Diablo 4 is an upcoming title in Blizzard’s long-running action-RPG series. Like its predecessors, the game will pit players against demons and monsters as they hack, blast, and loot their way through the story. Visceral combat and exciting loot have been the selling points of the Diablo series for over a decade, and we expect the fourth game to be no different.
As players embark on their quest to thwart the plans of the demon Lilith, they will pick one of five classes to play as. Just as in previous Diablo games, these classes will all have their own unique skills and playstyle. Some will favor close-range, brutal physical combat, while others will prefer to hurl magical energy from afar. Only three of the five playable classes that will be launching with Diablo 4 have been confirmed so far: the Barbarian, the Sorceress, and the Druid.
The first confirmed class, the Barbarian, is a classic Diablo character, and the only one to appear in every game. The Barbarian is a brutal, physical warrior, dealing heavy damage with an array of powerful weapons. If Diablo 4‘s incarnation of the class is similar to its predecessors, then the Barbarian will deal physical damage. It’s also likely to focus on either dual-wielding or two-handed weapons.
In contrast, the Sorceress is all about magical damage, particularly fire, ice, and lightning. The Sorceress last appeared in 2000’s Diablo 2, where she was one of five playable classes. While we don’t know much about Diablo 4‘s Sorceress so far, it’s almost certain she’ll blend big, AoE damage with low HP.
The third confirmed class, the Druid, is somewhat more balanced. Another class that last appeared in Diablo 2, it blends spell-casting with melee prowess. This close-quarters strength is achieved through shape-shifting, either into a Werewolf or a Werebear.
Each of the three confirmed classes for Diablo 4 fills a very specific role. The Barbarian is a tanky, melee brute, his opposite the Sorceress is a fragile, ranged spell-caster, and the Druid falls exactly between the two, blending both magic and melee. While these roles are very set, they do leave gaps for other classes to fill.
It’s possible that Blizzard will opt to create an entirely new class for its Diablo 4, but it’s likely to be new in name only. While there have been 20 different playable classes over the previous Diablo games, they can be boiled down to 10 distinct archetypes:
- Barbarian
- Warrior
- Rogue/Assassin/Demon Hunter
- Sorcerer/Sorceress/Wizard
- Bard
- Monk
- Druid/Witch Doctor
- Necromancer
- Paladin/Crusader
- Amazon
The wide-ranging capabilities of these archetypes leave Blizzard with little room for innovation. This makes it more likely that, just as it has in previous games, the studio will choose to reinvent a classic character rather than create a new one. To predict which classes will be chosen, we need to look at which niches are most likely to be filled.
Probably the most obvious gap so far is the lack of a ranged physical-damage dealer. All previous Diablo games have featured a class like this, using ranged weaponry to deal non-magical damage from a distance. In the original Diablo, this was the Rogue; in Diablo 2 ,it was the Amazon; and in Diablo 3, it was the Demon Hunter.
The Rogue, as the most basic of the three, is unlikely to see a return without a major reinvention. The Demon Hunter is a little more likely, but with the Barbarian already in, it’s possible Blizzard might want to avoid too many Diablo 3 classes. In fact, it seems like the Amazon would be the most likely choice, being Diablo 2‘s ranged damage-dealer. In Diablo 2, the Amazon had some melee capabilities, but was largely focused on striking hard from a distance. She also had some magical-damage capabilities, which we may see returning in a similar way to the Demon Hunter’s skills.
Two other popular archetypes that might find their way into Diablo 4 are the summoner and the cleric. The first, the summoner role, has previously been filled by the Necromancer in both Diablo 2 and Diablo 3. In the latter title, the Witch Doctor also took the summoner role, albeit to a lesser extent. Summoners focus on using other creatures to do their fighting, which they often support with their active skills. There aren’t going to be many support skills among the Barbarian, Druid, and Sorceress, so the summoner is quite a likely addition.
Another support-based archetype is the Cleric, filled by the Crusader in Diablo 3, and the Paladin in Diablo 2. Both of these are tanky, melee classes who can use holy magic to support allies and weaken foes. While Diablo 4‘s Druid already mixes physical and magical damage, the increased focus on support and healing that a cleric-type class would bring is enough to let it stand out.
Diablo 4‘s release date has yet to be confirmed, and it may be a year or more before the game actually launches. Plenty of time for Blizzard to reveal the two remaining classes, and confirm whether they’ll be sticking to the tried-and-true classics, or experimenting with something new.
Diablo 4 is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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