HotA Raekor
Barbarian Build
Diablo 3 Patch 2.6.4

Diablo 3's Patch 2.6.4 brought significant changes to Raekor's Set bonus damage which now increases the damage of Fury spenders by up to an astounding 27500%! This is one of the highest damage bonuses out of all Diablo 3 sets, and on top of that, it's one that can be easily reached within a matter of seconds and selected Fury Spenders can be spammed with the set's full benefit.  

This is currently the best Barbarian Build for Season 16 and Patch 2.6.4, which is apparently slightly better than Charge Barb based on the Immortal King's and Raekor sets combined. I guess we will have to see over the course of the Season how it ends up. 

To check the full list of our Best Diablo 3 builds visit:  The Best Diablo 3 builds by Odealo

Table of contents

1. General information
2. Recommended items
3. Recommended skills

General information

The entire build is based on The Legacy of Raekor set which provides the following bonuses:

• Furious Charge refunds a charge if it only hits one enemy (2/6 pieces)
• Furious Charge gains the effect of every rune and deals 1000% increased damage (4/6 pieces)
• Every cast of Furious Charge grants a stacking effect that increases the damage of the next Fury-spending attack by 5500% per stack. Every cast of a Fury-spending attack consumes up to 5 stacks (6/6 pieces)

The Legacy of Raekor is a truly fitting set for a Barbarian. It's fully oriented on raw DPS, and unlike the majority of sets in Diablo 3, it grants no defensive bonuses. Luckily, Barbarian class offers various items and defensive skills that are more than enough when pushing High-level Greater Rifts. 

The gameplay mechanics for HotA Raekor are rather simple, but spamming skills mindlessly will not bring you good results (yes, for some builds it does :) ). First of all, you need to accumulate stacks for the 6 piece bonus, by Charging into enemies with your Furious Charge. After you have 5 Stacks ready, you should use your Hammer of the Ancients for maximum damage. You can lower the stack count versus thrash, as you won't need the entire bonus ready for weaker enemies, but that heavily depends on your current gear, Paragon level, and the difficulty level you are playing currently (or the Tier of Greater Rift). You should adjust it for maximum clear speed.

Recommended items

Equipment
	Head - Raekor's Will Stat priorities: 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) Strength 3) Increased HotA damage 4) Vitality (if you can't roll HotA damage) 5) Secondary res. Socket:
	Chest - Raekor's Heart Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances 4) Reduced damage from elites/Secondary res. Sockets:  (replace with Rubys if you feel comfortable with having less all res.)
	Pants - Raekor's Breeches Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances Sockets:  (replace with Rubys if you feel comfortable with having less all res.)
	Gloves - Raekor's Breeches Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% / Vitality 5) Attack speed 6) Secondary res.
	Boots - Raekor's Striders Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances 4) Increased HotA damage
	Pauldrons - Raekor's Burden Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances 4) Area damage% 5) Life%
	Bracers - Bracers of the First Men Stat priorities: 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) Fire damage% 3) Strength 4) Life on Hit 5) Vitality 6) Secondary res. Special power: Hammer of the Ancients attacks 50% faster and deals 375-500% increased damage
	Amulet - Traveller's Pledge Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Damage 3) Critical Hit Chance 4) Fire damage% 5) Strength (Part of the Endless Walk set) Set bonuses: While moving, all damage taken is reduced by up to 50% While standing still, all damage dealt is increased by up to 100%
	Ring - Compass Rose Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% 5) Strength 6) Vitality (Part of the Endless Walk set)
	Ring - Convention of Elements Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% 5) Strength Special power: Gain 150–200% increased damage to a single element for 4 seconds. This effect rotates through the elements available to your class in the following order: Arcane, Cold, Fire, Holy, Lightning, Physical, Poison
	Belt - Pride of Cassius Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances 4) Life gained per Fury spent 5) Life% Special power: Increases the duration of Ignore Pain by 4–6 seconds
	Weapon 1/2 - Little Rogue Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) High average damage 3) Damage% 4) Strength 5) Attack speed% Sockets:  (Part of the Istvan's Paired blades set) Set bonuses: Every cast of a skill that spends primary resource grants 6% increased damage, Armor and attack speed for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times
	Weapon 1/2 - The Slanderer Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) High average damage 3) Damage% 4) Strength 5) Attack speed% Sockets:  (Part of the Istvan's Paired blades set)
Bonus Items for Season 16 (thanks to built-in Ring of Royal Grandeur power)
	Chest - Aquila Cuirass Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All Elemental Resistances 4) Reduced damage from elites Sockets:  (replace with Rubys if you feel comfortable with having less all res.) Special power: While above 90–95% of primary resource, all damage taken is reduced by 50%
Kanai Cube powers
	The Gavel of Judgement Hammer of the Ancients deals 600–800% increased damage and returns 25 Fury if it hits 3 or fewer enemies
	Magefist Fire skills deal 15–20% more damage.
	Band of Might After casting Furious Charge, Ground Stomp, or Leap, take 60–80% reduced damage for 8 seconds
Legendary Gems
	Bane of the Trapped Increases damage done to enemies under the control-impairing effects by 15% Upgrade: +0.3% additional damage per Rank Gain an aura that slows the movement speed of enemies within 15 yards by 30% (Requires Rank 25)
	Bane of the Stricken Each attack you make against an enemy increases the damage it takes from your attacks by 0.8% Upgrade: +0.01% damage per Rank Gain 25% increased damage against Rift Guardians and bosses (Requires Rank 25)
	Esoteric's Alteration Gain 10.0% non-Physical damage reduction. Upgrade: +0.5% damage reduction per Rank While below half Life, your resistances to Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Arcane are increased by 75% (Requires Rank 25)

Recommended skills

Active Skills
	Hammer of the Ancients A massive hammer smashes enemies in front of the Barbarian for 535% damage as Physical. Hammer of the Ancients has a 1% increased Critical Hit Chance for every 5 Fury the Barbarian currently has Smash Increases damage dealt to 640% and damage type changes to Fire Your main DPS skill. Simply spam it to kill enemies
	Furious Charge Rush forward, knocking back and dealing 600% damage as Physical Battering Ram Damage type changes to Fire and the damage is increased to 1050% Core ability in every Raekor build. It used to transition fast between groups of monsters, as well as generate charges for the 6 piece Set bonus
	Wrath of the Berserker Enter a berserker rage which raises the following attributes for 20 seconds: Critical Hit Chance, Attack Speed, Dodge Chance, and Movement Speed Insanity Increases damage dealt by an additional 50% Your core utility ability. It grants terrific bonus damage and damage reduction. Should be used against Bosses and tougher packs of monsters.
	Threatening Shout Shout, reducing damage done by nearby enemies by 20% for 15 seconds Demoralize Affected enemies become taunted by the Barbarian Good defensive utility skill. It reduces monster's damage and makes it easier to group them up for your big hit with Hammer of the Ancients
	Battle Rage Enter a rage which increases Player's damage by 10% and Critical Hit Chance by 3%. The buff lasts 120 seconds Bloodshed Deal 20% damage of your recent critical hits to enemies within 20 yards radius every second Battle Rage provides very high bonus damage and should be up all the time
	Ignore Pain Reduce all damage taken by 50% and gain Immunity to all control-impairing effects for 5 seconds Ignorance is Bliss While under the effect of Ignore Pain, you will be healed for every point of Fury spent Mandatory defensive skill for this build. It grants a very high defensive bonus which is critical when playing Raekor's set
Passive Skills
	Ruthless You deal 40% extra damage to enemies below 30% Life
	Brawler Increases your damage by 20% if there are at least three enemies within 12 yards
	Boon of Bul-Kathos Reduces the cooldown of the following skills: Earthquake: by 15 seconds Call of the Ancients: by 30 seconds Wrath of the Berserker: by 30 seconds
	Berserker Rage You deal 25% extra damage while near maximum Fury (approximately 95% and up)

We hope you will enjoy this build as much as we did. And see you soon in the world of Sanctuary.

If you have any ideas how we could improve this build, or if you believe the Immortal King's Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian is not suitable for this title please let us know in the comments below.

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