In this Diablo IV Build Tier List, we go over the best barbarian, rogue, sorceress, druid, and necromancer builds for D4 leveling after the Server Slam beta!
Diablo 4 Best Builds Tier List for Starting & Leveling
In this guide, we're going to talk about the best leveling builds in Diablo 4 after the final beta - Server Slam. Now the difference between a leveling build and an end game build is that leveling builds are going to be able to be put together 100% of the time guaranteed whereas in an end game build you're going to have to grind to get lucky - those aspects and uniques aren't guaranteed. The builds that we recommend in this guide are guaranteed you can get everything you need for these builds 100% of the time.
What's more, these types of builds are seasoned starter builds basically your first character, you don't have gear these builds will be perfect for that first character that you're choosing to level!
1 - Chain Lightning Hydra Sorcerer Build
If you're looking to dominate bosses and enemy groups in Diablo 4, this Sorcerer build focuses on Lightning, Ice, and Fire might be just what you need. It has both great damage mobility and survivability, so it will be very helpful overall whether you're fighting dungeons, World bosses, Solo, in a party, or just questing for leveling. The Sorcerer is a skilled wielder of raw elemental magic throughout Sanctuary, able to unleash ice storms with Blizzard, incinerate enemies with Hydra, or engage in electric ping-pong with Chain Lightning. As a master of ranged combat, it's crucial not to underestimate the dangers of melee range and risk being overpowered.
Skill Setup
Basic: Arc Lash > Enhanced Arc Lash
Core Skill: Chain Lightning > Enhanced Chain Lightning > Greater Chain Lightning
Defensive Skill: Teleport > Later, you can take Enhanced Teleport and Shimmering Teleport, Ice Armor > Enhanced Ice Armor > Mystical Ice Armor, Frost Nova > Enhanced Frost Nova > Mystical Frost Nova
Conjuration Skill: Hydra > Enhanced Hydra > Invoked Hydra or Summoned Hydra
2 - Ice Shard Sorcerer Build
The Ice Sorcerer build is a highly popular and effective choice in the Diablo 4 open beta, as it utilizes freezing spells to shatter monsters into fragments through a chain reaction. The Sorcerer class in Diablo 4 offers players the flexibility to play in various ways by altering the element or type of spells used. For this particular build, we recommend specializing in ice spells that can freeze enemies before detonating them into deadly shards that spread outwards. While it's not the only ice-based build available, it is undoubtedly one of the most powerful. The majority of this build's damage output is derived from Ice Shards that can pierce through enemies and blast frozen targets, causing additional shards to spawn. With this build, you can quickly reduce hordes of enemies to frozen icicles. Additionally, thanks to its various abilities' defensive capabilities and the vulnerability effect they apply, this build is also effective against bosses, despite not being its main focus.
Skill Setup
Basic: Fire Bolt (1/5) > Enhanced Frost Bolt > Glinting Frost Bolt
Core Skill Passive: Ice Shards (5/5) > Enhanced Ice Shards > Destructive Ice Shards
Conjuration Skill: Ice Blade (1/5) > Enhanced Ice Blades > Summoned Ice Blades
Defensive Skill: Ice Armor (1/5) > Enhanced Ice Armor > Mystical Ice Armor, Teleport (1/5), Frost Nova (1/5) > Enhanced Frost Nova > Mystical Frost Nova
Passive Skills: Align the Elements, Protection, Icy Veil, Cold Front
3 - Whirlwind Bleed Barbarian Build
No true Barbarian in Diablo 4 would be complete without a Whirlwind Build, and the Barbarian class delivers just that. Whirlwind stands out as one of the Barbarian's most powerful core skills, allowing the character to quickly dispatch large enemy groups while on the move. To make the most of this build, it's essential to aim for as many targets as possible simultaneously. Rather than stopping to strike isolated foes, keep moving through the open world and never stop spinning. The more enemies you can hit, the longer you can keep the whirlwind going. Whirlwind Bleed is one of the best builds to level a Barbarian, it just fits together so perfectly with strong AOE clear, pretty tanky, and a lot of room for Shouts and group utility. If you enjoy slicing and spinning through enemies in a bloody mess, this is the build for you.
Skill Setup
Basic Skill: Flay
Core Skill: Whirlwind (5/5) > Enhanced Whirlwind > Violent Whirlwind
Defensive Skill: Rallying Cry (1/5) > Enhanced Rallying Cry > Tactical Rallying Cry
Brawling Skill: War Cry (1/5) > Enhanced War Cry > Mighty War Cry
Brawling Skill passive: Booming Voice (3/3)
Weapon Mastery Skill: Death Blow (1/5) > Enhanced Death Blow > Fighter's Death Blow
Weapon Mastery Passive: Thick Skin (2/3)
Ultimate Skill: Call of the Ancients (1/1) > Prime Call of the Ancients > Prime Call of the Ancients
4 - Thorns Bleed Barbarian Build
While playing a Waterspout or Hammer of the Ancients build is possible, especially on groups of enemies, it's different on big bosses that will tear you to pieces. It's for this reason that the Barbarian's meta build relies on a mix of bleeds, thorns, and damage reduction. The principle is quite simple: hit the enemy to make him bleed as much as possible, and each time he attacks, he will also hurt himself and bleed even more. You're normally going to be able to use Rend very often, without having to worry too much about Fury, with this build, if you have the right legendaries. You still need to use Flay regularly to maintain the damage reduction. At the same time, use the Galvanize and the Provocative Cry to absorb the damage. They must be used at the right time to optimize their impact. Healing potions should also be used sparingly in order to be the one to survive the fight. The Call of the Elders, and especially the Coup de Grace, are mainly there to help you with the bosses.
Skill Setup
Basic Skill: Flay (1/5) > Enhanced Flay > Combat Flay
Core Skill: Rend (5/5) > Enhanced Rend > Furious Rend
Defensive Skill: Iron Skin (1/5) > Enhanced Iron Skin, Challenging Shout (1/5) > Enhanced Challenging Shout > Strategic Challenging Shout
Defensive Skill passive: Outburst (3/3) > Tough as Nails (3/3)
Weapon Mastery Skill: Death Blow (1/5) > Enhanced Death Blow
Weapon Mastery Passive: Thick Skin (2/3)
Ultimate Skill: Call of the Ancients (1/1) > Prime Call of the Ancients > Prime Call of the Ancients
5 - Twisting Blade Rogue Build
In Diablo 4 Beta, there are two main approaches to Rogue, the hypermobile High APM melee Focus build and the PowerHouse range build which by comparison is a lot easier to manage. The Twisting Blades Rogue embodies hit-and-run gameplay with unparalleled mobility through its unique abilities. Whether it's slipping through enemy lines with the Pass of the Blades, dashing forward with Celerity, or teleporting directly behind a boss with Shadow Step to deliver a fatal blow, this rogue is a master of quick, decisive strikes. Once special attacks are chained together, simply move away to let the Twisting Blades travel as far as possible, slicing through any enemies in their path. Rinse and repeat for maximum effectiveness. If survivability isn't a concern, the rogue can also remain in melee range with the boss, allowing the blades to swirl around and deal even more damage.
Skill Setup
Basic: Blade Shift (1/5) > Enhanced Blade Shift > Fundamental Blade Shift
Core Skill: Twisting Blades (5/5), Enhanced Twisting Blades > Advanced Twisting Blades
Core Skill Passive: Stutter Step (3/3)
Agility Skill: Shadow Step (1/5) > Enhanced Shadow Step, Dash (1/5) > Enhanced Dash
Subterfuge Skill: Dark Shroud (1/5) > Enhanced Dark Shroud > Countering Dark Shroud
Subterfuge Skill Passive: Exploit (3/3)
Imbuement Skill Passive: Chilling Weight
Ultimate Skill: Shadow Clone > Prime Shadow Clone
6 - Shadow Imbue Marksman Rogue Build
This build is the stealthy assassin with traps and tricks, potent explosive ability, ridiculous mobility, and with that iconic Rogue Vibe, you'd expect. If you enjoy that fast-paced playstyle, this ranged imbue build is for you. It's undeniable that the range version is the safer pick allowing you to DPS at a distance, therefore, avoiding danger much better. By imbuing our weapon, we can change the properties of a few of our abilities such as the penetrating shot and dash, that means when you use these abilities on an enemy, it will apply the purple imbuement to them, and if you kill one of these purple enemies then they will explode causing damage to the others and causing the others to upload. Through this concept then very quickly you can absolutely blow up a bunch of enemies in one quick motion. This ranged Shadow Imbue Marksman really comes down to this one incredibly strong ability penetrating shot allowing us to fire this single shot that penetrates and goes straight through the enemies and the targets just for a bit of your resource a bit of energy. The penetrating shot is also affected by imbuement so you don't have to dash through you can apply the imbuement with the first penetrating shot if you want. This is why this build is so consistently liable, all you really have to do is apply the imbuement and then penetrating shot, and then they just blow up as long as you're effective at aiming you should kill all of them in one use.
Skill Setup
Basic: Puncture (1/5) > Enhanced Puncture > Primary Puncture
Core Skill: Penetrating Shot (5/5), Enhanced Penetrating Shot > Improved Penetrating Shot
Agility Skill: Dash (1/5) > Enhanced Dash > Methodical Dash
Subterfuge Skill: Dark Shroud (1/5) > Enhanced Dark Shroud > Countering Dark Shroud
Imbuement Skill: Shadow Imbuement (5/5) > Enhanced Shadow Imbuement > Blended Shadow Imbuement
Imbuement Skill Passive: Precision Imbuement
Ultimate Skill: Shadow Clone > Prime Shadow Clone > Supreme Shadow Clone
7 - Shapeshift Werewolf & Werebear Druid
Druids in Diablo 4 have the unique ability to shapeshift and can be played as either a ranged spellcaster or a tanky Werebear. This particular build focuses on maximizing your time in Werebear form, allowing you to overpower enemies with your massive health pool. The key skill for this build is Pulverize, which lets you deal damage based on the sum of your current and Fortified HP. Fortified HP acts as a bonus HP that can reduce incoming damage if you have enough of it. The damage bonus of Pulverize scales with your combined Life and Fortified Life pool. For example, at full HP and zero Fortified Life, Pulverize provides a 50% damage bonus, while it can scale up to 150% if you have both full HP and fully Fortified HP.
Skill Setup
Basic: Claw (5/5) > Enhanced Claw > Fierce Claw
Core Skill: Shred (5/5), Enhanced Shred > Primal Shred, Pulverize (1/5) > Enhanced Pulverize
Spirit Skill Passive: Heart of the Wild (2/3) > Wild Impulses (3/3), Predatory Instinct (3/3) > Digitigrade Gait (3/3)
Defensive Skill: Blood Howl (5/5) > Enhanced Blood Howl > Preserving Blood Howl
Dratch Skill: Rabies (5/5) > Enhanced Rabies > Natural Rabies, Trample (1/5) > Enhanced Trample > Savage Trample, Neurotoxin (1/3) > Envenom (3/3) & Toxic Claws (3/3)
Ultimate Skill: Lacerate > Prime Lacerate > Supreme Lacerate, Quickshift (3/3)
Key Passive: Nature’s Fury
8 - Lightning Storm Druid Build
The Lightning Storm Druid build is heavily reliant on chance and randomness, as it focuses on unleashing multiple strikes of Lightning damage with Lightning Storm in order to activate key offensive procs such as Primal Lightning Storm, Electric Shock, and Bad Omen. Although lacking in defensive capabilities, the build compensates by having various ways of immobilizing enemies, thereby relying on strategic positioning, control, and timing to succeed.
Skill Setup
Basic: Storm Strike (1/5) > Enhanced Storm Strike > Fierce Storm Strike
Spirit Skill: Lightning Storm (5/5) > Enhanced Lightning Storm > Primal Lightning Storm
Defensive Skill: Earthen Bulwark, Predatory Instinct (2/3)
Companion Skill: Blood Howl (1/5) > Enhanced Blood Howl > Innate Blood Howl
Wrath Skill: Hurricane,
Wrath Skill Passive: Elemental Exposure, Charged Atmosphere, Electric Shock (3/3), Bad Omen (3/3)
Ultimate Skill: Cataclysm
9 - Summoner Necromancer Build
Summon an Army of the Dead to create a Necromancer army, with Skeleton Warriors and Mages effectively eliminating any enemies you encounter as you explore Sanctuary. This particular Necromancer strategy is centered on summoning numerous minions to cause significant AoE (Area of Effect) damage. As a result, the Summoner Necromancer can effectively tackle any obstacle within the Fractured Peaks and other content.
Skill Setup
Basic: Decompose(2/5) > Enhanced Decompose > Acolyte's Decompose
Core Skill: Blood Surge (3/5) > Enhanced Blood Surge > Supernatural Blood Surge
Core skill passive: Hewed Flesh
Macabre Skill: Corpse Explosion (4/5) > Enhanced Corpse Explosion > Plagued Corpse Explosion
Macabre passive skill: Grim Harvest, Fueled by Death, Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Curse passive skill: Skeletal Mage Mastery
Summoning Skill: Corpse Tendrils (1/5) > Enhanced Corpse Tendrils > Plagued Corpse Tendrils
Ultimate Skill: Army of the Dead > Prime Army of the Dead > Supreme Army of the Dead
10 - Bone Necromancer Build
The Bone Spear & Spirit Necromancer build creates powerful weapons that can obliterate your enemies. Use the Bone Spear to inflict massive damage by piercing through enemies lined up in your path. When facing stronger foes, consume all of your Essence and unleash a devastating Bone Spirit attack. After the dust settles, all that will be left are the corpses of your enemies.
Skill Setup
Basic: Bone Splinters (1/5) > Enhanced Bone Splinters > Acolyte's Bone Splinters
Core Skill: Bone Spear (5/5) > Enhanced Bone Spear > Supernatural Bone Spear
Core skill passive: Unliving Energy, Imperfectly Balanced (3/3)
Macabre Skill: Corpse Explosion (1/5) > Enhanced Corpse Explosion > Plagued Corpse Explosion, Bone Spirit (1/5) > Enhanced Bone Spirit > Dreadful Bone Spirit, Blood Mist
Macabre passive skill: Grim Harvest, Fueled by Death, Skeletal Warrior Mastery
Summoning skill passive: Serration (2/3)
Summoning Skill: Corpse Tendrils (1/5) > Enhanced Corpse Tendrils > Plagued Corpse Tendrils
Ultimate skill passive: Stand Alone, Memento Mori (2/3)
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