Support Barbarian Speed Farming Variation

Last updated on Oct 21, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 22 comments
Build Variations Updated for Season 33, Patch 2.7.8 Main Build Group Support Speed Greater Rift Farming
1.

HotNS Support Barbarian Speed Farming Variation

The Support Barbarian is also quite valuable during experience farming in Greater Rifts, albeit bringing slightly different utility and playstyle to the table compared to the GR pushing setups. We have solo speed GR rankings and solo speed T16 rankings if you want to know more about which builds are best for speed farming.

Within the limited scope of difficulty inside Greater Rift tiers related to XP farming, the necessity of pulls lessens compared to additional utility and speed.

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Furious Charge Icon Furious Charge Merciless Assault Merciless Assault Right Mouse Button Sprint Icon Sprint Forced March Forced March 1 Leap Icon Leap Iron Impact Iron Impact 2 Threatening Shout Icon Threatening Shout Falter Falter 3 Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain Mob Rule Mob Rule 4 War Cry Icon War Cry Veteran's Warning Veteran's Warning
Passive Skills
2.

Adapting Rotation

A large part of your rotation will remain the same during speed farming; you will still be the leader of the pack, pushing the rest of the party along with speed buffs like War Cry War Cry (empowered by Chilanik's Chain Chilanik's Chain) and the speedfarm-appropriate Sprint Sprint Forced March Forced March. You will also ensure the protection of your DPS teammates by applying and overlapping the effect of Ignore Pain Ignore Pain Mob Rule Mob Rule. You will alternate mobility with Furious Charge Furious Charge and Leap Leap, getting to enemies first and debuffing them with Threatening Shout Threatening Shout for the convenience of your DPS party members.

3.

Adapting Skills and Passives

Parts of the skill and passive selection will overlap with the base Greater Rift progression build, but others will have to change according to the task at hand. The ability to cross over great distances faster and more efficiently take precedence.

  • Ignore Pain Ignore Pain Mob Rule Mob Rule, War Cry War Cry Veteran's Warning Veteran's Warning, and Threatening Shout Threatening Shout Falter Falter will be maintained from the main GR progression build, as the three skills still bring tremendous utility to GR XP farm as well. Your mobility staple continues to be Furious Charge Furious Charge Merciless Assault Merciless Assault across all variants.
  • Ground Stomp Ground Stomp can be maintained from the progression build, especially if you are grouped with a Witch Doctor DPS — in that case, simply alternate the rune from Wrenching Smash Wrenching Smash to Jarring Slam Jarring Slam to feed your WD teammate Health Globes for his Gruesome Feast Gruesome Feast passive. In a group with a Necromancer DPS, you should alternate this slot to Sprint Sprint Forced March Forced March to further party mobility.
  • Ancient Spear Ancient Spear Rage Flip Rage Flip can be kept from the main build (especially in a group with WDs), or altered to Leap Leap Iron Impact Iron Impact for some extra mobility with the lesser demand for pulls from Necromancer teammates.
  • Your passives will be maintained from the progression build — Superstition Superstition, Nerves of Steel Nerves of Steel, Pound of Flesh Pound of Flesh and Relentless Relentless — as they all bring invaluable utility to speed farming as well.
4.

Adapting Gear

Some of the gear from the Greater Rift progression build will still make sense for speed farming, but a few variations will be necessary in order to maximize your productivity and momentum during speed GR clears.

You will still maintain the 2-piece Horde of the Ninety Savages set, as its Shout-doubling effect brings just as much value in speed farming as it does in progression. Note that you will have to alter the HotNS pieces selection however, since your helm slot will be occupied by Leoric's Crown Leoric's Crown, and your pants and gloves slots will be taken by the craftable Cain's Destiny set pieces (Cain's Scrivener Cain's Scrivener and Cain's Habit Cain's Habit respectively) for the extra experience gain. This leaves you with Spines of Savages Spines of Savages and Markings of Savages Markings of Savages. Refer to the table below for a specific breakdown of the worn pieces.

Your jewelry setup will remain largely unchanged, keeping Oculus Ring Oculus Ring and either The Flavor of Time The Flavor of Time or Rondal's Locket Rondal's Locket. Since this setup uses the exact number necessary to obtain its set bonuses however, you do not need Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur from the progression build and can comfortably fit the extra defense from Band of Might Band of Might, easily kept up via Furious Charge Furious Charge.

Utility slots like Strongarm Bracers Strongarm Bracers (for the damage buff to your DPS), Pride of Cassius Pride of Cassius (for the extra Ignore Pain Ignore Pain Mob Rule Mob Rule duration) and Illusory Boots Illusory Boots (for your own mobility) remain unchanged from the progression setup. You will add to them Leoric's Crown Leoric's Crown for additional value from your socketed gem.

Since protective weaponry like the Istvan's set or the Pig Sticker Pig Sticker - Stormshield Stormshield combo are quite the toughness overkill in speed farming, your weaponry combo is best changed to the CDR utility of In-geom In-geom and movement and attack speed buff of Echoing Fury Echoing Fury.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Vitality
  2. Socket
  3. Crit Chance
  4. All Resistance
  5. Strength
  6. Life %
Shoulders
  1. Vitality
  2. Cooldown Reduction
  3. All Resistance
  4. Strength
Torso
  1. Vitality
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. All Resistance
  4. Life %
  5. Strength
  6. Reduced damage from Elites
Wrists
  1. Vitality
  2. Crit Chance
  3. All Resistance
  4. Strength
  5. Life per Hit
Hands
  1. Vitality
  2. Cooldown Reduction
  3. Crit Chance
  4. Attack Speed
  5. All Resistance
  6. Strength
Waist
  1. Vitality
  2. All Resistance
  3. Life %
  4. Strength
Legs
  1. Vitality
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. All Resistance
  4. Strength
  5. Armor
Feet
  1. Vitality
  2. All Resistance
  3. Strength
  4. Movement Speed
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Cooldown Reduction
  3. Crit Chance
  4. Vitality
  5. All Resistance
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Cooldown Reduction
  3. Vitality
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Cooldown Reduction
  3. Vitality
Weapon #1
  1. Cooldown Reduction
  2. Vitality
  3. Attack Speed
  4. Strength
  5. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  6. Life per Hit
Weapon #2
  1. Cooldown Reduction
  2. Vitality
  3. Attack Speed
  4. Strength
  5. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  6. Life per Hit

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

4.1.

Altar of Rites

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

Altar of Rites Planner

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

5.

Paragon Points

Slot Paragon Points
Core
  1. Movement Speed up to 25% cap
  2. Vitality
  3. Strength
  4. Maximum Fury
Offense
  1. Cooldown Reduction
  2. Attack Speed
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Critical Hit Damage
Defense
  1. All Resistance
  2. Armor
  3. Life %
  4. Life Regeneration
Utility
  1. Resource Cost Reduction
  2. Life on Hit
  3. Globe Radius
  4. Area Damage
6.

Adapting Gems

All three legendary gems from the progression setup remain just as useful during speed farming: Wreath of Lightning Wreath of Lightning, Gogok of Swiftness Gogok of Swiftness, and Gem of Efficacious Toxin Gem of Efficacious Toxin should all be present in your build. As far as regular gems are concerned, you should consider socketing a Flawless Royal Ruby Flawless Royal Ruby in your helm when you grow comfortable with the build, to assist with the group XP gain.

Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

7.

Kanai's Cube

You have several viable options for the weapons slot in Kanai's Cube depending on your GR goals. For high-end GR progression, the general recommendation for this slot is The Executioner The Executioner for its culling proc on enemies below 10% health.

One core Kanai's Cube item is Chilanik's Chain Chilanik's Chain for the armor slot. This belt provides a party-wide movement speed buff when you activate War Cry War Cry, essential both during XP runs (for efficiency) and progression content (to skip bad fights). As mentioned above, this slot is interchangeable with Pride of Cassius Pride of Cassius depending on your better rolled item.

Your jewelry slot will ideally be taken by The Flavor of Time The Flavor of Time, freeing up your amulet slot for the globe radius-enhancing powers of Rondal's Locket Rondal's Locket. Other viable amulets for the slot are the immunity-based ones, such as The Star of Azkaranth The Star of Azkaranth or Xephirian Amulet Xephirian Amulet.

In your 4th Kanai's Cube slot in Season 33, you can take an extra pair of Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers to the overall utility of the group runs.

The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.

8.

Changelog

  • 21 Oct. 2024: Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
  • 09 Jul. 2024: Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
  • 10 Apr. 2024: Guide reviewed for Season 31.
  • 08 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
  • 13 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 09 Dec. 2021: Added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 22 Jul. 2021: Added S24 Ethereal recommendation.
  • 31 Mar. 2021: No changes required for Season 23.
  • 18 Nov. 2020: Added S22 Cube recommendation.
  • 30 Jun. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: Page added.
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