Rend Endgame Barbarian Build Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 1)

Build Introduction

This is your comprehensive guide for building Barbarian who has studied the art of blood letting and weaponized it. This crazed warrior can strike a simple bleed against an opponent that will quickly end their life. Welcome to our Rend Endgame build. Using Rend and Rupture, we jack up the Bleed damage and take down whole groups of enemies, leaving them to bleed out and stagger behind you as move to the next pack, continuing your bloody onslaught.

Strengths and Weaknesses

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

Build Requirements

The Legendary Aspects you will need to make the build work at its maximum efficiency are listed below. These Aspects are all non-codex, which means you will need to find them on a Legendary Item then imprint them onto specific gear.

Required Aspects (Non-codex)

Weapon Master’s Aspect

Aspect of Berserk Fury

Aspect of Encroaching Wrath

Skullbreaker’s Aspect

To even begin this build, we recommend you have these four Aspects ready for imprinting at a minimum. For the build it become fully functional, we recommend you have all the Legendary Aspects listed further in this guide for the build to work optimally.

Season of the Malignant

This build was created within the current Season and utilizes the current in game information and Aspects. We will note any future changes to this build here.

Patch 1.1.1

The second major update for Season 1, Patch 1.1.1 released on August 8th 2023, brings some positive changes to Barbarian. This includes adjustments to Basic Generator Skills, Key passives, skill passives and Legendary Aspects. The changes that directly affect this build are listed below.

• Flay – Fury gained increased from 10 to 13.
• Aggressive Resistance – Damage reduction increased from 3% to 4%.
• Gushing Wounds – Bleed damage dealt based on Critical Damage bonus increased from 100% to 115%. Bleed damage when Overpowering increased from 11% to 70%.
• Enhanced Rupture – Damage increased from 45% to 70%.

Malignant Hearts

The theme for Season 1 introduces a new form of legendary gem called Malignant Hearts. There are three types of hearts that need to be socketed into matching colored sockets on all equipped jewelry and one type of heart that can be placed into any socket. For more information about the Malignant Hearts theme for Season 1 check out our Malignant Hearts guide.

Listed below are the ideal Malignant Hearts for this build, ranked by importance. Stats displayed reflect what a level 20 character would receive as a drop. Note that this list is based on our early opinions on the Malignant Hearts, and we will update it as and when it is necessary.

1. Caged Heart of Creeping Death
2. Caged Heart of Revenge
3. Caged Heart of Focused Rage

Skill Tree and Skill Bar

Skill Bar Setup for the Rend Build (Order does not matter)

Rend Flay Rallying Cry Death Blow Rupture Iron Maelstrom

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.

Priority Skills	Cluster
Flay Level 1, Enhanced Flay, Battle Flay	Basic Skill
Rend Level 5, Enhanced Rend, Furious Rend	Core Skill
Rallying Cry Level 1, Enhanced Rallying Cry, Tactical Rallying Cry	Defensive Skill
Booming Voice Level 3, Swiftness Level 3, Aggressive Resistance Level 3, Prolific Fury Level 3	Brawling Skill
Death Blow Level 1, Enhanced Death Blow, Warrior’s Death Blow, Rupture Level 1, Enhanced Rupture, Fighter’s Rupture, Pit Fighter Level 3, No Mercy Level 3, Expose Vulnerability Level 1, Hamstring Level 1, Cut to the Bone Level 3, Thick Skin Level 3, Counteroffensive Level 3, Defensive Stance Level 3	Weapon Mastery Skill
Iron Maelstrom, Prime Iron Maelstrom, Supreme Iron Maelstrom, Heavy Handed Level 3	Ultimate Skill
Gushing Wounds	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. Just a reminder, to swap your assigned weapon to the skill you are using go to your Skill selection list (not skill tree) and you will see the how to switch it (Middle mouse button on PC.) At Level 15, you will unlock the Masters of Battle quest. This quest will available in 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 the Rend build, we will be focused using the expertise of Two-Handed Sword for the bonus. Below we have listed both bonuses for the Two-Handed Swords, while we recommend using the Technique, you do have the option of assigning Two-handed Swords to your skills and using a different Technique.

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
Disembowel	– For every 5 Willpower purchased within range, you deal +[7.2%] increased Bleeding damage. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Willpower points are purchased in the glyph’s range: Killing a Bleeding enemy has a 10% chance to reduce the cooldown of your Non-Ultimate active skills by 1 second.
Bloodfeeder	– For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal + [6%] increased damage to Bleeding targets. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Dexterity points are purchased in the glyph’s range: You have +5% increased Critical Strike Chance against Bleeding enemies.
Blood Rage	– Killing a Bleeding enemy has a 10% chance to grant Berserking for 5 seconds.
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.
Territorial	– For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, you deal +[10]% increased damage to Close targets. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Dexterity points are purchased in the glyph’s range: You gain 10% Damage Reduction against Close enemies.
Might	– Grants + [120%] 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.
Wrath	– For every 5 Dexterity purchased within range, Core Skills deal + [7.2%] increased Critical Strike Damage. – Additional Bonus unlocked after 25 Dexterity points are purchased in the glyph’s range: Skill that Critical Strike generate 3 Fury.

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 an order of importance, so if you do not have enough Paragon Points for use in your Paragon Tree, just slowly work towards each step.

Starting Board

1. Take the pathway up the right hand side of the board towards the open Glyph slot.
2. Along route pick up the Rare Node Brawn, this will boost our flat damage and offer us an increase to Maximum Life.
3. Insert the Glyph Territorial, and take the Dexterity nodes shown to get the bonus. This will help us fight against Close enemies.
4. Inside the Gylph radius we will take both Rare Nodes, Iron Strength and Raw Power.
5. Now move back down the board and take the Rare Node Tenacity for the Armor and increase to Maximum Life.
6. Finally, path towards the connection point at the top of the board and attach our next Paragon Board, Decimator.

Decimator (2nd Board)

1. Head towards the open Glyph slot and pick up the Rare Node Destroyer. This Node and the two Magic Nodes chosen with it will increase our damage with Vulnerable Damage and Two-Handed Slash Damage.
2. Take the pathway left and pick up the Rare Node Brawn for the Physical Damage increases.
3. Now head to the Glyph slot and insert Disembowel. This Glyph will increase our Bleed damage and the bonus will help with our Cooldowns.
4. Select the two Rare Nodes inside the Glyph radius, Arrogance and Demolish. These will increase our damage to vulnerable enemies and increase our damage reduction while fighting them.
5. Now head towards the right hand side of the board and pick up the Rare Node Pillage, before you select the attachment point. This Node focuses on Vulnerable Damage increases.
6. Now attach our next Paragon Board, Blood Rage.

Blood Rage (3rd Board)

1. Take the pathway towards the Glyph slot and pick up the Rare Node Enraged and the Magic Nodes around it.
2. Take the Legendary Node Blood Rage.
3. Now insert Might into the Glyph slot. This Glyph will boost the Magic Nodes within the radius and grants us more Two-handed weapon damage.
4. Inside the Glyph radius take both Rare Nodes, Grit and Revel, these Nodes will grant you an increase in offenses and defenses to Bleeding Enemies.
5. Go back to the Decimator paragon board, and Path towards the left hand of the paragon board and attach the next board, Hemorrhage.

Hemorrhage (4th Board)

1. Head to the Glyph slot and insert Exploit, for the increased damage to Vulnerable Damage and inflict Vulnerable states to enemies.
2. Be sure to take all the needed Dexterity nodes.
3. Take both Rare Nodes, Grit and Butcher, the increased to Physical Damage over time and Damage Reduction to Bleeding enemies.
4. Now that path to the top of the board and attach the next board, Warbringer.

Warbringer (5th Board)

1. Head towards the open Glyph slot, and insert Bloodfeeder and take the needed Dexterity for the needed bonus Critical Strike Chance against Bleeding Enemies.
2. Take the Rare Node Raw Power, for the Physical Damage boost.
3. Now path to the left hand side connection point and attach our next Paragon Board, Carnage.

Carnage (6th Board)

1. Take the pathway to the open Glyph slot, and insert Wrath. This glyph will increase our Critical Strike Damage and help us generate Fury from Critical Strikes.
2. Take the needed Dexterity nodes shown above.
3. Now take both Rare Nodes, Brash and Fierce, to increase damage while Berserking and increase our Damage Reduction against Close Enemies.
4. This completes the Paragon Tree for this build.

Paragon Board images courtesy of d4builds.gg.

Mechanics and Playstyle

This build has a very simple yet rewarding gameplay loop. Round up a group of enemies and strike them with Rend. As the enemies begin to bleed out, strike them down with Flay and finish them off with Death Blow. This will trigger us into a Berserking state and drive up our damage. Move to another pack of enemies, striking enemies with Rend again and hitting at least one enemy with Death Blow to keep our Berserking going. Keep this rotation going as you move pack to pack, until a mass of mobs has formed. Now use your Ultimate skill Iron Maelstrom and cut down the entire screen. Be sure to assign your weapons to your skills so are triggering a weapon swap to lower the Cooldown on your Ultimate Skill.

Go back into your rotation, keeping your bleeds going with Rend and constantly killing with Death Blow, if you hit a pack of Elites ready your Rupture and plunge your weapon into them to explode their bleed and heal yourself up. Keep charging forward, ignoring the stragglers, as they will die off behind you.

Berserking

This buff is almost always activated on our character due Death Blow. You don’t need to kill with this skill; simply by striking an enemy you will activate Berserking on yourself. To help keep this skill at the ready, we use Weapon Master’s Aspect for two charges.

Bleeding

Our Bleed damage is stacked throughout our Paragon Tree, Rend and any of your attacks while Berserking will inflict a Bleed on the enemy, triggering our offenses and defenses to be buffed. If you run into an elite or a high life target, use the Rupture to cause all of their Bleeding damage to occur at once.

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. Rank Up Rupture 3. Basic Attack Speed 4. Strength 5. All Stats 6. Maximum Life
Chest	1. Damage Reduction 2. Damage Reduction from Close Enemies  3. Damage Reduction while Fortified 4. Damage Reduction from Bleeding Enemies 5. Maximum Life 6. Strength
Gloves	1. Critical Strike Chance 2. Rank Up Rend 3. Strength 4. Physical Damage over Time 5. Attack Speed
Pants	1. Damage Reduction 2. Damage Reduction while Fortified 3. Damage Reduction while Injured 4. Damage Reduction from Close Enemies 5. Maximum Life 6. Strength 7. Berserking Duration
Boots	1. Movement Speed 2. Fury Cost Reduction 3. Damage Reduction while Injured 4. Strength 5. All Stats 6. Berserking Duration
Amulet	1. Cooldown reduction  2. Rank Up Cut to the Bone 3. Movement Speed 4. Damage Reduction while Injured 5. Damage Reduction 6. Fury Cost Reduction
Rings	1. Damage to Vulnerable enemies 2. Critical Strike Chance 3. Critical Strike Damage 4. Resource Generation 5. Maximum Life 6. Damage to Close Enemies
Weapons	1. Damage to Vulnerable Enemies 2. Critical Strike Damage 3. Strength 4. Damage to Close Enemies 5. Damage while Berserking 6. All Stats

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:

1. Ranks Up for Cut to the Bone – Increased Bleed damage to Vulnerable Enemies.
2. Cooldown Reduction – this benefits our Iron Maelstrom.
3. Resource Generation – any boosts to Fury generation allow us to Rend as much as possible. The more Fury, the more we can stack Rend damage.

A final point on acquiring the right Affixes or Legendary Aspects, use your Obols to target farm them. Obols are awarded from many different activities in the game, you will always stockpiling them until you hit your maximum. Instead of just randomly spending them on a random pick, use them to target what you might be missing from this build. It is a great way to target a specific slot of loot and find what you need.

If you are interested in checking out a new tool for gambling Obols check out this link below from Icy Veins.

Legendary Aspects

Listed below are all the best-in-slot Aspects found on Legendary items that are important for the Rend 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. Each aspect is listed with its matching gear slot. Do your best to keep each aspect in the slot it was posted with.

Gear Slot	Legendary Aspect	Legendary Aspect Power
Helm	Iron Blood Aspect	Gain [2.0 – 4.0%] Damage Reduction for each Nearby Bleeding enemy up to [10 – 20%] maximum.
Chest	Aspect of Disobedience	You gain [0.25 – 0.50]% increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to [15.00 – 30.00]%.
Gloves	Weapon Master’s Aspect	Your Weapon Mastery Skills have an additional Charge. Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Weapon Mastery Skill has up to a [32-50%] chance to Stun them for 2 seconds.
Pants	Aspect of Might	Basic Skills grant 20% Damage Reduction for [2.0-6.0] seconds.
Boots	Aspect of Anemia	Lucky Hit: Direct damage against Bleeding enemies has up to a [20-30%] chance to Stun them for 2 seconds.
Amulets (50% bonus)	Rapid Aspect	Basic Skills gain +[15 – 30]% Attack Speed.
Ring	Aspect of Berserk Fury	You gain [3 – 6] Fury per second while Berserking.
Ring	Aspect of Encroaching Wrath	After spending 100 Fury, your next Weapon Mastery Skill deals x[82 – 100]% increased damage.
Bludgeoning Weapon (200% bonus)	Skullbreaker’s Aspect	Stunning a Bleeding enemy deals [22 – 40]% of their total Bleeding amount to them as Physical damage.
Slashing Weapon (200% bonus)	Aspect of Berserk Ripping	Whenever you deal direct damage while Berserking, inflict [20-30%] of the Base damage dealt as additional Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
Dual-wield weapon 1	Aspect of Inner Calm	Deal [5.0 – 10.0]%[x] increased damage for each second you stand still, up to 30%[x].
Dual-wield weapon 2	Aspect of the Expectant	Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill cast by [5 – 10%], up to 30%.

Gems

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

• Weapon: Royal Emerald for critical strike damage to vulnerable enemies.
• Armor: Royal Sapphire for increased Damage Reduction while Fortified.
• Jewelry: Exclusively using our Malignant Hearts for these slots.

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. Use an Elixir providing any Resistance you need most, or the Assault Elixir to increase Attack Speed.

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.

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

Changelog

• September 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.