Diablo 4: Endgame Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian Build Guide (Patch 1.3.3)

Hammer of the Ancients is one of the crunchiest and most satisfying abilities that the Barbarian has in Diablo 4, capable of delivering big, meaty swings that can turn most monsters into chunky red mists in a single hit.

While the Triple Shout Whirlwind build is the most commonly used one in Diablo 4’s endgame Barbarian meta, Hammer of the Ancients still has a place in the class’ repertoire with its slow yet extremely gratifying playstyle. Here’s one Level 60 HotA setup that can one-shot dungeon elites and devastate pretty much everything else in the open world.

Updated April 2, 2024 by Marc Santos: There has been a plethora of balance changes to Diablo 4 ever since its initial release, and many of those affected how Barbarians play and interact with the world. This guide has been updated for Season 3 — it now has a stronger focus on using the Berserking effect to further raise the damage of HotA. As such, the build now uses a new set of Gear, Aspects, and Paragon Board bonuses. A section highlighting the Seneschal companion has also been added, and it will remain until the end of Season of the Construct.

Diablo 4 Hammer of the Ancients Endgame Build

First, players need to understand that Hammer of the Ancients needs time to ramp up. Its strongest upgrades make it deal the most damage while the player is at max Fury — pacing and resource management play critical roles in this build, and players must adjust their style if they want to deal the most DPS.

Hot Bar Skill Setup

Take Combat Lunging Strike to go Berserk for 1.5s every time to critically strike with it. This may not seem like much, but it’ll stack with other effects that grant Berserking, maximizing the effects uptime in the long run. Use Lunging Strike with a 2H Sword to inflict Bleed, an important component for late-game synergy with Paragon bonuses.

Rallying Cry and Challenging Shout with their related Fury generation nodes are required to maintain the resource cost of Hammer of the Ancients. Both also increase the Barbarian’s survivability by providing movement speed and Unstoppable as well damage reduction. Meanwhile, War Cry is your on-demand Berserk button that grants a massive damage buff along with 15% of your max HP as Fortify with the Mighty upgrade.

Call of the Ancients is the preferred Ultimate here for its universal effectiveness. It’s a fire-and-forget skill that can help burn down tanky targets while increasing the player’s resource generation. Top all of these off by equipping Two-Handed Axe in the Weapon Expertise Technique slot to increase damage against Vulnerable targets.

Passive Skill Setup

This setup maximizes melee damage, survivability, and Fury generation with Unbridled Rage as the Key Passive, which increases Core Skill damage by 135% while doubling their Fury cost.

Players will be using Lunging Strike a lot in this build, which is why points are spent on Endless Fury, Aggressive Resistance, and Prolific Fury. These ease the Barbarian’s resource issues in Diablo 4, though the latter two will only work if the player is Berserking.

Furious Impulse softens Unbridled Rage’s impact on resource costs by generating more Fury every time the Barbarian changes weapons. Since HotA can only be cast with maces, you’ll always be gaining extra Fury when you alternate between Lunging Strike and HotA.

The other passives are here to improve survivability and quality of life. Raid Leader grants passive health regeneration when Shouts are active, while Wallop increases Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon damage against anything that’s Vulnerable.

Gear and Legendary Aspects

The Aspects and Uniques listed above give players a nice balance of offense, defense, and utility. You’ll need to adapt your playstyle to this setup, though. Ideally, you should only use HotA when you’re at full Fury. Keep using Lunging Strike between packs of enemies, pop your Shouts when necessary, then bring the Hammer of the Ancients down once you’re fully buffed.

If you lack any of the Uniques mentioned in the table, you’ll be glad to know that they can be picked up as loot from Diablo 4’s bosses. Get a group together or challenge these bosses alone once you think you’re strong enough to handle them.

Paragon Board Setup

There’s a fair bit of planning involved in building Paragon Boards in Diablo 4. Get Blood Rage first and unlock its Legendary Node as soon as you can. This will give you a chance to go Berserk every time you kill a bleeding enemy. After that, grab Carnage for the bonus attack speed — the faster you hit, the more Fury you generate, and the more you’ll get to use HotA at full power. Make

After these, grab Decimator for extra Vulnerable damage and Bone Breaker for Overpower buffs, then path toward their Glyph Sockets, Legendary Nodes, and other Rare nodes that synergize with your build. If you have any Paragon Points left over, feel free to add more boards of your choosing.

Seneschal Setup

The Seneschal is a robotic companion introduced in Diablo 4: Season of the Construct. It can be outfitted with various Governing and Tuning Stones that make it very effective at fighting monsters and supporting players. Here’s one Seneschal setup that’s all about synergizing with a HotA Barb:

• Governing Stone: Flash of Adrenaline
• Tactical Support – Decrease the supported skill’s cooldown.
• Fortify Support – You gain Fortify when the Seneschal uses the supported skill.
• Duration Support – Supported skill’s duration is increased.

This setup allows the Seneschal to grant you a massive damage buff on top of everything else your build already provides you with. Feel free to use whatever else you want in the secondary Governing Stone line, as Flash of Adrenaline is the most important thing when it comes to buffing HotA’s damage output.