Hammer of the Ancients Charge Barbarian Gauntlet Build for Diablo 4 (Season 3)

Gauntlet Build Introduction

This is a Gauntlet variation to our popular Shout HotA build that focuses on using the power of Hammer of the Ancients in combination with Charge. With the focus on speed and high burst damage, you will be able to move through the map quickly to help you obtain a high leaderboard score. This build is a late endgame setup and assumes your character is Level 100. This guide will cover all basic mechanics and deep dive into the optimal setup for skills, Paragon and gear for the build.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

High mobility
High burst damage
High Unstoppable uptime
Simple rotation

Weaknesses

Charge requires cooldown management
Shouts need to be timed correctly
Positional gameplay

To see how this build compares to the other builds on our site, you can check out our build tier lists.

Build Requirements

The Gauntlet setup for this build uses a very specific combination of skills to achieve little to no cooldown on our Charge skill. This is extremely important to master and keep available at all times.

Required Uniques

Required Aspects (Non-codex)

Additional options that are very important to this setup:

Shrine Buff Duration affix, particularly on your Amulet slot.
Cooldown Reduction is critical to our Charge ability being available as much as possible.
Ranks to Brawling Skills or Charge; as Charge ranks up, its cooldown is lowered.

Season of the Construct

Season 3 Patch Updates

The following list details all changes of Season 3 that may pertain to Barbarians.

Passives

Endless Fury
- Fury gain increased from 7/14/21% to 10/20/30%.
Brute Force
- Overpower damage decreased from 15% to 8% per rank.
Weapon Expertise
- Expertise leveling has been cut by 50%.

Aspects

Aspect of Echoing Fury
- You now generate 6–10 Fury per second while any Shout skill is active, instead of 2–4 Fury per second for each Shout skill active.
Aspect of Limitless Rage
- Damage bonus now has a 5-second duration to be used.

Seneschal Construct Companion Powers

The Season 3 theme introduces a Seneschal Construct Companion that can deal damage or provide support to complement your character. Equip the Seneschal with two Governing Stones to activate their abilities, and then link them to three Tuning Stones each to augment the abilities. There are 12 different Governing Stones and 27 different Tuning Stones that can be found in Vaults scattered across Sanctuary. Fuse together duplicate stones to level them up, increasing the potency of Governing Stones or adding augments to Tuning Stones.

Listed below are the general recommended Governing Stones and their linked Tuning Stones for Barbarians, ranked by importance.

Tempest: Electrically charge an enemy causing it to deal damage to themselves and 1 additional enemy each second over 5 seconds. If the enemy is killed, Tempest spreads to another enemy gaining 2 additional seconds and 20%[x] bonus damage. These bonuses are also applied if Tempest is reapplied onto the same enemy.
- Evernight: The supported Skill grants you +4 to all Skills when used for 2.0 seconds.
- Resource Support: Player gains an amount of Primary Resource when the supporting Skill first deals damage.
- Efficiency Support: When the supporting skill deals damage, you gain Critical Strike Chance to the same targets hit.
Flash of Adrenaline: Administers a quick flash of adrenaline into the player, granting bonus damage for a duration.
- Genesis: Increase the effectiveness of the supported Skill by 150%.
- Tactical Support: Decrease the cooldown of the supported Skill.
- Duration Support: Supported Skills have their durations increased.

Skill Tree Points and Skill Bar

WARNING: This build is made without a generator, instead we will be using Tibault’s Will, Berserking and our Shouts to maintain Fury for Hammer of the Ancients. This is very dependent on Charge being available to keep you in an Unstoppable State, so this may take some practice to master.

Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian Skills	Cluster
Lunging Strike Level 1, Enhanced Lunging Strike	Basic Skill
Hammer of the Ancients Level 5, Enhanced Hammer of the Ancient, Furious Hammer of the Ancients	Core Skill
Rallying Cry Level 1, Enhanced Rallying Cry, Tactical Rallying Cry, Challenging Shout Level 1, Enhanced Challenging Shout	Defensive Skill
War Cry Level 1, Enhanced War Cry, Mighty War Cry, Booming Voice Level 3, Charge Level 5, Enhanced Charge, Power Charge, Aggressive Resistance Level 3, Battle Fervor Level 3, Prolific Fury Level 2, Swiftness Level 3	Brawling Skill
Pit Fighter Level 3, Thick Skin Level 1, Counteroffensive Level 3	Weapon Mastery Skill
Wrath of the Berserker, Prime Wrath of the Berserker, Supreme Wrath of the Berserker, Wallop Level 3, Heavy Handed Level 3, Tempered Fury Level 3	Ultimate Skill
Unconstrained	Key Passives

Weapon Expertise – The Barbarian Specialization

Weapon Expertise is a set of benefits tied to which weapons you use as a Barbarian. To unlock your Expertise, simply hit Level 5 and the tab below will be made available. Simply by using a certain weapon type, you will begin to gain ranks with that weapon as you fight. The ranks are from 0 to 10 and will level up moderately quickly as your character gains experience. Once your expertise hit rank 10, you will be maxed out on the benefit for using that weapon with your skills. As a reminder, swap your assigned weapon to the skill you are using by going to the Skill Selection List, not Skill Tree.

At Level 15, you will unlock the Masters of Battle quest. This quest will be available in the township of ‘Ked Bardu’ from the Forgemaster Gerti. Upon completing this quest, you will unlock the Technique slots as seen below, this will offer you an additional permanent bonus from one of the weapons regardless of whether you have it equipped to a skill or not.

For this build, we will be focused on using the expertise of Two-Handed Axe for the bonus Vulnerable damage.

Weapon Selection

Barbarians have an unique mechanic in Diablo 4 where you can assign a weapon type to certain skills. This is a critical component for all builds to function properly, and failure to match your weapon to the proper skill may cause the build to perform poorly. For this build, we will be assigning the following weapons to our skills:

Hammer of the Ancients – Bludgeoning
Charge – Slashing

Paragon Points

We recommend using these Legendary Nodes and Rare Glyphs to truly take this build into the endgame. Note that each Rare Glyph’s information listed below is for the Level 21 version.

Rare Node	Effect
Brawl	– Paragon nodes within range gain +[55%] bonus to their Physical damage and damage reduction modifiers. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Willpower points are purchased in the glyph’s range: Brawling Skills deal x 18% increased damage.
Crusher	– For every 5 Strength purchased within range, you deal +[5.3]% increased damage while wielding a Mace – Additional bonus unlocked after 40 Strength points are purchased in the glyph’s range: While wielding a Mace, you deal 30%[x] increased Overpower damage.
Dominate	– For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal +[39.45%]% increased Overpower damage. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Willpower points are purchased in the glyph’s range: After not Overpowering for 30 seconds, your next attack will Overpower.
Ire	– For every 5 Strength purchased within range, you deal +[5.3]% increased damage while Berserking. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 40 Strength points are purchased in the glyph’s range: While Berserking, you take 10% reduced damage from Elites.
Marshal	– Grants + [125%] bonus to all Magic nodes within range. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 40 Strength points are purchased in the glyph’s range: After casting a Shout Skill, the active Cooldown of every non-Shout Skill is reduced by 4 seconds.
Exploit	– For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [8%] increased damage to Vulnerable targets. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Dexterity points are purchased in the glyph’s range: When an enemy is damaged by you, they become Vulnerable for 3 seconds. This cannot happen more than once every 20 seconds per enemy.
Blood Rage	– Killing a Bleeding enemy has 10% chance to grant Berserking for 5 seconds. Your damage is increased by x25% of your Damage while Berserking bonus.
Decimator	– Each time you make an enemy Vulnerable, your damage is increased by 10% for 5 seconds. Overpowering a Vulnerable enemy grants an additional x10% bonus for 5 seconds.
Bone Breaker	– Every 12 seconds, your next Skill is guaranteed to Overpower.

Let’s break down each of these beneficial Nodes and where our Paragon Points are positioned in each of the Paragon Boards we use.

Starting Board

Head up the right hand side of the board and take the Rare Node Brawn. This node will give us a small increase to our Maximum Life and Physical damage bonus.
Next, path towards the Glyph slot and insert Brawl, this glyph will increased our damage with Charge.
Take both of the Rare Nodes, Iron Strength and Raw Power.
Head to the top of the board and attach our next Paragon Board, Carnage.

Carnage

Take the Rare Node Enraged for the boost to our Berserking state.
Go straight to the open Glyph slot and insert Ire into the Glyph slot, adding more bonuses to us when we are Berserking.
Next, we will take both Rare Nodes inside the glyph radius, Brash and Fierce, these nodes will give us increased Damage while Berserking and Damage Reduction against Close Enemies.
Take the path to the right hand side of the board for the connection point and the pathway to the top of the board for the connection point there as well.
We will use the top connection point first, adding the Decimator Paragon Board.

Decimator

Take the Rare Node Destroyer for the Vulnerable damage increase.
Now go ahead and get the Legendary Node Decimator for more damage increases against Vulnerable targets.
Head to the open glyph slot and insert Marshal, this is key to keeping our Charge Cooldown as low as possible using our Shout Skills.
Take both Rare Nodes, Demolish and Arrogance , boosting our offenses and defenses against Vulnerable enemies.
Now go back to the Carnage paragon board and take the right side connection point, adding the Bone Breaker Paragon Board.

Bone Breaker

Take the Rare Node Bulwark, then drop down and take the Legendary Node Bone Breaker for the guaranteed Overpower strike.
Take the pathway upwards and pick up the Rare Node Inner Strength.
Path towards the open Glyph and insert Exploit into the slot, for more damage against Vulnerable enemies and Vulnerable application.
Inside the Glyph radius take both Rare Nodes, Brutality and Vigor, these will grant us some Overpowered damage and Damage Reduction while Healthy.
Now path to the top connection point as well as the right hand connection point for use later.
Using the top connection point add the Paragon Board Blood Rage.

Blood Rage

Head towards the open Glyph slot and insert Dominate, increasing our Overpower damage.
Take both the Rare Nodes, Grit and Revel, for the bonuses against Bleeding enemies.
Path upwards and take the Legendary Node Blood Rage for the ability to extend our Berserking time and damage.
Now take the Rare Node Enraged and all the Magic nodes around it.
Now go back to the Bone Breaker and take the right hand connection point.

Warbringer

Now take the path to the open glyph slot and insert Crusher, increases our Overpower damage.
Take both the Rare Nodes, Raw Power and Conditioned, for the increases in our Physical Damage and Resistances.
This completes the Paragon Tree for this build.

Paragon board images courtesy of d4builds.gg.

Mechanics and Playstyle

This build has several very important mechanics you will need to understand to successfully run the Gauntlet as quickly as possible. The most important elements of this build are cooldown management, Berserk ing and maintaining Unstoppable as much as possible. For your rotational play, you want to use Charge as much as possible to traverse the map and kill enemies, however, we will want to add Hammer of the Ancients at least once between each Charge to keep our buffs up. This will trigger Veteran Brawler’s Aspect, as well as help with our bonuses from swapping weapons. Where things will get more complicated is how we will space out our Shouts to help lower our cooldowns on other non-shout skills which will include Charge. You can use your Shouts primarily to control the cooldown on your Charge, however, be careful you do not sacrifice your defenses when needed.

Cooldown

Cooldown on Charge needs to be as low as possible so we can Charge over and over inside the Gauntlet to move around the map and kill quickly. Power Charge is going to refresh our skill as long as we hit enough enemies with each skill use. Positional play is going to be crucial, and you will want to focus on targeting packs of enemies, not individuals. If this fails and you need to reset your Charge quickly, use your Shouts to help get it back up and ready again.

Berserking

We will be able to grant ourselves Berserking from both Enhanced War Cry and Wrath of the Berserker, however, we will also be able to take advantage of the Legendary Node Blood Rage to help extend our Berserking as we strike enemies with our Charge. This occurs due to our Ring of the Ravenous applying Rend when we use Brawling skills like Charge.

Unstoppable

Unstoppable will help keep us moving around the map and enable the Fury generation we will be needing to use Hammer of the Ancients. This occurs because of our Tibault’s Will granting us Fury, as well as a damage buff when we Charge. We will also be able to use Ghostwalker Aspect to help accelerate our movement, but it will also grant us the ability to phase through enemies. This will help us develop a good route through the Gauntlet despite any enemies getting in our way.

Gear Choice and Stat Priority

As you begin to farm in World Tier 3 and 4, Rare and Legendary item drops will begin to appear with some regularity, depending on your luck. We recommend saving the targeted Legendary items that have the needed Legendary aspects listed below. We also recommended to keep multiple copies of the build’s Aspects in your Stash for future upgrades.

As for the Rare items, you will need to inspect each one for targeted affixes for use in each specific slot and do your best to match the recommended rolls. We have listed our targeted affixes in order of importance. Check the chart below and make note of what affixes you are searching for when you see a Rare gear piece drop.

Gear Slot	Targeted Affixes
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Damage While Berserking 3. Strength 4. Total Armor
Chest	1. Damage Reduction 2. Damage Reduction while Fortified 3. Damage Reduction Enemies that are Bleeding 4. Total Armor
Gloves	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Ranks of Hammer of the Ancients 3. Attack Speed 4. Strength 5. Overpower Damage
Pants	Tibault’s Will
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. Shrine Buff Duration 3. Needed Resistances 4. Fury Cost Reduction 5. Strength
Amulet	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Shrine Buff Duration 3. Ranks to Brawling Skills 4. Movement Speed
Rings	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Damage While Berserking 3. Maximum Fury 4. Damage To Close Enemies 5. Vulnerable Damage & Ring of the Ravenous
Weapons	1. Strength 2. All Stats 3. Damage while Berserking 4. Damage to Close Enemies

Please note that these Affixes are the recommended picks, but that is simply our opinion. Other Affixes could certainly work instead of the ones listed above, but may not be optimal. Also, there are several very specific Affixes that are required to make the build work, they are as follows:

Shrine Buff Duration
Cooldown Reduction
Levels to Charge

Legendary Aspects

Below you will find the optimal setup for Legendary Aspects for this Gauntlet build. Each aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each aspect in the slot it was posted with.

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary items that are important for this Charge HotA build. Aspects from the Codex of Power can be used if you cannot find the proper Legendary drops, but they have weaker effects. Extract Aspects from lower level Legendary items and imprint them onto better Rare items with preferred stats. The endgame itemization goal will be to imprint Aspects with the best values Ancestral Rare items with Item Power above or as close to 800, then upgrade them through the Blacksmith.

Gear Slot	Legendary Aspect
Helm	Juggernaut’s Aspect
Chest	Aspect of Numbing Wrath
Gloves	Earthstriker’s Aspect
Pants	Tibault’s Will
Boots	Ghostwalker Aspect
Amulets(50% bonus)	Veteran Brawler’s Aspect
Ring	Ring of the Ravenous
Ring	Bold Chieftain’s Aspect
Bludgeoning Weapon (100% bonus)	Aspect of Limitless Rage
Slashing Weapon (100% bonus)	Aspect of Ancestral Charge
Dual-wield weapon 1	Brawler’s Aspect
Dual-wield weapon 2	Aspect of Ancestral Force

Uber Uniques

The chart below is our recommendation for Uber Uniques that will work within this build. However, all Uber uniques are extremely powerful and can shine in different situations. Good hunting!

Gems

Listed below are the best gems to socket into gear for each slot type.

Weapon: Royal Ruby increases our Overpower Damage.
Armor: Royal Ruby for Maximum Life.
Jewelry: Royal Diamond for All Resistances, however, certain bosses may require you to switch to their corresponding resistances or if you are capped on resistances switch Royal Skull,

Elixirs and Health Pots

Visit the Alchemist in any main town to craft helpful Elixirs that increase stats, and experience gain for 30 minutes. Make sure to forage plants and pick up the necessary crafting materials during your adventures; they randomly spawn around the world.

Heady Acrobatics Elixir (craftable): Cooldown Reduction is key to keeping us charging around the map.
Elixir of Cruelty (non-craftable): Amplifying our damage output can help accelerate our progress through the map.

Changelog

March 10th 2024: Build Creation.

Uber Uniques	Recommended(Y/N)	Replaces
Andariel’s Visage	No
Harlequin Crest	Yes	Replaces Helm Slot
Melted Heart of Selig	No
Ring of Starless Skies	No
Doombringer	No
The Grandfather	Yes	Replace Aspect of Ancestral Force with Aspect of Ancestral Charge and free up the Slashing weapon slot.
Ahavarion, Spear of Lycander	No