The Lord of Hatred expansion looks set to bring many changes to Diablo 4 that players have long-desired. However, while some features such as loot filters and the overhauled endgame have been described in some detail by Blizzard, one burning question hasn’t been specifically addressed:
Will [insert your favorite class here] finally get a wide range of genuinely powerful builds to choose from?
If you put Paladin in those brackets, the rest of the question doesn’t make sense, because Paladin players already have a wide variety of S-Tier builds to choose from. For the other classes it’s been a different story for some time. During Season 12, for example, if you’ve been playing any class not called Paladin, you’ve had very few truly powerful builds to choose from. In some cases, you only had one.
While the frustration of Rogue players has been perhaps the loudest and most justified recently, other classes also face limited options when it comes to pushing the hardest endgame content. Want to dominate as a Druid but don’t like Pulverise? Too bad. Love Sorc, but really want to create a frost-focused build? Have fun topping out your pit-pushing about twenty tiers lower than a Pally.
Obviously, some players are happy to play builds that they just find fun, knowing that they won’t be crushing Diablo 4’s hardest content. Others choose to pick from the slim selection of top meta-builds each season so they can really push.
The Paladin has come along, leaned on his gleaming shield, raised an eyebrow, and asked the question — why not both?
Why not have close to ten varied viable builds to choose from instead of one or two?
With the introduction of the Paladin, Blizzard has demonstrated that they’re capable of creating a class that has numerous S-Tier builds based around different skills and playstyles. They did this to a lesser extent with the Spiritborn when Vessel of Hatred launched, but now they’ve really raised the bar.
But will that bar be met with the release of Lord of Hatred?
What We Know So Far
As part of the pre-expansion hype, Blizzard is promising more depth and complexity than ever before for customizing builds. We know that the skill tree is being completely overhauled. We know that we’re going to be able to modify skills in new ways (like making the Sorcerer’s Hydras deal frost damage), but will this result in a wide range of fun S-Tier builds for every class? Or will we just have more varied and creative ways to create builds that ultimately underperform?
In the Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight video, Diablo 4 Associate Game Director Zaven Haroutunian said, ‘these updates will completely refresh how you build your power, your way,’ allowing you to ‘refine the build that’s most fun for you.’ Game Director Brent Gibson went further, saying, ‘we’re not leaving any class behind.’
This sounds promising, but until Lord of Hatred is released on April 28th, we can do nothing but hope that all classes are given the Paladin treatment and are blessed with numerous viable endgame build choices.
What build are you hoping gets some love from Blizzard in the upcoming expansion?
