How to switch weapons as a Barbarian in Diablo 4

How to switch weapons as a Barbarian in Diablo 4
Images via Blizzard Entertainment

Last updated 

29th Mar 2024 13:52

The Barbarian is one of Diablo 4's five different class types, and they have a unique ability that others don't: switching your weapon mid-fight. Unlike its predecessors, dictating what specific weapons your Barbarian will use in the game is a rather intricate process.

So if you've found yourself frustrated in Diablo 4, pressing all of the buttons and clicking your mouse to try and switch your Barbarian's weapons mid-battle, here's what you need to know if you're on PC or console.

Switching weapons as a Barbarian on PC, PlayStation & Xbox

The way you switch weapons, especially as a Barbarian, can be confusing as there is no key dedicated to swapping weapons manually regardless of whether you're on PC, PlayStation, or Xbox.

Instead, the particular skills you use as a Barbarian will largely determine what weapon (or weapons) you can use in battle.

How to switch weapons on PC

If you want to manually choose which weapons your Barbarian uses for each skill on PC, open the Abilities tab.

  • In the Skill Tree, you can then hover over any of your eligible unlocked skills and press the middle mouse button to cycle between your applicable weapons
  • You can do this for any and all Barbarian skills that allow for different types of weapons

Switching weapons on console with a controller

  • To switch weapons as a Barbarian on PlayStation and Xbox (or with a controller on PC), you'll want to open your Abilities tab in the Character Menu
  • Next, press the left analog stick in on the skill you want to customise
  • After that, it's simply a case of pressing 'X' to cycle through the eligible weapons and selecting which type of weapon(s) to use with that skill

Image of a Barbarian skill
Click to enlarge

How many weapons can a Barbarian equip?

Barbarians can equip themselves with four different weapons at once. In their inventory, there is a slot dedicated to two-handed bludgeoning weapons, two slots devoted to dual-wieldable one-handed weapons, and another slot dedicated to two-handed slashing weapons.

Different Barbarian skills have different weapon requirements. For example, Frenzy requires dual-wielded weapons. Because of this, your Barbarian will automatically pull out their dual-wielded weapons when you activate Frenzy.

If a skill is labelled as requiring any complete arsenal weapon, that means that two-handed bludgeoning weapons, dual-wieldable one-handed weapons, and two-handed slashing weapons are all fitting to use with that skill. By default, your Barbarian will use the weapon best suited for the job.

However, you can manually select which weapons you want your Barbarian to switch to when using specific skills.

Coleman Hamstead
About the author
Coleman Hamstead
Coleman is a freelance journalist at GGRecon. While gaming has always been his passion, it wasn’t until he worked as a Sports Journalist at the Community College of Baltimore County that he found his enthusiasm for writing. In the time since Coleman has had his work featured in publications such as The Washington Post/Launcher and ESTNN. Coleman is a graduate of Towson University with a degree in Sport Management and Business Administration.
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