Wrath of the Berserker

Active Skill · Rage · Barbarian

5 Runes
From level 30

Effect

Cooldown: 120 seconds

Enter a berserker rage which raises several attributes for 20 seconds.

Critical Hit Chance: 10%
Attack Speed: 25%
Dodge Chance: 20%
Movement Speed: 20%

Runes

5 Runes

Arreat's Wail

from level 36 · Fire damage · Proc coefficient 1

Activating Wrath of the Berserker deals 3400% weapon damage as Fire to all enemies within 15 yards.
Insanity

from level 40 · Physical damage

While active, gain 50% increased damage.
Slaughter

from level 46 · Physical damage · Proc coefficient 0.25

While active, Critical Hits have a chance to cause an eruption of blood dealing 300% weapon damage to enemies within 15 yards.
Striding Giant

from level 52 · Physical damage

Reduce all damage taken by 50%.
Thrive on Chaos

from level 60 · Physical damage

While active, gain 5364 Life per Fury spent.

The proc coefficient scales the chance of on-hit effects (e.g. legendary powers, gems, Life per Hit) for each hit of the skill. Game files, version 2.8.0.

Wrath of the Berserker

Wrath of the Berserker is the barbarian's great offensive transformation – a cooldown that sharply raises several attributes at once for a few seconds: crit chance, attack speed, dodge chance and movement speed. In many builds it is the burst button you hit before every tough encounter.

For uncompromising damage, Insanity is the obvious pick, since it noticeably increases your damage dealt for the whole duration. Anyone pushing harder and needing to survive reaches for Striding Giant, which halves incoming damage and folds a powerful defensive window into the same activation. Thrive on Chaos adds strong healing per spent fury and is a reliable lifesaver in fury-heavy setups.

Arreat's Wail and Slaughter

The two less common runes rely on the skill dealing damage itself. Arreat's Wail (level 36) hits every enemy within 15 yards for 3400% weapon damage as Fire on activation – one big blow, but only once every 120 seconds. Slaughter (level 46) gives Critical Hits a chance to trigger blood eruptions for 300% weapon damage within 15 yards while the rage is active. In practice, though, Insanity usually wins out.

Mortick's Brace: every rune at once

The bracers Mortick's Brace grant Wrath of the Berserker the effect of every rune simultaneously. You get the damage bonus, halved damage taken, Life per Fury spent, the blast on activation and the blood eruptions in a single transformation. The rune you pick on your bar no longer matters.

Cutting the cooldown with the Immortal King

With a 20-second duration against a 120-second cooldown, uptime is the central problem. The Immortal King's Call set solves it with its 4-piece bonus: every 10 Fury you spend with an attack reduces the cooldown of Wrath of the Berserker and Call of the Ancients by 3 seconds. The 6-piece bonus raises your damage by 4000% while both skills are active at the same time. The weapon Remorseless ties into that same condition and boosts Hammer of the Ancients.

Battle Rage and Furious Charge keep Fury flowing, while the passives Rampage, Boon of Bul-Kathos and Ruthless round out the setup. Boon of Bul-Kathos also shortens the cooldown of Wrath of the Berserker.

by eRnstl