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What are the best Diablo 4 classes? We’ve played the game for dozens of hours to bring you the ultimate guide to each Diablo 4 class and which one you should pick for your intended playstyle. We’ll run through an expert analysis of the Necromancer, Rogue, Sorcerer, Barbarian, and Druid following extensive testing.
Every D4 class has a unique skill tree, allowing you to pick which abilities to use. Unlike Diablo 3, which featured set character designs, you can customize the appearance of each Diablo 4 class. The D4 Season 3 release date has finally arrived, and with hours upon hours of hands-on experience with the game, detailed in our Diablo 4 review, we share everything you need to know about the best of the five Diablo 4 classes.
All Diablo 4 classes ranked
There are five Diablo 4 classes: Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Rogue, and Sorcerer. Here’s each one ranked from best to worst:
- Necromancer – frontline assault specialist, excellent crowd control
- Barbarian – melee specialist, high damage potential
- Sorcerer – ranged specialist, strong AoE abilities
- Rogue – ranged and melee combo, highly adaptable skills
- Druid – AoE and single-target mix, solid all-rounder
Keep reading to discover which of these Diablo 4 classes you should pick and why.
What is the best Diablo 4 class?
The best Diablo 4 class is the Necromancer due to their frontline action abilities and huge AoE damage potential.
Of course, the best Diablo 4 class still depends on your playstyle. For those of you preferring to get up close and personal, striking with fast and furious melee attacks that devastate your opponent, think about selecting the Rogue. For players who prefer a helping hand, or just like the idea of commanding an undead army, choose the Necromancer. If you like to be physically aggressive, or if the thought of turning into a polar bear at a moment’s notice is appealing to you, go for the Druid. For ferocious battles and a huge arsenal of weapons, the Barbarian should be your pick. Finally, if you like to cast spells, and rely on magic to enhance your gameplay, you should opt for the Sorcerer.
Necromancer – best D4 class overall
In previous Diablo games, if you want to sit back and watch your companions do all the hard work for you, the Necromancer was your best option. Fortunately, there’s much more depth to the undead summoner this time around as the class has two types of resources to think about.
The Necromancer’s primary resource is Essence, a regenerative resource that is used to cast a variety of powerful spells. In addition to simply waiting, you can also build Essence by using basic skills. Corpses are the Necromancer’s secondary resource, allowing the class to use the remains of nearby fallen enemies. These corpses can serve multiple purposes, from summoning skeleton minions to creating traps for incoming enemies using skills like Corpse Explosion. As the master of the undead, the Necromancer can use a variety of weapons, including swords, daggers, and wands, and they’re the only class that can wield scythes.
Our best Diablo 4 Necromancer build focuses on killing groups of enemies using the devasting Bone Spear build. Once you create piles of corpses using Bone Spear, raise the slain enemies temporarily using Corpse Explosion to deal massive amounts of AoE damage to everyone nearby. If the Corpse Explosion doesn’t finish off your enemies, throw another Bone Spear to put the final nail in the coffin.
Necromancer class skills
- Reap – Sweep an ethereal scythe in front of you, dealing damage. Hitting an enemy with Reap increases your damage reduction for a short period of time.
- Blight – Unleash concentrated blight that deals damage and leaves behind a defiled area, dealing damage over time.
- Corpse Explosion – Detonate a corpse, dealing damage to surrounding enemies.
- Corpse Tendrils – Veins burst out of a corpse, pulling in enemies, stunning them, and dealing damage.
Necromancer passive abilities
- Hewed Flesh – Your damage has a percentage chance of creating a corpse at the target’s location. The chance is doubled against bosses.
- Grim Harvest – Consuming a corpse generates essence.
- Fueled by Death – You deal increased damage for a short period after consuming a corpse.
- Death’s Embrace – Close enemies take more damage from you, and deal less damage to you.
Barbarian – best DPS class
When it comes to tanking large amounts of damage, no class in the Diablo series does it better than the Barbarian. This class is known for having the highest amount of health and strength in the game, and this hasn’t changed in Diablo 4. Similarly to the previous games, Barbarians build Fury with each attack, giving them the ability to unleash a powerful Fury skill during combat.
The Barbarian in Diablo 4 also has a brand new mechanic: the Arsenal System. This gives the Barbarian four weapon slots, allowing players to equip one-handed and two-handed weapons in the same build. For the first time in a Diablo game, the Barbarian will be able to equip four legendary weapons at the same time. Wielding numerous weapons at once sounds like it could become overwhelming, but each Fury skill automatically uses the required weapon to make combat seamless.
What makes our best Diablo 4 Barbarian build stand out is utilizing the Hammer of the Ancients to crush every single enemy in sight. Whether you’re playing in a group or as a solo player, this build has enough survivability thanks to Iron Skin and Tactical Iron Skin, stopping you from taking damage while giving you the ability to heal mid-fight.
Barbarian basic skills
- Bash – Bash the enemy with your weapon, dealing X damage. This skill has a 20% chance to stun enemies for 0.5 seconds
- Requires bludgeoning weapon. Generates nine Fury
- Flay – Flay the enemy, dealing X damage and inflicting Y bleeding over six seconds
- Requires a slashing weapon. Generates nine Fury
- Frenzy – Unleash a rapid flurry of blows, dealing X damage with each pair of hits. Your attack speed is increased by 20% for three seconds, up to 60%
- Requires dual-wielding weapons. Generates five Fury
- Lunging Strike – Lunge forward and strike an enemy for X damage
Barbarian Fury skills
- Rend – Cleave enemies in front of you, dealing X damage and inflicting Y bleeding over five seconds
- Requires a slashing weapon. Costs 25 Fury
- Hammer of The Ancients – Slam your hammer down with the fury of the ancients, dealing X damage to a concentrated area
- Requires a two-handed bludgeoning weapon. Costs 20 Fury
- Double Swing – Sweep your weapons from opposite directions, dealing X damage with each weapon. Enemies caught in the center are hit by both
- Requires dual-wielded weapons. Costs 25 Fury
- Upheaval – Tear into the ground with your weapon and fling debris forward, dealing X damage
- Requires a two-handed weapon. Costs 30 Fury
- Whirlwind – Rapidly attack enemies nearby for X damage
Sorcerer – best ranged class
The Sorcerer is the go-to class for ranged attacks and raw elemental damage. Wielding the power of lightning, fire, and frost, the Sorcerer will be an important addition to any party looking to take down Diablo 4’s biggest threats. Although the ability to decimate waves of enemies does come at a cost – the Sorcerer has the lowest amount of health out of the three classes.
Unlike the Barbarian and the Druid, the Sorcerer passively regenerates mana. As a result, only one of her Minor Destruction skills generates mana. When the Sorcerer is fully leveled up, she can deal game-changing amounts of damage with her ultimate skills. You may struggle to play the Sorcerer as a solo player due to her glass-cannon build, but there’s no doubt she will be devastating in a party.
Keep your distance from Hell’s minions with our best Diablo 4 Sorcerer build by utilizing the classes’ lightning spells to rip through enemies. The beauty of the Lightning Sorcerer is that you’re able to fight against numerous enemies without ever getting near them. You will eventually run into enemies that are resistant to lightning magic, but our build features a buffed version of Arc Lash and a deadly ultimate attack.
Sorcerer minor destruction skills
- Lightning – Launch a bolt of lightning that deals X damage and bounces to nearby enemies, dealing 30% less to each enemy hit
- Fire Bolt – Hurl a flaming bolt, dealing X and burning nearby enemies for X bleeding over eight seconds
- Frost Bolt – Throw a bolt of frost at an enemy, dealing X and chilling them
- Arc Lash – Unleash arcing lightning that shocks enemies in front of you for X and then returns to you, restoring X Mana
Sorcerer major destruction skills
- Charged Bolts – Release six bolts of lightning that course along the ground in an erratic pattern, dealing X damage each
- Fireball – Hurl a ball of fire that explodes on contact, dealing X damage to nearby enemies
- Ice Shards – Launch five shards that deal X damage each. Deals X% to frozen enemies
- Incinerate – Channel a beam of fire, burning enemies for X damage. Damage increases by X per second, up to X
- Chain Lightning – Unleash a bolt of lightning dealing X damage and jumping to X nearby targets
- Frozen Orb – Unleash an orb that chills and expels piercing shards for a total of X damage, and then explodes into Frost Bolts
Rogue – best class for crowd control
Like in the first game of the series, Diablo 4’s Rogue is a hybrid class. They can use both ranged and melee combat, and they have appropriate skills that you can spec in. If you choose to focus on melee combat, the Rogue can use swords and daggers, while players who decide to go with a ranged combat strategy can use bows and crossbows to fire arrows and bolts at foes. The Rogue also has class-specific quests that no other class can do, which can be found in the sanctuary.
What makes the Rogue stand out thus far from the rest are the three class specializations: Combo Points, Shadow Realm, and Exploit Weakness. The Shadow Realm allows a melee-focused Rogue to lure their target into a dark void, but it also has the rather cool side effect of briefly making foes outside of the void disappear, so the Rogue can safely take out the enemies in the void first. The Exploit Weakness specialization shows icons that indicate a foe’s weakness, giving you information to kill them quickly, while the Combo Points specialization allows the Rogue to build up points to spend on using skills.
The Rogue also has access to imbue effects, similar to those that the Rogue mercenary in Diablo 2 was able to use. The three imbue effects can be combined with any attack or skill to add those effects, so a ranged Rogue can use Rain of Arrows combined with the Frost Imbue effect to freeze the battlefield.
If you’re looking for a class that can truly do it all, the best Diablo 4 Rogue build specializes in both close-quarters and ranged combat to become a jack of all trades. Our Penetrating Shot build focuses on debuffing minions using Smoke Grenade and Caltrops, then building up combo points with the Puncture skill. As you gain combo points, attack using Penetrating Shot to start causing serious damage and make use of your movement-based damage multipliers by utilizing Dash and Concealment.
Rogue class skills
- Shadow Realm – Become immune for one second, and pull target enemies into the Shadow Realm with you for five seconds. In Shadow Realm, you become stealthier, unstoppable, and deal 50% more damage to the afflicted enemies (Also makes foes outside the Shadow Realm briefly disappear).
- Exploit Weakness – You can exploit the weakness in certain enemy attacks. All hits against these enemies become critical strikes and deal 60% increased damage.
- Combo Points – Your basic attacks now add combo points. Certain skills consume combo points for additional effects.
Rogue imbue skills
- Frost Imbue – Imbues the Rogue’s attacks and skills with the chill effect.
- Acid Imbue – Imbues the Rogue’s attacks and skills with the poison effect.
- Shadow Imbue – Imbues the Rogue’s attacks and skills with the shadow effect.
Rogue ranged skills
- Shadow Step – Teleports the Rogue to behind a target
- Dash – Dashes in the direction the Rogue is facing
- Caltrops – Deploys caltrops behind the Rogue as they dash backward
Rogue melee skills
- Arrow Barrage – Fires a volley of arrows at foes
- Requires Combo Points to use
- Rain of Arrows – The Rogue leaps into the air and fires many arrows at the ground, repeatedly hitting any enemies in range.
Druid – best class for buffs
As the only shapeshifting class in the game, the Druid can turn into a ferocious werebear or a terrifying werewolf during a single attack. No matter what form the Druid is in, they will always have two wolf companions at their side at all times. In addition to this, the Druid is also a master of elements, allowing them to call upon the elements when in human form. Each Druid’s basic skill generates Spirit, a resource that can be used to unleash powerful Spirit skills.
Depending on how you build your Druid using the Diablo 4 skill tree, you can choose to focus entirely on the shapeshifting mechanic, become an elemental master, or create a hybrid of both. More so than the Barbarian and the Sorcerer, the Druid is better suited to dealing with powerful single targets and multiple enemies due to the range of their skills. Summon a barrage of storms to deal consistent damage to everything on the screen, or switch to the werebear form to attack with one big, concentrated blow.
Our best Diablo 4 Druid build has been designed to focus on the deadly Landslide skill that uses pillars created from the earth to crush enemies. It also uses the Druid’s Werebear form to become faster and stronger than before. If your enemies are still standing after being hit by Trample and Landslide, activate Hurricane and round all of them up to repeat the same process.
Druid basic skills
- Earthspike – Sunder the earth, impaling the first enemy hit for X damage. Each time you hit an enemy with Earthspike, your chance to deal Crushing Blow to that target is increased by 10%
- Shred – Shapeshift into a werewolf and shred an enemy, dealing X damage. This attack has a 30% chance to strike twice
- Storm Strike – Electricity gathers around your weapon, dealing X damage split between your target and up to three nearby enemies
- Maul – Shapeshift into a werebear and maul an enemy, dealing X damage and Fortifying yourself for Y
- Wind Shear – Conjure a piercing blade of wind, dealing X damage and increasing your movement speed by 5% for three seconds, up to 30%
Druid Spirit skills
- Pulverize – Shapeshift into a werebear and slam the ground, dealing X damage to nearby enemies
- Landslide – Crush enemies between pillars of earth, dealing up to X damage. This attack has an additional 10% chance to deal a Crushing Blow
- Tornado – Conjure a vortex that moves outwards and curves in a random direction, dealing X damage every second
What is the best Diablo 4 class for PvP?
The best classes for Diablo 4 PvP are the melee Rogue and the Sorcerer.
The Rogue’s single-target burst skills are much more lethal, and their mobility makes it hard to kite away from. They have Dash, which is the perfect gap closer, and numerous assassination skills that position you behind your enemy. Concealment can also allow them to go invisible, meaning they can strike from any angle.
The Sorcerer is also a great choice but lacks the mobility of the Rogue. You’ll need to be on your toes as you hurl off your fireballs or lightning bolts, but the Sorcerer’s killing potential is pretty damn impressive.
What is the best Diablo 4 class for endgame?
The best Diablo 4 endgame class is the Barbarian thanks to their devastating Whirlwind build.
When considering the best Diablo 4 endgame class, you must determine which one will be most useful in solo or co-op nightmare dungeon runs, and – likewise – which class will help with facing off against rival players. These are separate categories, as some techniques will be more effective against groups of monsters than other players in PvP. Usually, there would be a gulf of difference, with some classes excelling in dungeons and crowd control while others specialize in single-target damage. However, the answer for the best PvP and best endgame dungeon class is the same at launch.
For nightmare dungeons, the Barbarian kitted out with builds that exploit Whirlwind Aspects just breaks the game, as they can use said Whirlwind skill to escape dangerous situations. They have enough power to chop foes to pieces casually, making them invaluable members of a team of adventurers exploring these dungeons. They also do so much damage that they’re formidable foes in PvP, with only other Barbarians or Druids able to tank some of the damage.
What is the most popular Diablo 4 class?
Diablo 4’s most popular class is the Sorcerer. This comes from Diablo 4 GM Rod Ferguson himself, who confirmed that it’s officially the most played class right now according to Blizzard’s numbers. While this might come as a surprise to the die-hard Necros or Barbs out there, it seems fitting that the most popular Diablo 4 class is a glass cannon bursting with particle effects and elemental pizazz. If anything can keep you entertained while farming materials or leveling XP, it’s spell-slinging.
That’s all there is to know about the best classes to choose in Diablo 4. Be sure to check out our best Diablo 4 builds before you create your next seasonal character, plus, our Diablo 4 tips guide should also have everything you need to bring you up to speed. Don’t forget to peruse the best Diablo 4 settings and Diablo 4 system requirements to ensure you’re not left disappointed when starting your adventure through Sanctuary.
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