Speed Farming Barbarian HotA Build with Immortal King (Patch 2.7.7 / Season 30)

Last updated on Jan 08, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 46 comments
Build Variations Updated for Season 30, Patch 2.7.7 Main Build Solo Greater Rift Progression Nephalem Rift Farming
1.

Immortal King HotA Barbarian Speed Farming Variation

The Immortal King HotA Barbarian can deal reasonably well with Normal Rift and Bounty farming all the way through the highest Torment difficulties. The build variation suffers from minor inconveniences compared to top tier speed farming builds (conflicting bracers, competing belts), but otherwise handles the task with ease. 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 Furious Charge Icon Furious Charge Merciless Assault Merciless Assault Right Mouse Button Hammer of the Ancients Icon Hammer of the Ancients Smash Smash 1 Battle Rage Icon Battle Rage Ferocity Ferocity 2 Sprint Icon Sprint Marathon Marathon 3 Wrath of the Berserker Icon Wrath of the Berserker Insanity Insanity 4 Call of the Ancients Icon Call of the Ancients Together as One Together as One
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.

Activate Call of the Ancients Call of the Ancients and Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker as soon as you start a run, and keep both skills up throughout the rift — a task made infinitely easier with the Immortal King set bonus. Remember that Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker needs to be cast on cooldown, but only resummon Call of the Ancients Call of the Ancients when one or more of them die off. In a speedfarming build, take advantage of the burst potential of HotA builds and try to jump from elite to elite, killing trash enemies as collateral damage instead of them being the focus. Furious Charge Furious Charge will alternate with Hammer of the Ancients Hammer of the Ancients at regular intervals to maintain the Focus Focus and Restraint Restraint damage bonus. Keep Battle Rage Battle Rage up at all times and Sprint Sprint in between packs if necessary.

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.

  • Hammer of the Ancients Hammer of the Ancients remains the main damage dealing skill, along with the highest damage dealing rune — Smash Smash.
  • Furious Charge Furious Charge retains its role as a movement skill, along with the cooldown-resetting powers of the rune Merciless Assault Merciless Assault.
  • Battle Rage Battle Rage is present in the speed farming build as well, but the rune is swapped from the progression-oriented Bloodshed Bloodshed to the extra movement speed of Ferocity Ferocity.
  • When you are solo speed farming, use the slot usually occupied by Threatening Shout Threatening Shout for the short bursts of speed from Sprint Sprint Marathon Marathon — useful when there is no one to Furious Charge Furious Charge to, and especially so in Bounties. If you are clearing standard rifts with a group, you can consider using War Cry War Cry in this slot and cubing Chilanik's Chain Chilanik's Chain for the party-wide movement speed buff.
  • Both Call of the Ancients Call of the Ancients Together as One Together as One and Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker Insanity Insanity are still part of your skill lineup.
  • Rampage Rampage, Berserker Rage Berserker Rage and Ruthless Ruthless are still a solid foundation of your passive selection.
  • You can change the flexible fourth passive slot from progression staples like Nerves of Steel Nerves of Steel to the globe-consuming Pound of Flesh Pound of Flesh to further speed up your clears.
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 Immortal King set, the Fury of the Ancients Fury of the Ancients, and Bracers of the First Men Bracers of the First Men worn during progression are still required during speed farming. Note that the bracers are the Kanai's Cube recommendation for Mortick's Brace Mortick's Brace, depending on your better rolled item. A former contender for the slot, Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers, can now be allocated to the follower and their unique power will still apply to you due to the Emanation system.

During standard rift speed farming, the timing and positioning-reliant bonuses of the Endless Walk set and Convention of Elements Convention of Elements are greatly diminished in usefulness. Instead, you should amplify your damage potential and capability to oneshot elites by incorporating the Bastions of Will jewelry set: Focus Focus and Restraint Restraint. The two rings offer an unparalleled 2.25x multiplier as long as you alternate between a generator and spender attacks — a requirement that is easily fulfilled by weaving a regular Furious Charge Furious Charge into your Hammer of the Ancients Hammer of the Ancients spam. Lastly, complete the jewelry with Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace, which adds another damage multiplier to the build at the cost of increasing damage taken, and with the condition of "not getting hit" — a limitation to a melee-only build that you will get around by socketing either a Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard (if you are farming low tier GRs), or Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder (if you are farming T16 standard rifts).

Weapons-wise, you will be using the utility-driven combo of In-geom In-geom and Remorseless Remorseless. The former will ensure an unbroken chain of Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker activations despite the lesser HotA spam in standard rifts, while the latter will reward you for it with a massive damage bonus to your main damage skill while you keep WotB and Ancients active.

4.1.

Death's Breath Farming

While we recommend that you use a Raekor Boulder Toss build for Death's Breath farming, Immortal King HotA builds are also able to include the Sage's set for the extra materials. You will simply need to:

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Strength
  2. Socket
  3. Crit Chance or Vitality (see above)
  4. Hammer of the Ancients %
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Shoulders
  1. Strength
  2. Vitality
  3. Area Damage
  4. All Resistance
  5. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Torso
  1. Strength
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Reduced Damage from Elites
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Wrists
  1. Strength
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Fire Damage
  4. Vitality
  5. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Hands
  1. Strength (replaced by Attack Speed at High Paragons)
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Area Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (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)
Legs
  1. Strength
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. All Resistance
  5. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Feet
  1. Strength
  2. Hammer of the Ancients %
  3. Vitality
  4. All Resistance
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Fire Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Area Damage or Flat Damage Increase
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Area Damage or Flat Damage Increase
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Weapon #1
  1. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  2. High Weapon Damage
  3. Strength
  4. Area Damage
  5. Life per Hit
  6. Maximum Fury (Important Secondary Stat on Mighty Weapon)
  7. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat if LpH not present)
Weapon #2
  1. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  2. High Weapon Damage
  3. Strength
  4. Area Damage
  5. Life per Hit
  6. Maximum Fury (Important Secondary Stat on Mighty Weapon)
  7. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat if LpH not present)

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.

4.2.

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.

Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder is a great speed farming inclusion, as it increases both your gold income (necessary for empowering GRs) as well as your movement speed. If you are farming Greater Rifts (where gold does not drop) or if you are doing a Death's Breath farming alteration, you can use the defensive bulwark of Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard to safekeep your Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace damage bonus.

Bane of the Powerful Bane of the Powerful is one of the best speed farming gems, as it offers a 20% multiplicative damage increase after killing an elite pack with a scaling duration of 1 second per level, starting out at a generous 30 — meaning you can afford to leave the gem at level 25 for a while in early progression and work on your more important gems. Its secondary bonus is a further increase in damage dealt and a reduction in damage taken from elites, solidifying its spot as a farming staple.

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:

  • HelmFragment of Destruction with "When you apply a Mark of Destruction, you increase your movement speed by 5%" 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

You will maintain The Gavel of Judgment The Gavel of Judgment (in the weapon cube slot) and either Bracers of the First Men Bracers of the First Men or Mortick's Brace Mortick's Brace (in the armor cube slot — choice depends on your weaker rolled item), as these items provide indispensable bonuses for the performance of a HotA Barbarian.

Avarice Band Avarice Band is an Act 3 cache legendary ring that increases your gold and health globe pickup radius as you pick up gold, stacking to the massive, half-screen circle of 30 yards — all for a generous 10 second duration. When cubed, its legendary power will greatly assist you in maintaining the movespeed bonuses of Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder, as well as Pound of Flesh Pound of Flesh. If you are uncomfortable with your toughness however, you can stick with the mitigation powerhouse Band of Might Band of Might.

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

The preferred potion for this build is Bottomless Potion of the Leech Bottomless Potion of the Leech due to its Life per Hit bonuses, which synergize perfectly for the high attack speed and sustain-through-attacks playstyle of the build.

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: Slight revision of wording, gem options; added S24 Ethereal recommendation.
  • 30 Mar. 2021: Added follower recommendation.
  • 18 Nov. 2020: 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: Revised and update for Season 19.
  • 28 Aug. 2019: Further revised skill and item recommendations.
  • 22 Aug. 2019: Item recommendations were revised for Season 18.
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