Whirlwind Barbarian Abattoir of Zir Build (Season 2)

This is a Season 2 Whirlwind endgame build for Barbarian in Diablo 4 (D4) that focuses on Whirlwind and its ability to deal consistently high Critical Strike damage to enemies. Read on for the complete list of Vampiric Powers, Skills, and Aspects you need and how to play the build for Season 2 and Abattoir of Zir (AoZ).

Whirlwind Build Strengths and Weaknesses

Build Strengths

Excellent for Dungeon Clearing

This build excels when facing multiple enemies since you'll be less likely to lose Fury due to the modifier in place. Furthermore, Whirlwind is an AoE skill by nature, making it more suitable against multiple enemies.

Easy-to-Use

This build is arguably the easiest one to use among all Barbarian builds. You basically only need to hold your Core Skill button and cycle through your shouts. All you have to do is spin to win!

Build Weaknesses

Inferior Against Bosses

The only downside of this build is that it is weak in single target damage, particularly against bosses. Since channeling skills aren't affected by Attack Speed, the speed upon which you can deal damage is stagnant, whether you're fighting hordes of enemies or a single boss.

Whirlwind Build Overview

Build Summary

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Skills

Aspects & Uniques

Stats & Gems

Build Overview and Summary
Whirlwind		Tier: Focus: PVE Playstyle: Solo and Party
Active Skills
Passive Skills

Build Overview and Summary
Whirlwind		Tier: Focus: PVE Playstyle: Solo and Party
Aspects and Uniques
Doombringer (One-Handed Sword) Harlequin Crest (Helm) The Grandfather (Two-Handed Sword) Tibault's Will (Pants) Aspect of Disobedience (Amulet) Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind (One-Handed Sword) Edgemaster's Aspect (Ring) Aspect of the Expectant (Gloves) Aspect of Limitless Rage (Two-Handed Mace) Bold Chieftain's Aspect (Ring) Relentless Berserker's Aspect (Boots) Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind (Chest)

Build Overview and Summary
Whirlwind		Tier: Focus: PVE Playstyle: Solo and Party
Stat Priorities			Recommended Gems
・Cooldown Reduction ・Critical Strike Damage ・Strength ・Lucky Hit Chance ・Fury Regeneration ・Damage Reduction ・Armor ・Maximum Life ・Damage while Berserking			Royal Emerald (Weapon) Royal Ruby (Armor) Royal Diamond (Jewelry) Tempting Fate (Vicious) Revenge (Brutal) Creeping Death (Wrathful)

This build focuses on boosting Whirlwind and its capacity to consistently deal high Critical Strike Damage. In this build, you will find numerous damage multipliers coming from certain Aspect, Paragon Nodes, and Skills that will surely take your Whirlwind to the next level.

There are also numerous defensive and resource-focused Skills, Aspects, Paragon Nodes, and Vampiric Powers found within the set-up, which will allow you to consistently take on the most difficult contents in the game.

This is a build made for those who want to have a remarkably strong build while materializing a Barbarian's fantasy of spinning to win.

Whirlwind Build Breakdown

Skill Progression

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Active Skills

Skill		Upgrade Path
Lunging Strike (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Lunging Strike	Combat Lunging Strike
Whirlwind (5 Points)	→	Enhanced Whirlwind	Violent Whirlwind
Rallying Cry (1 Point)	→	Enhanced Rallying Cry	Tactical Rallying Cry
Challenging Shout (1 Point)	→	-
War Cry (1 Point)	→	Enhanced War Cry	-
Wrath of the Berserker (1 Point)	→	Prime Wrath of the Berserker	Supreme Wrath of the Berserker

Passive Skills

Whirlwind Passives
Imposing Presence (3 Points)				Martial Vigor (3 Points)				Swiftness (3 Points)
Booming Voice (3 Points)				Raid Leader (3 Points)				Guttural Yell (1 Point)
Aggressive Resistance (3 Points)				Prolific Fury (3 Points)				Pit Fighter (1 Point)
Thick Skin (3 Points)				Counter offensive (1 Points)				Heavy Handed (3 Points)
Tempered Fury (1 Point)				Invigorating Fury (3 Points)				Unbridled Rage (1 Point)

Skill Progression Breakdown

Recommended Skill Progression
Lv.2	Lv.3	Lv.4	Lv.5
Lunging Strike	Enhanced Lunging Strike	Whirlwind	Enhanced Whirlwind
Lv.6	Lv.7	Lv.8	Lv.9
Violent Whirlwind	Combat Lunging Strike	Rallying Cry	Challenging Shout
Lv.10	Lv.11	Lv.12	Lv.13
Enhanced Rallying Cry	Tactical Rallying Cry	Whirlwind	War Cry
Lv.14	Lv.15	Lv.16	Lv.17
Enhanced War Cry	Whirlwind	Whirlwind	Whirlwind
Lv.18	Lv.19	Lv.20	Lv.21
Booming Voice	Raid Leader	Raid Leader	Raid Leader
Lv.22	Lv.23	Lv.24	Lv.25
Swiftness	Swiftness	Swiftness	Wrath of the Berserker
Lv.26	Lv.27	Lv.28	Lv.29
Prime Wrath of the Berserker	Supreme Wrath of the Berserker	Aggressive Resistance	Prolific Fury
Lv.30	Lv.31	Lv.32	Lv.33
Prolific Fury	Prolific Fury	Aggressive Resistance	Aggressive Resistance
Lv.34	Lv.35	Lv.36	Lv.37
Heavy Handed	Unbridled Rage	Heavy Handed	Heavy Handed
Lv.38	Lv.39	Lv.40	Lv.41
Imposing Presence	Imposing Presence	Imposing Presence	Pit Fighter
Lv.42	Lv.43	Lv.44	Lv.45
Pit Fighter	Pit Fighter	Thick Skin	Counter offensive
Lv.46	Lv.47	Lv.48	Lv.49
Counter offensive	Counter offensive	Tempered Fury	Invigorating Fury
Renown Skill Points (Lv50 Onwards)
R1	R2	R3	R4
Invigorating Fury	Invigorating Fury	Booming Voice	Booming Voice
R5	R6	R7	R8
Martial Vigor	Martial Vigor	Martial Vigor	Guttural Yell
R9		R10
Guttural Yell		Guttural Yell

Technique Slot

This is an important Expertise to get more Berserking uptime through the Blood Rage Legendary Node. This node gives you a 10% chance to get Berserking for 5 seconds if you kill a Bleeding Enemy, and the Two-Handed Sword Expertise will be your source of Bleeding damage.

Arsenal System and Techniques Guide

Best Vampiric Powers

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Vampiric Power Cost	Effect Explanation
Metamorphosis 2 2 2	When you Evade you turn into a cloud of bats, becoming Unstoppable for 4 seconds. Enemies along your path take 160% Physical damage and are inflicted with Vampiric Curse. This provides additional safety measures through the activation of Unstoppable whenever you dash. It's also great to trigger Tibault's Will for additional damage and Fury. Moreover, this also goes well with Prey on the Weak power to make enemies Vulnerable.
Bathe in Blood 0 3 3	While Channeling a Skill, you form a pool of blood beneath you. While channeling a skill in a pool, your Channeled Skills deal 40% increased damage and you gain 30% Damage Reduction. A pool can only form once every 8 seconds. Since the Whirwild is a Channeling Skill, this will allow you to deal significantly more damage and gain valuable Damage Reduction.
Prey on the Weak 2 0 0	You deal 16% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies. Enemies are Vulnerable while affected by a Vampiric Curse from your other Vampiric Powers. Aside from your Exploit Gylph, this is your secondary source of Vulnerable application and will also make you deal more damage to Vulnerable enemies.
Resilience 0 0 2	You gain 1% Damage Reduction for each 2% Life you are missing. This will provide you with remarkable Damage Reduction as your HP gets lower.
Sanguine Brace 0 1 1	When you kill an enemy, Fortify for 6% of your Base Life. While you have more Fortify than half of your Maximum Life, you gain 8% Critical Strike Chance. This will give you added survivability through Fortify and a consistent additional Critical Strike chance.
Total Pacts Required 4 | 6 | 8

List of Vampiric Powers and Pacts Explained

Aspects and Affixes

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Best Weapons

Weapon	Aspects and Affixes
Two-Handed Mace	Aspect of Limitless Rage Each point of Fury you generate while at Maximum Fury grants your next Core Skill (1-2)% increased damage, up to (15-30)%. ・+X% Overpower Damage (Inherent) ・+X% Damage While Berserking ・+X% Critical Strike Damage ・+X All Stats ・+X Strength
Two-Handed Sword	The Grandfather Increases your Critical Strike Damage by (60-100%). The other properties of this weapon can roll higher than normal. ・+X% Critical Strike Damage (Inherent) ・+X% Damage ・+X Maximum Life ・+X All Stats ・Ignores Durability Loss
One-Handed Sword	Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind Whirlwind's Critical Strike Chance is increased by (3-8)% for each second it is channeled, up to (9-24)% ・+X% Overpower Damage (Inherent) ・+X% Damage While Berserking ・+X% Critical Strike Damage ・+X All Stats ・+X Strength
One-Handed Sword	Doombringer Lucky Hit: Up to a (15-25)% chance to deal Shadow damage to surrounding enemies and reduce their damage done by 20% for 5 seconds. ・+X% Critical Strike Damage (Inherent) ・+X% Core Skill Damage ・+X% Damage ・+X Lucky Hit: Chance to Heal ・+X% Maximum Life

Best Armor

Equipment	Aspects and Affixes
Helmet	Harlequin Crest Gain (10.0-20.0)% Damage Reduction. In addition, gain +4 Ranks to all Skills. ・+X Maximum Life ・+X% Cooldown Reduction ・+X% Resource Generation ・+X All Stats
Chest	Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind Whirlwind periodically Pulls enemies to you. ・+X Maximum Life ・+X% Damage Reduction ・+X% Total Armor ・+X% Damage Reduction While Fortified
Gloves	Edgemaster's Aspect Skills deal up to (10-20)% increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource. ・+X% Critical Strike Chance ・+X% Lucky Hit Chance ・Lucky Hit: Up to a 5% Chance to Restore X% Primary Resource ・+X Ranks to Whirlwind
Pants	Tibault's Will You deal 20-40% increased damage while Unstoppable and for 4 seconds after. When you become Unstoppable, gain 50 of your Primary Resource. ・While Injured, Your Potion Also Restores 20% Resource (Inherent) ・+X% Damage Reduction from Close Enemies ・+X Potion Capacity ・+X% Damage ・+X% Maximum Resource
Boots	Relentless Berserker's Aspect Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Core Skill has up to (22-40)% chance to extend the duration of Berserking by 2 seconds. Double this duration if it was a Critical Strike. ・Evade Grants + X% Movement Speed for 1 Second (Inherent) ・+X% Movement Speed ・+X% Damage Reduction While Injured ・+X% Fury Cost Reduction ・+X All Stats

Best Jewelry

Jewelry	Aspects and Affixes
Amulet	Aspect of Disobedience You gain (0.25-0.50)% increased Armor for 4 seconds when you deal any form of damage, stacking up to (66)%. ・+X% Resist All (Inherent) ・+X% Movement Speed ・+X% Cooldown Reduction ・+X% Fury Cost Reduction ・+X% Damage Reduction
Ring	Edgemaster's Aspect Skills deal up to (10-20)% increased damage based on your available Primary Resource when cast, receiving the maximum benefit while you have full Primary Resource. ・+X% Resist All (Inherent) ・+X% Element Resistance (Inherent) ・+X% Resource Generation ・+X% Critical Strike Chance ・+X% Damage While Berserking ・+X Maximum Life
Ring	Bold Chieftain's Aspect Whenever you cast a Shout Skill, its Cooldown is reduced by (XX) seconds per Nearby enemy, up to a maximum of 6 seconds. ・+X% Resist All (Inherent) ・+X% Element Resistance (Inherent) ・+X% Resource Generation ・+X% Lucky Hit Chance ・+X% Damage While Berserking ・+X Maximum Life

Best Gems

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Gem Type	Effect Explanation
Royal Emerald (Weapon)	+12.0% Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable Enemies This build focuses on dealing Critical Strike Damage, which can be further boosted through the use of Emeralds.
Royal Ruby (Armor)	4.0% Maximum Life Having more Maximum Life directly translates to having higher survivability.
Royal Diamond (Jewelry)	5.0% Resistance to All Elements Maxing all resistances is crucial to surviving various elemental attacks from enemies.

If you have specific resistance affixes in your Chest and Boots, you can replace the Diamond gems placed in your Jewelry and slot in more specific resistances coming from Amethyst, Emerald, Ruby, Topaz, or Sapphire gems.

You will be able to gain a total of around 21.5% resistance to all elements at World Tier 4 if you decided to equip Royal Diamonds in all your Jewelry slots.

Paragon Board Setup

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Summary		Skill Progression		Vampiric Powers
Aspects & Affixes		Gems		Paragon

Starting Board (Exploit)

The Starting board offers multiple offensive and defensive nodes which this build will take advantage off. The outmost priority is to get defensive nodes to get added survivability right from the start.

• Exploit (Glyph): Excellent Glyph that can make you easily apply Vulnerable to enemies and deal more damage to them.
• Tenacity (Rare): Provides maximum Life and Armor to notably increase defense.
• Iron Strength (Rare): Gives Strength and Armor for even more defense.
• Brawn (Rare): A balanced node that gives defensive and offensive purposes through Physical Damage and Maximum Life.

Blood Rage (Ire)

The Blood Rage board is one of the most important to get due to its exemplary Legendary Node. The Blood Rage Legendary Node will give you an overall damage multiplier which, scales off your Damage while Berserking Stat. This effect will significantly increase your overall damage.

• Ire (Glyph): Great source of Damage while Berserking, which scales with the Blood Rage Legendary Node
• Enraged (Rare): Additional source of Damage while Berserking stat.
• Revel (Rare): Provides additional damage to Bleeding Enemies, which synergizes well with the Two-Handed Sword Expertise.
• Grit (Rare): Grants additional toughness through Damage Reduction from Bleeding Enemies.

Carnage (Tears of Blood)

The Carnage board's primary purpose is to serve as a placeholder for the new unique Glyph, Tears of Blood. This new Glyph is perfect for this board to further boost the Fierce Rare Node that will give Damage while Berserking. This would significantly add up to the Blood Rage Legendary Node's damage multiplier.

• Tears of Blood (Glyph): This new unique Glyph is the best offensive Glyph due to the insane amount of additional damage it can give.
• Berserker (Rare): Gives Damage while Berserking stat, which will further boost the Blood Rage Legendary Node's multiplier.
• Fierce (Rare): Taken for even more Damage while Berserking stat.
• Brash (Rare): Great defensive node that will remarkably increase your survivability through Damage Reduction from Close enemies.

Hemorrhage (Marshal)

The Hemorrhage board is great to house the Marshal Glyph due to the presence of useful Magic nodes that will be further improved by the said Glyph.

• Marshal (Glyph): Exceptional Glyph to make your shout skills' cooldown faster.
• Grit (Rare): Provide Damage Reduction against Bleeding enemies, which goes well with the build due to the Two-Handed Sword expertise.
• Butcher (Rare): Primarily taken for the Strength but also gives additional Bleeding Damage.

Warbringer (Seething)

The Warbringer board will be used mainly for the Glyph Slot. This board has a great layout that where you can easily slot in a Strength-scaling Glyph.

• Seething (Glyph): Great source of additional damage and Fury generation.
• Conditioned (Rare): Grants Strength and resistance to all elements.
• Raw Power (Rare): Provides Strength and additional Physical Damage.

Weapons Master (Bloodfeeder)

The Weapons Master Board is a great option due to the valuable Rare Nodes near the Glyph Slot. This board is perfect since you can easily equip the Bloodfeeder Glyph and also be able to acquire offensive and defensive nodes along the way.

• Bloodfeeder (Glyph): Provides additional Critical Strike Chance and damage to Bleeding enemies.
• Raw Power (Rare): Good source of additional Physical damage.
• Iron Strength (Rare): Grants Armor for more defensive prowess.

Bone Breaker (Wrath)

The last board for this build is the Bone Breaker, which is essentially taken for its Glyph Slot. This is the best out of all the remaining boards due to the closeness of the slot to the Board Attachment Gate.

• Wrath (Glyph): Great Glyph that provides additional Critical Strike damage and Fury generation.
• Vigor (Rare): Gives extra survivability through Damage Reduction while Healthy.

Whirlwind Playstyle

Whirlwind Build Tips
Recommended Openers and Rotations Stack Up Buffs Before Using Whirlwind Cycle Through Your Shouts

Recommended Openers and Rotations

Opener and Skill Rotation

Stack Up Buffs Before Using Whirlwind

Always keep in mind to cast Lunging Strike on an enemy at least 3 times before using Whirlwind to benefit from the Aspect of Limitless Rage, Aspect of the Expectant, and Edgemaster's Aspect. These buffs will last until you stop holding your next Whirlwind.

Make sure to keep repeating this process between Whirlwind casts to get the most out of your Aspects.

Cycle Through Your Shouts

Your War Cry, Rallying Cry, and Challenging Shout not only serve as damage-boosting or defensive skills but will also be your main source of Fury generation while spinning with Whirlwind.

Cycle through them with Fury management in mind, as Whirlwind can consume huge amounts of resources over time. You can also use the Wrath of the Berserker, but keep in mind that this will stop you from spinning.

Diablo 4 Related Guides

Build Guides and Tier List

All Season 3 Leveling Builds

All Class Builds

All Classes
Barbarian		Druid		Sorcerer
Rogue		Necromancer		Uber Lilith Builds

All Barbarian Builds

List of Builds
Barb Leveling (Leveling)	Double Swing (PVE)	HotA (PVE)
Rend Bleed (PVE)	Thorns Barbarian (PVE)	Upheaval (PVE)
Walking Arsenal (PVE)	Whirlwind (PVE)