Best class in Diablo 4 Season 9: What's the most OP spec going into the new season?

Diablo 4 Season 9 is coming soon, and along with all the new content, it’s time for a new class to be the most OP spec for the season. Previous seasons, we leaned more towards Barbarian or Necromancer, and right now, it’s clearly between three very specific builds: Flay Barbarian, Poison Volley Spiritborn, and Hydra Sorcerer. However, two of those builds also take clear advantage of bugs, and bugged gear.

That leads me to just one class and spec as the most OP for Diablo 4 Season 9. It’s probably the first time that in quite a long time that I’ve been excited for a Sorcerer. When you combine their new Unique, the power of the Horadric spells, and their survivability, there’s only one choice - though I will bring up the other two for consideration.

The Hydra Sorcerer is going to be the most OP spec going into Diablo 4 Season 9

Hydra Sorcerer is hands-down the most OP and reliable spec going into Diablo 4 Season 9. Unlike Flay Barbarian and Poison Volley Spiritborn, which both take advantage of bugs, Hydra Sorcerer is simply a great build, with tons of damage, and potentially gigantic Fire Hydras. Sorcerer already has fantastic movement and survivability skills, and plenty of powerful Uniques. When you pair this with the incredible power of the Horadric spells, you’re going to have a real powerhouse.

Reliability and power are better than power with the potential of bugfixes (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Flay Barbarian takes advantage of a bug in the Hooves of the Mountain God Unique, and Poison Volley Spiritborn uses a bug with Double Jaguar, and both of these could get fixed within the first few weeks of the Season. Of course, we don’t know if that will happen, so that’s why I wanted to at least mention these other classes.

Flay Barbarian uses a bug to deal negative damage, to basically one-shot almost everything. Conversely, Poison Volley Spiritborn will probably still be powerful even after a bug fix. You combine their significant poison powers with new Horadric spells and the Balazan’s Maxtlatl Unique, and they suddenly become wildly tanky and deal tons of damage to boot.

However, I still prefer what Sorcerers have going into this season. Ophidian Iris is an incredible new Unique, and it shouldn’t be too hard to farm, either. It makes it so Hydra becomes a Core Skill, and will always summon a 3-headed hydra, whose attacks deal splash damage (explode on impact).

You can get a few extra heads on your Hydra, which translates into greater size and damage, on top of other damage boosts (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

In addition, for every head above 3 that it would normally have had, it grows bigger, and deals 50-100%[x] increased damage. That is going to get out of hand incredibly fast. There’s the Enhanced Hydra skill that grants an additional head while healthy, and you can simply stack more heads via Conjuration Augments on your weapon.

This is going to do some impressive damage, and I think, overall, be more reliable, and easier to manage compared to builds that might suddenly let you down during the season, due to bugfixes. If you want to be powerful, and also have a giant fire hydra splashing down doom on your enemies, this is the build to go with in Diablo 4 Season 9 if you want the most op spec.

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About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

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Edited by Jason Parker