Diablo 4: How to Switch Weapons?

If you have just shifted to Diablo 4 from literally any other modern RPG, you will be confused about the weapon mechanics. It is mainly because there is no way to quickly switch weapons during combat. Instead, the weapons in your arsenal are tied to various skills and aspects. For example, if you want to use your bow as a Rogue, you must use a skill that fires a projectile. The same goes for every other class in the game, except for the Barbarians.

Although the game chooses the best weapons to deal maximum damage from each skill, you should still check out different variations for better rewards. The only problem is that the game doesn’t tell you how to switch weapons. Therefore, this article explains the basics of weapon switching in Diablo 4 to make the most out of your Barbarian build.

How does the skill system work?

Before you get to know about switching weapons, it would be best to take your time to study this new skill system. The skill system in Diablo 4 is divided into 3 main categories:

• Basic Skills: These are your primary skills that mainly deal with basic attacks and the resources tied with other skills.
• Core Skills: These skills are dependent on your character class. So, if you wish to upgrade your ultimate or secondary skills, you should focus more on them.
• Other Skills: All other skills that include your defenses, abilities, and aspects fall in this category.

Most of these skills are tied to a specific weapon. So, whenever you learn a skill, the game will automatically switch to the most suitable weapon from your inventory. For example, if you are playing as a Rogue character, you will automatically switch to a dagger or sword when using the Blade Shift Skill, whereas the character will switch to a bow when you use the Heartseeker Skill. The same goes for every other class skill; you have 2 weapon slots, i.e., one for the primary hand and the other for your support weapon.

However, things get a little complicated when you play as a Barbarian. This class can equip weapons in 4 different slots, i.e., one in Two-Handed Bludgeoning, one in their Slashing slot, and two in the Dual-Wield slot. Furthermore, the Barbarian and Rogue classes have certain skills that give you the freedom to replace the weapons allocated to them.

So, unless you are playing in either of these classes, you shouldn’t bother learning this concept, as the game will automatically take care of your weapon requirements.

How to switch weapons for various skills?

The Barbarian and Rogue classes have certain skills that can be used with a variety of weapons. In the case of Barbarians, you can customize certain skills, such as the Lunging Strike. So, to switch a weapon for a customizable skill, you must follow these instructions:

• Open the character menu by pressing the S button.
• Next, head to the Abilities Tab and look for the skills options.
• Bring your mouse to the Skill Assignment menu and look for the skills with weapon customization options. (You can check the weapon requirement for each skill in the description).
• Once you find the desired skill, go to the Arsenal Selection section of the description box, and change the allocated weapon by using the mouse wheel.
• If this method doesn’t work, check the button for Cycle Weapons at the bottom of the screen, and use the appropriate buttons.

That’s it; now your character will take out the selected weapon whenever you trigger the customized skill by pressing its allocated slot button.

On the other hand, the Rogue class uses a whole different concept. Although this class will also use different weapons for various skills. But the weapons will be automatically selected, and you don’t get a say in it. Still, you should check out the Skill Tree to see if you have any skills that give some room for switching weapons.  

Why should you switch weapons?

If you understood the above concept, you might end up thinking, “Why bother with the whole weapon switching?” Well, you are not alone! The game does the math for you and allocates the most powerful weapons for each skill. However, the weapon-switching option also gives you an opportunity to cheese around some of the skills.

For example, when you activate the Bash Skill, you will stun for 1.2 seconds your enemy after every 4 attacks. However, if you assign a dual-wielding weapon to this skill, the enemies will get stunned for 2 seconds after 4 successive attacks.

Similarly, if your Lunging Strike Skill has chosen a dual-wielding weapon, leaving nothing behind for your Bash, you are missing out on the good stuff. So, you can easily free up the dual weapons by swapping them with a single-hand weapon for that skill.

In short, switching your weapons for various Barbarian Skills can yield plenty of benefits. All you need to do is to check your skills, evaluate your play style, and choose the best weapons to go with each skill.

Conclusion:

Diablo 4 features a huge weapon arsenal, including swords, bows, axes, daggers, and clubs. However, you don’t get the option to switch between these weapons at will. Instead, each weapon is tied to a specific character skill, which will take out the weapon whenever you use that skill. But sometimes, you just need a little extra control over your build; that’s especially true for the Barbarian class. Therefore, this article explains how to switch weapons to get better rewards in Diablo 4.