I began my time with Diablo IV like many of my game critic peers: rushing the campaign to write guides and other material before the actual release date came about. To do so, I played the Necromancer as I heard it was the best class to play solo. I spent a stupid amount of time running the same dungeon (which I also wrote a guide on) to reach level 50 as quickly as possible, casting Corpse Explosion after Corpse Explosion. As you can imagine, I never want to see a corpse explode ever again. However, now that I can sit back and take my time with the Diablo IV campaign, I cannot decide which other class to play. Please help.
Blizzard has done such a good job making all five classes appealing that I’ve been flip-flopping between the remaining four. As you may know, Diablo IV features an intensive endgame that can sap hundreds of hours of your life with just a single class. Choosing is no small task.
Normally I would default to a magic-based character, either the Sorcerer or Druid, but after slinging undead spells for so long, I made the mistake of fiddling around with the Rogue far enough that I unlocked Shadow Imbuement. For those unaware, Shadow Imbuement infects enemies with festering shadows that cause them to explode a few seconds later. Shadow Stepping into a horde of demons, slashing a few with Shadow Imbuement, and then hacking away until they start to explode and kill their fellows became so viscerally satisfying I thought I had found my new main.
However, I thought if the Rogue was fun, then the melee-focused Barbarian might be, too. Usually, such brutish physical classes are the last I’d play in any genre, yet playing the weapons-heavy class to level 15 enticed me with how fun a simple Ground Stomp into Whirlwind spam can be. It helps that the Barbarian class has as much, if not more variety than the others with how many weapons it can equip.
Before I committed to either the Rogue or the Barbarian, I wanted to give the two remaining spellslingers an honest try. This was a mistake. Perhaps currently last place in the race of class-I-can’t-resist-playing, the Druid features a hybrid play style that I argued (to myself) checked all the boxes of what I wanted: Powerful wind and storm spells? Yup. Impactful physical moves I’d recently learned to love? Slamming the ground as a Werebear can’t be beat. I wasn’t, however, a fan of the Druid’s familiars after spending so much time with the Necromancer’s minions.
I saved the Sorcerer for last as I mained the Wizard in Diablo III, and despite being a different class, they share quite a lot of similar spells, including one of my favorites: the Hydra. Just as I expected, zipping around Sanctuary with Teleport and slinging Fireballs feels better than it ever has; Blizzard has somehow distilled magic-wielding gameplay into pure fun this time around. If I started my little class-exploration adventure as the Sorcerer, I would’ve stopped there and reached level 50 by now; however, after 20 or so levels, I couldn’t help but crave some Rogue gameplay. Soon after, I spent time leveling to unlock the Barbarian’s Ultimate skills — Iron Maelstrom sounds awesome and would make for a great band name. Next time I logged on, I found myself searching for Lilith as an overpowering Werebear.
I’ve even come back around to the Necromancer, enticed into making a minion-free build that feels like a completely different class than what I spent more than a dozen hours with already; endgame Nightmare dungeons call to me, and it’s easier to go ahead with a character I’ve already leveled than it is with a new one. That said, the indecisiveness lingers, especially when I see all the cool builds and Unique items pro players are building around. I can’t put more than an hour or two into any single class before I want to switch to another, making Diablo IV both a blast to play and a demon-filled cornucopia of indecision.
Thus, I need your help. Please comment and give me some direction on what you think is the most viscerally fun class to play in Diablo IV — and why. I’ll take all the help I can get.
