Diablo 4

Learn about the Diablo 4 Barbarian's unique mechanics: Expertise and Arsenal Weapon Swapping.

By Jason Rodriguez on March 20, 2023 at 11:25AM PDT

The Barbarian can annihilate packs of enemies in Diablo 4, thanks to a varied assortment of armaments. Still, each gear piece provides its own boons, and you'll want to learn about how the whole system works, too. Here's our Diablo 4 Barbarian Expertise and Arsenal Weapon Swapping guide to help you with the class' unique quirks.

We've divided our Diablo 4 Barbarian guide into several sections to explain each mechanic in detail. First, let's talk about how the class' Arsenal Weapon system works.

The Diablo 4 Barbarian has the Arsenal system, which allows the class to equip four weapons simultaneously:

Many of the class' active/castable skills tend to have a required weapon in mind. For instance, Flay needs a slicing weapon (i.e., either one-handed/dual-wielding or two-handed slicing). Whirlwind, meanwhile, can use any Arsenal weapon (i.e., dual-wielding, two-handed bludgeoning, or two-handed slicing). However, something like Frenzy is only for dual-wielding, which means two-handed weapons won't be used.

To swap weapons as a Barbarian in Diablo 4, you need only to use the skills themselves. The game will automatically switch to the necessary weapon when activating a skill. As such, if you cast Double Swing, it will strike enemies with your dual-wielded weapons. Then, if you follow-up with Hammer of the Ancients, it will automatically use your two-handed bludgeoning weapon.

But, there's one more caveat to consider: you can still swap Barbarian weapons manually depending on the skill. To do this, you'll need to open the Skill Assignment panel. You can either press the "S" key on your keyboard, or go to the abilities menu and press the left thumbstick ("L3") on your gamepad.

Next, mouse over a particular skill that has various armament options (i.e., Whirlwind, Lunging Strike, Flay, and others). By default, the "Auto Select" option picks the strongest available weapon that you have equipped. However, if you press the middle mouse button or the "X" button on a gamepad, you can swap to other types. This allows you to use your dual-wielded weapons for Whirlwind instead of a two-hander.

So, why exactly would you want to swap weapons as a Barbarian in Diablo 4? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, some skill upgrades and passives provide bonuses depending on the weapon type. A good example is how Flay has a 10% chance to make an enemy vulnerable (dual-wielding/one-handed), but this becomes 20% if you're using a two-handed weapon.

The second reason is because of the Diablo 4 Barbarian Expertise system, which you can access by opening the character panel and heading to the relevant tab. Essentially, each type of weapon has its own buffs that are increased the more you amass kills with them, and this depends on which skills you used. Here's an example:

The Diablo 4 Barbarian Expertise system goes more in-depth since, apart from cumulative bonuses for each weapon's level, you'll also gain a fixed bonus once you hit rank 10 with it.

As such, this mechanic allows for increased focus and specifications when it comes to builds. You probably won't worry about it too much while you're leveling, especially since you're changing your gear pieces often. But it will become very important for the endgame when you've got the ideal armaments for your preferred build. In any case, here are the Expertise bonuses for each weapon:

One-handed weapons

Two-handed weapons

The Diablo 4 Barbarian has the Expertise and Arsenal Weapon Swap mechanics. Apart from these, there are also Techniques, which are unlocked via a quest once you reach level 15. Unfortunately, this quest takes place in the northwestern portion of the map near the Dry Steppes. Since this area isn't part of the beta, we kept getting teleported whenever we attempted to travel there.

Diablo 4 is currently in its beta stage. As such, some of the information here may change as we get closer to the game's official launch on June 6. We'll update this guide accordingly. For now, you may visit our class hub.

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