Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build: Best Bleed Barbarian skills
Discover how to create the best Bleed Barbarian build in Diablo 4
Want to know the best Bleed Barbarian build in Diablo 4? Once one of the top builds in Diablo 4, the Bleed Barbarian took a significant hit with the start of Season 1. The Hamstring passive, which previously provided a huge damage boost by Slowing enemies and allowing you to take advantage of extra CC damage modifiers, is now far weaker. Fortunately, you can make up for some of that lost power with the new Malignant Hearts.
In this guide, we break down how to make the best Bleed Barbarian build in Diablo 4, covering the Skills, Technique, Aspects, Stats, Gems, and Malignant Hearts that you'll need. This guide is current as of Patch 1.1.0, but we'll continue to add and change bits as future updates arrive.
Check out our Diablo 4 Whirlwind Barbarian build, if you'd rather just spin to win!
Best Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build
Bleed is an incredibly strong status effect in Diablo 4, inflicting huge damage over time on your enemies. We've capitalised on that power with this Bleed Barbarian build, which allows us to deal huge damage to single targets to melt Elites and Bosses with ease.
We also have a few ways to inflict enemies with Vulnerable, raising the damage they take by a baseline of 20%, along with some buffs that will send that damage increase even higher.
Best Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build skills
Below, you'll find a full list of all skills that you should get for our Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build, in order:
| Level | Skill | Cluster |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Lunging Strike level 1 | 1 (Basic) |
| 3 | Enhanced Lunging Strike | 1 (Basic) |
| 4 | Battle Lunging Strike | 1 (Basic) |
| 5 | Rend level 1 | 2 (Core) |
| 6 | Enhanced Rend | 2 (Core) |
| 7 | Furious Rend | 2 (Core) |
| 8 | Rallying Cry level 1 | 3 (Defensive) |
| 9 | Enhanced Rallying Cry | 3 (Defensive) |
| 10 | Tactical Rallying Cry | 3 (Defensive) |
| 11 | Imposing Presence level 1 | 3 (Defensive) |
| 12 | Martial Vigor level 1 | 3 (Defensive) |
| 13 | War Cry level 1 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 14 | Enhanced War Cry | 4 (Brawling) |
| 15 | Power War Cry | 4 (Brawling) |
| 16 | Charge level 1 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 17 | Enhanced Charge | 4 (Brawling) |
| 18 | Mighty Charge | 4 (Brawling) |
| 19 | Hamstring level 1 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 20 | Hamstring level 2 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 21 | Hamstring level 3 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 22 | Cut to the Bone level 1 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 23 | Cut to the Bone level 2 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 24 | Cut to the Bone level 3 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 25 | Wrath of the Berserker | 6 (Ultimate) |
| 26 | Prime Wrath of the Berserker | 6 (Ultimate) |
| 27 | Supreme Wrath of the Berserker | 6 (Ultimate) |
| 28 | Rend level 2 | 2 (Core) |
| 29 | Rend level 3 | 2 (Core) |
| 30 | Rend level 4 | 2 (Core) |
| 31 | Rend level 5 | 2 (Core) |
| 32 | Martial Vigor level 2 | 3 (Defensive) |
| 33 | Martial Vigor level 3 | 3 (Defensive) |
| 34 | Pit Fighter level 1 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 35 | Unbridled Rage | 7 (Key Passive) |
| 36 | Pit Fighter level 2 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 37 | Pit Fighter level 3 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 38 | Slaying Strike level 1 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 39 | Slaying Strike level 2 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 40 | Slaying Strike level 3 | 5 (Weapon Mastery) |
| 41 | Aggressive Resistance level 1 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 42 | Aggressive Resistance level 2 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 43 | Aggressive Resistance level 3 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 44 | Prolific Fury level 1 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 45 | Prolific Fury level 2 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 46 | Prolific Fury level 3 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 47 | Booming Voice level 1 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 48 | Booming Voice level 2 | 4 (Brawling) |
| 49 | Booming Voice level 3 | 4 (Brawling) |
| Renown Point 1 | Guttural Yell level 1 | 4 (Brawling) |
| Renown Point 2 | Guttural Yell level 2 | 4 (Brawling) |
| Renown Point 3 | Guttural Yell level 3 | 4 (Brawling) |
| Renown Point 4 | Pressure Point level 1 | 2 (Core) |
| Renown Point 5 | Pressure Point level 2 | 2 (Core) |
| Renown Point 6 | Pressure Point level 3 | 2 (Core) |
| Renown Point 7 | Rallying Cry level 2 | 3 (Defensive) |
| Renown Point 8 | Rallying Cry level 3 | 3 (Defensive) |
| Renown Point 9 | Rallying Cry level 4 | 3 (Defensive) |
| Renown Point 10 | Rallying Cry level 5 | 3 (Defensive) |
Lunging Strike
Lunging Strike is your basic skill and Fury Generator for our Bleed Barbarian build, but it's also surprisingly mobile thanks to the titular lunge that lets you move quickly around a pack of enemies.
While you often won't rely on this for big damage, the Battle Lunging Strike upgrade does help it fit with the Bleed build better by also inflicting Bleed damage over 5 seconds.
Rend
Rend is the main damage dealer of this build, and an easy way to consistently inflict Bleed on your enemies. With the Furious Rend upgrade, it also becomes a Generator itself by granting 4 Fury per hit, up to a maximum of 20 Fury. That doesn't fully refund the cost of using Rend (35 Fury), but it's close.
Dealing damage with Enhanced Rend also extends the duration of Vulnerable on enemies by two seconds, which synergises well with Charge (which inflicts Vulnerable) and allows us to maximise our damage potential with the huge Vulnerable damage multiplier.
Rallying Cry
Rallying Cry is one of your main Shouts on this Bleed Barbarian build, offering massive 30% Movement Speed and 56% Resource Generation boosts for six seconds. Enhanced Rallying Cry is absolutely key, though, offering the Unstoppable effect that allows you to break free of any Crowd Control effects on your character.
For the final upgrade, we opted for Tactical Rallying Cry for the increased Fury Generation, which is highly important for making any Barbarian build feel consistent in higher-level content.
War Cry
War Cry is the other Shout skill that you'll need, granting you 15% extra damage for six seconds. With upgrades, it'll also grant you Berserking for 4 seconds and, when six enemies are nearby, buff that damage increase by a further 10%.
Charge
Charge is a strong opener for combat, launching your Barbarian into a crowd of enemies and dealing damage to anything in your path.
Mighty Charge is the important part, though, as it also makes any enemies hit by Charge become Vulnerable for 2 seconds. We can then extend this with Rend and take advantage of the extra damage offered by Vulnerable, along with the Cut to the Bone passive.
Wrath of the Berserker
Wrath of the Berserker is a powerful Ultimate, allowing you to knock back any nearby enemies and gain both Berserking and Unstoppable for 5 seconds. You can then extend Berserking for a further 5 seconds each time you use Lunging Strike until Wrath of the Berserker wears off.
With the upgrades, you'll also get extra Movement Speed, Fury Generation, and damage while Wrath of the Berserker is active. It's an excellent Ultimate to use when you're getting overwhelmed, giving you plenty of significant buffs that can change the tide of a tough fight.
If you're unsure how to use these skills effectively, follow the attack pattern below:
- Use Rallying Cry and War Cry as you approach enemies.
- Use Charge to run into the group and inflict them with Vulnerable.
- Spam Rend until you have no Fury.
- Switch to Lunging Strike for Fury Generation.
- Switch back to Rend and repeat.
- Use Wrath of the Berserker whenever it is available during combat, especially against Elites and Bosses.
Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build: Best Technique
The Barbarian has access to a unique class mechanic called Weapon Expertise, which allows you to gain experience with various weapon types and unlock passive bonuses that affect weapons of that type. However, Barbarians can also select a Technique, which allows you to take one of these passives and apply it to all weapons, regardless of their type.
Below, you'll find the best Weapon Technique for our Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build:
- Two-Handed Sword: 2-20% of direct damage you deal is inflicted as Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
This makes all of your attack skills inflict Bleed damage, allowing you to spread the effect even more and get the most out of Bleed effects from passives such as Hamstring and Cut to the Bone, and any Gear Aspects and Affixes that synergise with bleed damage.
Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build: Best Aspects
In Diablo 4, all Legendary Gear has Legendary Aspects that grant powerful effects. You can find these Aspects on random Legendary drops or, sometimes, by running Side Dungeons scattered around Sanctuary. Aspects are key to making a build feel powerful, so you'll spend lots of time farming for them at later levels.
Below, you'll find the Aspects that we'd recommend using for this Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build:
- Harlequin Crest (Unique Helmet - random drop): Gain 10-20% Damage Reduction. In addition, gain +4 ranks to all skills.
- Rage of Harrogath (Unique Chest - random drop): Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-40% chance to reduce the cooldowns of your non-ultimate skills by 1.5 seconds when you inflict Bleeding on Elites.
- Relentless Berserker's Aspect (Hakan's Refuge - Kehjistan): Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Core skill has up to a 22-40% chance to extend the duration of Berserking by 1 second. Double this duration if it was a Critical Strike.
- Iron Blood Aspect (Forgotten Ruins - Kehjistan): Gain 2-4% Damage Reduction for each nearby Bleeding enemy, up to 10-20% maximum.
- Aspect of Anemia (Kor Dragan Barracks - Fractured Peaks): Lucky Hit: Direct damage against Bleeding enemies has up to a 20-30% chance to Stun them for 2 seconds.
- Skullbreaker's Aspect (Legendary- random drop): Stunning a Bleeding enemy deals 22-40% of their total Bleeding amount to them as Physical damage.
- Aspect of Limitless Rage (Legendary - random drop): Each point of Fury you generate while at maximum Fury grants your next Core skill 1-2% increased damage, up to 15-30%.
- Aspect of the Crowded Sage (Legendary - random drop): You heal Life per second for each close enemy, up to 50 Life per second.
- Aspect of Echoing Fury (Sirocco Caverns - Kehjistan): Your Shout skills generate 2-4 Fury per second while active.
- Bold Chieftain's Aspect (Legendary - random drop): Whenever you cast a Shout skill, its cooldown is reduced by 1-1.9 seconds per nearby enemy, up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
- Aspect of Berserk Ripping (Mournfield - Dry Steppes): Whenever you deal direct damage while Berserking, inflict 20-30% of the base damage dealt as additional Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build: Best Stats
Gear also has randomly-rolled stats, known as Affixes, that grant passive bonuses. It's important to hunt for Gear with Affixes that complement your build, so that you can make the most of core synergies that boost your damage.
Below, you'll find the Affixes that you should hunt for with this Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build:
- Lucky Hit Chance
- Bleeding damage
- Vulnerable damage
- Damage over time
- Strength (increases skill damage and Armor)
- Willpower (increases Fury Generation and healing received)
While we wouldn't recommend doing so until later levels, when your equipped Gear has more longevity, you can head to the Occultist to reroll Affixes. It's worth noting, though, that this becomes very expensive after your first reroll. You'll also need to use Fiend Roses, which are a rare resource that you can only gather in Helltides, which unlock on World Tier 3 and 4.
Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build: Best Gems
Gear in Diablo 4 often has Gem Sockets, into which you can put Gems for more passive bonuses that act similarly to Affixes. Each Gem has three potential bonuses, and the one you get depends on the type of Gear into which you insert it.
In Weapons, you should use Amethysts to boost your damage over time effects. This will directly increase the damage you deal with Bleeding, which is a clear winner for this Bleed Barbarian build.
In Armor, we'd recommend using Rubies to increase your maximum Life. Barbarians are notoriously tanky, but extra Life will drastically improve your survivability on World Tier 3 and 4 content.
With increased Life, don't forget to upgrade your Healing Potions so that you can quickly boost back up to full health during combat. Of course, you might need to gather rare materials, such as Crushed Beast Bones, Grave Dust, and Paletongue, before you can purchase these upgrades.
For Jewelry, you should usually use Skulls to boost your armor stat. However, the new Malignant Hearts will take this slot in Season 1, which you can learn more about in the section below.
Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build: Best Malignant Hearts
Malignant Hearts are the big new mechanic in Season 1, with powers similar to those offered by Legendary Aspects that you can gain by equipping them into Infested Jewelry Sockets. With 32 Malignant Hearts and just three sockets to fill, however, you might need a hand selecting those that synergise best with your Bleed Barbarian build.
Below, we'll list the best Malignant Hearts for the Bleed Barbarian:
- Focused Rage: After spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds, your next non-basic skill's Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%.
- Revenge: 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge, or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to nearby enemies.
- Creeping Death: Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects.
That wraps up our Diablo 4 Bleed Barbarian build guide. If you'd like to check out another class, take a look at our Diablo 4 Twisting Blades Rogue build, Bone Necromancer build, Corpse Explosion Necromancer build, Lightning Sorcerer build, Fire Sorcerer build, and Storm Druid build.
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