Bash Barbarian Endgame Build Guide
Welcome to the Bash Barbarian Endgame Guide!
If you're nostalgic of Season 4 and wondering how our favorite Basic Skill, Bash, is looking now, then you're in the right place!
This build now relies on three things to turn your character into an Unstoppable Basic Attack beast:
- A truckload of bonus ranks to your Bash.
- Massive Damage and Attack Speed multipliers (Shard of Verathiel, my beloved)
- Spending resources like crazy to trigger guaranteed Critical Overpowers through the reworked Xan Rune.
Obviously, having permanent Shouts, Buffs and Ultimate are a baseline requirement that this build fulfills...
There is however one caveat to the build:
- Screen wide AoE isn't this build's forte despite Thul and Wrath of the Berserker ensuring sufficient "marking" of the Paingorger's Gauntlets effect.
Despite this, Season 8 brings a good amount of quality of life improvements to the build, namely the Harbinger of Hatred's Volley Boss Power giving us a new way to spend Fury and apply Vulnerable.
Feeling confident about trying Bash again? Well, you're right to feel that way, so let's start Bashing!
This build guide assumes you have a Level 60 Character and unlocked Torment 1. To get there, level up with one of our Barbarian Leveling Guides. See how this Build compares against others with our various Build Tier Lists.
Boss Powers
Season 8 is the Season of Belial's Return. It allows you to tap into Boss Powers obtained from World, Event, and Lair Bosses throughout Sanctuary. The new seasonal mechanic, Apparition Incursions, is available at any difficulty level and gives you the opportunity to unlock a subset of these powers very early on. Various Apparition Monsters appear in these special timed events throughout Sanctuary. Defeating these monsters spawns 1 of 10 Apparition Bosses to hunt you down and defeating them grants you their Boss Power. After defeating the first Boss, continue the event for a chance to fight a second Apparition Boss, after which Belial himself joins the fray.
There are 24 Boss Powers available and the first time you defeat one of these Bosses, you claim their power for yourself. Boss Powers each have Main and Modifier effects to boost your build. 13 are available in all difficulties (from Apparition Incursions and World Bosses), while 11 can only be acquired in Torment 1 difficulty or higher from Lair Bosses and Lilith. You can equip 1 Main Power and 3 Modifiers, and all powers can be upgraded up to Rank 20, increasing the potency of both the Main and Modifier effect. You use Spectral Ash to upgrade these powers, dropped from Apparition Incursions and by defeating any Bosses. Boss Powers also scale with your Paragon Level, growing stronger as you progress.
Best-in-Slot Boss Powers
Main Power
- Allek's Talons - As your Main Power, it has no demerit. Easy to acquire and trigger, decent damage with no internal Cooldown and can be applied to multiple enemies at once thanks to your Bash Cleaves tempers.
Modifiers
- Harbinger of Hatred's Volley - Triggered by activating your Main Power. The second line is an attractive multiplier, but the first line is where the magic's at. Due to us investing in more Fury generation bonuses than ever, our Bash will always overcap, turning into an additional Vulnerable / Fury spending source. Resource generation (refund) being calculated afterwards, you'll never have to worry about running out!
- Sinerat's Flames - Always active Modifier. Due to us using Ugly Bastard Helm as our Helmet, all of our damage becomes Fire based, making it an obvious choice.
- Flesh Reaper's Disruption - As an always active Modifier, it can used in any stages of the build as long as you think of tempering Crowd Control Duration (Pants). Given our permanent Vulnerable uptime, this is a solid choice.
Alternate Boss Powers
- Lilith's Wind of Hate - As a Main Power, it can used in the later stages of the game if you're looking for serviceable Physical based damage wave that also consistently triggers our Modifiers.
- Torusk's Rage - As a Modifier used in the early stages of the build, it gives us an amazing Attack Speed boost.
- Hatred's Embrace's Haste - As a Modifier used in the early stages of the build, this Power dramatically increases Critical Strike Chance until we get our endgame items.
Learn more details about the season theme in our full Season Guide.
Skills & Gameplay
- Bash is our main damage dealer, which generates but also spends Fury when using Shard of Verathiel. It also to gives us Fortify with Enhanced Bash and creates guaranteed Overpowers through Combat Bash.
- Hammer of the Ancients serves as a damage amplifier and should only be used whenever you have one of those guaranteed Overpower to trigger Violent Hammer of the Ancients.
- Wrath of the Berserker acts as a steroid buff, further increasing our damage, Berserking uptime, Movement Speed and making us Unstoppable while active. Thanks to Ugly Bastard Helm and multiple Cooldown Reduction affixes, we are able to keep it up permanently. It also doubles as a packing Tool once you reach rank 5.
- Rallying Cry gives us the ability to become Unstoppable and increases the rate at which we recoup Fury (and the more we have, the more we also spend through Harbinger of Hatred's Volley). Additionally, it provides us some extra Movement Speed which is always nice.
- Challenging Shout grants us a vast amount of Damage Mitigation, Maximum Life (which turns into more Overpower damage) and Fury (when being hit, allowing us to start Bash).
- War Cry is our last buff granting us Berserking and a hefty damage multiplier.
Skill Rotation
- Use Wrath of the Berserker first and then whenever available. Ideally reuse it just before it falls off to keep the stacked bonus from Supreme Wrath of the Berserker.
- Right after, use Challenging Shout, Rallying Cry and War Cry and then whenever they are available. Getting hit while Tactical Challenging Shout is on will help you generate the Fury to start Bashing and casting all three Shouts will reduce your Wrath of the Berserker cooldown each time thanks to the Marshal Glyph.
- Start spamming Bash in the general direction of your enemies and watch the magic happen as Overpowers pulverize foes while your cooldowns reset thanks to the Hectic Aspect.
- Cast Hammer of the Ancients when a guaranteed Overpower from Combat Bash is available, the best case scenario being after Xan "Overpower window" is over (as you don't wanna waste any of it on something else other than Bash). At most, press it every 5 seconds to keep refreshing the Violent Hammer of the Ancients buff.
Hammer of the Ancients, the Thul Rune and Wrath of the Berserker will all help you apply your Paingorger's Gauntlets effect to monsters.
PRO TIP: Make sure to use the Hold Position key when attacking to maximize your Inner Calm.
Arsenal System
The Arsenal System allows us to use a specific weapon for every attack skill, with each weapon granting different bonuses. We also have what is called the Technique Slot. With this, we can use any weapon of our choosing to always reap the benefit from its expertise bonus, regardless of which weapon we have equipped.
The Two-Handed Mace is used as our assigned weapon for both Bash and Hammer of the Ancients to fully benefit from its expertise bonuses.
In the Technique Slot, the Two-Handed Axe allows us to deal 10% more Damage to Vulnerable enemies. This build naturally has very high Vulnerable uptime thanks to Harbinger of Hatred's Volley, so this is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, its secondary effect does not apply here - the limitation of the Technique Slot being that it does not allow us to benefit from the second bonus that is normally gained when reaching expertise rank 10 with any weapon.
Learn more details and how to unlock this system in our full Barbarian Class Overview.
Paragon & Glyphs
Carefully check your Paragon Boards to ensure correct board rotation. Glyphs go from a radius of 3 to 4 at level 15 and from 4 to 5 at level 46. Some of them cannot be activated before reaching these thresholds! Progress through The Pit to rank up your Glyphs.
Use the slider to see the progression steps. At around Paragon 200, leveling slows down significantly and all important Rare clusters, Legendary nodes and Glyph sockets should be unlocked. Afterwards, you can min/max your build with minor tweaks and by picking up additional smaller nodes.
Some Glyph position swaps, board changes and other pathing adjustments may occur as you unlock your full potential. The setup displayed by default is the final version of the build before spending additional points that do not significantly impact your character's power.
Glyph Leveling Priorities
To Level 15
- Marshal
- Crusher
- Challenger
- Revenge
- Dominate
To Level 46
- Challenger
- Marshal
- Crusher
- Revenge
- Dominate
Learn more details about the Paragon System in our in-depth Paragon Boards and Glyphs guide.
Runes
You can have up to two Runewords in your setup, each consisting of one Ritual and one Invocation Rune. Socket them in Two-Handed Weapons if your build calls for them, otherwise place them into your Armor pieces to replace normal gems. This Bash Barbarian build focuses on the following combos:
Best in Slot
- Poc + Xan - Due to our fast and massive Fury spending playstyle, this Runeword gives you access to your main source of guaranteed Critical Overpower.
- Igni + Thul - This Runeword gives you another source of guaranteed Overpower.
Alternative choices
If you haven't unlocked the final setup or found the top Runes, you can also benefit from these options:
- Cir - A good early game alternative/substitution Ritual Rune to generate offerings.
- Gar - A strong early game Invocation Rune option when trying to reach 100% Critical Strike Chance.
- Yax - A very strong 200 offering Ritual Rune that triggers whenever you use a healing potion.
- Ceh - A strong early game Invocation Rune option to guarantee Vulnerable uptime and keep you company.
Learn more about Runes and how they work in our dedicated Runewords Overview and Runewords Tier List.
Mercenaries
Mercenaries are unlocked during the Vessel of Hatred campaign and assist you in battle. There are 4 separate Mercenaries to choose from, each with their own skill trees and abilities. You can have one hired (permanent) mercenary during solo play and a reinforcement who assists you from time to time in certain situations.
Hired: Raheir
He has a lot to offer us from a defensive standpoint. Skills like Valiance and Bastion help protect us from heavy hits and grant Unstoppable. Bastion also works in tandem with Ground Slam to provide some very strong offensive buffs with Inspiration. Lastly, he provides a pretty decent boost to all of our Resistances, which can help compensate for low rolls on gear.
Reinforcement: Varyana
Varyana's Bloodthirst serves as a regular Attack Speed steroid.
Learn more about Mercenaries and how they work in our dedicated Mercenaries Overview.
Stat Priorities & Item Progression
To enable the Bash Barbarian to perform optimally, hunt for these stats on your gear with good rolls and aim to Temper ⚒️ & Masterwork Crit ↑ them accordingly. The green arrow ↑ indicates which affix is most impactful to Masterwork Crit, and it does not indicate how many Masterwork Crits you need on that particular affix. Keep in mind that certain stats, such as Armor, Resistances, Extra Size Tempers, Attack Speed, and more, have caps that may affect your priorities according to the items and Paragon points available at that moment.
Recommended Endgame Stat Thresholds
- Any % Critical Strike Chance. Xan will provide when it matters.
- 70% unbuffed Attack speed (Shard of Verathiel and the various Attack speed buffs make you reach 180%+)
- Rank 25+ Bash
- 450%+ Damage while Berserking (Blood Rage)
- 150%+ Bash Cleave temper
- 4500+ Strength
- Armor Capped 1,000 (using incense)
- Resistance Capped 70% (using incenses or Raheir)
- 60,000+ Life (Buffed)
- 200%+ Movement Speed
Recommended Alchemist Elixir and Incenses
- Elixir: Elixir of Fortitude II
- Resistance Incense: Soothing Spices
- Defensive Incense: Reddamine Buzz
- Core Stat Incense: Ancient Times
Item Progression Goals
Before you dive into the Endgame with the Bash Barbarian, take a look at this overview of the items used in the build and make sure to check them as you progress! See below for further details about the different progression steps and variants. Some of your Skill Tree choices depend on what Legendary Aspects and Unique items are available to you. Keep in mind that while we can guarantee that everyone has access to the same Codex of Power Aspects, the exact progression is different for everyone.
Learn more details and how to farm Legendary Aspects and Uniques in ourGeneral Farming Guide.
Build Variants
This section is designed to guide your Bash Barbarian from a fresh level 60 into the very late endgame using the three variants Starter, Ancestral and Mythic. At the final step, you should be fully decked out with a great all-rounder build. From there, follow the other min/max variants if you want to optimize around certain activities such as Pit Pushing, Speedfarming and more.
If you are fresh in Torment 1 coming from a leveling guide, this is where you begin. Since only some Aspects can be guaranteed from Dungeon unlocks for the Codex of Power, focus on acquiring the additional aspects via gambling with Murmuring Obols.
Gear & Skills
- Early on in your progression, focus on Armor & Resistances to survive. Each Torment difficulty adds a penalty of -250 Armor and -25% all Res and it's recommended to keep both capped (1000 Armor, 70+ Res) at all times. As you unlock higher power gear, masterworking levels and more Paragon points, you naturally scale your character into the higher difficulties and can start replacing some of these rolls with max life, offensive or utility stats.
- Gameplay is very similar to the Endgame versions, with the sole difference being that we leverage Blood Boiling, triggered by Combat Bash to give some nice AoE Damage when collecting the volatile drops.
- UseWrath of the Berserker to ensure permanent Berserking uptime.
- Remind yourself to use your Healing Potions to trigger your Runeword with Ceh for decent Vulnerable uptime.
- Unconstrained is used as our Key passive as the additional Berserking duration comes in handy.
The goal here is to progress through the Torment difficulties as you unlock Ancestrals, Paragon points, all Legendary Aspects, Temper mods and the most important Uniques to pilot this build. Some Legendary Aspects are used temporarily to fill slots that may be replaced with more Unique items later on.
Gear & Skills
- As you upgrade your gear to Ancestrals with more masterworking levels and reach higher paragon, you can focus more and more on replacing Armor & Resistance rolls with better stats, but ensure to stay capped at 1000 Armor and 70%+ Resistances for the difficulty you're currently in.
- Shard of Verathiel provides a massive increase to our damage output with its tailored stats. Bear in mind, from the moment you equip it, your Bash will start costing Fury.
- Ugly Bastard Helm is an incredibly strong item that gives a ton of damage reduction from ranks of Aggressive Resistance, as well as a hefty damage multiplier via its Unique effect. The Wrath of the Berserker Cooldown Reduction is useful here as we aim for permanent uptime on our Ultimate.
- Paingorger's Gauntlets is the perfect item as its Basic Skills ranks, Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction and Unique effect boost our damage output and buff uptime.
- Rakanoth's Wake gives us resistances on top of the extra Cooldown Reduction to perfect the build rotation.
This is the final version of the build's progression, including all regular Unique items, Mythic Uniques, Legendary Aspects, Temper mods and Masterworking, leaving you with a great all-rounder build for all content in the game. Additional variants use this as a baseline to optimize around certain activities.
Gear & Skills
- While the stats on Shroud of False Death are "okay" at best, it provides us an additional Fury Generation Bonus affix and most importantly the amazing +1 to All Passive implicit modifier. This implicit represents a 30%+ damage multiplier on top of being a great boost to our shouts and defensive passives.
- Doombringer is used for its gigantic Maximum Life increase, which helps us defensively and also boosts our Overpower damage.
FAQ & Mechanics
Once a guide is released, many players have questions on why and how we are approaching certain choices. In this section you can find the answers to the questions that have been asked the most.
This Season allows us a more Fury spending playstyle with the new Boss Powers and the changes to the Xan Rune, especially when paired with Poc.
Both Critical Hits and Overpowers are being taken care of through Xan, we do not benefit from the +Core rank affix and we want to spend more resource, not less. Hence it's best to drop it entirely.
Mechanics
Much of the information in this section has been carefully and thoroughly tested by Icytroll and is extracted directly from the Barbarian Compendium. This should be your main source for the most accurate and up-to-date explanations on all mechanics that pertain to the Barbarian class.
Video Guide
Coming soon
Summary
The Bash Barbarian is very easy to play and an absolute "must try" for any Basic attack enjoyer. Here's why it's a great build:
- Up to 30+ Bash Ranks, massive Overpowers and many damage multipliers.
- High defense from its permanent Challenging Shout, defense oriented Paragon Boards and huge Maximum Life from Doombringer.
- Fairly easy to gear for and a solid Season starter.
- Low Fury maintenance; after passively generating your initial 25 Fury, Bash combined with various Resource Generation Bonuses will keep you maxed out at all times.
- Permanent Ultimate uptime with Ugly Bastard Helm, Cooldown Reduction tempers and Hectic.
- Good synergy with the Season 8 Boss Powers, which ease the build playstyle while providing decent QoL improvements.
Credits
Written by Beatdropper
Reviewed by snail