There was a lot of fear that Barbarian builds wouldn’t have much relevance in the Season 6 meta for Devil 4. However, despite a large amount of nerfs, the Bleed Thorns construction is back and you feel better than before. Fans of the Barbarian class will be thrilled to have a strong endgame build once again.
While it may not be as powerful as the Spiritborn built in Devil 4that build still has a lot of strength. It will depend on a good number of things happening at once and your equipment being in tip-top shape, but once you’ve got the necessities prepared there’s no reason not to run around tanking bosses without taking any damage in return. For those who were hoping for this return, you won’t be disappointed.
Best Bleed Thorns Barbarian Build
Features and new passive key
This build came back mainly because of a new passive key for class this is explained by YouTuber Rob2628 in the video above. This build will be based on his, which you can see the full breakdown of in the D4Builds website. There are some familiar features in this build that you might see in other high-ranking class builds for the Barbarian, but this is specifically a construction of Thorns.
Unlike other popular constructions, this doesn’t make as much use of Earthquake and Dust Demon in the same way. You are going strictly for the Thorns and want the build to be as pure as possible where this is considered. While it may not be as fast as some of the other builds, this one can still deal with a boss without taking too much damage and is destined to face The Pit.
What allows this construction when it was not viable at the beginning of Season 6 is the new Barbed Carapace passive keywhich gives you more Thorns the more Rage you spend. Additionally, it allows you deal all damage from your Thorns as physical damage to any enemy who make the mistake of getting close to you every second for 5 seconds. This is a lethal build, especially for clearing the Pit, and allows you to use your Thorns to their fullest potential.
THE Needleflare Horned Club It will also work with your spikes, making it a crucial piece of equipment that makes your spikes even more important. Most equipment and equipment will be the same, and you should do your best to use Forgotten Souls in Devil 4 to Reroll your enchantments to increase your main stats as high as possible.
Best Gear and Aspects for a Bleed Thorns Barbarian
All suggested equipment and skills
For this one, you will be looking at some older equipment which you should recognize for this type of construction. Although there are many cool new pieces of equipment in Devil 4the Barbarian will benefit most from those who are already interacting with your Thornswith a little earthquake damage on the side.
Active Skills and Runes
The active or equipped skills you choose are also very important, as they will determine how your character activates some of the passive skills. You’ll want the best ones unlocked and ranked to ensure that’s the case. Suggested active skills are:
- Blunt weapon
- War cry
- War cry
- Defiant scream
- bash
You won’t have to worry about jewelry this season, but you will have to worry about the Active Runes that you have on you or your equipment. You will want the runes used for this build to trigger from skills or actions you are already taking, and this will help you reach the end of The Pit.
- Yul (Legendary/Ritual) and Xal (Rare/Summon)
- Lith (Legendary/Ritual) and Tec (Rune Summoning)
The Lith/Tec combination gives you offerings when you stand stillwhich you usually do as a Thorns Barbarian, and this Offering triggers to give you more Earthquake uses. Meanwhile, the Yul/Xal combo gives you Offering when you cast a skill with a cooldown, and this gives you 20% maximum health when triggeredincreasing your survivability. As always, you can deviate from the norm, but with multiple nerfs and a build that doesn’t reach the levels of the top-tier meta, you may want to stick closer to the suggested abilities if possible.
Equipment/Aspects
While there are many choices of equipment and aspects you use, there are some already familiar ones that are best for Thorns builds. There are pieces of your equipment that will work in Earthquake, but you must be with the aim of emphasizing your spines above all. Here are the suggested equipment:
Equipment slot |
Equipment/Appearance |
---|---|
Rudder |
Harlequin Crest |
Chest armor |
Razor |
Gloves |
Aspect of inner calm |
Pants |
Aspect of Bul-Kathos |
Boots |
Explorer Aspect |
Blunt weapon |
Needle appearance |
Sharp Weapon |
Oath of the Ancients |
Dual Wield Weapon 1 |
Aspect of the Elements |
Dual Wield Weapon 2 |
Herald of Doom |
Amulet |
Appearance of earthquakes |
Ring 1 |
Aspect of the Bold Boss |
Ring 2 |
Ring of the Starless Heavens |
Needle and razor blade are the ones that offer the most in terms of more spikes and more spike damage. With the right roll, you can also get extra earthquakes.
Skill Tree Updates
The Skill Tree is based on obtaining so much base damage, so much Overpower and so much survivability possible. Notably, you won’t focus as much on bleed damage, although it will still be part of your build in a smaller way. This occurs mainly because the The barbed carapace’s passive ability is very importantso you won’t end up suffering from Gushing Wounds. However, there are still some abilities that deal Bleed Damage and more support is coming on the Paragon Board.
Ability |
Suggested classification |
Skill upgrades |
---|---|---|
bash |
1 |
Improved Bash; Combat Strike |
Hammer of the Ancients |
1 |
Improved Hammer of the Ancients; Violent Hammer of the Ancients |
Warpath |
3 |
— |
Belligerence |
3 |
— |
War cry |
1 |
Improved Rally Shout; Strategic Rally Shout |
Imposing Presence |
3 |
— |
Martial Stamina |
3 |
— |
Explosion |
1 |
— |
Tough as nails |
3 |
— |
Defiant scream |
5 |
Improved defiant scream; Strategic Defiant Shout |
War cry |
5 |
Improved Battlecry; Battle Cry of Power |
Booming voice |
3 |
— |
Attack leader |
3 |
— |
Guttural Scream |
3 |
— |
Aggressive Resistance |
3 |
— |
boxer |
3 |
— |
Assassin Blow |
3 |
— |
Steel handle |
1 |
Improved steel grip; Warrior’s Steel Claw |
thick skin |
3 |
— |
Counteroffensive |
3 |
— |
Irrepressible |
1 |
— |
Defensive Posture |
3 |
— |
Barbed Carapace |
1 |
— |
With luck, you should have Fortify almost always activeunleashing large amounts of spikes and being invulnerable to bosses when you optimize this build.
Exemplary frame
As for your Paragon Board, the nodes you choose will be focused increasing your base damageas well as giving you bonuses when you use your Thorns.
- Home plate, Rumble
- Up to Ambidextrous (Carnage), go up and go straight from there.
- On the right is Challenger (Blood Rage).
- Above the Ambidextrous is the Fearless (Decimator)
- Keep going up a board and you’ll reach Force of Nature (Revenge)
The Blood Rage takes bleed damage advantage you will be doing and offers even more damage potential as well as a Furious Bonus. There are many possibilities here, so feel free to experiment.
It was the Thunderous Glyph This took a big hit with the nerf, but it’s a necessary glyph as it’s the first one you’ll start with on your Paragon Board.
With this, your build must be in the best possible condition, as your Bleed Thorns Barbarian will face more enemies throughout the Eternal Realm in Devil 4.
Source: Rob2628/YouTube; D4Builds