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

Quick Links

Diablo 4 Hammer of the Ancients Endgame Build

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.

Diablo 4: Sacred and Ancestral Items, Explained

Getting better loot is at the heart of Diablo 4’s gameplay loop, and the addition of Sacred and Ancestral gear drives that point hard.

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

Level 60 Hammer of the Ancients hit in Diablo 4

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

Furious Hammer of the Ancients skill in Diablo 4

Skill	Points
Lunging Strike	1
Combat Lunging Strike	1
Hammer of the Ancients	5
Furious Hammer of the Ancients	1
Rallying Cry	5
Tactical Rallying Cry	1
Challenging Shout	1
Tactical Challenging Shout	1
War Cry	5
Mighty War Cry	1
Call of the Ancients	1
Supreme Call of the Ancients	1

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

The Barbarian's Unbridled Rage passive in Diablo 4

Skill	Points
Endless Fury	3
Booming Voice	3
Raid Leader	3
Aggressive Resistance	3
Prolific Fury	3
Swiftness	3
Pit Fighter	3
Wallop	3
Tempered Fury	3
Furious Impulse	3
Unbridled Rage	1

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.

diablo-4-dev-reveals-upcoming-changes-to-uber-lilith-following-fan-feedback

Diablo 4 Was Unable To Open a Critical File Error Fix

If you’ve faced the Diablo 4 Was Unable To Open a Critical File error, which does not allow you to launch and enjoy the game, here’s how to fix it.

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

Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian Gear setup
Gear Piece	Aspect	Recommended Stats
Helmet	Might – Gain 20% damage reduction for a short duration after using a Basic Skill.	Cooldown Reduction Maximum Fury Total Armor
Chest Piece	Disobedience – Gain Armor upon dealing any damage.	Total Armor Damage Reduction Overpower Damage with Bludgeoning Weapons
Gloves	Expectant – Attacking enemies with a Basic Skill increases the damage of your next Core Skill.	Critical Strike Chance Overpower Damage Attack Speed +Ranks for HotA
Pants – Tibault’s Will	Unique – Gain bonus damage while Unstoppable and for 4 seconds after. Gain 50 Primary Resource when becoming Unstoppable.	–
Boots	Ghostwalker – Gain movement speed and walk through enemies while Unstoppable and for 4 seconds after.	Fury Cost Reduction Movement Speed Strength
Amulet – Banished Lord’s Talisman	Unique – After spending 300 Primary Resource, your next Core Skill is guaranteed to Overpower.	–
Ring of Red Furor – Ring 1	Unique – After spending 100 Fury in 3 seconds, your next cast of HotA in 5 seconds is guaranteed to critically strike with bonus damage.	–
Ring 2	Bold Chieftain – Reduce the cooldown of Shouts by up to 6 seconds per nearby enemy when used.	Critical Strike Chance Damage While Berserking Resource Generation
2H Mace	Limitless Rage – For every point of Fury earned while at Max Fury, gain bonus damage on your next Core Skill.
2H Sword	Edgemaster – Gain bonus Skill damage the more Primary Resource you have upon casting.
1H Weapon 1	Ancestral Force – HotA quakes outward, and its damage is increased.
1H Weapon 2	Berserk Ripping – While Berserking, dealing direct damage makes enemies bleed.

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

Paragon Board	Glyph
Blood Rage	Crusher
Carnage	Ire/Exploit (max level only)
Decimator	Dominate
Bone Breaker	Marshal

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

diablo-4-seneschal-companion-defeats-duriel-in-a-1v1-fight-1

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.