S-TIER | BUILD BARBARIAN Appel des Anciens (@Cliptis) | SAISON 13

ENDGAME | PIT PUSH BARBARE

Build Overview

The "Bro'Barian" by @Cliptis is one of the most original builds of Season 13: a Barbarian who summons the full roster of Ancients to fight alongside him. Unlike mount or pet builds, here it's legendary warriors that rise with each shout and do the work on your behalf. The central concept is built around Call of the Ancients as the signature ultimate, amplified by every skill on your bar that summons additional Ancients via the Highlander upgrade and the Bul-Kathos set.

The playstyle is both spectacular and relatively accessible: Rallying Cry is your main summoning skill that you spam constantly, your Ancients surround and destroy enemy packs while you stay at a safe distance, enjoying an unprecedented ranged-melee Barbarian. The Legendary entry-level variant is very forgiving, while the Push version demands a strict rotation but delivers damage in the 15 trillion range according to @Cliptis himself.

Season 13 enhances this build through the Horadric Talisman with the Phoba of Bul-Kathos's Pride set, which reduces Ancients skill Fury cost by 50%, grants them an additional 50% Cooldown Reduction, and summons one extra Ancient per summon at the 5-piece bonus. Combined with the Arreat's Bearing and the Highlander upgrade on Call of the Ancients, the result is a permanent flood of Ancients that never leave the battlefield.

Pros and Cons

Recommended Gear

The build's defensive backbone relies on unique items that secure survival while amplifying damage. The Tuskhelm of Joritz the Mighty is the centerpiece of the Unique variant: its power grants considerable bonuses that stack with your permanent Berserking stacks. For the Speed and Push variants, you swap to Heir of Perdition, which brings the Critical Strike Chance missing this season, offsetting the deficit inherent to an Ancients-focused build.

The Chainscourged Mail (unique Pants) are essential from the Unique variant onward: they increase the number of Fortify charges generated, a critical mechanism for fueling the permanent Fortified state this build aims to maintain. For the chest, the Aspect of Heavenly Strength brings a primary resource cost reduction that lets you spam Rallying Cry without burning through your Fury.

The most important trinket is undoubtedly the Banished Lord's Talisman: after spending 270 points of primary resource, you gain 4 Overpower stacks. With 12 active stacks, each Critical Strike is amplified by 18% per stack — a colossal damage multiplier. The Blood Boiling passive rune on this amulet guarantees passive maintenance of the 12 stacks by regenerating one stack every 6 seconds, perfectly synced with the 4-second duration of Overpower stacks.

Both secondary weapons must carry the "Lucky Hit Chance to Restore a Primary Resource" affix. These three occurrences stack so that your Ancients continuously regenerate your Fury as they hit, ensuring an uninterrupted summoning cadence. On the rings, the Bold Chieftain's Aspect reduces Cooldowns each time you use an ultimate skill, the cornerstone of the Push rotation. The Aspect of Apogeic Furor on the second ring converts each point of Fury generated into a stacking damage bonus up to 300 stacks, representing a gigantic offensive multiplier.

The gloves wear the Edgemaster's Aspect for the entry-level Legendary variant, optimizing Critical Strike Damage. The Vehement Brawler's Aspect on the main weapon or offhand amplifies summon damage, a direct synergy with the build's identity. In the Push variant, the Arreat's Bearing replaces the standard Pants to summon an additional Ancient via non-ultimate skills, combining with the Bul-Kathos 5-piece bonus for a permanent tide of Ancients.

Horadric Seal S13

This build's Talisman revolves around the Phoba of Bul-Kathos's Pride set, which is the backbone of the entire summoner identity. With two pieces equipped, Ancients skills cost 50% less Fury and gain an additional 50% Cooldown Reduction — a property crucial to keeping Call of the Ancients almost permanently active. The 3-piece bonus grants Damage Reduction each time an Ancient is summoned, solidifying your passive survival. The 5-piece bonus is the most powerful: summoning an Ancient automatically calls one additional Ancient, and Ancients skills deal 200% more damage. Combined with the Arreat's Bearing, this set fills the screen with Ancients in seconds.

The Arreat's Bearing charm sits in the first Talisman slot and allows non-ultimate skills that summon Ancients to call one extra — an effect distinct from the 5-piece bonus. For the set charms, prioritize raw damage modifiers on the central seal: according to @Cliptis, any "x2 damage" or cross-stat modifier on the seal is ideal. The affixes sought on individual charms are bonuses to Shout Skills (+3 or +4), which directly raise the rank of Rallying Cry, War Cry, and Challenging Shout.

Gameplay Tips

The build's standard rotation runs as follows: Call of the Ancients → shouts → Mighty Throw → shouts → Call of the Ancients → shouts → Mighty Throw → shouts, in a continuous loop. The key is to always weave your three shouts between each ultimate so that the Bold Chieftain's Aspect reduces Cooldowns. You must keep Call of the Ancients's Cooldown under 19 seconds for the rotation to stay smooth — the exact thresholds are detailed in @Cliptis's planner.

Outside of packs, spam Rallying Cry permanently. It's your main summoning ability that calls Madawc each time and generates Fortify to protect you. In most situations, this is the only skill you need while moving from pack to pack. If you're playing with a controller, @Cliptis recommends holding all buttons simultaneously — the result is an automatic cascade of every skill the moment it comes off Cooldown.

Fury management is unusual: unlike traditional Barbarian builds, sitting at 0 Fury isn't an immediate catastrophe since your summoned Ancients continue to fight autonomously. However, you must keep enough Fury to spam Rallying Cry. The "Lucky Hit Chance to Restore a Primary Resource" affix on three weapons guarantees that the Ancients passively regenerate your Fury via their hits. The Wrath glyph in Paragon adds Fury recovery on every Critical Strike, closing the loop.

For the 12 Overpower stacks linked to the Banished Lord's Talisman: reach 270 primary resource spent as fast as possible at the start of combat, then let Blood Boiling handle passive maintenance. If you burn through Fury fast enough to hit 270 in under 4 seconds, you maintain 12 stacks continuously. Otherwise, Blood Boiling regenerates one stack every 6 seconds to offset natural drops.

For fast farming, switch to the Speed variant: equip the Chainscourged Mail, swap the amulet for Arreat's Bearing, replace Mighty Throw with Leap with Mosh and Fury Generation, and switch Call of the Ancients's upgrade to Highlander. You end up with a Leap on a 0.75-second cooldown: your Barbarian becomes a cannonball blasting through zones in seconds, his Ancients trailing in his wake.

Skill Tree

Every skill on the bar is leveled to its 15 cap, except Challenging Shout (rank 4 on Legendary) and Iron Skin (rank 1), because their effects don't require high ranks. Rallying Cry is your main summoning engine: the Fortify upgrade covers you with Fortified each cast, while Madawc summons an Ancient and the resource regeneration upgrade keeps your Fury flowing. Skip Weaken here — you get it via Challenging Shout.

Iron Skin at rank 1 is enough for its essential defensive functions: it generates a Barrier proportional to your Maximum Life and grants you Vigor via the Juggernaut upgrade, making you Unstoppable for the full duration. With the Rallying Cry spam, you maintain Unstoppable permanently, an absolute rarity among endgame builds. Challenging Shout provides Weaken via the Talic upgrade, reducing damage from normal enemies, elites, and Bosses, with a damage bonus to the first 5 enemies taunted.

War Cry ramps up to 3 Ferocity stacks (Attack Speed) through its upgrade, calls Korlic the third Ancient, and Rend applies Vulnerable to enemies on each cast — your only source of Vulnerable damage. Call of the Ancients is the centerpiece ultimate: the Attack Speed and Damage Bonus upgrade grants 15% Attack Speed and 20% damage for 6 seconds, Empowered summons 3 Ancients simultaneously each with their own attacks, and Damage Bonus creates a synergy where you and each Ancient mutually buff each other by 7% damage. The more Ancients you have, the more the multiplier explodes.

In the Push variant, Mighty Throw replaces Leap on the bar. The Mightiest upgrade turns it into an ultimate skill with a fixed 6-second Cooldown that can't be reduced — which is actually an advantage, because it guarantees a predictable rotation. Ferocity via Mighty Throw generates 3 extra Ferocity stacks per cast.

Mercenary S13

Paragon and Glyphs

The Paragon path starts with the Start board and the Wrath glyph (Wrath) at rank 100: on every Critical Strike, you regenerate Fury. It's the foundation of the build's resource management — combined with the 3 "Lucky Hit Chance to Restore a Primary Resource" affixes on your weapons, your Fury stays perpetually fueled.

The Blood Rage board is the second stop, with the Challenger glyph (Challenger) at rank 150. This board amplifies damage during Berserking — a state you maintain permanently thanks to Anger Management on your boots. Challenger amplifies all adjacent normal nodes (Strength counts as skill damage for the Barbarian) and grants extra damage to elites via its legendary bonus. @Cliptis's note: the Crusher glyph is currently bugged with two-handed maces, which justifies this alternative pick until the fix lands.

The Decimator board hosts the Might glyph (Might) at rank 150: it amplifies all adjacent magic nodes and grants increased damage with a two-handed weapon, plus bonus damage against injured and healthy enemies. This board is also the heart of the build's Overpower axis, increasing damage to Vulnerable enemies and the cap of Overpower stacks.

The Flawless Technique board uses the Dominate glyph (Dominate) at rank 150: consecutive attacks with the same weapon increase your Critical Strike Chance and Critical Strike Damage multiplier. With the repetitive nature of the rotation, this bonus stays up permanently.

Finally, the Carnage board is supported by the Marshal glyph (Marshal) at rank 150, which is the build's logistical key: each time you use a shout, all your non-shout skills have their Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds. This directly affects Mighty Throw and Call of the Ancients, allowing you to keep them almost continuously active without relying solely on the Bold Chieftain's Aspect.