D2R Season 9: Leap Attack Barbarian Build

Ben Author

Created - 10.01.2025 Updated - 13.01.2025

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The Barbarian Class in Diablo II: Resurrected has plenty of awesome skills at his disposal. You have Berserk—a skill that enables the Barbarian to deal with almost any monster in the game due to the rarity of magic-immune monsters.

Then, there’s the Frenzy skill, which is great for those who have a need for speed. This ability allows the Barbarian to attack like a madman, giving his enemies no chance to initiate a counter-attack as they’ll all be dead.

And yes, there is the ever-popular Whirlwind. It does physical damage, yes, but its familiar spinning pattern when used literally makes any Barb player spin to win!

That leaves us with the Leap Attack. It is often overlooked because of its mediocre damage and often clunky playstyle. However, that is no longer the case in the current season, particularly because we have unlocked the secret to how you can make the said skill work.

In this D2R build guide, we will discuss the advantages of using the Leap Attack skill and why you should give it a chance over the more popular skills under the Barbarian’s toolkit. Additionally, we’re going to provide you with the most optimal skill distribution and appropriate pieces of gear to make this build shine.

Join us for we will unravel the mystery of how awesome the Leap Attack Barbarian is in D2R Season 9!

Why Choose the Leap Attack Barbarian?

Since the early days of Diablo II, Leap Attack was only viable in Normal Difficulty. Once players stepped into NM, the skill was no longer viable because it barely did anything other than make the Barbarian look cool.

You see, the original Leap Attack only prompted the Barbarian to jump high and immediately hit a nearby enemy once he landed. This is, of course, not the most effective skill to use considering that getting mobbed in D2R is a common occurrence in the endgame.

Fortunately, the folks over at Blizzard have found a way to make Leap Attack so much better than it once was. In D2R Patch 2.4, the developers made substantial changes to the skill in question.

For one, Leap Attack’s baseline damage has doubled from 100% to 200. Attack rating saw a similar rate of increase as well, making Leap Attack reliable as a primary skill, especially with regard to getting more enemies hit.

But more importantly, the biggest change that was made to Leap Attack is that it now has an AoE component, where enemies that are within the landing zone of the Barbarian suffer from physical damage. This particular change alone makes the skill more worthwhile to use!

Admittedly, Leap Attack still feels clunky when used against tougher enemies like Uber Diablo or Uber Baal. So to address that, our version of the Leap Attack Barbarian Build in Diablo II: Resurrected Season 9 incorporates Berserk as well.

Berserk is a nice complement to Leap Attack for a couple of reasons. First, it deals magic damage, which is a damage type that not a lot of monsters in Diablo II: Resurrected are immune to. Second, Berserk deals a ton of damage, so much so that you only have to use it several times to eliminate even the toughest monsters.

Playstyle

Leap Attack already allows you to traverse giant maps in Diablo II: Resurrected easily. However, we still recommend using the regular Leap skill due to the fact that its motion speed has been dialed to 11 since Patch 2.4.

That said, utilize Leap to search for groups of monsters. Once you’ve found a relatively large mob, land on them with Leap Attack and use the skill a number of times to dispose of the enemy.

When you engage with bosses, use Leap Attack to close the gap, Battle Cry to reduce their defense, and then use Berserk as many times as necessary to kill them.

Since you will allocate the Find Item skill on this build, you can “hork” the corpse of the rare and unique monsters you have defeated. Doing so will probably give you a valuable item, though this is not a guarantee.

To increase your chances of obtaining high-value loot, make sure that you do a weapon swap before you press “Find Item.” You will learn more about this strategy later on in this D2R Leap Attack Barbarian build guide.

Stats

• Strength: Spend the rest of your points here
• Dexterity: Only enough to satisfy gear requirements
• Vitality: 100 to 150 points
• Energy: None

The stat allocation for the D2R Leap Attack Barbarian is pretty straightforward. You don’t need that much DEX on this build unless you want to use it in Hardcore.

For VIT, we’ve found 100 to 150 points to be the sweet spot. Go for 100 if you want to provide more oomph to Leap Attack, or spend enough points to attain 150 vitality for better survivability.

The rest of your attribute points should be spent on strength. This is because this particular attribute boosts physical damage significantly. Along with the weapons that you will use on this build, you can decimate enemies without breaking a sweat!

Skills

• 20 points on Leap Attack
• 20 points on Leap
• 20 points on Axe/Blade Mastery
• 20 points on Battle Orders
• 12 points on Find Item
• 5 points on Berserk
• Spend 1 point on the following skills:
• Find Potion
• Howl
• Taunt
• Battle Cry
• Battle Command
• Bash
• Stun
• Concentrate
• Berserk
• Increased Stamina
• Increased Speed
• Iron Skin
• Natural Resistance

The Leap Attack Barbarian only needs several skills. These are Leap Attack, Battle Orders, Weapon Mastery, and the regular Leap for synergy. That’s the beauty of this build because you can spend the remaining points on whatever skill that you want. However, we will explain why we came up with the skill setup seen above.

Leap Attack is your primary skill on this build. This should take care of the groups of monsters that you are going to come across while playing Diablo II: Resurrected. Leap is maxed out because every level of this skill adds 10% more damage to Leap Attack.

Spending five hard points on Berserk is all you need. Its damage can be boosted by “skillers” or items that increase the level of Berserk by a certain amount. If you find that no monster can survive your onslaught, you can even leave just one point on Berserk and spend the four points that you get back elsewhere.

If you want to make the Diablo II: Resurrected Leap Attack Barbarian your primary item farmer, you can invest more points on Find Item, as well as its synergy skill, Find Potion. Put 16 points on the former and spend the remaining points you have on the latter since we’ve found this to be the most optimal in terms of horking better loot.

Battle Orders has always been a staple among many D2R Barbarian Builds. The percentage increases in life, mana, and stamina cannot be ignored. Be sure to cast this along with Battle Command to significantly improve your chances of survival.

Another skill that you can take is Whirlwind but only for the purpose of leeching life and mana from your enemies more effectively. If you don’t want to add another skill that may convolute your main rotation, you can stick with our recommendations instead.

Breakpoints

One thing to note about Leap and Leap Attack is that they do not benefit from increased attack speed modifiers. However, your other attack skill, Berserk, certainly does!

To calculate the IAS breakpoint, you have to consider the base weapon you’re using, as well as the skill that you’re going to use it with. If you use the Berserker Axe, for example, you need only 48% to achieve 11 frames when spamming the Berserk skill.

For slower two-handers like the Colossus Sword, 58% increased attack speed is enough for a 13-frame Berserk. While investing in too much attack speed is an option, we advise against it because it doesn’t improve Leap Attack in any way. That’s why you’re better off choosing hard-hitting weapons instead.

Aside from IAS, the Leap Attack Barbarian will find a high FCR value to be advantageous. The most attainable Faster Cast Rate breakpoint for this build is 63% FCR but if you can stretch it to 105%, then that would be even better!

FCR here is primarily to reduce the animation frames of some of your skills, including Battle Command, Battle Orders, and Battle Cry. Attaining a high Faster Cast Rate allows you to quickly cast your buffs, thereby letting you swap to the high Magic Find weapons for horking corpses. If you have the Enigma, Faster Cast Rate can help you teleport quickly when you have 105% FCR.

It’s customary for melee builds in D2R to have some level of FHR. We believe that a 48% Faster Hit Recovery is enough without compromising the other breakpoints.

In a nutshell, these are the ideal breakpoint values for the D2R Leap Attack Barbarian:

• IAS (Increased Attack Speed)
• Colossus Blade: 48% (13 frames)
• Colossus Sword: 58% (13 frames)
• Berserker Axe: 48% (11 frames)
• Ettin Axe: 48% (12 frames)
• FCR (Faster Cast Rate)
• 63% or 105%
• FHR (Faster Hit Recovery)
• 48%

Leap Attack Barbarian Gear Recommendations

When it comes to gearing your D2R Leap Attack Barbarian, your primary goal is to increase physical damage. This makes Leap Attack more effective at dealing with groups of monsters.

As is the case with melee builds in Diablo II: Resurrected, you need to sort out your attack rating as well. All that damage will be useless if you cannot hit your foes, right? Always look at your character sheet to see if you have enough attack rating for your skills to land on the intended target.

Crushing Blow and Open Wounds work really well for this particular D2R build. These damage mechanics reduce the life of the enemy by a percentage and inflict damage over time, respectively.

A relatively good amount of life is also nice. Since you’ll always be within reach of the enemy, you are more likely to get hit than not. About 2,500 to 3,000 is the most attainable but going beyond these numbers is always welcome.

Helmet

With up to 200% Enhanced Defense, 30% FHR, and 20% bonus attack rating, not to mention that this particular helmet has +2 to Barbarian Skills (+4 to Leap Attack due to the additional levels to combat skills), the Arreat’s Face is one of the best unique helmets for the Leap Attack Barbarian.

Guillaume’s Face does not have the power to raise the level of your Leap and Leap Attack. However, what it does offer is it allows Leap Attack to take advantage of Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike. Both of these mechanics can greatly improve the damage of your primary skill (including Berserk).

No matter which helmet you end up using, make sure to insert the Cham Rune to grant the “Cannot Be Frozen” modifier. This allows you to forgo the Raven Frost for something better.

Body Armor

One of the weapons that you’re going to use has a ton of flat damage. Therefore, you want to stack as many Enhanced Damage modifiers as you can to make the Leap Attack even more impactful with every jump.

Fortitude is amazing in that regard thanks to its 300% Enhanced Damage mod. This is fixed, by the way, so you always get the same amount of ED regardless of the numeric values the other bonuses on the item have.

The chance to cast a level 15 Chilling Armor on Fortitude works really well in helping the Leap Attack Barbarian survive. When it activates, the Barb enjoys an additional 115% bonus to defense, which lasts for 228 seconds!

Leap is already a pretty good skill when it comes to moving around in Diablo II: Resurrected. However, if you still want to use the best movement skill in the game, you can invest in the Enigma Runeword, specifically placed inside an ethereal Archon Plate.

Aside from Teleport, this build can benefit from Enigma’s huge STR and life boost, as well as a 99% Magic Find.

Weapon

The Death Runeword in D2R is amazing for the Leap Attack Barbarian because it greatly improves physical damage more than anything. On a good roll, it can achieve 385% ED, which greatly amplifies the damage output of Leap Attack!

Another reason why Death is incredible on this build is that it gives the Leap Attack Barbarian a 50% chance to land a Crushing Blow. This means that at least one in two jumps will cause CB to proc, taking a huge chunk off the enemy’s HP in the process.

Since attack speed does not affect Leap Attack in any way, going for Death as your starter runeword for this build is a wise choice!

The base of the weapon matters for this build because it greatly influences the damage output of your main skill. Having said that, we recommend the Berserker Axe for its relatively good base damage. The Ettin Axe is a close second.

A cheap yet powerful D2R runeword, Oath is a good alternative to Death if you want to use a two-handed sword like the Colossus Sword or Colossus Blade. You want to avoid the lowest Enhanced Damage roll (210%) on this thing as much as possible. Fortunately, this runeword is relatively cheap, so you can roll it several times until you attain at least 300% ED or more.

When you wield a two-handed weapon with the Oath Runeword on it, you can take advantage of its Heart of Wolverine buff to raise your damage and attack rating considerably. If you run out of charges, just have it repaired by the blacksmith.

A lot of melee damage builds in Diablo II: Resurrected love using the Grief Runeword, specifically because of its amazing bonuses, including 40% IAS, ignore target defense, and 20% chance to land a Deadly Strike. However, the Leap Attack Barbarian, in particular, is only focused on one thing: Grief’s flat damage bonus.

Even on an imperfect outcome, Grief can have an immense impact on the damage output of this build. Of course, you want to get the full 400 damage but you can settle with any roll, really. Similar to the Death Runeword mentioned above, use the same axe bases for maximum damage.

Some might argue that Grief is always meant for the Phase Blade but that’s ill-advised for this build. The reason is that the Phase Blade has a pretty steep DEX requirement to wield. Furthermore, the high base attack speed of the weapon doesn’t do much for Leap Attack. You’re better off investing more attribute points in STR to boost physical damage.

Shield

While it’s tempting to dual-wield with Grief on one hand and Death on the other, Leap Attack only takes into account the damage of your main weapon. That’s why if you are using the Berserker Axe or Ettin Axe as the base for the runewords mentioned above, you must equip a shield in the off-hand to boost their effects in a way.

The Stormshield is devoid of any damage-enhancing bonuses. However, that can easily be addressed by socketing a Ruby Jewel of Virility, which provides 40% Enhanced Damage and a bonus of nine points to STR.

The real reason why you want to use Stormshield, however, is that it significantly boosts your survivability thanks to that 35% physical resistance. Because getting surrounded is a common occurrence at the endgame, reducing incoming damage is of utmost priority. Thankfully, the Stormshield can give that and then some!

If you are going to play the Leap Attack Barbarian in Hardcore, replace the Ruby Jewel of Virility with an Eld Rune for an increased chance to block by 7%.

Weapon Swap

Part of the appeal of the D2R Leap Attack Barbarian is his ability to loot the corpses of his enemies a second time by using the aptly named Find Item skill. When horking corpses, having a Magic Find value that’s relatively high can lead to more satisfying results.

Aside from wearing the Enigma Archon Plate, you can supplement that by wielding the Blade of Ali Baba—one on each hand. The Blade of Ali Baba boosts your MF value relative to your character’s level. So, if your Leap Attack Barb has already achieved the max level, he can enjoy a 99% boost in Magic Find just from a single item!

Take note that the Blade of Ali Baba is only meant for horking or looting corpses with Find Item. Once you’re finished, swap back to your main weapon and start leaping again.

To ensure that your buffs provide a hefty boost to your stats, you want to switch the Blade of Ali Baba to HOTO and Spirit. You can use a Flail for the Heart of the Oak and the Monarch Shield for Spirit. With both of these items equipped, your skills gain 5 additional levels. If you have a perfectly rolled Spirit Shield, you get a total of 75% increase in Faster Cast Rate as well.

Although it is cumbersome to have to change weapons for buffing and looting, that is a compromise you have to take in order to maximize the capabilities of the Leap Attack Barbarian in areas other than killing monsters.

Gloves

Despite the emphasis placed on Leap Attack in this D2R build guide, Berserk is still part of your main rotation. You will use this skill whenever you face any of the Uber Bosses because it deals huge amounts of damage. You want to focus on that by making sure that each hit makes the enemies scream. Hence, the addition of Laying of Hands on this build.

Laying of Hands is a pair of gloves that are needed for their 20% increased attack speed and that incredible 350% increased damage to demon-type monsters. The additional 50% to fire resistance is nice, though these gloves don’t offer anything much else.

Leap Attack is a relatively slow skill compared to the likes of Whirlwind and Frenzy. You want to get the most out of it by making sure every time the Barbarian lands, the ground trembles, and enemies get killed.

A well-crafted pair of gloves that has a Crushing Blow works admirably well for the build. An attack speed bonus is also good, provided that you want to achieve a higher IAS breakpoint for Berserk.

Boots

We have already established that Deadly Strike and Crushing Blow works well with the Leap Attack Barbarian. However, you must not sleep on Open Wounds because this particular damage mechanic in D2R can kill. If you don’t know, enemies affected by Open Wounds suffer from damage over time. That may not mean much but when you factor in the splash damage of Leap Attack and the CB/DS procs, Open Wounds becomes even more effective at slaying the minions of Hell!

You want to avail all of those damage mechanics in one place. The good news is there is such an item in the form of the Gore Rider. Although you only have a measly 10% chance of inflicting Open Wounds, the fact that it’s on a single piece of gear is enough for it to proc when it needs to.

The Leap Attack Barbarian has a ton of STR, so it would be wise to upgrade the Gore Rider from the average War Boots to the mighty Myrmidon Greaves for that huge leap in defense. You can upgrade these boots by placing them in the Horadric Cube alongside a Perfect Diamond, a Ko Rune, and a Lem Rune.

Amulet

You want to ensure that you have enough elemental and poison resistance when you reach Hell Difficulty. This is so that you can hedge against the resistance penalty that’s applied when playing Diablo II: Resurrected at higher difficulty levels.

Having said that, the Metalgrid is a unique amulet that’s actually a pretty good option for this Leap Attack Barbarian build in D2R. It grants an insane boost to both attack rating and defense, which is something that you don’t see often in one item in the game.

Moreover, the Metalgrid can roll up to 35% all-resists, which aids you in surviving Hell so you can live to tell about your adventures!

The only thing we dislike about Metalgrid is that you need to be at level 81 to equip it. However, for what it can provide to the build, this unique amulet is easy to recommend.

When you use the Death Runeword as your primary weapon, you already have a 50% chance of Crushing Blow. To somehow mimic that power for Deadly Strike, the only item you can wear that can somewhat satisfy that is the Highlord’s Wrath.

The Highlord’s Wrath not only grants +1 to skills but it’s also popular for granting you a relatively high chance of Deadly Strike. This percentage chance increases as you level up your character, which is likely enough to convince you to grind to level 90 and above.

Rings

Putting the Cham Rune inside the helmet is mandatory because you want to reserve your rings for better items. Having said that, the ideal rings to equip for the Leap Attack Barbarian are those that grant attack rating, life/mana leech, and FCR. Some resistance bonuses also help improve survivability, so you might want to look into that when looking for rings.

Attack rating is important for this build because you want every swing of your weapon and every leap to hit something. If you struggle to keep a relatively high AR for your character, you can wear the Nagelring on one of your ring slots.

The Nagelring is mainly used for improving Magic Find but its 75 attack rating is useful for the Leap Attack Barbarian more than anything else this ring can provide.

Belt

Melee builds like the Leap Attack Barbarian should be hardened against incoming physical strikes. To make sure that this becomes a reality, you must equip the String of Ears. It greatly boosts your defense first and foremost, but that is not the only thing this belt does. The String of Ears reduces physical and magical damage as well.

The 6-8% life leech is just the icing on the cake. What you’re really after are the defensive stats that this unique belt has.

Achieving a 105% FCR on this D2R build is a tall order, especially since there are better bonuses to obtain rather than an increase in Faster Cast Rate. However, the Arachnid Mesh can be taken into consideration due to its 20% FCR and +1 to skills.

There’s an added benefit to this build in that it slows nearby enemies down by 10%. This is actually quite useful for the Leap Attack Barbarian as it helps ensure enemies don’t stray too far away from the point of impact.

Charms

• Annihilus: a 20/20 anni is highly recommended
• Hellfire Torch: obtain one that specifically states “+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels”
• Gheed’s Fortune: an incredible Grand Charm that amplifies Magic Find along with the Blade of Ali Baba
• Grand Charms: Maximum Damage, Attack Rating, Faster Hit Recovery
• Small Charms: Maximum Damage, Attack Rating, Magic Find

Mercenary

The Act 2 Mercenary with the Might Aura is the perfect companion for the D2R Leap Attack Barbarian. The Enhanced Damage said aura provides is massive, especially when you have the Grief Berserker Axe equipped.

That said, the weapon that you should have the hireling use is The Reaper’s Toll, mainly so that he can cast Decrepify on the enemy. This curse spell reduces the physical resistance of monsters by 50%, making them more susceptible to dying with every use of Leap Attack.

Although your desert hireling has a relatively high chance of proccing Decrepify upon striking, you still want to increase his attack speed to ensure that it happens more frequently. That’s why inserting a 15% IAS jewel in his helmet is the ideal thing to do.

Here is the ideal Mercenary Gear for the Leap Attack Barbarian’s hireling:

• Weapon: The Reaper’s Toll
• Body Armor: Fortitude
• Helmet: Andariel’s Visage (with 15% IAS Jewel)

Tips

• Use Leap for Movement: Leap looks and feels faster than Leap Attack in terms of overall mobility. Although it’s an extra button to press, your farming efficiency will skyrocket just by making this one simple change. Basically, use Leap to move about and Leap Attack is specifically used for fighting packs of monsters only. Another reason why Leap is better for traversing wide areas is that its mana cost is more affordable at just two mana rather than Leap Attack’s 10.
• Be Mindful of Your Cursor: Both Leap and Leap Attack take your cursor into account when talking about where you will land. If you just want to leap a couple of paces, bring your mouse cursor relatively close to your character. On the other hand, if you want to search for enemies, put your cursor at the edge of the screen while leaping forward to cover as much ground as possible.
• Jump Without Targeting: Using Leap Attack is pretty straightforward. You spot an enemy and you press the appropriate hotkey, which prompts the Barbarian to jump shortly after. However, you can actually utilize Leap Attack without targeting a monster by simply holding the Alt Key before you initiate a jump. This allows you to leap freely without having to click on enemies.
• Always Use Ethereal Bases: If your budget permits it, we recommend that you wear Ethereal Items wherever possible. This is because these things grant the highest bonuses in Diablo II: Resurrected. For instance, Death, Grief, or Oath deal significantly more damage when the runes needed to make them are placed inside ethereal weapon bases like an Eth Berserker Axe or Eth Colossus Blade. If you cannot populate every gear slot with ethereal items, just focus on the weapon and armor first. The rest of your gear can be upgraded at a later time.
• Don’t Forget About Open Wounds: This particular mechanic in D2R works well with Leap Attack’s splash damage, enabling the Barbarian to inflict a damage over time debuff on more monsters at once. Although the DoT from Open Wounds is not as effective as Deadly Strike, it is amazing nonetheless because it prevents enemies from regenerating life for a brief period. Equipping the Gore Rider should suffice, though other sources of Open Wounds can have a profound impact on the debuff’s activation frequency.

Final Thoughts

The Leap Attack Barbarian may not wow you in terms of clearing potential; you have the Whirlwind and Frenzy Barb builds for that. However, what it does offer is something unique. Instead of using Leap Attack solely for mobility, you use it to destroy the minions of Hell.

One of the main selling points of this build is that it’s quite flexible in terms of skill point allocation. Aside from getting Leap and Leap Attack, you can improve Berserk for even more magic damage, Find Item to get more valuable loot, or vastly improve your warcry skills to get the most out of them.

Another thing that will convince you to try this build out is that it can work well even on budget gear. Just make sure to improve its physical damage, accuracy rating, and survivability, and it will have no problems eliminating whatever monster awaits in Hell.

There you have it! We’ve put tons of work putting up this Barbarian Leap Attack guide in Diablo II: Resurrected. We hope that you’ve found the information presented here useful.

Now that you know what the build has to offer, will you try the Leap Attack Barbarian in D2R Season 9? If so, what is your reason for doing so? Write your thoughts down in the comments section! We’d love to hear what you have to say.

If you need anything in the game, and we mean anything at all, head to our D2R Store to satisfy all your gearing needs. We can provide you with a wide range of ethereal items, which can greatly enhance the physical damage prowess of the Leap Attack Barbarian. Don’t delay! Leap towards our store now!

PROS

• Viable way to clear elite packs even on budget gear
• Not strict in terms of skill point allocation
• High mobility makes traversing huge areas easy

CONS

• May struggle at P8 Difficulty without the proper equipment
• The sound the Barbarian makes while leaping can be obnoxious at times
• Constant weapon swapping to maximize ‘horking’ can be a chore