The Season of Slaughter has officially been unveiled for Diablo 4and it marks an important point in the game's life as a live service title. Diablo 4 Season 12 will be the last season before the release of the Lord of Hatred expansion, which not only adds the new Warlock class, but also reworks the Skill Trees, increases the number of Torment Tiers and level caps, and adds the new map of Skovos. While some Diablo 4 players can see this season as the calm before the storm, a class fans should be celebrating their return to form after being overshadowed in recent seasons.
Diablo 4 Season 12 places a renewed emphasis on slaughtering the demons in Sanctuary, with the return of the Killstreak mechanic from Diablo 3and the ability for players to transform themselves into the dreaded Butcher. This season also adds to the quality of Bloodied items, offering new affixes that reward players for killing enemies as quickly as possible. As such, Diablo 4 Season 12's best builds will be those that can quickly and efficiently slice up demons, and the stars seem to be aligned 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 of Diablo 4 classes in recent seasons, despite being one of the game's best classes early on. Diablo 4 Season 11 saw Barbarian creep into the top of the meta, but it was ultimately overshadowed by the release of Paladin to start the season. Now that the honeymoon is over for Diablo 4s Paladin, the Barbarian can finally show its true strength with a series of Season 12 additions that are perfect for the class to take advantage of.
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Barbarian players will want to farm for these 2 new uniques ASAP
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Blood-Mad Idol – Unique amulet
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Thousand Eye Reaver—Unique one-handed axe
Unlike before Diablo 4 seasons which added a 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, as they can give the class useful 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 burn damage every 8 seconds. But during 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 stat, which increases attack speed with each stack of the buff. Barbarians can equip both of these uniques, allowing them to reap the benefits of both buffs at the same time.
Slaughter Season will reward the Diablo 4 Barbarian's aggressive playstyle
Diablo 4s Killstreak feature increases the player's Killstreak level based on how many enemies they kill within a short period between encounters. The new Bloodied gear comes with patches that activate based on Killstreak levels and kill counts, plus seasonal rewards that increase in reputation based on the level players achieve during their Killstreak. This means that movement and attack speed will be critical to success in Diablo 4 Season 12, and the Barbarian suddenly has these useful new tools to optimize its lethality.
Lunging Strike will be the best barbarian build for Diablo 4 Season 12
To build for Diablo 4 Barbarians in season 12 will likely be Lunging Strike Barbarian. This build was already a top tier in the Season 11 meta, but will benefit even more from the new Uniques added coming in 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 Season 10's Chaos Armor.
Diablo 4 officially goes over with Doom
Diablo 4's “Season of Slaughter” begins in a few days, and it will bring with it an official crossover with Doom: The Dark Ages.
Key Lunging Strike Barbarian's Skills and Equipment
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Skills
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Lunging Strike
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Challenging shout
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Rallying Cry
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Iron skin
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Ground Stomp
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Wrath of the Berserker
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Gear
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Thousand Eye Reaver—Unique one-handed axe
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Blood-Mad Idol – Unique amulet
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Paingorger's Gauntlets—Unique gloves
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Tibault's testament – unique trousers
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Hooves of the mountain god – unique boots
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Shard of Verathiel – Unique sword
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Skill-wise, Lunging Strike becomes the bread and butter for this Diablo 4 Barbarian build, as it has high mobility and resource generation. Since barbarians equipped with Blood-Mad Idol will always be Berserking, the cries of choice for this build will be Challenging Shout and Rallying Cry, as War Cry will be unnecessary. Ground Stomp is important for drawing enemies close to the barbarian, and Iron Skin helps with survivability, especially since players will constantly be taking burn damage from the Blood-Mad Idol. Wrath of the Berserker is most useful for winning Unstoppable, as it won't be needed to trigger Berserking.
Aside from Thousand-Eye Reaver and Blood-Mad Idol, the other key uniques for this Lunging Strike Barbarian build include 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 quickly clearing out groups and adding to the Barbarian's Killstreak. Tibault's Will is needed for Synergy with Wrath of the Berserker, as 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 weapons, the Shard of Verathiel is a necessary one-handed companion to the Thousand-Eye Reaver, as it greatly increases the damage output of Lunging Strike.
This build will drain the Barbarian's Fury resource quickly, so having the legendary aspect of adaptability on an item is also necessary, as it increases resource generation by 5 extra Fury gained per Basic Skill roll.
Lunging Strike Barbarian is perfect for Diablo 4 Season 12's Killstreak Mechanic
Although powerful, the barbarian has historically been one of the slower ones Diablo 4 classes, with limited mobility to choose from. With access to Spiritborn ferocity and constant Berserking, the barbarian can easily become a speed demon in Diablo 4 Season 12, it provides both the power and movement speed needed to tear through enemies and maintain a Killstreak. Blizzard is still keeping some of the Bloodied affixes under wraps, but there are certainly some abilities that the barbarian can and should be able to take advantage of skillfully 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, User Interaction
