Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian Leveling Guide
Last Updated:April 29, 2025|Changelog
Welcome to the Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian Leveling Guide! This is a fan-favorite skill that returns to the franchise for Barbarians. HotA is usable in every situation, and has no real drawbacks with the right gear and gameplay technique.
Upgraded to Furious Hammer of the Ancients, our main ability benefits from a large Fury pool and gets an increased Critical Strike Chance. This is actually great early on, since we don't have many efficient ways of increasing this stat. It's also important to keep in mind the effect of Enhanced Hammer of the Ancients. At 10 stacks, this greatly improves your Fury generation.
Once we get the Legendary Aspect Ancestral Force, Hammer of the Ancients receives much needed area of effect. This setup manages to easily clear groups of enemies and defeat the toughest Bosses without a sweat!
The few weaknesses HotA has are easily overcome with the right build. On top of all that, it has incredible endgame potential due to the resource generation bonus it gives and the built-in multiplier after a successful Overpower. Most importantly, many seasoned Barbarians swear it is the most fun core skill of them all.
Constantly changing between abilities to deal devastating damage creates the most engaging Barbarian gameplay early on. Swap between Lunging Strike and Hammer of the Ancients to deal tons of damage with Earthstriker's Aspect.
This guide takes you all the way to Level 60 so you can blast the endgame. Let's get started!
This build guide takes you up to level 60 and gets you started for the early Endgame on Torment 1 difficulty. If you're looking for Endgame guides, check out our Barbarian Guides section!
Check out our Leveling Builds Tier List to see how this build compares to others.
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.
Leveling/Best-in-Slot Boss Powers
Main Power
- Ashava's Poison Breath - Undisputed strongest power available early on. Lunging Strike with the addition of Battle Lunging Strike enables us to cover a big chunk of the screen with a poisonous wave that deals massive damage. It requires defeating a World Boss, so check often when it spawns! There is a World Boss timer on the top left of this screen and all Maxroll Diablo 4 pages. We will help you not to miss it!
Modifiers
- Blackmailer's Sabotage - Combined with Numbing Wrath, provides a robust Barrier that makes you nearly invincible.
- Torusk's Rage - This Power provides a nice boost to your Attack Speed. Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies can be tempered on your offensive slot to make it even stronger.
- Hatred's Embrace's Haste - Combined with Furious Hammer of the Ancients, additional Critical Strike Chance provided by this Power can really make a difference in your damage output. Temper Shadow Resistance on your Defensive slot to fully benefit from this bonus.
Alternate Boss Powers
- Allek's Talons - [Main] - Good replacement before you get your hands on Ashava's Poison Breath.
- Allek's Talons - [Modifier] - Grants a little boost to Movement Speed that is invaluable early on. It may not look like much, but will definitely help you slay demons faster!
- Wandering Death's Chest Beam - [Modifier] - Execute on this Power helps you with clearing and provides a hefty amount of Fury.
- Flesh Reaper's Disruption - [Modifier] - Tactical Ground Stomp allows you to apply Vulnerable before your huge hit from one of the other abilities, so this Boss Power is a good substitute for other Modifiers. If you ever feel like needing more damage instead of Quality of Life bonuses, change Allek's Talons to this one. Temper Crowd Control Duration in Utility slots and watch your damage skyrocket!
Learn more details about the season theme in our full Season Guide.
Skills & Gameplay
Getting Started
To start off we have to put 2 points into Basic Skills to unlock the Core Skill section. Lunging Strike is a great choice because of its built-in dash to the target. It also deals more damage against enemies at full life, which makes it perfect to start the fight with. Its primary purpose, however, is to generate Fury to fuel our main skill.
Hammer of the Ancients
Hammer of the Ancients is the centerpiece of this build. You can add an additional shockwave after you acquire Ancestral Force, which significantly extends its Area of Effect. Make sure to hit enemies near full Fury to take advantage of Furious Hammer of the Ancients. While leveling, we will try to maintain a 2:1 rotation of two Lunging Strike to each Hammer of the Ancients. To easily achieve this, we need to make use of extra Fury from Furious Impulse and assign our One-Handed weapons to Lunging Strike. Further into the leveling we will want to switch to 1:1 ratio to fully benefit from Earthstriker's.
Rallying Cry
Rallying Cry is a Shout skill that is incredibly useful at almost any point in the game. At base level, it gives us a burst of Movement Speed and a large increase to our Fury generation. With later additional investment, it provides even more Fury sustain, as well as the Unstoppable buff. While under this effect, we are immune to all forms of Crowd Control.
Ground Stomp
Ground Stomp with its upgrade, Tactical Ground Stomp, deals tons of damage and also applies Vulnerable effect on enemies. Consider it your single target ability to deal with Elites and Bosses.
Iron Skin
Iron Skin is one of the strongest defensive abilities in the Barbarian's kit. It synergizes perfectly with our playstyle that often leaves us in the middle of the danger. Staying in a big group of monsters will never be a problem!
Leap
We'll be using Leap for some added mobility and additional Fury generation. With enough ranks, it has a relatively low cooldown and can be used frequently as a traversal tool.
Key Passive
We finally pick up our Key Passive Unconstrained, which has great synergy with Prolific Fury to keep our Fury generation as high as possible. We activate this power by using Ground Stomp or Leap. Unconstrained itself also provides Berserking while below 65% Life, so consider that when you get damaged. Iron Skin works very efficiently the lower Life you get, so just keep it ready when the fight get really heated. All of these things combined drastically speed up our leveling process and help alleviate any resource issues that may be present early on.
Final Journey to Level 60
At this point, most of the key synergies are unlocked and the gameplay loop is almost complete. As you level up, you unlock a lot of extra points that go into various offensive and defensive passives or max out certain skills. Check out the skills progression above to see where to put your points as you go, but feel free to deviate from the order displayed as necessary. For example, if you need extra defense or healing, you may pick up Mighty Throw instead of Iron Skin or even switch from Unconstrained to Walking Arsenal.
Check out our Renown Guide to unlock all your additional Skill Points efficiently.
Barbarian Arsenal System
The Arsenal System allows Barbarians to use a specific weapon for every attack skill, each granting different Bonuses. The Technique Slot grants us 1 additional Arsenal Power of our choosing for every attack. The Weapon Expertise bonus we get from our currently equipped weapon and the Weapon Expertise bonus we get from the Weapon Technique slot stack with each other.
Learn more details and how to unlock this system in our full Barbarian Class Overview.
Unlocking the Arsenal System
The Arsenal System automatically unlocks when you reach Level 5. Opening the Expertise tab (Shift + C) shows all the different weapon types and their bonuses when using them. The Technique Slot unlocks at Level 15 via the Masters of Battle quest in the Dry Steppes which is very easy to complete. Simply walk northeast of town, kill some enemies, then walk west to a cave to slay the beast. After returning to town the Technique Slot will be yours!
How the Arsenal System Impacts Leveling
Our choices are simple to make while leveling as Hammer of the Ancients. Remember that you must have a weapon leveled up to at least 1 before it can be equipped in the Technique Slot!
Weapon type - Hammer of the Ancients can only be used with a Two-Handed Mace.
We assign Lunging Strike our One-Handed weapons. This way we can proc Furious Impulse by using Lunging Strike and Hammer of the Ancients back and forth.
We can leave Leap on Auto-Select. If you plan on switching from Unconstrained to Walking Arsenal, remember to assign this slot to Two-Handed Slashing weapon.
Weapon Technique - One-Handed Mace Expertise is a good choice while leveling because it will provide extra damage against Stunned enemies. We will eventually change to Two-Handed Axe technique when we have a reliable way of applying Vulnerable to our enemies.
Gear & Stat Priorities
To get started as a Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian, always use your highest DPS Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon. Your other weapons are simply stat sticks, so their DPS is secondary. Otherwise, follow the priority list below. While you don't have all of the desired temper manuals available, simply try to get anything useful on your gear until you acquire the right ones. For example, % Damage, Damage to Close, Vulnerable Damage, etc. all work as long as you activate their conditions. Likewise, you can temper multiple defensive options such as Resistances, Life, Armor to fill gaps in your survivability. Tempering low level gear is relatively cheap and the results can be very impactful!
Tip: For the early game, Elemental Surge Weapon Tempers are very powerful due to their high base damage, especially if you are twinking. If you find these, you may want to keep imprinting them on your weapons for an easy time.
Legendaries & Uniques
The Codex of Power is a collection of Legendary Aspects you can imprint onto Rare or Legendary items at the Occultist. They unlock after completing specific Dungeons located around Sanctuary or salvaging items with these powers. Check out our Map Tool to locate these Dungeons.
For leveling, there are a few powers that can significantly help us if we have the funds to imprint them. In addition, keep an eye out for powerful Unique items you may find for this or other builds.
Must-have Dungeon unlocks
- Ancestral Force (Sunken Ruins - Scosglen)
- Earthstriker's (Maugan's Works - Hawezar)
Nice-to-have Dungeon unlocks
- Numbing Wrath (Heathen's Keep - Hawezar)
- Retribution (Abandoned Mineworks - Kehjistan)
- Bul-Kathos (Light's Refuge - Hawezar)
Other useful Aspects (drop/gamble)
- Blood Boiling
- Anger Management
- Incendiary Fissures
- Executioner's
- Earthquakes
- Limitless Rage
- Bear Clan Berserker's
What to Gamble
| Offensive | 1h Weapon, Offhand |
| Defensive | Chest, Pants |
| Utility, Mobility | Boots |
| Resource | Rings |
Great Uniques for this build
- Ring of Red Furor
- Banished Lord's Talisman
- Yen's Blessing
Jackpot Drops
As you level up, you may get lucky and find some great random drops. Some of these can massively amplify your power and speed up the leveling by switching to another build. Keep in mind that there are many more Aspects and Uniques that can be useful to multiple builds; this just lists some of the most impactful ones. While we usually recommend starting with Endgame Builds at level 60, you often can make them work earlier with these drops:
Build-defining Combinations
- Executioner's + Incendiary Fissures + Tec (enables the Endgame Earthquake Barbarian and Endgame Whirlwind Barbarian)
- Moonrise + Adaptability + Shard of Verathiel (enables the Endgame Bash Barbarian)
- Rage of Harrogath + Ring of the Ravenous (enables the Endgame Rend Barbarian)
- The Third Blade (enables the Endgame Mighty Throw Barbarian)
Learn more details in our articles covering the Codex of Power and Unique Items.
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. The Whirlwind Barbarian focuses on the following combos:
Best in Slot
- Moni + Tec - Potent mixture to add even more damage to our setup. Jump into the heat of the battle with Lunging Strike to spawn Earthquake.
- Cir + Gar - With so many options to scale our Critical Strike Chance, Gar is a perfect fit. With all those bonuses combined we can reach close to 100% Critical Strike Chance.
Alternative choices
As long as you haven't unlocked the final setup or found the top Runes, you can also benefit from these options:
- Lum - Good replacement for Gar if you feel like you run out of Fury too much.
- Mot - Generates Dark Shroud.
- Wat - Spawns Decrepify to lower the damage dealt by enemies around you.
- Ceh - Minion Barb? Why not! Wolves are very strong early on and provide a good source of Vulnerable.
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 provides us with Healing, Slows, some extra damage and more Resistances. He also prevents us from getting one-shot every 30 seconds thanks to Valiance. Beware that he's not present when playing in groups! Make sure you remain Resistance capped without him.
Reinforcement: Varyana
We chooseAncient Harpoons so Varyana can group up enemies for us before dealing a fatal blow. Make her cast the ability after using Rallying Cry to never run out of Fury just before bonking commences.
Learn more about Mercenaries and how they work in our dedicated Mercenaries Overview.
How To Level
In Diablo 4, you can level by completing the Campaign, collecting Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers, completing Helltide activities, grinding Dungeons, clearing Strongholds, fighting in the Undercity of Kurast or interacting with the Seasonal Mechanics. While there are many ways to level up in Diablo 4, not all of them are equal.
Campaign Leveling
- For your first character in Diablo 4, completing the Campaign provides all the background lore information but is not necessary.
- The Campaign is the slowest way to level, but it's worth experiencing the Campaign and Diablo 4's storyline at least once.
- To play Seasonal Content you need to have completed or skipped the Campaign.
- If your account is below Rank 4 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.
- This only needs to be done once per realm (Softcore / Hardcore).
- After finishing the campaign, you should focus on earning experience in Helltides by combining Helltide activities with Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers or completing Gathering Legion Events.
- Strongholds provide a big boost of experience for little time investment. Make sure to clear all of them after around level 40.
Seasonal / Alt Leveling
- Complete the Seasonal Questline in order to progress your Seasonal Journey to unlock additional Legendary Aspects and work on your Seasonal Powers.
- If your account is below Rank 4 Renown in each zone, focus on completing your Renown.
- This only needs to be done once per realm (Softcore / Hardcore).
- Complete the Dungeons needed for any Legendary Aspects from your Codex of Power.
- From level 1-60 you should focus on earning experience in Helltides by combining Helltide activities with Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers or completing Gathering Legion Events.
- Strongholds provide a big boost of experience for little time investment. Make sure to clear all of them after around level 40.
- If you're playing an Alt, make sure to use Tempers and Leveling Caches crafted from the Alchemist to speed up your progression.
- Find the most efficient way of leveling your character in detail with our Speed Leveling Guide.
Tips and Tricks
- Imprint Important Aspects on Amulet
- It is a good idea to put your best Offensive Aspect on your Amulet, since it is usually not replaced as often as your Weapon.
- Compare Your Items
- Press Shift to activate item comparison. Use this build guide's Stat Priorities section to identify potential upgrades.
- Choose an Easy Difficulty
- Ideally, start on Hard difficulty for the extra XP modifier, then try to go higher when it's way too easy. If that slows you down noticeably, it's better to stay on a lower difficulty.
- Use Your Materials
- There's no point in holding on to your gold or materials for later. Use everything to speed up your journey to 60. If you're twinking, make sure to craft the Allowance Caches from the Alchemist at level 20 and if available, equip your Mythic Uniques at level 35 to make the leveling a breeze.
Speedrun Route
- If you're looking to min/max your time spent on the way to 60 instead of following a generic guideline, you need to use a specific strategy.
- This usually includes farming certain activities up to a specified level and then switching to other tasks while gathering XP in high density areas and pushing the difficulty as high as you can.
- We update this strategy seasonally in our Speed Leveling Guide.
Endgame Transition
As you approach level 60 with the Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian, you unlock higher item power gear that represents a massive jump in character power. This is a good time to refresh your setup with new tempers and imprints.
At level 60, Paragon Levels and The Pit unlock. Work towards Tier 10 to enter Torment 1, where the Endgame begins. Focus on overcapping your Armor (1000+) and Resistances (70%+) as you receive some penalties to your character's stats:
- -250 Armor per Torment difficulty
- -25% All Resistances per Torment difficulty
At this point, your setup should look roughly like this before you dive into min/maxing with Uniques, Mythics & Masterworking. With better gear, more levels and Glyphs, you can push further and eventually unlock higher difficulties for increased rewards.
This step marks the end of the leveling guide. Below is the Paragon setup to get you started in Torment difficulty, but ideally, you should now transition towards the endgame version of this build or choose another of your liking.
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 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
- Rumble
- Ire
- Challenger
- Might
- Territorial
To Level 46
- Rumble
- Ire
- Challenger
- Might
- Territorial
Learn more about Runes and how they work in our dedicated Runewords Overview and Runewords Tier List.
Video Guide
Coming Soon!
Summary
The Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian is a fun to play leveling build that scales very well into the lategame.
- Spread destruction with the use of four separate damage abilities!
- Focus on scaling generic damage modifiers instead of skill-specific effects to boost your damage.
- Stun enemies with Ground Stomp to stay safe and increase your damage!
- Gather Critical Strike Chance, Attack Speed & Overpower Damage on your gear.
- Show demons that you have the biggest... mace!
Credits
Written by Kondyss