DnD 2024 Barbarian Class Guide

Introduction

Barbarians in DnD 5e’s 2024 rules are durable martial threats that thrive on reckless, aggressive tactics. They channel a primal rage to empower themselves both in and out of combat. Barbarians can be a lot of fun to play, and, with simple tactics and easy resource management, they’re also easy to play successfully.

In an adventuring party, the Barbarian is a capable Defender and Striker, absorbing a lot of damage and dealing a lot in kind. With Weapon Mastery and Brutal Strike, the Barbarian can also add some Controller options, allowing them to reposition enemies or limit enemies’ tactical options.

The Barbarian’s biggest shortcoming is their capabilities outside of combat. They have few good skill options, and their best skills all depend on secondary ability scores. Primal Knowledge does a lot to help this, but Rage uses are precious and only last for 10 minutes, so, in a long adventuring day, you may find yourself struggling to use your skills effectively.

After reading this handbook, you might enjoy our other supporting content:

This article is for the 2024 DnD 5e rules. For the 2014 rules, see our 2014 DnD 5e Barbarian Class Guide.

Introduction
Disclaimer
Barbarian Class Features
2024 Barbarian Changes from 2014 Rules
Barbarian Backgrounds
Barbarian Species
Barbarian Ability Scores
Barbarian Skills
Barbarian Feats
Barbarian Weapons
Barbarian Armor
Barbarian Multiclassing

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
Green: Good options. Useful often.
Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Barbarian Class Features

Hit Points: d12 is the biggest hit die available.

Saves: Strength saves are fairly rare, but Constitution saves are common and typically very problematic.

Proficiencies: Medium armor and martial weapons will get you a long way, but you get no tool proficiencies, and only two skills.

1. Rage: Rage is the Barbarian’s defining class feature. The bonus damage isn’t huge, but it’s reliable and consistent. The resistance to damage makes Barbarians exceptionally durable.

Managing your limited pool of Rage uses is crucial to playing a Barbarian effectively. Don’t be afraid to use Rage, but don’t waste it, either. You don’t need to use it in every single encounter, as much fun as that is.

Remember that Rage’s damage bonus works with any Strength-based attack, so you can use it with many thrown weapons.

1. Unarmored Defense: This is great flavor for the Barbarian, but won’t do much good for you unless your ability scores are very high. Your Dexterity and Constitution modifiers need to total +7 to match the total AC bonus provided by half plate armor. That’s generally achievable by level 8 unless you rolled for ability scores, assuming that you started with 14 Dexterity and largely ignored Strength. More realistically, you should expect to hit 20 Constitution by 12th level at the earliest, and even then Unarmored Defense will only match Half plate.

If magic items are an option, Unarmored Defense becomes even harder to justify. +X armor doesn’t require Attunement like Bracers of Defense do.

1. Weapon Mastery: Always excellent. Since you only get 2 at a time, I recommend picking your favorite melee weapon and the Trident. With the Topple property, you can throw a trident to knock flying enemies prone, making it a great solution to an otherwise frustrating challenge.

For more on Weapon Mastery, see our Weapon Mastery Guide.

2. Danger Sense: Given the Barbarian’s proficiency in medium armor, your Dexterity is probably 14, and Barbarians aren’t proficient in Dexterity saves. Advantage on these saves will make you reasonably good at them.

2. Reckless Attack: Rage makes you resistant to damage from normal weapons (attacks which do weird damage types still work fine), so Advantage on attacks against you doesn’t matter as much. Advantage makes your own attacks extremely reliable, which means consistent, reliable damage output.

If you’re concerned about Reckless Attack making you too vulnerable, consider a weapon with the Sap mastery. Imposing Disadvantage on your target’s next attack will negate the Advantage from Reckless Attack.

Remember that Reckless Attack works with any Strength-based attack, so you can use it with many thrown weapons.

3. Subclass: Barbarian subclasses are briefly summarized below. See our Barbarian Subclasses Guide for help selecting your subclass.

Path of the Berserker: Simple, but deadly, the Berserker adds even more damage and can shrug off common charm and fear effects.
Path of the Wild Heart: Channel animal-themed abilities each time you rage, allowing you to choose powerful tactical options to meet the needs of the moment.
Path of the World Tree: Protect your allies and ensnare your enemies with a fun mix of extended reach, teleportation, and temporary hit points.
Path of the Zealot: Channel the fury of the gods to make yourself nearly unstoppable.

3. Primal Knowledge: This offers the Barbarian some options to be more effective outside of combat. Intimidation, Perception, and Stealth are all good skill choices for Barbarians, and changing them to be Strength checks will dramatically improve your skill bonus. Rage also gives you Advantage on Strength checks, making these skills very reliable.

While Primal Knowledge is a great boost to your skills, remember that you have a limited number of Rages per day. Strongly consider how much value you expect to get from using Rage outside of combat before you spend a Rage to make one Perception check.

5. Extra Attack: Two attacks means potentially twice as much damage in a turn, and twice as much opportunity to apply your Rage bonus to damage and to apply Weapon Mastery.

5. Fast Movement: A little bit of extra speed won’t have a huge effect on the game most of the time, but it does make it easier for you to get into melee quickly.

7. Feral Instinct: Going early is always great. Get into melee with enemies before they can move to attack your squishy allies. Just try not to block any area damage or area control effects which your party’s spellcasters might be planning.

7. Instinctive Pounce: At this level the Barbarian has Fast Movement, so many Barbarians will have 40 ft. speed. Moving half of that speed when you begin a Rage allows the Barbarian to get into melee faster, which is essential since the Barbarian is essentially a melee-only class.

9. Brutal Strike: This is the Barbarian’s exciting option at high levels. Brutal Strike lets you add a bit of damage and a powerful on-hit effect similar to Weapon Mastery. However, you need to forgo all Advantage on the attack (not just from Reckless Attack, but any source of Advantage) in order to use it. This means that your Brutal Strike attack won’t be as reliable as you may expect after 7 levels of using Reckless Attack.

That said, the +1d10 damage is actually a DPR increase even when giving up Advantage. A level 9 raging Barbarian with a greataxe and 20 Strength will have a DPR of 13.36 per attack (26.72 total). That same Barbarian using Brutal Strike will have a DPR of 13.60 for the Brutal Strike attack, very slightly increasing their DPR compared to a regular attack despite losing Advantage. The gap gets even wider if your weapon damage die is smaller, and widens again when Brutal Strike’s bonus damage improves at level 17.

Forceful Blow: 15 feet is a decently large distance, easily putting nearly any enemy out of reach of your allies. The ability to follow them for free means that you can remain in melee with them after pushing them. Note that this says “straight away”, not just “away”, so you can’t use it to launch enemies into the air without some extra steps.
Hamstring Blow: 15 feet is a big speed penalty. If you expect to apply other speed penalties, such as from the Slow mastery, you can make it effectively impossible for enemies to move away from you in order to attack your allies. If you’re using a whip (the only reach weapon with the Slow mastery), you can apply hit-and-run tactics and slow enemies enough that they can’t catch up to you, effectively eliminating melee-only enemies with no effort.

11. Relentless Rage: This will keep you conscious for a long time if you get hit with a low number of high-damage attacks, but lots of small attacks will raise the DC too quickly for this to remain effective. Be sure to eliminate weak but numerous enemies before your HP starts getting scary.

13. Improved Brutal Strike: Even more options!

Staggering Blow: If you can land this, your target is vulnerable to the next save-or-suck effect that your party can hit them with. If they’re affected by something that allows repeated saves, such as Hold Monster, you can time this to affect that save and keep them under the effect, effectively locking your target out of combat and turning them into a piñata.
Sundering Blow: Great if you have allies who do more damage in a single hit than you do, such as a Rogue.

15. Persistent Rage: Refreshing your Rage uses once per day effectively doubles the size of your pool. You’re also less likely to lose your Rage since being Incapacitated no longer causes it to end.

17. Improved Brutal Strike: No new options at this level, but you add another 1d10 damage and now you can apply two effects at the same time. Combining Forceful Blow and Hamstring Blow can put an enemy out of range to get back into melee unless they Dash, which can take melee-only enemies out of combat. There’s not much other synergy between the effects, but making a target vulnerable on their next save and on the next attack against them by combining Staggering Blow and Sundering Blow makes it easy for your party to focus their attention on a single high-value target.

18. Indomitable Might: Your Strength is almost certainly 20 by this level, which means that the floor on d20 rolls for Strength checks is now 20. This gets even sillier when your floor is higher than 20 thanks to Epic Boons and Primal Champion.

20. Primal Champion: Mathematically fantastic. A huge buff to your capabilities both offensively and defensively. Note that this can raise your ability scores to 25 specifically to allow for the +1 from an Epic Boon taken at level 19.

You’ll likely have either 24 or 25 Strength at this level, but you might not have enough Constitution to break 20 depending on your other build choices. If you did rush to 20 Constitution before getting Primal Champion, give Unarmored Defense another look. With 14 Dexterity and 24 Constitution, it gives you an AC of 19, which easily beats half plate unless you’re wearing magic armor.

2024 Barbarian Changes from 2014 Rules

This section is from our 2024 DnD Rules Transition Guide.

1: Rage now lasts up to 10 minutes, and can be extended by forcing a saving throw or by spending a Bonus Action in addition to extending it by making an attack roll. The damage bonus also now works with any Strength-based attack rather than only melee weapon attacks, meaning that it now works with thrown weapons.
1: Weapon Mastery. New.
2: Reckless Attack. Now works until the start of your next turn, which means that it finally applies to Opportunity Attacks. For those of you thinking “wait, it didn’t already?”: No, it didn’t. “advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn.” It also now works with any Strength-based attack, which means that you can use it with thrown weapons.
3: Primal Knowledge. Gain an extra skill proficiency, and, when you Rage, you can use some skills as a Strength check instead of their regular ability score.
7: Instinctive Pounce. Move half your speed when you Rage.
9: Brutal Critical. Gone. Good.
9: Brutal Strike. Sacrifice the Advantage granted by Reckless Attack to add damage, push your target, or reduce their speed. Replaces Brutal Critical. Improves at 13 by adding two new options and at 17 by adding another damage die and letting you apply two rider effects instead of one.
13: Improved Brutal Strike. New. Adds two more options for rider effects.
15: Persistent Rage. Allows you to recover all of your Rage uses once per day.
17: Improved Brutal Strike. New. Another 1d10 damage on hit.
20: Primal Champion. Still raises Strength and Constitution by 4 each, but it sets your max to 25 instead of 24 so that you can use your Epic Boon to raise your Strength or Constitution to 21, then still add 4 to it.

Until the Player’s Handbook releases, you can also find information about Barbarian class changes in the official class reveal video and on DnDBeyond.

Barbarian Backgrounds

An increase to Strength is too crucial to forego, so any Background which doesn’t include Strength is immediately out. Constitution is also important. Your skill options aren’t great, but Wisdom-based skills and anything affected by Primal Knowledge works well.

For information and advice regarding Origin Feats, including those granted by your Background, see the Barbarian Feats section, below.

Artisan ^(PHB) : You can get the crucial Strength increase, but that’s the only appeal here.
Farmer ^(PHB) : A good option for front-line martials. The ability scores are great, and Tough is an easy go-to feat if you don’t want more complexity, but you won’t get much use out of the skills.
Guard ^(PHB) : Good ability scores, and perception is a great skill. Alert isn’t crucial for most martial characters, but remember that you can trade initiative with a willing ally to help an allied spellcaster act early.
Noble ^(PHB) : Strength and Skilled are fine, but that’s all that you get, and that’s not enough.
Sailor ^(PHB) : Decent ability scores and one good skill, but Tavern Brawler is minimally useful for the Barbarian, especially once you get Brutal Strikes at level 9.
Soldier ^(PHB) : Good ability scores for the Barbarian, and Savage Attacker is good feat for the weapons that Barbarians typically use, especially since you’ll never get more than two attacks, but Athletics is borderline useless in the 2024 rules, and Intimidation won’t help you much since you’re probably going to dump Charisma.

Barbarian Species

Look for ways to fill gaps in the Barbarian’s capabilities. Darkvision, damage resistances, and additional hit points (temporary or regular) are all great. Mental defenses are great, too. Avoid offensive innate spellcasting. Defenses and utilities may be fine, but you won’t have the ability scores to support offensive spells and can’t cast while Raging.

For help with legacy species, see our 2014 Barbarian Races Guide.

Aasimar ^(PHB): Two damage resistances to damage types which are frequently used to bypass resistance to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage, and a once per day transformation that offers flight or options to handle crowds, both of which are challenges for most Barbarians. The Bonus Action cost to activate Celestial Revelation does conflict with Rage, but waiting until turn 2 to have both effects running should be fine since it’s only once per day. Healing Hands is a nice splash of healing, but you’ll likely only use it to rescue dying allies since the healing won’t make a dent in the Barbarian’s massive pool of hit points.
Dragonborn ^(PHB): A damage resistance, likely to a common damage type like poison or fire, and a decent way to handle crowds of small enemies. The 2024 Barbarian’s Rage can be extended by forcing enemies to make a saving throw, in part specifically to support Dragonborn Barbarians using their breath. You also get Darkvision and flight once per day.
Dwarf ^(PHB): Darkvision, resistance to the most common non-weapon damage type, and even more hit points. Tremorsense is only situationally useful, but it may also be your only way to handle hidden or invisible enemies, making it a useful tool for the Barbarian.
Elf ^(PHB): Darkvision, an extra skill, and Fey Ancestry are all great for the Barbarian. Things get difficult when we look at innate spellcasting since many of the options are combat spells that rely on Concentration. Wood Elf may be viable here, however, since Druidcraft has no combat application, Longstrider doesn’t require Concentration, and Pass Without Trace isn’t helpful for Barbarians in combat. Altogether, the Wood Elf offers some interesting utility, though not being able to recast the innate spells does make them less useful than they are for spellcasting classes.
Gnome ^(PHB): Darkvision and Gnomish Cunning are both great. The Barbarian’s biggest weakness is their mental saves, and Gnomish Cunning does a lot to help. However, Advantage when you have a low or even negative ability modifier may not get you very far at high levels.
Goliath ^(PHB): The Giant Ancestry options provide some very exciting effects, especially when you combine the on-hit effects with Weapon Mastery and eventually with Brutal Strikes. Personally, I like Hill’s Tumble and Stone’s Endurance for melee martial builds, but nearly all of the options are worth consideration. Large Form and and Powerful Build are both neat, but they won’t be as impactful as Giant Ancestry.
Halfling ^(PHB): Brave and Lucky are both nice, but not enough on their own. Halfling Nimbleness is neat, but rarely impactful since you can already move through allies’ spaces and if you need to get past an enemy it should involve hurting them. Naturally Stealthy isn’t helpful for the front-line martial characters.
Human ^(PHB): An additional skill and origin feat are an easy choice on any build.
Orc ^(PHB): Adrenaline Rush is an excellent option for the Barbarian, allowing them to move between targets more easily in combat and padding their hit points even further. Remember that while you’re raging your damage resistances will also protect your Temporary Hit Points, doubling their effectiveness against bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage. Relentless Endurance provides a safety net in case things go badly for you. Darkvision is great, too.
Tiefling ^(PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and some innate spellcasting that you won’t be able to use effectively. The Dragonborn is directly comparable and a much better fit for the Barbarian.

Barbarian Ability Scores

Barbarians rely heavily on their physical ability scores. If your scores are good enough, you can forgo armor, so it’s nice to have adequate Dexterity and Constitution to beat the AC bonus provided by half plate. However, that’s also very expensive, so it’s rarely worth the effort.

Str: Barbarians are all about Strength, so Strength should almost always be your best ability.

Dex: 14 Dexterity is great to boost your AC with half plate. If you prefer to go armor-less, you’ll need more. If it’s an option, look for an item to boost your Dexterity so that you can spend your ability increases on Strength and Constitution.

Con: Second only to Strength. Barbarians take a lot of damage, so you need all the hit points you can get. Constitution also powers Unarmored Defense and crucial Constitution saves for once you get Relentless Rage.

Int: Dump stat. Intelligence saves are very rare, and Barbarians don’t get any Intelligence-based skills.

Wis: Wisdom saves are common, so don’t dump it, but don’t put a ton of effort into improving it.

Cha: Charisma only matters for a couple of the Barbarian’s skills, and when you’re Raging you can use Strength for Intimidation, so it’s safe to dump this.

	Point Buy	Adjusted	Standard Array	Adjusted	PHB Recommended	Adjusted
Str	15	17	15	17	15	17
Dex	14	14	14	14	13	14
Con	15	16	13	14	14	14
Int	8	8	8	8	10	10
Wis	10	10	12	12	12	12
Cha	8	8	10	10	8	8

Barbarian Skills

Animal Handling (Wis): Not really helpful for the function of the Barbarian.
Athletics (Str): The only Strength-based skill, and it’s borderline useless.
Intimidation (Cha): Useful while raging, and likely your only viable social skill.
Nature (Int): Intelligence is a dump stat for Barbarians, but if no one in the party has access to Nature, it’s not an awful choice.
Perception (Wis): One of the most important skills in the game. At least two people in the party should have it, but more is always better.
Survival (Wis): Adventuring tends to involve a lot of wandering around in untamed wilderness, so Survival can be very helpful to your party. However, actual Survival checks are exceptionally rare.

Barbarian Feats

This section does not address every published feat, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover feats which we think work especially well for the class or which might be tempting but poor choices.

Origin Feats

These feats typically come from your Background, but you can also select an Origin Feat any time that you could select a General Feat, and you may get more from sources like the Human’s species traits.

Alert ^(PHB): Never a bad choice, but less impactful for martial characters than for full casters.
Crafter ^(PHB): Neat, but not especially impactful. Crafting mundane gear stops being impactful early in the game as players quickly accumulate enough to afford nearly anything in the Player’s Handbook. This notably omits the Herbalist Kit as a choice, so you can’t even use this to craft Potions of Healing.
Lucky ^(PHB): An easy choice on any character. It won’t directly impact your build, but it’s a great default if you don’t need anything else.
Musician ^(PHB): A great way to contribute to any party.
Savage Attacker ^(PHB): Barbarians rely on small numbers of attacks with big weapons, so Savage Attacker is a decent damage boost.
Skilled ^(PHB): Barbarians don’t have the ability scores to support a lot of skills, and the ones that you can handle will be buffed by Rage enough that you probably don’t need more proficiencies.
Tavern Brawler ^(PHB): Not useful. The push+damage option is neat, but redundant with Brutal Strikes once you hit level 9, or you could just use a weapon with the Push mastery.
Tough ^(PHB): Great on a class that routinely draws attacks made with Advantage. Rage’s damage resistance will make this even more impactful.

General Feats

Athlete ^(PHB): A decent choice for many martial characters. A climb speed is the next best thing to a fly speed. The ability to stand up quickly makes falling or being knocked prone less of a problem. The ability to jump with less of a running start may let you easily jump over difficult terrain and other obstacles which otherwise might slow your movement in combat.
Charger ^(PHB): The bonus damage doesn’t scale, but that’s not why you’re here. The push effect will stack with the Push mastery and with the push option from Brutal Strikes. Combining the three lets you push enemies a total of 35 feet away, putting most creatures outside of their ability to get back into melee without dashing. Add Crusher and you can get that up to 40 feet.
The word “away” also doesn’t specify that it needs to be “directly away”, so you can launch enemies into the air, too, but that’s arguably an abuse case. I don’t recommend doing that unless your DM is totally okay with it. WotC clearly knows that this is an issue because several other push effects use the phrase “directly away”, but they omitted “directly” from a few usages in the 2024 rules.
Chef ^(PHB): An excellent source of additional healing and of Temporary Hit Points. THP on a Barbarian are fantastic because Rage can stretch their effectiveness, and better efficiency from Short Rest healing helps make up for how much damage Barbarians typically absorb. I’ve used Chef on a Barbarian in a long campaign, and it was absolutely amazing.
Crusher ^(PHB): A simple and easy way to control enemies’ positions in combat, especially when combined with the Push mastery.
Defensive Duelist ^(PHB): Only usable with a Finesse weapon, which severely limits your options, but for a class that thrives in melee this can do a lot to improve your durability. Advantage on attacks is a bit more than +3 on average, so once your Proficiency Bonus hits +4 you’re more than offsetting the drawback of Reckless attack, at least against melee attacks. For barbarians using two-weapon fighting or a whip, this is worth considering.
Dual Wielder ^(PHB): Two-weapon fighting is absolutely viable for the Barbarian, and your Rage damage bonus provides a helpful flat bonus on the additional attacks which can make up for not applying your ability modifier to the damage. The Bonus Action attack from the Enhanced Dual Wielding feature appears to be separate from the one granted by the Light weapon property, so if you’re using two Light weapons and one has the Nick mastery, you may be able to attack with your second weapon both during your Attack action and as a Bonus Action, allowing you to make 3 total attacks (4 with Extra Attack) in a turn. We’re still waiting to see if the rules will be clarified for this.
However, there are some issues: The Bonus Action attack conflicts with the Bonus Action to activate Rage, and building around Great Weapon Master will still deal more damage.
Durable ^(PHB): Not as good as you would hope. The Bonus Action to spend a Hit Point Die notably does not add your Constitution modifier, which makes it an expensive and frustrating way to burn through your Hit Point Dice very quickly with minimal impact. Unless your party has some other deep, inexpensive healing resource, you need those dice for Short Rests to refill your massive pool of hit points. Take Chef instead.
Grappler ^(PHB): An interesting alternative to using Reckless Attack. If you also make an Unarmed Strike to knock your target prone, you can hold them prone and keep their speed at 0 to prevent them from standing. This gives you Advantage on your melee attacks and gives them Disadvantage, which is safer (though slower) than using Reckless Attack. However, remember that Brutal Strike still requires you to use Reckless Attack and negates all Advantage on the attack, so this may fall out of favor once you get Brutal Strike at level 9.
Great Weapon Master ^(PHB): Simple, easy, and reliable. A must have for any Barbarian using two-handed weapons, though it’s fine to wait until level 8 when you have Extra Attack and your Proficiency Bonus is higher than the +2 you have at level 4.
Heavily Armored ^(PHB): Heavy armor disables many of your class features.
Mage Slayer ^(PHB): The Guarded Mind feature gives you an easy solution to the Barbarian’s biggest weakness in combat. Concentration Breaker is only situationally useful, but Guarded Mind will come into play constantly.
Medium Armor Master ^(PHB): Borderline worthless. Improve your Constitution and/or Dexterity and use Unarmored Defense.
Observant ^(PHB): Expertise in Perception could be nice, but Rage already makes it a Strength check and gives you Advantage on Strength checks, so you already have a way to boost Perception if you need one. Of course, that doesn’t help when you’re not Raging, which is likely when you need Perception most.
Piercer ^(PHB): An easy damage boost if you’re using piercing weapons like pikes.
Polearm Master ^(PHB): Pole Strike will fight for space with the Bonus Action to activate Rage, but many Barbarians don’t use their Bonus Action in combat once they’re raging. The Reactive Strike feature is a reliable and easy boost to your damage output, and makes you even better as your party’s Defender.
Resilient ^(PHB): Choosing Dexterity will make your Dextersity saves very reliable when you also consider Danger Sense. Resilient (Wisdom) is nice, but I recommend Mage Slayer instead since it’s a guarantee.
Sentinel ^(PHB): An excellent choice for any melee character.
Sharpshooter ^(PHB): Tempting if you’re building around throwing weapons, but there’s little reason to do so.
Shield Master ^(PHB): Shield Bash is an easy way to knock enemies Prone without using a Toppling weapon. If you combine this with Tavern Brawler, you can make an Unarmed Strike, Grapple, then knock your target Prone all with a single attack. Interpose Shuiel
Skill Expert ^(PHB): The Barbarian has very few good skill options, and their best options will all be enhanced by Rage enough that you probably don’t need Expertise.
Slasher ^(PHB): Combine the Hamstring feature with a weapon with the Slow mastery, and you can give one creature a 20-foot speed penalty. Add Brutal Strike, and you can make that a 35-foot speed penalty. That puts most enemies at 0. Even if it doesn’t, you have a huge mobility advantage. Use a reach weapon, and you can hit enemies from outside of their reach, then take a few steps to get too far away for them to chase you without spending their Action to Dash. Unfortunately, the only slashing weapon with Slow is the Whip, so your options for this combo are limited and it means giving up a bigger damage die.
Speedy ^(PHB): More speed is nice, but hit-and-run tactics aren’t common for the Barbarian, and, if you want to do that, there are better options. Of course, you might want to intentionally trigger Opportunity Attacks in order to benefit your allies, which is occasionally useful. If you do so, try to trigger Reckless Attack after you’re done so that you don’t negate the Disadvantage on Opportunity Attacks against you.
Weapon Master ^(PHB): You already get two, and it’s unlikely that you need more. If you need more, you’re using two-weapon fighting with two different weapons and also want mastery in a different weapon for fighting at range.

Epic Boons

Boon of Combat Prowess ^(PHB): Brutal Strike negates any Advantage on your attack, making it less reliable than your regular attacks. This removes that problem.
Boon of Dimensional Travel ^(PHB): The teleportation is excellent, but the ability score increases are hard choices for the Barbarian.
Boon of Energy Resistance ^(PHB): A powerful defense on any character. Even if you’re a bear totem barbarian, you’re not resistant to force, psychic, necrotic, or radiant damage. This won’t help against force damage, but it can cover two of the other three at a time.
Boon of Fate ^(PHB): Good on any character, but the ability score increases are hard for the Barbarian.
Boon of Fortitude ^(PHB): More durability is always nice. If you’re a Zealot or have another way to repeatedly heal yourself in small amounts like the Durable feat or Boon of Recovery, the additional healing whenever you regain hit points is a nice bonus.
Boon of Irresistible Offense ^(PHB): Easy and simple. With two attacks and Reckless Attack you’re rolling four d20’s to attack. Even if you only ever get one Epic Boon, you could have 25 Strength at level 20, and adding 25 damage to a hit is a hefty bonus. If you want to fish for this damage bonus, give two-weapon fighting a look so that you’re making more attack rolls in a turn.
Boon of Recovery ^(PHB): The Last Stand feature is helpful insurance, but the pool of healing won’t get you very far.
Boon of Skill ^(PHB): Generally an easy go-to option, but the Barbarian doesn’t have the ability scores to back up most skills, and the ones that you’re good at are covered by Rage.
Boon of Speed ^(PHB): More speed is great, but the Dexterity increase is only appealing if you’re going for Unarmored Defense and you’ve already maxed out Constitution.
Boon of Truesight ^(PHB): Probably your only option for handling invisible enemies, but the ability scores are hard. If you’ve made it this far, your party is covering for you or you’ve found a creative solution.

Barbarian Weapons

The Barbarian is proficient in simple and martial weapons. Your choice of weapon largely comes down to your preferred melee weapon configuration: two-handed, two-weapon fighting, or sword and board. From there, pick weapons which have appealing properties, including Weapon Mastery.

Players migrating from the 2014 rules should note that the Greataxe no longer has an iron grip on the Barbarian’s weapon choices.