Seismic Slam Barbarian Skills and Runes
On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Seismic Slam Barbarian in Diablo 3. Updated for Patch 2.7.8 and Season 34.
Active Skills |
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Passive Skills |
Rotation
This build starts runs with an activation of Call of the Ancients and
Wrath of the Berserker; both skills are to be kept up throughout the rift
using the cooldown resets coming from the equipped
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. Make sure to
Leap at least once every
10 seconds in order to maintain the massive defensive bulwark of the
Iron Impact Armor bonus coming from the MotE set, ideally aiming for
Oculus Ring procs spawned by your follower. Finalize your buffs with
regular casts of
War Cry and
Battle Rage. Once all your various
buffs are in check, you are free to decimate your foes with
Seismic Slam spam — ideally at a distance that would maintain
your
No Escape damage buff.
Skills and Runes
Your primary damage dealer comes in the form of Seismic Slam, one of
the most visually satisfying Barbarian skills.
Seismic Slam's massive,
shuddering tremors are best augmented with the strongest rune, the Cold damage
Permafrost. You will strengthen the skill's base damage with Might of
the Earth's 6-piece set powers and dedicated items like
Bracers of Destruction and
Fury of the Vanished Peak. Its built-in
Chilling effect will serve as a natural proc for both
Fjord Cutter and
Bane of the Trapped, further amplifying damage (see this build's gear page for more
information).
You will be weaving Might of the Earth's base bonuses to the benefits of
this build by taking Leap as your mobility skill. Not only will it
allow better positioning and fighting options inside the rift, but it will
also build up your defenses with the free
Iron Impact rune coming from
the set's 4-piece bonus. This allows you to pack some additional safety with
the stun of the
Death from Above rune on your bar.
Two hallmark, long-cooldown Barbarian skills are present in the build:
Call of the Ancients and
Wrath of the Berserker. Both skills should
reach overlap with enough Cooldown Reduction on gear and an equipped
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac, discussed further in the Gearing page.
Call of the Ancients summons a trio of warriors at your side for 20 seconds; while their damage is negligible, the utility they bring cannot be ignored: you will reduce incoming damage in half via the rune
Together as One, and gain the resource management benefits of
Ancients' Fury by cubing
Fury of the Ancients.
- No superlatives should be spared when talking about
Wrath of the Berserker, especially when paired with the damage amplifier of the
Insanity rune. For the sake of brevity, this is the single most powerful self-buff of Barbarians, providing you with significant amounts of Dodge, Crit Chance, Attack and Movement Speed.
On the topic of buffs, two additional skills round out the category —
the offensive Battle Rage and the defensive
War Cry.
Battle Rage is a staple of the class, bumping up both damage and Crit Chance. While its 2-minute duration can catch you off guard, never allow
Battle Rage to drop — it is a solid source of damage, especially with the AoE-oriented
Bloodshed rune.
War Cry is a two-in-one utility skill that brings extra Dodge with the
Veteran's Warning rune. Once activated, the buff lasts for three times the cooldown of the skill — but situations will arise when you need it for the Fury generation, so
War Cry is not as passive as it first seems.
Passives
Constantly Leaping from one battle into another, the Seismic Slam
Barb can easily incorporate the
Rampage passive. Learning to maximize
this passive is important, as it is a true multiplier with the potential to
net you 25% additional Strength, increasing DPS and Toughness substantially.
Staying at or near the cap can only be achieved if you stay vigilant and on
the move, aiming to get in bigger fights, where killing minor enemies will
feed your stacks.
With the AoE dominance of Seismic Slam, it is only natural for a SS
Barb to mitigate his single target deficiencies with
Ruthless.
Once you bring your target below 30% health, your damage spikes with a 40%
bonus, allowing you to tear down singular high-health priority targets (i.e.,
Rift Guardians) in a reasonable timeframe.
Taking advantage of two thirds of the Boon of Bul-Kathos utility, the
Seismic Slam Barbarian enjoys significantly lower cooldowns on both
Call of the Ancients and
Wrath of the Berserker. This greatly eases
the strain on your CDR requirements, as well as the
Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac resets.
A natural inclusion into a Seismic Slam slam build,
No Escape
is taken for the 30% damage multiplier against enemies affected by the skill.
The range requirement of 15 yards can be easily maintained with the slowing
capabilities of the
Permafrost rune. Note that in Hardcore (or if you
simply want to play it safer), this slot can be swapped into the
Nerves of Steel cheat death.
Changelog
- 18 Jan. 2025: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 34.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 33.
- 09 Jul. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 32.
- 10 Apr. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 31.
- 08 Jan. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 30.
- 13 Sep. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 29.
- 22 Feb. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 28.
- 26 Aug. 2022: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 27.
- 13 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
- 09 Dec. 2021: Reviewed for Season 25.
- 22 Jul. 2021: No changes required for Season 24.
- 31 Mar. 2021: No changes required for Season 23.
- 17 Nov. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 22.
- 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
- 19 Nov. 2019: Guide revised and updated for Season 19.
- 28 Aug. 2019: Fixed diablo3.com build link.
- 22 Aug. 2019: Added mentions of Mortick's Brace.
- 13 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 16 Jan. 2019: Information was reviewed and approved for Season 16 with no changes required.
- 28 Feb. 2018: Added the guide.
More Barbarian Guides
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This build is presented to you by Deadset, one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players. Deadset regularly publishes video guides on Youtube and streams on Twitch, where you can see how this and other builds play out in practice.
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