What Class to Play in Diablo 4?

Whether it's your main, alt, first character, or anywhere in between - sometimes we just need some help picking what class to and play in D4. That's precisely why I wrote this little guide to help out those who are in need of a little direction. After reading this I hope you'll be well on your way choosing your next (or first) class in Diablo 4!

There are currently five classes in Diablo 4 to choose from:
Barbarian | Druid | Necromancer | Rogue | Sorcerer
Each of those links go to their respective hub! Within those hubs there is a Class Overview Guide for each class that can further help you decide on your choice of class.

Playstyle and General Class Identity

Here's a quick "summary" of each class. For some people, just this might be enough to help them with their class choice!

Barbarian: The melee specialist of D4, Barbarians are the embodiment of brute force. To put it simply, either they do direct physical damage, or Bleed (physical DoT). Of course the good old Barb classics like Shout skills return for D4. While not exactly multi-faceted, the barb surely has many ways to brawl and smash face. Some of us enjoy the simple life.

Druid: Did you say Hybrid Class? Druids can do it all. Werebear for tanky melee.Werewolf for melee DPS, Earth Magic for utility Magic damage, and Wind Magic for Magical DPS. Or, just a mix of all things. While druid can be played at both close and long ranges, they are bulkier than the average caster. An interesting class to be sure, with lots of options to try.

Necromancer: If you like Minions, Necro is the flagship minion class! Aside from this you have things like Bone Magic for straight up damage, Shadow Magic for some fancy shmancy DPS,Blood Magic for your utility / health-based magic damage. Of course things like Curses and debuffs are back as well. Necro is surprisingly tanky, which is good since you're comfy at the mid-range.

Rogue: If you like the idea of Cutthroat skills (dual wielding melee DPS), and Marksman skills (bow or crossbow ranged DPS) then Rogue has got you covered. Both havles of the "assassin" coin are represented quite well here! Stealth,Traps, and well-timed cunning gameplay are all parts of the Rogue repertoire.

Sorcerer: Is the tried and tested Wizard / Spellcaster type class in D4. Specicially, elemental magic like Fire, Cold, and Shock, which respectively burns, debuff and CC's, and (for lightning damage's weird case) "does alot of random things". You can focus on an element of mix it up! While supposedly the most dedicated ranged / squishy / "glass cannon" class, Sorcs do have ways to keep themselves safe via burst mobility, and shiedling.

Unique Class Systems

Barbarian: The big one is the Armory system. Skills either force you to one (or sometimes more) weapon subtypes in your armory. Your armory consists of "2h sharp", "2h blunt", and "melee dual wield". For example, to use Rend you need a sharp weapon, either 2h or one of your duel wields - and you CANNOT use your 2h blunt armory slot for it. You can choose (or have the game automatically choose) which armory set each skill uses. ALso, with so many weapons, you get more legendary aspect slots compared to other classes. Aside from this, there's Weapon Expertise, and Weapon Technique... Yeah. Lots of weapon stuff.

Druid: Have the Spirit Boon system. They're basically passives that correlate to a "spirit animal", which each have their own mini skill tree (or a line, I suppose). You gain access to them by submitting Druidic SPirit Offerings (which drop from enemies) serves as your way to gain access to these boons.

Necromancer: Is all about the Book of the Dead. It's a complex one. There's the skill, and there's the system. Yeah, it's rolled into one somehow. This deals with your summoned minions, which have their own "subclasses". You can also choose to sacrifice a minion type which disables summoning them, but gives you a passive bonus corresponsing to their class and subclass.

Rogue: Has the Specialization system which is a pretty significant "build choice". Each specialization has very specific effects to your character that alter your gameplay quite a bit. Combo Points, as an example, gives basic skills a stacking combo counter you spend on core skills to buff them. Aside from this, you have the mini-armory system which basically splits the skills you have to either use your ranged weapon, or melee weapons. It's not as customizable as the Barbs dedicated armory.

Sorcerer: Has the Enchantment system which is basically extra passives. Each of your skills has a unique Enchantment "passive" that you can use. Aside from this the sorc doesn't have many overt systems, but have many little interactions depending on your elemental focus.

Other things

While you should get a pretty good idea on what to expect from each class here, its hardly in-depth. Notably, there are a couple "key" things each class still has to set them apart from each other...

I don't discuss many of these things here, but you can find more in each classes overview / should I play guide.

Key Passives: are extremely powerful "buildaround" passives found near the end of their passive skill trees. You can check each classes key passives to somehow get an idea what builds are heavily supported. Most key passives act like a beacon that guides your build forward.

Class Specific Item powers: whether it be legendary aspects, or unique item powers. These can easily serve as build-arounds as well. So having knowledge about the more impactful item powers can be a very strong pull for you. Im pretty sure each and every one of us has had an "Oh that looks cool/strong/fun" moment while looking at items.

Paragon Board aside from, of course, their passive skill tree. THe paragon boards can be almost as impactful for a characters direction. The legendary nodes can act as important points of your build.

Ultimate Skills are literally the strongest skills for each class. Yeah, they have hefty cooldowns, but these are almost all very cool and impactful skills that might interest you.

Aesthetic can be important to some, and completely irrelevant for others. I was going to do a little writeup about each class aesthetic, but I suppose they're a little obvious. If you're the type that cares about aesthetics, my descriptions probably won't sway you much! Haha.

Meta Viability?

So, if you're here to learn "Is X class viable?", you won't find the answer here. Why? Well this is something that ebbs and flows with patches, playstyles, and what kind of content you're going for. But yeah, I do understand the feeling of wanting to know beforehand if your class just plain sucks, or the viability of the build you're dreaming up of. I'll think about making a resource for that, but it's certainly a little early for that.

If you're the type that wants to play the "best class", if that even exists right now - this page won't help you. However, I must strain that this kind of mindset isn't exactly sustainable by a single character. You'd likely want to level up one of each class if you want to "keep up". While this is certainly a viable way to play, and one many enjoy, it's just something I can't help you with HERE.

However, a vast majority of people are here to try try and find a class they "like". I know, it sounds preposterous right? I myself fit into this category, and will eventually try out all classes. But the purpose of this guide remains, which is Helping you pick a class in D4, to either start with or as what to try next.

Again, I can't really talk about each of these systems for each class HERE, but I will have resources for these as soon as I can. Linked below are class-specific "overview" guides, which can help those looking for which class to play.

Summary & Outro

Well, did reading this help you choose what class to play in Diablo 4? If you need more help, each class overview guide delves further into it:

Some other related reading:

Got excited to level up? See our General Leveling Guide!
Find out each and every way you can Customize your Build and Character in D4!