What Do the Numbers Mean Next to Skills & Abilities in Diablo 4? Answered

If, like me, you’ve been fighting your way through the hordes of demons in Diablo 4 and wondered what those little yellow numbers are that are appearing next to your various skill and ability icons, you’ve come to the right place. The game never actually tells you what these are, and having had some conversations with fellow Diablo 4 players on Twinfinite’s staff, the numbers weren’t appearing for every ability and skill. In this guide, we’ll explain what the numbers mean next to skills and abilities in Diablo 4.

Yellow Numbers Next to Abilities in Diablo 4, Explained

First off, let me explain what numbers I’m actually referring to here. For any fellow Barbarian class players out there, you might have noticed them appearing next to the ‘Bash’ and ‘Fury’ ability icons after you’ve attacked a few enemies. We’ve circled them in red in the screenshot below.

Long story short, these numbers are actually just a ‘counter’ that helps you keep track of how many successful hits you’ve had. As both ‘Bash’ and ‘Fury’ have unique traits that result in something else happening after successfully using them a set amount of times, these numbers simply help you know when to expect the specific effect to take place.

Let me give you an example. The ‘Bash’ skill’s tooltip reads:

“Bash the enemy with your weapon, dealing 27 damage. After bashing enemies 4 times, your next Bash will Stun for 1.25 seconds, this increases to 2 seconds if using a Two-Handed weapon.”

The important part of this is in relation to bashing enemies four times causing your next Bash to stun for 1.25 seconds. This is why those numbers are appearing next to the ability icon. It’s counting how many times you’ve used it, so you know when you’ll Stun an enemy with it.

While each ability will have a different effect like this, the numbers will always just be helping you to keep track of when you can expect the effect to occur. I’ve found this particularly handy, as I’ll use it to make sure I use the ability when it’ll deal the effect on a more powerful enemy, rather than wasting it on something puny, like them pesky Hellions!

That’s everything you need to know about what the numbers mean next to skills and abilities in Diablo 4. For more tips and tricks on the game, be sure to check our our guides on changing your name, how to change appearance and transmog, and how to get a mount so you don’t have to walk around the huge world like some sort of fantasy loser!