Diablo 4 is bringing far more changes to the sandbox than expected, especially given the shorter length of Season 5. However, this is great news for players looking to get back into the game before the Vessel of Hatred expansion releases in Season 6. Blizzard has made massive changes for each class, such as substantially buffing skills and nerfing some outliers.
While this list may categorize some classes over others, that is in no way to say that any classes are not viable to play this season. However, some options may be more appealing if you are trying to reach high endgame levels. The class you choose is incredibly important, as it will influence what items and aspects you grind for throughout the season. While the community is still determining the meta, Blizzard's changes are visible to all.
All of this is subject to change as the season progresses, as the community discovers new build options and synergies.
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5 Barbarians
The Bonk Has Been Shelved
Barbarian has remained the king of Diablo 4 since its inception, and for good reason. Barbarians have four weapons to use, which means more aspects and tempering can be utilized on barbarian builds to crank up damage and survivability to levels that no other classes can achieve. However, Barbarians just saw heavy nerfs to all four of their key passives, as seen in the Rob2628 video on YouTube.
Key Passives | Nerfs |
|---|---|
Unconstrained | Bonus Damage reduced from 75% to 35% |
Unbridled Rage | Bonus Damage reduced from 100% to 45% |
Walking Arsenal | Bonus Damage per weapon type used reduced from 12% to 8% Bonus Damage while all three bonuses are active reduced from 20% to 10% Bonus Attack Speed while all three bonuses are active reduced from 20% to 10% |
Gushing Wounds | When causing an enemy to Bleed, you have a chance equal to your Critical Strike Chance to increase the Bleed amount by 70% (previously 140%), then by 100% of your Critical Strike Damage. Overpowering a Bleeding enemy creates an explosion that inflicts 120% Bleeding damage over 5 seconds. |
Blizzard's rationale behind such changes is that given Barbarian's access to four weapons; their Key Passive damage bonuses should be reduced to bring their damage in line with the other classes. Last season, Barbarians broke the game by abusing tempering mechanics, giving themselves absurd amounts of HP and basic skill damage.
The basic skill Bashand the Imposing Presence Passive have also been nerfed to account for this. However, a Bash build for the Barbarian is still among the strongest, meaning many players will want to change things up for more excitement.
Keep an eye out for Barbarian builds online, as Barbarians are notorious for breaking the game even after they get nerfed.
4 Necromancer
Minions Are Still Strong
Necromancer was powerful in Diablo 4's Season 4, with its hordes of minions destroying bosses in mere seconds. While the Necromancer class received many buffs to its solo builds for Season 5, its minion builds have been brought down a bit. However, minion attacks can now overpower enemies, allowing for some interesting synergies with many items and aspects, such as the Deathspeaker's Pendant.
Skills/Passives | Buffs/Nerfs |
|---|---|
Sever | Primary damage increased from 80% to 110%. Secondary damage increased from 30% to 45%. |
Blight | Damage over time increased from 105% to 135%. |
Blood Wave | Damage increased from 150% to 450%. |
Shadowblight | Hits required reduced from 10 to 8. Damage increased from 22% to 44%. |
Hellbent Commander | Previous - Your Minions deal 15/30/45%[x] increased damage while you are Close to them. Now - While you control at least 7 Minions, they deal 10/20/30%[x] increased damage. |
As seen in RageGamingVideos' video, Necromancer Sacrifice builds are looking to be stronger this season, with skills like Blood Wave and Sever getting massive buffs to their damage and DPS. However, Minion builds will likely strengthen as we learn more about the new unique items and aspects that have been added to account for any changes made during the transition between seasons. With the number of players who used Necromancer last season, I imagine most are ready to step away from the minion build for a while.
3 Rogue
Massive Mobility Overhauls
The balance changes to Rogue this season seem to be full of quality-of-life adjustments to refine how smooth Rogue should feel to play. There are various changes to Rogue's movement skills, notably for Blade Shift, that should make Rogue move around the battlefield much more reliably. Rogue has also seen some damage buffs to its skills, making the Heartseeker build from last season still quite viable, according to Lucky Luciano on YouTube.
Skills | Buffs |
|---|---|
Blade Shift | Damage increased by 50%. Grants the new Unhindered Buff. Enemies moved through needed to activate Daze reduced from 5 to 3. Control Impairing Effect Duration Reduction increased from 20% to 30%. |
Shadow Step | Damage increased by 11%. Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step Dazes and applying Vulnerable to them for 3 seconds (Previously increased Critical Strike Chance instead). After Methodical Shadow Stepping, you gain 20% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds. Damaging an enemy with Disciplined Shadow Step Stuns them for 2 seconds and reduces its Cooldown by 3 seconds. |
Dash | Damage increased by 25%. Dash now slows enemies hit by 30% for 3 seconds. Casting Enhanced Dash increases your Critical Strike Chance by 10% for 5 seconds. At the end of Disciplined Dash, Knock Down surrounding enemies for 2 seconds and deal 350% of its damage to them. Methodical Dash now has 1 additional Charge, and its Charge Cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds. |
Adding a third charge on Rogue's Dash will allow incredible movement and build options. Dash was already an astonishing pick for Rogue, so improving its ease of use by such a large margin should greatly help veterans and newcomers. Rogues have had more trouble with crowd control compared to other classes, so knocking down enemies with Dash should be a nice buff to the play style.
2 Druids
Earth Skills Buffed
Season 4's Druid left a lot to be desired, as their tempering affixes didn't provide bonuses that felt on par with those of Barbarian or Necromancer. However, Season 5's balance changes plan to address this fact. Landslide has received massive changes, both to its damage and the number of pillars generated. In fact, many of the Druid's skills have seen massive damage buffs to absurd degrees, just like Goblin Inc.'s build for Season 5.
If you have never played Druid, this season is the best time to start.
Skills | Buffs |
|---|---|
Landslide | Damage per hit of Landslide increased from 37.5% to 70%. Damage area increased from 1.5 to 2. Doubled the number of pillars. Total damage increased from 70% to 280%. |
Shred | 1st Attack Damage buffed from 28% to 52%. 2nd Attack Damage buffed from 39% to 72%. 3rd Attack Damage buffed from 77% to 143%. |
Pulverize | Damage buffed from 50% to 92.5%. |
Tornado | Damage buffed from 35% to 65%. |
Boulder | Damage increased from 46% to 70% of weapon damage. |
Lightning Storm | Damage buffed from 40% to 74%. |
Hurricane | Damage buffed from 187% to 346%. |
Ravens/Poison Creeper | Can now be cast while moving. |
Close-range melee druid builds are shaping up to be meta-defining this season, given the sheer amount of buffs the Druid's entire kit is receiving. The rework of unique items, which involves massive overhauls to their functionality, should give even more incentive to use items like Mad Wolf's Glee or Insatiable Fury. This season will see druids reach the top of the meta again, like in Season 3.
1 Sorcerer
New Unique Makes Chain Lightning Incredible
Sorcerer has been at the bottom of the barrel for quite some time, given its weakness in the endgame due to its low damage output and survivability. However, this season is providing massive damage buffs to the Sorcerer's kit, which should hopefully allow them to cut through hordes of enemies at higher levels than before.
According to Lexyu, a new unique has been released that directly synergizes with the new aspects for Sorcerer this season as well, which should provide a much-needed boost to the Sorcerer's build crafting potential.
Skills/Passives | Buffs |
|---|---|
Crackling Energy | Base damage increased from 20% to 30%. |
Chain Lightning | Now, it tracks how many Chain Lightnings are out. Damage increased from 36% to 43%. Each time Greater Chain Lightning bounces, it deals 10% increased damage for its duration, up to 30%. |
Charged Bolts | Base damage increased from 30% to 45%. |
Hydra | Base damage increased from 14% to 16%, and burn damage from Summoned Hydra increased from 60% to 100%. |
Blizzard | Base damage increased from 130% to 210%. Enhanced Blizzard damage to Frozen enemies increased from 25% to 40%. While Wizard's Blizzard is active, you gain 1 Mana Regeneration for every 20 Maximum Mana. |
The new unique pants, Axial Conduit, should bring chain lightning up to meta-contending levels, as its unique perk converts chain lightning into a lightning aura that shoots off of your character. Chain Lightning has been an incredibly fun build to play in the past, but it may also be one of the strongest Sorcerer builds to play now. However, given how early it is in the season, only time will tell if this is indeed the case in Diablo 4.
Video Credit: Rob2628/YouTube, RageGamingVideos/YouTube, Lucky Luciano/YouTube, Goblin Inc./YouTube, Lexyu/YouTube
Diablo 4
Action RPG
Hack and Slash
- Franchise
- Diablo
- Platform(s)
- PC , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5
- Released
- June 6, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Publisher(s)
- Blizzard
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- ESRB
- m
