Whirlwind Barbarian Build Guide - D2R 2.5 Updated (2024)

WW Barb Introduction & Overview

The Whirlwind Barb is one of the most popular characters in the game. It is just super easy and fun to play with, while being very useful for party members for its Battle Orders skill. The primary attacking skill is Whirlwind, while physical immune monsters can be dealt with via Berserk. The build is efficient even in budget versions, but best in slot items are quite expensive. The build is a viable ladder starter.

WW Barbs have great survivability, and in defensive gear they are close to being immortal. They can easily solo the entire game, however in 8player parties and against bosses they lack high damage. For magic finding there are much better builds available, but if you are willing to compromise on farming speed, you can also MF with a whirlwind barb.You should use an Act2 Nightmare Offensive Mercenary to gain it’s Might Aura, which will further increase your damage.

Whirlwind Barbarian Pros and Cons

Whirlwind Barbarian Gameplay

Playing solo: If you want to be able to solo the game, you will need to put at least one skill point on Berserk so you can kill monsters with Immunity. Increased speed, Whirlwind and Leap are useful skills to skip mobs and get to bosses quickly and safely, because of this the build is a very good ladder starter. At the beginning of each game use Demon Limb to cast Enchant on yourself which adds 218% extra attack rating. The build really excels at Terror Zone farming, but you can run any magic find area, superunique monster or act boss comfortably. Wearing an Enigma allows you to quickly teleport to bosses, especially if you have two Heart of the Oak runewords as switch weapons. However if you prefer slightly higher damage, you can use a Fortitude armor. Mana and life sustenance should come from life and mana steal items, especially jewelry.

Playing in a party: In parties, members can take advantage of your high level Battle Orders, Shout and Battle Command skills alongside other warcry skills like Taunt or Battle Cry. Unless your party has a member with good survivability and teleportation, WW Barbs are the best fit to get to the Throne of Destruction in party baalruns. Using nightmare act2 merc with a Pride Runeword will provide you and the party with Might and Concentration auras that benefit the entire party’s physical damage immensely. You can also loot dead monsters with the Find Item skill, which can be very effective in an 8 player game.

Playing Hardcore: Depending on your gear setup, you can become almost immortal if you compromise on damage output. 6k life, 75% all resistances (or 90 in Guardian Angel), 50% Physical Damage Reduction, 75% Block Rate, up to 25k Defense and additional elemental damage absorptions are available. ARaven Frostring can be useful to have Freeze Immunity, and with %life stolen per hit on your gear you can even forget about health potions.

Whirlwind Barbarian Breakpoints

Note: Each second in the game consists of 25 frames or “ticks”. Your breakpoints decide how many frames it will take until you can attack/cast a skill/recover from a hit/ block a new hit.

Faster Cast Rate

• In case you wear an enigma, aim for the 37%, 63%, or 105% breakpoints. 105% FCR allows you to teleport at 8 frames.

Faster Hit Recovery

• Having some Faster Hit Recovery on your gear is very beneficial. While at 0% you recover once every 9 frames, at 27% you will already recover at 6 frames. Aim for the 27%, 48%, or 86% (4-frame) breakpoints.
  

Faster Block Rate

• In most cases you won’t need any FBR, as you will be dual-wielding. However if you like defensive play and wearing a Stormshield, some additional FBR might come handy. 20% FBR will grant you a 5 frame block, while 42% FBR allows for 4 frames.

Whirlwind Barbarian Skills

Combat Skill Tree:

• 1 to Bash
• 1 to Leap
  
• 1 to Stun
• 1 to Concentrate
• 1 to Berserk
• 20 to Whirlwind

Warcries skill tree:

• 1 to Howl
• 1 to Shout
• 20 to Battle Orders
• 1 to Battle Command

Combat Masteries Skill Tree:

• 20 to your preferred weapon type’s mastery
• 1 to Iron Skin
• 1 to Natural Resistance
• 1 to Increased Stamina
• 1 to Increased Speed

Skill notes: Put your remaining points on Shout or Iron Skin if you prefer higher defense. You can also put skill points on Find Item if you like corpsepicking.If you play on Hardcore, you can potentially put a few points on Natural Resistance too for increased all resistance.

Whirlwind Barbarian Stat Points

Strength ► Just enough to be able to wear your items.

Dexterity ► Just enough to be able to wear your gear when dual wielding, or enough to have 75% chance to block with a shield.

Vitality ► Allocate all your remaining points to it.

Energy ► Don’t allocate any points to it.

You can re-stat your character by the quest reward of Akara’s Act1 Den of Evil Quest, or by using Token of Absolution.

Mercenary

The best mercenary for this build is an Act2 Might aura one. Having Pride runeword on your merc will greatly boost your damage via the additional Concentration Aura.

If you make boss runs where you have to teleport long distances, having an Insight runeword on your merc can solve any mana issues.

Whirlwind Barbarian Item setups

Ladder Starter Whirlwind Barbarian Gear

Helm: Lore / Peasant Crown / Immortal King’s Helm

Amulet: Angelic Wings

Weapon: Oath runewordin an ethereal elite weapon

Second Weapon: Oath runewordin an ethereal elite weapon

Switch Weapon: Magic spear with +3 to warcries

Switch Second Weapon: Magic spear with +3 to warcries

Body Armor: Myth runeword in an elite armor

Belt: String of Ears

Rings: Angelic Halo, Rare or crafted dual leech ring / Raven Frost

Gloves: Venom Grip / Laying of Hands
Boots: Waterwalk / Rare boots with 30% FRW +resists

Charms: Any charm with +skill, max dmg/attack rating, life, resist or FHR will help

Notes: Switch to second weapons when casting Warcries.

Mercenary Gear

Helm: 3*Perfect Diamond socketed helm
Body Armor: Any useful rare body armor
Weapon: Insight Polearm

Advanced Whirlwind Barbarian Gear

Helm: Arreat’s Face

Amulet: Highlord’s Wrath

Weapon: Grief phase blade

Second Weapon: Grief phase blade

Switch Weapon: Heart of the Oak flail
Switch Second Weapon: Heart of the Oak flail

Body Armor: Enigma / Fortitude in elite body armor

Belt: String of Ears

Rings: Raven Frost/ Rare or Crafted dual leech ring

Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp
Boots: Gore Rider

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire torch, max dmg/attack rating /life small or grand charms, allresist/life small charms

Mercenary Gear

Helm: Andariel’s Visage or Crown of Thieves (preferably ethereal, socketed with Ral/Um rune)
Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude or Treachery armor
Weapon: Pride in ethereal base (eth Thresher preferred)

Magic Find Whirlwind Barbarian Gear

Helm: Harlequin Crest Shako (Socket it with Ist rune)

Amulet: Magic Amulet with 40-50% Magic Find

Weapon: Grief phase blade

Second Weapon: Grief phase blade

Switch Weapon: 2* Heart of the oak Flail

Body Armor: Enigma Mage Plate / Dusk Shroud/ Archon plate

Belt: Upgraded Goldwrap

Rings: Raven Frost, Dual leech rare or crafted ring

Gloves: Upgraded Chance Guards
Boots: War Traveler

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire torch, Gheed’s Fortune, Small Charms with 7% Magic find (and also @all resistances if possible)

Notes: When teleporting, switch to the Heart of the Oak setup

Mercenary Gear

Helm: Andariel’s Visage or Crown of Thieves (preferably ethereal, socketed with Ral/Um rune)
Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude or Treachery armor
Weapon: Pride in ethereal base (eth Thresher preferred)

Hardcore Whirlwind Barbarian Gear

Helm: Crown of Ages (Socket it with 2 Ber runes)

Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope

Weapon: Grief phase blade

Shield: Stormshield (Socket it with Cham rune)

Switch Weapon: 3 to warcries spear

Second Switch Weapon: 3 to warcries spear

Body Armor: Fortitude Dusk Shroud / Archon Plate / Upgraded Guardian Angel, preferably Eth with Zod socket

Belt: String of Ears

Rings: 2*Dual Leech rare or crafted rings

Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp
Boots: Upgraded Hotspur

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire torch, Gheed’s Fortune, Magic Small Charms (with +all resistances, or +life)

Notes: Aim to overprotect yourself for situations when you get cursed with spells such as Lower Resist and Amplify Damage or get under an effect of an aura such as Fanaticism or Conviction.

Mercenary Gear

Helm: Andariel’s Visage or Crown of Thieves (preferably ethereal, socketed with Ral/Um rune)
Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude or Treachery armor
Weapon: Pride in ethereal base (eth Thresher preferred)