Barbarian skills

This page lists all known Barbarian skills, with information that was current as of August 2011. This page is a quick listing; follow the links to the individual skill pages for full discussion of every skill, including first hand reports, Blue quotes, runestone information, and numerous screenshots and other images.

All character skills have undergone considerable changes during development, with the biggest change coming before Blizzcon 2010, when skill trees and passive skills were removed from the skill listing and Traits were introduced. See the Barbarian skill archive for information about skill changes over time.

Useful skill links:

• Skills - General skill design and mechanics.
  • Active skills -- Skills where effects are activated by the player.
  • Passive skills -- Skills where effects are activated automatically, by the computer or by special events.
  • Signature skills -- Skills that define characters.
  • Shouts -- Skills that buff the player or debuff monsters.
• Fury -- The Barbarian's energy resource.
• Runestones -- The huge skill customization and improvement system.
• Barbarian skill archive -- Removed Barbarian skills.
• Barbarian traits -- Passive skills in Diablo III were called traits for a while before reverting back.

Active Skills

Barbarian Skill Tree interpretation by Muldric.

Click to the individual skill pages for more details about these skills including numbers, screenshots, runestone information, blue quotes, and much more.

Bash

Bash is unlocked at Level 1.
A powerful melee swiping attack, this hits a single target for heavy damage, with a chance to knockback as well.

Description: Brutally smash an enemy for 145% weapon damage with a 20% change to knock the enemy back.

Generate: 3 Fury per attack

Threatening Shout

Threatening Shout is unlocked at Level 1.
A shout that debuffs enemies, lowering their damage.

Description: Shout with great ferocity, reducing damage done by enemies withing 25 yards by 50% for 15 seconds.

Cost: 20 Fury

Hammer of the Ancients

Hammer of the Ancients is unlocked at Level 2.
The Barbarian swings a huge yellow hammer overhead, crushing it down on enemies for massive damage, plus a good chance of critical damage.

Description: Call forth a massive hammer to smash enemies around the target for 180% weapon damage and increases critical hit change by 15%.

Cost: 20 Fury

Battle Rage

Battle Rage is unlocked at Level 3.
A shout that provides a damage boost and critical hit improvement for a short duration.

Description: Enter a rage which increases damage by 30% and critical hit change by 4% for 30 seconds.

Cost: 20 Fury

Cleave

Cleave is unlocked at Level 4.
A powerful melee attack, this hits multiple enemies per swing; as many as are within the sweep of the Barbarian's reach, dealing substantial damage to everything.

Description: Swing in a wide arc to deal 120% weapon damage to the targeted enemy and 60% weapon damage to any other enemies caught in the swing.

Generate: 2 Fury per attack

Ignore Pain

Ignore Pain is unlocked at Level 5.
This skill reduces all damage taken and grants immunity to most debuffs.

Description: Reduces all damage taken by 65% for 5 seconds.

Cooldown: 60 seconds

Leap Attack

Leap Attack is unlocked at Level 6.
A deadly fast attack, this one allows the Barbarian to leap into attack, moving far faster than running speed, as well as vaulting over obstacles or monsters between him and his prey.

Description: Leap into the air, dealing 40% weapon damage to all enemies within 8 yards of your destination. Only generates Fury if you hit an enemy.

Generate: 20 Fury
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Weapon Throw

Weapon Throw is unlocked at Level 7.
A powerful ranged attack, this one allows the Barbarian to hurl his weapon at enemies. Runestones add amazing effects, including one in which the Barbarian hurls a monster corpse, dealing high damage to nearby targets.

Description: Hurl a throwing weapon at an enemy for 210% weapon damage and slowing the movement of the enemy by 50% for 4 seconds.

Cost: 20 Fury

Ground Stomp

Ground Stomp is unlocked at Level 8.
This defensive skill causes the Barbarian to stomp his foot, crushing the earth and stunning all nearby enemies. With runestones it can add damage, knockback, and more.

Description: Shake the ground to inflict 30% weapon damage to all enemies within 12 yards and stun them for 3 seconds. Only generates Fury if you hit an enemy.

Generate: 20 Fury
Cooldown: 12 seconds

Rend

Rend is unlocked at Level 9.
A melee attack that deals considerable bonus damage to all enemies within range.

Description: Perform a vicious strike to all enemies within 9 yards, dealing 60% weapon damage every seconds for 3 seconds.

Cost: 20 Fury

Frenzy

Frenzy is unlocked at Level 11.
Consecutive hits with this melee skill grant increased attack speed and weapon damage.

Description: Swing for 80% weapon damage. Each swing increases attack speed of Frenzy by 15% for 4 seconds. This effect can stack up to 5 times for an total bonus of 75% attack speed.

Generate: 1 Fury per attack

Revenge

Revenge is unlocked at Level 12.
A melee skill, this one becomes available when when the Barbarian is hit. It deals a fast spinning hit that can strike multiple enemies for considerable damage. When seen at Blizzcon 2010, this skill was an active one; players had to hit the button to trigger it once it was enabled. The skill was changed to a direct, automated strike of some sort during later development, though details are not yet known.

Description: Inflict 150% weapon damage to all enemies within 8 yards and gain 5.0% Life for each enemy hit.

• Revenge has a 10% change to become active for a short time each time you are hit by an attack.

War Cry

War Cry is unlocked at Level 14.
This shout boosts the Barbarian's Fury, as well as the armor of the Barbarian and all nearby party members.

Description: Unleash a rallying cry to increase the armor of you and all allies within 30 yards by 100% for 60 seconds.

Generate: 50 Fury
Cooldown: 30 seconds

Furious Charge

Furious Charge is unlocked at Level 16.
A very fast moving charge attack, enabling the Barbarian to pass through enemies on the way to his target.

Description: Rush forward knocking back enemies and inflicting 60% weapon damage to enemies at the destination and 30% damage to enemies along the path of the charge. Only generates Fury if you hit an enemy.

Generate: 20 Fury
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Overpower

Overpower is unlocked at Level 18.
Overpower gives the Barbarian a chance to take advantage of the situation, overwhelming enemies around him with a powerful strike.

Description: Press the advantage of a powerful attack to overwhelm the enemy for 150% weapon damage to all targets within 9 yards.

• Overpower becomes available whenever you make a critical hit against an enemy.

Seismic Slam

Seismic Slam is unlocked at Level 19.
A more powerful version of Ground Stomp, this skill deals higher damage and knocks back enemies, rather than stunning them.

Description: Slam the ground to cause a wave of destruction that deals 215% weapon damage and knockback to targets in a 45 yard arc.

Cost: 30 Fury

Earthquake

Earthquake is unlocked at Level 21.
This stomp causes massive damage to all nearby enemies.

Description: Shake the ground violently dealing 240% weapon damage followed by an additional 150% weapon damage per second for 8 seconds to all enemies within 15 yards.

Cost: 75 Fury
Cooldown: 120 seconds

Ancient Spear

Ancient Spear is unlocked at Level 22.
"Get over here!" A spear on a chain, hurled to skewer enemies and drag them closer. Runestones can add the ability to skewer multiple enemies on a single spear.

Description: Throw a spear up to 45 yards to pull an enemy back to you, slowing target's movement by 50% and dealing 55% weapon damage.

Generate: 20 Fury
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Sprint

Sprint is unlocked at Level 24.
A shout that buffs the Barbarian with extra movement speed.

Description: Increase movement speed by 40% for 6 seconds.

Cost: 20 Fury

Call of the Ancients

Call of the Ancients is unlocked at Level 25.
The only summoning skill of the Barbarian, this one allows him to summon the Ancients from Diablo II, who will briefly assist in battle.

Description: Summon the ancient Barbarians Talic, Korlic, and Madawc to inflict 100% weapon damage with each attack as they join the battle for 15 seconds.

Cost: 75 Fury
Cooldown: 120 seconds

• Talic wields a sword and shield and uses the Whirlwind skill.
• Korlic wields a massive polearm and uses the Cleave skill.
• Madawc dual-wields axes and uses the Weapon Throw skill.

Whirlwind

Whirlwind is unlocked at Level 27.
The classic Diablo 2 skill, this one allows the Barbarian to whirl in a moving circle, landing multiple hits to anything in range. Can be quite dangerous in PvP, since a slowed Barbarian becomes a sitting duck, unable to exit the WW in case of emergency.

Description: Deliver multiple attacks to everything in your path for 44% weapon damage every 0.39 seconds.

Cost: 8 Fury per second

Wrath of the Berserker

Wrath of the Berserker is unlocked at Level 29.
This shout grants higher stats and enables the Barbarian to partially break monster immunities.

Description: Enter a berserker rage which raises several attributes for 15 seconds.

Cost: 75 Fury
Cooldown: 120 seconds

• Critical Hit: 10%
• Attack Speed: 45%
• Dodge Chance: 20%
• Movement Speed: 20%

Passive Skills

Passive skills replaced Traits during late game development in 2011. A few Traits were simply changed to passive skills, but most are all new. See the Barbarian traits page for a full list of those old passives.

Bloodthirst is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 24, which causes the Barbarian to gain life based on the amount of damage he deals, in a traditional leech-skill.

Reaper of Souls Change

This skill is set for a big change/nerf in Reaper of Souls. Datamined information tells of its future:[1]

Bloodthirst: Each point of Fury spent heals you for 165 Life. Heal amount is increased by 1% of your Health Globe Healing Bonus.

This is part of RoS' across-the-board change to healing, which is almost entirely removing Life Steal from the game, whether it comes from skills or item bonuses.

Current Description

One of the many powerful Barbarian passive skills, Bloodthirst provides a passive Life Steal bonus no other class can match. (Other classes can add Life Steal with specific skills, but never via a full time passive.) This skill makes things much easier for the Barbarian's survival and can open up more gear options, since Barbs can obtain Life Steal from this, or from their Mighty Belts, while all other classes can only get Life Steal from weapons.

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Bloodthirst</skill>

Synergies

There are no direct synergies with any active skills or other Barbarian passives. However all skills that boost damage boost the effectiveness of Life Steal, and the Barbarian has a number of those.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Bloodthirst is unique in that it was an original passive skill and is once again a passive skill, but was never a trait. For the July 2011 Press Event, it had a listed level of 1 (presumably so players could try it out from the beginning), but for the beta, it was a level 10 passive.

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Bloodthirst was moved to level 10. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Bloodthirst was moved up to level 24.

Previous Versions

• Bloodthirst (skill) - The original passive skill.

In Other Games

Players familiar with Diablo II (or WarCraft II or DotA) will recognize that this skill provides lifesteal. However, in Diablo II most skills didn't give life per hit, but there were health leeching prefixes on weapons, which could make any class gain health on hits.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site
• Datamined Barbarian skill changes forum thread.

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Pound of Flesh is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 10, which increases the frequency and healing power of health globes.

Hover for latest stats

Description

This passive improves the odds of a health globe dropping. It's assumed that this only works for kills by the character with the passive, since unlike gold and item drops, health globes are shared/seen by all characters in the game.

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Barbarian passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. When traits were changed back to passive skills in early 2011, Pound of Flesh was moved directly from a level 11 trait to a level 1 passive (presumably so players could try it out from the beginning).

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Pound of Flesh was moved to level 10. Passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, but Pound of Flesh didn't change.

Previous Versions

• Pound of Flesh (trait) - As a trait.

See the traits page for more details on previous versions of this and many other passive skills.

References

• JudgeHype.com BlizzCon 2010 Coverage — The Barbarian (Translated by Zediono)
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Ruthless is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 10, which increases the chance and damage of critical hits.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Ruthless</skill>

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Barbarian passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Ruthless was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event with a listed level as 1 (presumably so players could try it out from the beginning).

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Ruthless was moved to level 12, and later dropped to level 10. Passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, but Ruthless didn't change.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Weapons Master is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 16, which provides a bonus based on weapon type.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Weapons Master</skill>

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Barbarian passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system.

Beta

Weapons Master was not seen until it showed up in the Diablo III beta as a level 13 passive. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Weapons Master was moved up to level 16.

References

• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Inspiring Presence is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 20, which doubles the length of the Barbarian's shouts and regenerates Life.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Inspiring Presence</skill>

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Barbarian passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system.

Beta

Inspiring Presence was not seen until it showed up in the Diablo III beta as a level 15 passive. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Inspiring Presence was moved up to level 20 and nerfed: Life regeneration dropped from 2% per second to 1%.

References

• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Berserker Rage is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 20, which increases the Barbarian's damage when he is full of Fury.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Berserker Rage</skill>

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Barbarian passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Berserker Rage was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event with a listed level of 1 (presumably so players could try it out from the beginning).

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Berserker Rage was moved to level 17. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Berserker Rage was moved up to level 20.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Animosity is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 27, which increases Fury generation and maximum Fury.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Animosity</skill>

Synergies

While Animosity doesn't affect any Barbarian skill directly, all Fury Spending skills can be cast more often with this passive in effect.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Animosity was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event with a listed level of 1 (presumably so players could try it out from the beginning).

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Animosity was moved to level 19. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Animosity was moved up to level 27.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Superstition is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 30, which reduces non-physical damage and increases Fury generation.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Superstition</skill>

Synergies

While Superstition doesn't affect any Barbarian skill directly, all Fury Spending skills can be cast more often with this passive in effect, as long as the Barbarian is taking non-melee damage.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Superstition was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event as a level 26 skill.

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Superstition was moved to level 20. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Superstition was moved up to level 30.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Tough As Nails is a Barbarian passive skill unlocked at Level 30, which increases the Barbarian's armor and thorns damage.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Tough as Nails</skill>

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Barbarian passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Tough As Nails was first revealed in August of 2011 by Zarhym in a blue post:

Each class gets equal base benefit from armor value on items, however, there are passives and skills which could allow one class to benefit more from armor than another class. For example, barbarians have a passive available to them called Tough As Nails which increases the barbarian’s armor by 100%, among other things.

Beta

When the beta started in September 2011, Tough As Nails was revealed as a level 22 skill. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Tough As Nails was moved up to level 30.

References

• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread — IncGamers 8th Sep 2011
• Barbarian Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Development

The Barbarian's skills and skill trees were first seen at BlizzCon 2008, with only a few skills enabled and many showing nothing more than vague descriptions in the skill tree.

Removed Skills

• Rampage
• Taunt

The updated Barbarian skills list at Blizzcon 2010 removed all earlier passive skills (they became Barbarian traits) and changed around a number of active skills as well.

Five skills were added in Blizzcon 2010.

• Rampage
• War Cry
• Ancient Spear
• Rend
• Call of the Ancients

The following skills were present in 2009, and gone in 2010. Many of these were turned, more or less directly, into Barbarian Traits.

• Berserker Skills
  • Bad Temper
  • Double Strike
  • Slashing Strike
  • Berserker State
  • Onslaught
• Juggernaut Skills
  • Scavenge
  • Invigorated
  • Bloodthirst
  • Recovery
  • Strong Constitution
• Battlemaster Skills
  • Battle Cry
  • Second Wind
  • Stubborn
  • Enrage
  • Inspiration
  • Retaliation
  • Cripple

References

• Full Barbarian Skill Trees and Stats
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Kastigar's Really Big Barb thread -- IncGamers 8th Aug 2011

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