Diablo 2
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Berserk Barbarian Guide
Season 8S
Last Updated:August 10, 2024|Changelog
The Berserk Barbarian is an unrivaled Elite Hunting powerhouse. Teleport Cast Frames of a Sorceress, unmatched Magic Find stacking, and Find Item make this the best build for farming ultra-rare Unique, Set and Rare items. He is referred to by many different nicknames, such as “Zerk Barb” or just “Zerker”. The “Pit Zerker” moniker pays homage to one of his best known specialties.
The Berserk Barbarian takes full advantage of the ideal loot tables belonging to every Champion, Unique, and Super Unique monster (Elites) in the game. Isolating these money-makers with Howl and potentially double-dipping with Find Item, also called "Horking", makes Magic Finding look clean and easy. Also, Berserk deals Magic Damage so there is hardly an Elite that can withstand its onslaught.
This build performs well in nearly every Farming Spot in Solo gameplay or /Players1 on Single Player. However, it particularly excels at The Pit and Pindleskin farming, with both farms offering distinct advantages. In a Full Party the Berserk Barbarian is best at setting up Diablo for a player looking to reach Level 99. Acquiring Enigma turns this Barbarian into a fast-paced, loot-manufacturing juggernaut.
Berserk
Find Item
Howl
Teleport
This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 75 before transitioning to it. Check out our Barbarian Leveling Guide and our General Leveling Strategies to reach Level 75.
High Mobility ✔
#1 Elite Hunter ✔
Rewarding Solo Play ✔
Farms Virtually Every Area ✔
❌ Weak Boss Killer
❌ Atrocious Density Farmer
❌ Highly Weapon Dependent
❌ Requires GG Gear For True Potential
Sunder Charm Setup
The Berserk Barbarian does not benefit from the new Sunder Charms because Berserk deals Magic Damage. There is no way to further reduce the Magic Resistance of monsters sundered by Black Cleft; this leaves them at 95% Magic Resistance, taking virtually no damage. On top of this, Magic Immunity is uncommon even in the new Terror Zones. And if you do encounter Magic Immunes on this build, 1-Point Concentrate (Physical Damage) is often sufficient to deal with them.
Terror Zones
The new Terror Zone mechanic opens up a wide range of farmable areas. The following list highlights the best and worst Terror Zones for this build. Since this build deals Magic Damage, it farms virtually every Terror Zone efficiently on the Standard setup. Learn more about Terror Zones here and see how they stack up in our Terror Zone Tier List.
Best
✔ Travincal - Quick Access, No Immunities, Council Members
✔ Black Marsh + The Hole - Many Elite Groups, Quick Access, No Immunities
✔ Barracks + Jail - Many Elite Groups, Quick Access, No Immunities
✔ Pit - Easy Mobility, Many Elite Groups, Quick Access, No Immunities
✔ Nihlathak's Temple ONLY - Easy Mobility, Quick Access, No Immunities, Pindleskin
Worst
❌ Lost City + Valley of Snakes + Claw Viper Temple - Trash Mobility, Immunities
❌ Tal Rasha's Tombs - Trash Mobility, Immunities
❌ Kurast Bazaar + Ruined Temple + Disused Fane - Trash Mobility, Immunities
❌ Ancient Tunnels - Slow Access, Immunities
❌ The Secret Cow Level - Few Elite Groups, Tanky Enemies, Slow Access
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Increased Speed
2. Iron Skin
3. Natural Resistance
4. Shout
5. Battle Command
6. Find Item (Max Last)
7. Concentrate
Put 10 Skill Points into this Skill:
1. Battle Orders
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Berserk
2. Blade Mastery
3. Howl
4. Find Potion
5. Find Item
Attributes
Note: This section provides you with the standard Stat Point allocation. Build Variants may require different allocations!
Strength
Allocate at least enough Stat Points into Strength to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Strength your gear provides when equipped. Recommended: Put 50-100 additional Stat Points into Strength to increase Berserk's damage.
Dexterity
Allocate at least enough Stat Points into Dexterity to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Dexterity your gear provides when equipped. It can be helpful to put additional Stat Points into Dexterity to increase your Attack Rating on this build.
Vitality
Allocate any remaining Stat Points into Vitality after meeting Strength, Dexterity and Energy requirements.
Energy
Don't allocate any Stat Points into Energy. This build gets enough Mana from gear, Charms, Battle Orders, Meditation, and Mana Potions.
Essentials
Gear Options
Farming Spots
Mercenary
Playstyle
Breakpoints
Hardcore
Build Variants
Starter
Budget
Standard
Mobility
Chaos Prep
Hardcore
Setup
The Starter variant of the Berserk Barbarian meets the minimum gear requirements for farming the Starter ✔ tagged areas in the "Farming Spots" section above. These areas can be Solo-farmed by this setup (/Players1 on Single Player) in both Nightmare and Hell difficulty. For Party play you can use Berserk to pick off stragglers and use Find Item on monster corpses left behind by members of the Party. An Unbending Will is a strong, relatively easy to acquire weapon that provides this build with sufficient power. Beyond a decently strong weapon, make sure to prioritize Magic Find, Attack Speed, Attack Rating, Resistances, Cannot Be Frozen, and Life/Attributes on your gear. A Harmony on Weapon-Swap allows this build to travel faster. Follow the Barbarian Leveling Guide to get your Barbarian to Level 75.
Mercenary
The Starter Berserk Barbarian uses an Act 2 Might Mercenary with Insight for Damage and Mana Regeneration. Mercenaries require Resistances, Life Leech, and/or Damage Reduction to stay alive. Smoke is a cheap Body Armor option for Resistances, while Bulwark is the cheapest Helmet that provides Life Leech and Damage Reduction.
Skills
Prioritize maxing Howl and Find Item. Also allocate additional Skill Points into Natural Resistance if needed.
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Increased Speed
2. Iron Skin
3. Natural Resistance
4. Shout
5. Battle Command
6. Concentrate
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Berserk
2. Blade Mastery
3. Howl
4. Find Item
Put 10-15 Skill Points into these Skills:
1. Battle Orders
2. Find Potion
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to wear all of your gear and enough Stats Points into Dexterity to achieve maximum Chance to Block (75%). Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
The Budget Berserk Barbarian is a solid setup for Solo-farming Pindleskin, Thresh Socket, Eldritch the Rectifier, and Shenk the Overseer - the easily accessible Super Unique monsters in Act 5. Several Terror Zones are also solid for this build. Farming Travincal Council Members can be particularly fruitful on a slightly modified version of this build with more Fire Resistance and Dwarf Stars. Without Enigma you lack the ability to quickly travel to and traverse many of the Farming Spots, such as The Pit, that the Standard Berserk Barbarian excels in. However, while using a Harmony on Weapon-Swap, you can quickly run through town to the Portal or Waypoint where the Act 5 Super Uniques are located. You can also use a Teleport Charge Amulet for limited travel and repositioning capabilities. The Budget Zerker makes use of several lower-end gear options that still provide decent Damage, Attack Rating, Magic Find, and the Cannot Be Frozen stat.
Mercenary
Similar to the Standard Build, the Budget Berserk Barbarian uses a Might Mercenary with Insight, Treachery, and Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest. This Mercenary is better at surviving and dealing damage than the Starter one, but uses easier to acquire Bases/options compared to the Standard one.
Skills
Spread your Skill Points evenly among Battle Orders, Find item, and Find Potion. Also allocate additional Skill Points into Natural Resistance if needed.
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Increased Speed
2. Iron Skin
3. Natural Resistance
4. Shout
5. Battle Command
6. Concentrate
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Berserk
2. Blade Mastery
3. Howl
Put 10-15 Skill Points into these Skills:
1. Battle Orders
2. Find Item
3. Find Potion
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear all of your gear. If you are lacking Attack Rating (below 9000), allocate up to 50 additional Stat Points into Dexterity to improve your Hit Chance. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
This is the Standard Best in Slot (BiS) Berserk Barbarian featured in the beginning of the guide. It is the balanced "jack-of-all-trades" version, capable of performing the most tasks well. This variant is the point of comparison for all other variants. It prioritizes Magic Find while maintaining solid Damage and Teleport mobility. This setup achieves the 105% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint on Weapon-Swap. It is strong for Solo-farming The Pit, the Zerk Barb's best Farming Spot. The vast majority of Terror Zones are also efficiently farmed with this setup. A quick swap to Immortal King's Will achieves maximum Pindleskin farming efficiency as well. Highlord's Wrath along with additional Fire Resistance/Fire Absorb makes this an excellent build for farming Travincal.
Mercenary
The Standard Berserk Barbarian Mercenary is an Act 2 Might Mercenary with Insight for Damage and Mana Regeneration. Treachery and Guillaume's Face maximize this Mercenary's DPS without having Cold Damage. Andariel's Visage can be used for increased survivability.
Skills
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Increased Speed
2. Iron Skin
3. Natural Resistance
4. Shout
5. Battle Command
6. Find Item (Max Last)
7. Concentrate
Put 10 Skill Points into this Skill:
1. Battle Orders
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Berserk
2. Blade Mastery
3. Howl
4. Find Potion
5. Find Item
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear all of your gear at a minimum. Allocate 50-100 additional Stat Points into Strength to increase Berserk's damage, and thus one-shot potential. Additional Stat Points into Dexterity can improve your Chance to Hit. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
This variant achieves the 200% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint on Weapon-Swap by using Arachnid Mesh, Trang-Oul's Claws, 2x Rare Rings with 10% Faster Cast Rate, a Rare Diadem with 20% Faster Cast Rate, and a Caster Crafted Amulet with 20% Faster Cast Rate. Prioritizing fast Teleport cast speed, this elite setup is optimal for farming Uber Key Bosses (e.g. Nihlathak) and Chaos Seal Popping. This variant is strong in any Farming Spots, including Terror Zones, which require traveling long distances between Elite Packs or to the Farming Spot itself. The Mobility Berserk Barbarian sacrifices Damage, Damage Reduction, and Magic Find.
Mercenary
Just as on the Standard Build, the Mobility Berserk Barbarian Mercenary is an Act 2 Might Mercenary with Insight, Treachery, and Guillaume's Face.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into Battle Cry to kill Act Bosses quicker (like Diablo). The rest is the same as the Standard Build.
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Increased Speed
2. Iron Skin
3. Natural Resistance
4. Shout
5. Battle Command
6. Find Item (Max Last)
7. Concentrate
Put 10 Skill Points into this Skill:
1. Battle Orders
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Berserk
2. Blade Mastery
3. Howl
4. Find Potion
5. Find Item
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear all of your gear at a minimum. Allocate 50-100 additional Stat Points into Strength to increase Berserk's damage. Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
Chaos Preparation or "Chaos Prep" is all about Solo spawning Diablo in Chaos Sanctuary inside a Full Game (7-8 Players) as quickly as possible for a Player trying to reach Level 99. Diablo in High Player Count is a significant source of Experience for a Level 97-98 Character. With the advent of Terror Zones, Chaos Prep is no longer part of the core leveling meta. However, it can still be efficient when D or F Tier Terror Zones are active (see our Terror Zone Tier List). This Berserk Barbarian variant excels at taking down the tanky, dangerous Seal Bosses, "chunking" Diablo, Seal Popping, and High Player Count gameplay in general. Highlord's Wrath, Guillaume's Face, Laying of Hands, and Gore Rider provide this setup with high Damage output. Rare Rings, each with 10% Faster Cast Rate, allow you to maintain the 105% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint on Weapon-Swap. Stormshield socketed with a Shael Rune gives this build much needed Damage Reduction, Increased Chance of Blocking, and Faster Block Rate. Verdungo's Hearty Cord provides additional survivability. Magic Find is a secondary focus on this version of the Zerk Barb.
Mercenary
The Chaos Prep Berserk Barbarian uses an Act 5 Bash Mercenary equipped with Lawbringer for its Sanctuary Aura, which is highly effective at controlling the Undead enemies in Chaos Sanctuary. Its Decrepify proc is also helpful against Diablo and the Seal Bosses. Guillaume's Face and Treachery provide this Mercenary with much needed Damage, Attack Speed, and survivability. Having Cold Damage is not a major concern on the Chaos Prep variant.
Note: You can also use the Standard Mercenary with Vampire Gaze instead of Guillaume's Face if you value Mana Regeneration more than Crowd Control.
Skills
Skill allocation for the Chaos Prep Berserk Barbarian prioritizes Damage output. Put 20 Skill Points into both Howl and Battle Orders to max out Berserk Synergies. 1 Skill Point into Battle Cry provides you with a valuable Skill that greatly improves your Chance to Hit. Use it on Diablo before lowering his Life for a quick finish by the Player seeking Level 99. Additional Skill Points into Natural Resistance provide this setup with stacked Resistances. Skill Points into Find Potion and Find Item are a lower priority for this variant.
Attributes
Allocate an additional 50-100 Stat Points into Strength beyond your gear requirements to increase Berserk's damage and enough Stat Points into Dexterity to achieve maximum Chance to Block (75%). Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Setup
For the Hardcore mode variant, aim for 50% Damage Reduction and maximum Chance to Block (75%) to guard against taking extreme amounts of Physical Damage. Additionally, overcap Resistances beyond the natural cap of 75% if possible to counteract hostile Conviction or Lower Resist. This setup achieves the 105% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint on Weapon-Swap. For overall safer Farming Spots such as The Pit, you can opt to maintain higher Magic Find by using a Gemmed Phase Blade socketed with 6x Ist Runes like on the Standard Build. However, you are much more vulnerable to dangerous enemies such as Dark Archers without Chance to Block and increased Damage Reduction. Consult the "Hardcore" section for more detailed information.
Mercenary
Your Mercenary's survival is directly correlated to your survival in Hardcore. Because of this, the Hardcore Berserk Barbarian Mercenary uses Andariel's Visage for its Life Leech and Attack Speed stats. And just as on the Standard Build, he is an Act 2 Might Mercenary that uses Insight and Treachery.
Note: Do not hire a Holy Freeze Mercenary for improved survivability. It shatters corpses with its Cold Damage, limiting use of Find Item.
Skills
Max out Battle Orders before putting additional Skill Points into the Find Item Synergy Find Potion.
Put 1 Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Increased Speed
2. Iron Skin
3. Natural Resistance
4. Shout
5. Battle Command
6. Find Item
7. Concentrate
Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Berserk
2. Blade Mastery
3. Howl
4. Battle Orders
5. Find Potion
Attributes
Only allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to wear all of your gear and enough Stats Points into Dexterity to achieve maximum Chance to Block (75%). Put all remaining Stat Points into Vitality.
Video Guide
Summary
- The Berserk Barbarian uses a skillful combination of Teleport, Howl, Berserk, and Find Item to efficiently farm for the rarest items in the game.
- Cast Teleport, Howl, and Find Item on your 105% Faster Cast Rate Weapon-Swap for quick and seamless use.
- Wear budget gear, such as Unbending Will, Oath, and Trang-Oul's Girth, to get a functional Berserk Barbarian setup before you have acquired best in slot gear.
- Take advantage of the Berserk Barbarian's strengths by farming Elite Monsters in The Pit and the Super Unique Pindleskin in Solo gameplay or /Players1 on Single Player. Many Terror Zones are also highly efficient farms.
- Stack as much Magic Find as possible while avoiding any Cold Damage on both your Barbarian's and Mercenary's gear so you don't shatter corpses needed for Find Item!
We hope you enjoy this build! Quickly isolating Elites and assassinating them for a chance of double loot is extremely fun and rewarding. Now get howlin', slashin', and horkin'!
Good luck!
Credits
Written by DarkHumility
Reviewed by MacroBioBoi