Barbarian Build Guide Diablo 2 Resurrected | Whirlwind Barbarian (2024)

Barbarian Build Guide for Diablo 2 Resurrected Whirlwind Barbarian. This is an End Game Barbarian Build that can get you through Nightmare and even Hell Difficulty in Diablo 2 Resurrected. If you are looking for an End Game Barbarian Whirlwind Build, then this Guide is for you.

• Class: Barbarian
• Skill Line Focus: Combat Skills
• Build Focus: DPS
• Main Attribute: Vitality
• Difficulty Level: Hell
• Level: 40 – 90+

Diablo 2 Resurrected Barbarian Build | Whirlwind Barbarian

The Whirlwind Barbarian cuts through his enemies dealing damage in a large AoE. You’ll be using Whirlwind as your main and only attack skill in combination with some Shouts.

This Diablo 2 Barbarian Build is intended to be used for Nightmare and Hell difficulties starting around Lvl 40. You can start the game with this build, but I personally recommend you use our Frenzy Barbarian Buildinstead, and then respec into this one. If you are already playing and want to respec into this build though, the easiest way to do it is by claiming the Den of Evil reward from Akara at the Rogue Encampment. You’ll get 3 respecs (1 for each difficulty) and you’ll need to be on the same difficulty to reclaim them.

Barbarian Build Guide Stats | Whirlwind Barbarian

Like most Builds in Diablo 2 Resurrected, our Stats distribution will focus on assigning enough points into Strength and Dexterity to meet equipment requirements, and then assigning everything else into Vitality to gain as much Life as possible.

• Strength: Just enough to use your equipment. This will greatly depend on the gear that you are using, and the +Strength that you get from the rest of your equipment.
• Dexterity: Depending on the type of equipment that you are using you’ll probably have to spend some points here.
• Vitality: All remaining points should be spent here.
• Energy: No points required

Having a Hellfire Torch and an Annihilus will greatly reduce your stat investment into Strength. These unique charms provide between +10-20 to all Attributes and +10-20 to all Elemental Resistances. Having both in your inventory will save you between 20 and 40 stats points that you can spend into Vitality greatly increasing your health pool. The additional passive resistances will also allow you to depend less on +All Resistances equipment, opening up more options.

If you don’t have a Hellfire Torch or an Annihilus yet, I strongly recommend that you get them as soon as you can. Perfect rolled ones are very expensive, but you can get bad rolled ones for very affordable prices. Make sure to get a low roll when you are starting off and then upgrade it when you have enough money.

Barbarian Build Guide Skills | Whirlwind Barbarian

The Whirlwind Barbarian mainly focuses around the Whirlwind Skill, but you’ll also need to spend some points into Shouts to buff yourself. You’ll use the following Skills when playing this Diablo 2 Resurrected Barbarian Build:

Whirlwind

This whole build is designed around this ability, which makes your character move to the selected point while spinning and dealing very high damage around a small AoE. This build is very fun, but you might need some practice to get used to how the skill works, as it might be a little clunky at times.

To best use this skill, you’ll want to focus on big packs of monsters. Once they are close together, click past them and your character will spin forward. You can go back and forth until all enemies are dead.

Try to keep your whirlwinds as short as possible, as this maximize the damage output and reduces the time you’re locked into the animation. The best way to achieve this is by moving in a small triangular shape on top of your enemies.

It’s also important to note that you won’t be able to perform any actions or use potions while using Whirlwind, so you’ll want to make sure to practice the distance of your whirlwinds or they might get you killed.

Whirlwind consumes a lot of mana and puts you in close contact with monsters, so mana and life stealing equipment is essential to make it work on Nightmare and Hell difficulties.

Whirlwind does not work with: “On Attack”, “On Striking”, or “When You Kill an Enemy” mods, but you’ll still be able to inflict passive modifiers such as Open Wounds, Crushing Blow or Deadly Strike. In addition, Whirlwind only benefits from Increased Attack Speed mods of your weapons and ignores the rest of your equipment.

Whirlwind damage starts at lvl 1 with -50% damage, meaning that you’ll deal half your damage when using the ability. This reverts at level 8, at which point you’ll start gaining positive damage values for each point assigned into the skill.

Sword Mastery

This skill passively increase your Damage and Attack Rating while using Sword type weapons. It also provides a chance to inflict a Critical Strike.

I personally like to use Swords for this build, but you can also use Axes or Maces, so assign your points according to the weapon that you are using.
If you plan to use the Immortal King Set, then you should go with Maces.

Iron Skin

This skill passively increases your defense rating, which makes your character a lot harder to hit. Remember that you need to walk at all times to be able to take advantage of your defense values, so get in the habit of doing this.

Increased Speed

This skill passively increases your Walk/Run speed, allowing you to quickly reach enemies even while walking. Again, you need to walk to make use of your defensive values, so this is helpful to save you time in getting where you are going.

Natural Resistances

Elemental Resistances are one of the most important stats, and Natural Resistance passively increases all of them making it one of the best Barbarian Skills. Since a good part of your Resistances will come from your equipment you’ll only probably need 1 point, but if you are lacking Resistances, don’t hesitate to spend points here to compensate for that.

Shout

This skill greatly increases the defense value of all your party members, allowing you to avoid even more attacks. You can never have enough defense when playing a melee build, so this is important to keep you alive.

Battle Command

When used, this shout temporally increases all your skills by +1, making your other skills even better. Make sure to use it before the rest of your shouts for maximum impact, and make sure to swap to your second weapon set when using shouts.

Battle Orders

The Barbarian gets the highest amount of health between all characters per each point spend into Vitality. This shout greatly increases your Life, Mana and Stamina by a percentage, allowing you to reach incredible amounts of health.

Level 40 Barbarian Skill Distribution

Since this guide begins at Lvl 40, you’ll want to first focus on your Whirlwind and Weapon Mastery, and then work towards completing your shouts and Iron Skin.

You should have around 43 skill points at lvl 40 (39 from levels, and 4 from Quests). You should have your Skills placed in the following manner:

Level 90 Barbarian Skill Distribution

At level 90 you should have 101 skill points to distribute, 89 from Levels and 12 from Quests, and they should look like this:

Budget Equipment | Whirlwind Barbarian

It’s important to note that, since this is a melee build, you’ll need to have a decent amount of equipment to make it viable in the end-game. This is because your damage and chance to hit will highly depend on your equipment instead of your skill points.

The Barbarian is able to wield one weapon on each hand, opening up a lot of options. You’ll first want to focus on getting a good Weapon that has high damage, and then focus on the rest of your equipment.

When you are starting off you’ll obviously have less gear, so here are some cheap Runewords and Unique items that you can use while you search for better gear.

Helmets

1. Lore (Runeword): This helmet provides +1 to all Skills as well as +30% lightning resistance. You can farm the runes by completing Nightmare Countess.
2. Uniques: Barbarian Helmet uniques such as Demonhorn’s Edge and Halaberd’s Reign are great options as they provide +Skills and great stats.

Weapons

1. Bloodletter (Unique): This sword is perfect for this build as it provides +Whirlwind, +Sword Mastery as well as Attack Rating, damage and attack speed.
2. Oath (Runeword): This is a great alternative that provides very high damage, attack speed and the ability to summon heart of Wolverine. Note that the bone spirit won’t be able to proc while using Whirlwind, but the rest of the stats are still great for the build.
3. Kingslayer (Runeword): This is another good alternative that provides great damage, Attack Rating, Crushing Blow and Open Wounds.

Both previously mentioned runewords can be farmed from Hell Countess.

Armor

1. Stealth (Runeword): This is by far the best armor that you can get early on. The 25% Movement Speed is nice, while the poison resistance and Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) provides more survivability.
2. Duress (Runeword): This armor provides a lot of defense and resistances, as well as Cold Damage, Crushing Blow and Open Wounds.

Gloves

When it comes to gloves you’ll want to focus on defensive stats such as Life and Resistances.

Belt

For the belt you’ll want something with Life and Resistances.

Boots

You’ll want to search for Faster Run/Walk speed on your boots as well as Resistances and Life.

Rings

You’ll want to search for rings that have life, stats and resistances.

Amulet

Try to find an amulet that provides Stats, Health, resistances or +Barbarian Skills

Charms

For charm’s you’ll mainly want to look for +Life, +Resistances, +Attack Rating, +Damage, and +CombatSkills

Set

The Immortal King Set is a great option for this build as well. You’ll need to spend a lot of points into strength to equip all pieces, and should go for Mace Mastery instead of Sword Mastery.

Once the set is fully equipped, the Immortal King’s Stone Crusher will gain a massive amount of elemental damage that works great with whirlwind. The rest of the set will cover your resistances and provide you attack rating covering the most important areas.

Optional Equipment | Whirlwind Barbarian

Once you are reaching max level you’ll want to start searching for the following equipment to complete your character.

Helmets

Arreat’s Face (Unique): This is the best Barbarian helmet, providing a massive increase to skills, Attack Rating, Faster Hit Recovery, All Resistances, Strength, Dexterity and Life leech. You can add a socket and insert a Um rune for even more resistances.

Weapon

2x Grief (Runeword): There are a couple of different options when it comes to weapons, and they mostly depend on you preferences and economy, but for clearing end game content I feel like 2x Grief is the best way to go. Grief provides a massive amount of flat damage, as well as Increased Attack Speed, Deadly Strike and Damage vs Demons. I highly recommend you craft them on Phase Blades to maximize efficiency.

Offhand

2x Heart of the Oak(Runeword): These Runewords will provide you a massive +6 to skills allowing you to cast much better shouts. If you are running Enigma, it’ll also decrease the casting time for Teleport thanks to the additional Faster Cast Rate.

Armor

1. Enigma (Runeword): This armor provides +2 to all Skills as well as a lot of Strength, Life and Magic Find. The Teleport ability is great to quickly reach you destination greatly reducing the time of your runs.
2. Fortitude (Runeword): This armor provides a massive amount of defense and resistances, as well as greatly increasing your damage. If you are not interested in the Teleport ability, then you should go for this Runeword

Gloves

Laying of Hands (Unique): These gloves greatly increase your Fire Resistance and provide a massive damage bonus against Demons.

Belt

String of Ears(Unique): This belt provides a massive amount of damage reduction as well as Life Leech, which allows you to maintain your health while fighting.

Boots

Gore Rider (Unique): These boots provide +30% faster Run/Walk as well as Open Wounds, Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike making them the best option for this build.

Rings

1. 1x Dual Leech Ring (Rare): You’ll need a ring that provides both Life Leech and Mana Leech to be able to keep spamming whirlwind. For secondary mods, focus on Life, Resistances and Attack Rating.
2. 1x Raven Frost (Unique): This ring prevents that you get frozen, which is very important for this build.

Amulet

1. Highlord’s Wrath (Unique): This amulet provides +1 to skills as well as Deadly Strike and Lightning Resistance.
2. Mara’s Kaleidoscope (Unique): This amulet provide +2 to all Skills as well as +20-30 to all resistances and +5 to all attributes.

Charms

For charm’s you’ll mainly want to look for +Life, +Resistances, +Attack Rating, +Damage, and +Combat Skills

What Mercenary to Select & Gear to Use

You’ll want to get the Act 2 Holy Freeze or Might Mercenary (from Act 2 Nightmare) for this build. The Holy Freeze Aura is great for dealing with large crowds of enemies while the Might Aura will greatly increase your damage.

When it comes to equipment, the best weapon would be The Reaper’s Toll (Unique), which allows your Mercenary to apply the Decrepify Curse on enemies. For armor you want to get the Fortitude Runeword and for the helmet Andarie’s Visage.

Final Tips

Remember to keep your shouts active at all times as they provide a lot of life, mana, damage and defense. You’ll want to use Battle Command first, as it increase the effect of the rest of your shouts.

This build can be very mana hungry, so make sure to carry a couple of mana potions. If you run out of mana you won’t be able to attack.

If you click on enemies while standing next to them your character will perform a normal attack, so always aim behind them.

If you are having trouble hitting enemies, try to increase your attack rating with Charms.

Stay tuned for more Diablo 2 Build Guides, and be sure to check out our Diablo 2 Resurrected Wiki for more information about the game!