Diablo 4: HOTA (Hammer of the Ancients) Barbarian Build Guide

Few builds scream Diablo quite like the HOTA Barbarian. While it might not be the absolute top meta pick in Season 8: Belial's Return, it remains one of Diablo 4 Items the most satisfying, hard-hitting, screen-clearing builds in the game. If you love Overpower damage, earthquakes, and smashing everything in sight with massive critical hits, the HOTA Barbarian is for you.

This guide covers everything from core mechanics and skill choices to Diablo 4 Items, Paragon boards, mercenaries, and rune combos.

How the HOTA Barbarian Build Works

The HOTA Barbarian revolves around:

Generating Earthquakes
Using Hammer of the Ancients (HOTA) to detonate those Earthquakes with Mantle of Mountain's Fury
Overpower hits to wipe out entire packs of enemies

You'll buy Diablo 4 Items to stack cooldown-based triggers to keep Earthquakes active across the battlefield, then time your HOTA slams to maximize damage via AoE destruction.

Core Combo:

Ground Stomp (with Aspect of Earthquakes) = creates Earthquakes
Tec + Yul Rune Combo = using cooldown skills, spawns additional Earthquakes
Mantle of Mountain's Fury = makes HOTA destroy Earthquakes in buy D4 materials a line, dealing massive AoE damage