In this Diablo 4 Barbarian Vessel of Hatred Patch 2.0 Guide, I’ll be helping you understand how the Barbarian Class changes for the D4 Vessel of Hatred expansion (Patch 2.0) affect it and give you an easy overview of what to expect for your builds and Gameplay.

The new expansion is adding 1 new Weapon Mastery Skill, 1 Key Passive and 4 regular passives to the Barbarian as well as a new Paragon board. On the itemization side, we’ll be getting new Uniques, and Legendary Aspects.

The New Barbarian in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred – Patch 2.0

Before we get into the specifics of Barbarian, let me tell you about some huge changes coming to the game itself. I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible, and we’ll have full detailed coverage of all these changes in a future video, but for now let me tell you about the most important ones.

First of all, max level has been reduced to 60 (from 100), and players will begin receiving Paragon Points once they reach this level. These Points can be used by any level 60 character on your account. This not only means that you can gain Paragon Points for your Barbarian while playing on your Druid, but it also means that you will have an additional 10 Skill Points to allocate into your build (from levels 51-60), for a total of 69 Skill Points in Patch 2.0, up from 59 before.

Additionally, stats like Armor, Health, and Damage have been drastically reduced in order to simplify the game and make mathing easier for players. This doesn’t result in a nerfing of your character; it’s more of a backend change reflected in new numbers in your UI. Don’t freak out if you see your weapon no longer deals the same damage—it will still be as effective as before.

And lastly, the difficulty system of Diablo IV is changing, and there are now new Torment levels along with new difficulty levels, much like there were in Diablo III. Regular difficulty levels will be unlocked by advancing your character, but Torment levels will need to be unlocked through an End Game activity called The Pit of Artificers, which is much like Rifts in Diablo III, where you explore randomized dungeons with a Boss at the end. This shouldn’t change the way you play the game fundamentally, and hopefully allows players to customize their preferred difficulty a bit better.

Table of contents

• The New Barbarian in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred
  • New Skills
  • Changes to Skills & Trees
  • New Paragon Board
  • Changes to Paragon Boards & Glyphs
  • New Uniques & Aspects
  • Changes to Uniques & Aspects
  • What this all means for the Barbarian

New Barbarian Skills in Diablo IV

Active Skill

The Barbarian has been granted a new Weapon Mastery Skill called “Mighty Throw,” which hurls your weapon, dealing 60% Weapon Damage upon impact and sticking in the ground. Once in the ground, the weapon starts pulsating, dealing 15% Weapon Damage every second for 4 seconds in a small area.

The damage is only dealt upon impact, and it takes about 1 second to activate, even when used at melee range, which seems kind of slow initially. However, having another AoE that can be used at range makes for a great opener.

The enhancement increases your attack speed by a massive 25% while a thrown weapon is out, and the upgrades give you two different approaches on how to use the skill.

• Fighter’s Mighty Throw: Makes it so swapping weapons near any of your thrown weapons creates an additional pulse. Each extra pulse generates 3% of your Maximum Life as a Barrier for 6 seconds. This creates the opportunity to fight inside the pulsating area, sustaining yourself by creating Barrier while also dealing more damage with the additional pulse (Can’t wait to try this out with my old Juggernaut Build)
• Warrior’s Mighty Throw: Increases impact damage by 200% and Stuns enemies for 2 seconds. If you lead with this and then Leap into combat you can wipe packs of enemies safely, giving you an edge in combat.

Passive Skills

A new Key passive has been introduced called Barbed Carapace.

Barbed Carapace: For every 25 Fury you spend, you gain 10%[+] Thorns for 8 seconds, up to 120%. Casting a Skill with a Cooldown grants you Unhindered for 5 seconds. During this time, you deal 100% of your Thorns as physical damage to Close enemies every second.

Barbarians have a ton of Active and Passive skills that synergize with Thorns. This Key Passive opens up the possibility for many viable Thorn Builds, as it directly deals damage to close enemies without requiring you to take damage yourself (which is non-ideal in most cases). The first thing that comes to mind is an improved version of the Whirlwind Barbarian, as you will be dealing damage both with Whirlwind and with Thorns while you constantly spend Fury and use Shouts to renew the Unhindered buff.

The other Passive skills are straightforward in what they do, but are a welcome addition to fix some issues that persist in staple Builds.

• Belligerence: Damaging an enemy with a Basic Skill increases your damage by 3/6/9%[x] for 4 seconds.

Barbarian Basic Skills remain unused for the most part as they don’t contribute much to staple builds. Increasing your overall damage after using them might create some synergies like starting with a Lunging Strike and then combining other skills for increased damage.

• Heavy Hitter: Your Ultimate Skills deal 15/30/45%[x] more damage.

While 45% seems like a big buff to the ultimate damage, you still need to wait for their long cooldowns. It will be most beneficial for builds that use Ultimate as finishers in big fights.

• Warpath: After Overpowering, you deal 4/8/12%[x] increased damage for 4 seconds.

The overpower mechanic is very fun, but you usually lack damage between the combo build-ups. This will give a nice little boost to clear off any enemies while you are building up the next overpower attack.

• Irrepressible: Casting a Weapon Mastery Skill Fortifies you for 10/20/30% of your Maximum Life.

A passive option to quickly build up Fortify using Weapon Masteries will really help with build efficiency.

Changes to Barbarian Skills & Trees in Diablo IV

The Barbarian has had multiple buffs and nerfs to its skills since release, so if you are a returning player you will probably want to check what has changed in regard to your favorite skills and make adjustments to your builds based on those changes.

Active Skills

The newest patch will also bring new changes for Frenzy and Ground Stomp.

Frenzy

Fury Generation was increased from 4 to 7 and damage from 13% to 15%. The enhanced version, which previously generated a flat 3 Fury, will now instead reduce the Fury cost of your Core Skills by 25%, which is a massive buff.

The Combat Frenzy upgrade, which previously provided damage reduction for each stack of Frenzy, will now provide a little less Damage Reduction but also increase your Movement Speed, greatly boosting mobility. Additionally, the Battle Frenzy upgrade got a 1% Attack Speed increase.

The increased mobility, combined with the reduced cost of Core Skills, will likely give Frenzy a spot in combo-style Builds.

Ground Stomp

Base damage has been increased from 9.5% to 20%, but the most noticeable change is on the enhancement, which now generates 60 Fury (previously the complete effect of the Tactical Ground Stomp Upgrade) on top of the 1 second increased Stun Duration.

The Tactical Ground Stomp upgrade will now make your Ground Stomp into a Brawling Skill that deals 800% increased damage to Bosses and applies Vulnerable for 4 seconds. The Strategic Ground Stomp upgrade will now reduce Ultimate Skill cooldown by 4 seconds (previously 2), up to 12 for each enemy that was hit.

While these changes are already major on their own, Ground Stomp is also getting a massive buff thanks to the new Legendary Paragon Board Node “Force of Nature,” which I’ll explain later in the video.

Passive Skills

The newest patch will also bring changes to Hamstring, Slaying Strike and Unconstrained

Hamstring:

This was a must-have for most Barbarian Builds, as you would get a guaranteed Slow effect on healthy enemies by just applying Bleed (triggering all the Slow Damage modifiers). The updated version feels like a massive nerf, providing a 15% chance to Slow Healthy and Injured enemies by 70% each time they deal damage. While the effect is stronger and can now be applied to injured enemies, it removes the guaranteed trigger that made it so popular.

Slaying Strike

Similar to Hamstring, a must-have on most Barbarian builds thanks to its flat damage to injured enemies, Slaying Strike has had its damage reduced from 8% to 5%, a massive and flat nerf.

Unconstrained

This Key Passive originally enhanced Berserking, increasing its duration by 5 seconds and providing a flat 60% damage bonus. The new version maintains the 60% damage bonus but replaces the 5-second duration increase with an always-active Berserking that includes a 25% Physical Damage Reduction Bonus as long as you are below 65% life.

This change opens up the possibility for many glass-cannon builds with a High Risk/High Reward focus around Fortify, Barriers, and Berserking.

Changes to Barbarian Paragon Boards & Glyphs

In 2.0, players will now only be able to equip 5 Paragon Boards at a time, including your base board, so you cannot just ninja through a board for one node and out really quickly. Instead, players will need to utilize their boards wisely. However, each Class has gained a new board, for a total of 9 Boards (up from 8), and some Rare Nodes have changed. On top of that, players can now earn a total of 300 Paragon Points (up from 200), which should allow for a serious power increase across all Builds.

Glyphs have also seen a significant change. They now no longer improve via experience but instead level up by completing levels of The Pit of Artificers and trying to improve them at the end, much like in Diablo III. The higher level of Pit you complete, the higher chance you have of improving your Glyph. Glyphs also now go up to level 100, further expanding their power, and the higher level they are, the more difficult it becomes to improve them without going to higher and higher levels in The Pit of Artificers.

There were several changes made to the Barbarian Paragon Board,

Hemorrhage Board

Grit (replacing Flayer Flayer)

• Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Bleeding Enemies / +10 Strength

• Now: (Flayer) +10% Vulnerable Damage / +10 Strength

Flayer (replacing Bloodbathed)

• Previous: +10% Physical Damage Over Time / +10% Damage to Bleeding Enemies

• Now: (Bloodbathed) 4% Damage Reduction from Bleeding Enemies / +10% Fire Resistance

Blood Rage Board

Enraged (replacing Grit)

• Previous: +10% Damage while Berserking / +15% Berserking Duration

• Now: (Grit) 4% Damage Reduction from Bleeding / +4% Healing Received

Grit (replacing Wrath)

• Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Bleeding Enemies / +10 Strength

• Now: (Wrath) +10% Damage while Berserking / +10 Strength

Carnage Board

Berserker (replacing Brash )

• Previous: +5% Damage While Berserking / +16% Damage to Elites

• Now: (Brash) 4% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies / +10% Fire Resistance

Brash (replacing Berserker)

• Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies / +10 Strength

• Now: (Berserker) +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Strength

Decimator Board

Arrogance (replacing Destroyer)

• Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Vulnerable Enemies and +10 Strength

• Now: (Destroyer) +10% Physical Damage and +10 Strength

Destroyer (replacing Arrogance)

• Previous: +10% Damage with Two-Handed Slashing Weapons / +10% Vulnerable Damage

• Now: (Arrogance) 4% Damage Reduction from Vulnerable Enemies / 4% Healing Received

Bone Breaker Board

Bludgeoner (replacing Vigor Vigor)

• Previous: +10% Damage with Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons / +45% Overpower Damage

• Now: (Vigor) 5% Damage Reduction while Healthy / 4% Healing Received

Vigor (replacing Bludgeoner Bludgeoner)

• Previous: 5% Damage Reduction while Healthy / +10 Strength

• Now: (Bludgeoner) +10% Damage with Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons / +10 Strength

Flawless Technique Board

Wild Force (replacing Brash)

• Previous: +5% Damage While Berserking / +16% Damage to Elites

• Now: (Brash) 4% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies / +10% Fire Resistance

Brash (replacing Wild Force)

• Previous: 4% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies / +10 Strength

• Now: (Wild Force) +10% Damage with One-Handed Weapons / +10 Strength

Warbringer Board

Conditioned (replacing Brute Force)

• Previous: +3% Resistance to All Elements / +10 Strength

• Now: (Brute Force) +10% Damage while Fortified / +10 Strength

Guarded Advance (replacing Conditioned)

• Previous: +10% Damage while Fortified / +6.5% Fortify Generation

• Now: (Conditioned) +3% Resistance to All Elements / +4% Healing Received

Weapons Master Board

Iron Strength

• Previous: +20 Armor / +10 Strength

• Now: +16% Damage to Elites / +10 Strength

New Barbarian Paragon Board in Diablo IV

The new Paragon Board for the Barbarian is called “Force of Nature,” and its Legendary Node is directly tied to Ground Stomp, as it greatly enhances the Earthquakes you create by using it in combination with the Earthquake Aspect.

As a reminder, the Earthquake Aspect enhances Ground Stomp, creating an earthquake on the ground that deals physical damage over 4 seconds and increases the damage you deal by 30% while you stand on it.

The node reads: Your Earthquakes have a 75% chance to spawn a Dust Devil every second that deals 180% Weapon damage. Earthquake damage is increased by 30% of your Damage vs Close bonus, up to a maximum of 150%.

The rare nodes for this board are

• Squall: +10.0% Dust Devil Damage, +10 Strength
• Catalyst: +45.0% Earthquake Damage, +10.0% Physical Damage
• Alloyed: +45.0% Earthquake Duration, + 20 Armor
• Raw Power: +10.0% Physical Damage, +10 Strength
• Denial: +3.0% Resistance to All Elements, +20 Armor
• Tenacity: 4.0% Maximum Life, +20 Armor

With the complementary changes to Ground Stomp it will make it an amazing tool against bosses and elite packs combining multiple effects and buffs into a single skill:

• Generates 60 Fury,
• Stun enemies for 4 seconds
• Deal massive flat damage (While Enhanced with Tactical Ground Stomp)
• Deal massive AoE damage over time/
• Increase your damage while fighting inside the earthquake.
• Can be used to trigger Berserking if using Tactical Ground Stomp with Battle Fervor

As an alternative to Ground Stomp, Earthquakes can also be created by using the Aspect of Bul-Kathos, which creates an earthquake on the place where you land with your leap, but instead of providing Increased Damage, it provides damage reduction (You can use both, and they stack).

Overall I think that this board is a great addition to the Barbarian arsenal and I will definitely be trying out some possible builds once the expansion hits.

Changes to Barbarian Legendary Aspects in Diablo IV

Remember that the Codex of Power was changed in Season 4, and now stores Legendary Aspects of the highest roll you’ve obtained for that particular Aspect. You can also use the Codex of Power as many times as you want on items provided you have the gold and materials. If you have not played in awhile, you should probably head over to your storage pull items you’ve been saving for a rainy day, and Salvage many of them as soon as possible at the Blacksmith in order to unlock higher rolls at the Codex of Power and free up space.

The following Aspects were changed with the latest patch

• Aspect of Bul-Kathos: Damage increased by 30% (Weapon Damage 105-165% to 137-217%)
• Earthquake Aspect: Damage increased by 30% (Weapon Damage 85-145% to 111-191%)
• Aspect of Giant Strides: Had a significant nerf, Cooldown per enemy hit reduced from 2.5-5.0 to 1.3-2.5 seconds and Maximum reduction reduced from 9 to 7 seconds.

New Uniques & Aspects

Two new aspects which are very straight-forward have been disclosed for the Barbarian:

Aspect of Shattering Steel – Offensive Aspect:

• Steel Grasp and Iron Maelstrom launch up to 10 metal shards that deal (80-280% of Weapon Damage) Physical damage.

Aspect of the Flaming Rampage – Offensive Aspect

• Charge gains an additional Charge. Each target hit by it explodes for [69-129% of Weapon Damage] Fire damage to surrounding enemies.

Unique Item

Ugly Bastard Helm – Unique Helm

Affixes:

• + [3 – 5] to Prolific Fury
• [8.0 – 12.5]% Wrath of the Berserker Cooldown Reduction
• +[26.0 – 35.0]% Resistance to All Elements
• Lucky Hit: Up to a 40% Chance to Deal +[4,250 – 6,750] Fire Damage

Effects

• Casting Wrath of the Berserker causes you to explode, dealing [150 – 450] Fire damage. While Berserking, all damage you would deal is converted into Fire.
• You deal [10 – 30]%[x] increased Fire damage.

The helm seems amazing and obviously aimed for a Fiery Berserking build, which I will most likely be making if I ever get my hands on this.

What this all Means for the Barbarian in Diablo IV

The Barbarian was the first class I heavily invested in when playing Diablo IV, and it was because of how amazing it felt to decimate enemies with brute force. I’m sure most of the Barbs out there share the same excitement to just go all out, shout, and charge into enemies with our full arsenal, and the Vessel of Hatred expansion will provide us with even more tools to achieve that goal.

The new Mighty Throw skill and the Ground Stomp updates will allow Barbarians to effectively deal with big crowds of enemies without relying on small, precise finishers like we used to. Barbarians that like to fight face to face will now have a legitimate option to use Thorns without having to rely solely on enemies attacking them, and those who enjoy the thrill of low health in combination with the Fortify mechanic will be able to achieve this goal with the overhaul of the Unconstrained Key Passive.

I think that the new changes to Paragon Boards and the increased amount of available Skill Points will open up a lot of new possibilities and viable Barbarian Builds.

So that rounds up our introduction to the 2.0 Barbarian in Diablo IV. I’m very excited to try all these changes and explore many new builds, including some old ones that were not possible at the time. As always, you can find our builds on the blog at fextralife.com and make full use of our interactive map and wiki to keep track of where to get all items! We’ve already been working, and the expansion content is shaping up nicely.

Will you be playing a Barb? Or are you going to be going full on into Spiritborn? Let us know in the comments below.