Revision as of 13:46, 19 October 2008

The Barbarian's skills are divided into three skill trees, each of which has about 18 known skills. Most of these were first seen at Blizzcon 2008, and while they are very much subject to change during the game's continued development, viewing them in this state is still informative and interesting.

Most Barbarian skills require Fury to cast. Fury is a mana-like bulb that fills up when the Barbarian hits enemies, then drains quickly away when he stops hitting. This means that a Barbarian is unable to use his more powerful abilities at the start of a fight, and must charge up his Fury before he can begin to unleash his more devastating attacks.

Also see:

• Juggernaut Skill Tree
• Berserker Skill Tree

Diablo 3 Skill Trees

Battlemaster Skill Tree, Blizzcon, Oct 2008.

Unlike the skill trees in Diablo II, the trees in Diablo III are not focused on just one aspect of a character. All known D3 skill trees have a wide variety of skills, with more passive than active, and all allow for a variety of play styles.

All active skills in the BlizzCon build were capped at 1 skill point (or rank, as skill levels are called in D3), while most passives went up to 15 points. This will not be the case in the final game; active skills will allow more than 1 point, and passives may have different maximum ranks, to allow better game balancing. Know that skills will be modified, that some will be removed, that others will be added, and that the numbers are almost certain to change.

Tier 1 Skills

These skills are available for use as soon as new Barbarian is created.

Battle Rage

• Active Skill
• Max Rank: 1
• The barbarian enters a rage which increases damage done by 100% and increases Critical damage by 30%. Lasts for 15 seconds.
• Fury Cost: 50

This warcry boosts damage substantially. The amount of Fury required sounds considerable, but in the BlizzCon demo a Barbarian of around lvl 6 or 7 had about 100 Fury, and regenerated enough of it with every hit to keep using his basic Fury-consuming skills. So dropping 50 on a WarCry depleted about half the total, but was pretty.. the amount of Fury it cost wasn't a problem in terms of exhausing all the fury -- it was a problem in terms of building up that much in the first place. It required a good sized pack of monsters, since you'd need to kill 4 or 5 to get enough Fury to use this skill. Once it was in effect the rest of the battle went more quickly, thanks to the damage bonus.

Perseverance

• Passive
• Max Rank: 0/15
• Increases the duration of Battle Rage, Battle Cry, and Ignore Pain by 10%

A basic war cries mastery, increasing their duration but not boosting their effect. Likely this one increases 10% per skill point invested.

Power of the Battlemaster

• Passive Skill
• Max Rank: 15
  • Description: Increases damage of all Battlemaster skills by 20%
• Rank 3: Increases damage of all Battlemaster skills by 30%.
• Fury Cost: None

This passive sounds like the weapon mastery skills of D2, but note the differences. This does nothing to boost Attack Rating, and furthermore, it only boosts the damage of skills in this skill tree. Not overall weapon damage, or the damage of skills in the Barbarian's other skill trees.

Iron Skin

• Passive skill
• Max Rank: 2/15
• Description: Toughens the Barbarian's skill, increasing his/her armor.
  • Rank 2: +20% armor.
  • Rank 3: +30% armor.
• Fury cost: None

Like Power of the Battlemaster, this one seems to increase at a steady 10% per skill level.

Tier 2 Skills

These skills are available for use once a Barbarian reaches level 5. There is no requirement that he invest 5 skill points in this tree before using them, as some early Blizzcon reports erroneously stated.

Hammer of the Ancients

Hammer time!

• Active Skill
• Max Rank: 1
• Description: A massive attack that deals bonus weapon damage plus additional physical damage. It also increases the damage from critical hits.
  • Rank 1: Deals 100% weapon damage, an additional 2 physical damage, and increases critical hit damage by 20%
• Fury cost: None

This massive damage attack is dealt with an overhead slam; the Barbarian brings his weapon down straight overhead, like a man driving a railroad spike with a sledgehammer. The Barbarian's weapon vanishes when he uses this skill, the graphic replaced by a giant golden mace.

It's a huge attack, and hits quickly, but the Barbarian takes a second to recover after the strike, leaving him vulnerable to nearby enemies. This looks like a skill that's best used against single large targets, rather than while swarmed. It's not clear if the strike will hit multiple enemies, or just the one targeted.

The skill's hover text from June 2008 said:

• Max Rank: 5
  • Rank 4: Deals 225% weapon damage, +14 physical damage, and 25% to critical hit

Battle Cry

• Active Skill
• Max Rank: 1
• Description: A battle cry that increases the armor of the Barbarian and all other party members.
  • Rank 1: +80% armor. 60 second duration.
• Fury Cost: None

The different skills sometimes say "defense" and other times say "armor." It's not clear if these are different values, or if it's just loose wording in the still-under-development game.

Scavenge

• Passive Skill
• Max Rank: 15
• Description: Increases the chance that a monster will drop a health globe.
  • Rank 1: +7% increased chance
• Fury Cost: None

This would not only help the Barbarian; it would make him more popular in parties, since the healing from health globes is shared to all nearby characters.

Critical Attacks

• Passive skill
• Description: Increases the damage bonus of critical hits.
• Max Rank: 15
  • Rank 1: +20% critical hit damage.
• Fury Cost: None.

This looks like a very powerful skill, since critical hit damage is going to be a huge part of Diablo 3. Also note that it enhances all types of critical hits from all of the Barbarian's attacks, not just those in this skill tree. Furthermore critical hits impart various bonuses on top of their damage; critical hits from lightning stun monsters, critical from cold freezes them, etc.

This skill should also make the game more visually fun and vibrant, since monsters that die to critical hits explode in various entertaining ways.

Shield Specialization

• Passive Skill
• Max Rank: 15
• Description: Increases the Barbarian's chance to block with a shield and the amount of damage he can block.
• Rank 1: +8% chance to block, +6 damage blocked.
• Fury cost: None

The figures on this one were hard to read and are very suspect. They were small, single-digit numbers, at least. The function is correct though, and makes for some interesting questions about how blocking will work in D3. It sounds like blocking has a % chance to succeed, but that unlike in D2, successfully blocking won't entirely eliminate the damage. Different shields will probably have different damage absorption values, and the various shield skills will apparently boost the amount of damage absorbed per successful block.

This makes logical sense. After all, if something huge hits your shield, it's still going to hurt; just less than it would if you hadn't blocked it at all.

Tier 3 Skills

These skills are available for use for any Barbarian who is level 10+, and has placed at least 10 points in other skills in the Berserker skill tree.

Furious Charge

Furious Charge.

• Active Skill
• Max Rank: 1
• Description: Charge directly at an enemy, dealing weapon damage to the target and to enemies in the area.
  • Rank 1: Deal 120% of weapon damage to the target and 80% to enemies in the area.
• Fury cost: None

A dashing attack that is improved over the Paladin version. In D3 this one works almost like teleportation, moving the Barbarian to the targeted monster in a blink, leaving a blue streak behind and hitting every monster he seems to pass through on his way to the target. It also deals damage to other monsters in the area of the target

The hover text for this skill from June 2008:

• Rank: 1/1
• Description: Charge directly at an enemy, smashing everything in the way.
• Current level: 1
• Fury: 20
• Primary damage: 110%
• Secondary damage: 100%
• Range: 85 feet

Ignore Pain

• Active Skill
• Max Rank: 15
• Description: Reduce all damage taken for X seconds.
  • Rank 1: Reduce all damage taken by 79% (?) for 10 seconds.
• Fury Cost: 50

The image of this one is very hard to read, so the % damage reduction is dubious. Seventy-nine percent seems too high, though. At any rate, the figure is subject to tweaking in later development. It's not known if more points would increase the damage reduction, duration, or both.

However much it reduces damage by, it would clearly be a valuable skill for most Barbarians, especially for Hardcore players. If the duration remains this short even with more points, it's an indication that the D3 team wants Barbarian combat to be a very busy, intense activity. Most of his skills, including the war cries, require Rage to cast, Rage can only be built up during combat, and most of the skills have a fairly short duration. It looks like barbarians are going to be very busy clickers, constantly cycling through their skills and adding buffs, and rebuffing, right in the middle of intense combat. In fact, that's the only time they can add buffs, since they don't last very long, and they require rage to cast.

Deliberate Defense

• Passive Skill
• Max Rank: 0/15
• Description: Critical hits increase the Barbarian's armor.
  • Rank 1: On a critical hit, +10% armor for 15 seconds.
• Fury cost: None

Another indication that Blizzard wants the Barbarian to realize his (or her) full strength only during combat. This one increases your defense when you land successful critical hits. So it's a sort of passive buff, but one that only triggers during combat. It's unknown what more points in this will increase; defensive bonus, duration, or both.

Improved Battle Rage

• Passive Skill
• Max Rank: 15
• Description: Gives melee attacks a % chance to make Battle Rage cost no Fury for X seconds.
  • Rank 1: 7% chance to active no-Fury cost Battle Rage for 8 seconds.
• Fury cost: None

Another interesting "bonuses in combat" type skill for the Barbarian. Battle Rage is a WarCry that substantially boosts the Barbarian's damage and critical hits for a short time. This skill sounds like it would automatically trigger Battle Rage during combat, for no cost. The duration looks to be 1/2 the usual duration (level 1 Battle Rage lasts 15 seconds). More points in this would presumably increase the % chance to trigger, and perhaps the duration as well, unless that's always 1/2 the duration of normal Battle Rage. More points in Battle Rage would presumably increase the damage and critical hit %, and perhaps the duration as well?

Death Proof

• Passive Skill
• Max Rank: 15
• Description: The barbarian overcomes death. Upon receiving fatal damage the Barbarian is kept alive and gains back 30% of his maximum hit points. The effect can not occur more than every 300 seconds.
• Fury Cost: None

This one could not be read clearly, which is a pity since it's a very interesting skill, especially to Hardcore players. It sounds like it's a % chance of instant resurrection, enabling the Barbarian to sometimes die, but to pop right back to life with 30% of his maximum hit points. It's clearly one that has some balancing to go, since there's no indication what more points in it would grant, other than perhaps a higher % chance of cheating death.

If this one works as it seems to be designed, would every HC player feel obligated to max it out? Or would points here not be worth it, since they would just make death more common/likely, by stripping away the Barbarian's killing and survival powers that other skills could grant?

Tier 4 Skills

These skills are available for use once a Barbarian reaches level 15+, and has spent at least 15 points in the Berserker skill tree.

Inspiring Presence

• Passive Skill
• Max Rank: Rank 15
• Description: Increases the effect of Terrifying Shout and _______.
• Fury cost: None

We couldn't read the name of the skills listed in this one. Terrifying Shout was a decent match for one name, but it's in another skill tree, so it's probably wrong. The other skill name doesn't look like any Barbarian skill. At any rate, this skill is planned to increase the effect of two other skills, which is a fairly standard application of masteries in D3. It was not yet activated in the Blizzcon build.

Natural Resistance

• Passive skill
• Max Rank: 15
• Description: Increases all resistances.
  • Rank 1: +10 to all resistances.
• Fury cost: None

The passive from D2 returns, but with a much reduced initial bonus. How much this one would be worth long term depends on how much the returns diminish by, as well as how easy it is to achieve a high resistance just from equipment. (And how useful/necessary resistances are in D3.)

Mighty Hammer

• Passive skill
• Max Rank: 15
• Description: Increases the damage of Hammer of the Ancients.
• Fury cost: None

This one is clearly a work in progress, without any listed bonuses to damage or critical hit. If you're a Hammerdin fan, you probably got your hopes up for a second when you saw this name, eh?

Tier 5 Skills

There was a space for these in the Blizzcon build, but no skill icons were found on that line. There will surely be some in the final game, or else existing skills will be redistributed so some occupy higher level tiers on the skill tree.