Diablo 4 Barbarian Build – Crusher
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Diablo 4 Barbarian Build – Crusher

Diablo 4 Barbarian Build – Crusher: In this Diablo 4 Beginner Barbarian Build Guide, I’ll show you how to play a Crusher Barbarian, which is a melee-focused Diablo 4 Build that deals huge burst damage by swapping from one Weapon to the next. If you’ve been looking for a Diablo 4 Beginner Barbarian Build that is aimed at World Tiers 1 & 2, and one that Bleeds enemies dry while crushing them relentlessly, then this Diablo 4 Build Guide is for you!

Also, be sure to check out our Diablo 4 Wiki and Interactive Map if you need help finding specific Altars of Lilith, Dungeons, or Side Quests!

Diablo 4 Barbarian Build – Crusher

The general strategy with this Diablo IV Beginner Build is to either jump into a group of regular enemies with Leap and Rallying Cry or round them up first, activate Flay to inflict Bleeding Damage Over Time (DoT), and then use Hammer of the Ancients. Unlike the other Classes, Barbarians start off with 0 resources so you need to build this up. 

Diablo 4 Barbarian Build - Crusher in Combat

The great thing about Leap is you instantly gain a sizeable chunk of Fury as long as it hits an enemy, which happens all the time, thanks to the Power Leap upgrade. The same is true for Rallying Cry so these two combined are reliable at allowing you to trigger your crushing blow, which is Hammer of the Ancients. You’ll notice that there’s also Flay because, in the early game, you need a way to soften your targets. Otherwise, it’ll take a while before you finish them off since you don’t have access to many Legendary Aspects yet.

When fighting against Elites and Bosses, you’ll primarily make use of the Call of the Ancients Ultimate Skill because this not only summons 3 Ancients to aid you in dealing huge damage but also restores a portion of your Fury, allowing you to once again run the engine of attacking with Hammer of the Ancients.

Diablo 4 Crusher Beginner Barbarian Build Guide – Skill Distribution

Each Diablo 4 Barbarian Build is made up of the 6 Active Skills they have equipped and changing these Skills can drastically alter the way the Barbarian Class in Diablo IV plays. In this section, we’ll take a look at what Skills you should slot for the Crusher Diablo 4 Build. Your Skill distribution should look something like this as you go beyond Level 25:

LEVEL 25+ BARBARIAN SKILLS
 Skill Points Spent
 Flay  1
 Enhanced Flay  1
 Battle Flay  1
 Hammer of the Ancients  5
 Enhanced Hammer of the Ancients  1
 Furious Hammer of the Ancients  1
 Endless Fury  3
 Rallying Cry  1
 Enhanced Rallying Cry  1
 Tactical Rallying Cry  1
 Leap  1
 Enhanced Leap  1
 Power Leap  1
 Death Blow  5
 Enhanced Death Blow  1
 Fighter’s Death Blow  1
 Pit Fighter  3
 Slaying Strike  1
 Expose Vulnerability  3
 Call of the Ancients  1
 Prime Call of the Ancients  1
 Supreme Call of the Ancients  1
 Tempered Fury  1
 Furious Impulse  1
 Wallop  3
 Brute Force  2
 Unbridled Rage Key Passive  1

The above list gives you the general order to invest in Skills, but keep in mind that you should prioritize picking up new Active Skills over investing in passives, so pick up passives later if you can get new Active Skills when you level up.

Diablo 4 Crusher Beginner Barbarian Build Guide – How to Handle Packs of Enemies

So there are really several different strategies to employ in this Diablo IV Build for the Crusher Barbarian, and these change depending on whether or not you’re facing a large group of enemies or a Boss. Let’s start with a group of enemies first, and we’ll cover how to handle Bosses in the next section.

Flay

Flay is this Crusher Diablo 4 Barbarian Build’s Basic Skill that inflicts Bleeding DoT. This is essential to be able to weaken and beat enemies faster. For the upgrades, you’re better off unlocking Enhanced Flay and Battle Flay. Enhanced Flay considerably boosts the chances of applying Vulnerable, especially since you’re wielding 2 Two-Handed Weapons. Doing so will increase your damage by 20%. Meanwhile, Battle Flay raises the Bleeding DoT taken by targets, making it easier to destroy them.

Diablo 4 Crusher Beginner Barbarian Build - Flay to Inflict Bleeding Damage Over Time

The passive that’ll help you here is Endless Fury. This makes it so that when using Flay, you generate 15% more Fury with a Two-Handed Weapon. So you’ll want to make sure to equip a Two-Handed Axe to deal sufficient Slicing Damage.

Hammer of the Ancients

Hammer of the Ancients is the bread-and-butter Core Skill of this Crusher D4 Barb Build in that it’s used to deal massive blows to kill and crush enemies. Because of this, you’ll invest all 5 points into it as well as gain access to Enhanced Hammer of the Ancients and Furious Hammer of the Ancients upgrades. Not only do you gain more Fury but you also deal more damage the higher your resources are. 

Crusher D4 Barb Build - Hammer of the Ancients to Crush and Kill Enemies in One Swing

To further improve its effectiveness, you’ll need the Aspect of Ancestral Force, which makes it so that Hammer of the Ancients quakes outwards dealing a percentage of its damage to enemies. This is an incredible aspect since it spreads out the impact of the Skill, letting you attack more of them in one go. Another aspect to look out for, although it’s not mandatory at this stage, is the Edgemaster’s Aspect. This increases the damage of Hammer of the Ancients based on the current level of your Fury so if it’s maxed out, then your damage output would be higher. 

Crusher Diablo 4 Barbarian Build - Edgemaster's Necklace to Deal Huge Damage with Hammer of the Ancients

The Aspect of Ancestral Force can be obtained by finishing the Ancient Reservoir Dungeon in Hawezar while the Edgemaster’s Aspect is acquired by completing the Oldstones Dungeon in Scosglen.

Rallying Cry

Rallying Cry with the Tactical Rallying Cry modifier is another decent option to generate Fury on top of Flay. And thanks to the Enhanced Rallying Cry upgrade, you can get out of sticky situations by making this Crusher D4 Barbarian Build Unstoppable, thereby removing any crowd control effects you may have had prior to activating Rallying Cry. 

Leap

Leap is a Brawling Skill that allows you to easily close the gap between you and your foes to crush them with your Bludgeoning Weapon. As mentioned earlier, Power Leap helps in gaining a large portion of your Fury so you can definitely trigger it to then follow through with Hammer of the Ancients.

Death Blow

Death Blow is the Crusher Diablo IV Barbarian Build’s alternative way of finishing off enemies due to the huge damage you deal. The reason why it’s used to kill them is to be able to reset this Weapon Mastery Skill’s cooldown, letting you activate it over and over again. What makes Death Blow all the more effective against Bosses is the Enhanced Death Blow upgrade so you can deal 100% increased damage. Meanwhile, the other modifier you need is Fighter’s Death Blow to gain more Fury.

Death Blow to Finish Off Enemies

The passives you’ll want to take under the Weapon Mastery Skill Tree are Pit Fighter and Expose Vulnerability. Pit Fighter raises your damage against close targets while reducing the damage you take from distant enemies whereas Expose Vulnerability makes it so that your next activation of Hammer of the Ancients, right after using Death Blow, applies the Vulnerable effect on your targets. This is a very potent Skill since it lets you take advantage of Vulnerability without only relying on Flay to do so.

Unbridled Rage Key Passive

When you reach a high enough level and have enough Skill points, you should consider investing in the Unbridled Rage Key Passive. This is going to significantly raise the damage of Hammer of the Ancients at the cost of spending much more Fury.

Crusher D4 Barbarian Build - Unbridled Rage to Boost Core Skill Damage

However, Fury management shouldn’t be a concern with how the current Crusher Diablo 4 Barb Build is designed since you have a ton of Skills to help you generate this resource as efficiently as possible. As a result, you’ll be able to destroy enemies quicker regardless if they’re regular targets or Elites and Bosses.

Boss Fights

Boss fights are handled quite similarly in this Diablo 4 Crusher Barbarian Build, but some key differences exist. You’ll employ the same Skill rotation but this time, you’ll account for your Weapon Technique and include Call of the Ancients into the mix to aid you in combat. 

At Level 15, the Barbarian will gain access to a Priority Quest, which will have them travel to Dry Steppes. Once completed, you’ll unlock a Weapon Technique slot. This makes it so that you can equip a Technique of your choice to level up its corresponding Weapon Expertise Effect that will provide significant bonuses to your Build. You’ll want to slot the Two-Handed Axe Expertise after it reaches Rank 1 in order to raise your damage against Vulnerable targets.

Two-Handed Axe Expertise for the Barbarian Class

Call of the Ancients

Call of the Ancients is your Ultimate Skill that allows you to summon Korlic, Talic, and Madawc. All these Ancients deal damage differently and provide you with certain benefits due to the Supreme Call of the Ancients upgrade. Korlic specializes in attacking enemies with Frenzy, which replenishes Fury; Talic attacks with Whirlwind, which inflicts crowd control by Slowing them down; and Madawc uses Upheaval to Stun them in place. While this Ultimate is active, you gain increased Attack Speed and damage thanks to Prime Call of the Ancients. 

Next, you’ll want to chase after the Aspect of Ancestral Echoes. This makes it so that on Lucky Hit while Call of the Ancients is on your Action Bar, damaging enemies with Leap will have a huge chance to summon another Ancient to execute the same Skill, allowing you to kill enemies quicker. You can obtain the Aspect of Ancestral Echoes by completing the Ancient Reservoir Dungeon in Hawezar.

Aspect of Ancestral Echoes to Summon an Ancient and Deal Leap

Final Tips

For this Diablo 4 Crusher Barbarian Build, you should be on the lookout for gear that gives bonuses such as Strength, Willpower, All Stats, Maximum Fury, Strength, Ranks of Leap, Vulnerable Damage, Basic Skill Damage, Damage to Close Enemies, Core Skill Damage, Damage to Slowed Enemies, Damage to Stunned Enemies, Maximum Life, Damage Over Time, and Fury Cost Duration.

For the other passives later on, you’ll want to maximize Furious Impulse and Wallop. Furious Impulse lets you gain additional Fury every time you swap Weapons. It’s easy to do since you have Skills, which use a Two-Handed Mace and a Two-Handed Axe. Next is Wallop, which amplifies your damage against Vulnerable or Stunned enemies with Leap or Hammer of the Ancients. 

Crusher-Diablo-IV-Barbarian-Build-Furious-Impulse-to-Gain-Fury
Wallop-Barbarian-Skill-to-Deal-Increased-Damage-Against-Vulnerable-Enemies

When it comes to the other Legendary Aspects, the ones that you need at this point in the game are the Aspect of the Protector and Aspect of the Expectant. The Aspect of the Protector can easily be obtained by completing the Lost Archives Dungeon in Fractured Peaks. This lets you conjure a Barrier the moment you attack an Elite or Boss. 

On the other hand, the Aspect of the Expectant enhances the damage of Hammer of the Ancients by building it up with Flay. As such, not only do you gain enough Fury over time, but the damage you end up dealing with your Core Skill becomes lethal. And thanks to the Edgemaster’s Aspect, you’re going to boost this even more. The Aspect of the Expectant is acquired by finishing the Underroot Dungeon in Scosglen.


Be sure to check out our Diablo 4 Wiki for any other questions you have about the game and the Builds page if you are looking for more Diablo IV Builds, as well as our Ultimate Beginner Guide and Best Class to Play Guide if you are looking for more Diablo 4 content!

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