Diablo 4 concluded its Season 15 PTR several weeks ago, giving players their first opportunity to test all the new features and balance changes coming to the game.
While additions such as Soul Splinters and returning legacy Uniques have received plenty of attention, the PTR also gave us an early look at something which is probably even more important: class balance.
Class balance has always been very difficult to manage throughout Diablo 4’s history. In the game with eight distinct classes, dozens of builds per class, and an ever-growing number of items and progression systems, achieving perfect parity is practically impossible.
The continued power creep only gets worse in every subsequent season, as we get more mechanics, items and ways to engage with the game. Lord of Hatred has only made balancing the game more difficult, by introducing even more layers to the game with powerful mechanics such as The Horadric Cube and Talismans.
As a result, the last two seasons have been particularly problematic. Barbarian has been the strongest overall class for two seasons in a row, while Rogue has dominated the leaderboards, in part due to several bugs that resulted in unintended amounts of damage.
Season 15 is Blizzard’s latest attempt to close the gap between classes, with some receiving major nerfs and others getting extensive buffs.
Below is an overview of every class in the game: its expected power compared to others, likely top builds, and the most important buffs and nerfs coming in Season 15.
Disclaimer: As always, PTR values are almost certainly going to change before the season goes live. Also, due to the complexity of games such as Diablo 4, it is impossible to make perfect predictions. However, even if the exact values are adjusted, the patch notes give us a good indication of Blizzard’s intended direction for each class.
Based on the Season 15 PTR changes, here’s how we expect every Diablo 4 class to perform next season.
Barbarian
Barbarian nerfs have been long overdue, so it’s not surprising to see the class taking some significant hits in Season 15.
Balancing Barbarian has always been a challenge for developers. This is because of its two additional weapon slots, giving it access to more Legendary Aspects and Unique items than other classes.
With that in mind, Blizzard has taken an interesting approach when it comes to balance. How do you buff or nerf an entire class as a whole without going through every skill or item? You take advantage of one of the most fundamental parts of every class: its Core Stat scaling.
This is a common theme throughout these patch notes, as devs use the Core Stat as a major balancing tool, pulling that lever to get the desired result.
Barbarian’s Core Stat scalar is being reduced from 1.1 to 0.8, lowering the damage gained per 10 points of Strength from 1.1% to 0.8%. Since this affects virtually every Barbarian build, it represents a substantial class-wide nerf.
Ancients are also being heavily nerfed, particularly Madawc, while Bleed builds are taking additional hits through changes to Ring of the Ravenous and the Writhing Aspect.
Other than the primary stat nerf, probably the most significant of all Barbarian nerfs comes in the form of Ramaladni’s Magnum Opus. This powerful weapon is a staple of any Barbarian build, as it grants tremendous damage.
The weapon currently drains 10 Fury per second in exchange for massive multiplicative damage scaling based on Maximum Fury. With Melted Heart of Selig providing hundreds of additional Fury, this downside has traditionally been very easy to negate.
In Season 15 however, Ramaladni’s will instead drain 10% of your Fury per second, making its downside much harder to ignore. This means that Barbarian players who wish to use it will likely have to invest in additional sources of Resource generation. However, considering how much damage the weapon provides, it should still remain an incredibly powerful option.
Several Legendary Paragon Nodes and Glyphs are also being toned down.
It’s not all nerfs, though. Ring of Red Furor is receiving a massive buff. Currently, this item requires players to spend 100 Fury within five seconds to guarantee a Critical Strike with their next non-channeled Core of Weapon Mastery skill. In Season 15, this requirement is dropping to just 30 Fury.
This is a huge buff, since Core skills cost around 30 Fury to cast. Furthermore, Weapon Mastery skills can get converted into Core skills with not cooldown by using The Third Blade. With this change, the Red Furor effectively guarantees Critical Strikes for certain builds.
Even more importantly, Season 15’s Splinter of Hellfire provides 100% increased damage at the cost of removing your Critical Strike Chance. If Ring of Red Furor can circumvent that downside, the interaction could become extremely powerful.
Final verdict: Despite the nerfs, Barbarian should remain one of the strongest classes in Season 15, with at least several S-Tier builds. Bleed and Ancient builds will suffer a downgrade.
I expect a strong resurgence of other Core skills that are not Whirlwind. Hammer of the Ancients, an old favorite, might finally have another opportunity to shine. We also believe that Mighty Throw will be a very strong build as well.
Tier: S-
Druid
Druid has always been one of Diablo 4’s most unpredictable classes. In some seasons it struggles near the bottom, while in others it competes with the strongest classes in the game.
Season 14 has been particularly good for Druids, with several Lightning Storm variants reaching the upper end of the meta. Unfortunately, one of the biggest reasons behind the power of these builds is now getting heavily nerfed.
Might of the Ursine currently provides 13% multiplicative damage per Resolve stack. At the maximum of 30 stacks, that’s an incredible 390% multiplicative damage from a single item. A Mythic version of this ring is even punchier, accounting for a total of 510% multiplicative damage from a single source.
In Season 15, that value drops from 13% to 4% per stack. This is a huge nerf to every build that relied of this ring for most of its damage. Even with this nerf however, the total damage value amounts to a very respectable 120% multiplicative damage on a single ring. That is on par with a Legendary Aspect on a two-handed weapon.
But there is a more important component to this downgrade. The effect of this ring has been reworked, so the damage bonus will now apply exclusively to Werebear skills. This means that builds that use skills without a Werebear variant, such as Lightning Storm, will no longer be able to benefit from the ring’s damage bonus.
To compensate for this hefty nerf, Druid is receiving a significant bonus elsewhere. Its Core Stat scalar is increasing from 1.25 to 1.625, providing a major damage increase to every Druid build.
Underused items and playstyles are also receiving attention. Greatstaff of the Crone and Fleshrender are being buffed, so there is a possibility of a dedicated Tornado build, while Claw was already a strong option in Season 14.
The class has always struggled with Human form, so Blizzard is making another attempt to improve Human form Druids through additional damage and resource generation. Furthermore, Gathlen’s Birthright now only grants damage reduction while you’re Human.
I like this direction, but none of these bonuses will be nearly enough for players to stay in Human form only, since multiplicative bonuses granted by the animal forms remain way too good.
Companion Druid is another potential winner. After suffering a major nerf in Season 14, the Nafain five-piece set bonus is gaining an additional 250% multiplicative damage, which could make Companions viable once again.
The Storm Shepherd Talisman set, however, is getting nerfed. Its two-piece bonus will now refresh rather than stack, although its value is increasing from 60% to 80% as compensation. This might seem like a buff at first, but most Druid builds were able to maintain several stacks of this bonus at all times.
Final verdict: Druid looks to be in a decent position. There should be several viable builds, but nothing currently stands out as an obvious S-Tier contender. Despite the Might of the Ursine changes, Grizzly Rage will likely remain dominant unless other Ultimates receive more meaningful support.
Tornado Druid seems like a potential high end build. Earth Druids have historically never had much success, but the Ursine’s nerf is an indirect buff for Earth variants, due to their natural synergy with Werebear form.
Companion Druid is expected to take the top spot as the leading Druid build for the Pit and the Tower pushing.
Tier: B
Necromancer
Necromancer has struggled throughout Lord of Hatred, and Season 15 doesn’t appear to do enough to fundamentally change that.
Like Druid, Necromancer’s Core Stat scalar is increasing from 1.25 to 1.625. This is an important class-wide damage increase, but the remaining changes are considerably less impactful.
When it comes to buffs, Darkness skills are receiving some attention through buffs to the Black Shroud set, while Desecrated Ground from multiple sources will deal additional damage.
Blight is also getting stronger, with some of the variants being more powerful, while Ebonpiercer gets a damage increase.
Soulrift receives perhaps the most exciting changes. Soulrift’s base damage is increasing from 300% to 350%, which is a decent boost, but the real bonus is The Unmaker’s multiplicative damage increase from 250% to 350%. This could potentially make Soulrift competitive again.
There is also a significant bug fix with The Undercrown, that will now finally give a proper amount of Skeletons, indirectly buffing the Minion builds.
Unfortunately, that’s about it.
Some Frozen Necro builds emerged later in Season 14, but any momentum they had was stopped in its tracks due to a heavy-handed nerf to Azurewrath.
Final verdict: The Core Stat increase will undoubtedly help, but Necromancer needed much more than this. Unless some unexpected interaction emerges, we expect Necromancer to remain among the weakest classes in Season 15. Darkness builds have some potential, but we may be looking at yet another season dominated by Blood Wave.
Tier: C
Paladin
Paladin arrived as a fan-favorite class in Season 11, but it only really had one season to shine. Once the Castle Legendary Paragon Node was fixed, the class quickly fell behind and has struggled to regain its former glory.
Season 15 brings the same Core Stat scalar increase from 1.25 to 1.625, providing a welcome boost to every Paladin build.
Several individual skills are also getting attention. Blessed Shield’s Judgment variant is being buffed, alongside the Fist of the Heavens upgrade for Spear of the Heavens. Fist of the Heavens variant also benefits from a bug fix that prevented it from doing its usual damage.
Judicator Oath receives one of the most substantial changes. In Season 15, Judgment will deal 100% increased damage when it hits only one enemy. This should help tremendously with single-target damage, particularly against bosses during Pit or Tower pushing.
Furthermore, Judicator skills are receiving further support through Legendary Aspects, while the Radiant Fire set is also being buffed.
Just like with the Necromancer however, the problem is that none of these changes are significant enough to push Paladin into the upper end of the meta.
Final verdict: Paladin should be stronger than it was before, but we don’t currently see an obvious S-Tier build emerging from these changes. Thorns and Zealot builds will probably be the strongest Paladin archetypes in Season 15.
Alongside Necromancer and Spiritborn, Paladin is one of our early candidates for the weakest classes in Season 15.
Tier: C
Rogue
Historically, Rogue has always been among Diablo 4’s strongest, most agile and diverse classes. This has remained true throughout Lord of Hatred, with Rogue performing exceptionally well for two consecutive seasons and completely dominating the Season 14 leaderboards.
There is an important caveat, however: much of that success has been connected to bugs and unintended damage interactions. Whenever Blizzard fixes one, another seems to appear, making it difficult to determine the class’s actual power level.
Unlike other classes, Rogue isn’t receiving any Core Stat scaling adjustments in Season 15. This tells us that Blizzard believes the class doesn’t need them.
Instead, Rogue is receiving several smaller buffs across the board.
Grenades and Smoke Grenades are being improved through buffs to Grenadier’s Aspect and Pitfighter’s Gull, respectively. Condemnation dagger is gaining an additional effect designed to improve Combo Points, while the Applied Alchemy Talisman set is receiving additional damage on its five-piece bonus.
Final verdict: Rogue remains an incredibly fast, mobile, and versatile class, and we expect it to remain near the top in Season 15. With its Trap set receiving additional bonuses, Death Trap Rogue is an early candidate to once again become one of its strongest builds.
Realistically, Rogue fans can be very happy with the state of the class, with plenty of different builds to choose from that remain competitive in all facets of the game.
Tier: A+
Sorcerer
Speaking of highly agile and mobile classes, Sorcerer has historically been known as the fastest of them all.
Sorcerer was extremely powerful in Season 13, with several competitive S-Tier builds. Season 14 brought the class down several notches, but it remains a strong overall choice.
Season 15 gives Sorcerer the same Core Stat damage increase as several other classes, immediately raising the baseline power of every build.
There are also some targeted changes to individual archetypes. Firewall’s Ring of Fire variant has been overperforming and finding its way into too many builds, so now it’s getting a slight rework. Going forward, only Pyromancy skills will benefit from the extra damage.
Frozen Orb, meanwhile, is being buffed, with the Great Orbs of Fire variant only consuming one stack of Overpower while exploding three times.
Fireball’s Frostball variant is also getting reworked, as enemies will no longer need to be Frozen to create Ice Spikes. This, however, comes at a huge nerf to the damage value, going from 170% to 85%. On top of that, the number of Ice Spikes generated goes down from 5 to 3.
Old school fans of Ball Lightning have another reason to celebrate: the skill’s Orbital Variant allows it to once again be cast while moving, restoring a playstyle that was previously possible before the expansion.
There’s a strong focus on buffing Aspects and items that focus on Frost skills and Ice Spikes in general. Blue Rose’s multiplicative damage bonus is increasing from 60% to 100%, while Conjuration-focused Sorcerers gain an additional 60% multiplicative damage through the Uncanny Insight two-piece set bonus.
The Frozen Sea set is receiving both defensive improvements and Mana cost reduction.
Final verdict: There is nothing revolutionary here, but Sorcerer was already strong and should remain that way in Season 15. Frost builds are particularly interesting after these changes, although there isn’t an obvious candidate for the class’s strongest build yet.
Tier: A
Spiritborn
Spiritborn may be one of the biggest losers of the Season 15 balance changes.
The class has struggled over the last two seasons, with most of its builds failing to compete with the best options available to other classes. Evade Counterswarm has been a notable exception – it managed to crack the S tier in both Season 13 and 14, but the overall state of Spiritborn hasn’t been particularly impressive.
Despite this, Blizzard has decided not to give Spiritborn the Core Stat scaling increase that Druid, Necromancer, Paladin, and Sorcerer are receiving. This could be a major problem for the class.
Several Spiritborn Skills are getting significant buffs, including Rock Splitter, Thunderspike, Thrash, and Withering Fist. Counterattack, conversely, is being nerfed.
On top of that, there is something very interesting in Spiritborn patch notes – the class is receiving a brand-new Legendary Paragon Node. This is unusual, as it’s been a while since the last time a Diablo 4 class got a new Node to play with.
The new Node is called Swarm of Storms. It provides a major boost to Storm Feathers while also increasing the damage of Skills that create Pestilent Swarms and Spirit Storms. This could potentially enable a dedicated Storm Feathers build in Season 15.
Several Glyphs and Legendary Aspects are also receiving buffs.
However, Spiritborn isn’t getting any meaningful improvements to its Unique items or set bonuses, while several competing classes are receiving a substantial universal damage increase.
Final verdict: These buffs simply don’t look like enough. Spiritborn will likely end up somewhere around C-Tier overall, potentially ahead of Necromancer and Paladin but significantly behind classes such as Rogue and Sorcerer.
A dedicated Storm Feathers build has a potential to be one of the standout Spiritborn builds in Season 15, though we expect the Swarm builds to dominate for the third season in a row.
Right now Spiritborn looks like one of Season 15’s weakest classes.
Tier: C
Warlock
If Spiritborn is one of the biggest losers, Warlock is unquestionably the biggest winner, as the Season 15 PTR patch notes read like one Warlock buff after another.
Introduced alongside Lord of Hatred, Warlock has never really had an opportunity to shine. Throughout Seasons 13 and 14, it consistently ranked among the weaker classes in the game. This is very unusual, since the newest classes in Diablo 4 tend to vastly overperform.
For Season 15, Blizzard appears determined to change the current trajectory of the class.
Dozens of Warlock Skills are receiving buffs or mechanical improvements. Some variants, like Dark Prison’s Calamity, will now count as Sigils, allowing them to benefit from additional multipliers such as those provided by the Nameless set.
Others, like the Bombardment’s Endless Barrage variant, can now be cast while moving, making the Warlock more mobile in combat.
The Soul Shard class mechanic is also receiving significant improvements. Greater Demons will either cost less to summon, deal more damage, or gain additional utility like being Unhindered.
Legendary Aspects are being buffed across the board. Some receive additional damage, while others, including Deeper Shadow and Immolation, gain elemental resistances. Other Aspects provide additional Damage Reduction, Vulnerable application, and more.
When it comes to the Warlock, developers are leaving no stone left unturned, which is why Unique items are getting an equally extensive pass.
Nails of the Gore-Crowned provides a major boost to Hellion Sting, particularly with Eviscerate. Hands of Apotheosis significantly improves Demonform, granting all upgrades from the Metamorphosis Ultimate for free whenever the Warlock enters it.
Elegy now turns Blazing Scream into an Archfiend Skill, opening it up to additional multipliers.
Abodian Demon is getting a huge damage boost with Hellhound’s Sabatons, increasing the multiplicative damage bonus from 100% to 280%. These boots also received a secondary effect, allowing the Command Abodian to periodically trigger our Non-Archfiend Hellfire Skills while moving.
The Hemat Stone provides substantial additional support to Ritualist Shards and Occult Skills, making this amulet a lot more useful.
The Cage of Madness helm is one of the most fun additions in Diablo 4. It transforms the wearer into a Fallen Lunatic, while offering great offensive bonuses. This transformation reminds me of the old Manajuma set for the Witch Doctor in Diablo 3, that turned players into a fast-moving chicken.
While transformed into a Fallen Lunatic, players will now gain 200% multiplicative Command Fallen damage every second. With the transformation lasting 15 seconds, the potential damage becomes quite substantial.
Cowl of Malefic Torment provides major support for Doom builds, Blade of Sight Aflame improves Bombardment, and the Flesh of Abaddon set provides additional bonuses to Demonform.
Unlike changes that most of the other classes received, these aren’t just numerical buffs. Blizzard is reworking the way Warlock Skills and items actually function, opening up new interactions and giving players significantly more options for theorycrafting.
Early PTR results have already demonstrated the potential of these changes, with Warlock easily demolishing Pit 150. Apocalypse once again appears to be the strongest build, but the sheer number of buffs means that you can play your Warlock however you choose.
One particularly fun build to emerge from the PTR is the one-button Warlock. Thanks to the reworked Hellhound’s Sabatons, a single press of Command Abodian can trigger the rest of the skills and their effects. It’s tailor-made for speed farming, and I expect it to be really powerful in Season 15. You can check it out in Rob’s video below.
Final verdict: Unless Blizzard significantly reduces some of these values before Season 15 goes live, Warlock looks like the strongest class in the game, and it’s not close.
The good news is that Blizzard’s approach to Warlock is exactly what we’d like to see applied to other struggling classes. Rather than relying exclusively on numerical buffs, the developers have reworked Skills and Uniques to create new interactions and build possibilities.
The bad news is that Warlock may have gone too far in the opposite direction.
For now, Warlock looks like Season 15’s clear winner, while Spiritborn, Necromancer, and Paladin are lagging behind. But with these changes still coming from the PTR, Blizzard has plenty of time to close that gap before Season 15 begins.
Tier: S++
