You pretty much just answered your own question. Barbs have fortify which is a good defense mechanic but they also have a lot of buffs and defensive CDs. That’s why they are still tanky.
Only other class that has fortify is Druid and Bear Druid is also tanky. Rogues and Sorcerers are glass cannons that rely on mobility or barriers. Necro are not even tanky even with minions but we will see in the new patch.
If I have to explain further, you don’t even play the game let alone a Barb. Honestly it felt ridiculous I had to spell this much out for you.
Playing a HOTA Barb this Season after seeing how powerful it was in Season 2. I always love playing a Paladin. But since there is no Paladin in Diablo 4, a HOTA Barbarian is the closest with maces. Yeah. Mine was dressed in armour to look like a Paladin.
Honestly, HOTA Barb was very powerful - maybe a bit overboard. But I will still play it in Season 4. Was thinking to create a hybrid Charge/Whirlwind/Dust Devils barb.
I played Barb at launch and haven’t touched it since the consistent whirlwind nerfs. I personally do not like the playstyle of the other barb builds. The other builds DID need to be reigned in. We can all agree they where over the top.
The fact that whirlwind hasn’t been re-adjusted since it was over nerfed feels absolutely bad. A staple and iconic ability/mechanic to the barb and its character fantasy should be viable. Not just for trash clearing and low tier “speed farming”. It should be viable as a bosser and higher levels of content as well.
I hold out hope that the adjustments to flat damage aspects such as Dust Devils, will bring whirl wind up a few notches, but seems grim and unlikely. Probably another season as a sorc, rogue, or maybe some necro.
I think whirlwind is going to feature in many of the best builds next season. It kinda does now but as a way to generate weapon swaps faster and burn fury. Next season is probably going to be similar but it will be spawning tornados and ancients instead.
Have u had success running a WW / Thorns varient ? Im thinking of trying this on the next season if I play. I dont care about Meta and just want to be able to kill things and make it through the story …
Challenging Shout (if you use Shouts) ← You are almost forced to.
Iron Skin (only with Iron Warrior Aspect)
Those are your Defensive Skills.
There is some Passive DR that is conditional:
While Berserking
DR from Elites
DR from Frenzy Stacks
DR from Flay Stacks
DR while Fortified
DR from Shouts
Most players cannot and do not get but maybe 2 sources.
Not a ton of DR in Paragon.
Outside of temporary Seasonal elements like the Seneschal capable of generating Fortify, you have to take Numbing Wrath to really generate Fortify and keep it up all for 10% DR.
Barbarian is far from a glass cannon, but you greatly underestimate how other classes stack up.
Whirlwind Lucky Hit is extremely low so the rate and effectiveness of Ancestral Echoes remains to be seen. Tornados will likely be good but Double Swing will be better with Whirlwind still just acting as a support not a main Skill.
We’ll see. Whirlwind needs some ridiculous Weapon Tempering for it to be decent and even then its main problem is it being Channeled and not allowing you to use any Skills. Shouts, Iron Skin, CoTA, WoTB, Ground Stomp should all be allowed to be used while Channeling Whirlwind. Gohr’s should be changed to allow Weapon Mastery Skills to also be used while channeling Whirlwind and be insta-cast.
Just because the HoTA Charge builds not going to be the end all be all barb build, a new meta build can rise up. I don’t think it’s all gloom and doom. In endgame Barbs are still going to be realy strong.
I agree. One of main complaints was for one shots, and trivializing boss mechanics, so it is step in good direction at least. Will this be enough, we would have to wait and see.
Having more diversity is always better, rather than feeling that you play weaker build because you like specific playstyle.
I used it once when I made my first Barb on launch but quickly changed it to bleed WW. Reason being is that enemies don’t stay alive long enough to warrant Thorns when the build gets off the ground.
That said it might be ok early game and it’s possible it is good late game when things don’t die instantly to WW. To make Thorns worth anything, the enemies have to hit you.
Most of the time you are moving too fast for them to connect with anything but AoE effects.
I’m all for rebalancing, especially HOTA, but Blizzard has shown that they are not capable of rebalancing and keeping something viable at the same time.
They are only good at absolutely destroying over performers, look at what they did to WW, with it still being hopeless as a main skill.
I haven’t been phased or bothered by the nerfs to Barb for S4 in general. The exception being the blood rage nerf, which hurts all builds, making something as pitiful as WW even sadder.
Based on the patch notes, it looks like the only viable core skills for Barb will again be HOTA (ironic) and DS (but strictly only when using dust devils)
