Leap/Earthquake MotE Barbarian Speed Farming Variation

Last updated on Jan 08, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 11 comments
Build Variations Updated for Season 30, Patch 2.7.7 Main Build Solo Greater Rift Progression Nephalem Rift Farming
1.

Might of the Earth Earthquake Barbarian Speed Farming Variation

The Earthquake Barbarian can deal excellently with Normal Rift farming all the way through the highest Torment difficulties. Due to the great distances that need to be covered for certain Bounties and the deliberate pace of Leap Leap, it is generally not a recommended build for that purpose. We have solo speed GR rankings and solo speed T16 rankings if you want to know more about which builds are best for speed farming.

Within the limited scope of regular difficulties, the necessary damage and toughness to triumph over the enemy is significantly smaller. Thus, your best course of action is to improve utility and speed.

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Earthquake Icon Earthquake Cave-In Cave-In Right Mouse Button Seismic Slam Icon Seismic Slam Rumble Rumble 1 War Cry Icon War Cry Veteran's Warning Veteran's Warning 2 Leap Icon Leap Death from Above Death from Above 3 Battle Rage Icon Battle Rage Ferocity Ferocity 4 Wrath of the Berserker Icon Wrath of the Berserker Insanity Insanity
Passive Skills
2.

Adapting Rotation

When you are speed farming regular rifts, parts of your playstyle will adapt to the lowered challenge and focus more on speed and utility.

The rotation of the Earthquake Barb remains pretty much unchanged between difficulties, retaining the cycle of triple Leap LeapSeismic Slam Seismic Slam Rumble Rumble Fury dumps, as well as constant upkeep of buffs like War Cry War Cry (adding movespeed value in speed runs due to Chilanik's Chain Chilanik's Chain) and Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker. Battle Rage Battle Rage Ferocity Ferocity is also added to the mixture for additional movement speed value, and should be kept active at all times.

3.

Adapting Skills and Passives

Parts of the skill and passive selection will overlap with the base Greater Rift progression build, but others will have to change according to the task at hand. Ability to cross over great distances faster and more efficiently take precedence.

  • Earthquake Earthquake remains the main damage dealer of the build, but for the convenience of speed farming, you can swap from the highly damaging Molten Fury Molten Fury rune to the pulling effect of Cave-In Cave-In. Note that this requires a swap from Fire to Physical damage in your gear rolls.
  • Leap Leap Death from Above Death from Above is still your method of delivering Earthquake Earthquakes and building up Fury, and Seismic Slam Seismic Slam Rumble Rumble is still the Fury dump that resets cooldowns, making both a mainstay in the build.
  • Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker Insanity Insanity is an omnipresent self-buff in both versions of the build.
  • War Cry War Cry Veteran's Warning Veteran's Warning is also present in the speed farming version of the build, and aside from its survivability value, it adds a movement speed buff angle via the equipped Chilanik's Chain Chilanik's Chain. In case you want to go the route of Goldwrap Goldwrap, you can alter this slot to Sprint Sprint Marathon Marathon.
  • Since you can easily overkill on damage with a well-equipped character, simply swap your Threatening Shout Threatening Shout slot to the movement speed boost of Battle Rage Battle Rage Ferocity Ferocity.
  • Rampage Rampage, Ruthless Ruthless and Earthen Might Earthen Might are still a solid foundation of your passive selection.
  • In the In-geom In-geom-reliant speed farming variation, you can exchange the flat CDR of Boon of Bul-Kathos Boon of Bul-Kathos for the movement speed bonuses of Pound of Flesh Pound of Flesh.
4.

Adapting Gear

Most of the gear from the Greater Rift progression build will still make sense for speed farming, but a few variations will be necessary in order to maximize your productivity and momentum during regular Rift clears.

The six pieces of the Might of the Earth set and the Blade of the Tribes Blade of the Tribes are still integral parts of the Earthquake build, need to be worn during speed farming. The basic recommendations for the jewelry also still apply, with Hellfire Amulet of Strength Hellfire Amulet of Strength as your amulet of choice (though alternatives like Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace in solo play and The Flavor of Time The Flavor of Time for groups can be considered), and the Bastions of Will set — Focus Focus and Restraint Restraint — still fitting the playstyle overall. Note that the rings particularly can be experimented with; i.e. equipping a Physical damage Stone of Jordan Stone of Jordan and a Rechel's Ring of Larceny Rechel's Ring of Larceny, capitalizing on the innate Fear Chance on the ring to proc the hefty movespeed increase legendary power.

When doing runs in the Torment difficulties, the extra Earthquake damage from Girdle of Giants Girdle of Giants can be overkill, so you can easily replace this belt with either Chilanik's Chain Chilanik's Chain (for the extra movement speed when you use War Cry War Cry) or Goldwrap Goldwrap (its combo with Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder and a cubed Avarice Band Avarice Band can render you practically immortal as long as you pick up gold).

During low tier GRs or normal rift speedruns in solo play, an optimized character can avoid the overkill of toughness in the bracer slot by swapping to Warzechian Armguards Warzechian Armguards for the additional environment destruction-based speed boost. The usual recommendation, Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers, can be worn by the follower starting from Patch 2.7, but should still be taken by the character themselves in group play.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Strength
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Socket
  4. Vitality
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Shoulders
  1. Strength
  2. Earthquake %
  3. Area Damage
  4. All Resistance
  5. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Torso
  1. Strength
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Earthquake %
  4. Vitality
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Legs
  1. Strength
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. All Resistance
  5. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Hands
  1. Strength
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Area Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Feet
  1. Strength
  2. Vitality
  3. All Resistance
  4. Armor
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Waist
  1. Strength
  2. Vitality
  3. All Resistance
  4. Life per Fury Spent
  5. Maximum Fury (Important Secondary Stat)
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Wrists
  1. Strength
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Fire Damage
  4. Vitality
  5. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Area Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Area Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Fire Damage
  5. Cooldown Reduction (if The Flavor of Time The Flavor of Time)
  6. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  7. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Weapon
  1. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  2. High Weapon Damage
  3. Strength
  4. Damage %
  5. Area Damage
  6. Maximum Fury (Important Secondary Stat on Mighty Weapon)

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

4.1.

Altar of Rites

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

Altar of Rites Planner

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

5.

Adapting Gems

Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped remains a universally desired damage amplification gem.

In farming content the value of Bane of the Stricken Bane of the Stricken diminishes greatly, and it is best replaced by the speedrun staple Bane of the Powerful Bane of the Powerful for its overall damage and toughness increase.

During Normal Rift runs, you can also swap Gogok of Swiftness Gogok of Swiftness out for Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder to encase yourself in a near-impenetrable layer of defense and speed from the interaction with the (potentially) worn Goldwrap Goldwrap and cubed Avarice Band Avarice Band.

5.1.

Season 30 Soul Shards

In Season 30, your helm and weapon sockets will be taken over by the supremely powerful Soul Shards. For this build, we recommend the following:

  • HelmShard of Hatred with "Your movement speed is increased by 50%" as its Rank 3 power. For optimization benefits, aim for Strength or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction on its Rank 2 roll.
  • WeaponStain of Sin with "You gain an additional Rift Progress Orb when you kill an elite pack" as its Rank 3 power. For optimization benefits, aim for Fire Skill % Increase or Weapon Damage Increase on its Rank 2 roll.
Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

6.

Adapting Kanai's Cube

The time and danger associated with champion and Guardian fights is significantly smaller when speed farming, and swapping the Weapon cube slot for In-geom In-geom will provide you with a steady flow of Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker activations, greatly improving clear speed.

Lut Socks Lut Socks are an irreplaceable part of the Earthquake Barb playstyle, guaranteeing their spot in the armor Cube slot.

In Normal Rifts, the Jewelry cube slot can be used by Avarice Band Avarice Band in conjunction with a worn Goldwrap Goldwrap (optional) and a socketed Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder in your jewelry (recommended) to bolster and speed yourself up significantly.

The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.

7.

Follower

The recommended follower for this build during standard rift farming for keys is the Enchantress due to her numerous utility bonuses, allowing you to smooth out your speed runs even further.

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

8.

Legendary Potion

Two legendary potions can be considered useful in an Earthquake Barb build. Bottomless Potion of Amplification Bottomless Potion of Amplification adds some extra healing to your Life per Fury Spent tactics with Rumble Rumble. Alternatively, Bottomless Potion of the Diamond Bottomless Potion of the Diamond can be a straightforward addition that simply layers a short All Resist protective coating after drinking (All Resistance is the preferred form of mitigation stacking for Strength-based characters, since their mainstat scales Armor already.)

9.

Changelog

  • 08 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
  • 13 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 09 Dec. 2021: Added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 22 Jul. 2021: Added S24 Ethereal recommendation.
  • 31 Mar. 2021: Revised gearing recommendations and added follower recommendation.
  • 18 Nov. 2020: Revised main hand recommendations to match the changes to Blade of the Tribes. Added S22 Cube recommendation.
  • 30 Jun. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 19 Nov. 2019: Guide revised and updated for Season 19.
  • 22 Aug. 2019: Updated skill and item recommendations to match the main build for Season 18.
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