Beast Barbarian Build Guide – Unlock Nature’s Power – 2024 Update

For all D&D guides on Nat1gaming, they only use the main sourcebooks (2024 Player’s Handbook, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) as well as Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos (mostly for Silvery Barbs) as those tend to be the most commonly used books at tables. Always be sure that if you’re following a guide that you’re adhering to your tables rules about what sourcebooks you are allowed to follow. Furthermore, be sure that you’re using the most current edition of the rules, especially as some 2024 Player’s Handbook rules are updates on Tasha’s or Xanathar’s rulings.

Any spell, class, feature, or other game item that is linkable on this website is covered by the 5th edition Open Games License and will be in the Player’s Handbook, but not everything in the Player’s Handbook will be linked to. All other materials that aren’t linked to are from other sourcebooks or aren’t allowed to be linked to per the 5th Edition Open Games License, so please refer to the appropriate sourcebooks for that information.

For the purposes of this guide, it will be assumed that you would not be multiclassing. While multiclassing can be excellent for many of these, this is for those who want to play the build all the way through in the same class. Guides that use multiclassing will be separate from these.

Are you looking for the ferocity of a beast, but not looking to be a Wild Shaping Druid? Then look no further than Beast Barbarian. While it is, admittedly, one of the weaker Barbarian subclasses, you get a lot of choices in how you want to play with the Beast Barbarian as both your third level and sixth level features are modular making for a surprisingly thoughtful play experience in a class generally thought of as brainless!

Form of the Beast (Level 3) – C+ Tier – This is a solid ability as you have some versatility in how you fight, but this does not scale particularly well as you progress into later levels. This only really becomes an issue once you pass level 10, but will still be a bit of a pain until then.

Bestial Soul (Level 6) – C- Tier – This ability is pretty good for travel and it can be useful in combat, but this is really just an ability for traveling.

Infectious Fury (Level 10) – C Tier – This can be powerful if the enemy fails their saving throw, but that’s a big if most of the time.

Call the Hunt (Level 14) – B- Tier – Getting temporary health and a global damage buff is solid, especially as you can functionally get this every fight, but both halves of this are so small that the benefits can feel somewhat marginal.

Species: Goliath (Hill Giant)

Attributes:

Class: Barbarian

Class Features: Rage, Unarmored Defense

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics and Perception

Background: Farmer (Tough)

Starting Equipment: Greataxe, 4 Handaxes, Explorer’s Pack, and 15gp + 50gp from background

Species: Goliath (Hill Giant)

For any martial character, it’s hard to justify not going for Goliath as the Hill Giant topple is so incredibly good to get advantage on attacks. There are other solid options for species as well like Human for an additional origin feat or Aasimar as they are just generally strong, but Goliath is generally going to be my choice.

Attributes

Barbarians are always going to prioritize Strength and Constitution so they are the ones who get the buff. Barbarians also only need 14 DEX as, as tempting as it is to stick with unarmored defense, Medium Armor is going to be better most of the time.

Proficiencies – Athletics and Perception

The classic proficiency choices for Barbarians.

Background – Farmer

While I would’ve preferred getting a background with Alert, but getting additional Strength and Constitution is very important for Barbarians. That being said, Tough is still an excellent feat for Barbarians and will help you stay alive in the face of your lower average AC compared to other martial characters.

Starting Equipment – Greataxe, 4 Handaxes, Explorer’s Pack, and 15gp + 50gp from background

Super standard Barbarian equipment, truly nothing novel here.

Starting Class – Barbarian

Barbarians come with three inherent features that is emblematic of Barbarians in general – Rage, Unarmored Defense, and Weapon Mastery.

Rage is a bonus action activated ability that gives you a big boon in combat a few times a day (that will incrementally climb as you level up). While Raging, you have advantage on all Strength checks and saving throws, you gain bonuses to your Weapon damage, and you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. You can maintain this powerful state for 10 minutes as long as you keep attacking, force an enemy to make a saving throw, or you use your bonus action to actively maintain it. You start with 2 Rage charges per day, but once per day after a short rest, you get one charge back which is a nice change from 5e. An absolutely excellent ability overall.

Unarmored Defense is easy, your AC is 10 + CON modifier + DEX modifier. So for level 1, your AC will be 15 which is solid, but nothing special.

Weapon Masteries are the new feature coming in One D&D that gives you a weapon’s mastery property when you select it. I would pick Greataxe and Javelin initially, but you should change them as you find new weapons.

Level 2

Class Features: Danger Sense, Reckless Attack

Equipment: Try to pick up some Medium Armor at this point or sometime soon, Scale Mail being your cheapest option.

Now you have access to Danger Sense and Reckless Attack!

It’s hard to know how often Danger Sense will come into play, but it is an excellent class feature as traps can be very dangerous in lower levels.

Reckless Attack is a mixed bag as giving yourself advantage on attacks for a turn at the cost of everyone having advantage on attacks against you can be a scary tradeoff. While this is definitely risky when there’s a lot of enemies or you aren’t raging, this is a strong feature when you just care about maximizing your damage, especially after you get your Extra Attack!

Level 3

Subclass: Beast

Class Features: Form of the Beast, Primal Knowledge

Now that you get your subclass, you get a new subclass ability to work with as well as a base class ability.

You get a pretty unique feature with Form of the Beast which gives you a new attack option every time you Rage.

Bite is an alright attack option that gets you a smidge of healing, but is likely the weakest of the options as the healing is pretty pitiful, even at lower levels.

Claws is what you’re going to be using most of the time as it’s functionally the best base one handed weapon in the game with a second free attack once per turn, but of course, these don’t scale so they’ll be harder to use in later levels, but your 10th level ability makes these a bit more tenable.

The Tail is the final choice that’s a solid reach weapon that can make solid use of your reaction to give a little bit more AC for an attack. This ability is decent early, but does get worse as levels progress where more attacks are common or in fights with a lot of smaller enemies. That said, once you stop using your Claws when you presumably find a better weapon, this will likely be your main choice.

For your base class feature, Primal Knowledge gives you more proficiencies from the base Barbarian class, and this is a solid time to pick up Intimidation, but it’s really up to you what you want at this point.

Level 4

Feat: Mage Slayer (STR)

While the typical Barbarian would be interested in Great Weapon Master, since you may still be using your Claws quite often, you can delay (or even skip) that and instead pick up Mage Slayer! This is definitely earlier than I would normally pick Mage Slayer, but being able to disrupt spellcasters and functionally gain a Legendary Resistance is good no matter the level, even if you don’t use it much at first.

Level 5

Class Features: Extra Attack, Fast Movement

Extra Attack and Fast Movement are huge for this class!

Extra Attack literally doubles your potential damage and is the best feature that any martial class could pick up.

Fast Movement is a nice movement boost to help you navigate the battlefield, something martial characters would always be happy to have.

Level 6

Class Feature: Bestial Soul

While none of these features are the most impactful, you’d still take free abilities! The swimming and climbing speed can both be helpful if you’re traversing long-ish distances, but it’s obviously not helpful in combat. The jump distance increase is extremely unique and can help you traverse battlefields in unique ways, but generally your increased movement speed is going to fulfill the exact same purpose since Jump distance eats your movement anyway.

All neat, none high impact, yet all can be helpful.

Level 7

Class Features: Feral Instinct, Instinctive Pounce

Advantage on Initiative rolls!? Unreal! Being able to go earlier in the turn order is naturally incredible, but it’s even better on this subclass than normal! Getting to go before an opponent who may attack one of your squishier party members to intercept them and potentially lock them down is incredibly strong.

If you use the Instinctive Pounce optional ruling, you get a nice movement speed buff on turns you Rage. Not super important for this class, but it’s good to have!

Level 8

Feat: STR to 20

Most of the other Barbarian builds would be looking to take two more Strength feats, but since you’re going to be pretty interested in sticking with your Claws, you can just skip right to the part where you get the +5 Strength modifier! This is better in a general sense as, whether you’re using natural weapons or not, you’re getting a sizable bonus when you pick this.

Level 9

Class Features: Brutal Strike

Reworked from Brutal Critical, Brutal Strike is a nice ability that lets you trade advantage on an attack (perfect for your Reckless Attack or when you knock your enemy prone with your species ability) for extra damage, the ability to push an enemy 15 feet and follow them, or to reduce their speed by 15 feet for the turn. This gives the Barbarian surprisingly decent CC options on top of just getting extra damage by sacrificing accuracy, which is reminiscent of the old Great Weapon Master. Overall, this is a great ability that you’ll use often, especially on enemies with a lower AC.

Level 10

Class Features: Infectious Fury, Primal Knowledge – Survival

This ability is super weird, but pretty powerful when it works out. Forcing the target to hit someone or just hitting them with a flat amount of near-irresistible damage is pretty solid, though you’re limited in how often you can use this. Since you’ll be using Claws often, that’s four potential hits and four potential chances per turn to get this to work. Nothing earth-shattering, but it’s definitely solid.

You also get your second round of Primal Knowledge, and if you don’t have a strong opinion, I would just pick Survival.

Level 11

Class Features: Relentless Rage

One of the strongest abilities not just for Barbarians, but just in general, Relentless Rage lets you keep fighting even when you were supposed to go unconscious by passing an ever increasing Constitution saving throw. While you used to just stay at 1 health, you now heal twice your Barbarian level instead making it less likely that everything that hits you just forces this save again making what was one of the strongest Barbarian abilities even better!

Level 12

Feat: Constitution to 18

While a bit boring, your Infectious Fury DC works partly off your CON modifier, and since you’d never say no to more health, this is the pick for this level.

Level 13

Class Features: Improved Brutal Strike

You get new options to use on your Brutal Strike – Stagger and Sunder. Stagger gives enemies disadvantage on their next saving throw as well as robbing them of opportunity attacks for the turn which can be absolutely devastating when you have an ally ready to blast them with some potent CC. Sunder, on the other hand, gives an attack against that enemy +5 until the beginning of your next turn. While you could use this to set up your next attack (that you just gave up your Advantage to do which is a little counterintuitive), this is good to help an ally connect if they have a strong attack you really want them to connect with.

Level 14

Class Features: Call of the Hunt

Level 14 brings your subclass capstone ability – Call of the Hunt!

While not the most high impact feature for the 14th level jump, this is still pretty great. Temp HP and giving allies additional damage each time you Rage is both unique and can quickly add up, especially in larger parties.

Level 15

Class Features: Persistent Rage

Do you find yourself running out of Rage charges often? Now with Persistent Rage, that’s less of a problem! Once per day when you enter a combat, you get all instances of Rage back. This is really good as it sucks having to fight without your Rage and also lets you use your Intimidating Presence more as you’re less afraid of accidentally running out of Rage!

Level 16

Feat: Constitution to 20

Once again, a bit boring, but maxing out your health is still really good, even if you can’t get feats to do it instead.

Level 17

Class Features: Improved Brutal Strike

Your final improvement to Brutal Strike – the extra damage is now doubled and you can use two Brutal Strike effects simultaneously. Obviously, this is very strong as doubling the output of an already strong ability will be good.

Level 18

Class Features: Indomitable Might

Indomitable Might is a weird class ability as Strength checks and saving throws are pretty rare, but not being able to roll less than a 20 on them is nice for what it’s worth.

Level 19

Epic Boon: Boon of Combat Prowess (STR)

Especially since you may be giving up accuracy for more damage, being able to turn a missed attack into a hit is extremely powerful and will let you get all those additional effects that your Brutal Strike affords you. This Boon is an absolute necessity for Barbarians if not just for every martial class.

Level 20

Class Features: Primal Champion

While it’s tempting to multiclass into Fighter for a few levels to get a Fighting Style and Action Surge, Primal Champion is a compelling reason not to. This is equivalent to FOUR ability score improvements which is a tremendous boost. Get that incredible strength and constitution.