The Leap Attack Barbarian smashes into Elite Packs and Bosses alike with MASSIVE DAMAGE. High mobility on leapattack, with the option to use the same Cast Frames as a Sorceress for teleport, gives this build a wide range of gear options and play-styles. Similar to the Pit Zerker, you're able to stack huge amounts of Magic Find without sacrificing efficiency or kill speed! What sets it apart, is the truly outrageous DPS in your arsenal, coupled with a very wide-range of farming options. You can take this guy ANYWHERE!
Find Item really shines on the Magic Find variant of this build, sine we're able to easily stack over 500 MF. This gives you another chance for Elite monsters to drop their loot, giving you the most bang for your buck. Unlike some other melee builds though, the AoE damage on leapattack helps to soften up other mobs in a group, that your Mercenary cleans up while you move onto the next pack.
High Mobility ✔ Farms Any Area ✔ Very Customizable Gear ✔ Easily Stacks Magic Find ✔
❌ High Skill Cap ❌ Weak AoE Potential ❌ Low-Tier Density Farmer ❌ Expensive End Game Gear
Sunder Charm Setup
Patch 2.5 introduces a new way of breaking Immunities: Sunder Charms. Any enemy that would be Immune to your damage type is insted reduced to 95% Resistance, before any other Resistance reductions apply. (e.g. amplifydamage, decrepify) The Charm also reduces YOUR Resistance against the sundered damage type! Check out our post on Sunder Charms to learn more about these new Charms. The following setup uses Bone Break, allowing you to farm anywhere you want.
Sunder Charm Setup
Sunder Charm Setup
Gear Changes
Bone Break drastically increases our Physical Damage against Immunes when used in combination with decrepify. You don't need to worry about the Physical Damage Taken increase because we already use stormshield on the Standard Variant.
Terror Zones
The new Terror Zone mechanic combined with Sunder Charms open up a wide range of farmable areas. The following list highlights the best and worst Terror Zones for this build on the Starter or Budget setup. With the Sunder Charm Setup, more Terror Zones become accessible. Learn more about Terror Zones here and see how they stack up in our Terror Zone Tier List.
Best
✔ The Secret Cow Level - High Density, Easy Mobility, No Immunities ✔ Flayer Jungle ONLY - High Density, Easy Mobility, No Immunities ✔ Pit - High Density, Easy Mobility, Many Elite Groups ✔ Cold Plains + The Cave - High Density, Easy Mobility, Quick Access ✔ Chaos Sanctuary - High Density, Easy Mobility, Many Elite Groups
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills: 1. Increased Speed 2. Iron Skin 3. Natural Resistance 4. berserk 5. Battle Command 6. Concentrate
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. Leapattack 2. leap 3. axemastery 4. battleorders 5. finditem
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Damage
leapattack* is your Primary Damage Skill. It sends your Barbarian high into the air to crash down on the target or space your cursor is on. It attempts to attack the closest enemy if none were selected, and applies AoE Physical Damage to everything within its blast radius. While it can travel further than the leap Skill, its animation takes longer to execute.
Berserk* is your follow-up Damage Skill, and Boss killing attack. It violently swings your primary weapon at the targeted enemy, dealing Magic Damage. You have 0 Defense while using this Skill.
leap* applies knock-back and Stun to all enemies within its radius. It is also a faster Leap-animation than leapattack to quickly relocate your Character in dicey situations.
Find Item* gives you a second chance at receiving loot when used on a monster's corpse. The % chance is based on the Skill's Level. Your Barbarian's Magic Find stat is taken into account when using this ability.
Battle Orders* is a temporary buff that grants a significant percentage boost to the Maximum Life, Mana, and Stamina of all partied Characters, Mercenaries, and minions within its cast radius.
Battle Command* is a temporary buff that grants +1 to All Skills to all partied Characters, Mercenaries, and minions within its cast radius.
Battle Cry* is an Optional Skill that temporarily reduces nearby enemy Damage and Defense. It is most effective against Act Bosses.
Blade Mastery/axeMastery/maceMastery* passively grants a percentage boost to Damage, Attack Rating, and Critical Strike (chance to deal double damage) while attacking with Sword/Dagger OR Axe OR Mace Class weapons.
Natural Resistance* passively increases All Resistances based on its Skill Level.
Increased Speed* passively grants Faster Run/Walk based on its Level.
teleport* instantly moves your Character and any Mercenary to the location of your cursor, traveling over obstacles and walls.
*Faster Cast Rate Skills (FCR) * Skills that do NOT utilize either FCR or IAS
Attributes
Note: This section provides you with the standard Stat Point allocation. Build Variants may require different allocations!
Strength
Allocate the majority of Stat Points into Strength to gain additional Physical Damage on melee attacks.
Dexterity
Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Dexterity your gear provides when equipped.
Vitality
Allocate any remaining Stat Points into Vitality after meeting Strength, Dexterity and Energy requirements.
Energy
Do not allocate any Stat Points into Energy. Mana costs are covered by “x% Mana Stolen per Hit” or “+x Mana after each Kill” on gear.
Essentials
Gear Options
While every Stat in the Desirable Stats column is useful for this build, we highlighted the Priority Stats in Teal so you can easily identify the Most Important Stats on them.
Hover over any Item to see a pop-out with the full Item description.
Gear Notes: Any Items with specialized or niche uses have a superscript that refers here. 1) Only use Naj's Puzzler, a Staff of Teleportation, or a Teleport Charge Amulet for Teleport Charges if you have not yet acquired Enigma. 2) Used before you has access to decrepify on your Mercenary, and as a source of Teleport charges instead of Enigma.
Slot
Item Options
Desirable Stats
Weapon
Grief Ettin Axe Grief Berserker Axe Grief Phase Blade Oath Balrog Blade Unbending Will Phase Blade Unbending Will Colossus Blade Unbending Will Executioner Sword Breath of the Dying Thunder Maul Breath of the Dying War Pike Death Berserker Axe Headstriker Conquest Sword (zodrune)
18% Chance to cast level 18 Taunt on striking +x to Combat Skills [Barbarian Only] +x% Increased Attack Speed +x% Enhanced Damage Damage +x -x% Target Defense +x% Damage to Demons +x% Damage to Undead x% Deadly Strike + to Attribute Damage Reduced by x +x to Life after each Kill
Off-Hand
Stormshield (Ruby Jewel of Virility) Spirit Lance Guard (Ruby Jewel of Virility) Spirit Ward (Ruby Jewel of Virility) Phoenix Crystal Sword (6x Ist Runes) Blade of Ali Baba (2x Ist Runes) Gull Dagger (Ist Rune) Stormshield (eldrune) Rhyme
+x% Enhanced Damage +x% Faster Block Rate x% Increased Chance of Blocking +x to Attribute X Resist +x% Damage Reduced by x% Cannot Be Frozen x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Weapon-Swap
Heart of the Oak Flail Call to Arms Crystal Sword Echoing Glaive Spellsteel2 Naj's Puzzler1 Staff of Teleportation1
+x to All Skills +3 to Warcries (Barbarian Only) +x% Faster Cast Rate +x to Attribute +x Life +x Mana Increased Maximum Mana x% All Resistances +x Level x Teleport [x/x Charges]
Off-Hand-Swap
Heart of the Oak Flail Echoing Glaive
+x to All Skills +3 to Warcries (Barbarian Only) +x% Faster Cast Rate
Helmets
Guillaume's Face (Cham Rune) Arreat's Face (Cham Rune) Harlequin Crest (Ist Rune) Crown of Ages Immortal King's Will Artisan's Tiara of Luck Rare Circlet Tarnhelm Slayer Guard (3x Perfect Topaz) Hearth Horned Helm Bulwark Horned Helm Temper Horned Helm
+x to All Skills +x to Barbarian Skills +x to Warcries [Barbarian Only] +x% Faster Hit Recovery x% Bonus to Attack Rating x% Chance of Crushing Blow x% Deadly Strike +x to Attribute +x Life +x Mana All Resistances +x Damage Reduced by x% Cannot Be Frozen x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+x to All Skills +x% Faster Run/Walk +x to Teleport +x to Attribute Increased Maximum Life x% Damage Reduced by x% +x to Life after each Kill x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+x% Increased Attack Speed +x to Attack Rating +x% Damage to Demons x% Chance of Crushing Blow +x to Attribute +x Life X Resist +x% x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+x to All Skills +x% Increased Attack Speed +x% Faster Cast Rate +x% Faster Hit Recovery +x to Attribute +x Life +x Mana Increased Maximum Mana x% X Resist +x% x% Life Stolen per hit Damage Reduced by x% Cannot Be Frozen x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Boots
War Traveler Gore Rider Immortal King's Pillar (3-Piece Immortal King's Set) Rare Boots
+x% Faster Run/Walk +x to Attack Rating Adds x Damage x% Chance of Crushing Blow x% Deadly Strike +x to Attribute +x Life X Resist +x% x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+x to All Skills +x to Barbarian Skills +x% Increased Attack Speed +x to Attack Rating x% Deadly Strike +x to Attribute +x Life +x Mana X Resist +x% x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items Level x Teleport [x/x Charges]
Rings
Nagelring Crafted Blood Ring Crafted Blood Ring Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band Dwarf Star Wisp Projector Angelic Halo (2-Piece Angelic Set)
+x to All Skills +x% Faster Cast Rate +x to Attack Rating +x Life X Resist +x% Lightning Absorb x% Fire Absorb x% Magic Damage Reduced by x x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Charms
Fine Small Charm of Good Luck Shimmering Small Charm of Good Luck Fine Small Charm of Vita Shimmering Small Charm of Vita Shimmering Small Charm of Balance Sharp Large Charm of Vita Sharp Grand Charm of Balance Steel Grand Charm of Balance Sharp Grand Charm of Vita Steel Grand Charm of Vita Shimmering Grand Charm of Balance Resistance Grand Charm
+x% Faster Hit Recovery +x to Attack Rating +x Maximum Damage +x Life X Resist x% x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Unique Charms
Annihilus Barbarian Hellfire Torch Gheed's Fortune Bone Break
+x to All Skills +x to Barbarian Skills +x to All Attributes All Resistances +x +x% to Experience Gained x% Extra Gold from Monsters x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items Reduces all Vendor Prices x% +x to Light Radius Enemies Physical Immunity is Sundered
Farming Spots
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. These areas are strong without a Sunder Charm.
Anything that has a ✔ in the "Starter" column can be farmed with the Starter Build Variant.
Your Mercenary serves an incredibly important role to the overall success of your build. They can be a front line tank, provide a pivotal Aura, and/or deal Physical Damage to kill enemies with Immunity to your Skill set.
Act 2 Desert Mercenary
The Act 2 Desert Mercenary is hired from Greiz. He can be equipped with a Spear or a Polearm, a Body Armor and a Helmet. Every Act 2 Mercenary has access to an Aura and uses Jab as his base Attack. The Aura activates once the Mercenary has engaged in combat and remains active between traveling to and from town. The Auras available are based on what difficulty you hire the Mercenary from.
Might Reaper's Toll
Might Reaper's Toll
Reaper’s Toll, Might
Use a Desert Mercenary with Might Aura to significantly boost your Physical Damage. Equip him with The Reaper’s Toll for a 33% Chance to cast Decrepify on striking, slowing down and increasing Physical Damage dealt to enemies. Decrepify can even break some Physical Immunities.
Mercenary Gear Options
Your Mercenary needs maximum Resistances, Life Leech, a high damage Weapon, and high Defense and/or Damage Reduction to stay alive reliably. Cannot Be Frozen is also a great stat for maintaining Mercenary DPS and leech. Ethereal gear is preferred since it doesn't lose durability.
Slot
Early-Game
Mid-Game
End-Game
Weapon
Insight
Insight
The Reaper's Toll
Body Armor
Smoke Lionheart Skin of the Flayed One Rockfleece Venom Ward
Bulwark Undead Crown The Face of Horror Temper Ground Cure
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest Guillaume's Face Vampire Gaze Crown of Thieves Stealskull Kira's Guardian Rockstopper
Andariel's Visage Guillaume's Face
The Mercenary is hard to keep alive until you have the minimum gear recommended in this guide. Remember you can drag Healing Potions onto the portrait, or shift + 1/2/3/4 to directly feed them a Healing Potion from your Belt. The Mercenary also gains bonus Resistances from Thawing Potions and Antidote Potions.
If your Mercenary dies in battle, you can revive them from any of the Mercenary NPCs in each Act. This does come with an increasing cost, capping at 50,000 Gold. Keep that in mind and decide if the Mercenary is currently worth the cost.
Playstyle
General
At the beginning of each run, swap to your +x to Skills equipment and cast Battle Command 2 times, and then Battle Orders. Refresh these buffs as soon as they expire (approx. every 3-5 minutes).
Use leapattack to quickly travel to your farming spot. Unless there are walls, this will be faster than running in most circumstances. If you have an item with Teleport, use Teleport for short-distance traveling when farming Super Uniques such as Pindleskin. Repair to replenish these Charges or use the Horadric Cube Recipe if Gold is low (ortrune + Any Chipped Gem).
Use leapattack to target Elites and move your Barbarian into attack range. If the target is not killed by the first attack, swap to berserk to finish them off.
If the area around your target is dangerous or making it difficulty to select a specific mob, short-hop with leap by clicking directly on top of your Character to spread out mobs and Stun them. Systematically leapattack to each new mob if they are outside of melee range until the pack is dead, or all high priority targets have been killed.
Once the Elites in an immediate area have been killed, use Find Item on each Elite corpse with your highest Magic Find Weapon-Swap. Known as "Horking", this gives a chance of loot dropping a second time!
Act Bosses
If you don't have lawbringer/thereaper'stoll on your Mercenary yet: Cast decrepify charges from spellsteel on Act Bosses before engaging them with leapattack and then berserk to finish the job.
Immunities
If you don't have lawbringer/thereaper'stoll on your Mercenary yet: Cast decrepify charges from spellsteel to break Physical Immunes, and/or use berserk once you're in range.
bonebreak allows this build to begin dealing damage while the Mercenaries decrepify further decreases their Physical Damage Reduction.
Late-Game
While on your Faster Cast Rate-granting Weapon-Swap, use Teleport from Enigma to travel to your Farming Spot or between Elite Packs.
Breakpoints
Breakpoints in Diablo 2 are the minimum values required to reduce the frames of an action. Below are the important breakpoints considered for this build. For more information on the mechanics involved, check out our in-depth Resource: Breakpoints.
Faster Cast Rate (FCR)
Faster Cast Rate is not required for this build, but later breakpoints can be utilized once you gain access to enigma. Note: FCR only controls the animation speed of the Character, and not any internal Cooldowns spells have.
Frames
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
FCR
0
9
20
37
63
105
200
Increased Attack Speed (IAS)
Increased Attack Speed (IAS) speeds up your attack animations. Weapon Bases have different IAS Breakpoints. Reach the 72% IAS Breakpoint on the Standard Build. Consult the d2planner for other bases.
Grief Ettin Axe
Frames
12
11
11
10
9
Berserk IAS
24
34
41
46
61
Faster Hit Recovery (FHR)
Faster Hit Recovery increases survivability. Aim for at least the 48% FHR Breakpoint.
This build can become Hardcore viable with key changes to the Skills, Stat Point allocation, and items. Review the changes below before building this character, as they may differ significantly from the normal build.
Stacking Resistances: Stack your Fire/Lightning/and Cold Resistances beyond the default maximum values of 75 each (175 total in Hell). Stacking 85 additional Resistances in Hell completely negates the Conviction Aura of any Elite Boss or the Oblivion Knight's Lower Resist Curse.
Stat Point Changes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to wear Stormshield.
Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to achieve maximum Chance to Block (75%).
Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Build Variants
Starter
Standard
Magic Find
2-Handed
Hardcore
Setup
With this gear as a minimum you can begin hunting in the Starter ✔ tagged areas in the "Farming Spots" section above. An Unbending Will Phase Blade is a strong Runeword that is farmable as early as Nightmare difficulty. Make sure to prioritize Magic Find, Attack Speed, Attack Rating, Resistances, Cannot Be Frozen, and Life/Attributes on your gear. Rhyme solves for many of the harder to acquire stats, and 3-piece Sigon's Complete Steel solves for the rest. The Slayer Guard is a cheap option until you find a stronger Helmet. It ideally has Skills in the Warcries and Combat Masteries trees that are referenced in the Skills sections.
Mercenary
Use an Act 2 MightMercenary with Insight in an Ethereal base for Damage and Mana Regeneration. Mercenaries require Resistances, Life Leech, and/or Damage Reduction to stay alive. lionheart is a cheap Body Armor option for Resistances, while Wormskull is a Helmet option that provides Life Leech.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills: 1. berserk 2. Iron Skin 3. Natural Resistance 4. grim ward 5. Battle Command 6. Increased Speed
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. leap attack 2. leap 3. Blade Mastery 4. battleorders 5. finditem
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to wear all of your gear and enough Stats Points into Dexterity to achieve maximum Chance to Block (75%). Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
The Standard Variant stacks massive base Weapon Damage with Grief's +400 Damage to benefit from the large amounts of off-weapon x% Enhanced Damage. It carries a lot of Magic Find, Attack Speed (for berserk), Attack Rating, Resistances, Cannot Be Frozen, and Life/Attributes on your gear. Stormshield Monarch grants a large amount of survivability, and added Damage. In the Horadric Cube, there are options to increase your Crushing Blow chance. Guillaume's Face + gorerider.
Mercenary
Equip this Mercenary with The Reaper's Toll Thresher. It has a 33% Chance to cast Decrepify on striking, slowing and increasing Physical Damage dealt to enemies. Decrepify can even break some Physical Immunities. His might kicks in, granting a large amount of Enhance Damage as well. Ethereal Fortitude Sacred Armor and Andariel's visage add a lot of Damage and survivability.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills: 1. berserk 2. Iron Skin 3. Natural Resistance 4. Battle Command 5. Increased Speed
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. leap attack 2. leap 3. axe Mastery 4. battleorders 5. finditem
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to wear all of your gear and reach 50% Chance to Block. Allocate enough Points into Vitality to reach at least 2,500 Life with your battleorders. Add all remaining points to Strength to add as much additional Damage to your attacks.
Setup
The 105% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint on your Weapon-Swap is used to quickly Teleport reaching farther farming areas (e.g. Uber Key Bosses) and Chaos Seal Popping. We sacrifice some Damage, and Boss killing speed to stack massive amounts of Magic Find. We also gain access to more bodies for our finditem. Remember to have one Ring slot with 10% Faster Cast Rate (e.g. Havoc Whorl Ring). If you want to keep the Fortitude you can swap in more pieces of Magic Find gear, but you'll have to rely on the slower leapattack mobility option.
Mercenary
Equip this Mercenary with 2 Lawbringer Phase Blade for a Sanctuary Aura that knocks back Undead enemies. It has a 20% Chance to cast Decrepify on striking, slowing down and increasing Physical Damage dealt to enemies. Decrepify can even break some Physical Immunities. Ethereal Fortitude Sacred Armor and Arreat's Face add a lot of Damage and survivability.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills: 1. berserk 2. Iron Skin 3. Natural Resistance 4. Battle Command 5. Increased Speed
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. leap attack 2. leap 3. Blade Mastery 4. battleorders 5. finditem
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to wear all of your gear at a minimum. Allocate enough Points into Vitality to reach at least 2,500 Life with your battleorders. Add all remaining points to Strength to add as much additional Damage to your attacks.
Setup
With the 2-handed Breath of the Dying Thunder Maul base weapon damage, we get the most out of the large amounts of off-weapon x% Enhanced Damage. It loses the Phoenix's redemption survivability, but is much more likely to one-shot monsters, even on higher Player Settings. While your berserk is slower, the difference is only 5 Frames (1/5 of a second).
Mercenary
Equip this Mercenary with The Reaper's Toll Thresher. It has a 33% Chance to cast Decrepify on striking, slowing and increasing Physical Damage dealt to enemies. Decrepify can even break some Physical Immunities. His might kicks in, granting a large amount of Enhance Damage as well. Ethereal Fortitude Sacred Armor and Andariel's visage add a lot of Damage and survivability.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills: 1. berserk 2. Iron Skin 3. Natural Resistance 4. Battle Command 5. Increased Speed
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. leap attack 2. leap 3. mace Mastery 4. battleorders 5. finditem
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to wear all of your gear at a minimum. Allocate enough Points into Vitality to reach at least 2,500 Life with your battleorders. Add all remaining points to Strength to add as much additional Damage to your attacks.
Setup
The Hardcore Variant still stacks massive base Weapon Damage with Grief's +400 Damage to benefit from the large amounts of off-weapon x% Enhanced Damage. It carries a lot of Magic Find, Attack Speed (for berserk), Attack Rating, Resistances, Cannot Be Frozen, and Life/Attributes on your gear. Stormshield (eldrune) grants a large amount of survivability via Physical Damage Reduction, and reaching 75% Chance to Block. In the Horadric Cube, there are options to increase your Crushing Blow chance. Guillaume's Face + gorerider.
Mercenary
Equip this Mercenary with 2 Lawbringer Phase Blade for a Sanctuary Aura that knocks back Undead enemies. It has a 20% Chance to cast Decrepify on striking, slowing down and increasing Physical Damage dealt to enemies. Decrepify can even break some Physical Immunities. Ethereal Fortitude Sacred Armor and Arreat's Face add a lot of Damage and survivability.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills: 1. berserk 2. Iron Skin 3. Natural Resistance 4. Battle Command 5. Increased Speed
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. leap attack 2. leap 3. Blade Mastery 4. battleorders 5. finditem
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Attributes
Only allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to wear all of your gear and enough Stats Points into Dexterity to achieve maximum Chance to Block (75%). Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Summary
Leap Attack Barbarian uses a combination of leapattack, Berserk, and Find Item to smash apart monsters in end-game farming areas.
Cast Teleport and Find Item on your highest Magic Find Weapon-Swap for quick use, and the best chance of "Horking" more drops.
The Starter variant still has access to a lot of great farming areas, and is very easy to accumulate the required gear. Start the Ladder season with the Barbarian Leveling Guide and transition when you've made the recommended Runewords.
Take advantage of the mobility Leap Attackoffers by hunting Elite Monsters in easy to reach farming Areas, and static Super Uniques (e.g.Pindleskin).
Stack as much Magic Find as possible while avoiding any Cold Damage on the Magic Find Variant's gear so you don't shatter corpses needed for Find Item!
We hope you enjoy this build! LeapAttack is a wildly fun mobility skill that really packs a PUNCH! Smash into monsters like your favorite superhero, and reap the rewards of the MASSIVE damage!