Welcome to the comprehensive guide for Diablo Immortal. We will be going over the key things you will want to know in the global launch so you can have a smashing time with your friends, playing on either PC or mobile!
General Gameplay
Diablo Immortal is a hybrid hack and slash with elements from both Diablo 2 and Diablo 3. I think it brings the best of both worlds into the game and makes it a much better experience. For example, while Diablo 2 has an addicting loot system and a great story, it lacks build diversity. Top meta builds revolves around Infinity and Enigma runeword. Without those, all builds will be inferior. PvP is a bit clunky as well. Diablo 3 doesn’t have PvP, but there is build diversity and all classes are viable for end game content. However, the rare items doesn’t really generate excitement when you get them.
There will be many things to do and even for end game content as well. Examples are legendary gems (elder rifts), normal gems, charms, exquisite gear, paragon system, heliquery (8 man instance raid bosses) , cycle of strife (endgame pvp) , upgrading gear (levels) and challenge rifts (leaderboards), which resets every week. So, if you are an end game content player, you will not be disappointed as there will be plenty of grinding and exploring to do.
In Diablo Immortal, it let’s you choose a class to start with and it is semi locked until later on where you get the class change system and retain all progress, but I believe developers have mentioned it can only be done a few times. So you do have to choose wisely on who to start with.
The good thing is, the classes are all viable and they all come with a set of pros and cons. It does not have the Diablo 2 problems where some classes cannot even complete Hell Mode on their own. Also, the game promotes each player plays a different class when grouping together as same class buffs do not stack. The max level for a character is level 60.
In summary, choose the class you like the most. We will go over the different class in the next section.
Choosing Your Class (Melee vs Ranged)
There are 6 classes in Diablo Immortal, with 3 melee and 3 ranged. Barbarian, Crusader and Monk are the melee classes. Necromancer, Wizard and Demon Hunter are the ranged classes. Also, you can customize the skills you want to use depending on your party play.
In general, melee classes are more durable but requires you to be up close to deal damage, so taking damage is unavoidable. Ranged classes are not as durable but can kite and deal damage from afar without taking too much damage. This is important since your playstyle will determine which characters you should be going for.
Barbarian (Melee)
Barbarian has high AoE damage with fast moving melee playstyle. It is a durable class. Here are some skills available to the Barbarian:
- Lacerate (Primary) – Does damage and heals you on every 3 hit
- Frenzy (Primary) – Each hit increase attack speed and can stack up to 5 times
- Cleave – AoE damage in front of you. (9s cooldown)
- Chained Spear – Deal damage and drag enemies back to you. (10s cooldown)
- Sprint – Increases movement speed for a short time (16s cooldown)
- Leap – Jump to location and deal AoE damage and reduce their movement speed. (12s cooldown)
- Whirlwind – The classic spin to win AoE skill. You do move at 70% reduced movement speed. (0.5s cooldown)
- Wrath of the Berserker – Increased attack and movement speed for a short period of time (30s cooldown)
- Undying Rage – Activates when you take lethal damage, causing attacks to heal you in a short period of time
- Demoralize – Taunts enemies to attack you for 8 seconds and reduce their damage dealt to you. (30s cooldown)
- Ground Stomp – AoE damage that can stun nearby enemies. (9s cooldown)
- Hammer of the Ancients – Deals AoE damage (12s cooldown)
- Furious Charge – AoE damage and knockback (9s cooldown)
Crusader (Melee)
A strong support class with high durability. It has good AoE damage and has a lot of mobility and probably the fastest movement speed of the 6 classes available.
- Punish (Primary) – Primary damage skill while all other skills are on cooldown.
- Sacred Fire (Primary) – Deal damage and some splash damage done to nearby enemies.
- Draw and Quarter – Good source of damage while moving. It acts as a movement skill and damaging enemies around you. (16s cooldown)
- Falling Sword – Target groups from a distance and allow damage over time to erode enemies. (15s cooldown)
- Consecration – AoE damage around you. (15s cooldown)
- Condemn – AoE damage that you can detonate. (9s cooldown)
- Conjuration of Light – Provides damage immunity for you and nearby allies for a short period of time. (26s cooldown)
- Spinning Shield – Deals damage around you and does good single target damage as well. Can pull enemies towards you.
- Shield Glare – Blinds the enemies. (12s cooldown)
- Shield Charge – Movement skill and can stun enemies. (12s cooldown)
- Sacred Chain – Chain attack that bounces between enemies and can stun them. (14s cooldown)
- Judgement – AoE attack that can slow enemies and a stun impact. (24s cooldown)
- Holy Banner – Increases critical hit chance at the cost of critical hit damage for allies. (24s cooldown)
- Sweep Attack – Deal damage in front of you and can knock enemies away. (8s cooldown)
Monk (Melee)
Monks have high mobility and have some support skills to help in team play.
- Fists of Thunder (Primary) – Teleport and hit an enemy every 3 hits.
- Deadly Reach (Primary) – Line attack that can reach enemies behind the target.
- Cyclone Strike – Chargeable skill that pulls enemy close to you and deal damage. (12s cooldown)
- Flying Kick – A movement damage skill that hits enemy in your path. (12s cooldown)
- Wave Strike – A charge up skill with AoE damage. (9s cooldown)
- Seven-sided Strike – AoE damage that strikes 7 times. (12s cooldown)
- Shield of Zen – Barrier for either you or your ally (12s cooldown)
- Exploding Palm – AoE attack that inflicts bleeding (6s cooldown)
- Wave of Light – AoE attack (9s cooldown)
- Inner Sanctuary – An area of protection that gives you and your ally damage reduction (30s cooldown)
- Imprisoned Fist – Line attack that can immobilize your enemy. (12s cooldown)
- Mystic Allies – Summon 2 allies to fight by your side. (30s cooldown)
Necromancer (Ranged)
Necromancers have summons and spells to aid him in battle.
- Bone Spear (Primary) – Shoot a piercing Bone Spear forward to inflict damage, and pierce up to 2 additional enemies. Pierce damage reduces by half after piercing a target.
- Soulfire (Primary) – Throw a ball of soulfire that explodes when it strikes an enemy, inflicting damage to the target and 25% as much to all other nearby enemies.
- Bone Armor – Protect yourself and nearby allies with a shield of bones that absorbs damage for 12 seconds.
- Bone Spikes – Summon bone spikes that erupt from the ground, stunning enemies for 2 seconds and dealing damage. Charging longer increases range and damage.
- Bone Spirits – Unleash a continual barrage of bone spirits, dealing damage to enemies. Using Bone spirits slowly consumes its energy, which recovers while Bone Spirits is not in use.
- Bone Wall – Conjure a wall of bones that blocks the movement of all enemies and allies, and also blocks all enemy projectiles. Maximum 3 charges.
- Command Golem – Summon a bone golem for 24 seconds. When summoned, it will deal damage to all nearby enemies and stun them for 2 seconds. While it is active, you can order the golem to leap to a nearby location, where it will deal damage and force all nearby monsters to attack it for 6 seconds.
- Skeletal Mage – Summon an immobile skeletal mage for 13 seconds that throws bolts of soulfire in a direction, each dealing damage to all enemies in the bolt’s path. You may not command more than 6 total skeletal champions and skeletal mages.
- Corpse Explosion – Detonate all corpses in the target area, each corpse dealing damage to all nearby enemies. Enemies struck by multiple simultaneous explosions take 40% cumulatively reduced damage for each additional hit.
- Corpse Lance – Summon projectiles from nearby corpses that impale the target and other random nearby enemies. Each corpse summons 3 lances that deal damage. Multiple hits on the same target deal 20% cumulatively reduced damage.
- Grim Scythe – Slash with a summoned scythe, dealing damage to all enemies in front of you. Each enemy hit generates a corpse, up to a maximum of 2. Maximum 2 charges.
- Wraith Form – Transform into a wraith, gaining 50% increased movement speed and invulnerability for 2 seconds. During this time you cannot attack.
Demon Hunter (Ranged)
Demon Hunters are great at kiting and dealing damage from afar. Positioning is key for this class.
- Crossbow Shot (Primary) – Attack and kite enemies.
- Explosive Arrow (Primary) – Attack that can explode and deal AoE damage.
- Knockback Shot – Knockback enemies and can stun them if they hit an obstacle. (12s cooldown)
- Multishot – AoE attack with 3 charges. (9s cooldown)
- Rain of Vengeance – AoE attack in an area of choice. (16s cooldown)
- Strafe – Shots in all directions with reduced move speed. (0.5s cooldown)
- Daring Swing – Movement skill that can deal damage while moving to target location. (10s cooldown)
- Knife Trap – Trap that can be set in advance to deal damage when triggered. (12s cooldown)
- Sentry – Summon up to 2 turrets to aid you in battle. (18s cooldown)
- Smokescreen – Conceal you and your ally for a short period of time. (11.1s cooldown)
- Spinning Chakram – AoE attack in a line spinning forward and back. (8s cooldown)
- Vengeance – Transform and power up to deal more damage and gain move speed with more enemies around. (20s cooldown)
Wizard (Ranged)
Wizard has the most skill shots among all the classes. Staying back, landing your skill shots is key for Wizards.
- Magic Missile (Primary) – Main ranged attack.
- Electrocute (Primary) – Can hit multiple enemies as it leaps to other targets.
- Arcane Wind – AoE attack that can knockback enemies. (9s cooldown)
- Scorch – Knockback enemies and leave a blazing trail that deals damage. (9s cooldown)
- Lightning Nova – Hurl 10 balls of lightning away from you in all directions and deal damage. (6s cooldown)
- Ray of Frost – Line beam that chills enemies. (0.5s cooldown)
- Teleport – Move to a location with 3 charges. (12s cooldown)
- Ice Crystal – AoE attack that can chill enemies. (30s cooldown)
- Disintegrate – Line beam that deals increased damage over time. (0.5s cooldown)
- Black Hole – Pull nearby enemies towards the center location. (20s cooldown)
- Meteor – AoE attack that can stun enemies and do damage over time. (9s cooldown)
- Ice Armor – Shield that can explode and deal damage and chill enemies. (20s cooldown)
Leveling and Progression
When it comes to leveling to the end game, it takes roughly 30 hours of gameplay to get there. However, you can slow down, enjoy the progress and not try to rush there. Playing the game for 15 minutes will get you to level 15 pretty easily. After that is where the levelling slows down. Feel free to change the controller settings to your liking if the default doesn’t work. It will help you out in the long run.
This game rewards party play over solo as you do gain levels quicker in a party. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t solo. That is up to you.
You will be unlocking new skills along the way and you can have up to 4 skills equipped at any given time. You will also want to switch your equipment to better gear as you level to make your life easier. At level 15, you will also unlock your movement skill to improve your mobility and the blacksmith, which upgrades your equipment. You want to salvage unused equipment as they are used in upgrades. There is auto pickup and you can adjust it to pick normal, magic and rare items. At the end game at 60, you may want to leave out normal items.
At level 30, you will unlock Battle Pass to run dungeons, bounties and elder rifts, which are great ways to gain bonus extra experience, legendary gems (elder rift) and battle points. You can opt to do this to gain levels and better equipment instead of continuing the story.
As you march towards 60, you will start to find more legendary items. You can extract leftovers into essence in the West March NPC and you can use them in future legendary items. You just need to do this once for each slot before you salvage them.
When you hit level 40+, you will start unlocking end game content and gain access to the Helliquary and Legacy of Horadrim. When you do the quest, only open the chest in the first room. It is more efficient to open the rest when you get more keys. Keep on grinding Battle Pass and daily bounties, especially those contracts.
Upon reaching 60, you will unlock Hell 1 difficulty, which starts the grind for gg items and also PvP. The never ending quest for top gear and glory begins…
Equipment and Gearing
When it comes to gearing your character, you can do so on both the primary (main gear) and secondary items (accessories). The primary slots include the head, body armor, shoulders, pants and 2 weapon slots. The secondary items include 1 amulet, 2 rings, gloves, belt and boots.
Primary sets can equip legendary items while secondary slots can equip set items. The whole end game is all about decking out both sections with top tier gear, constantly grinding end game content for it. I myself enjoy this aspect of the game.
When it comes to items, offense and defense rating (OR and DR) are the most important attribute to consider. Every Primary Attribute point (Intelligence, Strength, Fortitude, Vitality and Willpower) on your gear grants you 1 additional OR/DR. Always pick the item that has higher attribute stats. You can put in 1 to 5 star legendary gems in the primary slots.
For secondary slots, you want to find the best set items to equip. You can insert gems into secondary items. Each secondary item can have up to 3 gem slots of various colors. There are red (damage and life), blue(armor penetration and defense) and yellow (potency and resistance) gems. Yellow is the least important as those are more PvP oriented gems. It is best to look for red and blue gems to socket.
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