Barbarian skills
This page lists all known Barbarian skills, sorted by skill tree. Follow the links to the individual skill pages for full discussion of every skill, including first hand reports and screenshots.
Useful skill links:
- Skills - General skill design and mechanics.
- Barbarian traits -- The new passive skills in Diablo III.
- Barbarian skill archive -- Removed Barbarian skills.
- Fury -- The Barbarian's resource
- Runestones -- The huge skill customization and improvement system.
- Signature skills -- Skills that define characters.
- 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.
Contents
Tier One Skills
All abilities in this tier are unlocked at Clvl 2. Click to the individual skill pages for more details and screenshots of these skills.
Bash
Bash
A powerful melee swiping attack, this hits a single target for heavy damage, with a chance to knockback as well.
- Description: Bashes the enemy for X-X weapon damage, with a X% chance to cause knockback.
Rampage
Rampage
This warcry/buff allows the Barbarian to hit additional targets per swing, as well as increasing the attack speed.
- Description: Strikes X additional targets with each attack and increases attack speed by X%.
Cleave
Cleave
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: The Barbarian swings at multiple targets at once, dealing X% weapon damage to all targets in front of him.
Tier Two Skills
All abilities in this tier are unlocked at Clvl 3. Click to the individual skill pages for more details and screenshots of these skills.
Ground Stomp
Ground Stomp
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: Shakes the ground, stunning all enemies within X feet for X seconds.
Ignore Pain
Ignore Pain
A shout, this skill reduces all damage taken and grants immunity to most debuffs.
- Description: Reduces all damage taken by X% and grants immunity to root, snare and stun effects for X seconds.
War Cry
War Cry
This shout boosts the Barbarian's Fury, as well as the armor of the Barbarian and all nearby party members.
- Description: A terrifying cry that provides X fury and increases the armor of the Barbarian and all party members within X feet by X% for X seconds.
Weapon Throw
Weapon Throw
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: The Barbarian hurls a weapon at his foes, causing X% weapon damage and slows the target to X% of their normal movement speed for X seconds.
Tier Three Skills
All abilities in this tier are unlocked at Clvl 6. Click to the individual skill pages for more details and screenshots of these skills.
Frenzy
Frenzy
Consecutive hits with this melee skill grant increased attack speed and weapon damage.
- Description: Each strike grants a X% attack speed and X% weapon damage boost for X seconds. Frenzy can be stacked up to X times for a total bonus of X% attack speed and X% weapon damage.
Revenge
Revenge
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. It is an active skill; you must trigger it each time to make it work; it doesn't just activate automatically when you are struck.
- Description: When hit, there is a X% chance the Barbarian may strike all enemies within X feet, dealing X% weapon damage and gaining X% health for each enemy hit.
Hammer of the Ancients
Hammer of the Ancients
The Barbarian swings a huge yellow hammer overhead, crushing it down on enemies for massive damage, plus a good chance of critical damage.
- Description: Calls forth a massive hammer to smash the enemy for X% weapon damage, and has a X% critical chance.
Tier Four Skills
All abilities in this tier are unlocked at Clvl 10. Click to the individual skill pages for more details and screenshots of these skills.
Leap Attack
Leap Attack
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: The Barbarian makes a mighty leap, causing X% weapon damage to all enemies within X feet upon landing.
Sprint
Sprint
A shout that buffs the Barbarian with extra movement speed.
- Description: Grants X% speed boost for X seconds.
Threatening Shout
Threatening Shout
A shout that debuffs enemies, lowering their damage.
- Description: Shouts with great ferocity, reducing damage done by enemies within X feet by X% for X seconds.
Tier Five Skills
All abilities in this tier are unlocked at Clvl 14. Click to the individual skill pages for more details and screenshots of these skills.
Ancient Spear
Ancient Spear
"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. This skill should really be called "Ancient Harpoon" since harpoons have barbs and ropes to pull in the aquatic life form they are used to skewer. Spears have neither barbs nor ropes attached.
- Description: Throws a spear with a maximum range of X feet, pulling each target back to the Barbarian, slowing movement speed and dealing X-X damage.
Battle Rage
Battle Rage
A shout that provides a damage boost and critical hit improvement for a short duration.
- Description: Enter a rage which provides a X% damage boost and X% critical hit bonus for X seconds.
Rend
Rend
A melee attack that deals considerable bonus damage to all enemies within range.
- Description: Perform a slashing vicious blow to all enemies within X feet, dealing X% weapon damage and an additional X-X physical damage over X seconds.
Seismic Slam
Seismic Slam
A more powerful version of Ground Stomp, this skill deals higher damage and knocks back enemies, rather than stunning them.
- Description: Slam the ground causing a wave of destruction that deals X% weapon damage in front of the Barbarian and causes knockback.
Tier Six Skills
All abilities in this tier are unlocked at Clvl 20. Click to the individual skill pages for more details and screenshots of these skills.
Furious Charge
Furious Charge
A very fast moving charge attack, enabling the Barbarian to pass through enemies on the way to his target.
- Description: Charge directly at an enemy causing X% weapon damage to them and X% damage to enemies in the way.
Taunt
Taunt
A shout that overrides monster AI, causing them to rush towards the Barbarian and launch weakened melee attacks.
- Description: Taunt monsters to attack you at close range for X seconds. Taunted monsters do X% less damage while taunted.
Whirlwind
Whirlwind
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: The Barbarian swirls in a cyclone, delivering multiple attacks to everything in his path with each hit doing X% weapon damage.
Tier Seven Skills
All abilities in this tier are unlocked at Clvl 26. Click to the individual skill pages for more details and screenshots of these skills.
Call of the Ancients
Call of the Ancients
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: Summons three ancient Barbarians; Talic, Korlic and Madawc, who inflict X% weapon damage. Lasts X seconds.
Bashiok replied to a complaint that this wasn't a very Barbarian-appropriate skill in October 2010. [1]
- Well, he does have very few spells like this... just the one actually. :)
- It's a top tier skill, so you can't buy it until somewhere around the end of Normal or maybe beginning of Nightmare. They're fairly short lived, at least at their base skill. I will admit it's pretty nutty, especially when it's planned that each of them (probably through runes) will use various barbarian skills themselves. But, I do think the flavor and vibe works. The barbarian calling upon the spiritual protectors of his homeland and people which now lie, along with the majority of barbarian society, in the afterlife, if not simply ash at the bottom of a fiery chasm. It makes good sense that they would be easily summoned to assist in redemption, honor, what have you, of the Barbarian people.
Earthquake
Earthquake
This stomp causes massive damage to all nearby enemies.
- Description: Shakes the earth violently, causing massive damage to all nearby enemies.
Wrath of the Berserker
Wrath of the Berserker
This shout grants higher stats and enables the Barbarian to partially break monster immunities.
- Description: Enter a heightened sense of fury, raising several stats (Critical Hit, Attack Speed, Dodge Chance, Movement Speed) for X seconds. Monsters with damage immunities will take X% less damage from the Barbarian's attacks rather than being immune.
Removed Skills
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.
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
- Juggernaut Skills
- Battlemaster Skills
References
