Diablo 4 Season 10 is about two weeks away, and I’m sure everyone’s gearing up! From the previous PTR, we can see the developers’ ambition to revive Diablo’s glory this season. Not only have they reworked the popular Infernal Hordes, they’ve also introduced a game-changing new mechanic: Chaos Armor!
In addition, there is another very important point, that is the new balance adjustment of class skills in Season 10, which will be a major reshuffle of the existing build rankings.
So, here, IGGM.com will briefly review all the new class changes, discuss the expected builds for each class at the start of the new season, and which classes appear to be more powerful or fun overall.
Of course, before we begin, a quick disclaimer: Since the full game hasn’t been released yet, the data and information available to us is still based on the 2.4.0 PTR. While for the most part, things like overall mechanics and systems will generally remain consistent with the testing environment, there may be some data and bug fixes that cause significant changes in character build power.
- Barbarian
Now, let’s talk about Barbarian first. Discussions about this class on the PTR have focused on a few key areas.
First, Mighty Throw still seems to be the strongest build, at least for pushing the Pits. However, its power level far exceeds other builds, which is detrimental to class balance, and some significant changes to its mechanics are needed to allow other builds to surpass it.
That being said, Barbarian’s core build has actually been improved and buffed since last season. Hammer of the Ancients (HotA) has become more useful again, and Double Swing is performing well.
However, it’s worth noting that the reworked Infernal Hordes will be the endgame activity you’ll want to play for the majority of Season 10. Therefore, builds like HotA and Double Swing, which are almost exclusively used for pushing the Pits, are probably not what you want to play most of the time.
That said, I’d like to point out that the new Chaos Armor system solves all of Barbarian’s problems. Since he has four of the five Chaos Armor slots, even moving items like Fists of Fate to the helmet instead of the gloves still guarantees a higher maximum damage bonus than the armor’s normal maximum.
This means that Barbarian players can not only possess the 360% damage potential of Fists of Fate, but also simultaneously equip Ugly Bastard Helm and Crown of Lucion. This means that as long as you have enough Diablo 4 gold for sale, you can actually possess two different helmet armors simultaneously, which is a fun thing to do this season.
- Druid
Next, let’s talk about Druid. Currently, there’s a Chaos Perk called Overabundance that causes Druids to have a pretty crazy bug.
Overabundance is one of the new season-specific perks for Druids. For every 50 Spirit points above the maximum, damage dealt increases by up to 20% for 5 seconds. But the key point is that this effect is cleared, not refreshed.
The main reason for this is that each stack is multiplicative. Let’s say your base damage is 100, activating the first stack will increase it to 120, and then increase it by 20%. So, that brings it to 144.
But if it’s additive, when you get another stack, it will increase the same damage to 140.
This may not seem like a vast difference, but in a well-designed endgame build, you could theoretically have up to 50 stacks. If each one is multiplicative, it deals far more damage than 50 additive stacks, which is an absolutely ridiculous difference.
Currently, most Druid players agree that Companions will ultimately be the strongest Druid build choice this season, even though Overabundance itself is sure to be fixed or revamped in some way.
Besides that, with the addition of Chaos Armors, all Druid builds should see a stat boost.
Any builds using Tempest Roar can now remove it from the helmet slot, freeing it up for other unique items. The damage bonus you receive will depend on the quality of the item you choose. Therefore, IGGM.com recommends that you buy Diablo 4 gold to invest in unique items like Heir of Perdition, as the significant critical hit rate and movement speed gains they provide allow you to easily clear monsters!
At least from what we’ve seen so far, Druid is definitely going to perform well overall in Season 10.
- Necromancer
Next, let’s talk about Necromancer. This class can be both boring and interesting, depending on how much you care about the mechanics behind the damage and the damage numbers you have, rather than just what you actually press and what’s on the screen.
The main build behind Necromancer is Blood Wave, but this isn’t just any Blood Wave, as it utilizes two new Chaos Perks that significantly change how it works.
First, the balance changes in the new season have made Blood Wave a core skill, thus giving it Core Skill tag, allowing you to use it alongside any other core skill-related abilities. But it also completely loses its cooldown and requires Essence to cast.
Then, take Alternating Alterations, another Chaos Perk, which is essentially built for dual-core skills. When you cast one core skill, your next cast of the other core skill refunds half its resource cost and deals up to 40% bonus damage as a multiplier.
Also, you have access to Bloodless Scream, which is typically a two-handed weapon, and you can place it as Chaos Armor in the armor slot, freeing up your two-handed weapon slot for further massive attack gains.
So, I absolutely imagine Blood Wave Necromancer will be the biggest winner of Diablo 4 Season 10.
- Rogue
After that, let’s follow IGGM.com’s lead and look at Rogue.
To be honest, Rogue is still having a bit of a tough time this season. This isn’t to say that Rogue is a poor class, but rather that the seasonal power potential of Rogues has been lower than other classes over the past few seasons. Heading into Season 10, Rogue’s Chaos Perks haven’t changed significantly enough to change this.
The new Chaos Perk is interesting, but rather than providing a direct power boost, it creates a rollercoaster of damage spikes through the reload mechanic.
While it may ultimately give Rogue its theoretically highest damage bonus, it also has a number of issues.
Specifically, the reload buff has no real visual indication on screen, at least not one that’s easily trackable. It’s consistently unclear in the user interface. Because it’s difficult to measure and track, it’s practically impossible for most players to play correctly.
And for most people, the best build heading into Season 10 will undoubtedly be one that can run Infernal Hordes smoothly, which will undoubtedly be Death Trap again.
While Rogue does have some essential features that they must employ to reach top-tier power, these mechanics are quite annoying to play.
Specifically, it’s a unique perk: A Beast Cornered, which increases your damage and damage reduction for every 10% of your health lost, while also causing resource consumption to drain your health, but not below 10%.
This is then combined with Marred Guard Chaos perk, which locks your health at a maximum of 50%, but grants you increased maximum resistances, increased armor, increased barrier, and defense generation. The main goal is to ensure that your health never exceeds 50%, so that you always get at least half the potential bonus from your unique abilities.
But simply put, the dangers of this approach outweigh the survivability benefits. Even with the increased resistance and armor, the effects are uneven.
As for Twisting Blades, it did perform well in Season 9, but the benefits from these Chaos Perks are far less than they were last season. Therefore, I expect this build’s win rate to decline.
- Sorcerer
Besides that, there’s Sorcerer. Hydra build, which was ubiquitous last season, did get a bit nerfed during the PTR, but it still performs quite well in both Infernal Hordes and Torment 4, where you’ll be spending most of your time in Season 10.
Aside from that, Fireball build is excellent for farming the Pits, though this only works if the current layout of the Pits is open enough for Fireballs to bounce around properly without hitting walls.
Splintering Energy build should remain very solid this season, especially with the addition of the new Galvanic Azurite unique ring, which magnetizes enemies and has a chance to generate Crackling Energy. This ring can be dropped randomly by enemies or in chests, so if you don’t want to leave your chances entirely to RNG, stock up on some Diablo 4 gold and check the Auction House.
All in all, Hydra build looks to be the most stable choice for Sorcerer players so far. However, it’s worth noting that many Sorcerers believe Mana Shield unique chaos perk could be incredibly powerful and game-changing for the class, essentially giving you a ton of extra mana and mana regeneration. However, it comes at a significant cost: your damage now comes from your mana pool instead of your health.
In theory, this means you could become immortal if you had enough mana regeneration.
In practice, however, Mana Shield seems to consume too much mana to take any significant enemy damage, meaning that, especially when running the Pits, it initially exceeds the player’s ability to generate mana. Once you reach a high enough level in the Pit, it becomes ineffective.
- Spiritborn
Finally, we come to Spiritborn. Because of the nerfs to Jaguar Spirit Hall and some of its double dipping, its power has generally decreased in mainstream Quill Volley builds in Season 9, making Crushing Hand Spiritborn a slight improvement.
Balazan Rake and Poison Thorns hybrid build, which dominated last season, should still be a top-tier Spiritborn build choice in Season 10. Even with these changes, its peak value has only been reduced, meaning it’s unaffected by the major nerfs.
Similarly, the secondary Eagle Spirit Hall bonus has been buffed, now granting guaranteed critical strikes with every additional spell-cast and providing a 20% increased vulnerability damage. Paired with Loyalty’s Mantle, it significantly boosts Vitality and skill cooldowns for the selected Spirit Hall.
In short, Balazan Rake remains the top pick for Spiritborn characters, or very likely a close second. However, we all know that Spiritborn balance has shifted somewhat since entering Season 10. Whether or not it’s mainstream, the new unique ability will certainly create a new build archetype that may emerge in future seasons.
Anyway, that’s all. The above is a summary of all the class changes that IGGM.com has learned about so far based on Diablo 4 Season 10 PTR. You can adjust your build selection in time according to your play style to gain more advantages in the early stages of the new season.
