Hey guys! Welcome to our Barbarian Leveling Guide! If you need to reach max level Barb (without being PL’d) – look no further! The Rend leveling build is one of the strongest in the entire game and you will have no problem SPINNIN’ through to 70.
I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU OPEN our D3 Leveling Process (all classes). It answers the usual leveling questions. “Leoric’s?” “Grinding?” There’s a ton of supplemental info there.
S28’s Altar of Rites VASTLY affects leveling
S28 is the ‘Season of Massacre Leveling’ due to Node A in Alter of Rites:
“Double massacre exp bonus and duration”.
Every other method is made worse by this. Also, Node C is “no item level requirement”…
First of all, see our Altar of Rites guide / order to get a clearer picture of what I’m talking about. Basically, this hinges around “Opening your first Challenge Rift Cache”, and if you want to take it ASAP. Also, there couple notes on Node C there, specifically how to get Node C with or without the cache.
I’ll be pasting this reminder in all leveling related content. GL leveling your barb in S28!
Barbarian Leveling – Quick Navigation:
Leveling Build | Summary | Leoric’s Crown? | Notes | Fresh Level 70!
!!! Challenge Rift Material Spending !!!
AGAIN, KEEP IN MIND THE DISCUSSION ABOUT ALTAR OF RITES:
Make sure to spend on Node C before you do anything else.
As mentioned in our general all classes leveling guide, you SHOULD be doing the Challenge Rift and WISELY spend the resulting materials from it. TLDR: Challenge Rift -> Attempt Deaths Breath upgrade and Blood Shard gambles for a good legendary.
For a leveling Barb, the chances are pretty good…
Blood Shards
Gamble for Bracers at Level 1. The only two possible legendaries are Bracers of the First Men, and Bracers of Destruction. Both are godly. Do this first as it affects your shard choices.
Death’s Breath
If you got EITHER OF THE BRACERS ABOVE: Upgrade 2H Mighty Weapons as you might get its “pair” (Gavel or FotVP).
If you didn’t get anything… Know this… 2HMW’s are a 50/50 to be god/suck – it’s up to you if you wanna risk that. On the other hand 1H Mighty Weapons as you have a higher percent chance to get something usable… 60/40 for god/suck.
Barbarian Leveling: FULL BUILD per Level
This build is not SUPER optimized for MASSACRE (S28, you should be doing it)|
but it doesn’t need to be, given how easy it is to level.
Put your level in the box on the upper right – or hit back / next found in the bottom right! If you got some of the items above, this build is easily editable. Just remove rend and or WW.
If this helped you – please consider RENDering us your support in Patreon!
Barbarian Leveling: Skills & Reminders Summary
This build is for REND / Furious Charge: If you’re a less experienced barb you might wanna sub out Rend for Seismic Slam – will be putting a separate table for that soon!
Barbarian Leveling & Leoric’s Crown – When, and is it worth it?
Review our D3 Leveling Process (all classes) for more notes on this. Summary:
Still worth it || You must be minimum L16 (to be safe)
You must beat him in Campaign Mode || You must not have beaten him previously
Barb is a pretty intense leveling class. I’d say there’s no loss going for Leoric’s. But the more experienced you are, and fast – it’s hard to get massive gains from it. Either way, I do it as a change of pace and to relax a bit.
I would try it at around level 21 – Unlocking Furious Charge. Make a funny speed build utilizing Furious Charge, Leap, and Sprint (Rend guys you pass through). Haha. Pure Value. Prioritize moving forward, don’t get sidetracked by far-off dudes!
I really dislike opening your season by going Campaign and switching right before Leoric. Imagine going through all of that without mobility skills!
Barbarian: Leveling Notes
Playing the Build
Rend is unbelievably powerful!!!! “REND AND MOVE ON” Should be your mantra! The only downside is you may or may not be there for the loot drops, haha.
Frenzy is a powerful filler – most builds eschew Rend but I find that choice STUPID. Rend trivializes the weak point of the build – killing Elites. Rend is slow vs elites and Frenzy basically doubles or triples your DPS to them instead of “waiting”.
Inspiring Presence is the defensive cornerstone of the build. It provides a godlike amount of self-healing that more than makes up for any defensive needs you have – allowing the rest of your build to be allocated for pure DAMAGE.
Furious Charge while not the best dashing skill in the game – Merciless Assault is downright abusive. Use often against larger packs of enemies for infinite fury and damage. Learn this now, chances are you’ll be using this sometime in your Barb career.
Earthquake is a powerful cooldown that you should be saving for elite packs (much more noticeable for YELLOWS). While many of the runes increase its firepower, Giant’s Stride is the recommended rune but many of them are viable. The Mountain’s Call is halves its CD so you can burst more often.
Berserker Rage cheap, free passive damage. A staple skill for end-game or leveling. It’s basic advice but take it to heart – DON’T LET IT FALL OFF!
==== NOTES FOR SEISMIC SLAM VARIANT ====
Basically change up Seismic Slam in for Rend, and Frenzy to Weapon Throw!
“Spam War Cry, Quake elites, Furious Charge clumps – profit”
Quite different from the usual Rend/FC leveling builds, huh? Still, this build doesn’t slack off. While the kit looks strange upfront – it makes up for it using PURE POWER and relative safety. Also, it plays a lot more relaxed to the usual Rend/FC builds.
Seismic Slam: “Big AoE & Big Damage”. The only downside being the large Fury cost. This skill is so basic I’m having a hard time describing it. That’s a good thing.
Weapon Throw-Ricochet is too good to pass up while leveling. Brainless, XXX guys get hit and you’re safe at range… seriously.
Fighting Bosses? The bounty super bosses are kinda chunky and time-consuming. Use Hammer of the Ancients (Smash) over Seismic Slam.
==== END NOTES FOR SEISMIC SLAM VARIANT ====
Followers – Hire them!
Hire your Templar while you level up! Templar does most of the healing for you while you trash enemies. Choose all the left skills to fully maximize Templar’s support power.
Crafted Weapons
Craft a blue 2H axe at level 8 and once you get to level 16, craft the best 2H yellow axe you can. The damage boost from this is huge. Occasionally check Blacksmith if there’s a new craftable weapon available. Don’t forget to upgrade him as soon as you can.
At level 61 it is IMPORTANT you craft a new weapon since the stat difference is gigantic compared to pre-60 weapons. Do this for your armor, too.
Barbarian: Gems while Leveling up
Ruby (red) gems FOR ALL SLOTS. Try to combine them as much as possible as it’s the best gem to put in BOTH your Helmet and Weapon during the leveling up phase. Any other slot (body, legs, accessories) should still have rubies since it gives +STR.
Fresh 70 Barbarian, now what?
Grats on Level 70 Barbarian! Get hyped since the end-game is just beginning! Just a quick reminder though, craft a level 70 2-handed Mighty Weapon and gear before anything!
>>> Fresh Level 70 Barbarian Guide <<<
We recommend you check that out so you won’t have a hard time at L70+!
Here’s a list of our Barb Guides that you might need:
- Barbarian Fresh Level 70
- Barbarian Speedfarming General
- Barbarian BEST Speedfarm Build
- Immortal King’s Call | Immortal King Set Dungeon
- The Legacy of Raekor | Raekor’s Set Dungeon
- Might of the Earth | Might of the Earth Set Dungeon
- Wrath of the Wastes | Wastes Set Dungeon
or you can go to our D3 Directory Guide for more D3 guides.
Barbarian Leveling – Quick Navigation:
Leveling Build | Summary | Leoric’s Crown? | Notes | Fresh Level 70!
We hope our Barbarian Leveling Guide has guided your hand.
Just a question, under Barbarian Leveling: FULL BUILD per Level, on level 13, 1 is Revenge & 2 is Overpower, but both are under Might which is automatically assigned to Key #2.
Am I missing something or is that a typo because you can’t assign the Barbarian both Revenge & Overpower at the same time?
Thanks.
There is a game setting which allows you to freely put them in any way you choose. I thought that was the default for the past… long time? By the sounds of what you’re describing it’s still in there… Check “Elective Mode” or something to that effect in the options.
Why do you recommend rolling for those bracers and upgrading that 2HMW when the build does not use Seismic Slam or HOTA?
I think that is because bracers are cheap. 1600 blood shards to 99% chance get one of two bracers, versus 5000 blood shards to get one of five belts.
It has only taken 3.5 hours from start to 65, the hard way. Had I known these tricks sooner, it may have been soon
Thanks for this guide as it was extremely helpful and allowed me to blow through the leveling process!
Thanks so much for the constant work you do at BRG. As a returning old player, your guides have helped me tremendously.
Hi everybody!
just a question, If I’ll want to levelling a barbarian in season 15 witch difficult should I start ?
Master, Tormento 1 or ?
Start in Hard mode then slowly increase difficulty depending on drops you get or when enemies are too squishy. You can always dial back down the difficulty if you think its too hard to kill enemies.