2024 Barbarian vs. 2014 Barbarian: What’s New

Tags author-mike-bernier Player's Handbook

Everyone's favorite tank has been hitting the gym and is even more buff in the 2024 Player's Handbook. You'll find the new Barbarian is harder to take down, has a more persistent Rage, and is more strategic when it comes to trading off defense for offense.

In this article, we'll cover the key changes to the 2024 Barbarian you'll find in the new Player's Handbook. If there's a feature we don't cover, such as Extra Attack, it remains unchanged or only saw minor tweaks.

The 2024 Player’s Handbook is Now Available!

Buy the 2024 Player's Handbook today and dive into revised rules, enhanced character options, and exciting gameplay innovations.

Get your copy on the D&D Beyond marketplace and seamlessly integrate your new content with D&D Beyond's library of digital tools built to make D&D easier, so you can focus on the fun!

What's New for the 2024 Barbarian?

Class Feature

Level

What's New

Rage

1
  • In addition to making an attack roll against an enemy, Rage can be maintained by using a Bonus Action or by forcing an enemy to make a saving throw.
  • Regain one expended use of Rage after each Short Rest.

Weapon Mastery

1
  • Choose two Melee weapons. You gain use of their mastery properties.
  • May change your chosen weapons each Long Rest.
  • Gain access to more mastery properties as you level up.

Danger Sense

2
  • No longer need to see or hear effects to gain Advantage on Dexterity saving throws.

Reckless Attack

2
  • Reckless Attack now lasts until the start of your next turn, meaning it now works on Opportunity Attacks.

Barbarian Subclass

3
  • Path of the Berserker: Frenzy now deals extra damage instead of giving extra attacks and no longer provides Exhaustion.
  • Path of the Wild Heart: Choices are balanced and streamlined, and can be changed out each time you Rage or after a Long Rest.
  • Path of the World Tree (New): A whole new Barbarian subclass that draws power from the multiversal tree, Yggdrasil.
  • Path of the Zealot: Focus has been shifted to staying alive, rather than being easier to resurrect.

Primal Knowledge

3
  • Gain proficiency in a Barbarian skill of your choice.
  • Replace the typical ability score with Strength when making certain skill checks when your Rage is active.

Instinctive Pounce

7
  • Move up to half your Speed as part of the same Bonus Action you take to enter your Rage.

Brutal Strike (replaces Brutal Critical)

9
  • Trade off Advantage when using Reckless Attack to inflict more damage and a debuff when you hit.

Relentless Rage

11
  • When you drop to 0 Hit Points while your Rage is active, you can instead heal for a number of Hit Points equal to twice your Barbarian level.

Improved Brutal Strike

13
  • Get more options to inflict with your Brutal Strike feature

Persistent Rage

15
  • Once per Long Rest, regain all uses of Rage when you roll Initiative.

Improved Brutal Strike

17
  • Brutal Strike now deals 2d10 damage and you can use two different effects when you hit.

Indomitable Might

18
  • Now includes Strength saving throws.

Epic Boon

19
  • Recieve one of twelve Epic Boons or another feat.

Primal Champion

20
  • Your limit for Strength and Constitution is now 25.

2024 Barbarian Class Features Overview

Artist: Denman RookeA goliath barbarian hefting a greataxe.

Rage — Level 1

You can't be the Hulk of your adventuring party without a persistent, nigh uncontrollable Rage. The 2024 Player's Handbook makes it easy to keep your Rage rolling by allowing you to expend a Bonus Action to maintain your Rage. Your Rage is also extended if you force an enemy to make a saving throw.

Previously, you would have to make a weapon attack or take damage to continue raging, but if you're taking your turn to do something mundane, such as climbing a ladder, you don't want to have to expend another usage of Rage once you get to the top.

You now also regain one use of Rage when you finish a Short Rest, making it more likely you'll have this key Barbarian feature available when you roll Initiative.

Weapon Mastery — Level 1

Find more ways to crush, slash, and generally pulverize your enemies with the new Weapon Mastery feature! At level 1, you can choose two Simple or Martial Melee weapons and access their mastery properties. The number of mastery properties you can access at a given time increases as you level up, and they can be swapped out at the end of each Long Rest.

Just because we know how much Barbarians love chopping things up, let's look at the Greataxe and Handaxe mastery properties as examples:

  • Greataxe (Cleave): The only thing better than chopping one enemy in half is chopping two enemies in half! With Cleave, whenever you hit a creature, you can make a second attack at another creature within 5 feet of the original target and within your reach. If you hit, you deal your weapon's damage dice but not your ability score modifier unless it's negative (you do add your Rage bonus damage, though!)
  • Handaxe (Vex): The Handaxe's mastery property, Vex, makes it easier for you to land a follow up attack. When you hit a creature with a Handaxe, you'll have Advantage on the next attack roll you make against that creature before the end of your next turn.

Danger Sense — Level 2

The Barbarian's Spidey-Sense has been given a buff! Previously, you'd have to be able to hear or see a Fireball streaking toward you in order to get Advantage on your subsequent Dexterity saving throw. Now, you can dodge effectively even when Blinded or Deafened.

Barbarian Subclass — Level 3

Artist: Marcela MedeirosA drow barbarian smashing a foe with a warhammer.

Barbarian subclasses in the 2024 Player's Handbook include the Path of the Berserker, Path of the Wild Heart, Path of the World Tree, and Path of the Zealot. The Path of the World Tree is an entirely new subclass, while the rest got updated to improve gameplay.

  • Path of the Berserker: The biggest change to the Path of the Berserker is the adjustments to Frenzy. Now, instead of giving you an extra Bonus Action attack, you get additional damage on your first hit each turn when you're using Reckless Attack while your Rage is active. The extra damage is represented by a number of d6s equal to your Rage bonus damage. You also don't gain levels of Exhaustion for using this ability. Other than that, Intimidating Presence and Retaliation have swapped places; Intimidating Presence now takes a Bonus Action, it's limited to once per Long Rest (unless you expend a use of Rage to use it again), it affects multiple creatures, its Frightened condition lasts up to 1 minute without requiring an action to extend the duration, and the DC of the effect is based on your Strength instead of Charisma. Mindless Rage now also ends the Charmed or Frightened condition instead of suspending it.
  • Path of the Wild Heart (formerly Path of the Totem Warrior): The Path of the Wild Heart has seen some significant improvements to its flexibility. Now, you can change the animals that you draw primal power from more easily, and they've been balanced to make choosing feel more strategic. Instead of choosing an animal at level 3 and sticking with it through your campaign, you can swap out benefits from your level 3 and 14 abilities each time you Rage. The more passive abilities you gain at level 6 can be changed out whenever you finish a Long Rest.
  • Path of the World Tree (New): With this subclass, you can dish out Temporary Hit Points, shift enemies around the battlefield, increase your reach and the versatility of your Weapon Mastery properties, and, as the subclass's capstone, teleport around the battlefield with your allies.
  • Path of the Zealot: Originally introduced in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, this radiant subclass has had a glow-up. Its Warrior of the Gods feature now helps you stay alive by giving you a pool of healing dice you can roll as a Bonus Action, rather than making it easier to bring you back from the dead. This is also reflected in the Rage of the Gods feature, which replaces Rage Beyond Death and gives you a Fly Speed, damage resistances, and the ability to expend a use of your Rage to prevent you or one of your comrades from dropping to 0 Hit Points.

Primal Knowledge — Level 3

Make your Barbarian more useful when they're not crushing skulls! Primal Knowledge gives you an extra skill proficiency from the Barbarian's list. Also, while your Rage is active, whenever you make an ability check using one of these skills, you can make it as a Strength check even if it normally uses a different ability: Acrobatics, Intimidation, Perception, Stealth, or Survival.

This means that you can now fly into a Rage and use your fury to sneak into places, perceive things more easily, and do complex calisthenics. Talk about an all-terrain Rage!

Instinctive Pounce — Level 7

When you gain this ability, you can move up to half your Speed as part of the same Bonus Action you take to enter a Rage. This is an excellent way to ensure you're in the front ranks when you clash with enemy forces.

Brutal Strike — Level 9

This ability replaces the 2014 Barbarian's Brutal Critical in favor of a more strategic use of your Barbarian's resources. Using Brutal Strike, you can forgo the Advantage from your Reckless Attack feature on one Strength-based attack per turn to inflict more damage and impose a deleterious effect.

If you gamble correctly and still manage to hit with your attack, you get an extra 1d10 damage and can choose either:

  • Forceful Blow: Send your target flying 15 feet away from you, then you can follow up and move half your Speed towards your target without provoking Opportunity Attacks.
  • Hamstring Blow: Reduce your target's Speed by 15 feet until the start of your next turn. Despite (usually) having two hamstrings, a creature can only suffer from one Hamstring Blow at a time.

Both options can be incredibly useful in specific situations. Forceful Blow is great for sending enemies off cliffs or into environmental hazards (just maybe don't follow them in afterward). It can also be used to knock an enemy away from one of your less tanky party members.

Hamstring Blow, on the other hand, can be crucial for locking down fast targets and keeping them within reach until you can finish them off.

Who would've thought attacking with reckless abandon could be so strategic?

Relentless Rage — Level 11

We heard you liked tanky builds, so we made your tanky build even more tanky. Previously, when you succeeded in a Constitution saving throw after getting knocked to 0 Hit Points, this ability would bring you back up to 1 Hit Point.

Now, you regain a number of Hit Points equal to twice your Barbarian level. Seeing as you don't lose your Rage until you get Incapacitated, you effectively have twice that many Hit Points (thanks to damage resistances).

Tack on the fact that this continues to happen until you fail your Constitution saving throw after dropping to 0 Hit Points, and this means you could trigger this ability multiple times per Long Rest, resulting in dozens of extra Hit Points.

This will effectively make you the Black Knight from Monty Python, able to shrug off a normally fatal injury with a casual, "Tis but a scratch."

Improved Brutal Strike — Level 13

Get even more recklessly strategic! Now, you can choose from two additional options when you hit a creature using Brutal Strike:

  • Staggering Blow: Force your target to have Disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes and it can't make Opportunity Attacks until the start of your next turn. Perfect for diving out of the way and letting your Wizard light them up with a big spell.
  • Sundering Blow: If you have a martial buddy fighting alongside you, this is a great way to team up. When you hit a creature with this ability, the next attack made against it by another creature has +5 to hit.

Persistent Rage — Level 15

Previously, this feature made the Barbarian's Rage impossible to end early, short of knocking them Unconscious. In the updated version, you still get these benefits, and your Rage lasts for 10 minutes, without you needing to extend it in any way.

If that wasn't enough, you can now regain all uses of Rage when you roll Initiative. This only triggers once per Long Rest, but a full 50 minutes of Raging should get you to the next time you're able to kick your feet up and relax.

Improved Brutal Strike — Level 17

This improvement to your Brutal Strike doubles the damage dealt from 1d10 to 2d10 and also allows you to inflict two different Brutal Strike effects each time you hit.

This allows you to combo effects, like sending an enemy flying into a Blade Barrier with Disadvantage on their Dexterity saving throw. Or, perhaps you hit a creature with a thrown Handaxe and use Forceful Blow to send them 15 feet away and Hamstring Blow to reduce their Speed by 15 feet. Then, step back a couple of feet and ready your next Handaxe.

Epic Boon — Level 19

Epic Boons are a new type of feat introduced in the revised core ruleset and that are level-locked. At level 19, the Barbarian gets their choice of one of the twelve Epic Boon feats found in the 2024 Player's Handbook.

The following Epic Boon is a recommended option for the Barbarian:

  • Boon of Irresistible Offense: This boon of epic proportions starts by allowing you to increase your Strength or Dexterity by 1 up to a maximum of 30. You also get the ability to overcome resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage with your attacks. Finally, when you roll a 20 on the die for an attack roll, you get to deal damage equal to the ability score that you used to make the attack. Which will likely be at least 25 when you gain access to Primal Champion at level 20. Now that's a Critical Hit!

Get Your Rage On

The 2024 Player's Handbook is now available on the D&D Beyond marketplace, which means it's time to set out on new adventures with fresh or familiar characters!

The Barbarian in the new Player's Handbook is even more tanky, Rage-y, and has a lot more strategic choices to make in combat thanks to Weapon Mastery and Brutal Strike. Now, every turn will be a dangerous dance where you'll have to decide what course of action is optimal. Or, you could just Reckless Attack and Cleave through your enemies until you've turned the battlefield into a graveyard.

We’re delighted to share with you the changes to fifth edition D&D that appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Make sure to keep an eye out on D&D Beyond for more useful guides on using the wealth of new options, rules, and mechanics found in the 2024 Player's Handbook!

 

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Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his partner, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.

This article was updated on August 12, 2024, to issue corrections or expand coverage for the following features and subclasses:

  • Rage: Clarified that you can still maintain Rage by making an attack roll against an enemy.
  • Weapon Mastery: Clarified that Greataxe and Handaxe aren't suggestions; They are examples. Also added that you don't add your ability score modifier unless it's negative to the Cleave property.
  • Reckless Attack: Added that the Advantage granted by Reckless Attack now lasts until the start of your next turn.
  • Barbarian Subclass (Path of the Berserker): Expanded coverage on Intimidating Presence and clarified that this subclass' extra damage only triggers when you're using Reckless Attack and your Rage is active.
  • Barbarian Subclass (Path of the Zealot): Clarified that the Revivification benefit in Rage of the Gods can only affect one creature at a time.
  • Primal Knowledge: Removed unclear wording.
  • Feral Instinct: Removed reference to surprise as the rules for Initiative and surprise have changed, obviating the old benefit.
  • Brutal Strike: Removed mistake stating you could forgo any Advantage to activate Brutal Strike. Only the Advantage granted by Reckless Attack can be used to activate this feature.
  • Relentless Rage: Clarified that you regain Hit Points equal to twice your Barbarian level.
  • Persistent Rage: Removed error that stated you could only use this benefit if you have no uses of Rage left. Also made clear that it is optional to activate.
  • Improved Brutal Strike: Removed unclear wording.

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