Just like the Paladin, Barbarians are melee characters by nature and by default will be involved in close hand combat. The barbarian will need the heavy armor but more importantly he’ll need resistances. Unlike the Paladin the barbarian doesn’t have any magic to counter elemental attacks till level 30 where he gets a passive skill.  So try to get heavy armor with sockets to put ruins into so that you have good physical armor and good resistances.

Offense:

Focus your skill points into strength with vitality or dexterity as your secondary, manna is of no concern to the barbarian beyond a couple points.  To achieve continuous use of skills get manna stealing weapons.  The barbarian has no need for shield as he gets the famed dual wield ability and can use two handed swords as one handed weapons. Thus said give your barbarian a pair of high damage weapons and go to town.

Crowd Control:

Just like I said with the paladin; the best way to kill your barbarian is to blindly charge into combat with large groups as you will get surrounded.  Every time you get hit your attack is interrupted, and if you are surrounded by 5+ enemies that’s 5+ hits at once (which makes you just stand there stunned for a second). The result, Your Death.  Granted the barbarian is more adapt at taking groups on however avoiding large groups by using the same tactic as the paladin will ensure your victory and slower use of health potions. Also curses are the barbarians worst enemy especially Iron Maiden with the barbarians high damage output. Keep ranged weapons in stock as the barbarian is skilled in their use to avoid being killed instantly by deadly curses or magic attacks.

Boss Strategies: