The best class to play in Diablo 2: Resurrected

Hi, I’m Matthew Rossi, and you may know me from such posts as my recurring what’s the best class to play in Season X of Diablo 3 posts, where I just say Barbarian over and over again.

And I could just do that here, because the Barbarian in the Diablo universe made its debut in Diablo 2, and we’re going to get to play that original Diablo 2 Barbarian in Diablo 2: Resurrected. I could absolutely just say they were the best class in the game. But let’s be honest — the best class to play in any game is the class you enjoy playing the most.

Diablo 2 has one of the strongest and most diverse array of classes of any game in the franchise, with the Barbarian, Sorceress, Necromancer, Paladin, Amazon, Assassin, and Druid all offering a unique and interesting play style. Each class in Diablo 2 is the best class to play in Diablo 2: Resurrected, and yes, I know you’re probably already thinking that’s a cop out, but it isn’t. Because a class isn’t the best unless you actually want to play it.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about each class in Diablo 2: Resurrected and why you should play all of them.

Diablo 2: Resurrected has a deep roster of heroes to choose from

Whether you want to summon the primal fury of the elements, smash your foes with heavy weaponry, or defeat your foes with poison and traps, there’s a Diablo 2 class for you.

Amazon

Masters of bow, spear, and javelin, the Amazon can be a ranged damage dealer (equal to or surpassing the Rogue in the original Diablo) or a melee fighter capable of challenging the fiercest of Hell’s minions. Amazons in Sanctuary are seeking the long lost Sightless Eye, stolen by a breakout faction of Amazons who eventually would become the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye — the Rogues of Diablo — and they’ll cut their way through any obstacle during their search.

If you want a mix of fighting disciplines and a strong martial flavor, the Amazon is a great choice.

Assassin

The Assassin was one of two classes added to Diablo 2 in the Lord of Destruction expansion, which I almost just called DLC because it’s 2021 now guys. If you like a dextrous, nimble murder machine, the Assassin is the class for you — with the Rogue’s ability to open locked chests, the martial arts skills we’d later see in the Monk, and a connection in the lore to the Vizjerai mage clans as highly trained killers who hunt down those that make magical pacts with or summon demons.

If you play a Rogue in WoW or a Monk in Diablo 3 you’ll probably enjoy the Assassin.

Barbarian

Hit things! Spin around and hit a lot of things! Scream and make your allies feel like hitting things harder! The Barbarian in Diablo 2: Resurrected is at heart a simple and beautiful thing: a purely melee focused class who uses terrifying weapon strikes, jumps into combat and turns themselves into a weapon, and lashes out with all manner of melee weapons including swords, axes, spears, polearms, and maces. It’s the same formula they’ve used ever since. It works andwe all love it.

If you want to be a screaming maniac with two weapons smashing everything in your way, then go Barbarian.

Druid

Druids in Diablo 2 are extremely versatile. They can turn into animals and kill monsters. If that doesn’t work, they can call down the fury of nature itself — and there are always big axes and maces to fall back on. The Druid is capable of playing as a ranged death-dealer, a melee fighter, or a shapeshifting nightmare. They have an unparalleled ability to adapt to the situation at hand, and they can turn into giant werewolves. Like the Assassin above, they were added to the game in Diablo 2‘s expansion Lord of Destruction, but they’ll be accessible in Diablo 2: Resurrected from the beginning.

Play a Druid if flexibility is your north star.

Necromancer

Necromancers command the dead. They summon armies of bleached bone, explode the bodies of their victims with curses and poisons, lash out with bone spears, and call abominable creations of clay and blood to ravage their foes. The Necromancer is a master of the balance between life and death and will unleash the power of that balance to protect Sanctuary from Hell’s minions.

If you’re into a specific aesthetic, like summoning minions or debilitating your foes with curses and toxins through your knowledge of death, this is the class you want to play in Diablo 2: Resurrected. Plus, you can armor yourself with the bones of the dead you slew to get there. All in all, a grisly, gory but great class if you’re down for their vibe.

Paladin

The archetypical holy warrior of the Diablo series, the Paladin has a variety of builds based around their ability to fight up close in melee with sword and shield, their martial prowess supplemented by their divinely granted Light-based powers, such as the iconic Blessed Hammer ability. If you’ve played a Paladin in World of Warcraft you’ve played the descendant of the Paladin — although they don’t play quite the same. there’s no denying that the Paladin is a powerhouse in Diablo 2 and will be so in Diablo 2:Resurrected as well. Abilities like Blessed Hammer, Vengeance, and Fist of Heaven will help destroy your hellspawn enemies in radiant Light, while your heavy armor and shield will let you stand in the front rank and protect any allies you may come across, and Paladin auras will buff entire groups.

If you want to banish evil through sword and Holy fury, Paladin is the class for you.

Sorcererss

While Amazons, Necromancers, and Druids are all capable at range in their own way, the Sorceress is the purest distillation of offensive ranged magic in Diablo 2: Resurrected. She’s capable of bathing an entire battlefield in fire, lightning and cold. Simply put, Sorceress is the class for those of us who always play a cloth-wearing, spell-flinging character — their ability to hit entire ranks of demons with the raw elemental power that makes up Sanctuary as a whole is unparalleled, and with such diverse energies at their command they can usually find a magic that will destroy their enemies.

Play a Sorceress if you want to drop waves of fire, mountains of ice, or pure strikes from the heavens on top of your demonic opposition.

Which Diablo 2 class should you play?

I’m going to play a Barbarian, of course. But I’m really not being coy when I say you should pick whichever you like best, because Diablo 2 has some of the best classes of any ARPG. You can capably mow down demons with any of the game’s classes as long as you enjoy the class enough to stick with it. Each class has an assortment of talents to customize your playstyle — so your Druid may play completely differently than other players’ Druids — so my advice is to think carefully about how you want to play the game and pick a class (and build) that matches that idea.

Especially if it’s Barbarian.

Originally posted 3/21/2021. Updated 9/23/2021.