Leapquake Barbarian Build Guide

Welcome to the Leapquake Barbarian Specialized Build Guide! This build got some much needed attention in Season 4 with the addition of Tempered affixes. For the main Leapquake variant described in this guide, this means two things: Dust Devils (which, ironically, is also our main damage source), and a way to lower the cooldown on Leap enough to reset it instantly.

The bad news? Well, it takes a lot of investment to really get this build to shine, mainly in the cooldown reduction department. Its best Aspects are also not immediately available from the Codex of Power, and of course, the required Tempers are not unlocked until later in the endgame. Additionally, the build suffers from a bit of clunkiness; animation cancelling is required to avoid being stuck after smashing into the ground, and Leap in general is not controller-friendly in the slightest.

If you are able to work around its downsides though, Leapquake can be one of the fastest clearing builds in the game for speedfarming with its unmatched mobility and respectable damage output.

Requirements for this build to function:

• Temper Manuals:
  • Wasteland Augments.
• Certain Legendary Aspects, primarily:
  • Giant Strides.
  • Bul-Kathos.
  • Earthquake.
  • Devilish.
  • Fierce Winds.
• Uniques:
  • Ramaladni's Magnum Opus.
  • Rage of Harrogath.
  • Ring of the Ravenous.
• Cooldown Reduction:
  • Leap needs a reduction of about 60% for continuous use.

Gear, Skill Tree, and Paragon

Paragon

See below for the selected Paragon Boards, Paragon point allocation, and the correct Glyphs you should use for the Leapquake Barbarian. Note: The Paragon Boards below are the final setup with no steps.

Level 15 Glyphs required: Ambidextrous, Bloodfeeder, Exploit, Rumble, Territorial, Twister, Undaunted

Season 5 - Infernal Hordes

In Season 5, the Season Theme brings your hero back into the bowels of Hell, in the Infernal Hordes endgame activity. You're first introduced to Hellbreach Dungeons, miniature Horde-like micro-dungeons that teach you the new mechanics and rewards systems. As you slay more powerful Demons and Bosses, you're rewarded with the new Reputation progression that comes with amazing rewards. These include Crafting Materials, unlocking Season's Journey tiers and even the coveted Resplendent Spark, needed to craft a mythic unique.

Follow the seasonal questline until you unlock the Reputation system, check which rewards suit you most and then follow your regular leveling path. To learn more, check out our full Season 5 guide for more information.

Gameplay

1. The gameplay for this build is very simple: Leap. Use Leap and cast Shouts. That's the build.
2. Iron Skin has very low downtime with this setup and can be cast practically all the time. It gives a huge chunk of damage reduction and Unstoppable, as well as a massive amount of life regeneration while active.
3. Call of the Ancients can be used on big packs and Bosses for some extra damage when needed.

Gear and Stat Requirements

These builds require specific Aspects, Uniques, Mythic Uniques, and Affixes on your gear to perform their primary function. Only deviate from the list below after you have fully learned the intended gameplay style and strategies.

1. Legendary Aspects:
   • Giant Strides: Enables Leap to be used continuously against one or more targets.
   • Bul-Kathos: Gives Leap the ability to create Earthquakes.
   • Devilish and Fierce Winds: These let us spawn Dust Devils with our skills. Weirdly enough, this is where most of our damage comes from despite the build being Earthquake themed.
2. Uniques:
   • Ramaladni's Magnum Opus:
     • Deceptively buffs Earthquake and more importantly, Dust Devils damage.
   • Ring of the Ravenous and Rage of Harrogath:
     • This combination allows Leap to cause Bleeds that drastically lower all of our cooldowns very frequently (every skill on our bar). This is the only way to utilize Rage of Harrogath in the build, as Two-Handed Sword Expertise and Berserk Ripping do not allow this to function.
   • Fists of Fate:
     • When rolled well, this is a great item that pairs nicely with the naturally high base Lucky Hit Chance of Leap.
   • Tibault's Will:
     • This build achieves permanent or near-permanent Unstoppable pretty easily, so it will constantly be benefitting from its damage multiplier. The other base stats on this item are also quite good.
3. Other:
   • Most importantly, this build requires the Sandstorm Augments Tempering Recipe to really shine. The build is not really functional without it since Earthquake damage alone is very bad in the current state of the game, outside of low-tier content. At a very bare minimum, it is not recommended to play the build without first unlocking this.
4. Cooldown Reduction:
   • A lot of effort needs to be put into reducing the cooldown of Leap so that it is able to be cast without delay, even if it has no target. Getting it under 5 seconds at a minimum is the goal, since Leap's cooldown begins as soon as it is cast and the skill itself has an animation time of approximately 0.7 seconds. With this amount of reduction it will reset completely when it hits a single target, and almost completely if it whiffs and hits nothing.

FAQ & Mechanics

Why does my Leap have such a long animation?

Leap needs to be animation cancelled in order to be used continuously. The easiest way to do this is by assigning a Force Move hotkey in the game's settings. Holding down Leap and then using Force Move when it lands will allow it to be cast again immediately, as long as its cooldown was reset. Binding Force Move to Mouse Wheel Up/Down is a very good (and recommended) option for this.

Earthquake Duration, and why it is bad.

Giving Earthquakes more duration doesn't actually increase their damage, and for that reason it's bad. For example, say you have an Earthquake that deals 9,000 damage over 4 seconds. It will tick 9 times for 1,000 damage each until the Earthquake expires after those 4 seconds. Now, say you increased its duration by 100% (8 seconds.) The Earthquake will still only deal 9,000 total damage for that duration - meaning it will take twice as long and also tick for a lower amount (18 times for 500 damage).

Earthquake Duration used to have some purpose when interacting with the Rumble Glyph. In the current game however, this bonus is capped, which makes Earthquake Duration no longer useful.

Why points in Frenzy?

Something has to be taken here in order to advance the tree. This skill isn't actually used in this build.

Ramaladni's Magnum Opus

Despite the description specifying that "Skills" deal increased damage, the effect also does apply to Earthquake and Dust Devils damage.

...Dust Devils?

Yeah... this is technically a Dust Devils build - Earthquakes just aren't strong enough on their own to be considered the main source of damage in higher content (yet).

Credits

Written by snail

Reviewed by snail