Ready to return to Sanctuary in Diablo IV? While the game launched in a rough state, recent patches have alleviated many issues with the overall game and culminated with a significant milestone: Season 2, Season of Blood. The wrinkle for season 2 is the presence of new vampiric powers. Many gamers are returning to the game but may not be sure what class is worth their time, especially with the latest updates.
We have ranked the classes from most needing work to the absolute best to help you dive into the Season of Blood. We’ve ranked them by class fantasy, leveling, and endgame strengths and weaknesses. Of course, we’ll also be factoring in those new vampiric powers.
5. Barbarian
The Barbarian continues to exemplify the raw power of a warrior class, even in Diablo IV’s second season. Their kit is still brutal-looking and swaps between multiple weapons reasonably fluidly. Barbarians still feel great as well, but the class still has some issues going into season 2, resulting in a class that can’t keep up with our top spot. However, you’ll still have fun with a barbarian, mainly thanks to how vampiric powers will influence your combat.
Barbarian Strengths and Weakness of Season 2:
- While the class fantasy is still excellent for general play, the current build diversity is notably lacking. Viable builds tend to be shout-heavy, which may limit your approach to builds for the endgame.
- Barbarians are still extremely tanky, making them suitable for exploring new content. They can be an excellent introduction to season 2 vampiric encounters and mechanics - especially ones that utilize AOE mechanics that pair well with the existing barbarian kit.
- Unfortunately, they are still a rough prospect for early game leveling, so the investment of time is more significant compared to some classes. With that said, vampiric powers can help mitigate this, in addition to Blood Harvests for large packs of enemies to farm for EXP.
- Despite some relative drawbacks in speed and build diversity, barbarians are still mighty and can clear all content. It will take them a little longer to get to that point.
- Damage over time abilities in the barbarian kit appears much stronger going into season 2, given the nerfs to critical hits across all classes, meaning that bleed will be a crucial skill in the best barbarian rotations.
Pick the Barbarian if:
- You want to experience the class fantasy of being the ultimate warrior. Between carrying multiple weapons, intimidating battle cries, and heavy hits, the barbarian stands out as the most brutal-looking class in the game.
- You want to experiment with the new vampiric powers and how they interact with your barbarian abilities. For example, Coven’s Fangs, Feed the Coven, and Call Familiar offer barbarians a chance to have a battle pet in the form of a vampire bat.
- You want to maximize your damage over time abilities. Between a Bleed build and new damage over time vampiric gifts, barbarians may ask themselves, “What crit?” as they mow through hordes of demons and vampires.
Aa far as power and utility go for the Season of Blood, barbarians sit the lowest at 60 out of 100. Ready to begin your journey through Sanctuary as the barbarian? Learn more about the class at the official Diablo website.
4. Sorcerer
Going into the Season of Blood, sorcerers still have a diverse kit of abilities and builds and still very much exemplify the magical caster archetype of action RPGs. However, while they do not have as rough a time as barbarians do, they are still relatively lacking compared to some other classes, resulting in a mixed experience.
The sorcerer is still fun and can clear content, but other classes manage it faster and with more panache. Regardless, casting spells is still a blast.
Sorcerer Strengths and Weakness of Season 2:
- Sorcerers haven’t changed much between seasons, still occupying a lower middle ground in tier ranking for overall class experience. However, their consistency can be a virtue in a live service game like Diablo IV, as their kit has been consistent throughout the game launch and the first season.
- The sorcerer continues to have a wonderful leveling experience, but only to a point. Around level 50, you will likely hit a wall until around level 70, when end-game builds become more viable. For the early game, however, sorcerers are an absolute blast.
- Despite that middle slog of levels 50 through 70, sorcerers are still a compelling class with great build diversity bolstered further by many vampiric powers that create new opportunities for buffs. At the same time, some can alter a sorcerer’s playstyle significantly.
- One of the new vampiric powers, Bathe in Blood, seems particularly suited for sorcerers as a class. This skill increases damage and damage reduction while channeling abilities - something sorcerers may be more apt to do given their build options. Similarly, Rampart provides a barrier for standing still, such as when you are channeling a spell.
- Sorcerers also will most easily adapt to recent changes in resistances, as they are an intelligence-based class, and resistances derive from that stat.
Pick the Sorcerer if:
- You want to feel like a wizard. Full stop, the sorcerer class at the early and end games feels fantastic due to flashy abilities and an overpowering aura. You’ll feel like a pillar of cosmic knowledge and powers. That is if you can get them to the endgame.
- You want to control the battlefield. Sorcerers are an incredible AOE class that can damage massive groups of enemies at a greater reach than most. Combine those abilities with excellent crowd control and impressive mobility, and you’ll feel godlike as the game progresses.
- You want to farm materials and uniques. Sorcerers are still the best class for farming uniques and materials due to their large area of effect attacks and crowd control. You’ll be able to pull larger groups of enemies, mow them down with the right build, and spend almost more time looting than fighting.
While sorcerers have an easier time than barbarians, that slog of the middle-spread of levels slows down their momentum and effectiveness, putting them at a power level of about 70 out of 100. The sorcerer should be a good fit if you want to slay hordes of demons and vampires with magic. Learn more about them at the official Diablo website.
3. Necromancer
While the necromancer remains a fun class going into the Season of Blood, consistent problems that have plagued the class since launch remain. Despite a lack of endgame damage and clear speed, the class remains fun, especially for gamers who enjoy hordes of minions. However, some of the new vampiric abilities may swing things in favor of the necromancer, though time will tell as more players push the class to the endgame.
Necromancer Strengths and Weakness of Season 2:
- The recent nerfs to critical damage calculation have hit the necromancer hard, especially in the most viable builds of the previous season, such as those using Bone Spear or Blood Mist. However, necromancers also have an excellent toolkit for damage over time abilities, so they may be better off than initially suspected.
- Necromancers are still among the best early-leveling choices, thanks to their abilities and survivability through minions. However, their overall damage output plunges precipitously past level 50, resulting in a slower experience.
- All classes received a buff to minions, which should ultimately benefit necromancers and their reanimated dead. Specifically, minions have had damage dealt and received recalculated. So, for example, minions will not be one-shot anymore, as they have an innate damage reduction that prevents it.
- Vampiric abilities should provide some fascinating gameplay for necromancers. The most obvious are the ones that provide minion utility. For example, Coven’s Fangs will increase minion damage to crowd-controlled enemies. Considering most minion-based builds utilize Decrepify, you’re looking at consistent uptime to minion damage.
- However, non-minion necromancers can benefit significantly from the Accursed Touch and Flowing Veins vampiric abilities. Necromancers often utilize heavy damage over time, and adding Accursed Touch as a DoT supplements it well. Even better, Flowing Veins offers increased damage over time based on the debuff of Accursed Touch.
Pick the Necromancer if:
- You want to run with the dark side. Necromancers are one of the most iconic classes in the Diablo franchise for their class fantasy. You'll feel absolutely metal while playing a necromancer between inflicting curses, exploding corpses, and raising the dead.
- You want a less stressful experience. Between necromancer survivability and the hordes of minions, necromancers can be a relatively relaxing class to play, as much of your damage output is entirely passive with minimal management on your part. Necromancers make for an excellent farming class and are enjoyable for casual play.
- You prefer to go solo. As your necromancer can summon a literal army of the dead, you can tackle content alone without the need to party up. However, the damage output of the necromancer is still quite lacking, so you’ll need to be prepared for content taking longer to clear.
While necromancers have the easiest leveling curve of all classes and offer some fun gameplay, they don’t particularly shine at endgame content. They can clear it, but won’t be as efficient as most classes. Their lack of endgame clear speed puts them at a 70 out of 100 ranking, tying them with the sorcerer. However, the necromancer is still a lot of fun for fans of raising the dead and having a private army. You can learn more about the necromancer at the official Diablo website.
2. Druid
The Season of Blood looks to set up the druid well, ranking as the second-best class to play for the season. With some significant buffs and a wide variety of playstyles that are all viable at endgame, the class is well-positioned as a perfect start for the latest content of Diablo IV. The Druid is a multifaceted choice worth rolling with in season 2, between animal companion buffs, shapeshifting, and supporting builds.
Druid Strengths and Weakness of Season 2:
- Druids are in a firm position going into season 2. The main snag with the class that keeps them from taking the top spot this season is the early leveling experience. Much like the barbarian, druids have a little bit of a struggle to find a rhythm up to level 50. However, once they clear that range, the druid levels out and begins to shine.
- The most significant contributor to the potential of druids is their versatility, taking on highly different roles depending on their build and doing well at all of them, but not top-tier. That means you have a class that can serve as a physical attacker, a supporter, or a spell caster. Druids are the ultimate hybrid class but lose a slight effectiveness, given their flexibility.
- Druids are naturally tanky and have grown even heartier with recent changes to the fortify stat. That means if you want a class that is hard to kill, a druid is your best option, even above the necromancer and their army of minions. Further, the druid grows harder to kill with many of the new vampiric powers for the season.
- Due to their versatility, Druids may benefit most from vampiric abilities for the season, which is saying a lot, as all classes benefit from these skills. However, given the number of roles a druid takes, the season’s complementary skills can enhance those roles or even provide supplemental options that can change the class in exciting ways.
- Druids can already surround themselves with animal companions. However, the vampiric ability Call Familiar can add a vampire bat to the mix. Combine that with other vampiric gifts that buff companions, and you will end up with your ferocious strike team of critters.
Pick the Druid if:
- You like companions. Druids have a unique minion system compared to the necromancer, with up to four unique animal companions that provide unique buffs to the class. However, specializing in animal companions risks locking you out of other viable archetypes for the class.
- You want to be a beast, not just control them. Thanks to shapeshifting abilities, your druid can serve as a physical bruiser thanks to different animal forms. You can cause a lot of havoc between werewolf and werebear forms.
- You are the helpful and supportive type. Druids have a slew of buffs and debuffs that are well-suited to group play. A druid with the right build and emphasis can change the tide of boss fights and Helltide events. They are a welcome addition to any party, from dungeons to world events.
Despite the initial struggle of early game leveling, the druid class shines with an incredible array of viable builds and gameplay styles. They are that good, and the vampiric gifts of the Season of Blood only enhance their innate skills further. Given the amount of wild fun available to the class, they rank 90 out of 100. Check out an overview of the druid class at the official Diablo website.
1. Rogue
The rogue may be the favorite class of the Diablo IV team, considering how they have consistently dominated since launch. However, thanks to the Season of Blood’s unique vampiric gifts, the rogue becomes an even deadlier class to play, somehow escaping the “glass cannon” archetype their class is usually known for. Rogues are broken this season, making them the best class to play.
Rogue Strengths and Weakness of Season 2:
- The astounding thing so far is that it doesn’t appear rogues have had specific nerfs - anything that affects them has affected all classes, such as changes to critical damage and stacking the vulnerable debuff to enemies. However, rogues continue to have a powerful toolkit that remains relatively untouched going into the Season of Blood.
- With the speed and damage output of the class overall, rogues end up in the middle of the leveling trajectory compared to other classes. Their early leveling is nowhere near as efficient as sorcerers and necromancers, but they do not suffer as severely as barbarians and druids do, either.
- Rogues are particularly great at dishing out damage over time, which seems to be where the meta is heading, given he changes to crit with the current season. Rogue imbuements are a great source of ticking damage applied to clusters of enemies. Naturally, rogues also benefit significantly from vampiric powers that build off damage over time.
- Trap-based builds have also seen an increase in viability this season, and the interaction between basic traps and the ultimate Death Trap skill offers rogues a great way to afflict large groups of enemies with ticking damage - provided they aren’t already dead from the initial trap.
- Some vampiric skills that will grant rogues a unique leg up include Ravenous and Undying. Ravenous sends rogue attack speed into overdrive based on movement speed. Meanwhile, Undying allows the rogue to turn their skills into a source of healing.
Pick the Rogue if:
- You like the idea of being a deadly assassin. While vampiric abilities significantly mitigate their fragile nature, the rogue class deals enormous damage at the cost of low defenses and a small health pool. However, rogues are the top-tier monster slayers in Diablo IV between imbuing weapons, laying traps, and an assassin's toolkit.
- You need speed. Rogues are the fastest class in the game, with a dizzying array of mobility options ranging from passive abilities to mobility skills. Their penchant for range and melee strikes allows them to strike from any distance relatively easily and quickly gain ground to transition between those abilities. Because of this, they are also notoriously slippy in PVP, as many players in the Fields of Hatred can attest to.
- You want to trivialize content. Rogues have an incredibly high damage ceiling compared to other classes, only competing with sorcerers, and the sorcerers can rarely touch the raw output of the rogue. Because rogues are so good and kill threats quickly, you may be able to outpace content and mechanics by melting down targets. After all, a demon can’t kill you if it’s dead.
