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.
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
1. Do the Challenge Rift for the materials to cubeLegendary Powers. You can complete this once a week for additional resources and we always update the guide for you!
2. Gather the full Might of the Earth set. Each piece can be gambled from Kadala for Bloodshards. Do not salvage any duplicate pieces you find! Instead convert them to another part of the set with Recipe 4 in Kanai's Cube. If you have extra materials you can use Recipe 3 to craft the remaining pieces, but this is expensive and not recommended for new players.
Two-Handed Mighty Weapons to get Blade of the Tribes
Create a level 1 Witch Doctor and upgrade Maces to get Echoing Fury
Create a level 1 Demon Hunter and upgrade Swords to get In-geom
Rings to get Convention of Elements, Focus and Restraint
Anything from the Gamble list in Step 3 that you haven't already acquired.
5. Do Bounties to acquire several important items for this build:
Bounty Turn In: Recipe for Cain's Destiny (for your follower)
6. At this point you can somewhat comfortably farm Nephalem or Speed Greater Rifts where you can find all the remaining items you need for different variants of the build. It's better to spend your materials improving your set pieces, getting ancient weapon etc. Finally you can spice up your season by doing some Ubers to craft Hellfire Amulet (recipe can be bought from Squirt the Peddler in Act 2).
7. Use Primordial Ashes in Kanai's Cube with the new Curiosity of Lorath Nahr recipe to obtain a free Crafted Primal Ancient. Since you can only equip one of them, choosing the right item to focus matters! Great candidates are Weapons, Offhands, Jewelry or any item with an important multiplier. With that in mind, we recommend getting one of the following items:
1. Socket 2. Critical Hit Damage 3. Critical Hit Chance 4. Area Damage 5. Cooldown Reduction
Bracers
Ancient Parthan Defenders Strongarm Bracers Mortick's Brace Nemesis Bracers
1. FireDamage 2. Critical Hit Chance 3. Strength 4. All Resistance 5. Vitality
Amulet
Squirt's Necklace The Flavor of Time
1. Socket 2. Critical Hit Damage 3. FireDamage 4. Critical Hit Chance 5. Strength
Belt
Girdle of Giants
1. Strength 2. Life per Fury Spent 3. All Resistance 4. Vitality 5. Life %
Potion
Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid
For breaking walls to pull enemies and increase DPS
Gems
Bane of the Trapped is the most common damage gem, and as we are a melee character, the rank 25 effect will slow all enemies within 15 yards providing us a flat 1.6 damage multiplier.
Zei's Stone of Vengeance can be used for additional damage. We can run out the monster pull after casting our Earthquake letting the DoT do the job, especially in speed runs.
Other popular choices are Bane of the Stricken for solo gameplay to kill the Rift Guardian. Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard can be used to gain a shield buff in combination with Squirt's Necklace for double damage output, some additional toughness & insane healing. Esoteric Alteration can be used for a tremendous toughness boost during Solo Push!
Skills
Earthquake as your main DoT based damage skill. We take the Fire rune Molten Fury to buff the damage even further.
Leap Call of Arreat together with the Might of the Earth(4) Bonus for a crazy Armor buff combined with the ability to proc our Band of Might.
Seismic Slam is needed on the skill bar to proc the Girdle of Giants secondary effect and to dump all of our Fury for the Might of the Earth(2) Bonus Cooldown Reduction. Furthermore it can be used to proc Focus & Restraint or for recovery reasons in combination with Life per Fury Spent rolled on your items.
Wrath of the Berserker for an overall stat boost and Crowd Control immunity. Pair this skill with Boon of Bul-kathos to reduce its cooldown.
The last two skill slots are very situational: Most builds use War Cry for toughness and Threatening Shout Falter for a damage debuff on the monsters as well as additional Earthquake procs from Blade of the Tribes. You can also use Ignore Pain to have a Crowd Control immunity option combined with some nice toughness during Wrath of the Berserker downtime, Battle Rage for a pure damage with the rune Swords to Ploughshares for a crazy recovery boost. Sprint is also an option if you want to add more mobility especially in any kind of speed runs!
Passives
Earthen Might for insane Fury generation. The additional Earthquake's from Blade of the Tribes, Lut Socks and Girdle of Giants proc this Passive as well.
Rampage is the strongest Barbarian passive there is with its 25% buff to total Strength. It provides a massive boost to both offense and defense (Armor).
Boon of Bul-kathos for more Wrath of the Berserker uptime.
Another damage option is Ruthless to finish low hit-point targets quickly
On top of that we can take Nerves of Steel as a defensive touch for a cheat death with our Hellfire Amulet.
Paragon Points
Core
Offensive
Defensive
Utility
1. Movement Speed
1. Critical Hit Damage
1. All Resistance
1. Area Damage
2. Maximum Fury1
2. Critical Hit Chance
2. Life %
2. Pickup Radius
3. Strength
3. Cooldown Reduction
3. Armor
3. Resource Cost Reduction
4. Vitality2
4. Attack Speed
4. Life Regeneration
4. Life per Hit
1 Maximum Fury is used for additional Cooldown Reduction from our Might of the Earth(2) Bonus in combination with Seismic Slam Rumble spending all our Fury. 2 Add a bit of Vitality if you feel too squishy (a total of 500,000 - 800,000 Life is recommended).
Follower
Patch 2.7.0 revamped the follower system giving all 3 hirelings new powers and the emanate system. The first thing you should do is read our complete follower guide and remember the key takeaways:
The emanation system allows followers to share certain legendary and set powers with you. The most important ones are: The Flavor of Time, Nemesis Bracers, Avarice Band, Sage’s Journey and Cain’s Destiny. Click the guide above for the full list.
Follower’s powers are based on their main stat (maxed at 25.000, but they have a 2.5x multiplier so you only need 10.000). This means we stack Intelligence on the Enchantress, Dexterity on the Scoundrel and Strength on the Templar.
Guardian's Jeopardy(2) Bonus works for followers by improving their inherent stat multiplier from x2.5 to x3.5, making it slightly easier to hit the 25,000 main stat threshold if needed.
Followers share 20% of their Experience, Magic and Gold Find stats with you.
Legendary gems do not work on followers, except Esoteric Alteration and Mutilation Guard.
Cooldown Reduction does not work for any follower skill except the Templar’s Heal.
Followers never deal significant damage; you’re on your own to clear the content.
With these in mind, let’s get into our recommendation for this build: Select Follower
Speed GR Enchantress
Speed GR Enchantress
For speed Greater Rifts we recommend this Enchantress setup because she is the only follower that gives Cooldown Reduction, allowing you to spam your abilities more. Since this is speed content, she’ll stay alive with Esoteric Alteration and Mutilation Guard and use Hand of the Prophet to gain all skills. This will give us Cooldown Reduction, Elemental Damage, Reduced Damage from Ranged Attacks, Armor, Attack Speed, and a Cheat Death. Stat Priorities:Since we do not have the immortality focus, we need to stack survivability on our Enchantress. Intelligence > Vitality > Life % > Armor > All Resistance > Life Per Hit > Attack Speed. Key Items:
The Flavor of Time: For double duration on Pylons.
Nemesis Bracers: For more progression from Elites.
Oculus Ring: For 85% increased damage.
Ice Climbers: To make your follower immune to Freeze and Immobilize effects.
Hellfire Ring, Leoric's Crown and Cain's Destiny: For more Experience and Attack Speed.
GR Pushing Enchantress
For Greater Rift Pushing we recommend this Enchantress setup for the Slow from Temporal Pulse, Cooldown Reduction from Prophetic Harmony, Damage Reduction and Armor from Powered Shield, and the Attack Speed from Focused Mind. Stat Priorities:Since we have the immortality relic, we do not need to stack survivability on our Enchantress. Intelligence> Attack Speed. Key Items:
The Flavor of Time: For double duration on Pylons.
Nemesis Bracers: For more progression from Elites.
Oculus Ring: For 85% increased damage.
Unity: For 50% damage reduction if you're also wearing one.
Ice Climbers: To make your follower immune to Freeze and Immobilize effects.
Mempo of Twilight and Cain's Destiny: For more Attack Speed.
Gameplay
Cast your War Cry and start grouping up monsters by Leaping around getting the toughness buff from Might of the Earth(4)Bonus at the same time. After you have created a decent pull cast your Seismic Slam to proc the Girdle of Giants secondary effect as well as the Focus & Restraint damage buff.
Proceed by casting Threatening Shout Falter and Wrath of the Berserker to further increase your damage output and keep using Leap for additional Earthquakes as well as the Earthquake itself. Keep resetting your Earthquake and Leap cooldowns with Seismic Slam Rumble via Might of the Earth(2) Bonus.
Hardcore
An overall decent build for hardcore when using Band of Might as the Might of the Earth (4) Bonus is a massive toughness increase (375% increased Armor from Leap Iron Impact translates to roughly 70% damage reduction, depending on Paragon, Items and other Skills). Make sure to use Nerves of Steel to avoid random deaths.
Check out our dedicated Hardcore Survival Guide to learn more about how to succeed in this game mode!
Variants
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
Echoing Nightmare
Earthquake Speed Build Greater Rift
Concept With this setup we maximize Cooldown Reduction to spam War Cry and Threatening Shout to proc our Blade of the TribesEarthquakes 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.
Solo Push Greater Rift
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!
Click Speed Pylon instantly to boost your mobility and dodge Green Meteors.
Around Wave 90, click Channeling Pylon and Power Pylon.
After Wave 100, use Conduit Pylon.
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
Every time you land on the ground after your Leap animation, an Earthquake is caused. This Earthquake carries the rune chosen on your skill bar and can proc Area Damage.
Blade of the Tribes
Gives Avalanche and Earthquake a 800% separate damage multiplier which equals a 9.0 multiplier.
War Cry and Threatening Shout now both cause an Avalanche and Earthquake when cast. This cast also carries the runes chosen on your skill bar and can proc Area Damage.
Earthquake & Critical Hit Chance
Earthquake is a damage over time skill that ticks twice per second (every 30 frames) and has a chance to critically hit with each damage tick individually. Furthermore all Earthquake ticks damage are calculated from your Main-Hand Weapon, thus your Off-Hand damage when Dual Wielding does not matter.
Battle Rage
As Earthquake can critically hit, we can use this great offensive skill. However the rune Bloodshed is not an ideal choice as the damage is diminished by the low proc coefficient of Earthquake of 0.05. Runes like Into the Fray for damage or Swords to Ploughshares for recovery are more valid choices.
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. Updated by Chewingnom.