Overpower Berserk HotA Endgame Barbarian Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 4)

Build Introduction

Welcome to the comprehensive guide for Overpower-Berserk Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian at endgame, utilizing insane overpowers and powerful slams to annihilate anything in your way. Bosses? No problem. Nightmare Dungeons? Easy. Vaults? Those constructs won’t even know what hit them. We will walk you through everything you will need to smash, land big critical hits, and fill your screen with big numbers as every demon, construct, boss, or whatever else lies in front of you explodes into paste. With that in mind, let’s dive in.

Strengths and Weaknesses

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

Build Requirements

Required Uniques

Ring of Red Furor

Banished Lord’s Talisman

Tibault’s Will

Godslayer Crown

Required Aspects (Non-codex)

Aspect of Limitless Rage

Bold Chieftain’s Aspect

Juggernaut’s Aspect

Skill Bar and Skill Tree Points

Skill Bar Setup for HotA Barbarian (order does not matter)

Hammer of the Ancients War Cry Lunging Strike Challenging Shout Rallying Cry Wrath of the Berserker

Follow the points allocated in the image above for the complete 58 point build. The additional 10 skill points are completed using the Renown system.

Arsenal System and Weapon Selection

For this Hammer of the Ancients build, we will be using 2-Handed Axe expertise for its bonus to Vulnerable damage.

Barbarians have a 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:

• Lunging Strike – Dual Wield
• Hammer of the Ancients – Bludgeoning

Paragon Board

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

Starting Board

Warbringer

Rotate this board three times before attaching it.

Carnage

Rotate this board twice before attaching it.

Blood Rage

Attach this board to the Northern gate of the Carnage board. Do not rotate this board when attaching it.

Decimator

Attach this board to the Eastern gate of the Carnage board. Rotate this board three times before attaching it.

Hemorrhage

Attach this board to the Southern gate of the Carnage board. Rotate this board three times before attaching it.

Weapons Master

Attach this board to the Eastern gate of the Blood Rage board. Rotate this board three times before attaching it.

To view the paragon board in its entirety CLICK HERE.

Legendary Aspects

Below you will find all of the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary items that are important for this build. Remember that with Patch 1.4.0 all Legendary powers can be added into your Codex once you salvage or extract the item. You can still find some aspects through dungeons as you could in previous seasons but now you have the option to upgrade these affixes if you find a higher roll of that affix. Let us go over what aspects you will need.

Slot	Gems	Legendary Aspect / Uniques	Aspect / Unique Power
Helm	Royal Ruby	Godslayer Crown	– When you Stun, Freeze, or Immobilize an Elite enemy or damage a Boss, it pulls in nearby enemies. You deal [30-60%] increased damage to them for 3 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 12 seconds.
Chest	Royal Ruby	Juggernaut’s Aspect	– Gain [X] Armor, but your Evade has a 100% increased Cooldown.
Gloves	N/A	Aspect of Ancestral Force	– Hammer of the Ancients quakes outward and its damage is increased by [2-17%].
Pants	Royal Ruby	Tibault’s Will	– You deal [10-20%] increased damage while Unstoppable and for 5 seconds after. When you become Unstoppable, gain 50 of your Primary Resource
Boots	N/A	Relentless Berserker’s Aspect	– Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Core Skill has up to a [22-40%] chance to extend the duration of Berserking by 2 seconds. Double this duration if it was a Critical Strike.
Amulet	Royal Diamond	Banished Lord’s Talisman	– After you spend 275 of your Primary Resource, your next Core Skill is guaranteed to Overpower. Your Critical Strikes that Overpower deal [20-60%] increased damage.
Ring 1	Royal Diamond	Bold Chieftain’s Aspect	– Whenever you cast a Shout Skill, its Cooldown is reduced by [1.0-2.0] seconds per nearby enemy, up to a maximum of 6 seconds.
Ring 2	Royal Diamond	Ring of Red Furor	– After spending 100 Fury within 3 seconds, your next cast of Hammer of the Ancients, Upheaval, or Death Blow within 5 seconds is a guaranteed Critical Strike and deals [10-30%] bonus Critical Strike Damage.
2-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon	Royal Ruby	Aspect of Limitless Rage	– Each point of Fury you generate while at Maximum Fury grants your next Core Skill within 5 seconds [1-2%] increased damage, up to [15-30%].
2-Handed Slashing Weapon	Royal Ruby	Edgemaster’s Aspect	– Skills deal up to [5-20%] increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource.
Dual Wield Weapon 1	Royal Ruby	Earthstriker’s Aspect	– After swapping weapons 8 times, your next Non-Basic Skill will Overpower and deal [15-30%] increased Overpower damage.
Dual Wield Weapon 2	Royal Ruby	Aspect of Elements	– Gain + [20-30%] increased damage to a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between 2 sets: Fire, Lightning, and Physical. Cold, Poison, and Shadow.

Gems

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

Weapon Gems	Armor Gems	Jewelry Gems
Royal Ruby for increased Overpower damage	Royal Ruby for increased maximum life	Royal Diamond for all resistances

For your jewelry it may be necessary to change the Royal Diamond for another gem for a specific type such as Royal Sapphire to ensure all of your resistances are capped at 70%

Which Elixirs Should You Use?

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. Use an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Elixir of Destruction which increases your Overpower damage. Craft the highest Elixir of Destruction you can

Return to the Alchemist again when you reach Level 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80 and 90, to upgrade your potion. The extra healing is essential to survival.

Stat Priority and Tempering Affixes

With all of these new systems in mind, let us dive into what stats we want on gear, what tempers we would like, and what stat we would prefer to be pumped either through a Greater Affix or through Masterworking. Affixes that are bolded in yellow are the most important targets for Masterworking upgrades. The names of the tempering manuals you need to apply the affixes will be listed next to the affixes we want.

Slot	Gear Affixes	Tempering Affixes
Helm	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Strength 3. Maximum Life	1. Challenging Shout Cooldown Reduction Barbarian Strategy 2. Stun Duration Barbarian Control
Chest	1. Strength 2. Maximum Life 3. Needed Resistance	1. Challenging Shout Cooldown Reduction Barbarian Strategy 2. Stun Duration Barbarian Control
Gloves	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Attack Speed 3. Lucky Hit: Chance to Make Enemies Vulnerable for 2 Seconds	1. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse 2. + Ranks to Concussion Barbarian Control
Pants	1. Strength 2. Maximum Life 3. Needed Resistance	1. Challenging Shout Cooldown Reduction Barbarian Strategy 2. + Ranks to Concussion Barbarian Control
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. Strength 3. Maximum Life	1. Movement Speed Natural Motion 2. + Ranks to Concussion Barbarian Control
Amulet	1. Cooldown Reduction 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Ranks to Counteroffensive	1. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse 2. Resource Generation with Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons – Weapon Attunement — Barbarian
Rings	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Lucky Hit Chance 2. Fury on Kill	1. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse 2. Resource Generation with Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons Weapon Attunement — Barbarian
2-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon	1. Strength 2. Fury on Kill 3. Maximum Life	1. Hammer of the Ancients Size Furious Augments 2. Damage to Close Enemies Natural Finesse
2-Handed Slashing Weapon	1. Strength 2. Fury on Kill 3. Maximum Life	1. Hammer of the Ancients Size Furious Augments 2. Damage to Close Enemies Natural Finesse
Dual Wield Weapons	1. Strength 2. Fury on Kill 3. Maximum Life	1. Hammer of the Ancients Size Furious Augments 2. Damage While Berserking Berserking Finesse

Rotation and Playstyle

Our tried and true HotA Barbarian uses a few simple skills to deal massive overpowers that will crush anything in our path. Let’s review our skills and go over the general rotation.

• Engage enemies with Lunging Strike and use it to generate Fury
• Spend Fury with Hammer of the Ancients as often as possible
• Use War Cry and Rallying Cry for resources and their buffs as often as possible
• Cast Challenging Shout for defense whenever you’re in a tight spot
• Use Wrath of the Berserker against Bosses and Elites for its massive bonus while Berserking.

Uniques and Uber Uniques

Below you will find information on Uniques and Uber Uniques that are useful for this build. Moreover, if you are interested in target farming Uber Uniques, check out our How to Farm Uber Uniques guide.

Unique Items

Below you will find the unique items useful to this build. Despite changes in Patch 1.4.0 to some of them, we still want to utilize them for this Hammer of the Ancients Build

• Godslayer Crown – A powerful helm providing a huge damage multiplier whenever stun enemies or attack bosses for a few seconds granting us significant burst.
• Tibault’s Will – Even though it was reduced in power in Patch 1.4.0 these are still very powerful for this build and even provide a damage reduction affix to your pants, something that is more of a rarity in Season 4.
• Banished Lord’s Talisman – Even with its massive cut in damage bonus, the guaranteed overpowers and ranks to hammer it provides make it the best choice for our amulet slot.
• Ring of Red Furor – A potent ring that was left unscathed from the Patch 1.4.0 changes and so it retains its place here in guaranteeing critical hammers for big damage.

Uber Uniques

Here you will find the uber unique items that are useful to this build. If an uber unique is NOT listed here, it is not useful to this build and does not provide any meaningful increase or effect.

• Harlequin Crest – The most coveted helm in all of Diablo 4 retains its power here providing cooldown, damage reduction, and more ranks to our most used skills. If you’re lucky enough to find one, replace Godslayer Crown with it.
• The Grandfather – An extremely powerful two-handed sword that provides a large damage multiplier and will make your Hammer of the Ancients crush anything in front of you. If you manage to get your hands on one, swap Edgemaster’s Aspect to your second Dual-Wield Weapon and drop Aspect of Elements for it.

Season 4: Loot Reborn

Unlike past seasons there is no overarching theme for season 4 as Blizzard are focused on the absolutely massive loot overhaul which is sure to change the game in big ways. There will also be a reputation to be gained with the new Ironwolves during Helltides and this faction grants several tempering manuals and even a resplendent spark! Below are the changes coming that will affect this Hammer of the Ancients build and be warned, there are many!

• Barbarian’s innate 10% Damage Reduction has been removed
• Banished Lord’s Talisman resource needed to guarantee overpower reduced from 300 to 275 however, damage bonus reduced from 80-120% to 20-60%
• Tibault’s Will damage bonus reduced from 20-40% to 10-20%, damage now persists for 1 second longer after being unstoppable
• Furious Hammer of the Ancients Changed. No longer increases damage by 1% per point of fury, now increases 2%+ Critical Strike Chance for every 10 Fury you had when using it
• Unbridled Rage Damage bonus reduced to 100% from 135%
• Two-Handed Axe Technique’s increase to vulnerable damage reduced from 15% to 10%
• Marshal Cooldown reduction bonus reduced from 4 seconds to 2 seconds
• Blood Rage Damage increased by Berserking bonus reduced from 25% to 10% and now caps at 30%
• Crusher Overpower damage bonus reduced from 30% to 20%
• Dominate Overpower damage bonus from main glyph stat reduced from 39.9% to 14.9% at glyph level 21. Secondary bonus changed to Every 30 seconds, your next attack will Overpower
• Earthstriker’s Aspect Overpower damage bonus reduced from 35-50% to 15-30%

Advanced Information

Below, you will find every additional piece of information you need to know for a more in-depth look at this build.

Build Mechanics

Our main playstyle is very similar to how it was in previous seasons. This time we do not take a dedicated movement skill such as Charge or Leap. Instead we get in to packs with Lunging Strike and spam our Hammer of the Ancients. Thanks to Earthstriker’s Aspect and our paragon node Weapons Master we assign our dual-wield weapons to Lunging Strike so that we’re swapping all the time and gaining the benefits of these powers. We’ll be able to guarantee big overpower hits through Ring of Red Furor and Banished Lord’s Talisman. This build lost a lot of power in season 4 but really was just brought back down to earth from the stars and is still an incredibly potent build for those who love smashing demons.

By lining up the guaranteed Overpowers from Banished Lord’s Talisman and guaranteed critical strikes from Ring of Red Furor we can deal devastating damage through Hammer of the Ancients that will still do millions and crush all but the strongest of foes. So be sure to line up your buffs for maximum damage.

Berserking

A unique status to Barbarians that provides damage reduction, movement speed, resource generation and a large damage bonus. We can stay in this state nearly constantly with on demand Berserking sources such as Wrath of the Berserker and War Cry. We will be able to enter it as well through various paragon nodes such as Blood Rage and we’ll gain longer duration despite choosing Unbridled Rage over Unconstrained thanks to our codex choices in Relentless Berserker’s Aspect.

Defensive Aspects

With Juggernaut’s Aspect we should easily be able to hit the new armor cap. We will want to fill our needed resistance caps through paragon nodes, and gem selection in our amulets and rings so we achieve 70% in all resistances. We should have plenty of Fortify potential through Warbringer and certain aspects like Aspect of Numbing Wrath should we use them. Finally, thanks to high uptime on Challenging Shout through the new tempering system’s affix of ‘Challenging Shout Cooldown Reduction’ we’ll be incredibly tanky and able to push through all but the toughest of foes.

Paragon

The recommended Paragon boards for this build are listed above, and further down below, you can find a more thorough route for allocating the Paragon points, as well as some notes on why specific nodes were chosen and why they are essential for this build.

Rare Glyph and Legendary Nodes	Effect
Exploit	– For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [3.85%] 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.
Dominate	– For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal +[39.45%] increased Overpower damage – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Willpower, 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.
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 x30% increased Overpower damage.
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.
Might	– Grants + [125%] bonus to all Magic nodes within range. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 40 Strength points are purchased in the glyph’s range: You deal x8% increased damage while wielding Two-Handed Weapons
Warbringer	– Every 75 Fury you spend, you gain 15% of your maximum life as Fortify
Carnage	– While Berserking, Critical Strikes increase your Attack Speed by +2%, up to +16% for 6 seconds
Blood Rage	– Killing a Bleeding enemy has a 10% chance to grant Berserking for 5 seconds. Your damage is increased by x10% of your Damage While Berserking bonus, up to a maximum of x30%
Weapons Master	– Swapping weapons grants you 4% of your Maximum Fury
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.

Let’s break down each of these beneficial nodes and where our Paragon Points are positioned in each of the Paragon Boards we use. This part of the build is presented in order of importance. If you do not have enough Paragon Points for use in your Paragon Tree, just slowly work towards each step.

Important Notes

• Make sure you select the correct Legendary Boards and rotate them into the correct orientation to match the images shown above.
• Attach the boards in the order shown as bonus requirements of Rare Nodes increase with their placement order
• Additional bonuses on Rare Glyphs may not be obtainable until they gain the increased radius at level 15.

Starting Board

1. We begin by heading up the left side of the board and passing through Tenacity.
2. Next we head up to the glyph socket and unlock it, slotting in Exploit.
3. We take as many Dexterity nodes around it as we can to unlock its bonus power and then head up right through Iron Strength and then head up and out and connect Warbringer.

Warbringer

1. Unlike most warbringer setups we simply head straight up and right avoiding the left side paragon nodes and making our way to the socket first.
2. Once we unlock the socket, slot in Crusher and begin grabbing up the strength nodes around it as well as Conditioned.
3. We had up and around to Core Reserve and its surrounding Magic nodes.
4. Finally we curve down and grab the board’s namesake Legendary node Warbringer before heading out right and connecting Carnage.

Carnage

1. The Carnage board is our most complex and central board; we’ll be leaving it and coming back to it several times during the leveling process. We start by heading straight in and to the glyph socket to slot in Ire.
2. Next we grab as much strength around it as possible before making our way to the Legendary Node Carnage.
3. The first path we’ll take is heading up to grab Enraged and its Magic node trio for damage while Berserking and then connect the Blood Rage Board at the top. After the Blood Rage board is finished, come back to the Carnage board.
4. From the Carnage node itself, head down and right grabbing Berserker and connect the Decimator board to the right. Once you finish the Decimator board, return to the Carnage board.
5. Finally, we’ll head straight south from the Carnage node and connect the Hemorrhage board finishing this central board for our build.

Blood Rage

1. A pretty straight forward path takes us right to Revel and the glyph socket where we’ll slot in Marshal.
2. We’ll grab enough strength around it to activate its secondary effects before heading north and left to pick up the board’s namesake, Blood Rage and finally we’ll head out to the right and return to the Carnage Board.
3. After Decimator and Hemorrhage boards are complete, return here and connect the Weapon Master board.

Decimator

1. A straight shot to the glyph socket to grab Dominate once it’s unlocked.
2. We grab as much Willpower as we can including the rare node Arrogance to activate our glyph’s secondary effects.
3. Lastly we make our way to the board’s legendary node Decimator.

Hemorrhage

1. Make your way down and left through Grit to the glyph socket.
2. Slot in Might and begin grabbing the strength nodes to activate its secondary effect.
3. Snag Butcher and then head back to the Blood Rage board and connect Weapons Master.

Weapons Master

1. Our only goal here is the legendary node, but don’t forget to swing down and grab Denial and its surrouding all resist Magic nodes.
2. Make your way up and grab the legendary node Weapons Master and with this we complete our paragon journey and finish our boards!

Tempering and Masterworking

The Season 4 update (Patch 1.4.0) introduces a rework for itemization. Tempering and Masterworking bring the biggest change to itemization since the release of Diablo 4, so make sure you understand the new systems explained in this section.

The amount of affixes on items has been changed to reflect its rarity: Normal Items have no affixes, Magic Items have 1 affix, Rare Items have 2 affixes, Legendary Items have 3 affixes, and Unique Items have 4 affixes. Upgrading a Rare Item to a Legendary Item by imprinting a Legendary Aspect from the Codex of Power will not add a third affix. Therefore, Legendary Items are superior to lower rarity items for a min-maxed character.

Greater Affixes are a newly added mechanic that increases the value of an affix by 50%. Ancestral Legendary Items and Unique Items can now drop with up to 4 Greater Affixes! Search for items with your preferred Greater Affixes to upgrade with Tempering and Masterworking.

Tempering and Masterworking is an important system, even mandatory in the endgame, for character progression. You are able to add 2 additional affixes on any Rare Item or Legendary Item, exclusive to the Tempering System. An Ancestral Legendary Item can have up to 5 total affixes! Unfortunately, Unique Items cannot be tempered to add affixes.

Masterworking uses new crafting materials found in The Pit to further enhance the stats of an item. These upgrades can be applied on an Ancestral Legendary Item that has its Tempering Slots filled out. Unique Items can be upgraded with Masterworking right away, as tempering does not apply to them. Each item has 12 upgrade slots. On upgrade Ranks 4, 8, and 12, a random affix is increased in value by 25%. Every other upgrade Rank applies a 5% increase to all affixes on an item. Attempt to apply the bonus 25% upgrade to your preferred affix multiple times by resetting the Masterworking Ranks to repeat the process.

Obol Gambling

A final point on acquiring gear in Season 4 and beyond is using your Obols to target farm specific slots instead of randomly spending them on random drops. Similar to Kadala in Diablo 3, you can use Obol vendors in town to try and get what you’re missing. With Patch 1.4.0 when a level 100 Character spends Obols, all gear from that vendor will be 925 item power, the highest in the game, allowing you to fill out gear with the affixes or Legendary Aspects you need.

Check out our Obol Gambling Tool HERE!

Changelog

• May 6th 2024: Guide restructured, updated for season 4
• April 16th 2024: Ownership of page transferred, build Revamped, paragon adjusted, unique items added
• March 5th 2024: Updates for Patch 1.3.3.
• January 21st 2024: Season 3 speculative changes.
• October 13th 2023: Build Adjusted to prepare for Season 2 launch.
• August 7th, 2023: New Format and build Revamp.
• August 2nd, 2023: Patch 1.1.1 section added with build specific changes.
• July 18th, 2023: Guide updated for Season 1.