The fact is, in Inferno, it doesn't really matter how much armor you have. You'll notice the passives here aren't the straight armor buffing ones. War Cry, and especially the Impunity rune, will boost your ability to soak all kinds of damage amazingly. Ignore Pain should be used sparingly, only when you know there's a big damage spike coming (such as being stunned next to something that's about to explode and spew acid all over you.) Sprint and the Gangway rune give you one more way to get out of trouble fast, and make sure you control the where and how of each engagement. A spammable (if you aim it right) AoE attack that generates fury and can get you out of sticky situations is just too good in too many ways to not take. A stunned enemy is dealing no damage to you at all, making it more valuable than damage mitigation.įurious Charge with Merciless Assault is something I can't seem to ever justify giving up, no matter what kind of build I'm going for. Stuns are probably the best tanking abilities in the game in Diablo 3, due to the sheer number of enemies.

Start with your bread-and-butter Frenzy/Hammer of the Ancients combo runed for Triumph and Thunderstrike, giving you some decent lifesteal and a 100% proc stun. You need to be tough, but it's just as important to have great mobility and stun resistance. The biggest dangers in D3's top difficulty are those deadly combinations of prefix mobs you'll come up against (such as Molten Waller Jailer). As a melee class, the barbarian has a rough time of things in Inferno, and building him as a pure tank is surprisingly ineffective in terms of keeping you from dying horribly.

Diablo 3 season 12 guide