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Raekor HotA Barbarian Guide

Last Updated:January 10, 2024

Disclaimer: This guide is the Season 25 Guide for the Raekor Hammer of the Ancients (HotA) Build which does not exist anymore. For up-to-date Raekor guide, go to the Raekor Boulder Toss Guide!

Introduction

Raekor HotA Solo Push

The Legacy of Raekor Barbarian set allows Fury-spending attacks to deal tremendous amounts of damage by consuming Furious Charge stacks. The most widespread and strongest Barb Spender is Hammer of the Ancients (HotA). This high damage skill can be buffed by multiple complementary items like Bracers of the First Men and The Gavel of Judgment to deal massive damage during Convention of Elements timed rotations.

If you like to play a Hammer of the Ancients focused build we recommend the LoD variant. Let's hope for The Legacy of Raekor (6) Bonus rework to make this signature set viable for damage again! A damage reduction set bonus, like almost every set in Diablo has, wouldn't hurt either.

But now let's get into the current variation of this build and its rotation based playstyle!

Very Mobile ✔
Fast Attack Speed ✔
Fast Paced Playstyle ✔
High Single Target Damage ✔

❌ Rotation Dependent
❌ Wall Charge Playstyle
❌ Short Damage Window
❌ Band of Might Dependency

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • The Legacy of Raekor set provides massive damage and the ability to permanently Furious Charge a single target like the Rift Guardian to gain plenty of stacks. Furthermore having all runes of Furious Charge lets us reset our cooldown with Merciless Assault and instantly gain full Fury in large pulls with Stamina.
  • Our second highest damage multiplier is the The Gavel of Judgment. We want to cube this one because it is a 2-handed weapon and we have decent 1-handed options to better optimize our Critical Hit Damage with the additional 130% from the second Flawless Royal Emerald. The second effect on The Gavel of Judgment item also solves our Fury problem on single targets like the Rift Guardian.
  • Bracers of the First Men and Remorseless are the other two damage and Attack Speed multipliers scaling our DPS.
  • Mortick's Brace gives a lot of healing through Life per Fury Spent (we spend a lot with Hammer of the Ancients) and additional damage reduction.
  • Band of Might is used for the tremendous toughness gain and is procced by Furious Charge which we need to gain stacks for the The Legacy of Raekor (6) Bonus.
  • Convention of Elements for 200% multiplicative damage increase during our fire cycle, further explained in the gameplay section below.

Season 25 Soul Shards

Soul Shards are powerful socketable items that only drop during Season 25. 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 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 explosion to help us clear out large densities during the Rift. Hint: Make sure to get a Poison Damage Range on your follower's Weapon so it can stack the buff automatically.
  1. 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 Fire Damage to boost our character's power the furthest, although Critical Hit Chance is not too far behind. Avoid Attack Speed and % Damage because they only buff one of our two Weapons.
  2. 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

This build gets a lot of Attack Speed for free from Bracers of the First Men and Wrath of the Berserker. With Gogok of Swiftness we can reach the 18/18 frames Breakpoint with no additional Attack Speed on our gear. For more detailed informations on Attack Speed check out our Guide here!

High Cooldown Reduction is key for this build's damage output. Wrath of the Berserker and Call of the Ancients Together as One uptime is essential in maintaining our 250% damage increase from Remorseless. We further reduce the cooldown of both skills by using Boon of Bul-kathos. The Cooldown Reduction Breakpoints are 65% for a 32 second Wrath of the Berserker rotation or 47% for 48 seconds (see Gameplay section below).

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

GR Solo Speed
GR Solo Push
Raekor HotA Greater Rift Speeds

Concept
In this speed setup we take Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard for a shield in combination with Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace for double damage, some additional toughness & insane healing. We do not need Bane of the Stricken anymore as the single target damage is already very high on lower Greater Rift Tiers. On top of that we add In-Geom to further reduce our cooldowns and permanently Furious Charge, even without enemies around. This gives us even more The Legacy of Raekor stacks to deal damage.

Gameplay
In this setup you have nearly almost permanent uptime on both Call of the Ancients and Wrath of the Berserker by focusing on killing Elite packs. This will guarantee good Remorseless uptime for optimal damage. Charge from Elite pack to Elite pack and burst them down with Hammer of the Ancients Smash. Reach 100 Kills to proc your Sliver of Terror Rank 3 Ring of Fire effect and drag enemies in using Wrenching Smash.

Setups
There isn't much switch around here as the set slots are already fixed. Feel free to swap In-Geom to Echoing Fury for additional Movement and Attack Speed.

HotA Raekor Solo Push

Concept & Gameplay
Keep your main focus on small, high-progression trash monsters like Vile Swarms or Dark Hellions while you damage Elites in the process. Ideally play an open map ideally where you can finish off the already damaged Elite Packs with a Conduit Pylon. The Burning Axe of Sankis grants us additional Fire damage as well as damage reduction (see mechanics section below)!

The general gameplay is similar to the gameplay section above with a few exceptions: In good pulls try to move as little as possible and get our Furious Charge stacked up by charging into walls (see the mechanics section below). This will keep our offensive Endless Walk bonus up. It is essential to not waste your Furious Charge stacks to maximize damage during your Fire rotation when you hammer away with Smash. A special case is the Rift Guardian fight where you keep charging into a wall to stack Bane of the Stricken but do not use Hammer of the Ancients right away! Take the first full Convention of Elements cycle to build up a solid amount of charge stacks for your The Legacy of Raekor (6) Bonus and then start your damage rotation on the next Fire cycle.

Setups
You can change Berserker Rage to Relentless or Nerves of Steel if you need more toughness!

Mechanics

Hammer of the Ancients & Critical Hit Chance

Wall Furious Charge

Battle Rage Bloodshed

The Burning Axe of Sankis

Summary

  • Fast moving playstyle with Furious Charge.
  • Kills bosses fast with awesome burst damage.
  • Cast Wrath of the Berserker and Call of the Ancients for the Remorseless damage buff.
  • Remember to literally bang your head against a wall with Furious Charge to get these The Legacy of Raekor stacks up.
  • Hammer AWAY!

Currently this build and the entire The Legacy of Raekor set is very weak in comparison to others. Let's hope for The Legacy of Raekor (6) Bonus rework to make this signature set viable for damage again! A damage reduction set bonus, like almost every set in Diablo has, wouldn't hurt either. One can always hope for the next patch, but meanwhile enjoy blasting my fellow Barbarians!

Credits

Written by Rob. Introduction by Chewingnom.
Reviewed by Northwar & Raxxanterax.

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