I want to make a hardcore barb to magic find eventually trav. i want to make it now so i can prepare for next reset and start off as a barb and try to magic find myself starting off without buying tons of gear for it. Is there a guide somewhere that shows if i need to start as singer and farm certain areas and then what i need to build or find to switch to maybe a throw barb or beserk barb etc with where to magic find? any input would be awesome! ty.

Starting barb is super hard. As it’s so weapon dependent.


Most start with sorc to get an oath made. Then you can barb

Level as a singer and do nightmare trav a few hundred times to get used to moving your merc around.

Singer until you can buy/make grief then switch to zerk. Your mercs gear matters more than yours if you go singer.

Hustle in a helmet for the fire resist/absorb is huge for helping him live in hydras but you'll need to make up for the life leech somewhere else

This post was edited by treehead01 on Apr 8 2026 01:11pm

Double swing has always got me through normal pretty easy.
For NM it really depends on what drops along the way. If you don't have good leech or a decent weapon you will want to shield up and go zerk or whirlwind to get through.
You can level quickly at pindleskin by killing over and over to level.
Some easy gear to get that can boost you through at lower level are items like duress armor, GFace, string of ears, headstriker, butchers pupil, duriels shell, oath, ravenfrost etc. All of these items are level 50 and below.

I’ve done barb starts before, and with a little practice it can pay off very fast… I play hardcore

You just gotta know some of the stepping stones… butchers pupil, head striker, passion, oath , etc etc

Oath isn’t a day1 item, but an oath is very easy to obtain on season starter and basically unlocks all of hell for a zerk barb. It’s my main targeted item any time I run zerk season starter…

Also very easy to find private groups if you have BO