Barbarian Leveling Guide
Season 9
Last Updated:February 12, 2025|Changelog
The Barbarian Leveling Guide provides you with all the necessary information to get your favorite Character started!
Not every Skill is suitable to be used during early leveling for three reasons:
- Only a number of Skills work well without any previously farmed gear.
- A lot of builds lack damage during the leveling phase. It can become a big struggle or even straight up impossible to progress, starting with an end game build.
- Some builds have a hard time transitioning into hell due to Immunities.
We provide you with step by step Skill trees and easily accessible items that help you in your play through. Additionally, you get tips and insights on how to deal with Immunities and the more difficult fights.
At the end of this guide you'll have a Level 75 Barbarian that used 1 out of the 3 respecs the game provides. You can use these to transition into your build of choice.
If you like the build at the end of this guide, check out the War Cry Barbarian Guide, which continues it to the end game.
Progression
Act 1 N
(Up to Level 15)
(Up to Level 15)
Act 2 N
(Up to Level 20)
(Up to Level 20)
Act 3-4 N
(Until Level 25)
(Until Level 25)
Act 5 N
(Up to Level 31)
(Up to Level 31)
The Secret Cow Level
(Respec + Level 31)
(Respec + Level 31)
Act 1 NM
(Up to Level 40)
(Up to Level 40)
Act 2 NM - Act 5 H
(Up to Level 75)
(Up to Level 75)
Skill Point Allocation
Level 2: Bash
Level 3-4: Mace Mastery
Den of Evil: Bash
Level 5: Save Skill Point
Level 6: Double Swing + Leap
Level 7-11: Double Swing
Level 12-15: Bash
Attribute Allocation
Level 2-7: All into Vitality
Level 8-10: All into Dexterity
Level 11-12: All into Strength
Level 13: 1 into Strength, 4 into Vitality
Level 14-15: All into Vitality
Playstyle & Progression
- Clear out the Den of Evil and pick up items to sell, like Rings, Amulets, Charms, etc.
- Return to town, sell the items to Akara and purchase a Scepter, some Stamina Potions, and if possible, both the Tome of Town Portal, and the Tome of Identify.
- From this point onwards, Elite Groups are your primary focus when it comes to killing monsters. Don't waste your time with individual monsters. They grant far less Experience!
Until Level 6, use regular Attacks to destroy your enemies. Against tanky monsters and Elite Groups, use Bash for increased damage output. - Get the Waypoint in Stony Fields, go through the Underground Passage and find the Scroll of Inifuss. Return to town and have Akara identify the scroll before you're returning to the Stony Field. Find the Cairn Stones if you haven't yet, they are close to the path that connects the Cold Plains with the Underground Passage. Right-click the Scroll of Inifuss and click the stones in the shown order. Enter Tristram, kill any Elite Group you come across, and save Deckard Cain from his cage in the middle of the map. Head to the Western corner to also pick up Wirt's Leg. You'll need this a while later.
- Fight your way to the Black Marsh. Find the Waypoint and start farming The Countess inside the Forgotten Tower for the below listed Runes. Put the Runes into your Stash for storage.
Check Charsi for the 2 Socketed Body Armor, and a 2 Socket Helmet at the start of each run. - Double Swing becomes available at Level 6. At this point you need to have 2 Scepters equipped. Place Strangling Gas Potion into your Weapon-Swap. Throw them at Elite Groups before engaging them with Double Swing.
- After acquiring all Runes, make your way to the Catacombs Level 4, where you face the first Act boss, Andariel - Maiden of Anguish.
Gear Checklist
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| 2 Scepters | Shop at Akara after the Den of Evil | Tip: If you get them with Sockets, put in any Chipped Gem that provides additional damage. | ||||
| Strangling Gas Potions: | Drop from monsters / chests | Tip: Their Quantity can be restored to maximum by selling and repurchasing them from a Vendor. | ||||
| Choking Gas Potions | Drop from Poison Shrine | Tip: Open your Inventory to place the Potions as individual stacks. You can restore each stack to maximum quantity by selling and repurchasing them from a Vendor. This gives you more stacks, in case you run out by accident. | ||||
| Any 2 Socketed Helmet | Shop at Charsi or drop from monsters | This Helmet is used to either put 2 Ral Runes, or the Runeword Nadir into. Make sure that it is NOT a Magic Item for the latter. | ||||
| Any 2 Socketed Body Armor | Shop at Charsi or drop from monsters | This Body Armor is used for the Runeword Stealth later on. Make sure that it is NOT a Magic Item. | ||||
| Mandatory: 3-4 Tal Runes 2 Eth Runes 1 Ith Rune 1 El Rune | Farm at The Countess | These Runes are used later for: - Stealth - Malice Flail - Gemmed Flail | ||||
| Optional: 1-2 Ral Runes 1-2 Nef Runes 1 Tir Rune Additional Ral Runes | Farm at The Countess | If acquired, these Runes are used for: - Gemmed Helmet - Nadir - Viper Grip Heavy Gloves - Gemmed Hunter's Bow | ||||
| Create Nadir | Stash / Inventory | Create Nadir into a 2 Socketed Helmet you acquired in Act 1. | ||||
Skill Point Allocation
Radament: Howl
Level 16: Taunt
Level 17: Save Skill Point
Level 18: Leap Attack + Battle Cry
Level 19: Mace Mastery
Level 20: Increased Stamina
Attribute Allocation
Level 13: 1 into Strength, 4 into Vitality
Level 14-20: All into Vitality
Playstyle & Progression
- After purchasing a Belt, and, if you are Level 14, 2 flails.
- Immediately create Malice Flail when you hit Level 15.
- Start using Choking Gas Potions at Level 16 for Area of Effect damage. They become your main way of dealing with pockets of monster density. You can continue using strangling Gas Potions until you find these.
- At Level 17, create and equip Stealth, and the Gemmed Flail. In combination with Malice Flail, you'll use this for the foreseeable future.
- Starting at Level 18, use leap attack as your main mobility skill instead of running.
- When you hit Level 19, equip a Gemmed Cap. This Helmet can be a lifesaver in Act 3 and 4!
Gear Checklist
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| 2 Flails | Shop at Farah Level 14 Required to Shop! | Used to create: - Malice Flail - Gemmed Flail | ||||
| Choking Gas Potions | Drop from monsters / chests Drop from Poison Shrine | Tip: Their Quantity can be restored to maximum by selling and repurchasing them from a Vendor. | ||||
| Create Malice Flail | Stash / Inventory | Create Malice into one of the Flails. | ||||
| Create Gemmed Flail | Stash / Inventory | Put 3 Tal Runes into the second Flail. | ||||
| Stealth | Stash / Inventory | Create Stealth into the 2 Socketed Body Armor. | ||||
| Gemmed Cap | Stash / Inventory | Put the 2 Ral Runes into the 2 Socketed Helmet. | ||||
| Bone Shield | Shop at Drognan | This Shield is used for the Runeword Rhyme in Nightmare. | ||||
Skill Point Allocation
Level 17: Save Skill Point
Level 18: Leap Attack + Battle Cry
Level 19: Mace Mastery
Level 20: Increased Stamina
Level 21: Shout
Level 22: Double Throw
Level 23: Save Skill Point
Level 24: Frenzy + Battle Orders
Level 25: Battle Orders + Frenzy
Attribute Allocation
Level 17-25: All into Vitality
Playstyle & Progression
- Throughout Act 3, aim Choking Gas Potions at the weak Flayers running around. These Potions are your only Area of Effect clear option.
- In melee combat, use Battle Cry to lower their Defense and then Double Swing to apply Open Wounds / Poison Damage.
- Equip your Gemmed Helmet to guard yourself against the devastating inferno of Flayer Shamans.
- Progress through Act 3, but stop at Travincal! Complete the creation of Khalim's Will but DON’T smash the Compelling Orb! We replace our Gemmed Flail with Khalim's Will and use it to Level-Up in Flayer Jungle or Travincal. Target Level is ~24.7.
- While Leveling, and between Level 19 and 23, check Ormus for a Staff of Teleportation.
- At Level 24, start using Frenzy to increase your movement speed and Attack Speed. After getting Frenzy-Charges, use Double Swing to deal your damage.
- Hire a Level 19 Act 1 Fire Mercenary, available at Level 20+, and equip her with a Gemmed Hunter's Bow. She supplements your damage nicely while Leveling. It can be tricky to keep her alive!
- At Level 24.7 you'll have to replace the Khalim's Will with Gemmed Flail to continue your progression. Kill Mephisto and continue to Act 4.
- Make your way towards Chaos Sanctuary, kill Izual and complete the Hellforge Quest along the way. If any quality of ruby drops from the latter, take your time to farm some Gem Shrines to upgrade them to a perfect ruby. This is used to create the Crafted Gloves.
- Start using Battle Orders and keep this buff up at all times.
Gear Checklist
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| Staff of Teleportation | Shop at Ormus A minimum of Level 19 is required to shop it! | Tip: Shop the Staff between Level 19 and 23. | ||||
| Khalim's Will | Quest-progression in Act 3 | Before using Khalim's Will to open the Durance of Hate, use it instead of the Gemmed Flail while leveling. | ||||
| Perfect Ruby or Flawless Ruby | Act 4 Quest 2 | If you are lucky, you get a Perfect Ruby or Flawless Ruby. Find a Gem Shrine if you get a Flawless Ruby. Then craft Heavy Gloves: Heavy Gloves + Perfect Ruby + Nef Rune + Jewel in Horadric Cube | ||||
| Heavy Gloves | Shop at Act 1 or 2 Vendor | |||||
| Jewel | Found between Act1 and 3 | |||||
Skill Point Allocation
Level 26-28: Bash
Level 29: Save Skill Point
Level 30: War Cry + Battle Command
Level 31: War Cry
Attribute Allocation
Level 26-31: All into Vitality
Playstyle & Progression
- Make your way to the Frigid Highlands Waypoint and kill Shenk the Overseer along the way.
- Now it's time to farm Eldritch the Rectifier until Level 29. This is the easiest place to farm for the Barbarian. Make use of the Act 1 Fire Mercenary. She speeds this process up significantly.
Tip: You can go ahead and save Anya from her icy prison and use Pindleskin as an additional stop for this leveling portion. - At Level 29, put the Staff of Teleportation into your secondary Weapon Slot to increase your mobility.
- Make your way towards Mount Arreat and kill off the Ancients.
- Continue your way down to the Throne of Destruction, kill off waves 1-4. Wave 5 is very hard to kill. Kite them out of the big room and try to lose them. When returning to the big room, Baal should move into the Worldstone Chamber. Kill him - This might take a minute...
- Equip a combination of Wyrm's Wand of the Magus, and Sounding Javelin, shoppable from Malah, to hit the highest possible damage and Cast Rate at this moment.
Gear Checklist
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| Wyrm's Wand of the Magus | Shop at Malah | Check Malah while farming Eldritch the Rectifier. Priorities: Mana > Faster Cast Rate | ||||
| Sounding Javelin | Shop at Malah | Check Malah while farming Eldritch the Rectifier. +1 to Warcries (Barbarian Only) can be on any Throwing Weapon she sells, so check them all. | ||||
| Rancid Gas Potions | Drops from monsters | Use these while farming Eldritch the Rectifier to increase your damage output. | ||||
Respec
Combat Skills (1 Skill Point each)
Leap
Leap Attack
Concentrate
Whirlwind
Combat Masteries (1 Skill Point each)
Mace Mastery
Increased Speed
Natural Resistance
Warcries
Battle Cry - 9 Skill Points
Battle Orders - 8 Skill Points
Battle Command - 1 Skill Point
War Cry - 2 Skill Points
Attribute Allocation
Strength: 13 Stat Points
Dexterity: 40 Stat Points
Vitality: Remaining Stat Points
Playstyle & Progression
- From now on we are using War Cry for Area of Effect Damage. This Skill not only deals Physical Damage, it also incapacitates your enemies with a Stun.
- Make sure to keep the buffs of Battle Command and Battle Orders are up at all times.
- The only goal of this section is to get 2 Crystal Swords from The Secret Cow Level. Open the Red Portal by putting a Wirt's Leg and Tome of Town Portal into your Horadric Cube. Do as many runs as it takes.
Gear Checklist
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| Malice Flail | Put into Stash | The base is used for the Runeword Black later. | ||||
| 2 Crystal Sword | The Secret Cow Level | Farm The Secret Cow Level until you have 2 Crystal Swords. Use the Socket reward from Larzuk in Act 5, Quest 1 on one of them. Save the other in your Stash to do the same in Nightmare Act 5. Note: If a 4 Socketed Crystal Sword is found during Nightmare progression you'll save a Socket Quest. | ||||
Skill Point Allocation
Level 32: War Cry
Den of Evil: Battle Cry
Level 33-40: War Cry
Attribute Allocation
Level 32-40: 10 into Dexterity, Rest into Vitality
Playstyle & Progression
- Start Nightmare by shopping for a Belt and Boots with Resistances / Faster Run/Walk.
- Continue to use War Cry for Area of Effect Damage.
- Make sure to keep the buffs of Battle Command and Battle Orders are up at all times.
- Clear out the Den of Evil to get the additional Skill Point.
- The main priority in this Act is farming The Countess for a number of Runewords (listed below). Kill any Elite Group that you encounter along the way.
- After farming all the Runewords, make your way down to Andariel. Use Whirlwind in combination with Black and Rhyme Bone Shield to bring her down to low Life. Switch back to theSpirit Crystal Sword + Sounding Javelin setup to finish her off with War Cry.
Gear Checklist
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| Coral Demonhide Sash | Shop at Charsi or Gheed | Shop for a 4-row Belt with Resistances. Lightning Resist and Fire Resist are the main priorities. | ||||
| Garnet Heavy Boots of Haste | Shop at Charsi or Gheed | Shop for Boots that give Faster Run/Walk and Resistances. Lightning Resist and Fire Resist are the main priorities. | ||||
| Garnet Heavy Gloves | Shop at Charsi or Gheed | Shop for Gloves that give Resistances. Lightning Resist and Fire Resist are the main priorities. | ||||
| Mandatory Runes: 2x Tal Rune 3x Thul Rune 3x Ort Rune 2x Amn Rune Io Rune Nef Rune Sol Rune Shael Rune Eth Rune | Farm at The Countess | Let's break the Runes down: - Create the first Spirit Crystal Sword right away. Put the Runes for the second into your Stash until you have a second base. - Create Lore Cap - Create Black Flail and Rhyme Bone Shield and put them into your Stash. | ||||
| Optional Runes: 1x Amn Rune 1x Tir Rune | Farm at The Countess | If you don't get lucky with the Io Rune you can instead create a Strength Scimitar for yourself. | ||||
Skill Point Allocation
Max out your Skills in the following order:
War Cry
Battle Cry
Taunt
Howl
Attribute Allocation
Level 40-75: Enough Dexterity to keep 50% Chance to Block, Rest into Vitality
Playstyle & Progression
- Make sure to keep Battle Orders and Battle Command up at all times.
- Use War Cry to kill off Elite Groups and make your way through the campaign.
- In Act 5 Nightmare, create your second Spirit Crystal Sword, using the Socket Quest and the stashed Runes.
- Against Act Bosses and the Ancients, use the Crushing Blow setup with Blood Crafted Gloves, Black Flail, and Rhyme Bone Shield to bring them to low Life before finishing them off with your War Cry setup.
- In Act 5 Nightmare, make some Baal-Runs to gain some Levels before you continue to Hell. Only kill the Waves in the Throne of Destruction, Baal himself is a waste of your time.
- After you have leveled up a bit, you can progress through Hell difficulty and use the same strategy for killing Act Bosses.
Gear Checklist
| Item | Where | Note | ||||
| Second Spirit Crystal Sword | Create in Act 5 Nightmare | Use the Socket Quest in Act 5 Nightmare and create the Spirit Crystal Sword from the Runes you put into your Stash. | ||||
Essentials
All of our Leveling Guides are viable for Hardcore.
Changes to consider:
- Over Level before you enter Nightmare / Hell. Suggested Target Levels are ~38-40 for Nightmare and 65+ for Hell.
- Make sure to have your Cold, Fire, and Lightning Resistances capped at 75% when you enter Nightmare and Hell. The easy way to check this is to enter the difficulty you want to play and open your Character screen.
- We recommend farming Flayer Jungle or The Secret Cow Level in Nightmare for Charms. They make it easy to cap your Resistances.
With a shared stash now available and the fact that this might not be your first Character we want to give you some gear options that can improve your Leveling experience a lot!
Until Level 31
- Death's Hand + Death's Guard provides you with 30% Increased Attack Speed, All Resistances +15%, and Cannot be Frozen. These are incredible Stats for melee builds.
- Bloodfist is a great option for the entire leveling process, providing +40 to Life, +10% Increased Attack Speed, and +30% Faster Hit Recovery.
After Level 31 respec
- Skin of the Vipermagi is the best Body Armor you can equip on any caster for Leveling.
- Magefist gives you 20% Faster Cast Rate which helps to improve your Cast Rate for War Cry.
- A rare Amulet with +x to Barbarian Skills or +x to Warcries (Barbarian Only) is very powerful. Unique options for the Amulet are The Eye of Etlich and later a Maras Kaleidoscope.
- Hsarus' Iron Heel and Sander's Riprap are strong options for the Boots slot. Both provide you with Faster Run/Walk and are very common drops.
- The Stone of Jordan provides you with +1 to All Skills, which scales our damage up significantly. It's a rather expensive option, but if you have one, put it on!
- Arreat's Face is an incredible Helmet providing +2 to Barbarian Skills, All Resistances, and % Attack Rating which helps in boss fights.
- Patch 2.6 added some interesting choices for Helmet Runewords. If you are struggling with Lightning Damage, farm the Countess in Nightmare to build Ground. Temper is a great option if you or your Mercenary struggle with Fire Damage.
- Bulwark is another incredible helmet for the Barbarian, granting up to 15% Reduced Physical Damage Taken. You can even create it in a Barbarian Helmet with +x to Warcry! Since you are always very close to your enemies, you are hit a lot by Physical Damage.
The areas below are efficient farming locations that make use of the build’s strengths. Other farming spots might not be as effective due to immunities or bad layouts.
Anything that has a ✔ in the "Starter" column can be farmed with the Starter Variant.
Act 1
| Area | Rewards | ||
| The Countess | Runes Key of Terror | ||
| The Pit | All Item Types Max Area Level Leveling | ||
| Andariel | Uniques Sets Jewelry |
Act 3
| Area | Rewards | ||
| Travincal | Gearing Runes Charms / Gems / Jewels Gold |
Act 5
| Area | Rewards | ||
| Eldritch the Rectifier | Gearing Gold Leveling | ||
| Shenk the Overseer | Gearing Gold Leveling | ||
| Pindleskin | Gearing Gold Leveling |
Video
Summary
- Use Double Swing early on as your best damage option. Add Strangling Gas Potions to increase your damage output, and AoE clear.
- Buy a Staff of Teleportation before Level 24.
- After respecing, keep your buffs up at all times:
- Battle Command
- Battle Orders
- War Cry is your main damage Skill after the respec.
- Take your time to farm all the Runes from The Countess in Nightmare. It's worth it!
- Switch to Crushing Blow gear to fight Act Bosses and the Ancients before shouting them to death.
We hope the Barbarian Leveling Guide helps you to get to your endgame build of choice. The Barbarian arguably has the hardest time leveling up by himself. This guide gives you the best options to get there.
Credits
Written by Teo1904
Reviewed by MacroBioBoi