Seismic Slam

Seismic Slam is a Barbarian skill enabled at level 18, which causes a shockwave to erupt from the Barbarian.

It's a signature skill of the Barbarian.

Background

Diablo III Active Skill [e]
Seismic Slam
Used by:	Barbarian
Enabled at:	Clvl 18
Skill Description
Slam the ground causing a wave of destruction that deals X% of your weapon damage in front of the Barbarian and causes a small amount of knockback.
Type:	Damage/Line AoE
Resource Use:	Costs Fury
Skill Rune Effects
Alabaster rune:	Unknown
Crimson rune:	Unknown
Golden rune:	Unknown
Indigo rune:	Unknown
Obsidian rune:	Unknown

The Barbarian slams the ground with such power that a shockwave erupts forth from him, annihilating everything in its path.

Skill Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Seismic Slam rune effects page for a more thorough summary of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

Skill		Effect
Seismic Slam (Level 19)		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.
	Shattered Ground	Increase damage to 366% weapon damage and increases the knockback by 225%.
	Rumble	The ground continues to shudder after the initial strike, damaging enemies in the area for 160% weapon damage.
	Stagger	Adds a 100% chance of stunning enemies for 3 seconds.
	Strength from Earth	Reduce Fury cost to 16 Fury.
	Cracking Rift	Focus the seismic shockwaves along a narrow path to inflict 441% weapon damage to targets along a 42 yard path.

Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 7 runestones.

Skill Design

This is one tough walnut...

When launching this skill, the barbarian lifts one foot and brings it down with his weapon, slamming them into the ground and sending a wave of energy forward, dealing heavy damage to anything directly in front of him. Multiple monsters can be hit by each use, and the ground is torn and fractured by this skill.

Seismic Slam is a strong and fun skill to use, causing damage to the environment as well as to enemies. The skill can cause wooden ornaments to be destroyed or can cause walls to collapse. This skill should be aimed to hit multiple enemies at once, as the damage is good and will keep the fury rolling in for the use of other skills.

During the WWI 2008 Denizens of Diablo panel, The D3 team spoke at length about the creation of this essential skill, and how it was used to focus the design of the character.

Seismic Slam Video

A video of Seismic Slam in use can be seen below, courtesy of the DiabloInc You Tube channel.

Synergies

• No synergies with any of the passive skills are yet known.

Skill Rune Effects

• No rune effects for Seismic Slam are known.

Development

Seismic Slam was first introduced in the WWI 2008 gameplay movie when Diablo III debuted, where this skill was at Tier V on the Juggernaut Skill Tree. The development team talked at length about Seismic Slam and how it affected the Barbarian class during the WWI 2008 Denizens of Diablo Panel:

This skill was first skill we made for Barb, and one of the first we did in the game. Getting it right took longer than it did with most skills. We did many iterations. Animation especially. Had to make barb feel physically powerful. Traditionally we associate big bold movements with power. But if you want a game that feels fast and responsive, you want the movements to be really fast. Getting balance of fast movements and powerful feel. It's a big challenge in many ways to get that animation right.

The Seismic Slam from BlizzCon 2008 only did 100% weapon damage on rank one, but was increased to 120% in the BlizzCon 2009 demo. In every gameplay demo so far, this skill has been too high level to play.

Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Seismic Slam became a level 18 skill.

Previous Versions

See the Barbarian skill archive for more details on previous versions of Seismic Slam and other Barbarian skills.

Media

Seismic Slam can be seen in action on video here:

• Gameplay: WWI 2008
• Gameplay: July 2011
• Diablo 3 Barbarian Skill Animations

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Seismic Slam specific gallery contents

• 

  Seismic Slam in the WWI 2008 demo.

References

• WWI 2008 Denizens of Diablo panel
• BlizzCon 2009 Full Barbarian Skill Trees and Stats
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011

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