Diablo 4 classes explained: What's the best class for characters?

With regards to the characters, you might be wondering how the class system works. It's a fantastic approach which adds so many dimensions to the gameplay.

It also provides a replay value that's guaranteed to bring you back again and again with a new character. Think you've experienced the game to the full as a Barbarian? Make your next character a Necromancer.

If you're a bit confused by the system - perhaps you're new to action-RPGs of this ilk - fear not. We'll discuss the various classes in Diablo 4 below.

Diablo 4 classes explained

At launch there were will be five classes available to us to play. These are the Barbarian, Sorceress, Rogue, Necromancer and Druid.

Hopefully, over the course of the game's life cycle, we’ll get to see new classes appear - and we’ll be sure to update you if they do.

In Diablo 4, each class is tailorable with its own skill tree to suit your play style, meaning you won’t have any additional fluff getting in your way.

In a departure from Diablo 3, which only allowed you to pick between two character variations for each class, Diablo 4 turns it up to 11 - featuring a great character creator with some very inclusive options, so no one should be left out.

Diablo 4 Barbarian

Sometimes you just want to get up in the nitty-gritty of it all, and Diablo 4’s Barbarian class is perfectly suited for this. They have had the highest level of health and strength out of all the classes in Diablos of yore, and it’s much the same here.

Also like prior titles, Barbarians generate the Fury resource with every attack, giving them the option to use skills that require Fury for exceptionally brutal demon-slaying.

New to the Barbarian class in Diablo 4 is the Arsenal System. This mechanic offers the Barbarian four slots for weapons which allows you to be able to run one-handed and two-handed weapons in the same build or, alternatively, carry four legendary weapons at the same time for some extraordinarily overpowered shenanigans.

Micromanagement of all these weapons won’t be necessary, fortunately, as your chosen Fury skill will use the weapon it needs without player input.

Diablo 4 Sorceress

To best manage hordes of enemies, you can’t go wrong with the Sorceress. The Sorceress can utilise the elemental powers of lightning, fire and frost, which can really aid your party when going up against some of Diablo 4’s most dangerous foes - and absolutely rips through large groups from afar with her deadly ranged attacks.

This untold power is not without its limit, however, as the Sorceress has the lowest health out of all the classes, leaving them potentially vulnerable to enemies resistant to certain types of damage.

The Sorceress is also the only class that passively regenerates mana, though this does mean that only Minor Destruction attacks generate mana. You’ll need all this mana too, for when your Sorceress is maxed-out, the damage dealt by her ultimate skills will make even Lilith blush.

Just be sure to keep as much distance as possible to ensure your little health bar is as full as possible.

Diablo 4 Rogue

Diablo 4’s Rogue is the most balanced class of all, offering a hybrid of all other classes. The Rogue makes use of melee and ranged attacks and has skills pertaining to each style of play.

If you double down on melee, you’ll have daggers and swords at your disposal, with a ranged play style focusing on bows and crossbows which can make use of lethal fire arrows and bolts.

There are also Rogue-specific quests available to play through, so it’s well worth trying out the Rogue class.

Also unique to the Rogue are its class specialisations which are Combo Points, Shadow Realm and Exploit Weakness.

Combo Points allow you to generate points as a resource to spend on abilities to strengthen them.

The Shadow Realm sees a melee-orientated Rogue be able to single out an enemy in a void and take them out, while enemies outside of this void vanish temporarily, meaning you are safe to wreak havoc individually.

Exploit Weakness does exactly what it says on the tin: You’re shown an enemy's weakness so you are able to use the best attack to take them down efficiently.

As a Rogue, you can also imbue your attacks and skills with additional effects such as the Poison Imbuement, meaning your weapons will deal additional poison damage.

Diablo 4 Necromancer

Occasionally, you might find yourself carrying dead weight looking for the first opportunity to change things up, but this is exactly what you want when playing a Necromancer build.

Necromancers are the best build for the middle managers out there as you’ll be employing undead hordes to do the work for you. Compared to previous Diablos, it’s a bit more nuanced as you will have two resources to fret over - no such thing as a free lunch, as they say.

Your two resources to manage are Essence and Corpses.

Essence allows you to use a number of very powerful spells and it regenerates passively over time and generate more by employing your basic skills.

Corpses are relatively self-explanatory. This resource allows you to tap into the fallen around you, summon skeletal minions and make use of traps such as Corpse Explosion for your best bloated-whale video impression.

We’re a huge fan of the absurdity of detonating corpses to damage enemies and it really leans into Diablo 4’s rekindled horror imagery.

Diablo 4 Druid

In this life, you may look out to the say and lament that, alas, 'On all levels, except physical, I am a wolf.' However, by playing as a Druid in Diablo 4, your dreams can come true – you can shapeshift into a werewolf, or even a werebear. Or, if you prefer to stick to your human form, you can employ a number of elemental attacks.

No matter which is the best version of you, two wolf companions will always be by your side, ripping lesser foes apart - which is very handy indeed when navigating the perils facing Sanctuary.

When playing as a Druid, each of your basic skills generates Spirit to be spent on brutal Spirit skills such as Earthspike and Stormstrike, to devastate anything in the vicinity, especially if you opt for an elemental master build.

Alternatively, you can also choose to focus entirely on your shapeshifting prowess and chomp, chew and slash your way through any problem.

Indeed, you can also run a hybrid build of the two to strategically make use of both play styles depending on the dangers at hand.

What’s the best Diablo 4 class?

For us, we think the best Diablo 4 class is the Rogue to start with, as it offers a balanced introduction to the game and the aforementioned class-specific quests, meaning you’ll get the widest gamut of content initially as you get to grasps with the massive world.

Ultimately, the choice is entirely yours, and no matter which class you opt for, if you play your cards right, you will have a stupendously powerful build.

If you play with a party, you can specialise in one thing entirely as the rest of the group fills in the rest of the gaps.

Read more on Diablo 4:

• Diablo 4 voice actors - full cast list & who plays Lilith
• Is Diablo 4 crossplay? - co-op multiplayer explained
• Diablo 4 battle pass - season 1 start date, price & microtransactions
• Diablo 4 clans explained - how to create or join a clan, and why you should
• How to show FPS in Diablo 4 - keep track of frame rate
• Diablo 4 Altar of Lilith locations - where to find altars explained
• Diablo 4 recruits Megan Fox - actress eulogises epic in-game deaths
• Diablo 4 World Boss timer - what we know about UK spawn times
• Diablo 4 PC requirements - minimum and recommended specs
• Are the Diablo 4 servers down? - how to check server status

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