Build your Barbarian!
(a 5e guide)
“Just because I fly into a blind, homicidal rage at the drop of a helm doesn't mean I'm incapable of appreciating the finer things in life.”
These Dnd 5e guides are focused on the mechanics of the game, especially combat. D&D 5e being a ROLE-PLAYING game, a player can have fun playing any combination of race and class they find interesting, regardless of its effectiveness. Without lessening any other approach to the game, these guides are aimed at those who want information about the effectiveness of certain aspects of the classes and the pros-cons of the various decisions that punctuate the character’s growth.
5/5 Gold
4/5 Blue
3/5 Green
2/5 Purple
1/5 Red
Barbarian has always been one of the most iconic and straightforward classes in Dungeons and Dragons: Big, strong, and perpetually angry.
Its signature ability consists in entering a state of rage during battle, making the character stronger and more impervious to attack.
The 5th edition incarnation of this class boasts a surprisingly versatile arsenal of both defensive and offensive abilities, making Barbarian a great choice for anyone who likes to be in the middle of the fray.
Class Features
Disclaimer: Features from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything (TCoE) are considered optionals, Use them at your DM’s discretion.
Level 1
5/5 Hit Dice: d12. The highest hit dice in the game is exclusive to the Barbarian, providing an excellent defensive base at any level.
4/5 Proficiency in light armor, medium armor and shields. The starting AC is decent. Useful until outscaled by Unarmored Defense, which requires some investment.
5/5 Proficiency in all weapons. The Barbarian has access to every weapon imaginable, from greatsword to two-handed watering can.
4/5 Saving throws: STR, CON. STR is probably the most common of the “unlikely” saving throws. As for the more common: CON is extremely desirable, while DEX is partially covered by a class feature.
3/5 Unarmored Defense. A Barbarian’s main job is to walk around exposing a hairy chest and smashing things. This feature allows you to do exactly that.
5/5 Rage. The feature the entire class design revolves around: bonus damage, resistance to physical damage, advantage to strength ability checks and saving throws. Notably, this damage resistance also reduces physical damage from magical sources.
Level 2
5/5 Reckless Attack. The extra damage taken is well mitigated by the barbarian’s numerous resistances, making Reckless Attack an excellent offensive ability.
4/5 Danger Sense. Advantage to DEX saving throws from sources “you are able to see”. DEX saves are the most frequent in combat, i.e from Fireballs and other damaging AoE spells.
Level 3
Primal Path. See the related section.
2/5 Primal Knowledge (TCoE). A couple of extra proficencies. Nothing to write home about, especially since the second one comes at level 10.
Level 5
4/5 Extra Attack. Additional attacks are very important to take advantage of Rage‘s bonus damage.
3/5 Fast Movement. It doesn’t come in handy often, but it’s cool when it does, especially on Dwarves.
Level 7
4/5 Feral Instinct. Grants advantage on initiative roll. Acting first is not as important to a Barbarian as it is for a Wizard Controller, but engaging the nemy right away helps protecting your weaker comrades. Acting during surprise rounds is also useful.
4/5 Instinctive Pounce (TCoE). More mobility! There is nothing worse for a Barbarian than to be far from a fight, and for a Wizard to not have a raging slab of meat between him and a Beholder.
Level 9
3/5 Brutal Critical. Stronger critical hits. It doesn’t always comes into play, but it’s great when it does. Reckless Attack’s advntage can be (ab)used to increase your critical chance.
Level 11
5/5 Relentless Rage. For when you don’t feel like going down during combat. Similar to the Half-Orc’s Rentless Rage trait.
Level 15
2/5 Persistent Rage. Nothing can stop your Rage. Useful against spells like Hold Person, but it’s usually hard to lose Rage as long as there are life forms around.
Level 18
4/5 Indomitable Might. From now on it’s gonna be almost impossible to fail a STR check. Very versatile feature, too bad it didn’t come earlier.
Level 20
5/5 Primal Champion. +4 to STR and CON. Translated, +2 to AC and +2 damage, as well as not being able to roll less than 24 to STR checks thanks to Indomitable Might:
STRENGTH BARBARIAN VS DEXTERITY BARBARIAN
A brief aside on an uncommon build archetipe.
Since many Barbarian core abilities only work on attacks that use STR, builds using DEX as a main stat are usually underrated.
The Dexbarian is, however, not to be taken lightly: it sports higher AC, DEX saving throw modifiers and more importantly, better initiative than its STR counterpart. A DEX based sword and shield Barbarian is one of the most durable things in the game. Another pro is the reliance on only two stats instead of three (DEX, and CON).
In this guide, the evaluation given to features and such will be based on the perspective of a STR build, adding comments about DEX when necessary.
ABILITY SCORES
5/5 STRENGHT. Allows you to do damage and smash things. Use here your highest score and prioritize increasing it over all other stats.
4/5 DEXTERITY. Saving throws, initiative and CA: third place in importance.
5/5 CONSTITUTION. Second only to strength: AC, hit points, and saving throws.
1/5 INTELLIGENCE. A barbarian spends his life lifting and throwing cement mixers, not studying.
3/5 WISDOM. Being illiterate doesn’t mean being an idiot, and charm/fear effects are the worst for a Barbarian.
2/5 CHARISMA: I would put it at +0 just not to be socially awkward, but it’s optional.
Alternative for a Dexterity Barbarian:
Simply place DEX as the primary stat, neglecting STR. This allows you to focus on only two stats instead of 3, possibly saving points to invest in secondary stats like WIS.
RACE
“A raging ogre is terrifying, a raging gnome is as scary as a chihuahua“
4/5 Hill Dwarf. Decent scores together with all other dwarven features. Nice, but his cousin is better. Useful in case of orophobia.
5/5 Mountain Dwarf. 2 STR & +2 CON (!) , Darkvision, Resistance/Advantage against poison and a bit of flavour: wonderful! The 25 ft of movement isn’t a big deal, as the class gains 10 ft of movement.
2/5 Wood Elf. Good only for a DEX Barbarian.
1/5 High Elf. Nothing useful for a STR Barbarian. On the other hand, it might be taken into consideration for a DEX barbarian, though his wood relative is slightly better thanks to the +1 to WIS.
1/5 Drow. See above: worse (2/5) than the woodland elf for DEX because of Sunlight Sensitivity (Reckless Attack doesn’t work on attacks using DEX).
1/5 Lightfoot Halfling. Nothing of value here. For a DEX build it’s better, but let’s not stretch it. (2/5)
2/5 Stout Halfling. Same as above for STR. Pretty good, however, for DEX: +2 DEX, +1 CON, resistance to poison and the amazing Lucky feat.
2/5 Human. Suffers too much from the competition with its variant.
5/5 Variant Human. Feats are extremely powerful and provide much greater bonuses in 5th edition. The ability to start with Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master or Resilient (WIS/DEX) makes the variant human one of the strongest and most versatile races for any class.
4/5 Dragonborn. The +1 to CHA isn’t super useful, but better than a +1 to INT. The breath can come in handy at low levels and the resistance in pretty useful to a tank class.
1/5 Any Gnome. I’m not that open-minded Racism aside, the +2 to INT and small size, which weakens the strength of heavy weapons, make gnomes unsuitable for a STR barbarian, despite the usefulness of Gnome Cunning, which covers a good chunk of the weaknesses of this class. For this reason, a DEX barbarian Gnome can be considered, especially the Forest Gnome.
5/5 Half Elf. You know what? Let’s make a race with 4 stat increases, immunity to sleep, advantage against charms and darkvision. Despite the +2 to CHA, it’s still a good choice.
5/5 Mezzorco. Perfect. Darkvision and proficiency in intimidation are always needed. Relentless endurance, along with the feature Relentless Rage, creates an almost immortal barbarian, while Savage Attacks is a nice bonus.
1/5 Tiefling. Nice race, but nothing interesting for a barbarian.
Tortle Package
5/5 Tortle: It would have been better if the +1 to CON was to WIS instead but, for a turtle, it’s okay to be wise. Having good AC at low levels is pretty hard for a barbarian, so starting with 17 at level 1 is pretty strong.
Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
4/5 Duergar. Stats are on point, useful advantage against effects that can bring it out of rage and some nice spells to boot. Sunlight Sensitivity is a little annoying, but you can get around that.
Variant Tiefling. This manual contains variants for the little devils, useful only for DEX builds though.
- 1/5 Feral. +2 DEX +1 INT. Partially useful for DEX build.
- 1/5 Devil’s Tongue. No matter what spells they give us, we are Barbarians.
- 1/5 Hellfire. See above.
- 2/5 Winged:It’s got flight, even if the stats are not suitable we can’t give it the worst score. If combined with Feral we have a terrifying DEX Barbarian.
Elemental Evil
2/5 Aarakocra. Read the last line of the previous section again.
1/5 Deep Gnome. NO GNOMES.
Genasi. +2 to CON isn’t bad, but their powers are very situational and most bestow spells/cantrips that can’t be used during Rage.
- 3/5 Air Genasi: Not bad for a strength based barbarian. For DEX builds it’s pretty good (4/5). Holding your breath forever can save your life sometimes, while Levitation has several uses.
- 4/5 Earth Genasi: The ability scores are correctly distributed. Issues with difficult terrain are relatively rare, and the ability only applies to earth/rock (so no tendrils or anything else getting in the way). Pass Without Trace is probably the best spell among those given by any Genasi: +10 on stealth checks, good for scouting and ambushes.
- 2/5 Fire Genasi: +2 CON e +1 INT: the worst stat combination among genasi. Produce Flame and Burning Hands won’t be very useful, although them being CON-based is interesting. Fire Resistance and Darkvision are good, but not enough.
- 2/5 Water Genasi: Slightly better stat than the previous one (+2 CON +1 WIS), but remains suboptimal. The usefulness of swimming speed and being amphibious depends a lot on the campaign, but in general it doesn’t come in handy often. Acid damage is quite prevalent, especially with traps. Shaping Water and Creating/Destroying Water are extremely situational.
Volo’s Guide to Monsters
Aasimar. +2 to CHA does almost nothing for a Barbarian. Neither does Light, considering how common Darkvision is.
Healing Hands is nice and can be used during Rage. Resistance to both Necrotic and Radiant Damage is useful, especially the former. Overall it’s a good race, just not suited for the class.
- 2/5 Protector Aasimar. The only combination worse than CHA/WIS is INT/CHA. But since it can fly (kinda) escapes the red rank.
- 2/5 Scourge Aasimar.+1 CON is slightly better and Its transformation is decent for a class always surrounded by enemies. but watch out for friendly fire.
- 3/5 Fallen Aasimar. +1 STR, the best among the aasimar subraces. The transformation might still damage allies, but only on activation.
4/5 Firbolg.+2 WIS never hurts, along with +1 STR, Powers are decent and spells gained are mostly useful outside of combat, when activating Rage is less common.
5/5 Goliath. The only true competitor for Half-Orc‘s title of best barbarian. Relentless Endurance can’t be beaten, but Stone’s Endurance, makes its mark.
1/5 Kenku. A big no-no for a muscular Barbarian. For a DEX Barbarian it’s a different story, though it requires a fair amount of mental gymnastics to roleplay.
3/5 Lizardfolk: The lizards without emotions are hard to rank, but the lack of a STR bonus is significant. They do, however, possess a number of interesting qualities. In particular, Natural Armor, while overlapping with Unarmored Defense, may give some leeway to feature score assignment at lower levels.
1/5 Tabaxi: Nothing for STR, good for DEX builds (4/5). Feline agility is very useful during chases/escapes and climbing is useful as a poor man’s Fly. However, don’t be fooled by the presence of a climbing speed: even tabaxi have to make athletic check to climb.
4/5 Triton. The stat increases are decent, with Cold Resistance and some weird spells in addition. Not bad.
5/5 Bugbear. Good stats distribution (+2 STR +1 DEX). The class abilities sound as stupid as they are strong: Long Limbed is interesting, while Proficiency in Stealth and a nice Surprise Attack during Rage it’s always effective.
2/5 Goblin. Technically not bad, but without an increase in strength and the ability to use heavy weapons he can’t go too far. Instead, for a DEX (5/5), it is among the best.
3/5 Hobgoblin. Saving Face is pretty strong, but the +1 INT is useless.
1/5 Kobold. -2 to STR is probably the worst thing that can happen to a classic barbarian. For a DEX (3/5) it’s not bad, but I dare anyone to roleplay Crowl, Cover and Beg while in Rage.
5/5 Orc. Worse than an Half-Orc, but still a great option. Aggressive can be useful and if you want it can be used along with other skills with the bonus action, since they are needed when you are in melee.
1/5 Yuan-ti. Snakes are too refined and cultured for this kind of pastime.
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
1/5 Tiefling. Devils prefer subterfuge to slaps.
1/5 Eladrin. Nothing muscular. For DEX it’s definitely better (4/5): despite the +1 CHA: a barbarian with a teleport (Fey Step) is definitely to be feared, especially since it can be used during Rage.
1/5 Sea Elf. As above, useful only for DES builds (4/5): the lack of useful powers is compensated by the +1 CON.
1/5 Shadar Kai. Another race good for DEX (5/5): +2 DEX +1 CON, resistance to necrotic and Blessing of the Raven Queen (another teleport).
4/5 Githyanki. +2 STR: Finally something buff. A barbarian that knows Misty Step is scary even if it can’t be used during Rage, while Mage Hand is always useful.
1/5 Githzeray. +2 WIS +1 INT, move along.
Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica
5/5 Centaur. +2 STR +1 WIS. CON would have been better, but the rest more than makes up for it. The best features are Charge, an extra attack added to the Rage bonus and 40 ft of movement.
4/5 Loxodon. An elephant with no STR bonus, what a shame. However, it is not to be underestimated: +2 CON +1 WIS, advantage against Charme and Fear, our eternal nemeses, and the possibility to ignore building DEX thanks to Natural Armor.
5/5 Minotaur. As expected, being a raging horned bovine works very well: +2 STR +1 CON, an extra attack with Goring Rush and a chance to push away the Troll bearhugging your Wizard
5/5 Simic Hybrid. A great race for any class, almost on par with the Variant Human or the Half-Elf. +2 CON and +1 to a stat of your choice, Darkvision and the versatile Animal Enhancement, which allows us to choose two enhancements at level 1 and 5:
- 4/5 Manta Glide. Gliding is not the same as flying, but still very useful. Good combo with Totemic Attunement: Eagle, basically creating a jetpack.
- 4/5 Nimble Climber. Climbing is useful in many situations, from exploration to combat.
- 1/5 Underwater Adaptation. To be considered only in aquatic campaigns.
- 3/5 Grappling Appendages.Opens up interesting builds, considering that it allows you to enter grapple while keeping two hands free.
- 5/5 Carapace. +1 CA. Simple but extremely effective, especially for the Barbarian who “forecloses” on magical armor.
- 4/5 Acid Spit. A ranged option! Damage is not incredible but it’s better than nothing and it’s CON based. Throwing hammers might not always be available.
1/5 Vedalken. A Vedalken can be many things, such as a scientist, lawyer or wizard, but a barbarian is not one of them.
Eberron: Rising from the Last War
3/5 Changeling. +2 CHA +1 of your choice. Not quite optimal, though Shapechanger is a great trait.
1/5 Kalashtar. +2 WIS +1 CHA. If you wanted a Stand, the Ancestral Guardian is a better option.
Shifter. Very diverse subraces, including a spectacular one for the class
- 5/5 Beasthide. +2 CON, +1 STR, a ton of temporary hit points and +1 AC for transformations. Even if it’s only one time per short rest it’s a great feature.
- 4/5 Longtooth. +2 STR +1 DEX, good stats but gaining 1d6 on unharmed hits once a day is not very impactful, though pretty cool.
- 2/5 Swiftstride. +2 DEX +1 CHA, best for a DEX build, but the feature is redundant.
- 2/5 WildHunt. +1 DEX +2 WIS, the power doesn’t work with Reckless Attack as you need to attack using STR, still a good choice for DEX build.
5/5 Warforged. Another race that is good at everything thanks to customizable skills, but particularly good as a Barbarian: +2 CON +1 whatever you want(STR), +1 CA, Constructed Resilience and Proficiency in one of the best tools.
Dragonmarks. A brief explanation:
Dragonmarks for Humans and Halflings are race variants that replace base traits.
Dragonmarks for Half-elves replace the increases in trait scores and the two additional skills, but the other half-elven traits such as resistances/immunities are retained.
Dragonmarks for Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings replace the subrace.
Next to each mark are the races and lineages to which they belong, respectively.
Dragonmarks provide access to extra spells for spellcasters, opening up a new universe of amazing, yet complex combinations.
To keep the guide accessible to everyone we will NOT consider such combos.
Barbarians shouldn’t care about this stuff anyway.
4/5 Mark of Detection [Half Elf, House Medani]. +2 WIS + 1 of your choice (STR). The real boon is getting Invisibility at level 3 as a Barbarian.
1/5 Mark of Finding [Human or Half Orc, House Tharashk]. Suboptimal stats, the only useful thing would be Hunter’s Mark but it requires concentration, which you can’t maintain during Rage.
2/5 Mark of Handling [Humans, House Vadalis]. +2 WIS +1 of your choice (STR), Abilities are nothing special but suitable for those who want to play a character more connected to nature.
1/5 Mark of Healing [Halfling, House Jorasco]. Stats and abilities are all wrong.
1/5 Mark of Hospitality [Halfling , House Ghallanda]. A degree in social studies doesn’t fit in the curriculum of a barbarian.
1/5 Mark of Making [Humans, House Cannith]. All wrong here as well.
5/5 Mark of Passage [Humans, House Orien]. +2 DEX +1 Anywhere, but more importantly Misty Step.
1/5 Mark of Scribing [Gnomes, House Sivis]. In D&D 3.5 barbarian characters started as illiterates and had to spend skill points to learn how to read, just to give some context.
3/5 Mark of Sentinel [Humans, House Deneith]. Lacks a bonus to STR, but great for a defensive build thanks to Vigilant Guardian.
1/5 Mark of Shadows [Elf, House Phiarann and Thuranni]. Invisibility is great, but the stats would be good only for a build on DES
1/5 Mark of Storm [Half Elf, House Lyrandar]. Lightning Resistance is nice, but it’s not enough.
1/5 Mark of Warding [Dwarf, House Kundarak]. INT and Mage Armor, wow.
Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
5/5 Ravenite Dragonborn. Wonderful race: +2 FOR +1 COS, darkvision, a counterattack in Vengeful Assault and an AOE attack via Breath Weapon.
1/5 Draconblood Dragonborn. Very intelligent and refined, so let’s ignore this one.
1/5 Lotusden Halfling. Pretty good race for DEX barbarian +2 DEX, +1 WIS and a bunch of spells.
1/5 Pallid Elf. Being anemic doesn’t help wielding a two-handed weapon, still good for a DEX Build thanks to +2 DEX, +1 WIS and Invisibility.
5/5 Hollow One. Not properly a “race”, but a subrace that can be obtained when a character dies. You keep the traits of your initial race, plus you get Cling to Life, really good in combat and Unsettling Presence, which gives disadvantage on saving throw to a creature. Spectacular.
Mythic Odisseys of Theros
5/5 Leonin. It’s a lion, no surprise they’re good at being feral and angry: +2 COS, +1 FOR, claws and an AOE that causes fear.
2/5 Satyr. They don’t have any useful stats or skills, but escape the red rating thanks to their Magic Resistance. Very good for DEX.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
How the new lineages works. Lineages are chosen on top of a race and replace every trait except skill proficiencies and climbing, flying or swimming speed. You can increase an ability score that you choose by 2 and another one by 1, or three ability score by 1. Because of that, the lineages are gold by default for both DEX build and STR build. For the chad minmaxer, choose an Aarackocra as a race so you retain the flying speed.
5/5 Dhampyr. The only race with permanent Spider Climb, absolutely fantastic. They also don’t need to breathe and can bite to regain hp or get a bonus to the next roll.
5/5 Hexblood. Spooky race which can give one of his tooth to an ally to telepathically communicate with him or see what he sees. Useful for scouting or infiltration. Plus this race can cast Disguise Self or Hex once for long rest. Hex is an useful battle spell, too bad require concentration which the barbarian can’t keep during Rage. The worst of the three lineages, but still pretty strong.
5/5 Reborn. Dudes who faced death and don’t want to repeat the experience: resistance to poison and disease,advantage on death saving throw, immunity to magic-induced sleep, and no need to eat, breathe or drink. Plus they can add a d6 to any ability check, initiative included, a number of times equal to proficiencies bonus. A Reborn Zealot is nearly unkillable.
PRIMAL PATH
“It’s not only the siza of your anger that counts”
3/5 Path of the Berserker
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”
Offensive specialization based on an enhanced version of Rage with heavy downsides. The real problem is that another barbarian with an halberd and Polearm Master can basically do the same thing as the subclass main privilege.
3/5 Frenzy. The benefits are great, but the exhaustion level after use is very scary. This practically limits this feature to one use per day and requires an immediate long rest after more than one use.
4/5 Mindless Rage. A terrified barbarian is ridiculous, a charmed one is dangerous, an angry one is happy.
1/5 Intimidating Presence. In battle it is almost useless to use an action to try to scare a single target using a Charisma score that will very often never be too high. Much more useful outside combat.
5/5 Retalation. A nice capstone, putting the reaction to good use.
5/5 Path of the Totem Warrior
Strong as a bear, fierce as a wolf, versatile as an elk.
Versatility is the totemic warrior’s selling point: each feature allows it to choose from a variety of totems with different effects. The rating can go from Green to Gold, depending on the combination of totems, but we give it maximum score anyway because of its great potential.
3/5 Spirit Seeker. Two spells that can be cast as rituals: Speak with Animals, which solved many more investigative missions than our DM is willing to admit, and Beast Sense, cool but not very easy to use. Great utility for a class that really needs it.
Totem Spirit
5/5 Bear. Resistance to ALL damage, excluding psychic, during Rage. This and the Wolf Totem are enough to make the entire archetype gold. The only downside to this ability is that it could accidentally cause a “sudden” proliferation of mind flayers within your campaign.
2/5 Eagle. Gives enemies disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you. Suffers a lot from competing with the two strongest totems. The main role of a barbarian is to deal and tsnk a lot of damage in melee range. Despite this, your AC won’t be high enough to safely wander within the enemy lines without using a shield. It’s also no veryt useful during chases or escapes, because after one turn of running around without taking damage Rage will fade away.
5/5 Wolf. Allies have advantage on melee attacks if they are adjacent to you. Fantastic, though slightly party dependent. Offensive alternative to Totem of the Bear.
1/5 Elk (SCAG). Slightly better than the Tiger totem, but barbarians already have more than enough movement speed.
1/5 Tiger (SCAG). Apparently, the strength and ferocity of a giant pissed off tiger is completely represented by a whole 10 ft jump.
Aspect of the Beast
2/5 Bear. Most DMs don’t keep track of carrying capacity aside of very heavy objects. The advantage only applies to items, not people. It’s better than nothing, though.
3/5 Eagle.“I’m so mad I can see a mile away.” This needs a moment to process.
2/5 Wolf. If the DM is prone to grant bonuses for spotting enemies in advance it’s not bad, but the mechanical bonuses it provides aren’t great.
1/5 Elk. This is even more campaign dependant and extremely niche.
3/5 Tiger. You can never have enough skills.
3/5 Spirit Walker. Access to Commune with Nature. Situational, but using it before exploring a forest/dungeon can be useful.
Totemic Attunement
5/5 Bear. Taunt: a tank’s best friend.
5/5 Eagle
A significant mobility boost that allows us to catch those damn flying mages. Also useful outside of combat, for climbing or overcoming obstacles.
4/5 Wolf. The barbarian doesn’t have many uses for the bonus action, so this is pretty cool even if it works only on large or lesser creatures. If you’ve already chosen the wolf as your totem at level 3, allies already have advantage so this two features overlap (2/5).
4/5 Elk. An interesting mechanic. Less consistent than the wolf’s skill because of the saving throw, but offers some additional damage to compensate.
3/5 Tiger. Charge returns: if you move at least 20 feet you can make an additional attack. A bit hard to use, but still good.
Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
2/5 Battlerager
It takes years and years of practice and training to hone the art of being sharp and pointy.
Probably the worst path: low damage and skills that seem to be in direct conflict with each other.
3/5 Battlerager Armor. At early levels an extra mini-attack is very strong, though you can get similar damage with Polearm Master. It scales very poorly at higher levels, moreover locking the maximum AC at 16, or 17 spending a talent.
5/5 Reckless Abadon: Temporary hit points at every use of Reckless Attack. A really strong defensive ability.
2/5 Battlerager Charge: Besides overlapping with Battlerager Armor, this ability finds little use, as long as you want to stay in the middle of the fray.
1/5 Spiked Retribution: 3 extra damage at level 14 isn’t remarkable. It also discourages enemies from attacking what should be a tank.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
4/5 Ancestral Guardian
The only thing angrier than him is the ghost of his grandfather.
Very powerful defensive specializazion, at least up to high levels.
4/5 Ancestral Protector. A real taunt: If you hit a target during Rage, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone but you. If it attacks an ally anyway, the damage is halved. Less effective against hordes or spellcasters, but remains invaluable.
Note: It doesn’t specify melee attacks, so you can mark someone far away with a javelin and gimp their attacks.
5/5 Spirit Shield. Preventing 2d6-3d6-4d6 damage per turn on an ally is cool.
Thanks to the first skill you won’t use attacks of opportunity often, thus leaving you free to use the reaction. It also works on Fireballs or similar effects, but you can only use it on allies.
2/5 Consult the Spirit. Two spells: Augury and Clairvoyance. The former is extremely situational and master dependent, Clairvoyance has some more practical uses like spying around a corner, but nothing exceptional.
4/5 Vengeful Ancestor. The damage prevented by Spirit Shield comes back to the attacker, effectively increasing our damage by 4d6 per turn, not bad.
3/5 Path of the Storm Herald
Racist against plains, mountains, hills, forests, temperate environments.
Versatile specialization based on more or less effective area effects, although in quite a small range.
Storm Aura
2/5 Desert. A damaging aura. Strong at first, but scales poorly and affects allies as well. Doing an extra 5 damage at level 20 is not very relevant.
3/5 Sea. Drops a lightning bolt on a guy’s head for 1d6 damage, which scales very slowly, so it’s only really impactful at early levels.
3/5 Tundra. Temporary hit points to nearby companions, from 2 to 5 depending on the level. If the party tends to be always in melee, or if there is a summoner, it becomes very useful. In other cases, not much, considering that the aura has a radius of only 10 ft.
Storm Soul
Note: Unlike the Totemic Path abilities, the abilities are all locked by the first environment chosen at level 3, so no mix and match. Disappointing.
4/5 Desert. Fire resistance, plus nullifies effects from heat and burning stuff. Very cool.
3/5 Sea. More situational than desert: lightning damage is less common and swimming speed is not as useful.
4/5 Tundra. Slightly inferior to desert, but still strong.
4/5 Shielding storm. Sharing resistances is good, though only within 10 feet.
Raging Storm
3/5 Desert. Not too bad: when you are hit you can use the reaction to try to deal damage equal to your barbarian level.
4/5 Sea. The barbarian’s attacks can make the opponent prone, giving advantage to all allies in melee.
3/5 Tundra. Ability to reduce to 0 the speed of an adjacent enemy. Let’s say that often if an enemy has come in melee range there’s a good reason, but it’s great to prevent it from attacking other party members, or run away while he’s been piled on.
5/5 Path of the Zealoth
This path is the main reason why there needs to be more in-depth rules regarding explosives.
This barbarian has high damage and redundant death resistances. Monothematic but very effective.
5/5 Divine Fury.1d6 + half level on one attack while raging. More damage = better.
4/5 Warrior of the Gods. Being resurrected has no cost now so let’s build a barbarian specialized in explosive. Bonus points being an extra feature.
4/5 Fanatical Focus. Once per Rage gives a bonus on a saving throw, including the hated WIS.
4/5 Zealous Presence. Advantage on attacks and saving throws to everyone for a turn. Very powerful.
4/5 Rage Beyond Death. Although partially redundant with Relentless Rage, being immortal during Rage is both fun and powerful.
Tasha’s Caudron to Everything
4/5 Path of the Beast
A 20th level furry
Excellent self-sufficient archetype based on natural weapons. Can literally ride naked into battle and still be competitive. Goes from slightly disadvantaged in campaigns full of magic items, to almost broken where they’re scarce.
4/5 Form of the Beast. Each weapon has its own purpose, making you miss a little less the damage from two-handed weapons, at least until a +3 battleaxe drops.
- Bite. The barbarian usually takes tons of damage, so an extra way to heal is particularly useful.
- Claws. The default natural weapon of choice: an extra attack is extremely valuable together with Rage bonus damage.
- Tails. 1d8 to AC is a lot. Terrific at low levels, it is still useful even at high levels despite taking 12,000 enemy attacks per turn since it also works on spells.
3/5 Bestial Soul. The big thing is the ability to inflict magical damage to overcome monster resistances, the rest are nice buffs: especially the climbing speed is always useful in some way.
5/5 Infectious Fury. Allows to enhance a natural weapon strike with one of two effects: 2d12 extra damage, needed to compete with magical weapons, or cause the target to attack a creature as a reaction. In one move you can exploit the DM’s creatures and block their reaction.
4/5 Call the Hunt: Potentially gold depending on group composition: the temporary hit points are enough to deserve the blue rating, but if the party is full of warriors or monks, it can easily turn an encounter into a meatgrinder, since it grants 1d6 extra damage to every attack (note that it also works on spells).
4/5 Path of Wild Magic
Fun archetype with random powers, very strong at low levels but scales poorly.
1/5 Magic Awaress: Extra feature, not particularly useful, but won’t influence the rating.
4/5 Wild Surge: All effects are strong, compensating for the random factor, though some don’t scale at all.
5/5 Bolstering Magic: +2 on average to hit rolls, including spells, for 10 minutes? BONKERS. Spell slot recovery is also crucial, especially at low levels.
4/5 Unstable Backlash: Excellent for “selecting” the right power according to the situation.
3/5 Controlled Surge: Together with Unstable Backlash reduces a lot of randomness from Wild Surge. The problem is that at these levels some effects have become almost useless.
FEATS
A barbarian has little space for feats, since it requires high scores in STR, CON and DEX. Still, some of them are almost mandatory:
GO(L)D TIER (5/5)
Heavy Weapon Master. For two-handed weapon users. Amazing damage at the cost of -5 on the attack roll, very easily compensated by Reckless Attack.
Lucky. An extremely powerful feat for every class.
Mounted Combatant. Extremely useful if the campaign presents a lot of horseback encounters, otherwise into the trash it goes.
Resilient (SAG). Better taking this than failing saving throws against Dominate Person and mutilate your own party.
Polearm Master. Definitely strong, considering that the Rage bonus also works on the second attack. Beware of Paths that need the bonus action for something else, like the Berzerker.
Sentinel (with Polearm Master). This combination allows you to control a large area of the battlefield, becoming the ultimate TANK.
Orcish fury (racial, XGTE): Great if you have an odd STR score.
Crusher, Piercer and Slasher (TCoE): All great buffs for those who want to specialize in a weapon/damage type.
Fighting Initiate (TCoE): Finally a way to get a Fighting Style for barbarians without multiclass. In addition to the classic Great Weapon Fighting, we strongly recommend Two-Weapon Fighting, which greatly benefits from Rage‘s extra damage and Unarmed Fighting for the amazing brawling barbarian.
GOOD TIER (4/5)
Mage Slayer: Excellent, but situational based on the density of the spellcaster population in the campaign.
Shield Master. A crucial talent for a sword and shield build, better if paired with a specialization that does not frequently use the bonus action.
Tough. To be taken after maxing CON, a good feat to become even tougher (DUH).
Dwarven Fortitude (racial, XGTE). The reason it’s not gold is that if you use the dodge action and are not attacked by the enemy, you risk losing Rage.
Infernal Constitution (racial, XGTE). Prerequisite of being a Tiefling aside: +1 to COS, resistance to two elements and advantage against poisoning. Good stuff.
DECENT TIER (3/5)
Alert. Usually a very good feat, but barbarian already has Feral Instinct that grants a bonus to initiative.
Charge. You can’t make extra attacks while charging, so it becomes obsolete from 5th level onwards.
Crossbow Master. Only for ranged DEX builds.
Dungeon Delver. In some settings this can be very useful. Overlaps a bit with Danger Sense.
Mobile. The class already has everything it needs to resist damage and move quickly. That being said, it can still be helpful.
Bountiful Luck (racial, XGTE). Allows to share the Lucky trait with your partners. your companions will love you, even if you are an halfing barbarian.
Dragon Fear (racial, XGTE). An extra point in one of the main ability scores and a frightening scream. The DC of the roar is based on charisma, but at least it’s an AoE.
Dragon Hide (racial, XGTE). As above, an extra ability score never hurts. AC and claws are a nice bonus.
Second Chance (racial, XGTE). An extra point in DES or COS (or CAR, if you have brain damage) and makes you even tougher.
2/5 NOT GARBAGE TIER
Athlete. Good ability score increase, but the rest of the bonuses are marginal at best.
Defensive Duelist. We need the reaction for opportunity attacks. It also loses value at higher levels where the monsters start having multiple attacks.
Dual Wielder. A simple increase in DEX gives much bigger advantages.
Martial Adept. Increases your versatility, but a single Superiority die is not enough.
Durable. Bonuses to CON are always welcome, but the other part is rarely useful.
Observer. +5 to passive perception and investigation. Who said barbarians have to be dumb?
Ritual Caster. Rituals are cool, assuming you satisfy the requirements, but it is definitely not optimal for a barbarian.
Skilled. Stats > Skills. But pretty good if you really want to play barbarian Skill Monkey.
Skill Expert (TCOE). Perfect for a barbarian grappler if you choose athletics. Not very strong, but it’s fun.
Prodigy (racial, XGTE). See above.
Squat Nimbleness (XGTE). The barbarian already gets a good bonus to movement speed.
Tavern Brawler. Good for a grappling or barehanded build, too bad there is a Fighting Style precisely for that.
1/5 GARBAGE TIER
Everything else.
MULTICLASSING
“There is more to life than beheading people”
The decision whether to multiclass or not depends mainly on how long you think the campaign will last, since every barbarian feature is pretty good.
Unless you want to take a dip (i.e. a one-level multiclass), it is usually better not to change class before level 5: Extra Attack is essential.
Only a few levels of each class will be considered, to avoid straying too far from the basic identity of the class, which is the purpose of this guide.
1/5 ARTEFICIER
Every thousand years a barbarian is born who manages to use the hammer as a tool instead of a weapon, but is usually bullied to death.
2/5 BARD
One or more levels in this class provides a fair amount of versatility to those who are able to meet the heavy 13 CAR requirement.
Unfortunately, aside from the benefits on skills, all magical abilities are incompatible with the barbarian lifestyle, making bard a suboptimal choice.
2/5 CLERIC
In this case the problem is not the ability score requirement, but the fact that the best features one can get from multiclassing cleric are influenced by the WIS score. We do not recommend it unless you have a very specific build in mind.
DRUID (4/5)
Any choice other than Circle of the Moon is useless. (1/5)
The big deal is that you can have both Rage and Animal Form active at the same time. With Improved Wild Form, after 3 druid levels the character officially becomes a BARBEARIAN. The main flaw in this combo is that it only works at low levels, as a barbarian’s stats quickly outmatch those of a bear, even then it still provids a huge HP buffer in battle and better options for exploring, infiltrating, and all those things that a normal barbarian isn’t particularly good at.
FIGHTER (5/5)
The best multiclass possible.
1st level. Fighting Style and Second Wind, already good on their own, offer extremely useful perks to the barbarian.
2nd level. ACTION SURGE. Hated by masters (by us, at least), loved by players (by us, at least): this skill is the most unbalanced thing I’ve ever seen in a starter Player’s Handbook.
3nd level.
5/5 Battlemaster. Manoeuvres make you more versatile and powerful in battle.
4/5 Champion. This archetype is focused on scoring critical hits and the barbarian is very good at that with Reckless Attack and extra damage. See the connection?
1/5 Eldritch Knight. MAGIC SUCKS!
1/5 Arcane Archer (XGTE). Ranged only and intelligence-based.
5/5 Cavalier (XGTE). Bonus attacks and a taunt, even if the mount skills are vestigial. Perfect if you want to play a tank but you dislike Ancestral Guardian.
4/5 Samurai (XGTE). Temporary hit points are good, but the skills giving advantage are redundant. Still a good choice.
5/5 Echo Knight (EGtW). One of the best choices. This archetype allows you to create a copy of yourself that can attack and much more. Plus it gives an extra attack per turn, a number of times equal to the CON modifier. The only thing more terrifying than a pissed barbarian is two pissed barbarians.
5/5 Rune Knight (TCOE). Another wonderful option. You get two runes that dramatically improve your versatility, both in and out of combat, and Giant Might, which increases your size, for intimidation and destruction purposes.
3/5 Psi Knight (TCOE). INT dependant subclass, not exactly optimal. The powers are still effective enough without raising the stat too much. It can be considered if you like the idea of a psionic barbarian .
2/5 MONK
In case you want to make a barehanded Barbarian, the Fighting Initiate feat can also grant you a bare handed fighting style.
The problem with the monk itself is that it needs lots of levels to increase the martial die.
3/5 PALADIN
Aside from the CHA requirement, paladin doesn’t offer much more than fighter during the first few levels: Lay on Hands and Divine Smite can be used during Rage, but both require large investments in the class to work.
3/5 RANGER
Inferior to the fighter for an incalculable amount of reasons: Fighting Style coming a level later and the absence of Action Surge, to name a couple.
May be interesting for a more scouting-centered character.
1st level. One level isn’t much: Favored Enemy gives even fewer bonuses than previous versions. Favored Foe, from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, is much more useful.
2nd level. Unfortunately, ranger doesn’t have access to the Great Weapon Fighting style, making this multiclass decent only for double weapon or sword and shield. On the other hand, spellcasting brings a lot of utility.
3rd level:
4/5 Hunter. All three features are useful in their own way: Colossus Slayer for consistency, Giant Killer and Horde Breaker for situational bonus damage.
2/5 Beast Master: Useless in battle, the beast requires levels to be even barely usable, although Tasha’s version is a little better. Can still be fun and bring some utility if you choose a cool companion, like a Pteranodon.
4/5 Gloom Stalker: To be able to do an additional attack once per fight 1d8 more damage to boot is pretty stupid, in a good way.
2/5 Horizon Walker: Recognizing a planar portal within 1 mile is the definition of situational. Doing 1d8 more per turn with all STR-based damage isn’t bad, but nothing to be excited for.
3/5 Monster Slayer: Recognizing an enemy’s resistances and weaknesses immediately is useful, especially for a class that doesn’t shine in the knowledge department. Slayer’s Prey isn’t bad, but wasting 3 levels on a class for 1d6 more damage per turn, using up the bonus action once, is not exactly good.
2/5 ROGUE
This one’s a bit silly: In order to gain Sneak Attack you need to use a finesse weapon, there’s nothing forcing you to use Dexterity as the main stat for the attack. So it’s technically possible to make a Sneak Attack with a rapier using STR while in Rage.
Sadly, Rogue requires many levels to boost Sneak Attack damage.
It still remains the fastest way to get Expertise, for a build focused on grappling for example. Cunning Action isn’t bad, but not very useful if you want to remain in melee range.
1/5 SORCERER
Charisma and magic: things that barbarians do not like.
1/5 WARLOCK
See above. There is a very interesting warlock build that takes 1 barbarian level, but this is not the place nor the time to discuss it.
1/5 WIZARD
The old saying “Being able to do something does not mean one should do it” can be applied to this combination. Twice. With a hammer. On fire.