In Diablo Immortal, players can create one or more characters to use within the game. When creating a character, players select one of the game’s six character classes: Barbarian, Wizard, Monk, Necromancer, Demon Hunter, and Crusader, each with 12 unlockable skills (from which the player chooses five to use concurrently). For example, the Barbarian class’s skills include slamming a hammer and turning into a whirlwind, whereas the Wizard’s skills include a beam of electricity that boomerangs back to its source, dealing damage twice. “Charms” can also be acquired within the game and equipped to further increase skill effectiveness and change how they function. Unlike previous games in the series, Immortal features a “Class Change” system, by which players can change the class of an existing character and receive a new set of “appropriate” items without having to reset their progress (although focusing on a specific class may ultimately yield advantages, such as a broader range of available gameplay styles).
Icon | Classes | Description | Ranking Skills |
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Barbarian | A savage wanderer. Survivors of the disaster that struck Mount Arreat, Barbarians use brutal attacks to crush any opposition.
Back in black and ready to swing that ax, the Barbarian returns once more to free Sanctuary from armageddon. Perfectly suited to tanks that love being up to their knees in blood, if you plan on tearing Hell’s finest limb from limb, then the muscle-bound warrior is the one for you. High AOE Damage ✔ ❌ Takes Damage Constantly |
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Crusader | A wrathful zealot. Armed with their faith, Crusaders vanquish evil wherever they go, dominating the battlefield through sheer purpose.
If you’re looking for a little more safety, then the Crusader is the best tank class for you. While their sword and shield pack a punch, their reliance on power-up buffs helps balance out the raw aggression with a bit of strategy. ✔ High AoE Damage ❌ Long Skill Cooldowns |
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Demon Hunter | A vengeful stalker. Relentless vigilantes that assault from afar, Demon Hunters strike undeterred until their prey is at their mercy.
Shrouded in a veil of mystery, the Demon Hunter is back to exert her revenge from the darkness of the shadows. Designed for ranged DPS players who enjoy one-shotting their enemies and getting out to safety, the Demon Hunter is all about those sweet, sweet kills. ✔ High Single Target Damage ❌ Minimal Build Diversity |
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Monk | A master of martial arts. Lightning-fast strikes that pummel enemies with a dizzying array of blows and mobility are the Monk’s specialty.
The undisputed master of melee, Diablo Immortal’s Monk is great for getting up close and personal with the hordes of Hell. While they may take a little while to get used to due to their reliance on buffs and agility, the raw power contained within this mortal vessel rivals that of the Gods themselves. ✔ Great Mobility ❌ Melee Range |
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Necromancer | A manipulator of life and death. The priests of Rathma use their powers over life and death to preserve balance in Sanctuary.
Wielding the power of death itself, the Necromancer is Diablo Immortal’s summoner class. Utilizing dark magic to force the dead back to life, this gruesome mage is ideal for players who want to sit back and let their minions do the work for them while unleashing their gothic side. ✔ Great Raid Buffs ❌ Lacks Mobility |
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Wizard | A living conduit of arcane power. Wizards manipulate arcane forces to strike from a distance, disintegrating their enemies to oblivion.
Elemental prowess helps to keep Hell’s armies at bay. Modeled on your classic mage, the Wizard throws fireballs from afar to deal massive damage, but they’re not great in a melee battle to the death. ✔ Tons of AoE and CC ❌ Long Skill Cooldowns |
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The game is designed for touchscreen devices, with virtual controls that overlay the display: a directional thumbstick and skill buttons. Skills feature auto-aim (generally towards the nearest enemy), but the player can manually aim each skill by holding down its corresponding button. Alternatively, players can control the game using a connected gamepad: movement and aiming are controlled with the analogue sticks; attacks, potions, and interactions are controlled by the front-facing buttons; and skills are triggered using the top bumpers & triggers (although these bindings can be changed in the game’s settings).
Unlike previous games in the Diablo series, mana and other class-specific resources have been removed from Immortal, in favor of a cooldown-based system for skills (with typical cooldown times ranging from 8-12 seconds). Performing attacks will also fill the character’s “Ultimate meter”, which, when filled, allows the use of more powerful attacks, amplifying the perks of the character’s basic attack, for a limited time period.
Outside of the game’s primary storyline missions, other activities include random quests which appear during exploration, “bounties” (such as defeating specific enemies or creating specific items), “challenge rifts” (randomly-generated, time-limited dungeons with ever-increasing levels of difficulty), and “elder rifts”. Elder rifts are similar to challenge rifts, but can be modified using “crests” (which can be either earned via free gameplay, or acquired via microtransaction) for greater reward.
The short answer is YES. Diablo Immortal will break from the franchise’s tradition of separating classes, with players actually able to switch things up when they like when a post-launch patch arrives.
According to a development update blog post, players can head to Westmarch to change to a new class.
“When you change your class, you’ll retain all your progress on Paragon levels,” the post says.
“You’ll receive a new set of equipped items appropriate to your new class, and you can transfer all of your item progress and gems to them. None of your old equipped items or stash will be lost, and your progress on Horadric Vessels and the Helliquary will stick around too.”
Players will need to earn new Legendary items for their new class, though, so you’ll have to put in some work to make each feel powerful, but you can switch back.
“We want your original class selection to be a meaningful choice – not something you change session by session,” Blizzard says.
“So we’re discussing limits to this system that still give you freedom to try out new classes as we release new content. Because the process of collecting Legendary affixes is time-consuming, we expect players who focus on a single class will have some advantages, like a broader selection of available character builds.”
Depending on your play style, each of these classes has a different approach. Some of them are more hands-on, while others are ranged or command various summons. Of course, there is no best class, since all of them are viable and equally strong in terms of power. The only difference is how you play them. The ranged and summon characters are arguably less tanky than the melee ones, as is the custom with most RPGs.
Of course, you can enhance various stats by equipping specific gear, but that’s a whole different story. The main point is that you want to pick a class that you like the gameplay of since all of them are viable in the end game – the point is getting there!
Through gameplay, characters earn experience points, which allow them to increase their level. As characters increase in level, they become more powerful, earning new skills and increasing the power of existing skills. Each character class has its own system of progression.
Once a player’s character has reached the game’s level cap of (a cap of level 60 at launch, though Blizzard has announced plans to increase this later), they can achieve additional “paragon levels”, which can be invested into one of four categories (each with their own talent tree of 100 levels): Survivor (increasing odds of survival), Treasure Hunter (increased odds of finding gold and other in-game items), Vanquisher (increasing combat effectiveness against non-player enemies), and Gladiator (increasing combat effectiveness against other players). Blizzard has stated that it plans to add additional paragon trees to the game following its initial release. Higher paragon levels can also result in players finding items with higher statistics than the base versions.
In addition to these level-based progressions, the game features a Battle Pass reward system tied to seasons, within which there are both free and paid tiers available, with the paid tier focusing on additional opportunities to earn in-game currencies. Blizzard, however, confirmed that seasons which encourage players to create a new character each time (as seen in Diablo III) are not planned for Immortal, which will focus instead on the concept of players retaining a single long-term character.
Defeated enemies and opened treasure chests drop items (“loot”), and NPCs sell similar items in exchange for the in-game currency of gold. Some loot items are also specific to particular enemies. These items can be equipped via a pop-up button or via the game’s inventory screen. Such equipment can also be made more powerful by inserting “gems”, and via the game’s “rank up” system, which uses materials salvaged from other items to make “rare” and “legendary” level items more effective. Such ranks also be transferred from one item to another, ensuring that resources can be invested in progress even prior to acquiring a specific item. Once a legendary-level gem reaches rank 10, it can be used to “awaken” the item it’s inserted into, resulting in improved bonuses and a new appearance (such as flames, or swirls of energy). Players can also use any additional legendary gems in their possession to “resonate” with others, increasing both their bonus and cosmetic effect.
Players can also obtain items which are part of a set, and obtained from a specific location. Unlike in other Diablo games, set items in Immortal are those of the six secondary types (hands, feet, neck, waist, and two rings). If players are able to obtain a matching set of three or six, these items yield additional bonuses, focused on general, non-class-specific benefits, such as healing and movement speed.
In addition to items which change character statistics, the game also offers purely cosmetic items, which can be equipped to change the appearance of a character without making any gameplay alterations. Some cosmetic items will be available for specific factions to unlock for free by raising their “Dominance” statistic to specific levels.
The game also features a cross-player “marketplace” in which players can buy and sell materials and gems; however, to avoid repeating controversial issues from the “auction house” feature in Diablo III, the marketplace does not allow purchase or trading of equipment items, which must be earned through gameplay. The marketplace currency of “platinum” can be acquired through free gameplay, the selling of materials, or via microtransaction; however, there is not an option to convert this back into currency outside of the game.
The answer for this is a swift no (or at least, that’s how things seem at this moment). With the information we have right now, it appears that you can pick the gender you’d like for each of the six classes, so worry not. If you want to play a Wizard but want it to be male, that’s totally possible!