Barbarian Class Overview in Diablo: Immortal

Choose the Barbarian if you want to experience the brutality of melee combat in its full, blood-drenched glory. The Barbarian deals in charging, slicing and smashing demons to a pulp — enraged with maddening frenzy, but standing strong and unrelenting through mighty war cries. You will build up your energies by rampaging around in combat, leaping and shouting, and channel the built up Fury into massive, sweeping strikes. The Barbarian is the epitome of a ruthless brawler in Diablo Immortal, combining peerless hand-to-hand carnage with invaluable group utility.

• The Barbarian offers sweeping Area of Effect abilities spread at a relentless pace — a package that is immediately satisfying to play.
• While highly gear-dependent, the Barbarian can be the one of the most efficient farming characters in the game, and can spread that efficiency over the whole group with legendary items like Battlemaster's Helm and Swiftwing.
• Crowd control is a Barbarian specialty, which is useful both in PvE content as well as locking down PvP opponents.

• While Barbarians excel at AoE and deal with massive swarms of enemies more efficiently than most classes, their single-target capabilities leave much to be desired and need to be geared around.
• Although they thrive at melee range, Barbarians need to survive closing the gap to monsters and ranged players — so they need to gear around their considerable mobility cooldowns, and hope to finish off enemies in singular bursts.
• Barbarians' strengths at party buffing and support means they will be regularly taken in groups, but largely for their support capabilities — a hard sell if you do not enjoy that role.

Below, you will find a list of all Barbarian builds we currently have on the site:

• Barbarian Leveling Guide
• Barbarian Whirlwind Bounties Build
• Barbarian Whirlwind Dungeon Build
• Barbarian Cleave Challenge Rift Build
• Barbarian Frenzy Boss Killer Build for Raids
• Barbarian Chained Spear PvP Build

You can also see an overview briefly explaining all of these builds on the guide below.

Early on, you should focus on trying out the skills that get added to your arsenal, and equipping better gear as it drops (the in-game cue comes from the flashing bag, indicating an upgrade piece). Your gear can be improved at the Blacksmith at a material cost — and while it starts out small, it quickly scales to a hefty amount. Make sure you pick up all items you come across (the auto-pickup option in Settings helps), and salvage them in town.

Upgrading your equipment is a central part of power acquisition in Diablo Immortal; never hesitate to upgrade a piece, regardless of its stats, since its upgrades will carry over to its eventual replacement for free. Upgrading all Primary gear pieces to level 6 before moving forward to level 7 on any of them is advised, since you gain an additional attribute at that level.

During leveling, you will occasionally hit experience walls (accompanied by the message "You must reach level X before continuing.") as you do the Main Story. To quickly get over the Experience hurdle, your most efficient route is to complete Battle Pass activities — namely, repeatedly grinding out Dungeons, with Bestiary turn-ins and Tasks mixed in. To mitigate the amount of time spent grinding, as well as to (likely) enjoy the game more, you can purposefully seek out Hidden Lairs and complete Tasks as they open up during the storyline completion. While this will slow down your questing, it will pay off later down the line as it diminishes some of the grind walls.

Pay extra heed to the Battle Pass tracker, as it unlocks consumable bonuses along the way, as well as a Legendary Item early on in the leveling process. Legendary items are potential gamechangers for every character, so you ensure you pick the one that will benefit you the most.

Legendary items are exceedingly rare gear pieces that provide unique bonuses — enhancing or altering an ability's powers altogether. When you come across one, especially for a slot where you still have Rare or lower tier items equipped, replace it immediately. Legendaries innately roll superior stats to lower tier items. Feel free to experiment with your newfound Legendary and the skill it enhances; once you no longer need it, extract its power at the Essence Transfer NPC in Westmarch. This allows you to overwrite subsequent Legendary items (likely with better stats) in the same slot with the extracted power, retaining the legendary bonus. Extract as many Legendary powers as you can, so you can easily adapt from one build to another whenever you need. Of course, feel free to salvage duplicate Legendary items that you have already extracted.

Similarly to all Diablo games, gems will make a huge difference to your character in Diablo Immortal — so make a point to hunt down Normal Gems in Hidden Lairs, and Legendary Gems in Elder Rifts (they get a chance to drop if you use a Crest consumable). Additionally, you should follow the quest line to unlock the Helliquary activity as soon as it becomes available at Level 41. This is done in order to receive the Scoria currency while doing Bounties.

When you turn in Bestiary pages, you will receive a class-specific consumable. For Barbarians, this item is the Horn of Arreat, which increases all damage done by yourself and your nearby allies by 10% for 20 minutes. Be generous with its use, especially in party content; buffs like these are what make the Barbarian an invaluable member of the group.

Skills are your primary means to defeating enemies, and their interaction with skill-enhancing or skill-altering Legendary Items are what forms the synergies that define the success of your character. The power of Skills is enhanced by Charms, and the power of Legendary Items can be increased when they are Awakened. The game limits you to the use of five Skills — a Primary Attack and four Active Abilities that have some form of limitation to their use (charges, cooldowns). Primary Attacks are not limited in their use, and charge up an Ultimate bar as they are used. When it is fully charged, you are able to use the Ultimate version of that Primary Attack. Below, you will find a breakdown of all Barbarian skills (divided by categories), as well as some advice for their general use.

Lacerate — Available at lvl 1. Launch a series of attacks that deal damage with each hit. Every third hit heals you for 15% of damage done. Its Ultimate is Blood and Rage — Enhance Lacerate for 12 seconds, increasing its healing to 20% of damage done on each attack, increasing its range, and causing every third attack to knock enemies away. You also gain a shield that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum Life for 3 seconds. Charms increase Lacerate damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Lacerate offers a tremendously valuable healing aspect to its already attractive AoE damage. It gets further enhanced by the Ultimate for an even better package. While useful all around, this Primary shines in content where you have to out-sustain your opponent — be it PvP or Challenge Rift pushes.

Legendary Items:

• Rending Bite (Main-hand) — Lacerate now inflicts Bleeding that deals damage over 3 seconds. Awakened effect: Lacerate damage increased by 10%.

Frenzy — Available at lvl 34. Launch a frenzied attack for X damage. Each hit increases Frenzy's attack speed by 8% for 3 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. Its Ultimate is Restless Demon — Enhance Frenzy for 12 seconds, allowing movement while attacking and unhindered movement through enemies, granting Stun immunity, and increasing attack speed as if fully stacked. You also gain a shield that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum Life for 3 seconds. Charms increase Frenzy damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Frenzy seems to be designed to be played around high Restless Demon uptime, offering a consistently available Ultimate asset with legendary gem combinations of Zod Stone and Ca'arsen's Invigoration. Otherwise, its single-target focus limits its usefulness in non-Raid Boss content.

Legendary Items:

• The Maddening (Main-hand) — Movement speed increased by 10% while Frenzy is at its maximum stacks. Awakened effect: Frenzy damage increased by 10%.

Chained Spear — Available at lvl 3. 10 second base cooldown. Hurl 3 chained spears that deal damage and then return, dragging impaled enemies back to you and dealing more damage. Charms increase Chained Spear damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Chained Spear offers a decent combination of damage dealing and control, and its supporting legendary items can enhance it one way or the other. You can adapt it to a nuke with the legendary effects of Crusher Rig, improve its pulling effects with Obin's Many Fingers, or lock enemies down in PvP with Cracklefell or Impaler's Breath.

Legendary Items:

• Obin's Many Fingers (Off-hand) — Chained Spear hurls 2 additional spears. Awakened effect: Chained Spear cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Charred Iron (Chest) — Chained Spear now hurls a flaming spear that damages all enemies in its path and leaves a burning trail. Awakened effect: Chained Spear cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Cracklefell (Chest) — Chained Spear now hurls an electrified spear that damages and immobilizes all enemies in its path. Awakened effect: Chained Spear cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Crusher Rig (Chest) — Chained Spear now hurls giant rocks, inflicting damage on all enemies in its path. Awakened effect: Chained Spear cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Impaler's Breath (Chest) — Chained Spear now hurls a harpoon that knocks enemies away, damaging and stunning them. Awakened effect: Chained Spear cooldown decreased by 10%.

Cleave — Available at lvl 1. 9 second base cooldown. Unleash a power attack that deals damage to all enemies in front of you, and causes them to Bleed for damage over 3 seconds. Maximum 3 charges. Charms increase Cleave damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Cleave is a versatile damage-over-time skill that hits surprisingly hard in single target situations despite its sweeping visuals. Its supporting legendary items overwhelmingly focus on improving its AoE capabilities; its most powerful enhancements come from the broadening of its effective area with Svot's Reach and the chain reaction damage triggered by Virulent Fist.

Legendary Items:

• Svot's Reach (Main-hand) — Cleave now strikes in a full circle around you. Awakened effect: Cleave damage increased by 10%.
• Flesh Splitter (Off-hand) — Cleave damage increased by 10%. Awakened effect: Cleave cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Virulent Fist (Off-hand) — Enemies killed by Cleave explode, inflicting damage on all nearby enemies. Awakened effect: Cleave damage increased by 10%.
• Hatred's Reach (Shoulders) — Cleave range increased by 20%. Awakened effect: Cleave damage increased by 10%.

Grab — Available at lvl 47. 20 second base cooldown. Seize a nearby monster and wield it as a weapon, replacing your Primary Attack with a swing for damage against all enemies directly in front of you. Activate again to throw the monster, dealing damage to enemies in the path. Charms increase Grab damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Grab is an extremely fun skill to play around with, but very impractical in real gameplay situations. Note that the skill does not work against Elite enemies, Bosses, larger PvE foes, and other players. Its lack of supporting items in the Diablo Immortal beta makes its use even more questionable.

Hammer of the Ancients — Available at lvl 1. 12 second base cooldown. Call forth a massive hammer which smashes enemies in front of you for damage and shakes the earth itself, dealing additional damage over 2 seconds. Charms increase Hammer of the Ancients damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: This is one of the stronger skills in the Barbarian arsenal for all forms of content. It finds standout legendaries in The Remembered, which hard CCs affected enemies and spawns you a tanky, hard-hitting Ancient summon, and Davin's Legacy, whose extension of the available skill charges applies to Ancient summons as well. Even more middling weapons like Ragecaller and Razorgrip still bring decent value.

Legendary Items:

• Ragecaller (Main-hand) — Hammer of the Ancients is now also electrified, slowing enemy movement by 50% for 2 seconds. Awakened effect: Hammer of the Ancients cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Stonefall (Main-hand) — Hammer of the Ancients damage increased by 10%. Awakened effect: Hammer of the Ancients cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Razorgrip (Off-hand) — The range and damage of Hammer of the Ancients can now be increased by charging it up. Awakened effect: Hammer of the Ancients cooldown decreased by 10%.
• The Remembered (Off-hand) — Hammer of the Ancients now summons a Spirit of the Ancients who stuns all nearby enemies and then fights beside you for a while. Awakened effect: Spirit of the Ancients life increased by 10%.
• Davin's Legacy (Chest) — Hammer of the Ancients maximum charges increased by 1. Awakened effect: Hammer of the Ancients damage increased by 10%.

Whirlwind — Available at lvl 8. 0.5 second base cooldown (channeled skill). Become a whirlwind of steel, continually striking all nearby enemies for damage while moving at 70% reduced speed. Using Whirlwind slowly consumes its energy, which recovers while Whirlwind is not in use. Charms increase Whirlwind damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: The Barbarian's bread and butter, Whirlwind is one of the best additions for almost any form of content. Its channeled nature fits precisely in the gap left between waiting on cooldowns and Primary Attack spam, forming the signature Barbarian rotation of using cooldowns, spinning Whirlwind to depletion, and finishing off stragglers with the Primary. The skill has several standout legendaries; most notably The Gathering for its potent pulling effect, as well as Ferocious Gale for the "luring" playstyle it offers.

Legendary Items:

• The Tempest (Main-hand) — Whirlwind radius increased, but Whirlwind movement speed reduced. Awakened effect: Whirlwind consumes energy 10% slower.
• Ydama's Cyclone (Shoulders) — Whirlwind damage increased by 10%. Awakened effect: Whirlwind energy consumed 10% slower.
• Ferocious Gale (Chest) — Whirlwind occasionally throws out tornadoes that deal damage to any enemy they strike. Awakened effect: Whirlwind damage increased by 10%.
• The Gathering (Chest) — Whirlwind pulls in all enemies it damages. Awakened effect: Whirlwind energy consumed 10% slower.

Demoralize — Available at lvl 38. 30 second base cooldown. Release a ferocious shout that forces nearby monsters to attack you. Also deals damage to all nearby enemies and reduces their damage done by 30%. Lasts 8 seconds. Charms increase Demoralize damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: This is a group skill powerhouse due to the legendary powers of Battlemaster's Helm. Note its considerable cooldown compared to the length of its effect, and try to time its use according to the needs of the party, ideally coordinated and synced with the burst cooldowns of others.

Legendary Items:

• Fearhammer (Off-hand) — Demoralize duration increased by 30%. Awakened effect: Demoralize cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Bestial Threat (Head) — Demoralize is replaced with a terrifying roar that damages all nearby enemies and immobilizes them. Awakened effect: Demoralize cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Battlemaster's Helm (Head) — Demoralize is replaced with a War Cry that increases all damage you and nearby allies inflict by 25% for 6 seconds. Awakened effect: Demoralize cooldown decreased by 10%.

Ground Stomp — Available at lvl 41. 9 second base cooldown. Stomp the ground, stunning nearby enemies for up to 1.5 seconds and dealing damage. Charging longer increases range and duration up to 3 seconds. Charms increase Ground Stomp damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: This skill offers better crowd control, but costs you the party-wide benefits that make Barbarians so valuable in groups. Still, it can be useful for pushing soloing content, as its cooldown is far shorter. The downside lies in its charging requirement (compared to Bestial Threat's immediate CC), which is somewhat countered by its greater potential range and frequent availability.

Legendary Items:

• Weighted Brow (Head) — Ground Stomp range increased by 20%. Awakened effect: Ground Stomp damage increased by 10%.
• Rockspike (Legs) — Ground Stomp now affects all nearby enemies and can be charged to increase range and damage. Awakened effect: Ground Stomp damage increased by 10%.

Furious Charge — Available at lvl 20. 9 second base cooldown. Charge forward, knocking away all enemies in your path and dealing damage. Maximum 3 charges. Players may only be affected once every 3 seconds by this skill. Charms increase Furious Charge damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Despite its baseline mobility functions, Furious Charge is also a hefty nuke — providing you with a dashing skill that also deals heavy damage along its path. Dashing skills will always be useful in challenging PvE content, since you will need ways to get out of harm in a pinch. The true strengths of Furious Charge shine through in PvP however, since the immediacy of the charge plus the surprising amount of damage dealt can almost instantly net you a kill.

Legendary Items:

• Determination (Legs) — Furious Charge can now be charged up to increase its range and damage. Awakened effect: Furious Charge cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Screaming Fury (Legs) — Furious Charge now charges to a location, damaging all nearby enemies and knocking them into the air. Awakened effect: Furious Charge damage increased by 10%.

Leap — Available at lvl 28. 12 second base cooldown. Leap to a location, dealing damage to all nearby enemies when you land and reducing their movement speed by 50% for 4 seconds. Each full life enemy struck by Leap reduces Leap's cooldown by 1 second. Charms increase Leap damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: The skill comes with two charges by default, and its secondary crowd control effect can prove especially deadly in PvP situations — even more so with the Shocking Chaos equipped. In PvE it is slightly more useful for farming purposes, since its built-in cooldown reset mechanic relies on constantly refreshing engagements with new packs of enemies — something that is only feasible when you overpower the content.

Legendary Items:

• Sellena's Iron (Main-hand) — Leap causes the ground to shake where you land, dealing damage to all enemies in the area over 3 seconds. Awakened effect: Leap cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Animal Instinct (Shoulders) — Leap can now charge up to increase range and damage. Awakened effect: Leap damage increased by 10%.
• Shocking Chaos (Shoulders) — Leap is now electrified, Stunning all nearby enemies where you land. Awakened effect: Leap damage increased by 10%.
• Howler's Lift (Legs) — Leap damage increased by 10%. Awakened effect: Leap cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Kar's Defiance (Legs) — Leap also grants you a shield that absorbs damage. Awakened effect: Leap cooldown decreased by 10%.

Sprint — Available at lvl 15. 16 second base cooldown. Increase your movement speed by 50% for 4.5 seconds. While active you may move unhindered through enemies and you are immune to movement impairing effects. Charms increase Sprint damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: The cornerstone mobility skill for Barbarians, fit for almost all forms of content except situations where the need for survivability (Challenge Rifts, Helliquary) or smaller spaces (Kion's Ordeal and, to a lesser extent, Path of Blood) dictate the use of other skills. Sprint's usefulness during leveling and general PvE/PvP content cannot be understated; this should be your go-to mobility skill early on, with other options being considered for niche purposes. Once you acquire Swiftwing, you will be able to buff the whole group with movement speed, making you an extremely valuable party member.

Legendary Items:

• Second Breath (Head) — Sprint duration increased by 30%. Awakened effect: Sprint cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Spiritbreaker (Head) — Sprint also leaves tornadoes in your path that deal damage to any enemy they strike. Awakened effect: Sprint damage increased by 10%.
• Broken Grasp (Shoulders) — Sprint also increases your dodge chance by 20%. Awakened effect: Sprint cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Hell's Legacy (Shoulders) — Sprint also leaves a trail of flames, dealing damage to enemies over 4 seconds.
• Juggernaut's Plan (Legs) — Sprint now causes you to run continuously, knocking away and damaging enemies in your path. Awakened effect: Sprint cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Swiftwing (Legs) — Sprint now also increases movement speed of nearby allies. Awakened effect: Sprint cooldown decreased by 10%.

Undying Rage — Available at lvl 44. 30 second base cooldown. Enter a rage for X seconds that prevents you from dying and causes all your attacks to heal you for 30% of damage done. Undying Rage activates automatically when you take fatal damage. Charms increase Undying Rage damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: Undying Rage is a survivability powerhouse, allowing you to endure massive bursts of damage through simply out-healing them. This becomes increasingly valuable in progression forms of content like Challenge Rifts and especially Helliquary, as well as PvP situations where you need to outlast the burst coming your way as you close the distance to the enemy. In the Diablo Immortal beta, it had no supporting legendaries, but was still deemed a valuable addition to Barbarians.

Wrath of the Berserker — Available at lvl 50. 30 second base cooldown. Enter a berserk rage that increases your attack speed by 50% and movement speed by 20% for 6.5 seconds. Charms increase Wrath of the Berserker damage from 2 to 10%, growing in 2% increments.

Advice: When it comes to general farming, few buffs compare to the ubiquitous Wrath of the Berserker; its attack and movement speed increases are amazing by default, and you can further improve the skill by flipping the attack speed into crit chance with Broken Soul. While the skill requires a lot of supporting legendary effects to truly shine, its innate versatility makes it part of many Barbarian setups.

Legendary Items:

• Broken Soul (Off-hand) — Wrath of the Berserker now increases Critical Hit Chance instead of Attack Speed. Awakened effect: Wrath of the Berserker cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Berserker's Sanity (Head) — Wrath of the Berserker now also dispels effects which cause loss of control of your character. Awakened effect: Wrath of the Berserker cooldown decreased by 10%.
• Lasting Hate (Head) — Wrath of the Berserker duration increased by 30%. Awakened effect: Wrath of the Berserker cooldown decreased by 10%.
• The Coming Storm (Shoulders) — Wrath of the Berserker cooldown reduced by 15%. Awakened effect: Wrath of the Berserker cooldown further decreased by 10%.

Improving your attributes in Diablo Immortal generally revolves around increasing the total amount of Combat Rating, or CR. Every primary attribute point (Strength, Fortitude, Vitality, Willpower, and Intelligence) grants you 1 point of CR.

The priority attribute for Barbarians is Strength, which gives +0.3 Damage per point; given otherwise identical options, use the one with higher Strength to increase your DPS. Second in the priority order is Fortitude, which adds to your Armor Penetration — indirectly increasing damage dealt by also improving your crit chance. This attribute suffers from diminishing returns due to crit caps, but is still quite valuable. Third in the priority order is Vitality, which simply increases your Life total; the longer you can stave off death, the better.

Stat priority order and stat benefits for Barbarians are as follows:

• 1. Strength — Grants +0.3 Damage to Barbarians, and +1 to your total CR.
• 2. Fortitude — Grants +0.1 Armor Penetration, which affects your crit chance. It also grants +0.1 Armor; Armor increases your Block chance, and blocking attacks mitigates 20% of the damage dealt. More mitigation is never amiss, and even more so when dealing with riskier content like the Helliquary. It also adds +1 to your total CR.
• 3. Vitality — Grants +3 Life; the more you can add to your total health pool, the better. This is especially true for melee classes like the Barbarian, and Barbs specifically thrive on percentage-based healing skills. This attribute also adds +1 to your total CR.
• 4. Willpower — Grants +0.1 Potency and 0.1 Resistance. Potency increases the duration of harmful effects that you inflict on your foes. Resistance lowers the duration of harmful effects inflicted by your enemies on you. This attribute also adds +1 to your total CR.
• 5. Intelligence — Grants +1 CR. This attribute does nothing else for Barbarians, and should be avoided as much as possible.

You should not put an emphasis on Special Attributes when considering between gear pieces. This is due to the overpowering importance of Primary Attributes and your CR total. That being said, the better Special Attributes are the two Crit Stats (Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage), Cooldown Reduction, Beneficiary Effect Duration, and Movement Speed. You can also consider Increased Damage to Players for PvP gear.

Pieces of Primary Gear that you upgrade at the Blacksmith attain up to three additional Bonus Attributes for Reforging at Ranks 6, 11, and 16. These Bonus Attributes belong to "families" (outlined and ranked below); a Family Bonus can be unlocked if all three Bonus Attributes are from the same family. Multiple Primary Gear pieces can have the same Family Bonus to improve your proc chance. The process of Reforging is done with the Reforge Stone consumable. Note that only Primary Gear pieces can be reforged; Secondary Gear pieces cannot. For Barbarians, priority Bonus Attributes are:

1. Tremor Stone is the most valuable bonus for general content, as its Family Bonus adds a crowd control proc and extra damage to your Primary Attacks.
2. Vengeance Stone brings a single target-oriented Family Bonus that becomes increasingly important as you push the difficulty of the content you are doing, i.e. Challenge Rifts. Pair it with high Attack Speed choices like Frenzy to have a chance at finishing off Boss fights within the timer.
3. Wildfire Stone is mostly valuable due to its innate attributes, as it brings valuable Critical Hit Chance to the table. The Hydra summon from the Family Bonus is mostly an extra minion to soak up damage.
4. Barrier Stone has a Family Bonus that brings some much needed mitigation to Barbarians, a class that face-tanks all of its damage. The absorption shield is paired with some excellent innate attributes like Damage Taken Decreased and Block Chance, which further reduce incoming hurt.
5. Jolt Stone offers situationally valuable bonuses; it has Beneficial Effect Duration Increased as an innate attribute, which is decent for groups, and a Cheat Death proc which is never amiss when soloing content. Its Family Bonus brings soft CC to attackers, which is decent mostly for PvP.
6. Ravager Stone offers summoner-oriented innate attributes that are all but useless to Barbarians (unless you hyper-specialize in Ancient summons). Its Family Bonus requires enemies to be slain to proc, significantly diminishing its usefulness when doing progression content like Challenge Rift bosses and Helliquary.

The Awakening mechanic further increases the power of a Legendary Item and is done by socketing a Rank 10 Legendary Gem inside the item and using the Dawning Echo consumable at the Master Jeweler. Awaken with 1-Star Gems early on, sacrificing higher ones as necessary later. Prioritize Awakening legendary items that provide straight bonuses (increased damage) to your most frequently used skills, and ones that enhance the strengths of those build-defining skills (such as cooldown- or energy cost- reduction). For Barbarians, priority Awakenings are:

1. Main-hand: Stonefall, The Tempest, The Maddening
2. Chest: Davin's Legacy, The Gathering, Ferocious Gale
3. Head: Battlemaster's Helm, Second Breath, Lasting Hate
4. Shoulders: The Coming Storm, Ydama's Cyclone, Broken Grasp
5. Legs: Swiftwing, Determination, Screaming Fury
6. Off-hand: Broken Soul, Razorgrip, Fearhammer

As per tradition for Diablo games, socketed gear allows you to insert beneficial gems according to your needs. In Diablo Immortal, gems are divided between Normal Gems (socketable in Secondary Gear) and Legendary Gems (socketable in Primary Gear).

Normal Gems can only be socketed in Secondary Gear. Normal gems are divided into Red, Blue and Yellow sockets, and their priority is listed below. Priority-wise, gems are decent power increases to your character, but should never come at the cost of Primary Attributes and your CR score. Go for Red and Blue gems over Yellow if possible, as they provide a stronger bonus overall.

• Red Sockets: Prioritize Tourmaline as it provides a straight Damage increase. Ruby is also decent for the Life increase, but only if you lack Tourmalines.
• Blue Sockets: Prioritize Sapphire, which increases your Armor Penetration, and your Critical Hit Chance stat as a result. Note that Crit Chance provided from Sapphires has diminishing returns, capping out at 33%; when benefits from ArPen get too insignificant, swap to Aquamarine. Aquamarine provides Armor, which is a decent source of damage mitigation.
• Yellow Sockets: Prioritize Citrine for the Potency gains, increasing the duration of harmful effects you inflict on enemies; however small its benefits, they trump the Resistance effects provided from Topaz.

Legendary Gems can only be socketed in Primary Gear. They provide unique and very powerful bonuses on top of a robust stack of stat increases. Legendary Gems are found in Elder Rifts enhanced by the Crest consumables, as well as through crafting at the Jeweler in Westmarch.

Early on in Barbarian character progression, you should use common, 1- and 2-Star Legendary Gems like:

• Fervent Fang — Can be obtained from the Battle Pass, saving you some Crests. Provides a stacking damage increase against a target with successive attacks; great for single target damage.
• Trickshot Gem — Provides damage mitigation and reduces the energy consumption while channeling; fits into a lot of Whirlwind-based Barbarian builds.
• Everlasting Torment — For the mere cost of a critical hit, this gem inflicts a considerable DoT and an Attack Speed increase to boot. Even at a low quality, this gem starts off with incredible stats and fits nicely from the get-go.
• Chained Death — This is a great early game gem, especially during farming where you usually pull hordes of enemies to maximize your AoE skills. It amplifies your damage the more enemies you fight, encouraging chaining fights together.
• Lightning Core — Despite its low proc chance, this damage-dealing gem can wipe out entire packs when activated, or focus down a larger foe, making it a decent addition to you legendary gem lineup.
• Berserker's Eye — This gem increases damage dealt at the cost of an increase in damage taken. For most of the farming PvE content, this is a reasonable trade-off that you can feasibly mitigate with the Barbarian's strong sources of self-healing.

When perfecting your character for endgame content, the 5-Star Best-in-Slot Legendary Gems for Barbarians include:

• Blood-Soaked Jade — With its Damage and Movement Speed increases, it is largely considered to be the best legendary gem in the game for pretty much all forms of content.
• Seeping Bile — The value of this gem scales with the number of attacks you inflict, fitting well into Whirlwind-reliant Barbarian builds. With a considerable damage proc and a spreading effect, it is one of the best additions to your legendary gem lineup.
• Frozen Hearth — With percentage-based mitigation against ranged damage, this is one of the strongest defensive legendary gems you can support your character with.
• Blessing of the Worthy — Barbarians thrive at melee ranges and sustain a lot of attacks, making the retaliation proc of this gem quite valuable. Note its scaling off maximum Life, which turns the Barb's considerable health pool into a makeshift nuke.
• Chip of Stone Flesh — This is a PvP powerhouse of a gem, inflicting hard CC and increasing damage dealt on affected targets. It also provides decent value for progression content.
• Phoenix Ashes — A cheat death proc is never useless; considering the damage intake Barbarians have to deal with in progression content, its value grows even more.

Paragon Points are character-specific progression system that allows you to advance in power after you reach maximum level. Each level gives you a Paragon point to spend into currently available nodes on the five Paragon Trees. While Paragon Trees are specialized for certain tasks, you should always keep in mind the tenets of character building — increasing damage and mitigation as much as you can. With that in mind, focus down the Vanquisher tree first, pick up the experience bonus from the Treasure Hunter tree, pick up whatever is useful from the Gladiator tree, and finish off with the group powerhouse of the Soldier tree. Always keep in mind that the (circular) Persistent Attributes are always active once leveled, but the (square) Specialization Skills are only applied when their respective Paragon Tree is active.

• Vanquisher Tree: The offense focus of this tree makes it the best starting point for all characters. It is recommended that you start with the middle row, maxing out Damage and picking up Zeal. Go down the bottom row, maxing out Damage and picking up Wrath. Finally, go along the top row, maxing out Potency, putting the point in Exorcism, and finishing off with Deeper Pockets and Heart of Wrath. This puts you at Paragon level 49.
• Treasure Hunter Tree: This tree unlocks at Paragon 50 and focuses on rewarding you more for your grinding efforts, making it an attractive mid-progression pickup. Go through the middle row, maxing Armor to attain Swift Learner. Then go on straight by maxing out the Damage node. This puts you at Paragon 70.
• Go back to the Vanquisher Tree. Max out the Life nodes in the mid row that follow Zeal, and put one point in Judgment to finish off that row. Then, go to the bottom row and put 3 points into Armor Penetration, which puts you exactly at Paragon 99.
• Right around this point, you have a decision to make. If you focus on PvE content, you should divert your attention back to the Survivor Tree — the other tree unlocked by default. Start out by maxing Life, picking up a point in Unyielding and progressing downwards. Max out Armor, then through the middle row — taking Escape Artist, additional Life, and Precognition along the way. Finish off with the coveted Damage increase. If you focus on PvP content, you should focus on the Gladiator Tree instead; this tree unlocks at Paragon 100, and offers brawling-oriented bonuses. Start off with maxing Armor Penetration, picking Uncontrollable right after it and continuing upwards. Max out Life, attain Quick Witted, and go into maxing Resistance and the second Life node. Get the Cheat Death right above the Life node. Finish with the consistently desirable Damage.
• At this point, you are hovering around the Paragon 180-185 point. One thing to consider is going back to the Vanquisher Tree to finish off the bottom right Armor Penetration node. You can also divert to the Treasure Hunter Tree to grab Gold Find and its subsequent Armor Penetration node. Alternatively, if you group up a lot, you can tab over to the Soldier Tree. This tree unlocks at Paragon 150 and is focused on grouping bonuses and provides tremendous utility for most modes of play. Take Hold Formation and head down to Resistance, then even further down into Damage. Attain the full bottom row — Battle Morale into Armor Penetration into Sacrifice. Then, finish off the middle row with Combat Veteran and Potency. Finally, go through the top row of Life and First Aid.

It is important to reiterate that your utmost priority is picking up all the damage nodes you can, deviating into one tree or another only to further that goal. Secondary valuable pickups are found in Armor Penetration and Life nodes. Once you are done with leveling all the Damage nodes, you are free to fill out Paragon trees as you see fit, as well as to activate specific Trees for the needs of the content you are doing.

In summation, the Barbarian is one of the most satisfying classes you can play if you want to engage in melee combat. It is also one of the best choices if you want to focus on group content, allowing you to lead the charge into battle and support your teammates while doing so. The Barbarian is fearsome to face in PvP as well — if you manage to get the jump on your foes, they will not survive your onslaught. Enjoy the Barbarian, and remember — Bul-Kathos smiles upon you!