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MotE Earthquake “Leapquake” Barbarian Guide

Last Updated: January 10th 2024

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Introduction

Leapquake Solo Push

With Reapers of Souls release, Might of the Earth got introduced to the game and instantly became one of the strongest Barbarian builds out there for T6 farming. In conjunction with its supporting item Lut Socks, the build quickly earned its gimmicky "Leapquake" nickname.

Unfortunately, while offering a very unique and flavorful playstyle, Leapquake has never been the top dog on the Barbarian leaderboards, despite always being a decent competitor with a (6) Bonus granting a whopping 20,000% damage multiplier since Season 16 alongside multiple supporting item buffs like Girdle of Giants.

Most recently with Season 22, Blade of the Tribes 200% Earthquake Damage which was additive became a tremendous 800% separate damage multiplier. Season 23 offered unconditional Leapquake players the chance to shine with the addition of Set specific leaderboards! Finally, Season 30 nearly doubled the (6) Bonus damage multiplier to help out the set be competitive!

This is an Area Damage (AD) build, since Earthquakes, even when they are procced by Blade of the Tribes and Might of the Earth (4) Bonus, can proc it. Earthquake is a Damage over Time (DoT) ground effect buffed by Molten Fury even further that is spammed due to the interesting interactions between Might of the Earth and Blade of the Tribes (see Mechanics). Let's dive into this guide and conquer the Might of the Earth leaderboards!

Flavorful ✔
Easy to Play ✔
Unique Playstyle ✔
Have Fun Leaping Around! ✔

❌ Slightly Clunky
❌ DoT Based Build
❌ Limited Item Options
❌ Band of Might Dependency

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • The Might of the Earth (6) Bonus is where the majority of our damage comes from.
  • We add to that with Girdle of Giants and Seismic Slam on the skill bar to proc the 250% damage increase.
  • With our Might of the Earth (4) Bonus our Leap procs Earthquake so we take in Lut Socks for even more damage.
  • Blade of the Tribes has been buffed in Season 22 shifting the 200% Earthquake damage from the additive category into a multiplicative 800% damage increase, that can also be used in the Kanai's Cube now.
  • Ancient Parthan Defenders provides insane toughness in combination with Leap Death from above.
  • Band of Might is used for its tremendous 80% damage reduction and is procced by using Leap.
  • Optional jewelry items are Squirt's Necklace, Focus & Restraint or Convention of Elements for additional separate damage multipliers.
  • The Furnace grants us 50% Elite damage to kill Elite Packs and Rift Guardians faster.

Season 30 Soul Shards

Soul Shards are powerful socketable items that initially dropped during Season 25 but they are returning for Season 30! There are 4 available for Weapons based on the Lesser Evils, with another 3 for Helmets based on the Prime Evils. They drop at Rank 0 and be upgraded three times with the brand new Hellforge Embers to unlock additional powers, or be used in the Kanai's Cube as Augments. Here's how they progress:

  • Rank 0: Soul Shards begin with a unique static Legendary Power. Creates a Rank 50 Augment.
  • Rank 1: Gives all powers from the normal gems. Creates a Rank 75 Augment.
  • Rank 2: Grants one additional powerful stat. Creates a Rank 100 Augment.
  • Rank 3: Unlocks 1 of 3 bonus Legendary Powers unique to that Soul Shard. Creates a Rank 125 Augment.

Warning: Leoric's Crown and Broken Crown do not work with Soul Shards!

Read our Soul Shards Guide written by Chewingnom for full details on how they work. What you should prioritize on them for Solo Pushing is the following:

  1. The Correct Soul Shard & Rank 3 Power
    The best shards for Solo Pushing are:
    • Helmets: We want to use Sliver of Terror for the massive damage buff from our abilities on cooldown. For the Rank 3 power take the Ring of Fire to unleash a devastating AoE blast for big leaderboard pushes!
    • Weapons: We want to use Essence of Anguish for the Movement Speed and Cooldown Reduction. For the Rank 3 power take the 50% increased Poison Damage, which actually applies to all damage done! Hint: Make sure to get a Poison Damage Range on your Weapon so it can proc the shard automatically.
  2. The Rank 2 Stat
    The stats that come from the second upgrade are not equal. Here's what we're looking for on them:
    • Helmets: We want either Main Stat for damage or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction to survive. Avoid Armor and All Resistance as their stat ranges are far too low compared to the other options.
    • Weapons: We want either % Damage or Fire Damage to boost our character's power the furthest.
  3. The Stat Ranges on the Rank 1 and 2 Powers
    This is just icing on the cake because the ranges will not make or break your build. Still, look for the Soul Shards with the best stat ranges, especially on the offensive stats.

For the other game modes, other Soul Shards can be used. Check the Variants below to see what's used there.

What about extra Soul Shards? Either salvage them for gems, or upgrade and use them in Kanai's Cube for Augments.

Global Stat Priorities

You want to stack damage stats wherever possible, especially Critical Hit Chance and Damage, Area Damage as well as Fire Damage and Eathquake Damage. Earthquake damage does not scale at all with Attack Speed so we do not need any on our gear.

Cooldown Reduction is nice to have as it allows us to spam Earthquake and Leap more frequently. In the high Greater Rift setups however it is not worth stacking more than the standard 10% from Paragon Points, 12.5% from Flawless Royal Diamond in Helmet, as well as 8% on Shoulders and Gloves.

As we do not have permanent uptime on Wrath of the Berserker, Crowd Control Reduction is a valuable secondary Affix if you can get some on Rings, Amulet and Helmet. Make sure to get the Primary Affixes locked in before attempting to get CCR though.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Altar of Rites

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
Echoing Nightmare
Earthquake Solo Speeds

Concept
With this setup we maximize Cooldown Reduction to spam War Cry and Threatening Shout to proc our Blade of the Tribes Earthquakes frequently. We achieve that by using In-Geom while frequently killing Elites.

Gameplay
Cast your Wrath of the Berserker as soon as you engage enemies. Spam Leap and both your Shouts to deal damage. Don’t forget to periodically cast Seismic Slam to proc Girdle of Giants and Bastions of Will. Manually cast Earthquake on Elites and keep using the extra Leaps provided by Lut Socks for even more damage output. Focus mainly on Elites as they grant you the In-Geom Cooldown Reduction effect. You can pre-stack a few Earthquakes before clicking a Pylon with your Nemesis Bracers and then cast Seismic Slam. If you notice a Cooldown on Leap immediately use Seismic Slam Rumble to reset with our Might of the Earth (2) Bonus.

Setups
Feel free to switch around Ruthless for Nerves of Steel if you are dying too much. For more damage output change to Nemesis Bracers and to Strongarm Bracers and proc them with your Leap Call of Arreat.

Eartquake GR Solo Push

Concept
In order to deal optimal damage in higher Greater Rifts we focus our Item Stat Priorities on Area Damage. Both, the Earthquake procced by Leap as well the the Earthquake procced by the Blade of the Tribes can proc Area Damage! On the other hand this build has some major problems on the Rift Guardian fight as it lacks single target damage and stacks Bane of the Stricken very slowly.

Gameplay
Create huge pulls and stay alive by using Leap Death from above in combination with Ancient Parthan Defenders. Activate Wrath of the Berserker for the damage. Cast your manual Earthquake and both Shouts once you position yourself in the pull and follow up with a Seismic Slam to proc Girdle of Giants as well as Focus & Restraint and reset your Cooldowns.
Generally you want to fish for an open map where you can damage Elites and drag them with you slowly to eventually discover a Conduit Pylon (further enhanced by The Flavor of Time) to finish them all off.

Setups
Feel free to switch out Mortick's Brace to Ancient Parthan Defenders to gain an additional temporary toughness boost with Leap Death from Above. Esoteric Alteration can be switched for Gogok of Swiftness to gain additional Cooldown Reduction or Zei's Stone of Vengeance for additional damage!! War Cry can be dropped to fit in Battle Rage Swords to Ploughshares for more damage output.

There is also a Physical variant which allows you to pull with Earthquake instead of Leap. This variant is very popular on Asia Server but Europe and the US prefer the Fire version and so do I! The damage output in good maps is simply higher when playing with Fire!

Echoing Nightmare Setup

Concept
For more information, check out our full Echoing Nightmare Guide and take a look at our Echoing Nightmare Build Tier List and our META post for the best builds and strategies! This build is good for this game mode. This Build utilize the Speed Greater Rift setup with a one tweak.

Changes

  • No changes needed.

Gameplay

  1. Click Speed Pylon instantly to boost your mobility and dodge Green Meteors.
  2. Around Wave 90, click Channeling Pylon and Power Pylon.
  3. After Wave 100, use Conduit Pylon.
  4. At Wave 122, stop attacking and run to the corner to let the timer run out.

With In-Geom and Furious Charge Merciless Assault combined we are able to move around quickly! Start by grouping up a bunch on monster with Leap Call of Arreat and use Call of the Ancients Ancients' Fury to regain Fury. Once monsters are grouped up activate Wrath of the Berserker for more damage. Run or Leap out to create some distance for No Escape and Zei's Stone of Vengeance for an additional maximum 2,34x damage multiplier. Now burst them with Seismic Slam Permafrost on your Cold rotation of Convention of Elements.

Mechanics

Might of the Earth (4) Bonus

Blade of the Tribes

Earthquake & Critical Hit Chance

Battle Rage

Summary

  • Use Leap as an offensive and defensive skill every time it is available.
  • Keep up your buffs and fry some monsters!
  • Fun and unique Barbarian playstyle with Leap.
  • Decent damage output with the recent buff in Season 22!

The Earthquake and Leap Barbarian build can be fun to play but is still a bit behind the other top Barbarian builds like the Whirlwind Rend Barb. Let us hope for some additional buffs in the upcoming patches that will allow this build to compete.

Credits

Written by Rob. Introduction by Chewingnom.
Reviewed by Northwar & Raxxanterax.
Shoutout to Rage for additional insights on mechanics and endgame push variants.

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