D&D 5e Barbarian Subclasses (2014): All Nine Paths Ranked

Introduction

Most classes need their subclass to finish them. The Barbarian does not.

By level 5 the base class already has a d12 hit die, resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage while raging, Reckless Attack for advantage on every Strength attack you make, Extra Attack, and a 40-foot walking speed. That is a complete, functioning melee character with no subclass contribution at all. Compare it to the 2014 Ranger, whose subclass is doing repair work on a chassis that does not stand up.

So the Barbarian question is not "what am I missing." It is who is your rage pointed at.

Three answers divide the nine Paths:

• At yourself. Totem Warrior, Berserker, Battlerager and Beast spend the subclass budget making you harder to kill or harder to survive being near.
• At your party. Ancestral Guardian, Zealot and Wild Magic all hand their best features to other people: damage reduction, advantage on everyone's attacks, a d3 to every roll an ally makes.
• At the battlefield. Giant and Storm Herald reshape where creatures are standing, and Giant is the only Path in the class with a real ranged option.

One structural note before the ratings. Almost every feature below carries the words while raging, which means it is gated behind a resource you have two to six of per long rest. The handful of features that work outside rage are disproportionately valuable, because they are the only things a Barbarian contributes when nobody is fighting.

The Nine Paths at a Glance

What Separates Them

The bonus action is the real currency. The Barbarian spends a bonus action on the turn it rages and then has nothing to do with it for the rest of the fight. Almost every subclass fills that gap, and several fill it twice: Frenzy, Battlerager Armor, Storm Aura, Mighty Impel, Zealous Presence, Call the Hunt, the Eagle totem's Dash and the Wolf totem's prone all want the same slot, and so do Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master. Before you commit, sketch what a normal turn looks like, because several of these cannot coexist.

Only one subclass changes your damage type. Path of the Giant's Elemental Cleaver lets you switch your weapon between acid, cold, fire, thunder and lightning on a bonus action. Everything else in the class is swinging bludgeoning, piercing or slashing at enemies that increasingly resist it, which is why Path of the Beast's Bestial Soul and the base class's lack of a magic weapon matter so much at Tier 3.

Three Paths have a real out-of-combat identity. Totem Warrior gets three ritual spells, Ancestral Guardian gets augury and clairvoyance, and Wild Magic gets Magic Awareness plus Bolstering Magic. For a class that otherwise contributes nothing to exploration or investigation, this is a larger differentiator than the combat numbers suggest.

Hot Take: Decide who your Rage is pointed at before you read a single feature list. Totem Warrior and Beast aim it at your own durability, Ancestral Guardian aims it at everyone else's, and Zealot aims it at both - that one question cuts this list down faster than any comparison table.

Path of the Totem Warrior

The strongest and most flexible Barbarian subclass, and the default recommendation for anyone who has not played the class before. You choose a totem animal three separate times, at levels 3, 6 and 14, and they do not have to match.

There are five totems, not three: Bear, Eagle and Wolf from the Player's Handbook, plus Elk and Tiger added in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and reprinted in Xanathar's.

Spirit Seeker ●

Level 3. You can cast Beast Sense and Speak with Animals, but only as rituals.

Ritual casting means no spell slots and ten minutes of casting time, so this is exploration utility only. It is useful utility, though: Speak with Animals turns every bird and rat in a dungeon into a witness, and Beast Sense lets you scout through an animal's eyes. For a class with no other out-of-combat tools, it is worth more than its combat contribution of zero suggests.

Totem Spirit ●

Level 3. Choose one totem. The benefit applies while you are raging.

• Bear ● gives you resistance to all damage except psychic. Not just physical damage: fire, cold, lightning, acid, poison, necrotic, radiant and force are all halved.
• Wolf ● gives your allies advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature within 5 feet of you.
• Eagle ● gives creatures disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you, and lets you Dash as a bonus action. Requires that you are not wearing heavy armor.
• Elk ● increases your walking speed by 15 feet. Also requires no heavy armor.
• Tiger ● adds 10 feet to your long jump and 3 feet to your high jump.

Bear is the reason this subclass tops the list. The base class already halves the three physical damage types; Bear extends that to everything a spellcaster or a dragon can throw at you, at level 3, for free, with no action cost and no limit. Layered on a d12 hit die and Unarmored Defense, it produces a character who can stand in a fireball and walk out.

Wolf is the choice if the party has two or more melee attackers, because handing advantage to everyone swinging at the enemy next to you is a larger total damage increase than anything you could do with your own turn.

Elk and Tiger are the weak entries at this tier. A speed boost and a jump boost are not competitive with halving all damage.

Aspect of the Beast ●

Level 6. Choose a totem again. These work all the time, not only while raging.

• Tiger ● grants proficiency in two skills from Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth and Survival.
• Bear ● doubles your carrying capacity and gives advantage on Strength checks to push, pull, lift or break objects.
• Wolf ● lets you track at a fast pace and move stealthily at a normal pace.
• Eagle ● lets you see up to a mile clearly, and dim light no longer imposes disadvantage on your Perception checks.
• Elk ● doubles the travel pace of you and up to ten companions.

Tiger is the standout here and it is not especially close. Two free skill proficiencies with no conditions attached, on a class that gets only two skills at level 1, is the most durable value on this list. Bear's advantage on Strength checks is the pick if you built a grappler.

Note that these apply outside rage, which makes level 6 the tier where Totem Warrior quietly becomes a functioning adventurer rather than only a combatant.

Spirit Walker ●

Level 10. You can cast Commune with Nature as a ritual.

A 5th-level divination that tells you the terrain, water, plants, minerals, and powerful creatures within three miles, or six in natural terrain. In a wilderness campaign this is real reconnaissance. It does not function underground, so in a dungeon campaign it is close to a blank feature.

Totemic Attunement ●

Level 14. Choose a totem a third time. All of these apply while raging.

• Wolf ● lets you use a bonus action to knock a Large or smaller creature prone when you hit it with a melee weapon attack.
• Bear ● gives any creature within 5 feet of you disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you, or another character with this same feature.
• Eagle ● gives you a flying speed equal to your walking speed.
• Tiger ● lets you make one additional melee attack as a bonus action if you moved at least 20 feet in a straight line toward a Large or smaller target first.
• Elk ● lets you use a bonus action during your move to pass through a Large or smaller creature's space, dealing 1d12 plus your Strength modifier in bludgeoning damage.

Wolf is the best of these by a distance. Prone means your second attack and every ally's melee attack come with advantage, and it costs a bonus action you were not using. Bear is the enforced-taunt option and works well in a party with a fragile back line. Eagle is flight, which at level 14 solves whole categories of encounter.

Totem Warrior in play

Bear at 3, Tiger at 6, Wolf at 14 is the strongest general-purpose combination: unkillable early, skilled in the middle, and a prone engine late. If you want to be purely a wall, take Bear three times.

Build Strength to 20 first and Constitution to 16 or higher. Half-Orc and Mountain Dwarf are the best races, and Great Weapon Master is the first feat. If your DM allows a race with a natural fly speed, the Eagle attunement stops being the weakest of its tier.

Path of the Ancestral Guardian

The party-protection subclass, and the only one in the class whose features reduce damage taken by other people. If your table wants a guardian rather than a damage dealer, this is the answer.

Ancestral Protectors ●

Level 3. While raging, the first creature you hit with an attack on your turn becomes the target of your ancestral spirits. Until the start of your next turn, that creature has disadvantage on any attack roll that is not against you, and when it hits a creature other than you, that creature has resistance to the damage.

This is a taunt that actually functions, which is rare in 5e. Nothing forces the enemy to attack you, but attacking anyone else costs it disadvantage and halves the damage it deals. Against a boss with a single big attack, you have removed most of its offense against your party for a round, every round, for free.

The cost is nothing. You were going to hit something anyway, and Reckless Attack makes the hit reliable. Note the wording: the first creature you hit, not target, so a miss does not apply it.

Spirit Shield ●

Level 6. While raging, when another creature you can see within 30 feet takes damage, you can use your reaction to reduce that damage by 2d6. This becomes 3d6 at 10th level and 4d6 at 14th.

An average of 7 damage prevented at level 6, 10.5 at level 10, and 14 at level 14, on any ally within 30 feet, once per round, with no daily limit. Over a long fight that is a larger total contribution than most subclasses' damage features.

The real cost is your reaction, which is otherwise an opportunity attack. Against a minion, the opportunity attack is usually better. Against the boss's biggest hit on your wizard, this is not close.

Consult the Spirits ●

Level 10. You can cast Augury or Clairvoyance without a spell slot or material components, once per short or long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability.

Clairvoyance is the useful half: an invisible sensor up to a mile away that you can see or hear through for ten minutes. Scouting a dungeon entrance or a negotiation before you walk in is real value, and it recharges on a short rest. Augury is a yes-or-no question about the next half hour, which is more of a DM-dependent tool.

Vengeful Ancestors ●

Level 14. When you use Spirit Shield to reduce damage, the attacker takes force damage equal to the amount you prevented.

This turns your reaction from purely defensive into an even exchange. Preventing 14 damage also deals 14 force damage back, and almost nothing in the game resists force. It scales automatically with Spirit Shield and requires no decisions.

Ancestral Guardian in play

Tell your party about Spirit Shield before the campaign starts, because the feature only works if your casters shout before they take a big hit. Hold your reaction rather than spending it on opportunity attacks against minions.

Strength first, Constitution second, and Wisdom 12 to 14 is worth more here than on any other Barbarian because Consult the Spirits keys off it. Goliath is the strongest race, stacking Stone's Endurance onto an already damage-reducing kit. Polearm Master is the best feat, because reach lets you mark an enemy while standing between it and the party.

Path of the Zealot

The damage subclass, and the hardest character in D&D to permanently kill. Zealot gives you free damage every single turn from level 3 and then, at 14, stops letting you fall over.

Divine Fury ●

Level 3. While raging, the first creature you hit with a weapon attack on each of your turns takes an extra 1d6 plus half your Barbarian level in radiant or necrotic damage. You choose the damage type when you gain the feature.

Free damage, every turn, forever, with no resource cost, no save and no attack roll. At level 3 that is 4.5 on average, at level 10 it is 8.5, and at level 20 it is 13.5. Across a five-round fight at Tier 3 it adds roughly 40 damage that costs you nothing.

Take radiant. Necrotic is resisted by a large slice of the undead you will actually fight, and radiant is resisted by almost nothing.

The limit is one creature per turn, on your first hit. Your second attack and any bonus action attacks do not benefit.

Warrior of the Gods ●

Level 3. If a spell has the sole effect of restoring you to life, the caster does not need material components.

This removes the diamond cost from Revivify, Raise Dead and Resurrection when used on you: 300, 500 and 1,000 gp respectively. In a campaign where death happens, that is both real money and the removal of the "does anyone actually have a diamond" problem that turns a death into a campaign detour.

Fanatical Focus ●

Level 6. If you fail a saving throw while raging, you can reroll it and must use the new roll. Once per rage.

Note the level: 6th, which is earlier than it is often listed. The Barbarian has proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves only, and the saves that end fights are Wisdom and Charisma. One reroll per rage against Hold Person, Dominate Person or Banishment is the difference between playing the boss fight and watching it.

Zealous Presence ●

Level 10. As a bonus action, up to ten other creatures of your choice within 60 feet that can hear you gain advantage on attack rolls and saving throws until the start of your next turn. Once per long rest.

Advantage on every attack and every save for the entire party for one round. In a four-person party attacking twice each, that is eight attacks upgraded, plus whatever saves the enemy forces that round.

It is once per long rest, so tell the table when you are using it. A coordinated round where your Fighter holds Action Surge for the same turn is worth several times a reactive one.

Rage Beyond Death ●

Level 14. While raging, having 0 hit points does not knock you unconscious. If you would die from failing death saving throws, you do not die until your rage ends, and then only if you are still at 0 hit points.

You keep acting at 0 hit points. You keep attacking, keep applying Divine Fury, and keep the rage alive by attacking each turn. If the party heals you for a single point before the rage ends, nothing happened at all.

One correction worth making, because it is widely repeated: this feature does not protect you from instant death by massive damage. That rule still applies. What it does is remove unconsciousness and defer death from failed death saves.

Zealot in play

You are the party's damage floor and its willingness to take risks. Divine Fury rewards attacking the most dangerous thing in the room first, and Rage Beyond Death means you can accept a trade no other character can.

Strength to 20, Constitution high, and Wisdom 12 to 14 so Fanatical Focus has something to work with. Half-Orc stacks Relentless Endurance on top of Rage Beyond Death for an absurd number of ways to not die. Great Weapon Master is the first feat; two levels of Fighter for Action Surge is the best dip.

Path of the Beast

You grow a natural weapon when you rage and pick which one each time. Flexible, strong early, and the only subclass that lets you change your entire turn structure fight by fight.

Form of the Beast ●

Level 3. When you enter your rage, transform and choose one:

• Claws ● deal 1d6 slashing. Once on each of your turns when you attack with a claw using the Attack action, you can make one additional claw attack as part of that same action.
• Bite ● deals 1d8 piercing. Once on each of your turns when you damage a creature with it, you regain hit points equal to your proficiency bonus, but only if you are below half your hit point maximum.
• Tail ● deals 1d8 piercing and has reach. When a creature you can see within 10 feet hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to roll a d8 and add it to your AC against that attack.

Read the Claws wording carefully, because it is the most misreported feature in the subclass. The extra attack is part of the Attack action, not a bonus action. That means it stacks with a bonus action from Polearm Master or Great Weapon Master rather than competing with it: at level 5 you get two attacks from Extra Attack, a third from Claws, and a fourth from a feat if you have one.

Bite's healing is conditional. You only regain hit points when you are already below half, which makes it a comeback mechanic rather than sustained healing, and it triggers once per turn rather than on every hit.

Tail's reaction is the best defensive option in the class at level 3. An average of 4.5 AC against one attack turns a large fraction of hits into misses, and you choose after seeing the roll land.

Bestial Soul ●

Level 6. Your natural weapons count as magical for overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks. When you finish a short or long rest, choose a swimming speed with water breathing, a climbing speed that handles difficult surfaces, or a boost to your jump distance.

The magical half is the important half and it arrives at exactly the right level, because resistance to nonmagical weapon damage becomes common from Tier 2. Without this feature your claws are halved against a large share of mid-tier enemies.

The movement option changing on a short rest is flexible; pick swim for an aquatic session and climb for a vertical dungeon.

Infectious Fury ●

Level 10. When you hit a creature with a natural weapon while raging, you can force a Wisdom saving throw against DC 8 plus your Constitution modifier plus your proficiency bonus. On a failure, choose either 2d12 psychic damage, or force it to use its reaction to make a melee attack against a creature of your choice. Proficiency bonus uses per long rest.

The DC is keyed to Constitution, which is your second-best stat, and that makes it one of the few Barbarian save DCs worth using. Compare it to Berserker's Intimidating Presence, which keys off Charisma and is therefore unusable.

The forced attack is the interesting option: turning a boss's reaction against its own ally, or redirecting it away from a downed character, is worth more than the damage most of the time.

Call the Hunt ●

Level 14. When you enter your rage, choose a number of other willing creatures equal to your Constitution modifier. You gain 5 temporary hit points for each creature that accepts. Until the rage ends, each chosen creature can add a d6 to one damage roll once on each of its turns. Proficiency bonus uses per long rest.

Note who gets the temporary hit points: you do, not them. With Constitution 20 and four allies accepting, that is 20 temporary hit points to you and a d6 per turn to each of them for the whole rage.

Across a ten-round fight with four allies, that is up to 40 extra d6 rolls of damage spread across the party, which is a larger contribution than anything you could do with your own attacks in the same window.

Beast in play

Choose your form at the top of each fight, deliberately. Claws against groups, Bite when you expect a grind, Tail against a single heavy hitter.

Strength first, then Constitution, which feeds the Infectious Fury DC and the number of Call the Hunt targets. Half-Orc's Savage Attacks adds a die on critical hits with natural weapons. Since Claws already gives you an extra attack inside your Attack action, you can spend feats on Great Weapon Master or Sentinel rather than Polearm Master.

Path of the Giant

From Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. You grow, your reach grows, and your weapon picks up an elemental rider and comes back when you throw it. The only Barbarian Path with a real ranged option.

Giant's Power ●

Level 3. You learn Giant, or another language if you already know it, and one cantrip: druidcraft or thaumaturgy, using Wisdom as your spellcasting ability.

Neither cantrip is a combat option. Thaumaturgy is a reasonable intimidation prop for a character with no other magic, and the language matters in a campaign full of giants. Treat it as flavor.

Giant's Havoc ●

Level 3. Two benefits while raging. Crushing Throw adds your rage damage bonus to Strength-based thrown weapon attacks. Giant Stature increases your reach by 5 feet and makes you Large if you were smaller.

Crushing Throw is the unique piece. Every other Barbarian in the game is useless against a flying or fleeing enemy; this one throws a handaxe with the full rage bonus attached. Carrying three javelins solves the class's single worst matchup for 1 gp.

Giant Stature's extra reach is a permanent 10-foot threat range while raging, with no feat required, and Large size improves grappling and shoving.

Elemental Cleaver ●

Level 6. When you rage, infuse a weapon you are holding with acid, cold, fire, thunder or lightning. Its damage type changes to that type, it deals an extra 1d6 of that type, and it gains the thrown property with a range of 20/60, returning to your hand. A bonus action swaps the type mid-rage.

The extra 1d6 is fine. The type-switching is the feature. You are the only martial character in the game who can look at a fire-immune enemy and change your greataxe to thunder damage on a bonus action, and the returning thrown property means your main weapon is also your ranged weapon with no ammunition to track.

Mighty Impel ●

Level 10. As a bonus action while raging, move one Medium or smaller creature within your reach to an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet. An unwilling creature makes a Strength saving throw to resist.

Repeatable, unlimited forced movement on a bonus action. Throw an enemy off a ledge, out of a doorway, or into your party's kill zone. Against a willing target there is no save at all, so you can also relocate a downed ally 30 feet away from the thing that dropped them.

Demiurgic Colossus ●

Level 14. Your reach bonus increases to 10 feet, you can choose Large or Huge each time you rage, Mighty Impel works on Large or smaller creatures, and Elemental Cleaver's extra damage becomes 2d6.

Every earlier feature scales at once. Fifteen feet of total reach with a glaive, a 2d6 elemental rider on every hit, and the ability to hurl Large creatures around the battlefield. Huge size is a liability in a corridor and excellent in the open.

Giant in play

Carry throwing weapons from level 3, and treat Elemental Cleaver's type switch as a real decision each fight rather than a formality.

Strength first, since it drives melee, thrown damage and the Mighty Impel save DC. Goliath is the obvious fit and Halfling is the funniest one, going from Small to Large the moment you rage. Great Weapon Master works normally, because Elemental Cleaver leaves your weapon's die and heavy property intact.

Path of Wild Magic

A random magical surge every time you rage, plus the best ally-buffing feature in the class. More reliable than its reputation, because none of the surge results are bad.

Magic Awareness ●

Level 3. As an action, until the end of your next turn you know the location of any spell or magic item within 60 feet that is not behind total cover, and the school of any spell you sense. Proficiency bonus uses per long rest.

Free, risk-free information, and it works outside rage. Whether the chest is trapped, whether the NPC has a concentration spell running, whether the door is warded. Most Barbarians offer the party nothing in this pillar.

Wild Surge ●

Level 3. When you enter your rage, roll a d8 on the Wild Magic table.

The design point that makes this work: no result on the table is bad. Nothing harms you, nothing harms your allies, and nothing wastes your rage. The variance is entirely between "good" and "very good," which is a different proposition from every other wild magic mechanic in the game.

Results 2, 3 and 8 give you something to do with your bonus action for the rest of the fight. Result 6 is a party-wide AC bonus. Result 5 punishes the enemy advantage that Reckless Attack hands out.

Bolstering Magic ●

Level 6. As an action, touch a creature and choose one: for 10 minutes it can roll a d3 and add it to every attack roll and ability check it makes; or roll a d3 and it regains one expended spell slot of that level or lower, which a given creature can only receive again after a long rest. Proficiency bonus uses per long rest.

The best level 6 feature on any Barbarian subclass, and it is not a combat feature at all. A d3 on every attack roll and ability check for ten minutes is a buff no martial class has any business handing out, and you can apply it to three to six creatures per long rest.

The spell slot option gives your caster back a slot of up to 3rd level. Doing that for your Wizard before the final room of a dungeon is often worth more than anything you will do with your own turn.

Unstable Backlash ●

Level 10. Immediately after you take damage or fail a saving throw while raging, you can use your reaction to roll on the Wild Magic table and produce the new effect.

A reroll on demand. If your surge was a weak fit for the fight, getting hit lets you trade it for a new one. The cost is your reaction, which competes with opportunity attacks.

Controlled Surge ●

Level 14. Whenever you roll on the Wild Magic table, roll twice and choose which effect to use.

This removes the randomness that people object to. With two rolls you reach your preferred result far more often than not, and since no result is bad, the floor rises as well as the ceiling.

Wild Magic in play

Spend your downtime actions on Bolstering Magic. Before a boss fight, buff the party's two best attackers and give the caster a slot back; that is a bigger contribution than a round of attacks.

Strength first as always. Variant Human for Great Weapon Master at level 1 is the strongest opening, because your weapon damage is the reliable part and the magic is the bonus on top.

Path of the Battlerager

Dwarves only by default, and built entirely around spiked armor. Mechanically simple, consistently useful, and the only subclass with an equipment prerequisite.

Battlerager Armor ●

Level 3. While wearing spiked armor and raging, you can use a bonus action to make one melee attack with your armor spikes for 1d4 piercing. Separately, when you use the Attack action to grapple a creature and succeed, the target takes 3 piercing damage.

A guaranteed bonus action attack every round from level 3, filling the slot the base class leaves empty. The damage is small, but it is reliable and it costs nothing.

Budget for the armor. Spiked armor is a 75 gp medium armor introduced by this subclass: AC 14 plus Dexterity to a maximum of 2, with disadvantage on Stealth. You cannot use the subclass without it.

Reckless Abandon ●

Level 6. When you use Reckless Attack while raging, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier, minimum 1. They vanish when the rage ends.

Reckless Attack is your default play on every turn, so this is free durability every round, refreshed each turn. At Constitution 18 that is 4 temporary hit points a round, which offsets a good share of the extra damage Reckless Attack invites.

Battlerager Charge ●

Level 10. You can Dash as a bonus action while raging.

Useful only when positioning is the problem, and it competes directly with the spike attack for the same bonus action. On the turns you are already adjacent to an enemy, it does nothing.

Spiked Retribution ●

Level 14. When a creature within 5 feet hits you with a melee attack, it takes 3 piercing damage, provided you are raging, not incapacitated, and wearing spiked armor.

Passive, automatic, no action and no roll. On a character built to be attacked, and who is deliberately giving enemies advantage through Reckless Attack, it triggers constantly.

Battlerager in play

Grapple. The subclass pays you 3 damage for a successful grapple and then keeps the target inside the 5-foot band where both your spike attack and Spiked Retribution work.

Strength first, Constitution second because it sets your temporary hit points each round. Mountain Dwarf is the intended race and the best one. Tavern Brawler supports the grapple plan; Sentinel keeps enemies in your band.

Ask your DM about the dwarves-only restriction before planning. Many tables lift it, and nothing in the kit depends on being a dwarf mechanically.

Path of the Berserker

The iconic Barbarian subclass and, as written, the weakest. Frenzy is a strong feature attached to a cost that makes it unusable more than once a day.

Frenzy ●

Level 3. When you rage, you can go into a frenzy and make a single melee weapon attack as a bonus action on each of your turns. When the rage ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion.

The attack itself is excellent: a third attack per turn from level 5, every round, with no other resource cost.

The exhaustion is the problem, and it is worth being precise about why. Exhaustion does not clear on a short rest, only on a long rest, and only one level at a time. One level gives disadvantage on ability checks. Two gives disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws, which undoes the entire benefit. Three halves your speed.

So Frenzy is a once-per-long-rest feature wearing the costume of an at-will one. Use it for the fight that decides the session and rage normally the rest of the day.

Many tables house rule the exhaustion away or replace it with the 2024 version of the feature. If yours does, Berserker moves up several places on this list immediately.

Mindless Rage ●

Level 6. You cannot be charmed or frightened while raging, and if you are already charmed or frightened when you rage, the effect is suspended for the duration.

The best Berserker feature. Charm and fear are two of the most common ways a martial character gets removed from a fight, and this is blanket immunity with no action cost. The suspension clause is elegant: rage to shrug off a fear effect now and deal with it later.

Intimidating Presence ●

Level 10. As an action, frighten one creature within 30 feet. It makes a Wisdom save against DC 8 plus your proficiency bonus plus your Charisma modifier.

The worst feature in the class, for three reasons that compound. It costs your action, which is two attacks. The DC keys off Charisma, the Barbarian's universal dump stat, so it is typically 12 to 14 against creatures that often have good Wisdom. And it affects one creature for one round.

Compare it directly to Path of the Beast's Infectious Fury, which keys the same kind of save off Constitution and costs no action at all. That is the version of this feature that works.

Retaliation ●

Level 14. When you take damage from a creature within 5 feet, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against it.

Good, and it arrives far too late. A free attack every round you are hit in melee, on a character built to be hit in melee, is efficient action economy. The problem is that you spent levels 10 through 13 with a blank feature, and most campaigns end before this one arrives.

Berserker in play

Rage normally. Save Frenzy for the fight that matters, and accept the exhaustion once per long rest.

Half-Orc is the best race: Relentless Endurance keeps an aggressive Berserker upright and Savage Attacks stacks with Brutal Critical. Great Weapon Master is the first feat, but note that its bonus action attack and Frenzy's bonus action attack compete, so on Frenzy turns only one of them fires.

Path of the Storm Herald

An elemental aura that radiates from you while you rage. Thematically the most evocative subclass in the class and mechanically the weakest of the nine, because the numbers are very small.

Storm Aura ●

Level 3. While raging you emanate a 10-foot aura, which does not extend through total cover. The effect triggers when you enter your rage and can be activated again as a bonus action on each of your turns. Choose an environment, changeable on each long rest.

• Tundra ● gives each creature of your choice in the aura 2 temporary hit points, rising to 3 at 5th, 4 at 10th, 5 at 15th and 6 at 20th.
• Sea ● forces one creature of your choice in the aura to make a Dexterity save, taking 1d6 lightning on a failure and half on a success, rising to 2d6 at 10th, 3d6 at 15th and 4d6 at 20th.
• Desert ● deals 2 fire damage to every other creature in the aura, rising on the same schedule as Tundra.

Look closely at Desert and Tundra: those are flat numbers, not dice. Two damage. At level 20, six damage. They do not scale with Strength, proficiency or anything else, and spending your bonus action to deal 2 fire damage to a cluster is almost never better than any other use of that bonus action.

Sea is the only option with a scaling die attached, which makes it the defensible pick for damage. Tundra is the defensible pick overall, because a few temporary hit points to several allies every round quietly adds up across a long fight and never competes with resistance.

Storm Soul ●

Level 6. A passive benefit, with no rage requirement.

• Sea gives lightning resistance, a 30-foot swim speed and water breathing.
• Desert gives fire resistance and immunity to the effects of extreme heat.
• Tundra gives cold resistance and immunity to the effects of extreme cold.

The best feature in the subclass, precisely because it works all the time. Sea is the standout: a swim speed and water breathing are things almost no martial character has, and lightning resistance is broadly useful.

Note that Desert grants resistance to fire, not immunity.

Shielding Storm ●

Level 10. Each creature of your choice in your Storm Aura gains the damage resistance you have from Storm Soul.

Sharing resistance with the party is a real benefit against an enemy built around that damage type, and dead weight otherwise. The bigger problem is positional: it requires your allies to stand within 10 feet of the character whose job is to run at the most dangerous thing in the room.

Raging Storm ●

Level 14. The save DC is 8 plus your proficiency bonus plus your Constitution modifier.

• Desert: when a creature in your aura hits you, use your reaction to force a Dexterity save, dealing fire damage equal to half your Barbarian level on a failure.
• Sea: when you hit a creature in your aura, use your reaction to force a Strength save or knock it prone.
• Tundra: whenever your aura activates, one creature of your choice in it makes a Strength save or has its speed reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn.

The best tier of the subclass, and the only one where the numbers are respectable. Sea's prone is the strongest: prone hands advantage to every melee attacker in your party, and it triggers on your own hit rather than costing a separate action.

Storm Herald in play

Take Sea unless the campaign has a specific reason otherwise. It is the only environment with scaling damage, its Storm Soul package is the most broadly useful, and its Raging Storm effect is the best of the three.

Play it for the theme, and put your build points into weapon damage, because the aura will not carry you. Great Weapon Master matters more here than on subclasses whose own features contribute.

Ability Scores

Every Path wants the same three stats in the same order.

Start Strength at 16 or 17 and reach 20 as early as possible. Intelligence and Charisma are dump stats with one exception noted below.

Dexterity has a practical ceiling of 14. Unarmored Defense is 10 plus your Dexterity modifier plus your Constitution modifier, so Dexterity competes with Constitution rather than replacing it, and going past 14 costs ability score increases you need elsewhere.

Three Paths change the emphasis:

• Beast and Storm Herald want Constitution higher than usual, because Infectious Fury and Raging Storm both set their save DC from it.
• Ancestral Guardian is the one Barbarian that wants Wisdom at 12 to 14, because Consult the Spirits uses it.
• Berserker would want Charisma for Intimidating Presence, which is the clearest sign that the feature is misdesigned. Do not invest; accept the feature is weak.

Races

Half-Orc ● is the definitive Barbarian race. Strength and Constitution, darkvision, Relentless Endurance to drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 once per long rest, and Savage Attacks for an extra weapon die on critical hits. Every piece of it lands on the chassis, and Relentless Endurance stacks with Zealot's Rage Beyond Death into something close to immortality.

• Mountain Dwarf ● gives +2 Strength and +2 Constitution with no wasted points, plus medium armor proficiency. It is also the intended race for Battlerager.
• Goliath ● brings Stone's Endurance, reducing one hit by 1d12 plus your Constitution modifier each short rest, which stacks with every damage-reduction feature in the class. The best fit for Ancestral Guardian and the thematic fit for Giant.
• Variant Human ● buys Great Weapon Master at level 1, which is the single largest damage swing available to the class and normally waits until level 4.
• Dragonborn ● adds a breath weapon, which is one of the few ranged options a Barbarian can reach outside Path of the Giant.
• Halfling ● is the Path of the Giant novelty pick, going from Small to Large the instant you rage, with Lucky and Brave covering the subclass's lack of a defensive feature.
• Wood Elf ● gives Dexterity and speed rather than Strength, which suits a mobility build but fights the class's primary stat.

Feats

Great Weapon Master ● is the most important feat on the class. The -5 to hit for +10 damage toggle is affordable specifically because Reckless Attack hands you advantage every turn, and the bonus action attack on a critical hit or a kill fills the empty slot. Take it at level 4, or at level 1 as a Variant Human.

Polearm Master ● adds a bonus action attack and an opportunity attack when creatures enter your reach. The reach also keeps you between the enemy and your party, which matters on Ancestral Guardian specifically.

Sentinel ● stops enemies leaving your reach and lets you punish attacks on nearby allies. It pairs with Polearm Master into the standard martial lockdown build, and with Battlerager, whose features all require enemies to stay within 5 feet.

Tough ● adds 2 hit points per level on top of the best hit die in the game. On a Bear totem Barbarian who halves nearly everything, each of those points is effectively worth two.

Alert ● stacks with Feral Instinct's initiative advantage at level 7, which means you rage and land the first hit before the enemy acts.

Resilient (Constitution) ● is a trap here: the Barbarian already has Constitution save proficiency from level 1. War Caster ● is worse, since you cannot cast spells while raging at all.

Multiclassing

The requirement is Strength 13. The Barbarian dips well because its own progression thins out after level 5, but rage shuts off spellcasting entirely, which rules out most casters.

Fighter, 1 to 2 levels ● - The best dip in the class. One level gives a Fighting Style, Second Wind and Strength save proficiency. Two gives Action Surge, which doubles your output on the round that matters most: a Frenzy round, a Divine Fury round, or an Elemental Cleaver alpha strike. Stop at two, because Fighter's Extra Attack does not stack with the one you already have.

Rogue, 1 to 3 levels ● - Expertise in Athletics makes your grapple and shove checks close to unbeatable, and Cunning Action gives you a bonus action Dash or Disengage. Sneak Attack works with a finesse weapon and Reckless Attack's advantage, though it fights the Strength build.

Druid, 2 levels ● - Wild Shape is a scouting tool that still works when your spellcasting does not, and the beast form's hit points act as a buffer. Thematically coherent, mechanically a real delay.

Paladin, 2 levels ● - Divine Smite converts slots into burst damage, but you cannot smite while raging and the Charisma requirement fights your array. It works best on a Zealot who leans into the divine theme.

Wizard, Sorcerer or Warlock ● - You cannot cast while raging, and both Intelligence and Charisma are dump stats. There is no version of this that pays.

Choosing by Campaign

• A standard mixed campaign, any level range: Totem Warrior with Bear. Nothing else gives you resistance to everything except psychic at level 3.
• Your party has fragile casters: Ancestral Guardian. It is the only Barbarian whose features reduce damage other people take.
• You want maximum damage: Zealot. Divine Fury is free damage on every turn of the campaign from level 3 onward.
• You want more attacks without spending feats: Beast, taking Claws. The extra attack is part of the Attack action, so a feat-driven bonus action still stacks on top.
• Enemies keep resisting your weapon damage: Giant. Elemental Cleaver switches between five damage types on a bonus action.
• You want to support the party outside combat too: Wild Magic. Bolstering Magic is a d3 on every attack and check an ally makes for ten minutes.
• You want a simple, always-on bonus action: Battlerager, if your table allows a non-dwarf or you are playing one.
• You love the fantasy of the raging berserker: Berserker, and ask your DM about the Frenzy exhaustion first. The answer changes the subclass completely.
• A campaign ending around level 10: avoid Berserker and Storm Herald, whose best features arrive at 14. Everything else front-loads well.

Related Guides

• D&D 5e Barbarian Guide - the full class guide, including Rage, Reckless Attack, weapons, armor and a level 1 to 20 build.
• Best Feats for Barbarian - a deeper level-banded look at the feats summarized above.
• D&D 5e Class Guides - every class in the 2014 rules, compared.

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