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The Best Barbarian Build for Season 12 - Diablo 3 Patch 2.6.1

The Best Barbarian Build for Season 12 - Diablo 3 Patch 2.6.1

A very powerful Barbarian build based on the Immortal King's set and Hammer of the Ancients attack skill

Immortal King's Hammer of the Ancients
Barbarian build
Diablo 3 Patch 2.6.4

Diablo 3's Patch 2.6.1  brought a lot of changes to the majority of sets and items. With the extreme buffs to Hammer of The Ancients items and the Immortal King's Set, it became one of the best Barbarian builds in the game. In Patch 2.6.4, the bonus damage when wearing six pieces of Immortal King's set was nearly tripled, allowing it to remain one of the major Barbian sets in Season 16. 

To check the full list of our Best Diablo 3 builds visit:  The Best Diablo 3 builds by Odealo

Immortal King's HotA build

Table of contents

  1. General information
  2. Recommended items
  3. Recommended skills

General information

The entire build is based on the Immortal King's set which provides the following bonuses:

  • Call of the Ancients lasts until they die, or until the Barbarian dies (2/6)
  • Reduces the cooldown of Wrath of the Berserker and Call of the Ancients by 3 seconds for every 10 Fury spent with an attack (4/6)
  • While both Wrath of the Berserker and Call of the Ancients is active, the Barbarian deals 4000% increased damage (6/6)

The Immortal King's set is extremely powerful and well-rounded. It grants the player 100% uptime on Wrath of the Berserker, and 4000% increased damage. It remains one of the best Barbarian sets, but sadly, in Season 16 where a vast amount of new options was introduced, it's no longer even in the Top 3 for its class.

The gameplay mechanics for HotA IK build are simple. You charge between groups of monsters and smack them with the Hammer of the Ancients. This build could be played with a lot of different weapon combinations, but Istvan's Paired blades grant the highest attack speed. High attack speed and Bane of the Stricken Legendary Gem is the best pick for very high solo GR pushing.


All Legendary and Set items can be quickly obtained through Item Farming and Multiboxing services. Multiboxing refers to a process where a single player(Booster) is controlling three characters simultaneously and hands over the loot to the 4th party member(Leecher). These types of services are offered on Odealo market.

Recommended items

Equipment

Immortal King's Triumph
Head - Immortal King's Triumph
Stat priorities:
1) Critical Hit Chance
2) Strength
3) Vitality / Increased HotA damage
4) Secondary res.
Socket: 
Immortal King's Eternal Reign Chest - Immortal King's Eternal Reign
Stat priorities:
1) Strength
2) Vitality
3) All elemental resistances
4) Reduced damage from elites/Secondary res.
Sockets: 
(replace with Rubys if you feel comfortable with having less all res.)
Immortal King's Stature Pants - Immortal King's Stature
Stat priorities:
1) Strength
2) Vitality
3) All elemental resistances
Sockets: 
(replace with Rubys if you feel comfortable with having less all res.)
Immortal King's Irons Gloves - Immortal King's Irons
Stat priorities:
1) Strength
2) Critical Hit Chance
3) Critical Hit Damage
4) Area damage% / Vitality
5) Attack speed
6) Secondary res.
Immortal King's Stride Boots - Immortal King's Stride
Stat priorities:
1) Strength
2) Vitality
3) All elemental resistances
4) Increased HotA damage
Fury of the Ancients

Pauldrons - Fury of the Ancients
Stat priorities:
1) Strength
2) Vitality
3) All elemental resistances
4) Area damage%
5) Life%
Special power:
Call of the Ancients gains the effect of the Ancients' Fury rune

Bracers of the First Men Bracers - Bracers of the First Men
Stat priorities:
1) Critical Hit Chance
2) Fire damage%
3) Strength
4) Vitality
5) Secondary res.
Special power:
Hammer of the Ancients attacks 50% faster and deals 375-500% increased damage
Traveller's Pledge Amulet - Traveller's Pledge
Stat priorities:
1) Socket
2) Critical Hit Damage
3) Critical Hit Chance
4) Fire damage%
5) Strength
(Part of the Endless Walk set)
Set bonuses:
  • While moving, all damage taken is reduced by up to 50%
  • While standing still, all damage dealt is increased by up to 100%
Compass Rose Ring - Compass Rose
Stat priorities:
1) Socket
2) Critical Hit Chance
3) Critical Hit Damage
4) Area damage%
5) Strength
6) Vitality
(Part of the Endless Walk set)
Convention of Elements

Ring - Convention of Elements
Stat priorities:
1) Socket
2) Critical Hit Chance
3) Critical Hit Damage
4) Area damage%
5) Strength
Special power:
Gain 150–200% increased damage to a single element for 4 seconds. This effect rotates through the elements available to your class in the following order: Arcane, Cold, Fire, Holy, Lightning, Physical, Poison

Immortal King's Tribal Binding Belt - Immortal King's Tribal Binding
Stat priorities:
1) Strength
2) Vitality
3) All elemental resistances
4) Life gained per Fury spent
5) Life%
Little Rogue Weapon 1/2 - Little Rogue
Stat priorities:
1) Socket
2) High average damage
3) Damage%
4) Strength
5) Attack speed%
Sockets: 
(Part of the Istvan's Paired blades set)
Set bonuses:
  • Every cast of a skill that spends primary resource grants 6% increased damage, Armor and attack speed for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times
The Slanderer Weapon 1/2 - The Slanderer
Stat priorities:
1) Socket
2) High average damage
3) Damage%
4) Strength
5) Attack speed%
Sockets: 
(Part of the Istvan's Paired blades set)
Bonus Items for Season 16
(thanks to built-in Ring of Royal Grandeur power)
String of Ears Belt - String of Ears
Stat priorities:
1) Strength
2) Vitality
3) All elemental resistances
4) Life%
Special power:
Reduces damage from melee attacks by 25–30%
Kanai Cube powers
The Gavel of Judgement The Gavel of Judgement
Hammer of the Ancients deals 600–800% increased damage and returns 25 Fury if it hits 3 or less enemies
Magefist Magefist
Fire skills deal 15–20% more damage.
Band of Might Band of Might
After casting Furious Charge, Ground Stomp, or Leap, take 60–80% reduced damage for 8 seconds
Legendary Gems
Bane of Trapped Bane of the Trapped
  • Increases damage done to enemies under the control-impairing effects by 15%
    Upgrade: +0.3% additional damage per Rank
  • Gain an aura that slows the movement speed of enemies within 15 yards by 30% (Requires Rank 25)
Bane of Stricken Bane of the Stricken
  • Each attack you make against an enemy increases the damage it takes from your attacks by 0.8%
    Upgrade: +0.01% damage per Rank
  • Gain 25% increased damage against Rift Guardians and bosses (Requires Rank 25)
Pain Enhancer Pain Enhancer
  • Critical hits cause the enemy to bleed for 2500% damage as Physical over 3 seconds. Upgrade: +50% damage as Physical over 3 seconds (+10% per second) per Rank
  • Gain Blood Frenzy, granting 3% increased Attack Speed for each bleeding enemy within 20 yards (Requires Rank 25)

Recommended skills

Active Skills

Hammer of the Ancients

Hammer of the Ancients
A massive hammer smashes enemies in front of the Barbarian for 535% damage as Physical. Hammer of the Ancients has a 1% increased Critical Hit Chance for every 5 Fury the Barbarian currently has
Smash
Increases damage dealt to 640% and damage type changes to Fire

Your main dps skill. Simply spam it to kill enemies

Furious Charge Furious Charge
Rush forward, knocking back and dealing 600% damage as Physical
Merciless Assault
Reduces cooldown by 2 seconds for every enemy hit (for up to 5 enemies)

Your only mobility skill. It's not great, but it's better than nothing. You also have to use it longer("static") fights to proc the Band of Might damage reduction buff
Wrath of the Berserker Wrath of the Berserker
Enter a berserker rage which raises the following attributes for 20 seconds: Critical Hit Chance, Attack Speed, Dodge Chance and Movement Speed
Insanity
Increases damage dealt by an additional 50%

Your core ability. Keep it up at all times - as long as you have enemies you can burn your Fury on, the CD on this ability will not be an issue
War Cry War Cry
Upon use increases armor for the Barbarian and all his allies within 100 yards by 20% for 120 seconds
Power of the Storm
Grants an additional 20% all elemental resistances to the Barbarian and his allies

Keep the buff up at all times. The skill also provides a decent Fury generation that might come in handy when initiating fights
Battle Rage Battle Rage
Enter a rage which increases Player's damage by 10% and Critical Hit Chance by 3%. The buff lasts 120 seconds
Bloodshed
Deal 20% damage of your recent critical hits to enemies within 20 yards radius every second

Keep the buff up at all times
Call of the Ancients Call of the Ancients
Summon three ancient Barbarians for 20 seconds. Each deals 270% damage as Physical per swing in addition to their bonus abilities
Together as One

50% of damage dealt to the Barbarian is transferred and split evenly to the Ancients


Keep them up at all times. With the 2/6 IK set bonus they last untill they die, so you should only recast the skill when either you or them have died
Passive Skills
Ruthless Ruthless
You deal 40% extra damage to enemies below 30% Life
Rampage Rampage
Increases the Barbarian's Strength by 1% for 8 seconds after killing or assisting in killing an enemy. This effect stacks up to 25 times, and each stack renews the total duration
Nerves of Steel Nerves of Steel

Instead of killing the Player, lethal damage reduces the Life to 15% and for 3 seconds afterwards, the Barbarian takes 95% reduced damage and gains immunity to all control-impairing effects
This effect may only occur once every 60 seconds

Berserker Rage Berserker Rage
You deals 25% extra damage while near maximum Fury (approximately 95% and up)


Odealo is a trading platform for players of MMO games. It is an open marketplace for Item Farming, Power Leveling and Boosting services in Diablo 3.

We hope you will enjoy this build as much as we did. And see you soon in the world of Sanctuary.

If you have any ideas how we could improve this build, or if you believe the Immortal King's Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian is not suitable for this title please let us know in the comments below.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment.