Welcome to the Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian Leveling Guide! This is a fan-favorite skill that returns to the franchise for Barbarians. HotA is usable in every situation, and has no real drawbacks with the right gear and gameplay technique.
In Season 4, Hammer of the Ancients no longer directly scales its damage from having a large Fury pool, and instead gets an increased Critical Strike Chance. This is actually great early on, since we don't have many efficient ways of increasing this stat.
Once we get the Legendary Aspect Ancestral Force, HotA has a great AoE like Whirlwind. It also has great Fury efficiency once it's "warmed up" by stacking Enhanced Hammer of the Ancients up to 10. The few weaknesses HotA has are easily overcome with the right build. On top of all that, it has incredible endgame potential due to the resource generation bonus it gives and the damage scaling it gets from Maximum Fury. Most importantly, many seasoned Barbarians swear it is the most fun core skill of them all.
Leap and Charge are taken for Berserking and extra mobility. These skills make the leveling process feel fast and smooth. The final skill we take is Iron Maelstrom, which gives us an additional source of burst damage with a large area of effect.
This build guide takes you through the Campaign and Early Game up to Level 50. Check out Endgame Guides in our Barbarian Guides section!
- Big Smash
- Maximum Fun
- Engaging Action
- Legendary Endgame Potential
- Most Restrictive Weapon Choices
- Low Efficiency Until it "Warms Up"
- Heavily Dependent on Codex Aspect
- Low Damage When Cast at Low Fury
Season 4 - Loot Reborn
In Season 4, the Season Theme revolves around helping out the Iron Wolves. Compared to past themes, this one does not offer any borrowed power as the entire game has been redesigned with new itemization and crafting options, increasing player power substantially across the board. Instead, you can gather reputation similar to the Vampire Bounty Board from Season 2 to unlock rewards that supercharge your leveling journey to 100 with extra items, crafting materials and eventually even a Resplendent Spark to craft an uber unique.
We recommend to follow the seasonal questline until you unlock the reputation system, check which rewards suit you most and then follow your regular leveling path. To learn more, check out our full Season 4 guide for more information.
Skill Showcase
Hammer of the Ancients
Hammer of the Ancients is our main damage dealer that has a big AOE once we acquire Ancestral Force from the Codex of Power in Act 2.
Skill Tree & Gameplay
Getting Started
To start off we have to put 2 points into Basic Skills to unlock the Core Skill section. Lunging Strike is easily the best choice because it doubles as a mobility skill with infinite dashes. This also increases our damage and Fury generation on mobile Bosses.
Hammer of the Ancients
Hammer of the Ancients is the centerpiece of this build. HotA becomes a shockwave after we acquire Ancestral Force, which significantly extends its Area of Effect. Make sure to hit enemies near full Fury to take advantage of Furious Hammer of the Ancients. While leveling, we will try to maintain a 2:1 rotation of two Lunging Strikes to each Hammer of the Ancients. To easily achieve this, we need to make use of Enhanced Hammer of the Ancients and Endless Fury, and assign our Two-Handed Slashing weapon to Lunging Strike.
Shouts and Brawling Skills
We continue to focus on mobility and Fury generation by learning Rallying Cry, Leap and Charge. Use Leap or Charge to close the gap to the next group of enemies, and to cycle weapons for enabling our Key Passive.
Use the slider on the bottom to see the Skill progression
Key Passive and Ultimate
We finally pick up our Key Passive skill Walking Arsenal, which has great synergy with Relentless Armsmaster. We activate this ability by assigning each of our skills different weapon types and using them in combat. While all parts of this passive are active, we get a substantial boost to our damage and attack speed, as well as a ton of Fury generation. Iron Maelstrom gives us some huge burst damage that covers a large area, and should be used during tougher encounters to quickly dispatch enemies. All of these things combined drastically speed up our leveling process and help alleviate any resource issues that may be present early on.
Check out our Renown Guide to unlock all your additional rewards efficiently.
Barbarian Arsenal System
The Arsenal System allows Barbarians to use a specific weapon for every attack skill, each granting different Bonuses. The Technique Slot grants us 1 additional Arsenal Power of our choosing for every attack. The Weapon Expertise bonus we get from our currently equipped weapon and the Weapon Expertise bonus we get from the Weapon Technique slot stack with each other.
Unlocking the Arsenal System
The Arsenal System automatically unlocks when you reach Level 5. Opening the Expertise tab (Shift + C) shows all the different weapon types and their bonuses when using them. The Technique Slot unlocks at Level 15 via the Masters of Battle quest in the Dry Steppes which is very easy to complete. Simply walk northeast of town, kill some enemies, then walk west to a cave to slay the beast. After returning to town the Technique Slot will be yours!
How the Arsenal System Impacts Leveling
Our choices are simple to make while leveling as Hammer of the Ancients. Remember that you must have a weapon leveled up to at least 1 before it can be equipped in the Technique Slot!
Weapon type - Hammer of the Ancients can only be cast with a Two-Handed Mace.
We assign Lunging Strike our Two-Handed Slashing weapon to apply Bleed and to generate more Fury with Endless Fury.
We assign our Dual-Wield weapons to Leap and Charge to meet the requirements to fully benefit from Walking Arsenal.
Weapon Technique - The One-Handed Axe is a good choice while leveling because it will provide a nice chunk of extra Critical Strike Chance against enemies that are Injured. We will eventually change to Two-Handed Axe technique when we have a reliable way of applying Vulnerable to our enemies.
Learn more details in our full Barbarian Arsenal System Guide.
Gear Progression & Global Stat Priorities
Leveling up in Diablo 4 is similar to most other ARPGs and MMOs - we're at the mercy of what drops. For the most part this means replacing Rares with better Rares all the way up to 50. If you're lucky enough to find some Legendaries or Uniques they can provide a significant power boost (discussed in the next sections). Assuming you don't find any of those, let's look at some key stats to look for along the way:
Hint: Press SHIFT over an item to compare it to what you're wearing!
Weapons
Since Hammer of the Ancients requires a Two-Handed Bludgeoning weapon, that's the only slot where the DPS matters. All other weapons become stat sticks to fuel its power. The stats to look on these for are:
- 1-H Weapons: Strength, Maximum Life, Life per Hit
- 2-H Weapons: DPS (2H Mace only), Fury on Kill, Resource Cost Reduction, Strength
Only upgrade the weapon you're using for Hammer of the Ancients at the Blacksmith and socket your weapons with Chipped Topaz.
Armor
Armor pieces typically grant us Defense and Utility stats, except the Gloves which offer a tidal wave of Offense. Here are the important stats to look for:
- Helm: Strength, Maximum Life, Fury per Second, Cooldown Reduction
- Armor: Strength, Maximum Life, Fury per Second, Armor
- Gloves: Ranks to Hammer of the Ancients, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, Strength
- Pants: Ranks to Lunging Strike, Strength, Maximum Life, Armor
- Boots: Ranks to Charge, Movement Speed, Fury per Second, Strength, Maximum Life
Jewelry
Jewelry provides powerful Offensive stats that help us on our leveling journey. Pay close attention to the rolls as higher leveled pieces aren't always better:
- Amulet: Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed, Movement Speed, Cooldown Reduction, Fury on Kill
- Rings: Critical Strike Chance, Fury on Kill, Attack Speed, Strength
Do not upgrade Armor or Jewelry while leveling. Socket Armor with Rubies.
Read more about itemization in our Damage Explained, Defense Explained, and Stats Explained articles.
Legendary Aspects
The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary. For leveling there are a few powers that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them:
Top Codex Legendary Aspects
| Aspect | Dungeon |
| Ancestral Force Must Have! | Sunken Ruins - Scosglen |
| Relentless Armsmaster | Calibel's Mine - Scosglen |
Warning: DO NOT imprint your Two-Handed Weapons as they are constantly replaced while leveling. Put Offensive Aspects on your One-Handed Weapons, Amulet, or Gloves instead.
Learn everything about the Codex of Power here.
Helpful Legendary Aspects
If you're lucky enough to find a Legendary while leveling, chances are it'll be an upgrade for you and you should equip it immediately. However, they are not all created equal, and some of them can accelerate your journey tremendously. Let's look at the top powers you could find and how to take advantage of them.
- Fierce Winds is one of the best aspects for any Dust Devil build in endgame.
- Devilish is another good aspect for Dust Devil builds.
- Ancestral Charge turns Charge into one of the best abilities in the game. With this Legendary Aspect equipped, if we have both Iron Maelstrom and Charge on our skill bar, we use Charge. Sometimes it takes longer than the cooldown just to find a monster that survived.
- Brawler - in case you are worried that having our strongest ability hit the entire screen every five seconds won't be enough power, this Legendary Aspect is for you. If even a single enemy dies to Charge, it sets off a chain reaction and every enemy we touch turns to dust.
- Veteran Brawler, while not as powerful as the previous two aspects, is also very useful. The only down-side is that you have to hit things with a Core Skill to benefit from it, which can be difficult when Charge leaves nothing but ashes in its wake.
- Bear Clan Berserker helps to solve Charge's only weakness: it has a cooldown.
How To Level
In Diablo 4 you level by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, completing Helltide activities, grinding Dungeons, or interacting with the Seasonal mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are made equal.
Campaign Leveling
- For your first character in Diablo 4, completing the Campaign provides the best gameplay experience and gives you access to key unlocks like your Mount.
- If you don't have your Mount, you MUST progress the Campaign until you complete the quest Donan's Favor at the start of Act 4.
- After obtaining your Mount you can skip the remainder of the campaign at any time.
- The Campaign is the slowest way to level, but it's worth experiencing the Campaign and Diablo 4's storyline at least once.
- To play Seasonal Content you need to have completed or skipped the Campaign.
Seasonal / Alt Leveling
- Complete the Seasonal questline, progress your Seasonal Journey to unlock Legendary Aspects and work on your Seasonal powers.
- If your account is below Rank 5 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.
- This only needs to be done once per realm (Softcore / Hardcore).
- Complete the Dungeons needed for any Legendary Aspects from your Codex of Power.
- From level 1-50 you should focus on getting experience in Helltides by combining Helltide activities with Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers or complete Gathering Legion Events.
- After level 50 you need to balance leveling up, Glyph Experience and participating in Endgame activities like Helltide, Tree of Whispers and Bosses. The fastest experience possible after reaching World Tier 3 is completing Nightmare dungeons with monsters exactly 10 levels above your current level. Check out our Nightmare Dungeon Tier List for the best Nightmare Dungeon layouts!
- Around level 30-45 you should move to World Tier 3.
- Around level 50-65 you should move to World Tier 4.
- Alternatively: Get boosted by a friend to World Tier 4 then leech experience/loot and Glyph exp (post 50), in Nightmare dungeons.
- Find the most efficient way of leveling your character in detail in our Speed Leveling Guide.
Leveling Tips and Tricks
Let's look at some tips and tricks to remember when leveling up!
- Level Up Your Potion. You need to farm materials to upgrade your character's potion.
- Make sure you collect all materials as you explore Sanctuary, especially Gallowvine which is used in many Elixir recipes!
- Compare your Items... Literally. Press Shift over an item in your inventory to compare it to what you're wearing.
- This makes it easy to determine what is and isn't an upgrade.
- Don't Imprint Your Best Aspect Onto Your Weapon. The most critical piece of gear while leveling up is your weapon, which gets replaced constantly.
- It is a better idea to put your best Offensive Aspect on your Amulet, which can be used for a long time.
- Sacred is just better. Between level 30 and 50 you're able to beat the Capstone Dungeon and enter World Tier 3, you gain access to powerful Sacred items which have higher item power and better stats. Getting a Sacred weapon significantly improves your farming speed.
- The same happens with World Tier 4 and Ancestral gear.
Video Guide
Summary
- The Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian is a fantastic leveling build in Diablo 4.
- Generate Fury with Rallying Cry, Leap and Bash to unleash Hammer of the Ancients on density, Elites and Bosses.
- Your Two-Handed Bludgeoning weapon determines the DPS for Hammer of the Ancients. The other weapons are then used as Stat Sticks.
- Look out for helpful Legendary Powers in the Codex of Power. Ancestral Force is a must have from the Sunken Ruins in Scosglen!
Credits
Written by Slothmaster
Contributions by Snail
