Diablo 4's second new class is a summoner who commands demons to fight demons

Key art of the new Diablo 4 Warlock class for Lord of Hatred. A figure in demonic armor and covered in red holds a sword and chains attached to a demon. — (Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

The excitement around the return of paladins to Diablo 4 almost made me forget that a second class was still on its way. During today's Diablo Spotlight video, Blizzard reminded us that the Lord of Hatred expansion will launch with a second new class, one designed to contrast the bright and stalwart paladins.

As some recent leaks have suggested, the new class is a dark and brooding group of summoners known as warlocks. It's a class that hasn't existed in the series before, but is being brought to Diablo 2 today in a surprise expansion drop. Diablo 2's warlocks are supposed to be what they looked like in the earliest stages of their demonology, and Diablo 4's warlocks are the class at their prime.

Some of the juiciest changes coming to Lord of Hatred were also covered briefly in the video, like a new system that basically gives you a 'playlist' of endgame activities to do. These "War Plans" solve a problem that's been in Diablo 4 for a long time: It's never clear what you should be doing next for the best upgrades, especially if you're a newer player. Now, you'll want to ping pong between dungeons and complete your War Plans to start earning points to invest in each activity's skill tree. Those skill trees will let you control what types of enemies show up and what rewards you get.

A screenshot of Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred. Two windows are open with the left showing a list of activities for War Plans. On the right, a skill tree for endgame activities. — (Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Over on the class skills trees, things have been moved around quite a bit. Every skill now has different upgrades that change how they work or what kind of element they use. A sorcerer can turn their fire hydra summons into frost hydras, for example. Diablo 4 was seriously lacking a way to actually invest in particular skills that didn't have to do with slapping on unique pieces of gear, but now builds will come together even while you're still leveling up.

All of this should help Diablo 4 feel less like you're chasing after whatever build Blizzard has decided will be good this season and start to experiment more with all the new tools at your disposal. A common criticism of the game is that it's too simplistic, but Lord of Hatred looks like it's carefully adding complexity and customization in a way that doesn't make the game as overwhelming to parse as something like Path of Exile.

Lord of Hatred launches on April 28.

TOPICS

Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.