Diablo 4 has gone a long time without getting any major news. Thankfully, the days of that silence may be nearly over. In just a few more weeks, Blizzard will be hosting Blizzcon, and Diablo 4 will likely take the stage, hopefully revealing some new details. Fans are dying to know what all their class choices will be, but Blizzard has left them wondering for a long time.
There’s no shortage of options if Diablo 4‘s last classes come from previous games. If Blizzard wants to focus on tradition in this game, one of the most crucial classes it could choose is the Necromancer, as this master of dark magic and ruler of undeath showed up as a player character in both Diablo 2 and Diablo 3. It’s a very special niche deeply tied into Diablo‘s identity as a dark fantasy franchise. However, including the Necromancer at this stage might cause some problems in Diablo 4 as far as balance is concerned. There’s certainly an audience for the class, but is it the right thing for Blizzard to offer from the start?
Diablo 4 does seem like a pretty nostalgic affair so far, in spite of its new storyline. There’s three classes revealed for the game so far: the Druid, the Sorceress, and the Barbarian, all of which have roots in Diablo 2. Only the Barbarian showed up afterwards, which gives the impression that the developer of Diablo 4 is looking strongly at Diablo 2 for inspiration. If that’s the case, the Necromancer would go a long way in channeling nostalgia for that game. It’s one of the most unique class options available in the game and it stood out in Diablo 3 too.
It’s hard for any class to pull off the art of minion-mancy the way the Necromancer does. Besides blood and bone magic, the class is built around the concept of amassing tons of undead minions that protect the Necromancer and overwhelm the enemy. While the Druid has some knack for calling on nature companions, it’s nothing like the Necromancer’s power to flood the battlefield with skeletons. Unless Blizzard has a very special idea for a new Diablo class, there’s no class that could offer power over minions like this one.
It would also be thematically appropriate in a few ways. Right now, there’s also no class that uses any kind of dark magic, yet there’s a lot of emphasis on nature and the classical elements instead. Players who are drawn to grim warlocks and antiheroes would be pleased to have the Necromancer available to them. Diablo 4 might also be light on divine magic, since Heaven is in ruins after the events of Diablo 3, and Blizzard could fill the void by putting an emphasis on dark magic as well as the druidic and arcane. The Necromancer might be just what’s needed to defeat Lilith.
Unfortunately, although there’s lots of reasons the Necromancer would be good for Diablo 4‘s themes and player engagement, there’s other reasons that it could be an obstacle. For instance, adding the Necromancer now might cause a bit of balance problems in the game: magic. The Druid is a special case with its melee capabilities, but it might still rub shoulders in a way with the Necromancer that Blizzard doesn’t want to balance around.
Balancing the Necromancer might be a challenge in general. Summoning an army of skeletons is great fun, but sometimes its hard to challenge a player when there’s so many units between them and danger. In Diablo 3, the Necromancer was really never at risk of losing their minions, which meant as long as they avoided ranged attacks and stayed behind minions, the Necromancer was always safe. If Diablo 4 were to include the class, it might need some significant nerfs of adjustments.
In a game as loot focused as Diablo, the Necromancer might actually cause some equipment problems if it shows up now. It’s not hard to imagine it would be very similar to the Sorceress, using caster’s weapons like staves. In truth, Diablo 4 desperately needs classes that use ranged weapons like bows or lightweight, Dexterity styled weapons like daggers, and it’s unlikely the Necromancer would be so overhauled that it uses the weapons of a rogue. That means that, if the Necromancer showed up as a starting class, there might be a bloated demand for caster’s equipment and heavy weapons, alongside very little room for rogues or archers.
Even though there’s a lot of reasons that the Necromancer would be welcomed in Diablo 4, it might not be the right fit. Diablo 4 does need some more dark magic to offer players, but considering what’s known about the game so far, it might not be the right fit. Instead, players fond of that character niche might want to anticipate something like Diablo 3‘s Demon Hunter or a similar archer using shadowy magic. Alternatively, since there’s no user of heavy armor and shields yet, there could be a Death Knight who makes use of many of the Necromancer’s powers while applying them to a tankier playstyle.
It’s worth noting that Diablo 3 didn’t have room for the Necromancer initially either. Instead, it arrived in expansions after the release. Maybe Blizzard will do that again in Diablo 4. Since the Necromancer is such a unique class, it might be appropriate that it appears in some form as a DLC. Hopefully, though, it gets some adjustments so that Blizzard doesn’t end up selling the strongest class in a separate package. Whether Diablo fans want Necromancer in the game or not, at least there’s good odds that the wait to find out if it made the cut won’t be much longer. Blizzcon 2021 will take place in late February, and Blizzard is bound to have plenty of Diablo 4 reveals in store.
Diablo 4 is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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