Frenzy Barbarian Build for Diablo 2 Resurrected

One of the best melee leveling builds for the Barbarian, Frenzy takes advantage of dual weapons and fast Attack Speed to quickly crush his enemies. Making sure to find him a source of Cannot be Frozen will be crucial once advancing into Nightmare and Hell mode though, or the Barbarian will find himself often too slow to kill enemies before they can get hits in.

You can check the viability of this build in PvM by consulting our PvM Tier List.

The following section shows the core default skill build for the Frenzy Barbarian. For a detailed breakdown of all core and optional skills as well as the recommended order for allocating skill points, refer to the Skills page of this guide.

1. 1 point to all prerequisites
2. 20 points to Frenzy — main damage dealer, required
3. 20 points to Double Swing — Synergy of Frenzy
4. 20 points to Weapon Mastery of Choice — Adds Damage, Attack Rating, and Critical Strike
5. 1 points to Increased Speed — Helps you move faster, required
6. 1 points to Natural Resistance — Massive boost to resistances, required
7. 1 points to Battle Command — Increases skills, required
8. 20 points to Battle Orders — Massive Life and Mana boosts, required
9. 1+ points to Shout — Increases defenses, required

You can read more details about the Stats and Attribute requirements for this build on our Skills page.

The following section shows some of the most important items for the Frenzy Barbarian. For a detailed per-slot breakdown of all Frenzy Barbarian items and alternative builds, refer to the Gear page of this guide.

• Weapon: Grief
• Weapon Offhand: Breath of the Dying, Death, Grief, Doom
• Weapon Swap: 2x +3 Warcries Spears
• Body Armor: Fortitude
• Helm: Arreat's Face
• Gloves: Dracul's Grasp, Steelrend
• Boots: Gore Rider
• Belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord
• Ring 1: Raven Frost
• Ring 2: Raven Frost, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, dual Rare rings with % Life and Mana Stolen per Hit and Life/Stats/Resistances
• Amulet: Highlord's Wrath
• Charm 1: Barbarian Hellfire Torch
• Charm 2: Annihilus
• Charm 3: Max Damage/Attack Rating/Life Charms. 3/20/20 Small Charms are the best you can get here.
• Charm 4: Small Charms with Resistances, Faster Hit Recovery, depending on needs

We also have a video guide that goes over the build, if you prefer that instead of or in addition to our written guide.

In Diablo 2, stats that affect action speed (known as frames) for attacking, casting, blocking, and recovering from a hit can almost never be taken literally. For example, gaining 10% Increased Attack Speed from an item will not necessarily translate into 10% faster attacks. To achieve faster actions, certain breakpoints must be reached, which vary for every class. The tables below list how much of a given stat is required to actually improve the action speed of the class for the stated action.

You can either choose a Defensive ( Holy Freeze) or Offensive ( Might) Act 2 Nightmare Mercenary here depending on if you prefer a slower pace and safety, or want your Mercenary to have added Damage to help take care of Cold Immune enemies. I prefer a Might mercenary.

• Weapon: Ethereal Insight or The Reaper's Toll
• Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude
• Helm: Ethereal Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ral Rune

This is a simple early leveling guide for Frenzy.

1. 1 point to Bash
2. 4 points to Mace Mastery or the Weapon Mastery of your choice
3. 6 points to Double Swing at levels 6-11
4. 1 point to Double Throw at level 12
5. All remaining points to your Weapon Mastery until level 24
6. All remaining points to Frenzy
7. Respec to add in Natural Resistance and Battle Orders when appropriate (sometime in Nightmare difficulty most likely)

For more comprehensive leveling advice, please refer to our Barbarian Fastest Leveling Build.