Diablo IV Classes: All Eight, and Which Expansion Each Needs
Five classes come with the base game, Spiritborn needs Vessel of Hatred, and Paladin and Warlock need Lord of Hatred. Here is how to pick between them.
Diablo IV has eight classes, and three of them are not in the base game.
Spiritborn arrived with Vessel of Hatred. Paladin and Warlock arrived with Lord of Hatred. You need the matching expansion to play them.
The good news: buying Lord of Hatred also includes Vessel of Hatred. One expansion purchase covers all three of the newer classes.
The eight classes at a glance
| Class | Arrived with | Core idea | Learning curve |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbarian | Base game | Swap weapons mid-fight, build Fury | Medium |
| Sorcerer | Base game | Fire, ice and lightning spells | Low |
| Druid | Base game | Shift between human, wolf and bear | Medium |
| Rogue | Base game | Melee and bow, high mobility | High |
| Necromancer | Base game | Raise the dead, apply curses | Low |
| Spiritborn | Vessel of Hatred | Borrow power from four spirit guardians | Medium |
| Paladin | Lord of Hatred | Four oaths, blocking and holy damage | Medium |
| Warlock | Lord of Hatred | Hellfire and summoned demons | Medium |
Spiritborn leans on polearms and other long weapons. Paladin wins by staying alive rather than out-damaging everything, which is covered on the Paladin page. Warlock turns movement into damage, pushing forward behind hellfire and summons, covered on the Warlock guide.
Pick by how you want to play
- Want an easy time clearing maps? Necromancer or Sorcerer. Minions and ranged damage cover the early mistakes.
- Want to fight up close? Barbarian or Paladin. The first stacks Fury into damage, the second blocks and mitigates.
- Want fast inputs? Rogue. Plenty of dashes and quick clears, but you dodge your own damage.
- Want one class that does both? Druid. Shapeshifting gives toughness and damage, at the cost of more buttons.
- Want the newest thing? Spiritborn, or Paladin and Warlock.
A class is not a permanent choice
One account can hold several characters, and switching does not reset the game. Past a certain level, a new character also inherits account-level progress: since season 15, War Plans reputation is shared between characters in the same partition.
So the cost of “picking wrong” is one character’s levelling time, not the whole account.
Community sites keep an updated season 15 tier list, Maxroll’s included. Use it to narrow the field rather than as an answer, for the reasons on how to build.
Season 15 is a good example. On the pre-season test realm, Warlock looked like the strongest class outright. The live patch cut it back and pushed it into the upper-middle band. At the same time, one Warlock build (Blazing Scream) has already cleared Pit 150.
That is why class strength and a single build’s ceiling are two different questions.
More classes are coming
BlizzCon 2026 confirmed Amazon for the first half of 2027, with four archetypes (Champion, Skirmisher, Ranger, Commander) and the returning bow and javelin.
Like Paladin, it is a returning class. Numbers and a date are not announced yet; details are on the BlizzCon 2026 recap.
Sources
Related pages
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