Diablo

All Diablo 4 classes & skills explained

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Written by

Ava Thompson-Powell

Last updated

3rd Apr 2024 13:43

The different classes in Diablo 4 each have their own skills that are unique to them, and getting to know each one and all of their Active Skills prior to diving into the latest story within Sanctuary is always a great idea.

As a legendary series, Diablo has set the blueprint for ARPGs thanks to its satisfying loop of murdering thousands of enemies and collecting their loot to progress in power.

Before you can begin your murdering spree of slaying the demonic enemies throughout Sanctuary, though, you will need to select one of the game's distinct classes, each of which can then be specialised as you see fit. So read on for a breakdown of all of Diablo 4's classes.

How many classes are there?

Diablo 4 has a total of five classes, many of which will be familiar to those that have played previous iterations of the franchise in the past. These classes are:

Barbarian
Druid
Necromancer
Rogue
Sorcerer

For a breakdown of each of the five classes in Diablo 4, along with a look at their Active Skills that can be unlocked throughout your playthrough, keep reading.

Barbarian class & Skills

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The Barbarian is the resident weapons expert and tank, meaning they hit very hard, and brush off even harder hits. Taking hits as a Barbarian will also build a Fury metre, which allows you to use powerful Fury skills.

A new feature of the class for Diablo 4 is the Arsenal system, which gives it four different weapon slots to equip one-handed and two-handed for easy switching to match the situation.

Check out all of the Barbarian's Active Skills below:

Barbarian Active Skills

Basic Skills	Description
Bash	Bash the enemy with your weapon to deal damage. Has a 20% chance of stunning the enemy for 0.5 seconds. )
Flay	Flay the enemy to deal damage and inflict bleed for six seconds.
Frenzy	Unleash a rapid flurry of attacks, dealing damage on every hit. Attack speed is increased by 20% for three seconds.
Lunging Strike	Lunge forward and strike, dealing damage.

Core Skills	Description
Rend	Cleave enemies in front of you, dealing damage and inflicting bleed for five seconds.
Hammer of the Ancients	Slam your hammer down to deal damage in an area of effect (AoE).
Double Swing	Sweep your weapons from opposite directions, dealing damage with each weapon.
Upheaval	Tear into the ground with your weapon and fling debris forward.
Whirlwind	Perform a series of rapid attacks.

Defensive Skills	Description
Challenging Shout	Taunt nearby enemies and gain damage reduction for a time.
Ground Stomp	Smash the ground, dealing damage and stunning surrounding enemies for a time.
Iron Skin	Gain a barrier that absorbs a percentage of your missing life for a time.
Rallying Cry	Bellow a rallying cry, increasing your and nearby allies' movement speed and resource generation by a percentage for a period of time.

Brawling Skills	Description
Charge	Become Unstoppable, rushing forward and pushing enemies, swinging through them for an amount of damage. Also knocks them back.
Kick	Throw a powerful kick that deals damage and knocks enemies back that are in front of you. Any enemies knocked back into terrain take additional damage and are stunned for a time.
Leap	Leap forward, slamming down and dealing damage, knocking enemies back on impact.
War Cry	Bellow a war cry, increasing dealt damage for you and nearby allies by a percentage for a time.

Weapon Mastery Skills	Description
Death Blow	Attempt a killing strike, dealing damage to enemies in front of you. If the skill kills an enemy, its cooldown is reset.
Rupture	Skewer enemies in front of you, dealing damage and additionally damaging them for their total bleeding around, removing all bleeding damage from them.
Steel Grasp	Throw out a trio of chains that deal damage and pull in enemies.

Ultimate Skills	Description
Call of the Ancients	Calls upon 3 ancients to aid you in battle for a time, each dealing their own varied amount of damage.
Iron Maelstrom	Activate three times to attack chains to each of your weapons and perform an attack. Your Two-Handed weapons deals damage and stuns enemies for a time Your Two-handed Slashing weapon strikes in front of you, causing damage and additional bleeding damage over time. Dual Wield weapons swing around you, dealing an amount of damage per hit.
Wrath of the Berserker	Explode into rage, knocking back enemies, gaining Berserking and Unstoppable for a time. For the next 10 seconds, direct damage with basic skills also grants Berserking for for 5 seconds.

Druid class & Skills

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Druids are like the hippies of the Diablo universe, but their affinity with nature gives them some powerful elemental and shapeshifting abilities.

As a Druid, you can transform into a Werebear or Werewolf during attacks to deal devastating damage, and you always have two good boy wolf companions who follow you. Basic attacks and skills from the Druid will generate a resource called Spirit, which is used to unleash Spirit skills.

Check out all of the Druid's Active Skills below:

Druid Active Skills

Basic Skills	Description
Earth Spike	Sunder the earth, impaling the first enemy hit. Every time you hit an enemy with this skill, your chance to deal a Crushing Blow is increased by 10%.
Claw	Shapeshift into a Werebear and maul enemies in front of you, dealing damage.
Storm Strike	Electricity will spawn around your weapon, letting you damage an enemy and chain lightning to nearby enemies.
Maul	Shapeshift into a Werewolf and claw an enemy to deal damage.
Wind Shear	Conjure a piercing blade of wind, dealing damage and increasing your movement speed by 5% for three seconds. Basic Skills

Core Skills	Description
Pulverise	Shapeshift into a werebear and slam the ground, causing damage in an AoE.
Lighting Storm	Crush enemies between three earth pillars. Has a 10% chance of dealing Crushing Blow.
Shred	Shapeshift into a Werewolf and perform a trio of combo attacks, dashing towards the target and dealing a varied amount of damage.
Tornado	Conjure a vortex that moves outwards and curves in a random direction, dealing damage every second it's active. Spirit Skills

Defensive Skills	Description
Blood Howl	Shapeshift into a Werewolf and howl, healing you for a percentage of your Maximum Life.
Cyclone Armor	Powerful winds grant you a percentage of Non-Physical Damage Reduction.
Debilitating Roar	Shapeshift into a Werebear and roar, reducing nearby enemies' damage by a percentage for a time.
Earthen Bulwark	Rocks surround you for a time, ranting a Brrierer that absorbs a percentage of your Base Life in damage.

Companion Skills	Description
Poison Creeper	Passively, a poison creeper periodically emerges from the ground over a time, applying poison damage to enemies in the area. As an active skill, vines strangle surrounding enemies, immobilizing and poisoning them over a period of time.
Ravens	Passively, Ravens fly above you, periodically attacking enemies over time. As an active skill, the area is swarmed by Ravens, dealing damage over time.
Wolves	Passively, summon Wolf companions that bite enemies for an amount of damage. When used as an active skill, Wolves will focus on an enemy, leaping to them and striking.

Wrath Skills	Description
Boulder	Unearth a large rolling boulder that repeatedly knocks enemies back, dealing damage for each hit.
Hurricane	Creates a hurricane around you that surrounds enemies and deals damage.
Rabies	Shapeshift into a Werewolf and perform an infectious bite, dealing damage and additional poison damage over time. Infected enemies also spread this to other targets.
Trample	Shapeshift into a Werebear, becoming Unstoppable. Charge forward, dealing damage and knocking enemies back. Any enemies that are knocked into terrain are stunned and take additional damage.

Ultimate Skills	Description
Cataclysm	A massive storm follows you for 8 seconds, and Twisters knock back enemies, with lighting strikes dealing damage.
Grizzly Rage	Shapeshift into a Dire Werebear for a time, gaining a damage and damage reduction bonus. The damage bonus is increased by a percent for each second in the form.
Lacerate	Shapeshift into a Werewolf, become Immune and dash 10 times between enemies, dealing a certain amount of damage.
Petrify	Encase all enemies in stone, stunning them for a time. You deal a percentage of increased Critical Strike Damage to all enemies affected by this skill. When fighting bosses, the bonus and its duration is increased.

Necromancer class playstyles & Skills

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Necromancers are commonly known as dark mages who can raise the dead in most fantasy worlds, and that's still the same for the Diablo 4 version - only they can forgo summoning completely for different forms of deadly magic.

Their main resource is called Essence, which allows you to use stronger spells by building it up with basic attacks. They also have a secondary resource of corpses, allowing them to use these bodies to raise the dead or set traps.

Check out all of the Necromancer's Active Skills below:

Necromancer Active Skills

Basic Skills	Description
Bone Splinters	Fire 3 Bone Splinters, dealing damage from each. Each subsequent time an enemy is hit by the same cast of Bone Splinters, you gain 1 Essence. (Generate 5 Essence)
Decompose	Tear the flesh from an enemy, dealing damage per second and forming a usable Corpse with the flesh every 2.5 seconds. (Generate 5 Essence per second)
Haemorrhage	Burst an enemy's blood, dealing damage. Haemorrhage has a 20% chance to form a Blood Orbs. (Generate 8 Essence) (Blood Orbs heal for 15% of Maximum Life when picked up)
Reap	Sweep an ethereal scythe in front of you, dealing damage. Hitting an enemy with Reap increases your Damage Reduction by 15% for 2 seconds. (Generate 4 Essence per enemy hit)

Core Skills	Description
Blight	Unleash a blight that leaves behind a defiled area.
Blood Lance	Throw a lance that deals damage for three seconds to the target and other lanced enemies.
Blood Surge	Draw blood and expel an AoE nova; damage is increased by 10% per enemy drained, up to 50%.
Sever	Specter charges forward and returns to you.

Corpse & Macabre Skills	Description
Blood Mist	Become immune for three seconds; slows down your movement speed but partially heals you by damaging nearby enemies.
Bone Prison	Create a prison made of bones that surrounds a target area for a time.
Bone Spirit	Consume all Essence to conjure a spirit of bone that seeks enemies, exploding and dealing damage upon reaching them.
Corpse Explosion	Detonate a corpse to deal damage to surrounding enemies.
Corpse Tendrils	Veins burst from a corpse, pulling in enemies and stunning them for a period of time along with dealing damage.

Curse Skills	Description
Decrepify	Slows targets and makes them deal less damage.
Iron Maiden	Affected enemies take damage each time they deal direct damage.

Ultimate Skills	Description
Army of the Dead	Volatile skeletons emerge over a period of time, exploding around enemies to deal damage.
Bone Storm	A swirling storm of bones appears around you and your Golem, dealing damage over time.
Blood Wave	Creates a tidal wave of blood that knocks enemies back, dealing damage to them.

Necromancer playstyles

Outside of the Active Skills, Necromancers have four different playstyles in the game: Blood, Bone, Darkness, and The Army, which we have outlined below.

Playstyle	Description
Blood	Blood magic allows you to drain the life force of enemies to heal yourself and party members, and increase your power. It's valuable for clutch moments where you need a big increase in health to stop you from dying.
Bone	Bone abilities allow you to use the remains of enemies to summon Bone Spirit minions or set traps. These require a lot of Essence to use, so you won't be able to throw these skills out as often.
Darkness	Darkness spells mostly have damage over time (DOT) effects that can drain enemies' health, along with debuffs that help you and your party members deal more damage. This playstyle is very useful if you want to take a more supportive role in the party.
The Army	The Army is the perfect playstyle for the classic Necromancer archetype, allowing you to summon hordes of skeleton and golem enemies to overwhelm your enemies. A great choice if you want to stay back and let your allies do the work for you.

Rogue class & Skills

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Rogues are a hybrid class that can switch between close-quarters melee combat and long-range combat at the drop of a hat. This gives the class a lot of versatility in different situations, allowing you to take advantage of enemy weaknesses or manage your own weaknesses.

Of course, you can also spec purely into a melee build, or vice-versa and just make use of bows and crossbows - the choice is yours. On top of the melee and ranged skills that Rogues have access to, they can also imbue their own attacks and have three class specialisation skills.

Check out all of the Rogue's Active Skills below:

Rogue Active Skills

Basic Skills	Description
Blade Shift	Quickly stab your victim and shift, allowing you to move through enemies for a time.
Forceful Arrow	Fire a powerful arrow at an enemy, dealing an amount of damage. Every 3rd cast makes the enemy Vulnerable for a time.
Heartseeker	Fire an arrow that seeks an enemy, dealing damage and increasing critical strike chance against them by a percentage for a time, up to a maximum of 15%.
Invigorating Strike	Melee an enemy, dealing damage and increasing energy regeneration by a percentage for a short time.
Puncture	Throw blades a short distance, dealing damage. Every third cast slows enemies for a time (critical strikes always slow enemies).

Core Skills	Description
Barrage	Fire a volley of arrows in a cone.
Flurry	Stab and slash enemies in front of you 4 times, dealing damage to a total of 18 to each.
Caltrops	Deploy caltrops behind you as you dash backwards.
Penetrating Shot	Fire an arrow that pierces through all enemies in a line.
Twisting Blades	Impale an enemy with your blades, dealing damage, making them take 7% increased damage from you while impaled. After 1.5 seconds, the blades return to you, piercing enemies for additional damage.

Agility Skills	Description
Caltrops	Leap backwards, throwing caltrops on the ground, dealing damage and slowing enemies. Lasts 6 seconds.
Dash	Dash forward, slashing enemies for a certain amount of damage.
Shadow Step	Become Unstoppable, quickly moving through the shadows to stab your victim from behind for 21 damage. Gain increased movement speed for a time.

Subterfuge Skills	Description
Concealment	Vanish, gaining an advanced form of Stealth for a time that won't be removed when taking damage. Also makes you Unstoppable, increasing movement speed and allowing you to move through enemies. Attacking during Concealment will break the effect.
Dark Shroud	Surround yourself with up to 5 protective shadows. Gain damage reduction for each active shadow, and when directly taking damage, a shadow is consumed, reducing the amount of damage received.
Poison Trap	Place a trap which activates when an enemy is in range, applying Poisoning damage over a time to enemies in the area.
Smoke Grenade	Throw a smoky concoction at enemies that dazes them for a time.

Imbuement Skills	Description
Cold Imbuement	Your next 2 Imbueable Skills deal cold damage, chilling enemies for 25% a hit.
Poison Imbuement	Your next 2 Imbueable Skills deal poison damage, applying 100% of their base damage and additional poison damage over 5 seconds.
Shadow Imbuement	Your next 2 Imbueable Skills deal shadow damage and infect enemies for 6 seconds. Infected enemies explore on death, dealing additional damage to surrounding enemies. If the infection expired before they die, it will deal damage to them only.

Ultimate Skills	Description
Death Trap	Place a trap that arms after 1.25 seconds. It activates when an enemy moves within range, dealing damage to each enemy in the area.
Shadow Clone	Your shadow mimics your actions for 15 seconds, dealing 60% of your damage.
Rain of Arrows	Arrows rain down over a large area twice, with each wave dealing 33 damage.

Sorcerer class & Skills

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The Sorcerer is a bit of a glass canon, allowing you to dish out overwhelming damage while also folding like a napkin from a strong gust of wind. They have great AoE skills that can wipe out hordes of enemies, along with crowd control effects that make them key in a party.

Sorcerers can also harness the power of lightning, fire, and frost. They have mana that is used up when performing different skills, but your mana passively regenerates, while one of your Minor Destruction skills can also generate it for your more powerful Major Destruction skills.

Check out all of the Sorcerer's Active Skills below:

Sorcerer Active Skills

Basic Skills	Description
Spark	Launch a bolt of lightning that deals damage to an enemy then arcs toward nearby enemies, dealing 30% less damage.
Fire Bolt	Hurl a flaming bolt that damages and burns enemies for eight seconds.
Frost Bolt	Throw a bolt of frost at an enemy to damage and chill them.
Arc Lash	Unleash a wave of lightning that shock enemies in front of you, before returning and restoring some mana.

Core Skills	Description
Charged Bolts	Release six bolts of lightning that run across the ground in erratic patterns, each dealing damage when they hit.
Fireball	Throw a giant fireball that explodes on contact for AoE damage.
Ice Shards	Launch five shards that deal damage and deal extra damage to frozen enemies
Incinerate	Channel a beam of fire to burn enemies, dealing more damage over time.
Chain Lightning	Unleash a bolt of lightning that jumps to nearby enemies.
Frozen Orb	Summon an orb that chills enemies and expels piercing shards, before exploding into bolts of frost.

Defensive Skills	Description
Flame Shield	Engulf yourself in flame for 2 seconds, burning surrounding enemies for 12 damage a second.
Ice Armor	An ice barrier forms around you for time, absorbing a percentage of your Base Life damage. While active, 5% of your damage dealt is added to its barrier.
Frost Nova	Unleash a torrent of frost, freezing enemies around you for a time.
Teleport	Transform into lightning, becoming Unstoppable and surging to the target location, dealing damage around you once there.

Conjuration Skills	Description
Hydra	Summon a three-headed Hydra for 10 seconds, with each head spitting fire at enemies, dealing 3 damage.
Ice Blades	Conjure a pair of ice blades for 6 seconds that slash enemies for 6 damage, with a 30% chance to make them Vulnerable for a time.
Lightning Spear	Conjure a spear of lightning that seeks out enemies for 6 seconds, dealing 4 damage per hit.

Mastery Skills	Description
Blizzard	Summon a frigid blizzard that deals damage, continually chilling enemies for 18% over 8 seconds.
Ball Lightning	Discharge a ball of lighting that slowly moves forward, continually zapping enemies for 5 damage.
Meteor	Summon a meteor that strikes the location, dealing damage and burning the ground for 10 damage over 3 seconds.
Firewall	Create a wall of flame that burns enemies for 48 damage over 8 seconds.

Ultimate Skills	Description
Deep Freeze	Encase yourself in ice, becoming immune for 4 seconds, continually dealing 7 damage, and chilling enemies for 14%. Deals an additional 30 damage when the skill expires.
Inferno	Summon a fiery serpent that continually constricts the target area, burning enemies for 89 damage over 8 seconds.
Unstable Currents	Lighting surges within you for 10 seconds. Whenever you cast a Shock Skill, a random Core, Conjuration, or Mastery shock skill is also cast.

Check out our Diablo 4 homepage for more guides. We've also covered all mount skills, how to respec, how to use transmog, how to get Baleful Fragments, and the PvE class tier list.

About the author

Ava Thompson-Powell

Ava is GGRecon's Evergreen Editor. With a BA (Hons) in Media & Communications, she was previously the Evergreen Editor for Dexerto. When not in the land of evergreens, she's playing her favourite games, including Dead by Daylight, The Sims, Second Life, and Red Dead Online. Oh yeah, and she's a huge Taylor Swift fan.