Through years of nurturing your anger and passion, you’ve become a master of the front lines. Your battlefield presence demands your enemy’s attention, and you can take a beating that would have killed your wizard friend three times over.
Still, sometimes you may need a little help.
Below, you’ll find 10 of the best magic items in fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons for the barbarian. Any items you see that you don’t own can be purchased from the D&D Beyond marketplace, or shared by a Dungeon Master or friend with a Master-tier subscription.
- Amulet of health
- Amulet of the drunkard
- Animated shield
- Belt of giant strength
- Crystal blade
- Dancing sword
- Javelin of lightning
- Periapt of wound closure
- Ring of evasion
- Ring of free action
Dungeon Masters’ discretion
Some or all of these items may be unavailable in your campaign. Discuss interest in magic items with your DM, but keep in mind that they may not grant certain requests for a variety of good reasons.
Top 10 magic items for barbarians
1. Amulet of health
Wondrous Item, rare (requires attunement)
The amulet of health is one of two entries on this list that are widely considered staple or classic barbarian items. And not unreasonably so: The amulet of health sets your Constitution score to 19, which could provide an immediate boost to your hit points. While anybody can appreciate a high Constitution, only the barbarian adds their Constitution modifier to their AC while unarmored.
If you’re torn between whether to increase your Strength or Constitution for your next ASI, this item can cover one of those bases for you. And as we’ll see later, another item can increase your Strength score, which could allow you to select some powerful feat combinations for your next ASIs instead.
2. Amulet of the drunkard
Wondrous Item, uncommon
Not every barbarian will strut into pubs ordering ale by the barrel. But if yours does, then the day they discover this amulet might be the best day of their life. The amulet of the drunkard restores the same number of hit points as a potion of greater healing, it recharges every day, it doesn’t require attunement, and it’s fun!
Barbarians deserve goofy roleplay items, too, and this one has more potential than most.
3. Animated shield
Armor (shield), very rare (requires attunement)
Many barbarians eschew a shield, preferring to use both hands for offense. While everybody likes a higher AC, it’s perfectly understandable if your barbarian is unwilling to part with their greatsword to achieve it.
The animated shield can help here, especially if you frequently attack recklessly or dive into mobs of enemies. With this item, you can benefit from a shield’s normal +2 to AC while keeping both hands free for a two-handed weapon.
Admittedly, there are often cheaper, more accessible ways to gain a defensive boost while keeping both hands free, but the animated shield is simply one of the most enjoyable and flavorful. If you’re looking for less epic defensive items for your barbarian, there may be bracers, stones, rings, or cloaks available.
4. Belt of giant strength
Wondrous Item, varies (requires attunement)
A classic’s a classic, and often for good reason. No less so for the belts of giant strength, a series of progressively powerful items that can take your Strength score all the way up to 29. (Look to the gauntlets of ogre power for a comparable alternative at the uncommon rarity.)
This entry is rather straightforward: Your barbarian is almost certainly using Strength for its weapon attacks, and these belts will allow them to punt a troll like a football. Enjoy!
5. Crystal blade
Weapon (any sword), rare (requires attunement)
Introduced in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, the crystal blade is something of a jack-of-all-trades—a little healing, a little extra damage, a little utility—making it an effective tool to round out your barbarian’s capabilities. The crystal blade deals 1d8 extra radiant damage on a hit, and you can expend one of its three charges to regain hit points equal to the radiant damage dealt. Barbarians without darkvision will also appreciate the sword’s ability to shed either bright or dim light.
The crystal blade might not make sense for a specialist, but if you’d like your barbarian to be a little more versatile without sacrificing what they’re good at, a crystal blade should help!
6. Dancing sword
Weapon (any sword), very rare (requires attunement)
It’s a spiritual weapon! It’s a blade of disaster! It’s … a dancing sword?
The dancing sword will quickly become your barbarian’s favorite toy. Using a bonus action, this sword can fly up to 30 feet and attack an opponent once per round for up to four rounds before trying to return to your hand. The dancing sword will use your attack roll and ability score modifiers, but keep in mind that because the sword is making the attack and not the barbarian, you will not be able to apply an ability such as the Great Weapon Master feat.
The only thing my barbarian (Barbara) would love more than a greatsword is two greatswords, and the only thing she’d rather do than attack twice on her turn … is attack three times on her turn.
If your barbarian sees an opportunity to grab one of these, don't let it dance away from them.
7. Javelin of lightning
Weapon (javelin), uncommon
Barbarians don’t generally focus on ranged attacks, since their rage only provides a damage bonus to melee weapon attacks. However, sometimes monsters simply do not provide you with much choice. Keep a couple javelins of lightning on you for a strong ranged option when circumstances demand.
If you're nervous about the javelin missing and not dealing damage on your turn, use the javelin’s lightning bolt ability. With it, you are guaranteed to deal damage—half of 4d6 on a successful save—even if the nearest enemy is 120 feet away.
8. Periapt of wound closure
Wondrous Item, uncommon (requires attunement)
You may have the most hit points in your party, but one day you’re going to fall in battle. However, being knocked unconscious doesn't have to lead to death, not with the periapt of wound closure. If you are dying at the start of your turn, this pendant will immediately stabilize you. No death saving throws, just a patient wait for someone to throw some healing your way, or perhaps a little nap.
Potentially even more useful for the barbarian, however, is the periapt’s second ability: Whenever you roll a Hit Die to regain hit points, double the number of hit points it restores. As the class with the largest Hit Dice in the game, spoil your barbarian with “critical short rests” and let them heal for double.
9. Ring of evasion
Ring, rare (requires attunement)
The ring of evasion provides its bearer with the ability to declare a success on an otherwise failed Dexterity saving throw. I highly recommend parties give this item to their barbarian if they come across one, because the ring of evasion compensates for a defensive gap that probably comes up for your barbarian quite frequently. This single item could allow you to avoid damage from the trap when you’re leading the party through a dungeon, your sorcerer’s friendly fireball when you’re in the middle of a horde, and an enemy's disintegrate—all in one day.
10. Ring of free action
Ring, rare (requires attunement)
What’s the worst thing that happens to your barbarian? Oh, being charmed or dominated. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, is the second worst thing being paralyzed or restrained? Then I have the item for you!
While wearing the ring of free action, difficult terrain doesn’t cost you extra movement and magic can neither paralyze nor restrain you, nor can it lower your speed. If the lich paralyzed half the party on your first meeting, perhaps you can come to the next encounter better prepared.
Creating a barbarian
Grab a greataxe and let’s roll some dice! Jump into D&D Beyond’s character builder, throw on the "Create Amazing Characters in Minutes" video (found below), and pick a dump stat, because it’s time to build a barbarian.
Damen Cook (@damen_joseph) is a lifelong fantasy reader, writer, and gamer. If he woke up tomorrow in Faerun, he would bolt through the nearest fey crossing and drink from every stream and eat fruit from every tree in the Feywild until he found that sweet, sweet wild magic.
Just… no? The number one magic item for barbarians is winged boots, and its not even close. At higher levels of play flight is indispensable for a class that relies so heavily on melee attacks. Also most of these items play to areas where a barbarian is already strong, which is just, well dumb. A barbarian at character creation will have at least a 16 strength, and probably a 16 constitution. Improving that to a 19 will give you a +1 modifier to both stats for two attunement slots. item’s like that are much better for a character that is MAD and is stuck with a 12 or 14 constitution. Or for a character that has INT as a dump stat but proficiency in investigation or similar (referring to the circlet of intellect). I don’t know in what world a +1 to STR (most likely what you would get, no matter if we’re talking Gauntlets of Ogre Power or a belt of Hill Giant strength later in the game) is worth more than permanent flight (which you couldn’t), but it sure as hell ain’t the one my players are playing in.
There are a couple of items really suited to a barbarian (the ring of free action mainly, but the periapt of wound closure is amazing on a zealot barbarian at high levels due to the synergy with rage beyond death), but most of them… I mean really? A dancing sword isn’t increasing your efficiency in combat if you’ve made sure to find things to use your bonus action on anyways (a GWM PAM bonus action attack will be similar in overall damage output, and there are so many other ways of getting meaningful bonus actions) unless it’s against flying enemies. In which case… wouldn’t it be smarter to fly yourself?
seriously dnd beyond, if you’re going to give player advice, have it come from people whose profession is giving player advice. Ask Treantmonk, Colby or any of the other million people who make a living off of build advice for players.
I won’t apologise for the rant, because a lot of these item suggestions will basically trap new players into asking their dm for items or looking for items in game that will end up being disappointments for them, when they could have had items that made an actual impact on their characters capabilities.
And even if you did get a belt of hill giant strength later in the game, you’d probably never see a modifier increase more than +1. It’s not a good item suggestion, because if a DM follows the guidelines for granting magic items the increase in ability score is just never going to be as meaningful as other magic items could be. This item series generally falls into a category of either ‘broken’ if your DM gives it to you early or, even worse, at character creation, or pointless, if your character receives magic items as suggested in the DMG. That is for characters that utilise the stat increased as a main ability score. They can be really good for boosting secondary ability scores.
I love these list articles and as always feel like I learn a lot from them. My barbarian, Apto, was in dire need of the Ring of Free Action but definitely could have benefited from several of these. (He did have the Ring of Evasion, by the way, and it saved him a few times.) I enjoy playing barbarians for many reasons; these items make a beloved class more versatile. Thank you!!
The Javelin of lightning is now almost correct - the only caveat is that if the closest enemy is at 120 feet, then you cannot aim anyone behind them (because they would be out of range), thus the damage is not guaranteed, because the lightning damage (that still deals half on a successful save) does not affect you and the target.
So the only way it guarantees to deal damage, if you have two enemies in a line, both within 120 feet, and the closer one is not immune to lightning damage. Apart from that, spot on! :)
I opened this post hoping for an April Fools article.
Wisdom isn't that important for barbarians. I think your talking about monks.
Bracers of Defence are also a must-have for any character with Unarmored Defence
For monks, no doubt. But barbarians can use a shield with thier Unarmored Defense, so it depends on what else you have in the mix.
Why would you not use a item empowered by the gods to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women?
This is a very good list. As someone that mains a barbarian ill have to keep an eye out for some of these awesome items!
Nice info
try the path of the Viking homebrew. its amazing
Great article
Some items that definitely deserve to be on this list:
Eagle Whistle: Flight speed equal to double your land speed. No attunement, no action to activate. This thing is nutty on a frontliner and means you don't get instantly dunked on by flying enemies.
+X Weapon: Don't forget the classics, even if they're boring. A bonus to hit gets even better when you have GWM, and barbs should definitely have GWM.
Mantle of Spell Resistance: Excellent defensive item, especially as you climb into higher tiers.
Butcher's Bib: Alongside Reckless and GWM, this helps output so much damage. Huge offensive upgrade for barbs.
Cloak of displacement to offset rage penalties is nice.
The problem with the animated shield is that it only lasts for a minute, and uses a bonus action to activate, so for a Barbarian specifically it's going to conflict heavily with Rage; which do you activate first? Is it worth it when you won't have both active until the 2nd round?
Since your attunement slots are limited I think it's better to try and get bracers of defense, cloak of protection, and/or ring of protection as these provide always-on benefits that are going to be superior overall.
I don't disagree with you there, Haravikk. The section on the animated shield does recommend the bracers and ring of protection as potentially "better" alternatives mechanically and freely admits that the Animated Shield made the list instead of those items (and the Cloak of Displacement) simply because I think it's more fun and flavorful to use! If you interpret "best" through a mechanical lens, I agree that bracers or cloaks might be preferable.
Of course, there's always your homebrew collection for homebrew things (as long as you have a subscription), but for official content you can get the dndbeyond app and bookmark practically anything.
The biggest issue I've found with barbs was their inability to get into the action when a creature is flying or has quick movement like a teleport. The buff to con and strength items are good and all but its just buffing something you're already good at. The best items I've found are ones that can help with those things the barb lacks. Like a broom of flying or winged boots to help that character chase down that pesky dragon that wont land. Or maybe find yourself an artificer that can make you a returning weapon to help you hit that mage that keeps teleporting around the battlefield.
thanks for that advice