Diablo 4 Best Class: Which class to choose?

One of the biggest choices when starting Diablo IV is the selection of one of the 5 classes at your disposal: Sorcerer, Barbarian, Thief, Druid and Necromancer. Here is some info and advice in this guide, with details on their style of play, strengths and weaknesses, ranking, etc.

Diablo 4 offers 5 playable classes at launch, and even if it means that the favorite class of each player is not necessarily present, we are already spoiled for choice. You will be able to find the Sorcerer, the Barbarian, the Thief, the Druid and the Necromancer around the campfire, to start your adventure. It's still not too late to choose which class you're going to play, or to change your mind. We will help you.

We are not going to pretend that all classes are equal, and some will certainly shine more than others at a very high level. However, we must not forget that Blizzard has already multiplied the balances since the beta. The most powerful classes and builds have already had nerves, while those below the rest have gained power. This means that the ranking may change regularly in the future, and evolve over the days and updates. Concretely, this means that it is better to play a class that makes you want, in order to have fun, rather than trying to follow the meta, which is changing, and which can deprive you of your "OP" build while you play a class that you do not like more than that. In the worst case, know that Diablo 4 heavily encourages reroll, between the horse, the bonuses of Renom and the ability to pass the campaign, it goes much faster thereafter.

Barbarian

The big, basic gruff warrior well known to Diablo players always answers the call. He is tough and brutal, and he relies on his melee weapons to devastate the opposing ranks with mostly physical and bleeding-based damage. He uses Fury as a resource to power his most powerful abilities. This Fury is generated by attacking as well as receiving blows. The Fury gradually diminishes over time. This means that it takes a little time to build up at the beginning of a fight, before being able to unleash its attacks, at least, when you are not chaining the confrontations. His basic attacks also generate Fury, as well as some recharge time techniques like screaming, so he is not without tools. If you've played the previous games, you should be very familiar with its abilities, such as Frenzy, Bond, Waterspout, War Cries, Shockwave, Hammer of the Ancients, and Call of the Ancients.

The big novelty of Diablo 4 for this class is that the Barbarian can equip four weapons at the same time. Two one-handed weapons, a blunt two-handed weapon, and a two-handed sharp weapon. This gives the Barbarian far more legendary features and bonuses than other classes. Each type of attack automatically uses the appropriate weapon. For example, your large blunt weapon (mace or hammer) is used for the Hammer of the Ancients, and the two one-handed weapons simultaneously for the Waterspout. The Barbarian also has a system of expertise: using a type of weapon regularly gives him experience in his handling, which will confer various bonuses.

Sorcerer

The Sorcerer (or Witch, the genre is a choice for all classes in Diablo 4) is more in line with his version of Diablo 2, rather than Diablo 3. Indeed, it uses only 3 elements, Lightning, Fire and Ice, but not the Arcane. Moreover, its main resource is good old Mana, not Arcane Power, but it works in the same way. It regenerates automatically or by attacking enemies with a basic spell, such as Fire Flash. Apart from that, the character adopts the gender archetype that all RPG players need to know. He uses the elements and his spells, mostly from a distance, (but sometimes also in melee) to kill his enemies before they have a chance to reach hand-to-hand combat.

This is where the distinction between the different types of Sorcerer is made. You can bet on a maximum of direct damage and in the long term with the fire spells: Fireball, Hydra, Meteor. Or conversely, you can slow down your enemies, or even freeze them completely before smashing them with your Ice spells: Frozen Orb, Frost Nova, Blizzard, and a small Ice Armor to take the damage for you. Another option is to electrocute everyone with Lightning, without really needing to aim, which will stun them as a bonus: Electric Whip, Chain Lightning, Conduit that makes you invincible, and Teleportation to keep your distance or progress faster. Of course, the beauty of the thing is that you can mix the elements. Even a Witch who likes to burn everything can enjoy an ice barrier and teleportation. Of course, all this comes at a price, and the Witch is generally considered more fragile, although in practice she can be the most robust character in the game with some builds.

The Sorcerer can only equip a staff, or a one-handed weapon and a spell focuser, but he has the power of Enchantment. The premise is somewhat similar to the spell runes of Diablo 3, but with much broader and varied applications. You can choose one of your spells, which will give passive bonuses to your character. For example, enchanting the Blizzard will automatically make one appear every 15 seconds, for 6 seconds. Or you can choose to have a 3% chance of triggering a meteor with all your spells. There are a lot of fun and exotic possibilities, for those who love original builds.

Rogue

Named Rogue in English, this class also has different types of gameplay, so we can compare it to the Amazon and the Assassin of Diablo 2, or the Demon Hunter of Diablo 3, but with more flexibility. Indeed, she can fight in melee frontally with volleys of blow and Celerity, or bet more on finesse with Coup au coeur and Pas de l'ombre with her daggers. It can also attack from a distance with Multiple Fire and Rapid Fire, while disseminating traps, such as traps. In addition to physical damage in melee and from a distance, traps, poison and shadows also come to offer him all kinds of exotic abilities, in order to weaken his enemies and control them, or simply to defend himself. The Rogue can also infuse his weapons with these different elements, if necessary.

What makes the Rogue very versatile is the fact that he can equip two one-handed weapons and one ranged weapon. It is one less weapon than the Barbarian, but it has the ability to attack from a distance. It is therefore possible to equip melee and ranged attacks at the same time, since the game will automatically attack with the corresponding weapon. That's not all, however, the management of Rogue's Energy is very classic, like mana, with basic attacks to generate it and powerful attacks to use it. It also uses different specializations, with the choice between combo points, generated by basic attacks, which increase the damage of special attacks, or inner vision, which allows you to have infinite energy for a few seconds for example.

Druid

The only appearance of this class in the series was in the Lord of Destruction expansion for Diablo 2. Nevertheless, the Druid had made a strong impression. This character can be seen as a jack of all trades, the ultimate jack-of-all-trades who unleashes the power of nature. Indeed, he can fight like an elementalist, with great reinforcements of lightning spells, fierce wind and large rocks in the mouths of demons (no volcanoes this time). His Cataclysm technique can change the weather, tornadoes and lightning will then hit enemies randomly throughout the area. He can also dive straight into the fray, using wolf and werebear attacks, even if it's time for an attack in general: he can frantically attack or charge into the pile like an extremely hairy Barbarian. Each change of form comes with various bonuses, as a bonus. Moreover, it does not do all this alone, since it can be accompanied by wolves, crows or poisonous strangulating vines. In summary, it can be played in very different ways, with the possibility of inflicting physical damage, lightning, and poison.

The Druid can equip sticks and one-handed weapons, but no shield. The Druid resource is the Spirit, which works quite similarly to the resource of the majority of classes in the game. Powerful attacks consume it, and basic attacks can regenerate it with each use.

The special mechanism of the druid asks to make offerings to different animal spirits, in order to obtain blessings related to their domain. You can be accurate like the eagle, fast like the wolf, cunning like the snake, choosing from several different statistics in each area.

Necromancer

The last class available at the release of Diablo 4 is the Necromancer. As she has already been present in several titles in the series, she is well known. This master of death uses bones, blood, shadows, and the undead to rule the battlefield, resulting in physical damage, bleeding, and shadow. Typically, this involves summoning skeletons and a golem, while barricading itself behind a wall of bones and armor of bones, while casting curses that weaken the enemy or inflict long-term damage, as well as bone projectiles. But its gameplay is not limited to that, it can also adopt a more aggressive and solitary style. In this case, he is on the front line, with his scythe and shield, as he drains the enemy's life with his blood spells. Note that the Necromancer is the only class to use a shield at the moment, in Diablo 4. It can also equip a phylactery instead, for a damage bonus, it is clearly not a tank.

The Necromancer must manage two resources, the first is the Essence, which is once again a simple thematic variant of mana. Using basic skills generates Essence, and more powerful spells will consume it. The second resource is squarely based on the corpses of your enemies, which you can transform in different ways, if you don't choose to blow them up, which is always fun. This resource can be very abundant on lots of small enemies, but you will quickly run out on bosses, which requires having tools to generate them, or not relying too much on spells that make use of corpses.

As mentioned above, the Necromancer has three types of servants, the skeletons, the skeleton mages and the golem. The Necromancer's special mechanism, the Book of the Dead, helps determine which subtype of servant you want to use. For example, you can choose between scythe-style skeletons that make AOEs, skeletons specialized in single-target damage, or defenders with shields to tank the enemy. It is also possible to choose to sacrifice your minions, in order to get powerful bonuses for your Necromancer, if you do not like the company of the dead.

What about other classes like the Paladin?

You must have figured it out by now, the Paladin/Crusader is not present in Diablo 4, at least, for now. Other popular classes such as the Monk and the Fetishist are missing. The developers have maintained absolute silence about this during interviews and presentations, so there is no official information in this area. It has simply been hinted that new classes should arrive with DLC or expansions. But since nothing official has been announced in this area either, it remains only to arm oneself with patience. For now, Blizzard is focused on releasing the game, and the first season, scheduled for July. We can start hoping for ads and additional content afterwards, which brings us to the end of the year at best. A surprise is nevertheless always possible, we will not fail to edit this article if necessary, with the new classes, when the time comes.