The Season of Slaughter has officially been unveiled for Diablo 4, and it marks a significant point in the game’s life as a live-service title. Diablo 4 Season 12 will be the final season before the launch of the Lord of Hatred expansion, which not only adds the new Warlock class but also reworks Skill Trees, increases the number of Torment Tiers and level cap, and adds the new map of Skovos. While some Diablo 4 players might see this season as a calm before the storm, fans of one class should be celebrating its return to form after being overshadowed for the past few seasons.
Diablo 4 Season 12 is putting a renewed emphasis on slaughtering the demons of Sanctuary, with the return of the Killstreak mechanic from Diablo 3, and the ability for players to transform into the dreaded Butcher themselves. This season is also adding the Bloodied item quality, offering new affixes that reward players for slaying enemies as fast as possible. As such, Diablo 4 Season 12’s best builds are going to be those that can quickly and efficiently carve up demons, and the stars seem to be aligning for the Barbarian to do just that.
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GameRant went hands-on with Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred’s Warlock class for a preview of what to expect from the upcoming expansion.
Barbarians Should Thrive in Diablo 4 Season 12
The Barbarian has been on the back burner of Diablo 4 classes in recent seasons, despite being one of the game’s best classes in the early days. Diablo 4 Season 11 saw the Barbarian creep its way into the top of the meta, but it was ultimately overshadowed by the release of the Paladin to kick off the season. Now that the honeymoon is over for Diablo 4‘s Paladin, the Barbarian can finally show its true strength with a series of Season 12 additions that are perfect for the class to capitalize on.
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Barbarian Players Will Want to Farm for These 2 New Uniques ASAP
- Blood-Mad Idol—Unique Amulet
- Thousand-Eye Reaver—Unique One-Handed Axe
Unlike past Diablo 4 seasons that added one new Unique per class, Diablo 4 Season 12’s Uniques are all usable by multiple classes. Two of the best new Uniques are ideal for the Barbarians, since they can give the class helpful status conditions with added bonuses. Blood-Mad Idol allows the user to constantly be in the Berserk state, increasing their damage by 25% and movement speed by 30%, at the cost of taking Burning damage every 8 seconds. However, while Burning, the user gets an additional 75-125% damage increase.
Thousand-Eye Reaver is another perfect Unique for Barbarians to use in Diablo 4 Season 12. It grants the user access to the Spiritborn’s Ferocity status, which increases attack speed with each stack of the buff. Barbarians are capable of equipping both of these Uniques, allowing them to reap the rewards of both buffs simultaneously.
The Season of Slaughter Will Reward Diablo 4 Barbarians’ Aggressive Playstyle
Diablo 4‘s Killstreak feature increases the player’s Killstreak tier based on how many enemies they kill within a short period between encounters. The new Bloodied equipment comes with affixes that activate based on Killstreak tiers and kill counts, plus seasonal rewards like reputation are increased depending on the tier players achieve during their Killstreak. This means that movement and attack speed will be crucial to success in Diablo 4 Season 12, and the Barbarian suddenly has these helpful new tools to optimize its lethality.
Lunging Strike Will Be the Best Barbarian Build for Diablo 4 Season 12
The go-to build for Diablo 4 Barbarians in Season 12 will likely be the Lunging Strike Barbarian. This build was already a top-tier build in the Season 11 meta, but will benefit even more from the new Uniques added coming in the Season of Slaughter. Although Sanctification won’t be around after Season 11 ends, Diablo 4 promises that Bloodied gear will make up for the loss of Sanctification, with build-defining features on par with Chaos Armor from Season 10.
Diablo 4 is Officially Crossing Over With Doom
Diablo 4’s ‘Season of Slaughter’ is set to begin in a few days’ time, and it’ll bring with it an official crossover with Doom: The Dark Ages.
Key Lunging Strike Barbarian Skills and Gear
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Skills
- Lunging Strike
- Challenging Shout
- Rallying Cry
- Iron Skin
- Ground Stomp
- Wrath of the Berserker
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Gear
- Thousand-Eye Reaver—Unique One-Handed Axe
- Blood-Mad Idol—Unique Amulet
- Paingorger’s Gauntlets—Unique Gloves
- Tibault’s Will—Unique Pants
- Hooves of the Mountain God—Unique Boots
- Shard of Verathiel—Unique Sword
In terms of skills, Lunging Strike will be the bread and butter of this Diablo 4 Barbarian build, since it has high mobility and resource generation. Since Barbarians equipped with the Blood-Mad Idol will always be Berserking, the shouts of choice for this build will be Challenging Shout and Rallying Cry, since War Cry will be unnecessary. Ground Stomp is important for pulling enemies close to the Barbarian, and Iron Skin helps with survivability, especially since players will constantly be taking Burning damage from the Blood-Mad Idol. Wrath of the Berserker is mostly useful for gaining Unstoppable, since it won’t be needed to trigger Berserking.
Aside from the Thousand-Eye Reaver and Blood-Mad Idol, the other key Uniques for this Lunging Strike Barbarian build include the Paingorger’s Gauntlets, which allow the player to mark enemies with non-Basic skills like Ground Stomp before using a Basic Skill like Lunging Strike to damage all marked enemies. This is useful for clearing out groups quickly and adding to the Barbarian’s Killstreak. Tibault’s Will is needed for Synergy with Wrath of the Berserker, since it increases the Barbarian’s damage while they are Unstoppable.
Hooves of the Mountain God allows Lunging Strike to Cleave enemies, and deal increased damage while draining their Fury resource. With the Barbarian’s ability to equip an entire arsenal of weaponry, the Shard of Verathiel is a necessary one-handed companion to the Thousand-Eye Reaver, since it boosts the damage output of Lunging Strike considerably.
This build will drain the Barbarian’s Fury resource quickly, so having the Legendary Aspect of Adaptability on an item is also necessary, since it increases resource generation with 5 additional Fury gained per Basic Skill cast.
Lunging Strike Barbarian is Perfect for Diablo 4 Season 12’s Killstreak Mechanic
While powerful, the Barbarian has historically been one of the slower Diablo 4 classes, with limited mobility skills to choose from. With access to the Spiritborn’s Ferocity and constant Berserking, the Barbarian can easily become a speed demon in Diablo 4 Season 12, giving it both the power and movement speed needed to tear through foes and maintain a Killstreak. Blizzard is still keeping some of the Bloodied affixes under wraps, but there are sure to be some abilities that the Barbarian can and should be able to deftly take advantage of with a build like this.
- Released
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June 5, 2023
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
