General Leveling Tips
To find out more general information about leveling as a Barbarian in Diablo 4, you can check out our main Barbarian Leveling guide. You can also go to our Barbarian Builds page for a list of other leveling and endgame Barbarian builds for you to choose from.
In regard to leveling up on the seasonal realm, you might also want to check out our season checklist, as it will give you some useful tips and tricks for Season 6 of Diablo 4. Don’t miss this chance to make the most out of your leveling journey!
Build Introduction
The point of this leveling guide is to quickly take your character from level 1 to 50 while using 
Double Swing and prepare for your transition into our Dust Devil Double Swing Endgame Build. This guide will walk you through the skill point placement for levels 1-50 and give some insight on how each passive and skill work together to create synergy able to tackle whatever form of leveling you choose to take. We will also give some insight on Legendary Aspects, Affixes, Gems, and Elixirs we can utilize to accelerate our journey.
Our primary skills with this build are 
Lunging Strike as our primary Fury Generator. We’ll be augmenting this skill using:
- Enhanced Lunging Strike – Which will provide us with some minor healing and extra damage
- Battle Lunging Strike – To provide us with a source of Bleeding to trigger some other skills and passives
Our core skill of choice is of course Double Swing. Our primary spender and what we will be using to carve demons into ribbons. We augment this skill with:
- Enhanced Double Swing – Which causes us to gain our resource back if the enemy is stunned or knocked down
- Violent Double Swing – To give us a source of applying the Vulnerable status to our foes
Now that we know the two most basic skills, we can look deeper into how we will allocate our skill points as we level up.
Allocation of Skill Points
Your first 20 skill points are used to acquire all of your skills, filling in passives points only as needed to advanced to the next tier. The allocation of these points is listed below.
If you are making a Seasonal Character, you already start with 10 Skill Points, so it is even faster.
Your complete skill bar will look like this:
Lunging Strike 
Double Swing 
War Cry 
Call of the Ancients 
Leap 
Rallying Cry Skill Tree
Here is the completed skill tree for the build:
Skill Clusters
Let’s review each cluster in the skill tree and discuss our reasons behind each passive and skill choice so we have a good understand of the build before we transition into the Double Swing Endgame Build. Keep in mind, if you are leveling a new seasonal character you will have some additional points to start.
Basic Skills
Lunging Strike is our choice for the basic skill and fury generator. This is used constantly to generate our resources and chase down foes. Fury will not be much of a hassle with this build as Double Swing is not terribly expensive and thanks to Enhanced Double Swing it refunds its own cost when we stun things. The main draw of Lunging Strike is the mobility it provides to make sure we can chase down our foes.
Core Skills
Our core skill of choice is Double Swing which is used as our main spender and main source of damage. As we gain Fury through our generator as well as things like our Shouts such as 
Rallying Cry we will spam Double Swing as often as possible. Thanks to the aforementioned Enhanced Double Swing if we carve into something stunned or knocked down it will refund its cost and allow us to keep chopping away. This attack is very fast and we can quickly consume our pool of Fury if we aren’t careful. We snag the newly moved 
Tempered Fury node here as well for more fury for pooling for double swing chains.
Defensive Skills
Our defensive skill cluster has a few things of note. Of course our main active button here Rallying Cry and specifically Tactical Rallying Cry which gives us some Fury generation. We will pick up some life through 
Imposing Presence and with 1 point each in 
Outburst and 
Tough as Nails we can provide a source of Bleeding which will trigger other effects from our gear. Lastly of note here is 
Martial Vigor which will give us some mitigation against Elite monsters and bosses.
Brawling Skills
This cluster has a ton of passives and our main mobility skill 
Leap which will help us get around faster and generate some resource for us through Power Leap. It also brings an on-demand source of Berserking and Fortify through 
War Cry and its enhancing skills Enhanced War Cry for Berserking and Mighty War Cry for Fortify. We also take a ton of passives. Let’s review them below:
Swiftness – Movement speed to get around fast and keep on top of our targets
Aggressive Resistance – Damage reduction helps our survival
Prolific Fury – Since we will almost always be Berserking, this gives us more control of our resource generation
Battle Fervor – Provides an easy way to enter the Berserking state through the use of Leap
Booming Voice – Increases the duration of our Shout skills to give us more resources and damage
Weapon Mastery Skills
Here we only focus on a few powerful passive skills. Let’s take a look:
Pit Fighter – Increases both our offense and defense against close enemies and since we are a melee class, that is everything we want to be fighting
Thick Skin – A small boost to give us more Fortify
Counteroffensive – A powerful damage boost as long as we have more than half of our life as Fortified health. 
Slaying Strike – Lets us more easily kill wounded targets who might be at low HP after a few swings
Ultimate Skills
For our Ultimate skill while leveling, we are choosing 
Call of the Ancients. It provides us with a source of stun for Enhanced Double Swing, Fury through Supreme Call of the Ancients and is just generally more useful before we move into an endgame build as what we don’t carve through, our ancients surely will. With the new ability in Vessel of Hatred to add 4 more points to our Ultimate, Call becomes even more powerful. We also take two nodes in this cluster explained below:
Wallop gives us some bonus damage when things are stunned or vulnerable
Concussion gives us the ability to stun enemies for 2 seconds on lucky-hit. As long as one of our dual-wield weapons is a one-handed mace we benefit from this talent which will also serve to help as a trigger for Enhanced Double Swing
Key Passive
Finally at the end of our tree our key passive of choice is 
Unconstrained due to its many interactions with the Berserking state which we will be in almost all of the time. It gives us longer duration on the state making it easier to keep up and gives a massive damage multiplier while we’re in the Berserking state making it a huge gain for this build.
Mercenaries
As you play through the campaign in Vessel of Hatred, you will unlock various NPC Mercenaries who can join you on your quest to slay demons. Each Mercenary has their own small talent tree that will give them bonuses and skills to help you. Additionally, you can assign a Mercenary that you don’t take with you as a reinforcement to jump in when you activate certain skills. Let’s take a look at how we want to set this up for this build
We hire Varyana the Berserker Crone
- Core Skill:
Cleave - Core Skill Passive:
Hysteria - Iconic Skill:
Bloodthirst - Iconic Skill Passive:
Bloodlust
Our Reinforcement Mercenary will be Raheir, the Shieldbearer
Mechanics and Playstyle
The majority of our power with this build comes from fast attacks with Double Swing and a few new Legendary Aspects that provide powerful Dust Devils when we swing. We want to start any encounter by Lunging Strike to get into the group and then Double Swing away once we’re in carving the demons to ribbons. If Leap is available, you’ll want to engage with that instead of Lunging Strike. Use your War Cry liberally for its damage bonus, use Rallying Cry to help manage your resources and whenever it is available or when you’re running into a boss or powerful elite, summon the squad with Call of the Ancients and get to swinging.
Berserking
Perhaps the most critical component of getting the most out of this build is managing your Berserking state. We have a few options to enter it. Our main way will be through Leap which counts as a Brawling Skill and will put is in the state whenever it hits an enemy thanks to Battle Fervor. Enhanced War Cry also provides us with an on-demand source of Berserking and lets us keep the flow going. Leaping in, double swinging, war cry, more double swinging, and leap to the next group to keep the chain going. Once we have our key passive Unconstrained maintaining this chain and status will be much smoother and provide a large damage bonus for doing so, rewarding your management of this buff.
Leveling Options
There are many options to level your character: kill monsters, do quests in each region if you need the Renown, follow a Seasonal storyline, farm dungeons, or participate in regional events. With so many methods at your disposal, we’ve chosen some methods that will accelerate your path to the endgame. As always check out our Barbarian Leveling Guide for the best options.
The open world is full of monsters and activities, you are welcome to find your own path or leveling areas but if you are looking for some great options, here are two great suggestions for this build:
Helltide
With the revamp to Helltide in Patch 1.4.0, it is available right from World Tier 1 and 2 and comes with a massive amount of loot and experience. For more details check out our Barbarian Leveling Guide.
Questing & Strongholds
Questing is a necessary evil if you are still grinding out your renown levels for each zone. If you need to complete your Renown, it can be a relatively easy way to get some quick experience along the way. If this is something you need to do, take as many quests as you can from one area and complete them all in one go. It may not feel necessarily faster, but going back and forth for each one is a waste of time.
In Vessel of Hatred, Strongholds have been slightly revamped to give massive amounts of experience the first time you complete them. Going through and doing each Stronghold across the various zones can net you a lot of fast levels as well as large renown gains to help you reach certain renown milestones if you haven’t completed them.
Gear Affixes
In the early levels, targeting affixes on your gear can be very challenging. Part of the reason is we will be playing in world tier 2 and the best opportunity for rare gear is a maximum of 2 affixes. We will show three recommended affixes to give you some flexibility in what you will want. We will also be listing a Tempering Affix for each slot, keep in mind that tempering is more of an end-game system and with the frequency of gear replacements may not be the optimal thing to do while leveling. As a final reminder, non-ancestral items can only have 1 temper applied to them so we will be listing the best temper for each slot should you want to apply it.
| Gear Slot | Targeted Affixes | Tempering Affix |
| Helm | 1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Strength 3. Maximum Life | 1. Double Swing Size  Berserking Augments |
| Chest | 1. Strength 2. Maximum Life 3. Needed Resistance | 1. Double Swing Size Berserking Augments |
| Gloves | 1. Attack Speed 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Strength | 1. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse |
| Pants | 1. Strength 2. Maximum Life 3. Needed Resistance | 1. Dust Devil Size Wasteland Innovation |
| Boots | 1. Movement Speed 2. Fury Per Second 3. Ranks to Leap | 1. Movement Speed Natural Motion |
| Amulet | 1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Attack Speed 3. Fury on Kill | 1. Resource Generation with Dual Wield Weapons Weapon Attunement — Barbarian |
| Rings | 1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Attack Speed 3. Fury on Kill | 1. Resource Generation with Dual Wield Weapons Weapon Attunement — Barbarian |
| 2-Handed Weapons | 1. Strength 2. Fury on Kill 3. Maximum Life | 1. Chance for Dust Devils to Cast Twice Wasteland Augments |
| Dual-Wield Weapons | 1. Strength 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Maximum Life | 1. Dust Devil Size Wasteland Innovation |
Gems
Listed below are the best gems to socket into gear for each slot type.
- Weapons:
Topaz for basic skill damage until around Level 20, and then 
Emerald for critical strike damage after. - Armor:
Ruby for more Strength - Jewelry:
Diamond for all resistances.
Runes
While leveling in Vessel of Hatred, you may come across Runes, a unique gem that can be placed into an item with two sockets such as a helm, chest, pants, or two-handed weapon. Putting one Ritual Rune and one Invocation Rune into the same item creates a Runeword which can enhance your gameplay and grant powerful boons. Ritual Runes generate Offering when the conditions are met, and once enough Offering has been met, the associated Invocation Rune’s effect will trigger. Here are some early Rune suggestions for leveling
| Rune Name | Rune Effect |
 Cir | Gain 30 Offering: Cast the same Non-Channeled Skill 3 times in a row |
 Zan | Gain 150 Offering: Cast an Ultimate skill |
 Ceh | Requires 100 Offering: Cooldown 1 second, Summon a Spirit Wolf to attack enemies for 8 seconds |
 Lum | Requires 5 Offering: Cooldown 1 second, Restore 1 Primary Resource |
Legendary Aspects
As a reminder, all Legendary items can be put into the new Codex of Power once salvaged. These are simply recommendations for the easiest to acquire early on during your leveling path.
| Gear Slot | Legendary Aspect | Aspect Power |
| Helm |  Aspect of Numbing Wrath | Each point of Fury generated while at Maximum Fury grants [X] Fortify |
| Chest | Juggernaut’s Aspect | Grant [X] Armor, but your Evade has a 100% increased Cooldown |
| Gloves |  Accelerating Aspect | Critical Strikes with Core Skills increase your Attack Speed by [10-25%] for 5 seconds. |
| Pants | Aspect of Bul-Kathos | Leap creates an Earthquake that deals [X] Physical damage over 4 seconds and provides [10-25%] Damage Reduction |
| Boots |  Relentless Berserker’s Aspect | Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Core Skill has a [22-40%] chance to extend the duration of Berserking by 2 seconds. Double this duration if it was a Critical Strike |
| Amulet | Windlasher Aspect | Casting Double Swing creates a Dust Devil that deals [X] damage to enemies in its path |
| Ring 1 |  Bold Chieftain’s Aspect | Whenever you cast a Shout Skill, its Cooldown is recduced by [1-2] seconds per nearby enemy up to a maximum of 6 seconds. |
| Ring 2 | Aspect of Giant Strides | Reduces the Cooldown of Leap by [2.5-5] seconds per enemy hit, up to a maximum of 9 seconds. Hitting a Boss with Leap provides the maximum cooldown reduction |
| 2-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon | Aspect of Fierce Winds | Your Shout Skills create 3 Dust Devils that deal damage to enemies along their path. Your Dust Devils are [5-20%] bigger and deal 1% increased damage for each 1% their size is increased |
| 2-Handed Slashing Weapon | Devilish Aspect | After generating 100 Fury, your next direct damage creates 3 Dust Devils that deal [X] damage to enemies in their path |
| Dual Wield Weapon 1 | Edgemaster’s Aspect | Skills deal up to [5-20%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource |
| Dual Wield Weapon 2 | Aspect of Elements | Grant + [20-30%] increased damage to a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between two sets: Fire, Lightning, and Physical. Cold, Poison, and Shadow. |
Early Paragon
Once you hit Level 60 with this leveling build, you will be ready to begin your paragon journey and transition into an end-game setup as you unlock Torment 1 and beyond. This will open up the true endgame and allow you to collect new Ancestral Items you will need to transition into the Endgame Version of this Build. Once you upgrade your build to the Endgame build, you will be ready to push into The Pit and unlock new difficulties, face new bosses, and get incredible Unique items to raise your power and crush more and more demons and beyond!
Below you will find a Paragon Setup for the first two Paragon Boards to get you started. After this we strongly recommend making the transition into an Endgame setup as you increase in power and paragon. Let’s take a look.
Elixirs and Health Pots
Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats, and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials during your adventures; they randomly spawn around the world. Use 
Elixir of Advantage for the attack speed but any Elixir you have for the extra experience as they all grant between 5 and 8% increased experience to help you fly to level 60 even faster.
Return to the Alchemist again each time you return to town in case it is time to upgrade your potion. The extra healing is essential to survival.
Changelog
- October 3rd 2024: Guide updated for Season 6 and Vessel of Hatred
- August 4th 2024: Guide updated for season 5 and Patch 1.5.0
- May 8th 2024: Guide created
