A brand new season is on the horizon, and with it comes massive changes. The biggest change in Diablo 4 is the change to Mythic rarity items. S14 is where all Uniques can now drop as Mythic items. This simple change, along with some nerfs to some of the most prolific Mythic items last season, essentially changes which classes come out on top. If you're looking for what class to play this season, look no further, as this tier list will give you exactly what you need.
Diablo 4 S14 Season of Death Awakening Class Tier List
How the Ranking works
All classes in Diablo 4 are capable of entering Torment 12 and beating the endgame pinnacle bosses. However, some builds and classes just do it better with faster times and more survivability. We’ll use pinnacle bosses as the primary benchmark to determine which classes are S-tier this season.
We’ll be using boss clear speed as the primary metric, followed by map clear speed and finally the number of viable builds available. Other metrics, such as budget, will also be considered when determining a class's ranking.
S14 Class Tier List
|
Rank |
Class |
|---|---|
|
S |
Barbarian, Rogue |
|
A |
Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock |
|
B |
Druid |
|
C |
Necromancer, Spiritborn |
Ranking Explained
Barbarian
The Barbarian was one of the more competitive classes in the previous season. It was not considered to be the best, but it always came close. Just like last season, the barbarian has easy, comfortable clears with not much mechanical complexity. The class also has 2 very viable endgame builds with extremely fast clears.
The Bro’barian, or better known as the Ancient Barbarian, turns your barbarian into a summoner. This build saw lots of success last season because of its overwhelming damage and simplicity. Although simple, some variants of the build require precise timing and positioning, as they are more susceptible to damage than others.
The other class barbarians have access to is the Spin-to-Win build, otherwise known as the Whirlwind Barbarian. Out of the many viable builds in the game, Whirlwind Barbarian is a staple thanks to how mechanically simple it is. All you need to do is hold down one button and go wild; meanwhile, other builds require you to have a constant rotation of buffs that need to be activated.
Rogue
In the previous season, Rogues were seen as an off-meta class that was still extremely effective even at the highest Torment and Pit tiers. However, this season, based on the results of the S14 PTR, the Rogue came out with some of the fastest times thanks to the use of Death Trap and Penetrating Shot.
One reason why Rogues are S-tier this season is just how good leveling feels with the Rogue, even compared to other meta classes. Skills like Dance of Knives allow players to zoom past most of the campaign with relative ease. For the endgame, many have found success with Twisting Knives and other traps. The skills Rogues have access to are extremely diverse, enabling a high degree of personalization while remaining competitive.
A -Tier
These classes were once considered the best to play. But with the changes to both classes and Mythics, these classes have fallen off to some degree. Warlocks in particular felt the nerfs and changes the most since Heir of Perdition and Apocalypse were nerfed. Other classes in this tier, like Paladins and Sorcerers, had changes to their power distribution.
Paladins mainly relied on Clash in the previous season. However, with the skill being nerfed, it is no longer viable. Other skills in the Paladin's arsenal received massive buffs that allow the Paladin to remain competitive. Zealot Oath received a small yet impactful buff while Zeal was fixed to interact with Red Sermon properly.
Sorcerers also received a rebalancing of their power distribution. In Season 13, they mainly relied on lightning damage using Unstable Currents. But just like the other classes in its tier, this skill was nerfed just enough to encourage the use of other abilities like Fire Wall and Meteor. Unstable Currents, even if slightly nerfed, is still extremely viable and is still a great option for budget builds.
B-Tier
Druid is the only one in B-tier mainly because it's not strong enough to be A-tier or so weak as to be C-tier. The Druid struggles with how few builds are viable, with the most prolific build being a lightning build. It's hard to justify using Druid over other classes as the leveling progress with this class just feels sluggish.
C-Tier
Finally, C tier, the Necromancer was great a few seasons ago and even had some success in S13. However, it doesn't perform as well as other classes, mainly because it's highly dependent on Unique items. On the other hand, Spiritborn has been an extremely underwhelming class. In S13, it only had one viable class, which was using poison, and in this season, it's the same story.
