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MMOexp-Diablo 4: Hooves of the Mountain God & Rage of Harrogath - The Core of the New Barbarian Meta

In Diablo 4's newest season, Barbarians finally get to join the lightning-fast crowd-and no, we're not talking about Whirlwind or HOTA this time. The Lunging Strike Barbarian, powered by recent buffs and new Uniques, has emerged as one of the most dynamic and satisfying builds in the entire game. Once considered just a basic filler attack, Lunging Strike is now a full-blown endgame powerhouse that can shred through Nightmare Dungeons, clear Pits, and dominate bosses with endless uptime and style.

Thanks to new gear like Hooves of the Mountain God and Rage of Harrogath, this build transforms into a cleaving, bleeding, cooldown-resetting monster that never slows down. If you love fast-paced melee gameplay, permanent Berserking uptime, and a near-immortal frontline presence, this setup is for you Diablo IV gold.

Core Concept-Turning Lunging Strike into an Endgame Monster

The secret sauce of this build is the unique synergy between Hooves of the Mountain God and Rage of Harrogath.

 Hooves of the Mountain God changes Lunging Strike from a simple poke into a cleaving AoE attack, giving it huge range and multi-target power.

 Rage of Harrogath resets your cooldowns whenever you apply Bleed-and with Lunging Strike now hitting everything around you, you'll be proccing it constantly.

This interaction creates an infinite rotation loop, where your Shouts and Wrath of the Berserker almost never go on cooldown. You'll be dashing from pack to pack, cleaving through everything, and staying Berserked 100% of the time.

Even better, Lunging Strike doubles as a mobility skill, letting you zip through packs without relying solely on Leap or Charge. The end result? A Barbarian that moves like a Rogue but hits like a truck.

Core Skills and Rotation

This build revolves around five key active skills and one ultimate. Let's break them down:

1. Lunging Strike (Battle Lunging Strike)

Your bread and butter. Each strike applies Bleed, triggering the Rage of Harrogath resets and fueling your entire rotation. It's both your mobility and main DPS tool.

2. Frenzy (Dual Thread)

This is your secondary basic attack, unlocked through the Dual Thread Chaos Perk. Frenzy ramps up attack and movement speed while also granting damage reduction through Combat Frenzy. This makes your gameplay smoother and safer.

3. Rallying Cry

Provides Unstoppable, Fortify, and massive Fury generation. This is your recovery button when crowd control or Fury starvation threaten to slow you down.

4. War Cry

A burst of multiplicative damage that also grants Berserking. It synergizes perfectly with Wrath uptime and keeps your DPS rolling.

5. Challenging Shout buy D4 Gold

Your panic button. This shout gives massive damage reduction, keeping you alive during Pit pushes or Uber boss phases.

6. Wrath of the Berserker

Your ultimate. With the Rage of Harrogath synergy, you'll maintain near-permanent uptime, staying Berserking, Unstoppable, and highly mobile at all times.

Weapon Setup and Expertise Choices

This build takes advantage of both Barbarian weapon mechanics and damage synergies:

 Main Weapon: Two-Handed Mace-High base damage, plus massive multipliers from passives like Wallop and Heavy-Handed. The Mace expertise adds a 50% damage boost to stunned or slowed enemies.

 Technique Slot: Two-Handed Axe-Grants +10% damage to Vulnerable enemies, which is up nearly 100% of the time thanks to Bleed and other sources.

This combination ensures your Lunging Strike hits like a meteor while also benefiting from consistent Vulnerable uptime.

Essential Uniques and Legendary Gear

1. Hooves of the Mountain God

The build's cornerstone item. Turns Lunging Strike into a cleaving AoE, multiplying its effectiveness and synergy with Bleed effects. Without this, the build loses its identity-so make this your top farming priority.

2. Rage of Harrogath (Chest Armor)

The key to the infinite cooldown loop. Every Bleed proc can reset your Shouts and Wrath of the Berserker, keeping the engine running nonstop.

3. Ring of the Starless Skies

Provides damage multipliers, attack speed, and resource cost reduction. Lunging Strike's rapid hits maintain full uptime on the bonus, turning you into a lightning-fast blender.

4. The Grandfather (Two-Handed Sword)

Adds massive raw damage, maximum Fury, and All Stats, amplifying both your offensive and defensive scaling.

Recommended Stats on Other Gear:

 Critical Strike Damage

 Vulnerable Damage

 Attack Speed

 Basic Skill Damage Multipliers

 Armor, Resistances, and Maximum Life

You can round these out with Elixirs like Elixir of Resourcefulness and Soothing Spices for smoother sustain.Rune and Chaos Perk Setup

Top Rune Combos

1.Munni + Zen-Procs Overpower frequently thanks to Lunging Strike's high speed, turning every few hits into huge nukes.

2.Pokk + Tek-Creates Earthquakes that synergize with the Earthquake Aspect, granting a 120% damage multiplier when standing inside one. Perfect for single-target and AoE burst.

Alternative runes like Sier (for Offering generation) and Guard (for Crit capping) are good early-game substitutes.

Chaos Perks

 Dual Thread-Unlocks Frenzy as a secondary basic. Huge for attack speed and survivability.

 Accelerating Chaos-Reduces cooldowns even more, making your Shouts practically permanent.

 Mirit Guard-Adds defense and activates the Beast Cornered unique effect more reliably.

 Beast Cornered-Your main damage multiplier: +100% damage and +25% damage reduction when active.

Skill Tree Breakdown

This build focuses on maximizing Lunging Strike's uptime and damage scaling.

 Battle Lunging Strike-Full investment for Bleed uptime.

 Frenzy (Combat Upgrade)-For movement speed and DR.

 Rallying Cry-Maxed for Fury and Fortify generation.

 War Cry-Maxed for Berserk uptime and burst damage.

 Challenging Shout-Maxed for tankiness in higher tiers.

 Wrath of the Berserker-Fully upgraded for permanent uptime.

The synergy between these skills ensures a fluid rotation and constant self-buffing, making the build feel relentless in combat.

Paragon Board Pathing

1.Warbringer-Provides Fury sustain, so you never stall out.

2.Decimator-Amplifies Vulnerable damage, syncing with your Axe technique.

3.Blood Rage-Boosts Bleed scaling, feeding Rage of Harrogath.

4.Bone Breaker-Multiplies Overpower and Mace damage.

5.Carnage-Grants Attack Speed and Berserking bonuses for insane tempo.

Glyph Priorities

 Ruthless-Boosts basic skill scaling.

 Challenger-Bonus damage vs elites.

 Undaunted-More damage while Fortified.

 Revenge-Offensive boost from recent damage taken.

 Marshal-Reduces cooldowns to keep Shouts always ready.

Mercenary Companions

 Primary: Rakair (The Healer)-His passive Aegis boosts resistances, letting you stack more offensive rolls instead of defensive ones.

 Support: Altin (The Defender)-His Field of Languish debuff reduces enemy damage, making high-tier content survivable.

Together, they provide resistances and mitigation layers that complement your all-out offensive approach.

Gameplay Rotation and Strategy

1.Pre-fight: Activate Rallying Cry, War Cry, and Challenging Shout.

2.Engage: Dash into packs using Lunging Strike-aim for the center to maximize the AoE from Hooves of the Mountain God.

3.Maintain: Keep Wrath of the Berserker active at all times-its uptime is nearly permanent thanks to cooldown resets.

4.Sustain: Use Rallying Cry whenever Fury dips or crowd control hits.

5.Burst: Pair War Cry with the Starless Skies buff window to maximize damage.

The rotation feels fast, fluid, and chaotic-in the best way. With permanent buffs, near-infinite Fury, and unstoppable Berserking, you'll feel like a storm tearing across Sanctuary.

Final Thoughts

The Lunging Strike Barbarian is the perfect blend of mobility, power, and simplicity. It's easy to play, scales incredibly well with Uniques, and dominates both mob-clearing and bossing. The build offers that rare combination of casual-friendly ease and endgame performance, making it ideal for both new and veteran players in Diablo 4 Season 10.

Whether you're farming Nightmare Dungeons, clearing Pit 100s, or tackling Uber bosses, this build's blend of AoE destruction, permanent Berserking, and self-sustaining cooldown loops ensures you're always in control-and always smashing demons into the dirt.