A class we all know and love from the other Diablo series games, the Barbarian comes back with the familiar brute force attack styles, but also appeals to women as well, introducing the female version of the character.
It seems that Diablo III Barbarian gameplay is very similar to that of Diablo II, and that some skills have been carried along. We do see a serious change in the character’s look, though: the Diablo II Barbarian was a huge, young, tattooed male, but the D3 Barbarian has a white beard, grey hair, and muscular physique. The female Barbarian is a strong, bodybuilder-esque woman with orange hair.
As usual, Barbarians rely on dual wielded weapons and melee combat. Leaping attacks and ground stomps have carried over into Diablo 3, using blades, hammers, axes, and huge weapons in general. Dual wielding is awesome because you can get so many bonuses and perks from two weapons – and we love dual wielding weapons, don’t we? 
The resource that we see used by Barbarians instead of Mana is Fury, using it to enhance their strikes and send enemies to their death! Barbarian war cries, or Shouts, either perk their allies and enhance their skills, or scare off enemies. Fury, as opposed to the resources of other classes, is gained with each blow. Damage actually fills your Fury orb! If you have enough, you can use Fury for explosive blows and jumping attacks, and brutal attacks against enemies. Fury actually depletes if you don’t battle enough!
The Barbarian skills are the ones we all know and have grown to love. Bashing, summoning axes to slay your enemies, weapon swinging, stomping hard on the ground, screams and battle cries, jumping attacks and Frenzy enhancing spells are just some of the primary Barbarian attack skills, which get even stronger bonuses with each Skill Rune you’ll. Passive skills include armor increases, berzerker spells, critical hit bonuses, damage increase, and many more.
In general, the Barbarian is a strong character, relying on the Strength skill points. However, as we’ve mentioned in earlier articles, skill points are evened out automatically according to your class as you advance levels in Diablo 3, so there’s no need to focus on what skill to focus on.
Armor progression in Diablo III Barbarians is simple. They start out with basic padded leather garments, with much skin exposed, and not much armor worth. Later on, closed-faced helms, armor plates and spikes will enhance their armor. After gaining lots of heavy armor, you can see the scary difference in gameplay – make sure you’re not scared of your own character! Remember the cool bone helm we used to see in Diablo II? Well there’s a similar helm to wear in Diablo III, which will make your character even more formidable than ever!
Diablo III Barbarian Screenshot
Choose the Barbarian in Diablo III if:
- You loved the Warrior and Barbarian classes in Diablo I and II respectively;
- You’re into melee combat, strong armor and huge weapons;
- You love war cries, stomping and jumping attacks, and just like to wreak havoc on the battleground!