Furious Charge (Cooldown 10 Seconds):
Rush to the target point or enemy on the screen, dealing 195% weapon
damage and knockback to any enemies you run into during the charge.
Generates 15 Fury.
Furious Charge is a skill that the Barbarian almost shares with the Monk- but where the Monk’s skill is a single-target effect that nearly amounts to a teleport, the Barbarian’s is exactly what you would expect from the name; a rampaging dash through any number of enemies that happen to be between the character and their destination. This skill is most useful for two things- scattering enemies (whether because they’re ganging up on you or an ally) and smashing your way into the back ranks of ranged attackers so you can start pummeling them in melee. The knockback effect, like most knockback effects in most games which have knockback effects, is difficult to use to your advantage if it hits something you actually want to be fighting. This means that you need to be very careful when using this skill, as it is very easy to accidentally make combat much harder than it needs to be- even more so for your allies, who don’t get warning each time. Still, the damage is heavy enough that it can be well worth it if you’re sure you’re going to kill what you trample.
Battering Ram (Cooldown 10 Seconds):
Rush to the target point or enemy on the screen, dealing 195% weapon
damage and knockback to any enemies you run into during the charge.
When you arrive at the end of your charge, you instead deal 283% damage
to enemies that are there. Generates 15 Fury.
Battering Ram turns Furious Charge into your optimal weapon for taking out that guy over there right now. Since you can Furious Charge to anywhere you can see as long as terrain doesn’t interfere, the massive increase to damage for enemies that you end the charge on makes Battering Ram a devastating opener when there’s a single enemy you want to get rid of first. Even without that, the ability to cut through melee minions and almost certainly obliterate whatever you land on in the back row is incredibly valuable, and makes it worth incidentally scattering everything between here and there.
Merciless Assault (Cooldown 10 Seconds):
Rush to the target point or enemy on the screen, dealing 195% weapon
damage and knockback to any enemies you run into during the charge.
Each enemy you hit reduces the cooldown of Merciless Assault by 2
seconds, to a maximum reduction of 10 seconds. Generates 15 Fury.
Merciless Assault can transform Furious Charge into an entertaining opener or a way to close on a distant enemy into essentially your entire mode of fighting for anything less than a boss- and even for some bosses, since a few have minions. Because the recharge boost is dependent on how many things you hit in one charge, using it against small groups becomes impractical as you scatter them each time you bluster through. However, on a crowded battlefield, you may find yourself completely abandoning ordinary weapon attacks and just sweeping back and forth constantly. Difficult to use, but undeniably awesome.
Stamina (Cooldown 10 Seconds):
Rush to the target point or enemy on the screen, dealing 195% weapon
damage and knockback to any enemies you run into during the charge.
Generates 15 Fury, plus 8 Fury for each target you hit during the
charge.
Stamina is the rage-generation rune for Merciless Assault, and if you combine it properly with the Barbarian’s pulls (Wrenching Smash and Call of Arreat) and area-effect damage, it can basically let you end an entire screen’s worth of fighting in a few seconds when you started without any Fury at all. That said, if you’re not set up for something like that, this isn’t that much of an improvement. Sure, it can boost your Fury hugely, but most Fury-hungry builds don’t want to be dashing across the fight in order to generate their power- they’d rather cleave through what’s already in front of them.
Bull Rush (Cooldown 10 Seconds):
Rush to the target point or enemy on the screen, dealing 195% weapon
damage and knockback to any enemies you run into during the charge.
Enemies you critical hit are stunned for 2.5 seconds. Generates 15
Fury.
Bull Rush is the critical hit rune for Furious Charge, and while it’s a potentially useful effect, Critical-happy builds really aren’t going to be very interested in it compared to the other Might options for crit-monkeying (Especially Best Served Cold.) You may find yourself playing with it a bit, if none of the other Might skills really attract you, but if you actually want Furious Charge in particular, it’s pretty much beat out by Battering Ram or Merciless Assault, and if you want criticals in particular, there are better options in other skill choices for this slot.
Dreadnought (Cooldown 10 Seconds):
Rush to the target point or enemy on the screen, dealing 195% weapon
damage and knockback to any enemies you run into during the charge.
Regain 8% of your maximum Life for each target you hit. Generates 15
Fury.
Dreadnought turns Furious Charge into an amazing option for Barbarians who want to just keep operating no matter how long they’ve been continuously fighting. It can also make for a good combination escape and self-restoration effect if you find yourself getting dogpiled to death, but that shouldn’t be happening all that often anyways. Perhaps best used for being able to move on to a new enemy group without waiting for any healing despite the damage you took.
