The Upheaval Barbarian build has quickly become one of the top-tier choices in Diablo 4 Season 6, thanks to the Vessel of Hatred expansion and some game-changing updates. This build maximizes damage output while maintaining high survivability, making it a great choice for both PvE and PvP content. Below is a comprehensive guide on how to craft the most powerful Upheaval Barbarian build.
1. Best Upheaval Barbarian Skills
Active Skills
Upheaval (Core Skill) - This is the centerpiece of the build. Upheaval deals massive AoE damage and, when combined with the right passives and buffs, can melt through large groups of enemies and bosses alike.
Bash - Use Bash to generate Fury. This skill is critical for maximizing Overpower and ramping up your damage output.
Challenging Shout - A shout skill that taunts enemies while providing you with both offensive and defensive buffs.
Rallying Cry - Grants increase Fury generation and boost your movement speed, making you more mobile in combat.
War Cry - Activates additional buffs for yourself and your party, increasing your damage output and damage reduction.
Call of the Ancients - Summon ancient warriors to aid in battle. Their passive buffs enhance your overall damage and survivability, especially during tougher encounters.
Passive Skills
Unbridled Rage - Increases Upheaval's damage at the cost of more Fury, making it even more potent.
Combat Bash - Increases the damage boost from Bash, ensuring you get a 120% damage increase for Upheaval after 10 hits.
Furious Upheaval - Guarantees Overpower after using Bash a set number of times, allowing for even more damage stacking.
2. Best Arsenal Setup for Upheaval Barbarian
The Arsenal System in Diablo 4 lets you equip different weapons and assign specific skills to each weapon type. For the Upheaval Barbarian, this is crucial to maximizing your damage potential.
Primary Weapon: Two-Handed Mace - Assign Upheaval and Bash to this weapon. The mace's skill enhancements synergize well with both skills, increasing their effectiveness.
Secondary Weapon: Two-Handed Axe - Assign your Weapon Technique to this axe. The Weapon Technique increases damage to Vulnerable enemies by 10%, a huge boost for your overall damage output.
3. Best Upheaval Barbarian Skill Rotation
A well-executed skill rotation is key to making the most of your Upheaval Barbarian build. Here's the most efficient order of skills for maximum damage output:
Challenging Shout - Open encounters by taunting enemies and increasing your defensive buffs.
Rallying Cry - Boost your movement speed and Fury generation to quickly power up your other abilities.
War Cry - Use to further boost your damage reduction and increase your damage output.
Bash - Use this skill repeatedly to generate Fury and stack the damage boost for your Upheaval.
Upheaval - Once you've generated enough Fury, cast Upheaval to unleash devastating damage.
Call of the Ancients - Use this ability during tough encounters to benefit from its passive buffs.
You should aim to refresh your shouts as frequently as possible, utilizing cooldown reduction aspects to keep them up constantly.
4. Best Upheaval Barbarian Legendary Aspects
While Unique gear (especially the Mythic Unique Hellhammer) will provide a huge damage boost, Legendary Aspects will enhance your abilities further. Here are the best Legendary Aspects for your build:
Aspect of the Unyielding - Reduces the cooldown of your shout skills.
Bold Chieftain's Aspect - Lowers Cooldowns on all shouts, making sure you can keep them active.
Rakanoth's Wake - Significantly reduces the cooldown of your Challenging Shout, allowing you to keep enemies taunted more often.
Tracking down these Legendary Aspects will significantly increase your power and make your Upheaval Barbarian build even more formidable.
5. Best Upheaval Barbarian Paragon Boards and Glyphs
Once you hit Level 60, the Paragon System takes over, allowing you to customize your build with powerful Paragon Boards and Glyphs.
Paragon Board Progression
Follow this order for optimal progression:
Starting Board
Blood Rage
Decimator
Bone Breaker
Carnage
Best Glyphs
The following Glyphs are ideal for the Upheaval Barbarian build:
Ire Level 100 (Starting Board)
Dominate Level 100 (Blood Rage)
Challenger Level 100 (Decimator)
Wrath Level 100 (Bone Breaker)
Crusher Level 100 (Carnage)
These Glyphs offer significant damage boosts, survivability, and additional damage reduction.
6. Best Mercenaries for Upheaval Barbarian
Mercenaries provide valuable utility for your build. For an endgame Upheaval Barbarian, we recommend the following:
Raheir (Hired Mercenary) - Raheir boosts survivability with abilities like Valiance and Bastion, granting Unstoppable and increasing your defenses.
Varyana (Reinforcement Mercenary) - Varyana's Ancient Harpoons ability can pull in enemies before you activate your shout skills, helping set up your rotations and significantly shortening cooldowns.
Together, they offer great defensive support and crowd control, making encounters more manageable.
7. Best Upheaval Barbarian Gear and Runewords
The best gear for the Upheaval Barbarian focuses on maximizing damage output and survivability. Key Diablo 4 items include Mythic Uniques and high-tier Legendary Aspects. Consider Hellhammer for its Upheaval enhancements.
Runewords:
Enrage Rune - Increases Fury generation.
Ravage Rune - Boosts damage when Fury is full.
Combine these Runewords with your Legendary gear to boost your build's effectiveness.
8. Best Upheaval Barbarian PvP Build for Diablo 4 Season 6
For PvP, the Upheaval Barbarian shines due to its sturdy defense and high damage output. However, you'll need to be more strategic with your shout timing, as you don't benefit from reduced cooldowns in PvP.
Key strategies include:
Use Rallying Cry and Challenging Shout to mitigate incoming damage.
War Cry can help you burst down enemies while maintaining your defenses.
Utilize Bash and Upheaval to overwhelm your opponent in close quarters.
This build has excellent defense and damage, making it a formidable option in PvP.
The Upheaval Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 6 offers a high-reward playstyle with strong damage output, survivability, and the ability to handle both PvE and PvP content. By focusing on the right skills, gear, Legendary Aspects, Paragon progression, and mercenaries, you can craft a Barbarian that excels in both solo and group content. Enjoy the power of Upheaval and dominate your enemies with this deadly setup!
With the right approach and gear in place, your Upheaval Barbarian will become a force to be reckoned with in Diablo 4, allowing you to clear endgame content and dominate both bosses and players alike. Don't forget to keep a supply of Diablo 4 gold and Diablo 4 items to further enhance your build and unlock its full potential!
MMOexp Diablo 4 Team