Dalkora's Barbarian Passive Guide

This guide was written by Dalkora.

The Barbarian is a master at arms, able to wield a total of four weapons at any one time from the selection of seven weapon types: Two-handed Mace/Sword/Axe and Polearm, as well as One-handed Mace/Sword and Axe. This is thanks to our Diablo 4 Barbarian passive “Weapon Arsenal”.

So why all the different weapon types, what’s the difference? First, each weapon has its own guaranteed implicit affix:

• Swords provide increased critical strike damage.
• Axes deal extra damage to healthy enemies (above 85% HP).
• Maces increase Overpower damage.
• Polearms deal extra damage to injured enemies (under 35% HP).

As your Barbarian uses a certain type of weapon, they will also become more proficient with that weapon, earning a bonus when it is equipped for a skill. This is our weapon expertise passive and these bonuses can be potent!

To check which weapon your skill is currently using in the game, press “S” to bring up your skill sheet. From here, you can hover over each of your skills and see which weapons are assigned to each. It’s important to note that some skills must use specific weapon types. For example, Bash requires a mace.

Finally, we have our weapon technique, which allows us to take what we’ve learned in one weapon expertise and apply that bonus globally, so no matter what weapon we’re using, we can make use of that powerful passive boost!

Let’s quickly go over how to unlock your class passive. The first step is to hit level 15, at which point you’ll automatically be given the quest “Barbarian: Master of Battle.” This will require you to travel to Ker Bardu in the Dry Steppes.

Here, you will talk with Forgemaster Gerti, who will request that you speak with Katra northeast of the town.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll be tasked with killing 30 bandits and 20 animals in a large location outlined on your map.

Upon completion, you’ll receive a new marker on your map to the west, which will bring you to the entrance of a cave. You may need to wait for Katra to catch up here. Katra will then task you with entering the cave, killing a big pig boy, and collecting its head.

Once done, you’ll head back to Forgemaster Gerti in Ker Bardu to complete the quest chain and fully unlock your Barbarian class passive.

Now that you have full access to your weapon expertise and technique, let’s break down those two components individually.

When you press Shift+C in-game, you will bring up your Barbarian passive UI. Along the right, you will see the expertise for every single weapon type, their current level, and associated bonuses.

Each weapon has 10 levels of expertise. With each level you gain through the use of that weapon type, the potency of that bonus increases. Upon hitting the max level of 10, you will unlock an additional powerful bonus.

It’s important to remember that these expertise bonuses only apply when you attack with that weapon. Having it equipped is not enough. Make sure that your main skill is assigned to the weapon you feel best complements it. It can be difficult to decide which weapon type is best, especially if you’ve just picked up the Barbarian. If you get stuck, try one of our build guides “here” to help you along your journey.

Your weapon technique is first and foremost a global passive, which means regardless of what weapon/skill you’re using, this bonus IS being applied.

You can select from any of your weapon expertise and benefit from the first section of that weapon’s bonuses. However, you cannot make use of the additional level 10 bonus.

An example would be: with the two-handed axe selected as your weapon technique, you can get the 10% increased damage to vulnerable enemies even if you’re using a mace, but you will not get the increased crit chance against vulnerable enemies.

If you’re ever unclear on what bonus you are receiving, hover over your weapon technique and it will display the portion of the bonus you’re getting.

There are some interesting ways you can use the Barbarian passive system for powerful results.

With dual-wield setups, you can use two different weapon expertise at the same time. For example, you could have a one-handed mace plus a one-handed sword and benefit from the bonuses for each weapon.

You can, of course, have two of the same weapon type in dual-wield, such as two one-handed axes. This will double the bonus you get from the one-handed axe expertise.

You can even use the same weapon technique as the weapon you have equipped. This means you’ll be receiving the same bonus for that particular weapon twice (albeit minus the level 10 additional bonus, as mentioned before—you’ll only get that once in this scenario).

An example of this would be if you had a two-handed axe assigned to your main damaging skill and had a two-handed axe assigned as your weapon technique. You would receive 20% increased damage to vulnerable enemies and 10% increased crit chance to vulnerable enemies for that skill.

Finally, one last thing you’ll need to consider when making your weapon selection is the skill tree passives and glyphs you may want to use.

Certain skills, like Concussion, require that a skill use a mace in order to be used. This can be a one-handed or two-handed mace, but either way, you must use one, or this passive will do nothing.

One cool thing you can do with dual wielding is use passives and glyphs for multiple weapon types. For example, if you had a one-handed mace and a one-handed axe, you could use Concussion on the skill tree (which requires a mace) and Cleaver on the paragon board (which is an axe-specific glyph).

You may also want to use two-handed weapon-type specific passives, skills, and glyphs too, or even a combination of dual-wield for some attacks and two-handed for others.

The Barbarian passive has a ton of customization for you to take advantage of and, in my opinion, makes builds on Barbarian much more interesting due to all the combinations you can come up with.

Thanks for reading and best of luck with your new Barbarian!

Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion will feature the new Spiritborn class. Stay informed with our Spiritborn news.