Barbarian Class Identity: A Different Thought

There are a lot of complaints about Barbarian “class identity,” with people arguing that the class should be all about physical beat-downs, not “magic” stuff like earthquakes, dust devils, & “minions.” I agree with all that, but …

I am the Guardian of Arreat. When I perform my Death Whirl, my feet move so quickly that tornados are spawned around me. When I perform the War Stomp, my feet cause the earth itself to tremble. When I am facing a true challenge, the Spirits of Arreat come to my aid.

I cast no spell. The Gods themselves have blessed me.

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Crom approves this message.

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I wonder how many of the kids will even get the reference, great job Iggi. :+1:

Long live the Cult of the GOAT. :goat:

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:rofl::rofl: to add, some “non-physical” style legendary bonuses would be nice on a couple glyphs for barb. Over 80% of them have a legendary bonuses that are meant to multiply “All Damage %” with the wording “…##%(x) increased damage”. We need some glyphs with legendary bonuses that say something like “…##%(x) increased (insert type of) damage”.

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When I repeatedly summon three to four ghosts to kill everything I assure you, I am not casting anything that could be considered a spell. No sir, and neither shall these be considered minions. In fact, they’re just extensions of my biceps. I’ve worked on my musculature so comprehensively that I can detach little human shaped beings at will, yes, from my biceps. Therefore Blizzard should continue to make this ability our best source of damage, since after all, it’s just a manifestation of how crazy strong my biceps are.

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Barb, the new undertaker class :rofl:

Can I smash stuff?…check

Can I jump and smash stuff?….check check

Barb sounds fine to me

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And it is fine for the most part, it’s just weird that the best builds are minion builds. That sounds more of a necro than a barb thing to me.

Embrace your shaman ghost rider undertaker side to pwn instead of brawns only.

I’m not opposed to crazy builds that rely on nonsensical fun stuff, but there needs to be good builds too that relate to the core idea of the class. Heck, my best D3 barb was a leapquake build anyway, so it’s not like the idea of that build hasn’t been part of Diablo history for a long time.

But we need a viable barb build based around big weapon smashy smash.

Unless…the fall of Arreat was actually their own doing…and all the barbs’ earthquakes were finally too much for the poor mountain…maybe earthquake is the barb’s identity… :thinking:

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The lack of ferocity is upsetting. Most fun builds I had were HotA and Bash…maybe a little of ancestorial charge as well.

At least give us the options to swap the two 1h weapons to dual wield two 2h weapons. I’ve always felt that was the one thing the made a barb a barb. So strong that they can 1hand a 2hand.

My issue with the Barb’s class identity is that it relies too much on the spell bar being filled with shouting. I think shouting is part of the Barb’s identity, but there isn’t a build doesn’t run the shouts.

Lol…earthquakes aren’t magic dude. Geological phenomena = magic? What a dope. Cry moar lol

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Yelling loudly enough to cause an earthquake and then becoming nearly immune to getting rocket punched in the face by standing on that earthquake isn’t magic?

Say dumber stuff moar lol

Also my 5 star quake materia begs to differ with you as well

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I agree with the OP with the exception that these things should not be required for the build to be good.

Oh c’mon, we just wanna crush our enemies, see them flee before us and hear the lamentations of their women. Kinda what the 3 shouts all barbs gotta use are all about.

I only use two shouts?

I think barb is missing the mark.

I want a RAGE bar, I want to feel like im BERSERKING. summoning tornadoes and earthquakes is the work of shamans and druids /spit.

in HoTS playing Sonya and having capped rage you feel like a monster, you cant die and youre obliterating your enemies with meaty smashes and spins/wins…

Even in WoW a warrior with low rage feels okay but once youre in the meat of a fight and have capped rage you feel the fury. this is whats missing from D4 Barbarian.

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It usually isn’t about the shouts to me. I follow this layout for barb or any class for that manner.

Skill box:

  1. Primary damage dealing skill of choice
  2. Ultimate skill that coincides with Skill 1.
  3. Buff/Debuff Skill 1
  4. Buff/Debuff skill 2
  5. Buff/Debuff skill 3
  6. Buff/Debuff skill 4

With this layout, almost any build can be made. The rest (including the glyphs and aspects) just fall into place. With barb, the last 4 just tend to be shouts…or ground stomp :rofl:

Tornadoes and earthquakes are fine they just should not be your biggest sources of damage. Core skills should be. The frilly flamboyant tornadoes and earthquakes can add onto the damage but your main damage source should be your core skill.