Diablo 4 Season 8: Best and worst classes, ranked

Diablo 4 Season 8’s classes are honestly pretty close, start to end. Everything has at least one useful build, and are good at something. I don’t want you to take this list, and consider it to mean if it’s at the bottom, it’s absolutely useless. That’s simply not true. Most classes are in a pretty good spot right now, I think. I used a few criteria to determine how I felt about each class in the Season 8 meta.

I considered how many viable builds they have at the top of the meta, how satisfying they are to play, and how they handle a variety of endgame content types. Are they good at speedfarming, boss killing, and The Pit? All of these things matter. All classes, whether Necromancer or Druid, have great options. Here’s where the Diablo 4 Season 8 classes stand to me.

All Diablo 4 Season 8 classes ranked from worst to best

6) Druid

Druids are fine, they're fine. They don't have much at the top-tier, but still playable (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Possible builds: Cataclysm

Don’t take the “possible builds” as Druids have one thing they can do, and that’s it in Diablo 4 Season 8. It is, however, their only top-tier build that I could think of, at least, at the season’s start. Earth and Sky, Stone Burst, and Lacerate I think are still decently viable, but they don’t match up to the power of Cataclysm.

Druid is a class that always seems to have really cool ideas, but seldom anything game-changing. I love the class, and will probably mess around with it in Season 8, but it’s just lacking right now. Even with the new Unique, Gathlen’s Birthright, I am not impressed. This could almost certainly change as the season goes on, but right now, they don’t feel so hot.

5) Rogue

I feel the same way about Rogues whether it's WoW or D4 - they're okay, but... (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Possible Builds: Dance of Knives, Shadow Step, Death Trap, Barrage,

While there are a few decent builds for Rogues in Diablo 4 Season 8, I think it really all comes down to one simple question: Do you want to play Death Trap Rogue, or do you want to feel mediocre? That’s what it really comes down to. Sure, Barrage and Dance of Knives are solid for leveling, and speed farming, but Death Trap does everything else well.

Lack of variety is one of the things that makes a class feel weak in my eyes. Even if their one build is the most powerful build in the game, I’m not going to feel thrilled about being boxed in. That said, Rogues are still a lot of fun. Still very mobile, and Dance of Knives builds are still decent. I just wish they had a bit more.

4) Spiritborn

Spiritborn are still viable, just not quite where they were at launch (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Possible Builds: Poison Quill Volley, Crushing Hand, Firestorm, Stinger, Quill Volley

Ahh, Spiritborn. This is a prime example of, “Just because a class is the best, that doesn’t make it fun.” Remember when there was only one build to play, and it was a Spiritborn build? Yeah, me too, and I’m glad those days are gone. That said, I think there’s not a lot going on in the Spiritborn class in Diablo 4 Season 8.

They do have a brand-new Unique, the Sunbird’s Gorget. It will likely be featured prominently in the Firestorm build, and hopefully elsewhere. It received some pretty solid buffs as well before Season 8 kicked off officially, so I think it could be pretty useful all around.

The ability to make Storm Feathers now count as Jaguar Skills too, and Firestorm itself as an Eagle, Jaguar, and Storm Feather Skill could make it interesting. I still think Spiritborn has a lot of damage potential, but it just lacks fun variety at the top of the meta.

3) Barbarian

If this were a tier list, I'd probably put Barbarians as a solid "A" (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Possible Builds: Mighty Throw, Whirlwind, Hammer of the Ancients, Upheaval

Earlier in the PTR cycle for Diablo 4 Season 8, the class I thought was going to have the most overpowered build was the Barbarian. I still think it’s going to be mighty, I just don’t think it will have as quite an easy time as Necromancers do. Barbarians are great at most things, excelling in the Endgame content.

The only real problem I think Barbarians have, is a lack of top-tier builds. They have several that are good, but perhaps not as many of them as I’d like. I’m a firm believer in having lots of options. There are still other, A/B Tier builds you can use for this tanky, AOE-dealing machine, but wouldn’t you rather be using the best builds?

2) Necromancer

Necromancers are incredibly powerful, and just a step away from Sorcerers (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Possible Builds: Blood Surge, Minion, Blood Wave, Bone Spirit, Bone Spear,

The Necromancer class reigns as one of the undisputed kings of Diablo 4 Season 8. They’re great at virtually everything. There are plenty of builds, whether you want to boss kill, or grind The PIt. The only place where they are slightly weaker is Speed Farming.

It’s a fun class to play, it’s for the most part, filled with very easy builds — though some of them, like Bone Spear, require several Uniques. It’s probably the easiest class to play, whether you’re leveling up, or hitting The Pit. It’s very close between Barbarian, Necromancer, and Sorcerer for me, but I lean more towards the undead forces this season.

1) Sorcerer

At the top of the mountain, the elemental-wielding Sorcerer reigns supreme (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Possible Builds: Chain Lightning, Firewall, Incinerate, Lightning Spear, Ice Shards, Meteor, Ball Lightning, Blizzard, Fireball

The line between the Sorcerer and Necromancer classes is incredibly thin in Diablo 4 Season 8, but they can do something exceptionally well that Necromancers just can’t in my estimation: Speedfarm. There are so many amazing speedfarming builds for Sorcerers, that I don’t even know where to begin. They’re a bit restricted when it comes to Boss killing and endgame content — just a bit less variety — but that doesn’t change how amazingly powerful they are.

While the best builds for Diablo 4 Sorcerers require deep setup, knowledge, and of course, Uniques, I think this is a great season to pick up the Sorcerer. Between the new boss powers, and their already incredible mastery of elemental magic, they’re going to safely melt bosses, elites, and regular packs of enemies alike.

Check out our other Diablo 4 Season 8 guides and features

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