Wild Heart Barbarian Build Guide – The Ultimate Tank – 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.

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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.

One of the most iconic builds of Barbarian, Wildheart (formerly Path of the Totem Warrior) makes it so that killing you is dang near impossible in the right build. While the traditional way to build this is to be a heavy damage dealer that also tanks, with the flexibility offered by the class, you have a lot of say in what you Barbarian will be able to do versus other classes where those decisions are functionally made for you.

That said, the most popular way to play this is tank, and for good reason, as this class absolutely excels at it!

Animal Speaker (Level 3) – C+ Tier – This is a bit niche, but definitely a solid ability.

Rage of the Wilds (Level 3) – A+ Tier – This is a really good ability and is even better than the 2014 version was. While Bear still reigns supreme, Wolf and Eagle are very reasonable options as well.

Aspect of the Wilds (Level 6) – C Tier – Being able to switch between having Darkvision, being a good swimmer, or being a good climber is some solid utility.

Nature Speaker (Level 10) – C- Tier – Commune with Nature is a decent spell, but you may have trouble using this effectively.

Power of the Wilds (Level 14) – A Tier – This is nearly (or just as) good as your initial Rage of the Wilds as all of your options are quite strong.

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: Wildheart

Class Features: Animal Speaker, Rage of the Wilds, Primal Knowledge – Intimidation

With Wildheart, you get two abilities right off the bat as well as a base class ability!

Your first ability is simply getting access to Beast Sense and Speak With Animals. This is probably a bit better than it looks, but probably not by much as you’re unlikely to use these often.

The second ability, and the reason anyone picks this subclass, is Rage of the Wilds. You get to pick between three different animal spirits to empower you when you Rage, all with very different abilities.

Bear gives you resistance to nearly all damage types, the most emblematic of these abilities and likely still the strongest.

Eagle allows you to both Dash and Disengage as a Bonus Action while raging which is really good when you need to be really mobile on the battlefield, which is nice in general, but not something you’ll absolutely need too often.

Finally, you have Wolf which gives all allies advantage against any attack they make on a target that’s within 5 feet of you, a really good ability for a team player.

While I still envision Bear being the most popular option, Wolf now allows all attacks to be made at advantage rather than melee attacks makes that a pretty tempting option, especially if you don’t have too many pure casters on your team.

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: Great Weapon Master (STR)

For your first Feat choice, there’s no better option for the average Barbarian than Great Weapon Master. While this feat isn’t as strong as it used to be, this is still an excellent feat that will tack on a lot of extra damage over the course of your Barbarian career between the implicit extra damage and the relatively common bonus action attack that Great Weapon Master affords you.

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: Aspect of the Beast

Rather than more abilities when you enter Rage, Aspect of the Beast gives you a nice passive ability every long rest that you can exchange between three options: Owl. Panther, or Salmon.

The Owl grants or extends Darkvision which can be helpful, but probably unnecessary for any species that already has Darkvision, but that said, Panther just gives you a better climb speed, and Salmon gives a better swim speed. Realistically, none of these abilities are particularly high impact, so in a vacuum, I would probably pick Owl to be extra perceptive at night, but if you are going to be traveling without a carriage or teleportation, Panther can be helpful as well.

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: Mage Slayer (STR)

You now have the very difficult decision on whether you want to push your Strength to 20 immediately or look to take two feats to get 20 Strength by level 12. While there are really good arguments for either, I think getting two feats is a bit better, especially when your other attributes aren’t in a hurry to get increased.

That said, the next feat you’re interested in taking is Mage Slayer. At this level, enemies that use magic are going to become more common so having a feat specifically to counter them is definitely welcome. Make it tough to concentrate on their casting, and if they happen to catch you in a nasty spell, you’re allowed to say no once per day!

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: Nature Speaker, Primal Knowledge – Survival

To continue the working with animal themes, you get access to Commune with Nature. How good this is can be largely dependent on your DM and how often you’re treading into new territory, but it’s not a terrible feature.

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: Sentinel (STR)

Whether you’re normally choosing Bear or Wolf when you Rage, you want to keep enemies near you, and Sentinel is really good at making that happen. Being able to tank a bunch of damage while simultaneously stopping an enemy from moving away from you is a brutal combination that your allies will be eternally thankful for. Best yet, this gives you the Strength boost needed to get you to 20 and the coveted +5 modifier!

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: Power of the Wilds

Level 14 brings your subclass capstone ability – Power of the Wilds!

This is a functional upgrade to your Rage of the Wilds as now you get three more potential buffs when you enter rage: Falcon, Lion, or Ram.

Falcon lets you fly, but you have to be unarmored which means this build probably won’t be picking this often if at all. Lion gives enemies disadvantage if they’re attacking someone who isn’t you, a great pairing with Bear. Finally, Ram lets you knock enemies prone when you hit them with a melee attack which is obviously just a great ability in general. While not being able to pick Falcon most of the time is a bit of a bummer, both Lion and Ram will be really strong choices for pretty much any encounter.

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 18

Since this is your final feat, it’s best to just bump up your Constitution for extra health. Make it that much harder to kill you and make your Relentless Rage checks a bit easier to pass!

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.