Diablo 4: Earthquake Barbarian endgame build guide

Barbarian builds are one of the most fun and easy builds to play in Diablo 4, as they allow players to deal massive amounts of damage to enemies. This build exploits the Hammer of the Ancients (HotA) Earthquake arrangement using the Mantle of the Mountain Fury’s Unique Effect. It is a very high-damage and all-around versatile build, which is ideal for conquering Sanctuary in Tormented difficulty and The Pit in a smooth way without much hassle.

Jumping around the battlefield and destroying enemies sounds like a fun time, as does swinging a gigantic hammer and annihilating multiple mobs at a single time. If this is what you think fun is, then Earthquake Barbarian is the perfect build for you. But to do all these, you need some pivotal equipment from specific places.

In this guide, we will figure out and understand what we need to get for creating this build in Diablo 4.

Pros and cons of the Earthquake Barbarian Build in Diablo 4

The Earthquake Barbarian Build is generally considered a heavy-hitting build against mobs of enemies, with HotA as the primary Area of Effect (AoE) damage dealer. But it can be difficult dealing damage to singular targets like elites and bosses. These situations require a lot of experience in positioning the hits to deal the maximum damage to them. Even though this build has the potential to instantly kill strong enemies, it comes with the downside of being heavily reliant on cooldowns and mobility.

Pros:

Devastating AoE damage makes it a fantastic mob cleaner.
Lots of Fury generation allows for constant usage of high-damage abilities.
Excellent synergy with shouts allows you to add additional survivability and damage output.
Easy to play.

Cons:

Earthquake, being the primary damage dealer, performs poorly against singular targets.
Depending on the boss and elite encounters, you must have good knowledge about positioning your character effectively.
Mobility can be managed by jumping around the battlefield, but it gets limited, causing you to be dependent on Earthquakes to survive.
Even though the cooldown of Earthquake is low, it is still difficult to manage the availability of the skill in tense situations.

How to play Earthquake Barbarian in Diablo 4 Season 7

Earthquake Barbarian Skill setup (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

The Barbarian (Barb) is considered one of the easiest classes to play, having multiple terrain-shattering abilities and excellent survivability.

In the case of the Earthquake Barbarian, you will be primarily using Hammer of the Ancients (HotA), adding an additional Earthquake explosion to it using the Mantle of the Mountain’s Fury chest armor.

Earthquake is primarily created by using Leap with the Bul-Kathos Aspect equipped and using the Call of the Ancients ultimate skill and Arreat’s Bearing. This allows Korlic to transform his Leap attack into an Earthquake, and the Executioner’s Aspect allows your Overpowers to span an Earthquake for four seconds.

Even though this build specializes in quick power scaling and destroying multiple mobs of foes, with proper equipment and skills, it can easily be extremely powerful against bosses as well.

Essentials

Basic:

At the start of the build, pick Bash, upgrading it to Enhanced Bash; this step is necessary to move forward towards the next skill and is not usually used in this build.

Core:

In the Core skill section, select Hammer of the Ancients (HotA) — it's the centerpiece of this build. Combining it with Mantle of the Mountain's Fury causes the Earthquakes to explode, causing a massive pool of damage.

Defensive:

In the Defensive skill section, pick Rallying Cry, upgrading it up to Strategic Rallying Cry, and Challenging Shout, upgrading it up to Tactical Challenging Shout. Gaining some necessary Damage Reduction, Resource Management, and Movement Speed.

Brawling:

Here is where we get to the important stuff: select War Cry, upgrade it to Power War Cry, gaining the much-needed Berserking ability, and Leap along with the Bul-Kathos Aspect to cause an Earthquake where you land.
This becomes the primary source of causing Earthquakes in this Earthquake Barbarian Build.

Weapon Mastery:

We won't be going for any skills here; rather, we will focus on activating some sub-nodes and getting some cool passives to back up the build.

Ultimate:

For this, we will go for Call of the Ancients, which summons three Ancients to fight alongside you. In this case, we will be modifying it with Arreat’s Bearing to transform Korlic’s Leap to cause Earthquake.

Key Passives:

We will go for Unconstrained, allowing you to always be in a Berserk state when life is below 65% and get a damage bonus of 60% and a damage reduction of up to 30%.

Skill Rotation

Gameplay Loop

Use LeapQuake.
Use all shouts.
Use Hammer of the Ancients and Call of the Ancients when they're off cooldown.
And finally, destroy them all.

Mobbing

The Earthquake Barbarian, or LeapQuake Barb, is the ultimate mob slayer, meaning you can easily eliminate screens full of mobs with single hits using the LeapQuake moveset.
Most mobs will die within seconds after getting hit by the LeapQuake attack; if not, you can easily eliminate them by using Hammer of the Ancients with Mantle of the Mountain's Fury equipped, which causes the Earthquakes to explode, dealing extra damage to the enemies.

This setup of skills is what makes this build a high damage-dealing, versatile attacking machine.

Bossing

As easy as mobbing is with the Earthquake Barb, it gets a little troublesome when dealing with bosses. While you can do significant damage to singular targets, it is difficult to get a complete hit on them. Without a full contact hit, they will take partial damage, so position your character in a manner where you are guaranteed to deal the maximum damage to them.
The best possible method to ensure max damage is done to bosses is with the use of the Call of the Ancients Ultimate skill with Arreat’s Bearing and mercenaries (in this build it's Subo and his traps). The 30% damage multiplier and 20% damage reduction bonuses aren't the only perks of using this skill — with Arreat's Bearing equipped, Talic and Korlic also provide you with pretty strong supplemental damage. Use this skill along with Raheir's Crater skill to initiate a wide pull on Elite enemy packs.
Overpower plays a vital role in dishing out major damage in Diablo 4; this comes in handy when combating against bosses and elites.

Diablo 4 Earthquake Barbarian Leveling progression guide: Skill Point allotment

At the start of the campaign, it's a priority to get to the core skill (Hammer of the Ancients) as fast as possible by spending the minimum skill points (in this case two) on basic skills, as we won't use them once we get to the ultimate skill section.

Bash, or more specifically, Combat Bash (basic skills), can be used in the pit push to guarantee Overpower, thus taking advantage of the extra damage bonus granted by subnode skills like Warpath (deal extra damage after overpowering for 4 seconds).

In Diablo 4, you will have a total of 71 skill points: 59 skill points from Levels 2 to 60 and 12 skill points gained from Renown. Be thoughtful about where you put your points till you can fully upgrade Leap and Hammer of the Ancients.

Complete skill points allotment:

2. Bash

3. Enhanced Bash

Level (4-7)

4. Hammer of the Ancients

5. Enhanced Hammer of the Ancients

6. Violent Hammer of the Ancients

7. Warpath

Level (8-15)

8. Rallying Cry

9. Challenging Shout

10. Enhanced Challenging Shout

11. Enhanced Rallying Cry

12. Strategic Rallying Cry

13. Tactical Challenging Shout

14. War Cry

15. Leap

Level (16-22)

16. Enhanced Leap

17. Enhanced War Cry

18. Power War Cry

19. Power Leap

20. Leap

21. Hammer of the Ancients

22. Hammer of the Ancients

Level (23-32)

23. Leap

24. Leap

25. Call of the Ancients

26. Prime Call of the Ancients

27. Supreme Call of the Ancients

28. Call of the Ancients

29. Call of the Ancients

30. Leap

31. Hammer of the Ancients

32. Hammer of the Ancients

Level (33-60)

33. Call of the Ancients

34. Heavy Hitter

35. Unconstrained

36. Heavy Hitter

37. Heavy-handed

38. Brute Force

39. Wallop

40. Concussion

41. Heavy Hitter

42. Thick Skin

43. Counteroffensive

44. Thick Skin

45. Thick Skin

46. Counteroffensive

47. Counteroffensive

48. Pit Fighter

49. Pit Fighter

50. Pit Fighter

51. Slaying Strike

52. Slaying Strike

53. Slaying Strike

54. War Cry

55. Booming Voice

56. Guttural Yell

57. Guttural Yell

58. Guttural Yell

59. Booming Voice

60. Booming Voice

(12 skill points received from the Renown System)

61. Challenging Shout

62. Rallying Cry

63. Martial Vigor

64. Imposing Presence

65. Imposing Presence

66. Imposing Presence

67. Martial Vigor

68. Martial Vigor

69. Warpath

70. Warpath

71. Call of the Ancients

72. War Cry

Arsenal System of Barbarians in Diablo 4

Arsenal System of Barbarians (image via Blizzard Entertainment)

The Arsenal System of the Barbarian Class allows you to use a specific weapon for every attack skill you are utilizing, with each of them giving out different bonuses to the skills.

We also have the Technique Slot, used to get the bonus for any weapons of your choice without actually equipping that weapon type. For this build we will be picking the two-handed mace as the main weapon because ‍Hammer of the Ancients needs it to work.

When using the build variant to run the Pit, Bash should also be set to this weapon to benefit from both its enhanced version and the ‍Combat Bash specialization.

On the other hand, in the Technique Slot, the ‍Two-Handed Axe Expertise allows us to deal 10% more damage to Vulnerable enemies. Interestingly, this build has very high Vulnerable dealing capability; so this is practically an easy task to get done.

Diablo 4 Earthquake Barbarian Leveling Gear: Best Stats and Tempering Affixes

Unique items required for this build (image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Gear (Uniques)

For this build it's important to get these few unique items for unlocking the maximum potential of the Earthquake Barb in Diablo 4.

Mantle of Mountain's Fury: Get this and explode your way through mobs of enemies. Target the farm Beast in the Ice boss to get it.
Harlequin Helm: A fantastic helm that boosts your defense and adds +4 ranks to all of your skills. Target farm Duriel, King of Maggots, and Echo of Andariel to get it.
Fists of Fate: Randomly deal up to 300% of your normal damage. this item drops from the Beast in the Ice.
Arreat’s Bearing: Empowers your ultimate skill, Call of the Ancients, specifically Korlic, allowing him to now create an Earthquake. It is dropped by Lord Zir.

These are the primary Unique items that you must have in your setup.

Aspects

Other than the Unique items, you must accumulate multiple aspects to boost the abilities of your Earthquake Barb, turning it into an earth-shattering behemoth.

Here are the Aspects you should keep your eyes out for:

Aspect of Bul-kathos: Leap now creates an Earthquake that deals physical damage over 5 seconds. Gain 30% damage reduction and increased Earthquake damage up to 60%.
Aspect of Earthquake: This boosts the ability of the Ground Stomp ability, which we won't be using for this build. But we will be using this aspect for the second unique effect, which gives up to 60% extra damage to Earthquakes.
Executioner's Aspect: Overpowers will spawn an Earthquake every 4 seconds. Earthquake damage is increased by 15% for every 100 in strength.
Aspect of Incendiary Fissures: Earthquakes deal up to 60% increased damage, and it is converted into fire damage.
Aspect of Giant Strides: Reduces Leap cooldown by (1.3 - 3.5) seconds per enemy hit up to 7 seconds.
Bold Chieftain’s Aspect: Casting a shout skill reduces its active cooldown by (10-30)% for every nearby enemy up to 70%.
Vehement Brawler’s Aspect: Casting Ultimate skill increases damage up to 30% for 8 seconds. Get +2 ranks to the Ultimate skill.
Aspect of Concussive Strikes: Damaging an enemy has a 20% chance to daze them for 2 seconds. Dazed enemies take up to 25% increased damage.

Tempering

To allow the Earthquake Barbarian to perform perfectly, certain stats should be tempered onto your gear. Keep in mind that certain stats, such as Armor, Resistances, Attack Speed and more, have caps that may affect your priorities according to the items and Paragon points available at that moment.

Recommended Endgame Stats for the Earthquake Barbarian:

Armor Capped
Resistance Capped
Life 20,000+
60% Leap Cooldown reduction (less than 4 seconds is optimal)
3000+ Strength
500%+ to Close Enemies (possible using Force of Nature, legendary paragon board node)
60%+ Ultimate skill cooldown reduction.
450%+ Damage while Berserking (possible using Blood Rage Legendary paragon board node)
80% + Critical Chance rate
75%+ chance for Earthquake to be cast twice.
25%+ Earthquake Duration.
Ranks to core skill Hammer of the Ancients
Ultimate duration (Call of the Ancients)
70%+ Earthquake size
Ranks to Heavy Hitter and Heavy Handed

Best gems for the Earthquake Barb in Diablo 4 Season 7

Gems

Ruby (Armor - +60 strength)
Hungering Void: To pull in targets at an eight-second interval.
Moonlight ward: For some extra resistances and survivability.
Friend of the Bog: Increases max life and gives extra stats to core skills for some extra damage output.

Ritual Runes

Yul+Tec (Ritual and Invocation rune) to get additional earthquakes when casting a skill with cooldown.
Bac+Gar (Ritual and Invocation rune) to get 2.5% critical strike chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%.
Igni+Zec get a one-second reduction in ultimate cooldown.

Paragon Boards for the Earthquake Barbarian in Diablo 4

Paragon board (image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Paragon boards are a crucial part of getting powerful after you have reached the maximum level (level 60) in Diablo 4. At this point, you will earn Paragon points up to a total of 300 points from in-game activities like the Pit. You can earn 28 more points from the Renown system and Alters of Lilith.

Paragon Boards

Out of all the available Paragon Boards, we will be picking these five, including the beginning board:

Beginning
Weapons master
Decimator
Blood Rage
Force of Nature

Best Glyphs to Level with Earthquake Barb in Diablo 4

Rumble: Get an additional damage bonus for Earthquakes.
Challenger: Increased damage output to elites.
Might: Increased damage to healthy enemies while wielding two-handed weapons.
Marshal: Reduced the cooldown of all skills after using a shout skill and also increased damage output.
Ire: Reduced damage received while Berserking and increased damage to closer enemies.

Best Witchcraft Power synergy to use with Earthquake Barbarian in Diablo 4

Witchcraft Power synergy (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Season 7 of Diablo 4 introduced the Witchcraft Powers and Occult Gems. There are 25 witchcraft powers, of which only six can be equipped at a time. Each of these powers belongs to one of four schools of Eldritch, Growth and Decay, Psyche, and Lost, promoting synergies within themselves.

For this build, the best-in-slot witchcraft powers are as follows in Diablo 4:

Piranhado: To group up enemies automatically.
Soul Harvest: Increases core stats based on monster density.
Twilight Warding: To get a barrier for 30% of max life for 5 seconds.
Force of will: After killing an enemy, overpower deals extra damage up to 100%.
Grow: After casting the ultimate skill, your servants, minions, and companions grow larger, dealing extra damage for 15 seconds.
Aura of Syphoning: Conjures an area of decay, dealing 80% poison damage to enemies every second.

Mercenary System (Hired and Reinforcement)

The mercenary and reinforcement mechanic was introduced in the Vessel of Hatred expansion of Diablo 4. For this particular build, we will be using Subo and Rahir.

Hired: For hired mercenaries, Subo is a fantastic choice, having the Cover Fire skill to deal physical damage to enemies as well as slow them down by 50% for 4 seconds.
Reinforcement: For reinforcement, we'll be using Rahir. Specifically, his Crater skill, which pulls enemies closer every time the Ultimate (Call of the Ancients) is used.

The Earthquake Barbarian is one of the most highly used builds in Diablo 4. Considering how powerful the build is and how well it scales, it's a no-brainer. With proper leveling setup as well as gear, it can easily destroy any foe even in the hardest of difficulties in Diablo 4. Hope this was of help, and may the might of Bul-Kathos show through you.

Check out our other guides on Diablo 4:

Edited by Adarsh J Kumar