Character and Skill Progression in Diablo Immortal

The Technical Alpha is a small-scale, early test of Diablo Immortal that will primarily include players from Australia. You can find more details on the Technical Alpha in our Alpha Announcement blog, but even if your region isn’t part of the test, we’re not going to leave you in the dark.

Whether you cleave monsters in half and decorate the ground with their entrails, use arcane energy to turn cultists into red mist, or put a crossbow bolt clean through one of a demon’s many eyes from halfway across the map, becoming more powerful and inflicting mayhem on the legions of the Burning Hells is the calling card of the Diablo games. Diablo Immortal is no exception to this time-honored tradition.

We’ll go over how the classes and skill systems in Diablo Immortal empower characters to grow strong, create highly efficient character builds, and separate spines from ribcages in style.

Meet Your Heroes

Currently, the Technical Alpha includes four playable classes:

• WIZARD: Wield the dread destructive power of magic to annihilate your foes.
• BARBARIAN: Charge into battle and crush skulls with brute force and reckless abandon.
• MONK: Take down your enemies with martial arts and ancient mysticism.
• DEMON HUNTER: Obliterate all who stand in the way of your acrobatic dance of death.

If you’ve played Diablo games before, these classes may seem familiar, but Diablo Immortal strives to give you a fresh take on familiar class identities. Each class has access to two unique Primary Attacks and a set of Skills, some of which will be familiar to Diablo veterans and some of which break new ground. Additionally, each time you use your Primary Attack you charge up that attack’s Ultimate, which grants it a brief but powerful boost.

Grow in Strength

As you gain levels, you unlock new skills. Your skill power increases as your character levels up. To create your own skill build, you have one Primary Attack slot and four Skill slots, and you can freely assign skills to these slots and reassign them on the fly.

EXAMPLE BUILD: WIZARD
For example, you could choose the Electrocute Basic Attack and pair it with the Meteor, Black Hole, Teleport, and Ice Crystal skills. With that setup, you can hold enemies in place with the Black Hole, drop a Meteor on them, sizzle them with Electrocute while they’re stuck together, then drop an Ice Crystal to slow advancing monsters and use Teleport for a quick getaway.

EXAMPLE BUILD: DEMON HUNTER
Combine the Crossbow Shot Basic Attack with the Smoke Screen, Strafe, Knife Trap, and Daring Swing skills for a hit-and-run build. Use Smoke Screen to sneak into a group of enemies, lay into them with Strafe, then escape with a Daring Swing and drop a Knife Trap to catch any monsters that chase after you.

Try out different skill builds to find one that maximizes your fun. You should also keep an eye on Legendary Gear, which enhances and changes how some skills perform. Curious about what Legendary Gear is and how to get your hands on it? Check out our Itemization Blog.

The Powers of the Paragon

Paragon levels (XP-driven increases in your character’s power after hitting the level cap) return from Diablo III with a twist: in Diablo Immortal, there are ten Paragon Talent Trees that each offer unique bonuses both in the form of stat boosts and distinct perks. The four trees currently in the Alpha are:

• SURVIVOR: Talents in this tree greatly enhance your survivability when fighting monsters.
• TREASURE HUNTER: This tree enhances your XP gains and increases your chances of finding treasure, gold, and gems.
• VANQUISHER: If you’re looking for talents that make you more lethal when fighting monsters, look no further.
• GLADIATOR: Talents in this tree greatly enhance your effectiveness when fighting other players.

You earn Paragon Points simply by gaining XP once you hit the level cap. You can spend these points across all the Paragon trees you have unlocked, so you could, for instance, spend one point in the Survivor tree, then the next point in the Vanquisher tree, and so on. However, while diversification is useful and even something we want to encourage, there is a catch: only one tree can be set to active at any time.

What that means is that each Paragon tree offers Permanent Attributes and Specialization Skills. Permanent Attributes are stat boosts you get continually from points spent. Specialization Skills only benefit you when you choose to activate their Paragon tree. If you change which Paragon tree is active, you get access to a different group of Specialization Skills, but the Permanent Attributes always remain.

For example, Vanquisher has a Passive talent that increases your Offense Rating and an Active talent called Zeal that increases your attack speed after killing monsters. If you deactivate Vanquisher and activate a different Paragon tree, Zeal will no longer function, but your Passive Offense Rating will remain.

Where Demons Fear to Tread

Diablo Immortal takes familiar systems and puts a new spin on them that we think will empower you to customize the abilities and skills of your characters to your heart’s content. Eviscerating monsters, tearing them limb from limb, and splattering their foul blood should be a fun, highly enjoyable experience, and we hope you’ll have the time of your life as you unleash unbridled havoc across Sanctuary. Throughout all your carnage, we'll be gathering feedback and data to help guide us in making a Diablo experience worthy of your expectations. Our team can't wait to share more with you soon!