The first season of Diablo 4 has introduced a whole new element known as Caged hearts. These craftable and collectible buffs grant your builds all-new powers with which to rain destruction. If you already have a build in mind for your new seasonal character, you’ll want to make sure you have the best Caged Hearts for that particular play style. The best caged hearts for Barbarians will focus on Fury, power, and staying alive through an onslaught.
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What are the best Malignant Hearts for the Barbarian in Diablo 4?
Of course, there is no straight answer to this question. The way you play and the way you build is always personal, but there are one or two Caged Hearts I think you should be opting for. The optimal build will aim to have the Caged Heart of Ignoring Pain, which is a difficult-to-get Wrathful Caged Heart. This particular buff has a 5-15% chance of ignoring incoming damage and instead healing you for 17-68. This turns you into an absolute tank, constantly healing and being able to smash through crowds.
Secondly, it would be a great idea to equip Caged Heart of Determination. This reduces the cost of your skills and keeps your fury right up. You can spin the game away without fear of stopping. Finally, the last Caged Heart you should be looking to find, in general, is the Caged Heart of Focused Rage. As a Barbarian, it isn’t so hard to spend 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds. Doing so will boost your non-basic critical hit chance by 20-30%. With a focus on spending Fury, paired with a huge Fury bonus, you can live within your internal rage for hours.
The best Caged Hearts for the Thorns Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of Ignoring Pain
- Caged Heart of the Prudent Heart
- Caged Heart of Revenge
For the basis of any thorns barbarian build, these are the three you should be trying to equip. The combo will help you keep your health at an all-time high while wading through crowds. Then, if you happen to get smashed pretty hard by a boss, you take on immunity. Finally, as the incoming damage batters down on the shoulders of your thorny Barbarian, his Caged Heart of Revenge will eliminate anyone unlucky enough to be within range.
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The best Vicious Caged Hearts for the Thorns Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of Focused Rage: Spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds means your next Non-Basic Skill’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%.
You’re going to be hacking, whacking, and slashing like a mad one in the melee, so you may as well make that spent Fury count. Get yourself some high Fury attacks to throw into the bosses, and you’ll make short work of anything.
The best Brutal Caged Hearts for the Thorns Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of Resurgent Life: While your barbarian is below 40-60% Life, you receive 50-60% more Healing.
- Caged Heart of Revenge: 10-20% of incoming damage is suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge, or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes. This deals with 1360-2040 Fire damage to nearby enemies.
- Caged Heart of the Prudent Heart: Immunity is granted for 2 to 4 seconds after losing more than 20% of life in a single hit. This can only happen every 110 seconds.
As a thorns Barbarian, the whole idea is to take a hammering that reflects back on the enemies. With these three Caged Hearts equipped in Diablo 4 Season 1, you can help negate the damage. In the case of the second Caged Heart, you’re going to turn that damage into some serious destructive power.
The third heart in that list is designed for fighting the heavy hitter in the room. Thorns builds are not made for playing around with small fry, so chances are you’re going to take some pretty big single-hit damage.
The best Devious Caged Hearts for the Thorns Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of Determination: 40-50% less resource draining. Also, gain 3.0-8.0% increased resource generation.
- Caged Heart of the Calculated: Spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource will make your next attack stun enemies for 2 seconds.
Keep your fury high and ensure that when you spend it, you knock your foe out for a time. Played properly, this will keep your Barbarian swinging with everything they have and your enemy on their back foot.
The best Wrathful Caged Hearts for the Thorns Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of Ignoring Pain: 5-15% chance of ignoring incoming damage and healing you for 17-68.
Total no-brainer on this one. Those big Barbarian shoulders are going to take a beating, so you may as well turn it into healing. Become a health factory with this Caged Heart in Diablo 4 Season 1.
The best Caged Hearts for the Whirlwind Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of the Picana
- Caged Heart of the Barber
- Caged Heart of the Malignant Pact
This trio is a great combo for not only keeping your critical strike damage high but also improving your speed. As a Whirlwind Barbarian, you’re going to be hitting a huge amount of enemies, so having a Caged Heart that runs with attack speed and arc damage is going to clear those crowds in seconds.
The best Vicious Caged Hearts for the Whirlwind Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of the Picana: Critical Strikes charge enemies with electricity for 0.75-2.50 seconds. This causes lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 damage.
- Caged Heart of Focused Rage: Spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds results in your next Non-Basic Skill’s Critical Strike Chance increasing by 20-30%.
These two pair together perfectly for an increased critical strike chance and then the resulting arc damage. Spinning through crowds of enemies will give a huge chance to deliver critical strikes and light the screen up like a Christmas tree.
The best Brutal Caged Hearts for the Whirlwind Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of the Lionheart: 10% Barrier generation. While the barrier is active, you gain 3-7 life per second.
- Caged Heart of Revenge: 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge, or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to nearby enemies.
Barrier generation and damage suppression are important while spinning through a crowd. Using Rallying Cry will create some pretty serious damage once the Caged Heart of Revenge is fully charged and ready to blow.
The best Devious Caged Hearts for the Whirlwind Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of the Calculated: Spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource will make your next attack stun enemies for 2 seconds.
Stun the whole room with your beautiful balletic spins. You are the prettiest ballerina in the room, and they should stand in awe.
The best Wrathful Caged Hearts for the Whirlwind Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of The Barber: Critical Strikes and all damage in 2.0-4.0 seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second.
This is a monster of a Caged Heart to use for the Whirlwind Barbarian in Diablo 4. Spinning into an enemy is a surefire way to load up some serious damage stacks. The resulting explosion will clear out a huge area leaving space to gear up for your next attacks.
The Best Caged Hearts for Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of Focused Rage
- Caged Heart of Determination
- Caged Heart of the Calculated
The combination of the three works with the high Fury spend associated with a Hammer of the Ancients build in Diablo 4 Season 1. While keeping Fury up, the constant spending is rewarded with higher critical strike and stun damage, leaving enemies vulnerable.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
The best Vicious Caged Hearts for Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of the Picana: Critical Strikes charge enemies with electricity for 0.75-2.50 seconds. This causes lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 damage.
- Caged Heart of Focused Rage: Once you have spent 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds, the next Non-Basic Skill’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%.
Raise your critical strike chance as you perform huge AoE damage, and then have it chain between the unlucky victims in your path. Turn your Barbarian into a one-man riot squad in Diablo 4 Season 1.
The best Brutal Caged Hearts for Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of the Lionheart: 10% Barrier generation. While the barrier is active, you gain 3-7 life per second.
- Caged Heart of Resurgent Life: While below 40-60% Life, you receive 50-60% more Healing from all sources.
After the Nerf that happened during the first big patch, it is important to keep on top of both health and shield generation. This combo will keep you ahead of the game, even when your Barbarian is knee-deep in the frey.
The best Devious Caged Hearts for the Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of the Calculated: Spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource will stun enemies hit for 2 seconds.
The Hammer of the Ancients build is pretty Fury heavy, so you may as well be rewarded for it. Spending Fury can be super beneficial when you’re also stunning the enemies around you, giving space to breathe.
The best Wrathful Caged Heart for the Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian build in Diablo 4 Season 1
- Caged Heart of The Barber: All critical strikes and damage dealt to your enemy are absorbed for 2-4 seconds. Next, absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second.
This is just a personal favorite for me for any Barbarian build. Due to the nature of the character, they’re going to take an absolute hammering no matter how they’re played. You may as well store up all that abuse and turn it into a massive explosive AoE attack. Not only does your hammer smash crowds to pieces, but now you do too.
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