Diablo III is the long-awaited third installment of Blizzard’s successful Diablo series. With all the buzz going around about this game, one of the most popular topics are the five character classes that will be featured in this game.
So far, Blizzard has revealed three of the five Diablo 3 characters; Barbarian, The Wizard, and Witch Doctor. The Barbarian is a brute-force character, and is revisiting the series from the second installment. The Wizard is obviously the sorcerer-type character, specializing in magic spells that inflict damage upon the enemies from mid-range. The Witch Doctor is, although not a replacement, the closest thing to a necromancer that we’ve seen yet. They use ancient tribal magic to tap into an unseen reality which allows them to use their powers.
There are two more characters that, so far, Blizzard has completely left us in the dark about. Because of this, fans are all speculating at what these hidden classes could be… Many think that one of them will be an archer-type character, as it makes sense with previous character formulas that Blizzard has used in their Diablo games. But, a healer class comes to question as well… Blizzard is marketing Diablo III as a built-for-multiplayer game… Somewhat of an MMORPG. Because of this a healer class would be very useful for other party mates, and thus would be a very nice addition to the game in this respect, but none of these speculations have been acknowledged, let alone confirmed.
As speculations rise, many fans are choosing to just stick with pre-strategizing with the three classes they’ve already got. We’ve got enough information on all of them to be able to make a decision on which we’ll be when it comes out, given that a hidden class doesn’t entice us.
One thing that Blizzard is giving us with Diablo III that they’ve never offered before is gender choice. In previous games, if a class was male, you would have to play as a male character, and vice-versa. This is a nice addition, seeing as it is helpful to be your gender in an RPG, since some people have difficulty role-playing as the opposite gender.
Let’s take a bit of a closer look at the revealed characters and their skills…
The Barbarian is a character that most are already familiar with. Brute force allows you to bash, punch, and slice your way through enemies without the aid of magic. This is great for players who love getting up close and personal with their foes and showing them what’s what. Barbarian’s skills are very similar to that of Diablo II, with some differences. Basically, he’s a more perfected character now… He was brought back because he needed work, and they’ve fixed him up. Now he’s more powerful than ever with a range of attacks to show for it.
The Wizard relies solely on magic to get their dirty work done. That’s not to say anything negative – their skill list and attacks really are quite astonishing and compelling. He is a very powerful character and his attacks can come unexpectedly to deliver a much-needed final blow to enemies of all sizes. One of his great attacks is “Slow Time.” Basically, this slows down time around them to allow for them and team mates to get in better attacks that maybe take longer to initiate, or just to get more hits in before retaliation. Another effective attack is “Acid Cloud,” which drops a cloud of acid in the designated area that deals initial damage and then continuous damage if enemies remain in the area. And finally, one last attack is “Tornado.” This one is pretty self-explanatory…. You create a giant twister that spins off and destroys everything in it’s path.
The Witch Doctor is a fascinating character… They have quite a story with them, but I’ll get right to their skills. The seemingly most famous Witch Doctor skill so far is the “Locust Swarm.” This attack lets out a swarm of locusts on multiple enemies, and as the enemies die off, the locusts move onto other nearby enemies, thus increasing the range of damage. I’m sure you can see how this can be useful. Another amazing skill is “Soul Harvest.” This attack drains nearby enemies (up to five) of energy and absorbs their souls. Now, if you don’t have enough time to initiate one of these attacks, either call on one of your Wizard pals or use “Horrify,” which calls of a spirit or illusion that floats above your head, scaring nearby enemies into running away in fear.
As you can see, the characters are already pretty well-explained, and Diablo III fans everywhere are waiting anxiously for Blizzard to introduce us to our two new characters.