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How Good Are Vessel of Hatred's New Class Skills? Diablo 4 Class Lead Opinions
Diablo IV
Posted
23 hr 12 min ago
by
Wowhead
On October 8, the Spiritborn will bring a completely new class experience to Diablo 4. Thankfully, existing classes will also get new skills to try out with the release of Vessel of Hatred. After a week of PTR testing, our Class Leads sat together to discuss their new class skill and how it might affect their leveling and endgame meta!
Patch 2.0 Build Planner Patch 2.0 Patch Notes
Barbarian's
Mighty Throw
While it's still a bit too early to determine the state of the Barbarian in Season 6, it's clear that Barbarians have yet to escape the post-nerf purgatory that started in Season 5.
Mighty Throw
is a satisfying ability with a lot of potential and is likely to be at the top of the pile for Barbarian builds in the expansion's first season. The skill itself will certainly be the star of a new standalone build while following the typical three-Shout Barbarian build formula.
It is also obvious that
Mighty Throw
pays homage to Barbarians of the past, and the smooth gameplay around the skill really shows that Blizzard put a lot of thought into
Mighty Throw
. While we certainly appreciate fan service, it would have been nice to see some of the heavy-handed Barbarian nerfs from last season dialed back a bit
Druid's
Stone Burst
Stone Burst
, in theory, looked like a fun skill in the latest Campfire Chat. What's not to love about blowing up entire screens through stony power? Despite the massive gameplay potential of this multi-stage channeled skill, it was surprising to see how one-sided
Stone Burst
ended up feeling in action.
Instead of being able to charge the skill while moving its location to be more strategic in what you're blowing up (which is how
Lightning Storm
operates, at least in localizing Lightning Strikes to cursor location), the cursor locks to a location when you start the charge and will only move when you release the channel. This gives Stone Burst a more analog, bursty feeling instead of being a dynamic tool to control the battlefield. Yes, it will be fun to use, and it potentially is fun because of that click-and-release playstyle. However, it's unclear whether this will make Stone Burst builds feel one-dimensional.
Necromancer's
Soulrift
Soulrift
isn't just a new Ultimate skill for Necromancers - it's a game changer. With barrier, essence generation, damage multipliers, and vulnerable application,
Soulrift
brings a welcome combo to the Necromancer's arsenal. Pair this skill with the new unique helmet,
The Unmaker
, and witness
Soulrift
transform from a utility tool into a relentless force.
By rapidly spending and regenerating Essence, you can extend
Soulrift
's duration by 8 seconds as well as unleash devastating bonus damage that scales with it's DoT. This quickly evolves into one of the Necromancer's hardest-hitting builds. Prepare for
Soulrift
to dominate and redefine Necromancer playstyles in Season 6!
Rogue's
Dance of Knives
Dance of Knives
looks to be one of the best options for Rogue leveling in the upcoming expansion due to its high damage output and the ability to be constantly on the move, similar to the Demon Hunter's Strafe skill in Diablo 3. When it comes to the endgame,
Dance of Knives
excels as well, acting as a vehicle to proc
Victimize
explosions and
Andariel's Visage
poison novas. On top of that, the projectiles from
Aspect of Star Shards
can also trigger
Victimize
explosions and other Lucky Hit effects.
Combining
Dance of Knives
with
Poison Imbuement
turns
Victimize
's damage into Poison, which enables various synergies like
Alchemist's Fortune
,
Debilitating Toxins
, and . Unfortunately, like many other Channeling skills in Diablo 4,
Dance of Knives
performs significantly better when the ability is being spammed, shooting knives two to three times faster than if you were holding down the skill. However, the gameplay in both leveling and endgame situations feels very smooth, and we can't wait to unlock the skill's full potential in Vessel of Hatred!
Sorcerer's
Familiar
Together with other tools like
Enlightenment
,
Familiar
introduces a ton of multi-element synergy for Sorcerers in Vessel of Hatred. At first, we were incredibly happy about the introduction of
Familiar
, a multi-element support skill, because a majority of builds have been using multiple elements to deal damage already.
During playtesting, however, we have found that
Familiar
definitely needs a bit more work to be considered an option in Season 6's Sorc meta builds. Two of the three Familiar types only apply Crowd Control and don't deal damage, while the Fire Familiar's Burning damage just doesn't scale very well. It is also very concerning that you cannot activate your
Familiar
ability with very high Attack Speed; the starting animation is just too slow or not prioritized highly enough to be triggered, so the skill simply won't go off. Also, what's up with and its meager Damage Reduction bonus of 3%?
As of now, the one place where
Familiar
shines is during the leveling phase. The Fire Familiar's Burning effect is incredible and deals a ton of damage in a large radius, perfectly fitting Sorc's current
Incinerate
or
Firewall
leveling build strategy. Other than that, we don't really see a
Familiar
endgame build making the tier lists without some significant changes over the next few weeks.
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Comment by
SecretSapphic
on 2024-09-19T12:15:45-05:00
Most excited to try Dance of Knives out of this bunch
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