First Impressions of Sorcerers & Barbarians in Diablo 4

The classes in Diablo 4 (opens in new tab) cover all of the bases when it comes to adventuring, including hitting things, setting things on fire, and transforming into a hulking bear. But not all heroes are equal. It's time to break down what works and what doesn't now that we've gone through the prologue and the first act during the course of two beta weekends. We've got our favorites and our least favorites, so it's time to evaluate what works and what doesn't. Expect changes to be made before Diablo 4 is released on June 6, of course, but this should hopefully make it easier to choose your first character once the full game is finally released.

Robin Valentine, Senior Editor:During the closed beta, I started out by playing this class, and I have to say that it did not leave a favorable first impression. The Barbarians have a great appearance—like the grimdark lovechild of Conan the Barbarian and a refrigerator—but they hit like a wet noodle, which made my journey to level 20 a lot more difficult and time-consuming than it should have been. Even beyond their low damage, the game at this stage just feels fundamentally hostile to melee. So many of the bosses demand that you be constantly moving and staying out of their way, and doing so is simply not possible when you are trying to swing a two-handed hammer at them. It transforms those battles into a strategy game in which you have to manage your health potions, and that is not fun at all. It would appear that barbarians are designed to become more powerful later in the game, when they gain access to legendary weapons; however, I do not believe that this should serve as an excuse for the early game to be difficult. At the very least, it appears that Blizzard is well aware that certain buffs are required (opens in new tab).

Writer for the Guides, Sean Martin:When I first started playing as the Barbarian, I had the distinct impression that the class lacked sufficient firepower, but I believe that perception shifted once I unlocked the Rend and Upheaval abilities. Between the two of them, I was able to find a solution to any problem; with Rend, I could inflict significant bleeding on powerful foes and make space for myself as their health decreased, and with Upheaval, I could concentrate large groups of foes into a single area and decimate them with its large damage cone caused by hurled debris. In a prolonged melee, the shouts also provide some additional survivability benefits. I get that that's the entire point of the class, but it felt like a lot of admin assigning abilities to weapons when I was happy bleeding with a big sword and bludgeoning with a big hammer. The only thing I didn't enjoy about the Barbarian class was the number of weapons. I get that that's the entire point of the class. Why would I bother using toothpicks when I have an oversized claymore that I can use to cleave my foes?

Robin Valentine, Senior Editor:It seemed strange to me that you always had four weapons equipped, especially considering that with many different builds, it is entirely feasible to only end up using one or two of those weapons. A similar problem faces the Rogue, who must constantly carry both close-quarters and long-range weapons. But I guess that's still a step up from the majority of characters in Diablo 3 never using a weapon in any of their animations at all, and I do like that 'arsenal' concept—hopefully it pays off more as you progress through the game's higher levels.

Chris Livingston, who is in charge of producing features:It was the only piece of information I had about the druid before the open beta began, and I decided to make the fact that it is possible to transform into a bear my primary focus. I put all of my points into werebear magic, with the exception of two, and what I've learned is that you should most certainly not do that. The first bear ability, known as "Maul," is essentially just a slap, but with bear hands instead of human hands. Simply because of your bear nature. Playing the game for the first couple of hours by just beating up on bear-slapping ghouls is an extremely boring way to go about it.

I was able to unlock more bear magic, such as the Pulverize ability, which is efficient but uninteresting. My roaring defensive bear ability was more of a snoring, if that makes any sense. It was extremely inconvenient for me that the bear boon that I wanted the most, Trample, was buried so deep in the unlock tree. Instead of being the fourth unlock, I should be able to get the beary first by ramming myself into crowds. I was getting bored with being a bear, so I decided to put one point into Lightning Storm. Immediately after doing so, I wished I had focused on more druidry abilities like that. It's sick (link opens in new window).

Robin Valentine, Senior Editor:Those skeletons are not skipping arm day. At this point in the game, at least, you don't need to do anything but sit back and relax while your undead allies take care of everything for you. It didn't really seem to matter what my build was as long as I was regularly hitting the 'buff the skelly boys' button, and I never found any reason to switch from the default minion type. In all honesty, I found leveling the Necromancer to be pretty boring because of this reason. Despite this, I really dig their vibe, and I think their strange and icky spell animations fit in perfectly with the grimdark world of the game.

Sarah James, Guides Writer:In the beginning, I wasn't going to bother trying out Necromancer because I had already experimented with a ranged class the weekend before; however, the character model convinced me to give it a shot. After that, the skeletons finished the job. Although playing the Necromancer was less difficult than playing the Sorcerer (if that's even possible), I still managed to die at least three times when I was in a situation where I couldn't generate corpses and therefore couldn't summon more skeletons.

Author of the News, Joshua Wolens:I adore the aesthetic of the Necromancer, and playing one allowed me to fulfill my childhood dream of becoming the real-life Harrow the Ninth(opens in new tab), so any criticisms I have are inconsequential compared to that achievement. But just like Sarah, I played a Sorcerer in the closed beta, and while I had a great time blowing up pretty much every opponent I faced, playing as a Necromancer somehow felt like even less of a challenge than that.

As a Sorc, I had a particularly difficult time dealing with the Broodguard as the boss. My spell-slinger perished a few times before I was finally able to prevail over it because I had to deal with its advertisements, navigate its web-traps, and avoid its poisonous spit. But in the capacity of a Necromancer? That spider was obliterated thanks to me and my band of seven skeletons. The summons seem to have a bit of an excessive amount of power, as they are able to deal significant damage while keeping your foes away from you for an extended period of time. It is likely best to choose either one or the other.