When Blizzard released the Lord of Destruction expansion for Diablo II, it added the Assassin and Druid characters to the original games’s five class lineup. Similarly, Diablo III’s adventurer roster was bolstered by the addition of the Crusader class in Reaper of Souls and the Necromancer in Rise of the Necromancer. While Blizzard didn’t announced anything yet, it’s not unreasonable to assume there is potential for more classes to be added to Diablo IV as well, especially since the battle pass system likely means plenty of post-launch support. So what potential new classes could we perhaps expect?
First, let’s take stock of the existing roster to see what roles or concepts might be missing, or what might compliment the starting classes. Currently, Diablo IV players can pick between the heavily armed Barbarian, the enchanting Sorcerer, the agile Rogue, the shape-shifting Druid, and the minion-summoning Necromancer. Now there are a few observations we can make about this lineup. First, there’s only one heavy armor-wearing front-liner: the Barbarian. While the Druid can specialize in a tanky Bear form, they are also more of a flexible hybrid able to fill any role. Though the Necromancer has a wall of minions and can wear ornate-looking plate armor, their play style is more akin to a caster. In fact, of the classes three are casters of some form or another, so a more physical class would also add some variety.
The Diablo II Class roster. Screenshot via Siliconera
The most immediate pick is some variant of the plate-armored Crusader joining the Barbarian on the front lines and potentially adding some support options for party-based play. It would also fit with the very Church-heavy storyline in Act 1. If Blizzard wants to differentiate it from the class added in Reaper of Souls it could always tweak the theme a bit. Naming it the Knight Penitent, for example, opens up a path for a blood-themed, flagellant vibe in addition to the typical holy knight style. Perhaps they could utilize the Church’s Iron Maiden-esque suits of armor as an ultimate? Either way, it’s a solid option, if predictable.
Other previously appearing classes include the Amazon and the Monk. The Amazon, while a unique theme, may have most of its roles and aesthetics covered by the existing Rogue and Barbarian. The monk, however, could very well fill those aforementioned support roles while being reasonably survivable in the front line. Depending on the theme, it could even perhaps provide an aesthetic contrast to those religious elements in the early acts.
Screenshot via Siliconera
Now Blizzard loves to retread old ground and bring back past favorites, but what if it wants to try something genuinely new? We’re treading even further into speculation territory here, but we can still pull from themes and ideas in Diablo IV for guidance. Blood, for example, features heavily in both the thematic sense of family bonds, but there are also literal buckets of the stuff in the plagued areas. Pulling from that, a Vampiric character or Blood Knight could fit right in. Such a class is perhaps encroaching on the Necromancer’s turf, but a lifesteal-heavy class that could lean into a more aristocratic aesthetic could fit.
We could also look for inspiration in the same cultures and locales like developers themselves did. For example, areas like Caldeum and Kehjistan invoke Arab and Turkish cultural influences, so Blizzard could draw from that area of history. Imagine a class modeled after a Mameluke or Janissary, an agile but tough front-liner wielding a spear and shield much like Darkest Dungeon’s Shieldbreaker. Xiansai, the home of Diablo III’s Wizard, is inspired by China and Asia, so we could do something similar and pull from those cultures too. Plus, new classes in Diablo IV necessarily don’t need to be entirely new to the series; they could simply be a different interpretation. Imagine a warrior, but inspired more by Three Kingdoms-esque Chinese generals than European knights, or twist the Monk’s aesthetic by drawing influence from Japanese Sohei instead of Shaolin practitioners.
Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see what plans Blizzard has for developing Diablo IV, but in the mean time, What class (or classes?) would you like to see added to the game?
Diablo IV is available now on the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
