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Diablo 4 Classes - Overview and How to Choose
Diablo IV
Geposted
10.05.2023 um 16:37
von
RenataKane
Now that we have finished up the Diablo Server Slam, many of you may be wondering what class you want to play on launch.
Especially if you only have time to experiment with one class, which should it be? Will you wield the powers of your weapons, your magic, or even your claws? Do you enjoy slaying demons from a distance, or do you like your fights up close and personal?
This overview will discuss the five iconic classes that will be available for the launch of Diablo 4 on June 6, 2023. And, if you have early access, you may be able to explore Sanctuary even sooner!
Introduction to Diablo 4 Classes
In Diablo 4, you can choose from among 5 different classes:
Barbarian - close-quarters berserkers wielding the largest variety of weapons available to any class
Druid - shapeshifting fighters, nature-wielding casters, or both at the same time
Rogue - experts at subterfuge with choices of melee or ranged, stealth, and traps
Necromancer - casters using the powers of blood, bone, or armies of undead minions
Sorcerer - magical adepts harnessing the powers of fire, lightning, and ice
As an ARPG that's meant to be played in both solo and group content, there isn't the emphasis on group roles and utility that there is in MMORPGs. Every class is a DPS class with different contributions they can make to group play; the traditional tank/healer/DPS roles familiar to MMORPG players just don't mean as much in Diablo 4. This gives players a lot more freedom when picking for their personal style rather than being forced to choose a role that makes them useful to a particular group.
Barbarian Class Overview
Druid Class Overview
Necromancer Class Overview
Rogue Class Overview
Sorcerer Class Overview
The Importance of Class Choice in Diablo 4
If you've played previous Diablo franchises, you'll probably come in with a good idea of what you want based on classes you've played and enjoyed before. Not so fast! While many classes and skills of Diablo 4 classes will be very familiar to Diablo veterans, you'll also find a lot of changes that may make you think about trying a new class.
However, there's one big reason that you want to try to nail down your class choice during Server Slam prior to launch: campaign completion. The six-act Diablo 4 campaign, which takes you on adventures across five zones, must be completed in its entirety by just one character on your account to unlock a number of features, such as the ability to use Mounts and open an accountwide Campaign skip so alts don't have to play through it again. Blizzard estimates most players will take around 30-35 hours to complete the entire campaign. Since campaign progress is by character, not accountwide, you'll want to find a class you know you'll enjoy playing, at least for that amount of time. Getting to level 100 will take considerably more time (estimates for that range up to 150 hours for the average player).
We have a guide for the Act I Campaign in Fractured Peaks. This will give you an idea of what kind of activities to expect. Consider running this during the Slam if you didn't get a chance to play through it in previous betas:
Fractured Peaks Campaign Overview
Choosing Classes in Diablo 4
These impressions are based on previous beta play and mostly apply to those levels you'll be playing during the Server Slam. Each class is rated on six different factors to help you decide what's best for you. Diablo veterans can disregard the "Beginner Friendliness" metric, as these classes will all be familiar to those who've played previous iterations of the game.
Beginner Friendliness: How easy/hard the class is to pick up for a player not familiar with Diablo
Ease of Play: Logical rotations, ease of putting together builds
Survivability: Relative levels of "squishiness" in normal combat situations
Resource Management: How hard/easy it is to manage the primary skill resource -- ie. how quickly you deplete/regain your resource
Gear Dependency: How important it is to keep normal gear updated, particularly armor (all classes should keep Weapons updated regularly, since offensive skills always key off weapon damage, even for casters). This does
not
include any dependencies on Legendary Aspects for specific builds.
Barbarian
The Barbarian is a Physical damage melee class that wields four different weapons at once. Uses Fury for class resource. Iconic abilities include Whirlwind, Leap, Charge, War Cry, and Hammer of the Ancients.
Players who enjoy close-quarters melee combat will love the Barbarian. Unfortunately for lovers of the Throw Barb from Diablo II, there are no usable ranged weapons for Barbarians in Diablo 4. Barbarians currently have some issues with overall survivability and fury management, but these may be symptoms of only having been able to play up to level 25 in previous betas. Because Barbarians can wield four weapons at once, learning about the Inherent Physical Characteristics of weapons can be useful for weapon choice.
Gear and Itemization - Inherent Physical Characteristics
In terms of build and mechanics, Barbarians rank fairly high in terms of beginner friendliness and ease of play; however, the lack of sustain, low mobility, and high gear requirements knock the Beginner Friendliness down. Mobility averages out to 2 stars, but it can be as low as a 1 with some builds.
Beginner Friendliness
Ease of Play
Survivability
Combat Mobility
Fury Management
Gear Dependency
High
Frenzied Hammer Barbarian Guide
Rend Rupture Barbarian Guide
Whirlwind Barbarian Guide
Druid
The Druid is a highly versatile class with both melee elements from Werewolf and Werebear forms and Caster elements from Storm and Earth (Physical) caster damage. This mix-and-match approach makes them fun and powerful, but not an easy class to play well.
However, Druids do suffer a bit from the "jack of all trades, master of none" syndrome -- while you can specialize, your strongest options may be in crossing the streams into hybrids between shifters and casters, or even between shifters. Spoiled for choice, Druids can also experience fractured builds if they aren't careful about working those synergies, some of which can actively work against one another. More than other classes, Druids have build pitfalls they need to avoid.
Some of these ratings have to be split based on whether you're playing primarily a shifter or a caster. Hybrids may go either way depending on the exact combination of skills used.
Beginner Friendliness
Ease of Play
Survivability
Combat Mobility
(Casters/Werebear)
Combat Mobility
(Werewolf)
Spirit Management
Gear Dependency
Low (Casters), Moderate (Wolf/Bear)
Landslide Druid Guide
Pulverize Werebear Druid Guide
Rabid Wolf Druid Guide
Wind Druid Guide
Necromancer
Necromancers are masters of all aspects of the dead, from blood to bone to creating undead hordes to take out their foes.
For beginners, Shadow Summoner is probably the easiest to learn out of all the Diablo 4 classes, as well as being a riot to play (literally). With massive undead armies at your disposal, you can use your sturdy minions to kill your enemies for you in record time, while you deal damage from behind your incredible armies. Blood is also a highly survivable and satisfying build, with iconic abilities such as Corpse Explosion at the heart of the rotation.
It's worth noting that during the Server Slam, Necromancer minions suffered from some deep nerfs, and many Necromancers complained that their minions died too quickly. The developers applied a hotfix which greatly improved the situation, and there were several tweets following that indicated that Necromancers would receive additional rebalancing between now and launch. Watch Wowhead's news coverage for any developments on the subject.
Beginner Friendliness
Beginner Friendliness
(Bone)
Ease of Play
Ease of Play
(Bone)
Survivability
Combat Mobility
Essence Management
Gear Dependency
Low (Blood, Summoner) to Moderate (Bone)
Blood Necromancer Guide
Bone Necromancer Guide
Shadow Summoner Necromancer Guide
Rogue
Rogues are a highly flexible class with ranged weapons, close-quarters daggers, and traps, depending on the build chosen. It's got the highest mobility of any class in the game, meaning that it can get in and out of situations much more quickly than other classes can manage. It's a fast-paced, rewarding class that players from other Diablo franchises and even other games will find familiar. From the mobility and fast paced Demon Hunters, to flavors of the Diablo II Trapsin, all the way back to the ranged-heavy Rogue of the original Diablo, the Rogue in Diablo 4 brings it all together in one deadly package.
Gear dependency on the Rogue is tied very much to weapon choice, as the builds and rogue passives all require use of specific weapons to work well. Due to the specialized nature of their weapons, drops are harder to come by.
Beginner Friendliness
Ease of Play
Survivability
Combat Mobility
Energy Management
Gear Dependency
Moderate (see note above)
Dark Passenger Rogue Guide
Dot and Dash Trapper Rogue Guide
Sniper Rogue Guide
Sorcerer
Sorcerers come in three basic elemental damage iterations: Fire, Lightning, and Cold. This iconic class has changed little through its various incarnations through Diablo franchises, and is a familiar trope for players coming from other games.
Due to the fact that their signature Teleport spell is a significantly nerfed version from previous Diablo franchises (shorter distance and a much longer cooldown), Sorcerer is not the mobile powerhouse it used to be. Even with that change, it's still a mobile and destructively entertaining class. There are some variations, primarily between damage output and survivability, but you can find a flavor to suit your tastes.
Beginner Friendliness
Ease of Play
Survivability
(Fire, Lightning)
Survivability
(Cold)
Combat Mobility
Mana Management
Gear Dependency
Low
Firewall Hydra Sorcerer Guide
Blizzard Shard Sorcerer Guide
Lightning Sorcerer Guide
A Brief History of Diablo Classes
The original Diablo I released in 1996 with only three classes: Warrior, Rogue, and Sorcerer, although the Hellfire expansion released others (discussed below). While these class names have changed over the course of the expansions, these are most closely represented by the Barbarian, Rogue, and Sorcerer in Diablo 4. These are the only three classes that have never been dropped from any Diablo franchise, although the Rogue has undergone repeated metamorphoses (Rogue DI, Amazon/Assassin D2, Demon Hunter D3), while the Barbarian and Sorcerer/Sorceress/Wizard classes remain very familiar to those experienced with these over time.
Fun historical fact: the Barbarian was actually a separate unfinished dual-wielding class that, along with an unfinished Bard class, was supposed to be part of the Diablo I Hellfire expansion. Barbarian and Bard were only accessible through a hack. Diablo I's Warrior is more akin to the Barbarian in Diablo II/III/IV; the Warrior could wield one-handed weapons with a shield or two-handed weapons, but could not dual wield and had none of the magical abilities of the Paladin/Crusader.
The Necromancer was introduced with Diablo II in 2000, and has remained a core class for every Diablo franchise ever since. There hasn't been significant change to this class, which is a testament to its strength, popularity, and engaging playstyle.
The Druid is a returnee for Diablo 4. The class was originally introduced in Diablo II in the
Lord of Destruction
expansion in 2001, then was not included in either Diablo III or Diablo Immortal. We welcome the return of this flexible class to the meta of Diablo 4.
Classes that did not make the cut into Diablo 4 are the Paladin/Crusader (Diablo II, III, Immortal), Monk (Diablo I Hellfire, III, and Immortal), and Witch Doctor (Diablo III). We would not be surprised to see either the Paladin/Crusader or Monk return in a future expansion for Diablo 4; the Paladin/Crusader fits very nicely with lore already starting to unfold in the very first zone with the Knights Penitent. However, we don't expect the Witch Doctor to return. Despite its fun toolkit, the Witch Doctor received heavy criticism for cultural and racial insensitivity and is thus unlikely to make a reappearance.
All Class Overview Guides for Diablo 4 Season 4
Barbarian Class Overview
Druid Class Overview
Necromancer Class Overview
Rogue Class Overview
Sorcerer Class Overview
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