For Ancients' Oath (2-Handed Axe): Earthstriker’s Aspect gets removed from the 2H Weapon 2 slot & discarded. Accelerating Aspect goes in the now empty 1H Weapon (main-hand) slot to make room for the Unique 2-Handed Axe.

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 87 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 41 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 Physical/Slashing/Bludgeoning Skills
Critical Chance/Critical Damage with Core/Ultimate/Basic/Weapon Mastery Skills
Damage with Core/Ultimate/Basic/Weapon Mastery Skills
Lucky Hit Chance
+ X Ranks to Core/Ultimate/Basic/Weapon Mastery/Defensive Skills
+ X Ranks to Rend/Flay/Steel Grasp/Ground Stomp/Challenging Shout
Lucky Hit Chance withPhysical/Slashing/Bludgeoning Damage
Physical/Slashing/Bludgeoning Damage Bonus
+ % Critical Chance / Critical Damage with Physical/Slashing/Bludgeoning Damage
Resistance to All Elements
Overpower Damage
+ % Physical/Slashing/Bludgeoning Damage to Elites
+ % Critical Strike Chance with Physical/Slashing/Bludgeoning 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 Chance / Critical Damage Against Close Enemies
Critical Chance / Critical Damage Against Crowd Controlled Enemies
Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies
Critical Chance / Critical Damage Against 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 Rend/Flay/Steel Grasp
Overpower Damage with Core/Ultimate/Basic/Weapon Mastery Skills
Overpower Damage with Slashing/2-handed/Axes/Bludgeoning/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

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This concludes the Juggler 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.