Diablo IV’s adventure potential knows no bounds. With its remarkable replayability and highly customizable gameplay, diving into the depths of various constructions is part and parcel of the excitement. Today we present to you three favorite versions personally chosen by the developers themselves.
With the official launch fast approaching, why not try one out for yourself? Maybe you’ll find your favorite playstyle among the endless possibilities of Diablo IV…
Bad to the Bone-Spirit (Necromancer)
by Adam Z. Jackson – Lead Class Designer
The first version I would like to talk about is what I plan to use for the launch of Diablo IV, which is a Bone-Spirit Necromancer!
Bone Spirit is one of our boldest skill designs as it has a long cooldown and removes ALL of the player’s Essence when cast. In exchange, it deals a significant amount of bonus damage to enemies for each resource point spent. The Bone Spirit buff also significantly reduces its cooldown when it critically hits an enemy, adding an additional objective for players to pursue.
Putting it all together, the goal of this build is to get to a place where the player can both increase their Max Essence as well as their Essence Regen to the point where they can cast Bone Sprit on cooldown while by being able to generate enough gasoline. be full again for the next distribution. We’ll be prioritizing Max Resource, Resource Regen, and Critical Hit Chance as the main stats to look for. Other stats like critical hit damage or effects like bonus damage to bone skills are also desirable. One thing that’s also really cool about this build is that I expect it to change a lot over time as I get more gear and some Legendaries and Uniques that I’m going to target.
Among the key effects we want is Ghastly Bone Spirit, which grants an additional 10% critical hit chance and helps us reliably hit critical enemies that are crucial to building until our chance to critical hit is high enough via gear and other methods to do so without this upgrade. At this point we can switch to Dreadful Bone Spirit (generates 30 essence over the next 4 seconds after each hit) to help with our essence generation. The Ossified Essence Key Passive causes Bone Spirit to deal even more damage when cast with a lot of Essence (1% more damage to Bone Skills for each point of Essence above 50). Since we plan to always cast Bone Spirit at full essence, this will greatly increase the damage we can inflict.
For this build, I’m only going to try to run a Bone Golem and sacrifice my Skeleton Skirmishers for an extra crit chance (6%) and my Skeletal Mages for an extra maximum Essence (18).
As for skills, to start the game I’m going to use Bone Splinters, Bone Spear, Bone Spirit, Golem, Corpse Explosion, and Blood Wave. This skill set gives me a way to use corpses effectively while still having the necessary control tools via my Golem and Blood Wave to keep enemies bunched up and at bay while I obliterate them with Bone Spear and Bone Spirit.
Legendaries and Uniques will further enhance this build. Blood Artisan’s Cuirass greatly improves construction by providing an alternative method of generating Bone Spirits by collecting Blood Orbs. After getting this Unique, my build will also chase Blood Orbs that spawn, which now allows for new connections, such as the Legendary Power Tidal Doom which spawns multiple waves of Blood, which also spawns more Blood Orbs to collect !
For a more final setup, I replaced Bone Shards and Bone Spear with Bleeds and Corpse Tendrils so I could get more Blood Orbs. In this version of the build, I use Bone Spirit on cooldown to deal massive damage while creating and collecting Blood Orbs to spawn additional Bone Spirits when I can.
Wolfnado (Druid)
by Adam Z. Jackson – Lead Class Designer
A Werewolf Tornado Druid is a fun and powerful build that only gets better with time.
The goal of this version is to fill the screen with as many tornadoes as possible. To do this, you need to prioritize maximum spirit, spirit generation, and effects that reward you as much as possible for gaining and spending spirit.
Tempest Roar is a unique item that really changes this build. Being able to cast Tornado as a Werewolf opens up a lot of interactions that weren’t available before. While the build can work without this item, it allows for a lot of powerful synergies that really take it to the next level as you approach the endgame. Some other legendaries that allow this build are Stormchasers Doom which allows tornadoes to search for enemies and the legendary Calm Breeze which allows Wind Shear to restore your entire mind!
Some skills, buffs, and passives you should consider are Perfect Storm (grants 1 spirit and deals 15% more damage when hitting a vulnerable, immobilized, or slowed enemy), which creates a spirit generation engine by making enemies vulnerable , then using Tornado on them. Energize gives you a 15% chance to restore 10 Spirit when you damage enemies, and Masochistic is a Spirit Boon that will help you sustain; since Tornado becomes a shapeshifting skill, it will now heal you for 3% maximum health when you critically hit enemies!
As for which skills to use, there is some flexibility, but a good starting setup is Wind Shear, Tornado, Cyclone Armor, Ravens, Blood Howl, and Cataclysm. This group of skills gives you healing, gaining spirit, and different ways to apply Vulnerable to enemies.
Imbue-llers Day Off (Rogue)
by Charles Dunn – Associate Game Designer, Classes
My favorite build, and the one I’ll be playing when Diablo IV launches, is a Rogue Impbuement build.
Imbues are special abilities unique to Rogues that enhance their next 2 attacks with the power of Shadow, Poison, or Cold. There are many ways to mix and match these infusions when building your Rogue, but for this build I’ll be using Shadow and Cold to take full advantage of the legendary power of Icy Alchemist. Cold Imbuement applies Chill to enemies, so I can finish them off with a Shadow Imbued skill, causing lots of explosions and massive AoE damage! There are plenty of other legendary and unique items that work well with this playstyle, including Word of Hakan’s extremely powerful unique amulet, which allows my ultimate skill Rain of Arrows to always benefit from all three imbues at once.
The base skill of this build is Twisting Blades. Not only is this a great way to apply my imprints to large groups of enemies, but the advanced twisted blades reduce the cooldown of all my imprints, keeping me constantly in the action. For mobility, I love pairing Dash with Twisting Blades in this build, as Dash allows me to easily get to the other side of a group of enemies to make sure Twisting Blades hits the maximum number of targets at their feedback. The Preparedness specialization is also a great way to ensure maximum availability of my cooldown skills, which leads to a very fast playstyle.
One of the most important stats to look for in this build is Lucky Hit Chance. The legendary key to this build, Icy Alchemist, is a Lucky Hit effect, along with other skills throughout the skill tree like Innervation (10% to gain 8 Energy on Lucky Hit) and Enhanced Cold Imbuement (the Cold Imbued skills have a 30% chance to make enemies vulnerable for 3 seconds). But thieves aren’t known for playing fair, so I’m tipping the odds in my favor with Alchemist’s Fortune (15% increased chance of lucky hit on non-psychic damage) and Main Invigorating Strike (8% increased chance of lucky hit, 16% for crowd control or injured enemies).
Lastly, the Momentum Key Passive works really well in this build, giving me a bunch of stats I want like energy regen to spam twist blades, movement speed to maneuver around the battlefield to get all angles optimal for those twisted blades and damage reduction. which is all the more important as I will most of the time be in melee range of enemies. Alternatively, the passive Victimize Key could also work well with enough Lucky Hit chance to consistently trigger Vulnerable from Enhanced Cold Imbuement.
