In this Diablo 2 Resurrected Best Class Guide we are going to be talking about the Best Diablo 2 Classes, how to play each of them, and which are the right one for you. The game features 7 different classes, and if you are still trying to figure what to play, then this Best Classes Guide is for you.

Best Classes in Diablo 2 Resurrected

1. Sorceress
2. Paladin
3. Amazon
4. Necromancer
5. Druid
6. Assassin
7. Barbarian

Picking Your First Class

The first thing that you’ll need to do when you start the game is decide which Class you’ll be playing. If you are a newcomer I strongly recommend that you pick a class based on your liking and not based on a build guide. The reason for this, is that most builds heavily rely on powerful items that you’ll likely won’t be able to get for at least the first 50 to 100 hours. This means that you’ll end up struggling as you progress through the game resulting in a frustrating experience.

                           

Instead, you should start playing a Class that is appealing to you, and learn about the game as you progress through the different acts and difficulties. This will give you a better grasp of the mechanics, allowing you to define your own playstyle, at which point you’ll be better suited to search for a build and devote to it. Also remember that you’ll get 1 free Respec for completing the first quest of the game, Den of Evil, so if you are not enjoying your experience you might want to use this respec and try a different option or Skill Tree.

With the right build, all Classes become very strong during end game, but each of them have very unique playstyles. We’ll be publishing individual videos and builds for each class near release but I wanted to give you a basic overview of each of them in case you are still on the fence regarding which to choose.

Sorceress

The Sorceress is one of the most popular classes of Diablo 2 because of her high damage output and relatively easy mechanics. She can use Fire, Ice and Lightning spells and has access to one of the best abilities of the game called Teleport, which allows her to quickly move through the map or escape from danger. She has a very low health pool, which means that you’ll need to keep away from your enemies to stay alive. Another downside of the Sorceress is that she can struggle with some Elemental Immune enemies, as you’ll often devote to a single Elemental Type.

Skills

The Sorceress Skill tree is divided between three different Elemental Affinities: Cold, Fire and Lightning Spells.

Cold Spells

Most of the Spells on this tree will slow down your enemies or Freeze them, providing you much better control of the battlefield. The individual damage of most spells is not that impressive, but this is compensated by their AoE, providing the ability to kill many enemies at the same time.

Fire Spells

These Spells deal very high damage to both groups and individual targets. While the destructive force of this tree is unparalleled, it relies on killing your enemies quickly as the only mean of protecting yourself. Some Fire Spells leave fire patches on the ground that deal damage over time and are best used in close spaces.

Lightning Spells

Lightning Spells are unique, as they have a huge gap between their min and max damage, meaning that you might one-shot an enemy on the first strike or do almost no damage at all after several casts. This is often compensated for by investing in cast speed rather than damage, as quickly spamming lightning spells will increase the chance of getting a high damage version. Additionally, Static Field and Teleport are two spells that can be found in this tree but are used by every Sorceress build because of their convenience.

While playing the Sorceress you’ll rely on powerful spells to defeat your enemies from a safe location. Most of her spells deal very high damage on their own, which makes her less reliant on gear than all of the other classes.

Using her Teleport skill, the Sorceress can quickly reach her desired destination allowing her to complete runs much faster than other characters during early game. This is very important in game progression and the main reason why she is picked up by Newcomers and during Ladder resets.

Best Sorceress Class Builds For New Players

1. Fire Sorceress: Fire sorceress use the Fire Ball spell to deal with small packs of enemies and the Meteor Spell to deal with elites and bosses.
2. Blizzard Sorceress: This build focuses around the blizzard spell which scales up in damage very fast without much equipment, allowing the player to stack up magic find and farm for new equipment.
3. Frozen Orb Sorceress: This build is designed to spam the frozen orb spell to deal with large packs of enemies. While very powerful, it lacks individual target damage.
4. Lightning Sorceress: The Lightning Sorceress focuses around Faster Cast Rate items to spam as many chain-lightning spells as possible to quickly clear rooms.

Amazon

The Amazon uses projectile weapons to deal massive damage to enemies from a safe distance. She has an average health pool and her passive skills provide her with a chance to avoid damage both while running or attacking enemies.

Amazon Skills

The Amazon Skill Tree is divided between Bow and Crossbow Skills, Passive and Magical Skills and Javelin and Spear Skills. It’s highly advisable to focus on either the Bow and Crossbow Tree or the Javelin and Spear Tree and then assign points into Passive and Magical Skills as required.

Bow And Crossbow Skills

Most people opt for bows when selecting this tree because of their increase attack speed and overall better unique Bows. This tree is very versatile and excels at dealing with multiple enemies at the same time, providing you with many types of elemental attacks.

Passive and Magic Skills

While this tree doesn’t have a playstyle on its own, it greatly increases both your offensive and defensive capabilities by providing passive bonuses. On top of that the Valkyrie Skill, unlocked at level 30, is a better version of the mercenary, which you can freely cast on the battlefield.

 

Javelin and Spear Skills

Most people that opt for this tree will go for Javelins instead of Spears because of their insane damage output and the ability to attack from a distance when needed. Javelin Amazons deal some of the highest damage between all classes, but their throw speed is low so you’ll need to make each shot count. Additionally, the tree mostly focuses on Lightning and Poison attacks which limits your engagement options.

While playing the Amazon you’ll kite enemies by taking a couple of shots, running away and then repeating this sequence.

Best Amazon Class Builds For New Players

1. Bowazon: If you go for the bow then you’ll spend most of the time spamming arrows from a remote location. During early stages of the game you’ll use the Fire Arrow and Ice Arrow and then depending on your build you might transition into Exploding Arrow which deals high damage to groups or Freezing Arrow which provides more control over the battlefield
2. Javazon: If you go for the Javelin then you’ll most likely attack enemies from a distance when you enter a room and then clear up the rest in melee. During early gameplay you’ll mostly deal poison damage which deals damage over time, and then during late game you’ll transition into lightning damage which quickly clears most rooms.

Paladin

Paladins use defensive and offensive auras to buff both themselves and allies on the battlefield. They are very tanky due to their Holy Shield ability and defensive auras, but without enough gear they can fall behind in damage compared to other classes. It’s worth mentioning that this downside is only noticeable during early gameplay, as fully equipped Paladins are one of the highest DPS classes in the game.

Paladin Skills

The Paladin Skill tree is divided into Combat Skills, Defensive Auras and Offensive Auras. Both Defensive and Offensive Auras can be only equipped on the secondary Skills Slot, so you’ll need to swap between them in battle according to the situation.

Combat Skills

These skills are designed to deal damage to enemies. Most Paladin Builds are created around one particular combat skill and then supported by different auras. The only exception here is Holy Shield, which is used by most builds and provides a buff to your shield greatly increasing your defensive capabilities.

Defensive Auras

These auras can greatly increase your survival chances by for example increasing your elemental resistances or defense values. Some of them can also be used as utility auras, increasing movement speed or the mana recovery rate.

Offensive Auras

These auras increase your offensive capabilities by either buffing your party members, debuffing enemies or by dealing direct damage. The offensive auras that you use highly depend on the type of combat skill that you are currently using.

While playing Paladin you’ll focus on either the Blessed Hammer Skill or in melee combat for your build.

Paladins are heavily reliant on their equipment to increase their damage, but their survivability is very high thanks to their defensive auras. During early gameplay it might take you longer than other classes to clear each room, but you’ll become more powerful as you acquire more gear.

Best Paladin Class Builds For New Players

1. Holy Fire Paladin: This Build uses the Holy Fire Skill and the Zeal skill to deal substantial AoE and single target damage.
2. Charger/Smite Paladin: This build uses the charge skill to quickly reach enemies and new rooms and the smite skill combined with the fanaticism aura to use the shield as a weapon with insane attack speed.
3. Zealot Paladin: This build focuses around the zealot skill to deal with multiple enemies at the same time. Damage is heavily tied to your weapon, making it a very equipment-dependent build.

Necromancer

The Necromancer can summon minions to fight along side him against the forces of evil. He can use curses to debilitate enemies turning the tides of battle to his favor, and has access to ranged spells to attack on his own.

Necromancer Skills

The Necromancer Skill Tree is divided between Summoning Spells, Poison and Bone Spells and Curses.

Summoning Spells

This tree focuses on summoning allies that fight for you. Skeletons can be raised from corpses and the total amount that you can control at the same time will increase with each point assigned. Additionally you can increase their power by spending points in the Skeletal Mastery. Golems are a different type of summon and you can only have 1 active of any type at the same time.

Curses

You can aid your forces by throwing Curses into your enemies. Curses are thrown into an area and apply massive debuffs such as reducing armor or dealing damage to enemies in the AoE.

Poison and Bone Spells

This tree is mainly composed of direct Spells to deal damage on your own. It’s important to remember that you’ll need corpses to create your army, so you’ll want to be strong enough to take out some enemies to start raising your army.

While playing the necromancer you’ll command an army of skeletons and monsters that perform the hack and slash for you. While your forces fight on the vanguard, you’ll curse your enemies to weaken them and explode their corpses to deal area damage.

It’s important to notice that playing as a Necromancer might be frustrating at times (especially when you die) as it requires some preparation. You’ll need corpses to raise your army and killing enemies on your own might be difficult if you assigned all points into summoning skills.

Best Necromancer Class Builds For New Players

1. Summoner Necromancer: This build revolves around summoning an army of skeletons and using the Corpse Explosion skill to quickly clear rooms. You might struggle in the early game as the amount of minions you can summon is very low.
2. Bone Necromancer: This build plays as a mage and relies on the Poison and Bone tree spells while not using any summons at all. This build plays similar very similar to a sorceress and might be useful to get you through the early game.

Barbarian

Barbarians are very tanky and fight enemies face to face. They have access to Shouts which act as buffs that affects both themselves and party members greatly increasing both defensive and offensive capabilities for long periods of time.

Barbarians are the only class that can wield two weapons at the same time (with the exception of Assassin’s using Katars), and their Combat Masteries allow them to increase the affinity with every type of weapon, opening up the possibility to numerous and very distinct builds for both PVP and PVE.

Barbarian Skills

The Barbarian Skill Tree is divided between Combat Skills, Combat Masteries and Warcries.

Combat Skills

These are mainly active attack skills. Similar to Paladins, most Barbarian builds are created around a combat skill. Most Combat Skills are designed to deal damage to a single enemy, so most Barbarians rely on the Whirlwind ability to attack multiple enemies at once.

Combat Masteries

These are all passive effects. There’s a Skill Mastery for each type of Weapon, greatly increasing their effectiveness. There are also some passive defensive skills that increase your defense and speed.

Warcries

Warcries can be used to provide a buff to all members of the party for a long period of time. Multiple shouts can be active at the same time, allowing the Barbarian to greatly increase everyone’s defense and attack values.

While playing the Barbarian you’ll run across the battlefield dealing very high damage to individual targets. The Barbarian is the most Item Dependent class in the game, and for the same reason it is also considered the hardest class to start with in the game.

Best Barbarian Class Builds For New Players

1. Whirlwind Barbarian: This build focuses around the Whirlwind skill which is best used to deal with multiple targets. You’ll have little control over your character while using this skill, making it riskier than it looks at first.
2. Frenzy Barbarian: This build is made around the frenzy skill, which increases your both your move and attack speed after each successful attack, allowing you to quickly move through the battlefield while quickly taking out individual targets.
3. Berserk Barbarian: This build uses the Berserk Skill, which increases your damage and converts it into magical damage, allowing you defeat physical immune monsters. On the other hand, you’ll lose all your defense, so it’s a very risky build which requires a lot of game knowledge and situation awareness.

Druid

Druids use the power of nature to fight against the forces of evil. They are sort of a jack of all trades, combining the ability to summon companions, transform into beasts to fight up close, and use magical abilities to fight from a safe distance. While they have access to a wide range of abilities, you’ll need to focus on a specific category to effectively pass through the endgame.

Druid Skills

The Druid Skill tree is divided between Elemental Skills, Shapeshifting Skills and Summoning Skills.

Elemental Skills

These tree is mostly consisted of spells that deal direct damage to enemies. Most of these spells can deal Cold and Fire damage, but some like Tornado deal Physical damage as well.

Shape Shifting Skills

These skills allow the Druid to transform into either a Werewolf or a Werebear. Most abilities in this tree can only be used while the Druid is transformed, so it’s best to focus on either Werewolf OR Werebear, but not both.

Summoning Skills

Similar to the Necromancer, the Druid can summon allies to fight for him. Different summons can be active at the same time, and some of them provide passive abilities for all party members.

While playing the Druid your gameplay experience will greatly depend on the build you went for.

Best Druid Class Builds For New Players

1. Elemental Druid: If you go for an elemental build, you’ll play as a mage and spam spells into your enemies. Different to other classes, most spells have very low range, so you’ll need to stay close to your enemies
2. Shaper Druid: If you go for a shaper build you’ll transform into either a Werewolf or Werebear and face enemies in melee combat. There are many variations, but in most of them you’ll either deal Poison Damage or elemental damage.
3. Summoner Druid: Similar to the Necromancer, this build relies on your summoned allies to deal with your enemies. Given the amount of points that need to be invested for this build, you’ll most likely stay on the back doing nothing while your companions fight

Assassin

Assassins use Martial Arts and traps to defeat her enemies. Traps can be laid on the ground and will periodically attack enemies within range while Martial Arts allow her to perform very quick attacks.

Assassin Skills

The Assassin Skill tree is divided between Martial Arts, Traps and Shadow Discipline Skills.

Martial Arts

These Skills are divided into Charge-Up Skills which accumulate effects and damage on each successful hit, and Finishing Moves which release those charges and effects allowing you to create devastating combos.

Traps

Traps can be laid on the ground and will periodically attack enemies when they are in range. Most traps deal elemental damage and their attack pattern is unique to each of them.

Shadow Disciplines

This tree combines passive and active buffs to greatly enhance both your defensive and offensive capabilities. Additionally, the Shadow summon can be of great help to distract enemies and to increase your spell spam.

While Martial Arts sound great on paper, they do not perform that well on the battlefield, so you’ll most likely end up using traps and Shadow Discipline Skills to enhance yourself.

There are two main type of traps being Fire Traps and Lightning Traps. Fire traps are better at dealing with groups of enemies because of their “V” shape pattern while Lightning traps deal higher damage in a straight line.

Best Assassin Class Builds For New Players

1. Kick-Assassin: This build focuses on the Martial Arts skills. The Dragontalon skill attacks very fast, allowing you to abuse some item mechanics. This build heavily depends on Equipment, so I would not recommend it for newcommers.
2. Fire or Lightning Trapper: These builds are very similar in terms of gameplay, you cast a bunch of traps near your enemies and then you avoid their enemies or wait from a safe distance. These builds are very safe to play, but their clear time is not very high.

I hope this video has helped you select a Class, and just remember there is really no wrong choice here, and I encourage you to make multiple characters with many different Classes so you can experience them all.

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Stay tuned for our Build Guides for Diablo 2 Resurrected, as we publish many different Builds for this iconic game! And be sure to check out the Diablo 2 Resurrected Wiki if you need a reference for Rune Words, other information, or more Build ideas.