It’s official, Diablo III has hit retailers and fans are already racking up questing hours! We thought we would put together a Diablo III classes overview to help those that are having trouble deciding which one to play. We’ll cover each classes strengths and weaknesses, as well as show them in action!
The Barbarian
Barbarians are savage wanderers who never flinch from close-quarters combat. Mighty ground stomps, leaping attacks and dual-wielded slashes leave a barbarian’s enemies dead in their boots and send any survivors fleeing for cover.
Thanks to their size and strength, barbarians can dominate a melee with nearly any combination of weapon and approach, though they tend towards massive and imposing weaponry. Barbarians are no strangers to the pains of battle, and often fare better in the midst of several opponents, taking and giving cuts, than when attempting to chase down single targets.
Barbarians’ attacks are primarily melee focused. Their quick weapon swings whittle down the number of weaker foes in seconds, while their slower, ground-shaking slams and stomps can send approaching hordes reeling and crack the armor of mightier foes.
Fury (Barbarian Resource)
The rage that fills true barbarians cannot be extinguished so long as they live. Fury, a resource that represents pure anger and battle-lust, powers their every terrifying strike.
Fury rises in barbarians as they are damaged, and when they draw their enemies’ blood. As barbarians suffer increasing damage from their enemies (and quickly cut them down in response) their Fury builds to a peak.
Excess Fury can be put to explosive use – barbarians can smash and destroy the battlefield, hurl themselves through the air, and split their opponents in two.
Outside of combat, Fury wanes quickly, so adept Barbarians charge from battle to battle to ensure that they can continually deliver devastating attacks.
Barbarian Equipment
Barbarians are able to make use of weapons in ways that others simply don’t possess the strength for. They wield massive weapons – oversized killing devices that more urbane heroes are barely strong enough to lift, let alone swing. Heavily-muscled barbarians can also dual-wield normal weapons like swords and axes, barraging foes with multiple enchantments and weapon types at once.
Demon Hunter
Demon hunters are relentless vigilantes who execute their infernal targets with an arsenal of ranged weapons. They crouch and take aim far from danger, relying on bows, deadly traps, and projectiles to swiftly bring an end to the creatures that haunt their world.
With sweeping blasts of shot, wide salvos of arrows and timed explosives at their disposal, demon hunters excel at devastating groups of foes who cluster together. Hunters’ pinpoint accuracy also allows them to deal with stronger monsters at a distance: they can snipe at key targets or fall back while snapping off kill shots at advancing foes.
However, demon hunters’ focus on ranged combat and limited melee-weapons training leave them in danger when they’re cornered or surrounded. Evasive skills like defensive rolls and jumps, as well as targeted attacks that hamstring and slow enemies, are as crucial to survival as any arrow in a hunter’s quiver.
Hatred/Discipline (Demon Hunter Resource)
Demon hunters are perpetually at war with themselves. They hold no hope for a return to their former lives, but they fight and stalk demons with a passion. Those hunters who live to train others become deliberate and cautious and, yet, their impulses scream to meet demonic violence with more violence.
Every arrow that demon hunters launch is dipped in spite; nearly all of their attacks are delivered with Hatred, a cold, righteous anger that renders them utterly merciless to their enemies. Their Hatred is nearly endless; it recovers quickly, as, even at rest, demon hunters are filled with the desire for vengeance.
Those hunters who would hope to make any sort of true impact must temper their Hatred with a second resource: Discipline, the caution and care that ensures they live to kill another day.
Discipline is precious to demon hunters. Not only does it return slowly, requiring more reflection and patience than their Hatred-based attacks, but they must rely on it for every defensive maneuver – trapping enemies in place, vaulting out of the way of teeth and claws, and dodging hails of spines and arrows.
It is a simple matter for demon hunters to stand in place, icy with Hatred, and send a volley of projectiles at the hordes of their enemies. But, when they fail to defend themselves with Discipline, hunters leave themselves able to be slaughtered. A careful balance of Discipline and Hatred is the most likely way hunters ensure their survival.
Equipment
Demon hunters train to hold back the darkness with unconventional combinations of weaponry and fighting styles that only they can employ. They are masters of the hand crossbow – quick-reloading, fast-firing ranged weapons that they use to turn demons into their temporary quivers. Demon hunters are so adept in the hand crossbow’s use that they can dual wield them; two crossbows fired together doubles the arrows in the air and the speed at which hunters’ enemies die.
Monk
Monks are sacred warriors who channel divine power through sheer force of will. Healing waves, mantras of protection and attacks empowered with holy might are all within their purview.
Skilled monks deliver rapid-fire attacks unarmed or with a variety of well-balanced weapons. In combat, they emphasize high maneuverability over staying power, darting in and out of melees and avoiding protracted slugfests.
Monks’ attacks are primarily melee-focused. They can eliminate single foes with extreme damage, or deliver short-range area-of-effect assaults with waves of elemental power that emanate from palm strikes or crescent kicks.
Spirit (Monk Resource)
To defeat the inhuman evils they pit themselves against, monks draw upon inner reserves of Spirit, a resource that reflects their personal mastery and training.
Spirit replenishes slowly. It is generated in two ways – by specific skills and attacks, and by the completion of combos. Monks who chain their attacks carefully can continue a near-endless barrage of Spirit-fueled strikes.
Spirit is a valuable resource, but massive expenditures of this force allow a monk to call upon potent dodges and defensive moves, as well as monster-slaying finishing strikes.
Thanks to monks’ physical perfection and martial talent, they are free to deliver as many empowered strikes as their Spirit pools will allow – without waiting for ability ‘cooldowns.’
Equipment
Monks' martial forms commonly incorporate specialized weaponry. Even monks’ naked fists are vessels of destruction, but they can be augmented with fist weapons like the katar, a punch-dagger that’s held in one or both hands and stabbed forth at the enemy. Monks are also the only heroes trained to use daibo – banded lengths of wood used to crack skulls and whirled to deflect attacks.
Witch Doctor
Witch doctors are spiritual warriors who summon dead souls and crawling creatures to do their bidding. By surrounding themselves with conjured zombies and vermin, witch doctors are free to assault their enemies with exploding skulls, acrid poison clouds, and wasting curses.
The ability to infect, slow and terrify their enemies gives witch doctors unprecedented control over a battlefield. They can manipulate opposing attacks and movements with debuffs and crowd control spells, rendering enemies easy prey for hungry pets. Witch doctors can also lay down fields of fire and venom that slowly leech life from advancing foes.
Although some witch doctors avoid melee combat in favor of augmenting their pets and crippling their enemies from afar, they are also more than capable of slaying weakened foes with their own hands.
Mana (Witch Doctor Resource)
Witch doctors’ inborn connection to the Unformed Land allows them to tap into a deep well of spiritual energy, called Mana.
Mana is a vast but slowly-regenerating resource; witch doctors must be choosy with their attack spells and hexes to ensure that they don’t leave themselves depleted of power and exposed to enemy attacks.
Since Mana returns ponderously, witch doctors conserve it by relying on semi-permanent additions to their arsenal, such as their summoned mongrels and the horrific gargantuan, which can offer protection and chew through enemies without any further mana cost.
Witch doctors have a sizeable reservoir of energy to call upon at once, and, when they need to, they can deploy immense blasts of destructive force and cut a swath across nearly any battleground in a short period of time.
Equipment
Though witch doctors make use of a variety of weaponry, they boast several one-of-a-kind pieces of equipment. Mojos are fragile talismans held in the off-hand; instead of being used directly as weapons, they aid witch doctors in warding off the wrong dark forces…and calling out to the right ones. Witch doctors have also been known to carry enchanted ceremonial daggers. Unlike common knives, these blades are honed towards one purpose – human sacrifice – and so they are well-suited to ending lives.
Wizard
Wizards are renegade spellcasters who use their bodies as vessels for arcane energy, forsaking the more careful path favored by other magic users. They manipulate all manner of forces to disintegrate, burn, and freeze their foes, and they can control time and light to teleport, create powerful illusions, and deflect oncoming attacks.
Wizards grip wands and staves to focus their less potent magics, blasting at their enemies while gathering the energy or time necessary to destroy them in a dazzling hail of arcane might.
With few exceptions, wizard attacks are conducted at a distance, away from danger. As living artillery, wizards are well suited to relying on long-range destructive power.
Arcane Power (Wizard Resource)
Unlike more deliberate and cautious magic-users, wizards are lightning rods for Arcane Power. An intense energy courses through them, and they direct it as though it were an extension of their own bodies.
Wizards continually crackle with Arcane Power – it regenerates itself quickly, and so they can call upon their lesser abilities seemingly without end. They are only in danger of depleting their stores of energy when attempting a number of invocations at once.
However, Arcane Power can ravage wizards’ bodies if its use is not carefully paced, so Wizards must endure a cooldown period before repeatedly casting certain potent spells. These spells – conjured meteors falling from the sky, torrents of force that shove multiple foes off their feet, or energy bubbles that halt the flow of time itself – are so powerful that they are worth the wait.
Equipment
Though all material items serve as channels for the wizard’s immense power, some have particularly special uses. Wizards wield orbs, which aren’t quite weapons – instead, they’re off-handed supplements that provide them with visions and knowledge to aid their spellcasting, or serve as reservoirs of power. Wizards also equip themselves with traditional (and often enchanted) wands, thin sticks that they use to direct monumental arcane forces at their targets.