Diablo 4's upcoming Warlock class looks like a god mode hack designed to be an "edgelord" that would "win in a bar fight"

Blizzard took time out this evening to talk shop about the Warlock class set to drop with the next Diablo 4 expansion, Lord of Hatred, in late April, and it sounds like an absolute powerhouse by design. Now about to enter its third Diablo game after Diablo 2 Resurrected and Diablo Immortal, the Warlock is shaping up to deliver on the promise of it hitting the height of its powers if you play its incarnations in chronological order.

A simple idea appears to be at the head of the Warlock class design philosophy in Diablo 4. According to associate director/game designer Colin Finer, if the Diablo classes “got into a bar fight, the Warlock would kick all of their asses,” which is a pretty crazy thing to say about one of the best RPGs you would assume its designer would want to balance.

During the lengthy deep-dive, multiple gameplay trailers showed the Warlock decimating demons in practically every which way imaginable. Largely focused on its own demonic summons, the Warlock can command an army of smaller enemies or instead elect to call forth gargantuan, interchangeable Brutes that smash, slice, or even trail behind you like a persona, shredding enemies as you zip forward.

The game’s frankly dizzying skill trees make the deep-dive a little hard to follow after being away from the game for a while, but the general idea is this: there’s a demon for everything. Build a wall with demons, use their energy to shroud yourself for sneak attacks, or swap them for succubi that do “terrible, terrible damage.” Man, I really do hope that means they just smooch your enemies into submission.

But it sounds as if the Warlock won’t be what we used to call a face-roll class. While the Paladin, which was already released as a pre-order bonus for the expansion, was designed to be easy to pick up, the Warlock is built around “crunchy and complicated” mechanics. It’s an “edgelord” designed to contrast the Paladin, and that’s all I needed to hear.

Am I scared it’ll be the best of the Diablo 4 classes? The one to finally pry me away from rolling another earth bear Druid? Yep. Actually, I’m scared it’ll coax everyone away from every other class. It really does have an answer for everything. “We’ll do our best to make sure it isn’t completely destroying the game,” said Finer, “but we care a lot about it feeling powerful.” And looking at it, yeah, I think it could beat the living hell out of the Sorcerer. The Warlock is ripped, so you better believe I’ll have one looking like Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson from 28 Years Later as soon as it drops. Wait, this comes out on April 28? Praise Lileth, this is perfect.