Below you’ll find a list of popular Barb builds considered viable for pushing solo Greater Rifts and speed-farming T16 ranked from most powerful to least powerful in Season 20. These rankings are subject to change as the era progresses and builds are pushed to their limits, so don’t take these rankings as truly definitive of a build’s potential.
If you’re new to Barb, a returning player, or just curious, start with this thread.
Agree with this list? Disagree? Want to discuss the airspeed of an unladen Swallow? Post below.
The Top 8 Solo Barbarian Builds
Ranked below are the top 8 viable builds for pushing solo Greater Rifts. It should be noted that all of these builds are capable of GR 130 and higher, and some still have untapped potential.
Rank 1: Zodiac Rend
Set: Wrath of the Wastes + Captain Crimson’s set + Bul-Kathos’s Oath or Istvan’s Paired Blades
Current Max GR Potential: 147+
Skill Requirement: High (requires proper grouping of density and situation awareness)
Gear Requirement: Medium
Build Link: [Guide] Zodiac Rend (Season 20)
- With the changes to Rend items in 2.6.7, the Zodiac Rend build has undergone a radical transformation. As a result, it is once again one of our strongest builds, and easily makes for our best T16 speed-farm build. Though end-game pushes still require you to group density, the build’s emphasis on fussy, demanding gear and tons of fishing has been greatly diminished. If you want a fast, powerful, fun build that’s equally good in pushing GRs and speed-farming T16, look no further. Spin to win!
Rank 2: H90 Frenzy
Sets: Horde of the Ninety Savages + Endless Walk
Current Max GR Potential: 137+
Skill Requirement: Medium (situational awareness, positioning, and elite targeting)
Gear Requirement: High
Build Link: [Guide] H90 Frenzy: A simple guide
- Based on our newest class set (Horde of the Ninety Savages), H90 Frenzy is a powerful build that revolves around Frenzy and Shouts. Able to deal significant damage at any Paragon, this build is ideal for players who want an incredibly simple, straight-forward build. It does, however, have some drawbacks, notably its steep gear requirements, and its poor damage reduction.
Rank 3: Pro-Slam
Sets: Might of the Earth + Immortal King’s Call or Captain Crimson’s + Endless Walk
Current Max GR Potential: 137+
Skill Requirement: High (cooldown management, specific play style, positioning, and elite targeting)
Gear Requirement: Medium to High
Build Link: [Guide] 2.6.7 MOTE6-Fjord-Echoing Fury-Slam +136
- This flexible, versatile build can is based on the MOTE set, then combined with either the IK set (for beginners) or the Crimson’s set (for more advanced players) for a fully Slam-centric alternative to HOTA. It’s distinct “leap-frog” play style gives this build a unique identity, but it’s tanky nature, excellent healing, and awesome spectacle make it a blast to play.
Rank 4: Legacy of Dreams HOTA
Sets: None
Current Max GR Potential: 135+
Skill Requirement: Medium (situational awareness and positioning)
Gear Requirement: Low
Build Link: [Guide] Fire LoN HotA (Season 17)
- With the introduction of the Legacy of Dreams gem, our old LON-HOTA build got a booster shot back into major viability. Though the build link above is slightly outdated, most of the info therein is still relevant. This build is powerful, easy to play, and currently edges out its Immortal King cousin in terms of pure, raw power.
Rank 5: Vile Charge
Sets: Immortal King’s Call + Legacy of Raekor
Current Max GR Potential: 135+
Skill Requirement: Medium (awareness of Charge stacks and RG tactics)
Gear Requirement: Low
Build Link: Coming Soon
- Vile Wards provides the build with a scaling damage mechanic that, when coupled with the perfect rift, provides amazing DPS. Vile Charge is also an amazing T16 speed-farming build. The trick to this build is a mix of rift fishing and avoiding incoming damage. On the downside, this build requires some heavy-duty RG fishing and use of the contrversial wall-charge mechanic.
Rank 6: Immortal King HOTA
Sets: Immortal King’s Call + Istvan’s Paired Blades
Current Max GR Potential: 132+
Skill Requirement: Medium (situational awareness and positioning)
Gear Requirement: Low
Build Link: [Guide] IK HOTA (Season 21)
- This build does tremendous damage out of the box, and with the recent update to Remorseless, this build is even stronger. In addition, this build is very easy to gear and perfect for early-Season gem leveling. If you want a satisfying, simple build that packs a huge punch and isn’t terribly fishy, try IK HOTA. The major downside to this build is that is our worst speed-farming build.
Rank 7: Raekor HOTA
Sets: Legacy of Raekor + Istvan’s Paired Blades + Endless Walk
Current Max GR Potential: 132+
Skill Requirement: High (timed windows of burst damage, fluctuating mitigation)
Gear Requirement: High (requires precise rolls on all items)
Build Link: [Guide] Raekor HOTA (Season 20)
- Once the king of Barb builds, recent buffs to other builds has dropped R6 HOTA in the rankings. This build is still very strong, especially when played properly, but its complicated play style and the required use of wall-charging turns off a lot of players. Be warned: this build is hard to learn, hard to master, and hard to properly gear. It’s going to take a lot of practice to master this one. On the plus side, even a poorly-geared version of this build doubles as an amazing T16 speed-farm build.
Rank 8: Fire or Physical Earthquake
Set: Might of the Earth
Current Max GR Potential: 132+
Skill Requirement: Low
Gear Requirement: Low
Build Link: Coming Soon
- I’m folding both versions of the build (Fire and Physical) into the same category because they’re neck and neck in GR clears. The Fire variant with CoE and Parthans is glassier and, on paper, stronger, but the Physical + Slam variant has more DPS vs the Rift Guardians. It’s worth noting that Fire EQ has cleared GR 130 while Physical lags several tiers behind. While these builds are currently our weakest major builds, they’re also incredibly easy to gear and play, and arguably the toughest, tankiest builds at any Paragon. Both versions can be put together quickly and are very easy to learn.
T16 Speed-Farming Builds Ranked
Listed below are the best builds to efficiently speed-farm T16 Nephalem Rifts and Bounties. These are ranked on a combination of speed, burst damage, and ease of play. It should be noted that while the top two builds solidly out-perform the others, there’s not much difference between builds 3-5. Please note that the speed-farm builds listed below use different items, gems, and skills than their push variants. Consult the build guide links above for more info.
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Zodiac Rend
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R6 HOTA
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Vile Charge
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Fire or Physical EQ
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Pro-SLam
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LOD or IK HOTA
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H90 Frenzy
Alternative Rankings
Below you’ll find various alternative rankings for some of our top builds. This is intended to provide you a different way to consider which build you might want to play.
Most Powerful Build: Zodiac Rend
- At present, Zodiac Rend is 7-9 GRs more powerful than any other Barb build. It’s also among our tankiest and fastest.
Best Build for New Players: Fire or Physical Earthquake
- Both of our EQ builds are incredibly easy to learn, gear, and play.
Best Build for Hardcore Players: Fire or Physical Earthquake
- Our EQ builds are also incredibly tanky, and it’s easy to make them even tough if you prefer Hardcore play.
Easiest Build to Gear: Tie – Fire and Physical Earthquake
- Once again, our EQ builds are easy to gear, and are very flexible in terms of gear rolls.
Hottest New or Returning Build: H90 Frenzy
- Our new Frenzy build is very strong at any Paragon, and its 2-piece bonus can also be used in zDPS builds.
Most Versatile Build: Zodiac Rend
- Whatever you want to do–speed-farm T16, Bounties, Neph Rifts, or push solo GRs–Zodiac Rend excels!
Most Demanding Build To Gear: LOD HOTA
- Though powerful and fun to play, LOD HOTA is tough to gear with strict stat requirements and hard-to-find items.
Viability and Build Tiers
Let’s be honest and say that the core loop of D3 game activities is as follows: farm mats, items, and keys to push GRs.
The following tiered list ranks builds according to their viability at specific activities. Viability is determined according to the following rankings:
A = Excels at the specified activity and offers maximum power and efficiency
B = Efficient and strong and offers excellent power and efficiency
C = Capable, but is significantly slower and less efficient than other builds
D = Severely inefficient and/or weaker than other builds
F = Waste of time and effort–do not use this build for this activity
| Build | T1-16 Neph Rifts | Bounties | Low-level Gem-ups | Solo GRs | GR Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zodiac Rend | A | A | A | A | 1-147+ |
| H90 Frenzy | C | F | B | B | 1-137+ |
| Pro-Slam | B | B | B | B | 1-137+ |
| LOD HOTA | C | D | B | B | 1-135+ |
| Vile Charge | A | B | A | C | 1-135+ |
| IK HOTA | C | F | B | C | 1-132+ |
| R6 HOTA | A | A | A | C | 1-132+ |
| Fire/Physical EQ | A | A | A | D | 1-132+ |
