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Each class inDiablo 4has a unique mechanic that must be unlocked and upgraded, including the Barbarian class. The Barbarian class already had a version of their mechanic which allowed them to wield more weapons. However, theArsenal System has received a major updaterecently and the stats and effects of the system have changed.
TheBarbarian Class inDiablo 4has generally not been well-received in Season 6,due to some significant nerfs and other overpowered classesperforming better. However, with the re-vamped Arsenal mechanic, players can at leasttailor the Barbarian class to their playstyleeven more than before. You will want to have a large number of melee weapons to make the Arsenal system work well for you.
How To Unlock the Barbarian Arsenal Mechanic
Quests & Leveling-Up
You will automaticallyunlock the Arsenal Mechanic upon reaching level 15, and a quest will unlock calledBarbarian: Masters of Battle. You will travel to Ked Bardu to start and finish this quest. You will then get access to the Expertise tab, where you will seeall the different weapon types and their bonuses. When you first unlock the mechanic, you will start out at level 1.
How To Farm (& Use) Forgotten Souls In Diablo 4
Farming one of the most scarce resources in Diablo 4 can be difficult, but there is one method to finding Forgotten Souls that will make it easier.
To upgrade it, you will have touse the corresponding weapon type. For instance, as you switch weapons as the Barbarian, you will get hits out of them and start gaining experience on those weapon types. That means you will likely wantfour different weapon types equipped at all times, as that will allow you to level up and get four different bonuses. While the stats and effects have changed, YouTuberGamers Heroes' video shows you the basics of how weapon swapping works, which remains the same.
Best Barbarian Arsenal Weapons, Bonuses & Expertise
Using Weapon Expertise For Skills
In practice, you will be able to assign specific equipment to certain skills based on what you are aiming for. You couldpair Bash with a bludgeoning weapon, for example. You will also immediately equip the best weapon in your loadout when you activate a certain skill, meaning that your character will be constantly switching between weapons, and you should have adiverse array of weapons in your loadoutfor that reason.
You will also now have theWeapon Expertise menu, which upon opening you will see a list of seven different techniques that all have various bonuses. You can select one of them which will apply that technique to any Weapon type for all of your skills. However, you will have togain levels by using that type of weapon, so make sure to have at least one of that kind equipped.
You can level up your expertise byusing the training dummies as practice, but it will also happen naturally through normal combat.
To assign weapons to particular skills to enable leveling them up, you will want to go to theSkill Assignment window, which is under Abilities. Find any damage-dealing Skill, hover over it, and select the option to“Switch Weapon.”Some skills only work with a particular weapon, but something like Walking Arsenal will require you to have more diverse skills that can each have a different weapon type assigned.
Notably,weapons gain experience on hits, but not on kills. So if you are one-shotting everything, you will not gain as much experience. You will alsonot gain experience during PvP mode.
To see what kind of bonuses you can get from these effects, see the table below:
Rank 10 Increased % + Bonuses
One-Handed Axe
0.5% Increased Critical Strike Chance against Injured enemies. This is doubled if you are using 2 axes.
Increased to 10%
Lucky Hit: Critical Strikes have up to 55% chance to grant +0.6% increased Attack Speed for 2 seconds. Double Attack Speed bonus when using 2 Axes.
One-Handed Mace
1% Increased damaged to Stunned enemies. Double this when using 2 maces.
Lucky Hit: Up to a 10% chance to gain Berserking for 1.5 seconds when you hit a stunned enemy. Double this when using 2 maces.
One-Handed Sword
Lucky Hit: Up to a 1% chance to gain 5 Fury when hitting a Crowd Controlled enemy. Double this chance when using 2 swords.
Killing a Crowd Controlled enemy grants +15% increased Attack Speed for 3 seconds. Double this amount for kills while using 2 swords.
Increased to 15%
10% Increased Critical Strike Chance against Vulnerable enemies.
Two-Handed Mace
Lucky Hit: Up to a 1% chance to gain 2 Fury when hitting an enemy. Double the amount of Fury gained when Berserking.
You deal 15% increased Critical Strike damage while Berserking.
Two-Handed Sword
2% of direct damage you deal is inflicted as Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
Increased to 20%
You deal 30% increased Bleeding damage for 5 seconds after killing an enemy.
You deal 15% damage while healthy.
As you can see, at rank 1 it will not be as big of a bonus, but you will have to work to getevery weapon expertise up to rank 10. Once you do the bonuses get bigger, and you will get the additional bonuses as well. This can help you get to the point where you are defeating a lot of enemies in a single shot, which is finesince you no longer need to gain experience at that point.
There are no right and wrong weapons for these skills, but you should likelypick your best weapon for that weapon typewhen you assign them. However, the best weapon will greatly depend on what you want to do and whichDiablo 4class buildyou are using.Everyskill will want a different weapon type.
Experimentation with your current weapons will help you most in the long run, but pay attention when you do get anAncestral or Mythic Unique item. For example,Doombringermight be a great choice for a one-handed sword. However, when you are just starting out on your Barbarian journey, you will simply want to have as many different weapon types available to you in your Arsenal to take advantage of the Weapon Expertise class mechanic inDiablo 4.
