Diablo Main Character Index
Character Classes | The High Heavens | The Burning Hells | Humans | Eldritch

Be aware that there will be spoilers. Read ahead at your own risk.

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Diablo Character Classes

Tropes applying to all classes

All for Nothing: Their struggles were pointless from the start. Tristram was doomed long before they arrived and Diablo had been prepared to neutralize them no matter what they tried.
Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: While they did defeat Diablo, their exposure to his fear-inducing powers left them all so traumatized that they they were easily corrupted by further demonic influence.
Failure Hero: Their accomplishments were meaningless in the end. Though they did mange to delay the Prime Evil's plans, the effort needed to do so left them corrupted and ruined.
Fallen Hero: By the time of Diablo II, the three of them were so inflicted by the influence of the Lord of Terror that they became servants of the Burning Hells, albeit in different ways.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Warrior, Sorcerer, and Rogue were designed to represent the Warrior, Mage and Thief respectively.
The Hero: The main characters of the first game.
He Who Fights Monsters: All the heroes of the first game become bosses to fight in the second.
Rogue Protagonist: All of them end up as bosses in Diablo II: the Warrior becomes Diablo's new host, the Rogue becomes Blood Raven, and the Sorcerer becomes the Summoner.
Tragic Hero: All of their efforts were worse than useless in the end: within a few years of their battle nearly all the people they tried to save were killed, the plans of the Prime Evils weren't slowed in the slightest, and all of them ended up twisted into servants of their former enemy. After their deaths, their former heroism was forgotten and they were remembered as nothing but more minions of evil.
Unwitting Pawn: All of them were duped from the start. Diablo never cared about Tristram and had effectively already won any struggle for it by corrupting Leoric. He only occupied the town for so long because he knew tales of the cursed town would lure would-be heroes powerful enough to serve as replacements to his weak current body right to him. It worked perfectly.

Warrior

Prince Aidan (The Dark Wanderer)

Voiced by: Paul Eiding

A warrior who served in the Mad King Leoric's campaign against the neighboring nation of Westmarch, when this man returned from service he found his beloved homeland cursed and set out to vanquish the source of the impending demonic invasion. In the end the Warrior was able to defeat Diablo, but his fatal error was his decision to try and forever seal him away within his own body by plunging the soulstone into his head. His name is later revealed in Diablo III to be Aidan and is also revealed to have actually been King Leoric's eldest son.

Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The change from him being a nameless soldier to Leoric's eldest son recontextualizes his actions throughout the first game as being forced to kill his father and younger brother.
Badass Normal: Well, story-wise. Gameplay-wise, all the three classes could use spell scrolls.
Cosmic Plaything: Aiden's entire family line was manipulated to serve the machinations of the Prime Evils from before he was even born. His daughter Leah eventually follows the family tradition and becomes yet another unwitting tool of the Burning Hells.
Decoy Protagonist: Early trailers for Diablo II make it appear the story will be about his struggle against Diablo as he journeys to the east. While this is true to an extent, in the actual game the plot centers around Aiden being pursued by the heroes, who quell the damage he leaves in his wake as he succumbs to Diablo, and trying to prevent him from freeing the remaining imprisoned Prime Evils.
Demonic Possession: Possessed by Diablo in Diablo II, though he keeps fighting a vain battle against Diablo's influence. He eventually loses just as he is about to reach Baal.
Evil Makes You Ugly: Following the jamming of the soulstone into his head and Diablo beginning to try and take over, he becomes a broken shell of himself, both in spirit and appearance. Try and compare his handsome appearance in the portrait to his appearance in the Diablo II cinematics.
Fallen Hero: In Diablo II, the heroic prince that canonically struck the final blow against the Lord of Terror has become little more than a host for that same evil.
Fate Worse than Death: He had his body, mind, and soul slowly consumed by Diablo.
Fighting from the Inside: Deckard Cain theorizes that some small remnant of his humanity was still resisting Diablo to the very end.
Heroes Prefer Swords: He starts off using one anyways. He can use any melee weapon in practice.
Heroic Willpower: He stabbed the Soulstone into his head believing that his willpower alone would be strong enough to contain Diablo. He was very wrong.
Inconsistent Spelling: Aidan or Aiden? Diablo III goes for the former and when he's at least mentioned in the profile for The Butcher in Heroes of the Storm, he goes for the second.
In the Hood: Began wearing a hooded outfit as the Dark Wanderer in II.
King Incognito: He was apparently low-key enough about being King Leoric's firstborn son when he came back from the war against Westmarch that Deckard Cain didn't know who he really was, at least until some time after he had become the Dark Wanderer.
The Kingslayer: Killed Leoric after he was risen as the Skeleton King.
Knight in Shining Armor: Until his forced Face–Heel Turn.
Perma-Stubble: His portrait shows he has some.
Related in the Adaptation: He wasn't originally the son of Leoric, hence why he has generic lines during the skeleton king quest.
Retcon: See tropes above, he was changed to be the prince in later games
Royal Blood: It was revealed that he was the eldest son of King Leoric in Diablo III.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: He is not only the crown prince of Khanduras but also a soldier and a veteran of Khanduras' war against Westmarch.
Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Aidan tried to be the "can" to seal away Diablo. After killing Diablo's host, Aidan put the soulstone containing him into his own body, hoping that the trials he faced in the labyrinth strengthened his spirit enough that he could subdue Diablo's being with his own. Sadly, his spirit was eventually found wanting and Diablo took control.
Transformation of the Possessed: He slowly became more and more sickly and inhuman as he lost the struggle against Diablo in his body. Eventually, his strength fully gave out and the Lord of Terror transformed his body into a replica of his original one.
Trauma Conga Line: He lost his father to demon-induced madness, his mother was executed by said corrupted father, his little brother was transformed into Diablo's vessel, and had his entire kingdom all but destroyed in rapid succession. Having to kill the abominations his father and brother were transformed into was the last straw for his sanity, making him easy prey for Diablo's more subtle manipulations.
What's Up, King Dude?: Due to his lineage being added in later, none of the townsfolk acknowledge him as the crown prince. This is especially noticeable when the tavernkeeper, who supposed to recognize him, gives him the quest to kill his own father
Unwitting Pawn: Poor guy ended up doing exactly what Diablo wanted.
Warrior Prince: As revealed in Diablo III, the hero of the first game is the son of King Leoric.

Rogue

Moreina (Blood Raven)

Voiced by: Glynnis Talken, Lani Minella (as Blood Raven)

A rogue captain from the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, she traveled from her people's ancestral home to aid Tristram against the invasion of Diablo and his minions. She returned home notably different from the experience and when Andariel invaded the rogues' monastery home, she was corrupted by the Maiden of Anguish.

Action Girl: Being the only female character among the first generation of heroes doesn't stop her from kicking just as much demon ass as her peers.
Badass Normal: Well, story-wise. Gameplay-wise, all the three classes can use spell scrolls.
Body Horror: Resurrected takes full advantage of its graphical advancements to show just how messed up her body has become◊ under the Burning Hells influence. Not only is she covered in red veins, but her spine is practically sticking out of her back and horns now protrude from her thighs.
The Dragon: As Blood Raven, she was Andariel's top lieutenant responsible for raising the bodies of her former rogue sisters as an undead army for her new demonic master.
Evil Makes You Ugly: As Blood Raven she went from a beautiful young woman to an unrecognizable chalk white Horned Humanoid covered in veins and bony growths.
Fallen Hero: In Diablo II she appears as the twisted Blood Raven, serving the demons she once fought.
Jack of All Stats: Compared to both the Warrior and the Sorcerer.
Master of Unlocking: She can unlock locked doors and chests as well as disarm trapped ones.
Necromancer: She can raise zombies as Blood Raven in Diablo II.
Position of Literal Power: She was Kashya's best rogue, and was one of three to aid Tristram.
The Sneaky Guy: Female version; due to an innate ability, she can read which chests are traps.
Starter Villain: She is the very first boss that the player faces in Diablo II (after the first mission which is a very basic dungeon crawl.)

Sorcerer

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Diablo_I_sorceror_portrait_7525.jpg

Sorcerer (Jazreth, then the Summoner)

Voiced by: Michael J. Gough

A powerful spellcaster, member of the most powerful of the eastern mage clans — the Vizjerei Clan. He traveled from his home of Lut Gholein to help vanquish Diablo and his hellborn minions, but his experiences drove him mad. When he returned home he delved into Things Man Was Not Meant to Know in the Arcane Sanctuary and Jumped Off The Slippery Slope.

The Archmage: A master of magics.
Cool Old Guy: Judging by his character model's grey hair, he's likely rather old.
Dead Person Impersonation: Though it's unconfirmed, it's almost obvious that Horazon is dead and he impersonates him in the Arcane Sanctuary.
Dragged Off to Hell: Not confirmed, but Deckard fears that this is his fate, being dragged off to the hells by the demons he tried to control in the Arcane Sanctuary.
Ethnic Magician: He comes from a Middle East-like society.
Playing with Fire: Some of his magic includes classic fire spells.
Sanity Slippage: Following the events of the first game, the lingering effects of Diablo's fear made him increasingly irrational and paranoid until he became obsessed with the power of Hell and dove into demon summoning.
Squishy Wizard: As per the classic Fighter, Mage, Thief "rock-paper-scissors" balance, he's the one that can take the least punishment.

Diablo: Hellfire Character Classes

In General

Canon Discontinuity: The events of Hellfire are not considered canon by the subsequent games. That said, two of the classes would return in later games (Though Diablo II was in development when Hellfire was made), and the later Monk and Barbarian would show traits and abilities that would call back to their Hellfire counterpart.
Mechanically Unusual Class: While the original three classes basically consist of different starting attributes, hp and mana growth, and a unique support skill alongside varying weapon speeds, the three classes in Hellfire have far more profound differences, in particular being able to use or equip gear different from the three core classes.

Monk

A member of the Brotherhood of the Bough, a hermit group of monk living in the wilderness. His special skill is "Search", which highlights items on the ground.

Magic Knight: The monk gains the same increase to magic and health per stat point as the Rogue, making him well suited to using both magic and combat abilities.
Mechanically Unusual Class: The class bucks the equipment requirements the main game's classes are encouraged to follow. They gain increase defense from lighter armor, and are thus encouraged to avoid heavy armor. They also do more damage unarmed, encouraging them to not equip a weapon. When equipped with a quarterstaff, they do more damages with it than other classes (though less than if unarmed) and perform a sweeping area of effect attack. Furthermore the monk has an innate blocking chance when unarmed or equipped with a staff.
Warrior Monk: Of the Eastern type, favoring martial arts and quarterstaves.

Barbarian

A class useable only via editing game files. Uses the same sprite as the warrior. Has even lower magic stats, more base strength and damage, but a higher chance to miss. Nomadic warriors from a land south of Tristram. The barbarian's unique skill is "Rage", which gives him a massive buff to strength, vitality and dexterity for 12 seconds, followed by 12 second debuff to the same stats.

Glass Cannon: The Barbarian is exceedingly powerful in melee, and given a good two-handed weapon, he can cleave through even Hell's finest warriors with nightmarish ease. However, he does not benefit as much from the protection offered by shields, and his mana pool is only ever as big as what items give him, meaning he has vastly reduced access to spells like Healing or Mana Shield.
The Berserker: Par for the course, given the Barbarian's Rage skill.
Mighty Glacier: Downplayed in a sense: the Barbarian walks no faster or slower than any other class can in the game. That said, though, his natural Dexterity cap is the worst of all playable classes. This means that at higher levels, he will have a pressing need to acquire equipment that boosts his chances to successfully strike his targets. The Barbarian does, however, have the highest Strength and Vitality caps of all the classes, ensuring that not only will he be able to hit hard, but he will also be able to survive long enough to do the job in the first place.
Herd-Hitting Attack: When using a 2 handed weapon with no shield (See One-Handed Zweihänder below), the Barbarian hits multiple enemies around himself.
One-Handed Zweihänder: He can wield two handed swords and maces in one hand. An ability later iterations of the Barbarian would retain.

Bard

A class useable only via editing game files. Uses the same sprite as the rogue. Member of an order of warrior women called "Seekers of the Light", known for their skill with the blade and to travel the land, hunting evil. Their special skill is "Identify", letting them identify magical items.

Crippling Overspecialization: She gets a damage bonus using one handed swords, and is therefore disadvantage at using any other weapons. Which can be a problem if the game's not feeling like dropping good swords.
Dual Wielding: can wield two swords instead of equipping a shield. This raises their damage to match a weaker 2 handed weapons, and gives them more weapon enchantment slots.
Mundane Utility: The ability to identify items for free in the field isnt impressive but is easily one of most useful skills in the game, as it bypasses the need to return to Deckard Cain or Scrolls of Identify, and early in the game is a massive money saver.

Diablo II Character Classes

Tropes applying to all classes

Combat and Support: All of the classes are a fair balance of both, but the Paladin most notably due to his auras.
The Hero: All classes were said to have taken part in the defeat of the Three.
What Happened to the Mouse?: None of them are mentioned in Diablo III, save for the Necromancer. The Sorceress's ghost appears in Reaper of Souls, which confirms the canon status of the Wizard's short story (Sorceress as the Wizard's mentor, and being killed by the Assassin). Originally, Blizzard made them rendered crazy after their struggle against Diablo like the original game's heroes, but eventually decided against it. The Necromancer and Amazon were made playable characters in Heroes of the Storm showing that at least two of them made it out of the battle and aftermath, even if they aren't actively adventuring themselves anymore. The Paladin's grim fate is revealed in Diablo IV.
You Are Too Late: A recurring theme in Diablo II is that the heroes can never reach the villains in time to prevent their plans from being enacted. The best they can ever seem to do is contain the damage after the fact. The worst example is their failure to prevent Baal from corrupting the Worldstone. This forced Tyrael to destroy it to prevent it from spreading its corruption to all of Sanctuary, leading to consequences felt throughout the rest of the series.

Amazon

Amazon (Cassia)

Voiced by: Jessica Straus

Introduced in Diablo II, it's a very versatile class that can play well in melee and ranged combat. May use bows and crossbows, Spears and Javelins to use her abilities better. May be able to summon a Valkyrie to help in battle. In story, the Amazon is a mercenary from a nomadic culture of warrior women from the south sea. Her Canon Name, according to Heroes of the Storm is Cassia.

Action Girl: Coming from a race of warrior women, this trope is expected.
Adaptational Modesty: In Resurrected her base outfit has her wearing a gladiator skirt instead of a loincloth.
Chainmail Bikini: To start with, but her later armor-sets defy this. Downplayed with her updated appearance in Resurrected.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Her skill trees include the ability to infuse her javelins and arrows with all three of these elements, as seen below:
An Ice Person: three skills relate to this: Cold, Ice and Freezing Arrow.
Game-Breaking Bug: Almost all of her melee abilities are bugged to the point of uselessness, such as the bolts in Lightning Strike doing no damage, while fend, as soon as any hit misses in the sequence or is interrupted (including by any of the Amazon's passive damage avoidance skills), all subsequent hits will miss while the animation plays out and you are beaten to death.
Jack of All Stats: Starts very balanced stat-wise.
Javelin Thrower: What several of her skills relate to, dealing either poison or electric damage.
Lady of War: Comes from a culture of proud women warriors.
Magic Knight: Javelin/Spear Amazon, due to most of her abilities also having lighting/poison properties.
Ms. Fanservice: Until she gets stronger armor, covering her body more.
Playing with Fire: What three of her skills relate to: Fire, Exploding and Immolation Arrow.
Poisonous Person: With Poison and Plague Javelin.
Ship Tease: One of Larzuk's possible gossips with her is suggesting they go back to her homeland together some day.
Shock and Awe: Almost all of her Javelin Throwing and Striking skills deal electric damage.
Trick Arrow: You name it, the Amazon's skill set has it: homing arrows, arrows that split into several, fire arrows, freezing arrows...
Valkyries: Can summon one to aid her in battle. Notable as the Valkyrie can easily become the most powerful summon of any class in the game.
Weapon Specialization: The Amazon has an entire tree devoted on different ways to stab the enemy with spears and javelins.

Assassin

Voiced by: Carrie Gordon Lowrey

A class introduced in the expansion. Can become one of the fastest characters but is not that bulky. Can play as a melee warrior with martial arts or ranged with elemental damage with her traps. In story she is from the Viz-Jaq'taar, also known as the Order of the Mage Slayers, an ancient order originally founded by the Vizjerei Clan to hunt down and eliminate rogue magi.

Action Girl: A female assassin that kicks ass well.
Boyish Short Hair: Unlike the Amazon and Sorceress, who have long hair
Casting a Shadow: Has two good abilities based on this to summon a shadow of herself to help in fighting.
Dual Wielding: She may dual wield any claw-class weapon, and her Dragon Claw skill allows her to hit with both weapons at once, similar to the Barbarian's Double Swing skill.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: By far the most pale of the playable characters, and with very dark hair to boot.
Face–Heel Turn: Downplayed. The Wizard's short story revealed that at some point following the events of II, she turned against her former comrades and executed the Sorceress, though not out of malice, but her Viz-Jaq'taar superiors saw the Sorceress' spell mishap that cost the lives of many a rogue and the Assassin just happens to be the designated executor. She cannot disobey, and her own feelings on the matter are never revealed.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Can use all three elements in different attacks, with Phoenix Strike capable of using all three.
Flash Step: She has access to Dragon Flight, letting her rush towards an enemy to deliver a swift kick.
Fragile Speedster: The Assassin moves and attacks quickly, and she has the Burst of Speed skill to raise her speed even more, but she isn't as resilient as the Barbarian or the Paladin.
An Ice Person: Her Blades of Ice technique.
Kick Chick: If the player is using a build based on Martial Arts, she may become one of those.
Living Shadow: What two of her skills can create. Shadow Warrior only uses skills that the player has, while Shadow Master is stronger and can use skills different from what the player has.
Mage Killer: As mentioned, her entire order is composed of these. They were ex-mage clan and as such were able to use their old knowledge to develop supernatural abilities for battling renegade mages and to develop the Magitek devices they use in combat.
Master of Unlocking: Like the Rogue before her, the Assassin does not need a key to open locked chests.
Ninja: Closest one to the series as a whole, really, and her Race Lift in the remaster only further authenticates this.
Playing with Fire: A number of her techniques, such as Fists of Fire, Fire Blast, Wake of Fire and Wake of Inferno
Poisoned Weapons: Her Venom skill adds poison damage to her melee attacks.
Psychic Powers: Has at least two: Phsychic Hammer and Mind Blast.
Race Lift: While the original model had very little detail to denote the class's race besides being an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette, the remake, Resurrected depicts her as Asian, adding some more diversity to the line-up.
Shock and Awe: Claws of Thunder, Shock Web, Charged Bolt sentry, Lightning Sentry and Death Sentry.
Supernatural Martial Arts: Cobra Strike can drain health and mana from enemies, while some of the others inflict elemental damage.
Trap Master: An entire third of her skills relate to this. Her most-used build by online players.
Uncertain Doom: She was sent to execute the Sorceress in Firefly, and with the latter putting up a fight before going down, it is not known whether the Assassin herself was able to escape or ended up dying too.
The Witch Hunter: The Assassins are tasked with finding and killing corrupted sorcerers.
Wolverine Claws: Her weapon of choice. May get even more damaging by using the passive ability Claw Mastery.

Barbarian

Voiced by: David Thomas

Introduced in Diablo II. A very bulky class designated to go melee in battle. Can use various weapons with efficiency, has a good list of battle skills and his Warcries have nice effects to him and companions. In story he is a warrior from the city of Harrogoth.

Badass Normal: Unlike the others who all use some variety of magic or magical devices, the barb relies entirely on his physical strength.
Barbarian Hero: A Barbarian playable character that fights the forces of Hell.
Battle Cry: Has a whole tree of them, usually they boost stats of himself and allies.
The Berserker: His Berserk attack. It's very powerful but drops his defenses to 0.
The Big Guy: By far the most muscular and thickly built of the playable characters.
Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Choosing the Barbarian from the character select screen will prompt him to let out a yell and start grinding an axe while you choose his name, and his starting inventory also includes an axe.
Carnivorous Healing Factor: The Barbarian can render his enemies' corpses into healing potions for drinking.
Charles Atlas Superpower: Many of the barbarian's abilities are implied to come from this sort of thing (natural resistance from surviving a tough environment, increased speed and stamina from constant combat practice and hunting, etc.)
Close-Range Combatant: The Barbarian is first and foremost a melee combat class. He utterly annihilates enemies in close quarters, but has almost no ranged capabilities whatsoever.
Crutch Character: Breezes through normal and the first half of nightmare difficulty with ease, but is considered the worst of the seven classes lategame.
Dual Wielding: The basis for his Double Strike, Double Throw and Frenzy abilities.
In a Single Bound: Leap, which is used only to leap over enemies and obstacles and Leap Attack, which actually deals damage.
Item Caddy: His Find Potion and Find Item skills can generate potions or other random items respectively when used on enemy corpses.
Make Me Wanna Shout: One of his level 30 warcries deals damage to all nearby enemies.
Mighty Glacier: Originally. With his passive ability Increased Speed, he becomes a Lightning Bruiser.
Multi-Melee Master: Has a whole tree of this, specializing in all sorts of melee weapons.
One-Handed Zweihänder: He can wield two handed swords in one hand.
Practical Taunt: His taunt skill forces any enemy to come after him. Useful when dealing with pesky ranged enemies.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: Comes from an entire culture of Barbarian warriors living in tundra mountains.
Spin Attack: His Whirlwind ability. Specially when used against a group of enemies.
Status Buff: By using his Warcries, he can raise Defense, HP, Mana, and Skill Levels.

Druid

Voiced by: Michael Bell

Introduced in Lord of Destruction. A warrior of nature who specializes in summoning animals and spirit pets, transforming and using fire and wind based attacks. In story he is a Warrior Poet from a tribe of forest-dwelling Barbarian exiles, practicing nature magic.

The Beastmaster: Can summon Ravens, Wolves and a Bear to help him in battle.
Bears Are Bad News: He can summon a spirit bear to fight for him, or even transform into one himself.
Blow You Away: His wind attacks that can give cold or physical damage.
Carry a Big Stick: Mauls are good for him since it has a fast attack speed and it gives solid damage.
Jack of All Trades: Can either choose to be a fighter or a mage, but excels at neither.
Lightning Bruiser: As a Werewolf with spending in the Lycanthropy and Feral Rage skills.
Man-Eating Plant: The Poison Creeper that deals Poison damage to enemies, the Carrion Vine that eats the corpses of enemies for Health gain, and the solar Creeper that eats the corpses of enemies for Mana gain.
Magma Man: His Fissure, Molten Boulder and Volcano skills all relate to this.
Mighty Glacier: As a Werebear, who deals stronger melee damage than Werewolf form, but moves and attacks slower.
Nature Hero: All of his magic and ideology are based on being more connected with nature.
Nature Spirit: Most of his summons are these to one degree or other.
Our Werewolves Are Different: Can change in and out of werewolf or werebear form at will with no cost except for mana. Keeps his wits about him and can apparently speak normally when changed as well.
Playing with Fire: His fire elemental skills and Fire Claws attack used when transformed.
Poisonous Person: The Rabies skill when in werewolf form and the Poison Creeper summon.
Shapeshifting: Can transform in a Werewolf or a Werebear to go melee with more efficiency.
Status Buff: His spirit pets can raise HP, Attack Power, and Speed.
Summon Magic: One of his spell trees including the before mentioned bears and wolves he can also summon three kinds of carnivours plants, and three kinds of nature spirits that act as stat buffs.

Necromancer

Necromancer (Xul)

Voiced by: Michael McConnohie

A user of the arts of the dead introduced in Diablo II, who has troubles if going to battle physically, but is a great caster, using bone and poisonous spells, summoning minions or cursing his enemies. In story he is a priest of the Cult of Rathma come out from the underground city of the eastern jungles to help restore balance between life and death. Heroes of the Storm gives him the Canon Name Xul.

Bad with the Bone: He's easily the darkest and most anti-heroic of the heroes, and he's wearing a skull as a pauldron. Much of his equipment and skills also involve bones.
Balance Between Good and Evil: Their philosophy, which means that so long as demons are wreaking havoc on Sanctuary uncontested, they'll fight them.
Ballistic Bone: The Teeth, Bone Spear and Bone Spirit skills.
Creepy Good: He's a gaunt looking guy that raises the dead and casts curses upon his enemies, and yet he's one of the hero classes of the game.
Dark Is Not Evil: This guy dresses with skull motifs, uses a morbid magic based on poison, curses and raises the dead, and apparently has some weird tastes; but judging by his dialogue, he is at worst an Anti-Hero. One of this Necromancer's apprentices appears in Diablo III and he is firmly on the side of good, putting troubled spirits to rest.
Dem Bones: His skeleton Summons.
Early-Installment Weirdness: He's the first playable Necromancer to appear in the series, and is mostly associated with Wands as a Weapon Specialization (as Wands can boost Necromancer skills or provide charges of them), and Shrunken Heads as his class-exclusive item in Lord of Destruction. Every further playable Necromancer is instead depicted wielding Scythes instead, Xul included as per his appearance after Diablo II. ^note
Golem: He can summon multiple types. Clay Golems being the most basic, Blood Golems that drain health from enemies, Iron Golems which require a metallic object, and Fire Golems.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Not in a conventional way, but they believe in maintaing the Balance Between Good and Evil and not personal power, meaning that the forces of evil have nothing to tempt them with.
Large Ham: "Deckard Cain, if you value your life, leave here immediately!" He is even voiced by Emperor Charles zi Britannia.
Ludicrous Gibs: He creates quite a mess when raising skeletons or using Corpse Explosion.
The Minion Master: If you build around his summoning skills, you'll eventually have a small army of resurrected minions doing all the hard work for you.
Necromancer: His specialty. He can summon and control skeletons and various other undead things.
Night of the Living Mooks: Can summon Skeleton Warriors and Mages from corpses. May revive enemies for a short time as well.
Non-Elemental: His Bone Spells. Points up for being very damaging and being usable even in Hell difficulty.
Poisonous Person: Poison Dagger, Poison Explosion and Poison Nova.
Shrunken Head: Can use shrunken heads as a shield, boosting his powers at the same time.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Regardless of what armor he has equipped, it will have a skeleton motif in his sprite.
Status Infliction Attack: His Curses skill tree is entirely about inflicting statuses.
Summon Magic: His specialty, namely with Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Mages, Four types of Golem, and even resurrecting slain enemies to do his bidding.
White Hair, Black Heart: Has snow white hair, however, he's not really evil. Just edgier.

Paladin

Paladin (Marshall Carthas)

Voiced by: Larry B. Scott

A holy warrior introduced in Diablo II. Essentially a melee class with a few ranged spells and auras that give him and the party various bonuses, as well as debuffs to the enemies. In the story the Paladin is one of the mighty Knights of Westmarch who fought against and defeated the armies of King Leoric during his reign of madness. While the original Church of Zakarum has long since become corrupted, the Paladins long ago split with it in protest against its increasingly harsher methods in spreading the faith. Despite this, they still actively work to spread their brand of the faith of Zakarum. His Canon Name, according to Diablo IV, is Carthas.

Battle Aura: The Paladin has an entire skill tree dedicated to different auras.
Bolt of Divine Retribution: Fist of the Heavens calls down a bolt of holy magic to smite foes and subsequently spreads out Holy Bolts to harm undead.
Cast from Hit Points: Sacrifice utilizes the Paladin's health for a powerful strike, but it can very deadly for the Paladin himself.
Church Militant: Natural for coming from an order of holy warriors.
Combat and Support: Both, thanks to his various auras.
Combat Medic: Can heal allies with Holy Bolt. Also, his Prayer aura.
Defector from Decadence: The Paladins that settled in Westmarch all defected from the Church of Zakarum as it gradually became more and more corrupt.
Driven to Madness: IV reveals that he was driven to madness by extended exposure to the power of Mephisto's hatred while guarding the body of Sankekur.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: He has auras based on offense and resistances of those. Vengeance is a Spell Blade of all three of them.
An Ice Person: His Holy Freeze and Resist Cold auras.
Healing Hands: The Paladin is capable of healing allies with the Prayer aura or by targeting them with Holy Bolt.
Heroic Sacrifice: As revealed in Diablo IV, he and several other Paladins volunteered to spend their remaining days guarding the body of Sankekur, which retained powerful remnants of Mephisto's essence from serving as his vessel, far from civilization to prevent the evil magic clinging to it from infecting others. They knew that all of them would inevitably be corrupted by the evil power of Mephisto for this, so they willingly sealed themselves in the tomb to ensure that they would not claim any victims after losing themselves.
Holy Burns Evil: Has several abilities that only work or are more effective against the undead, such as Holy Bolt, Blessed Hammer, and the Sanctuary aura.
Holy Hand Grenade: He uses holy magic to smite his foes.
Knight in Shining Armor: As a Knight of Westmarch he's clad in very shining armor and is devoted to furthering both good and the cause of his faith.
Light Is Good: Is the most straight up hero of all the playable characters, and talks about light in many of his quotes.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Specializes in the use of shields, is the only class that can use his shield to attack, and has a skill to boost the attack by shields. There's also types of shilelds that only Paladins can use.
Mighty Glacier: Thanks to his auras, he can either choose to be a huge damage dealer with the fanaticism aura or tank it out with Salvation or Defiance.
Named in the Sequel: Diablo IV names Carthas as the Paladin who slew Mephisto.
Nerf: Blessed Hammer no longer ignores enemy resistances after Patch 1.13.
Non-Elemental: Blessed Hammer which deals magic damage, and Holy Bolts which only affect the undead.
The Paladin: His very namesake.
Playing with Fire: Holy Fire and Resist Fire auras.
Revive Kills Zombie: The Holy Bolt heals allies and damages undead enemies. It doesn't affect non-undead enemies though.
Shield Bash: Smite, which deals a small amount of damage and briefly stuns enemies.
Shock and Awe: Holy Shock and Resist Lightning AURAS. Has part of this used in Fist of Heavens.
Shout-Out: His Canon Name is basically putting one extra letter to Arthas, a famed (fallen) Paladin from Blizzard's other magnum-opus. Carthas fell too, but he made sure he didn't fall as deep as Arthas.
Spell Blade: With the ability Vengeance the Paladin infuses his weapon with elemental magic.
Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Blessed Hammer creates hammers out of thin air.
Status Buff: Has auras that raise attack power, speed, physical defenses and magical resistances.
Super-Speed: Charge, which can be used for its intended purpose of quickly reaching and attacking an enemy or be used as this to travel over large distances (provided one has the spare mana potions to keep it up).
Tragic Hero: Carthas knew the importance of guarding Sankekur's corpse and the inevitability that Mephisto's lingering power would eventually overwhelm humans like him and his men. So, he put wards around the burial grounds and made sure that if he became corrupted, he would contain his destructive potentials within the burial grounds itself. In essence, this is a reconstruction of Aidan's fate; since Carthas was repeating what Aidan went through, but made certain precautions to make sure his downfall won't harm any more men than necessary.
Tragic Monster: He and a retinue of other Paladins were corrupted by the power of Mephisto lingering to the corpse of Sankekur and killed each other out of the paranoid rage his hatred drove them to. Afterwards, they rose as maddened ghosts, only prevented from finding other victims by wards they placed on the tomb they guarded in life. Thankfully, his twisted spirit is freed after being defeated by the Wanderer and purified from the demonic taint by a living Paladin, allowing him to pass on in peace.

Sorceress

Sorceress (Isendra)

Voiced by: Liana Young

The basic caster class of Diablo II; she can choose from the Fire, Ice, Lightning trees to cast very variable spells. In story, she is a magi from the all female clan of Zann Esu, from which all members are hand picked from a young age to study magic to perfection. The canonical name of the sorceress who helped in defeating Diablo is Isendra. She is also the mentor of the Wizard from Diablo III.

Ambiguously Brown: She appears this way.
The Archmage: Excels at all three elements.
Badass Boast: During the Firefly short story, she tried to convince Li-Ming (the Wizard in D3) to learn from her by stating that she was fighting Diablo and other Lords of Hell when Li-Ming wasn't even conceived yet. Initially, that didn't even faze her for accepting her as her master, but over time, they warm up to each other.
Canon Name: The first Diablo II hero to ever receive this first from the Short Stories of Wizard, then in Reaper of Souls.
Chain Lightning: She can learn the spell Chain Lightning, which can bounce between up to 8 targets at once, with highly variable damage.
Death from Above: Her Blizzard, Meteor and Thunder Storm skills.
Do Not Go Gentle: Firefly reveals that while she would die against her assassin, it is also made clear that she did not go down without a fight.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: All her spells deal in one of these elements.
Glass Cannon: Can have very powerful attacks, but little to no defense.
Hot Witch: Well curved and a revealing outfit, as well as mastering magic.
An Ice Person: One of her skill trees is all about ice spells.
Killed Off for Real: She is the only one of the Diablo II heroes confirmed to have not survived to see the time of Diablo III.
Lady of Black Magic: A beautiful, elegant spellcaster, capable of unleashing powerful black magic in a snap.
Literally Shattered Lives: Enemies killed by her ice spells will often shatter into pieces.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: The short story Firefly reveals that Isendra was Li-Ming's teacher during the latter's time at the Sanctum. She dies toward the end by way of assassination, which prompts Li-Ming to leave the Sanctum.
Merlin and Nimue: If the Wizard is male.
Modesty Shorts: Her model Resurrected wears a pair of short-like garments under her skirt.
Ms. Fanservice: Like the Amazon, up till she gets stronger armor.
Playing with Fire: She has a whole skill tree devoted to fire spells.
Shaping Your Attacks: Hydra, a spell that appears to be multiple serpents made of fire.
Shock and Awe: One of her skill trees consists entirely of lightning spells.
So Proud of You: She is proud of what the Wizard had become when (s)he meets her ghost.
Spell Blade: Her less than useful Enchant spell, which adds fire damage to her melee attacks.
Stripperiffic: She shows the most amount of skin in her default appearance.
Teleport Spam: Her Teleport spell lets her move great distances with no cooldown, provided she has the mana to spare. Other classes can socket the Enigma Rune Word into their armor to be able to use the spell.
We Help the Helpless: Her mindset of how magic should be used, something that the Wizard shared, but the rest of the Zann Esu mages didn't. Unfortunately, she ended up creating a magic accident that cost the lives of many because of this. This brought her to the attention of the Viz-Jaq'taar, who had her killed by one of their Assassins.

Diablo III Player Characters/The Nephalem

Multiple / General

Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: The Cube of Kanai from version 2.3.0 and on. The Nephalem already has fantastic godlike powers, but if one goes to the Ruins of Sescheron and find the Cube, they now have an object that can give the Nephalem three powers taken from three different legendary items. The Cube of Kanai also has more standard transmutation abilities such as turning a rare magic item into a legendary artifact, and randomly turning legendary artifacts into other legendary items.
Beyond the Impossible: They successfully escape from the Realm of Terror while facing off with Diablo, something Diablo himself specifically says no one has ever managed to do.
Bullying a Dragon: They're the Dragon in question when it comes to humanity.
- If they perceive danger towards humanity, it doesn't matter if they're angels, demons, Reapers or other corrupt humans. As far as the nephalem are concerned, they're enemies to be chopped up/blasted off/punched out.
- Starting in the third act, the hero being a nephalem is common knowledge among the armies of Hell. This should at least give them pause, seeing as how the nephalem are capable of putting down demons permanently. The demons who charge into battle anyway quickly find themselves vanquished.
Canon Name: You can name them whatever you like, but Blizzard has released several canon identities. The short stories feature all the classes, but only two are the closest considered canon: the female Wizard, Li-Ming, and the female Demon Hunter, Valla, both of them having their canonity strengthened with how characters from their tie-in stories appear in Reaper of Souls, and further strengthened with their appearances in Heroes of the Storm. That game also gave the Canon Name to the female Barbarian (Sonya), male Witch Doctor (Nazeebo), female Crusader (Johanna) and male Monk (Kharazim).
The Champion: Of humanity. They exist to protect them, no matter who brings threat to that race: Fellow humans, angels or demons.
Crippling Overspecialization: Unlike previous games, the melee classes can't use bows of any kind, and while they do get a few ranged skills each to compensate, they often have drawbacks. Demon Hunters have something of the opposite problem, as most of their damaging skills can't be used without a bow equipped, although interestingly enough, one of their sets is designed around melee play instead. Ironically enough, it's the casters, who should be the least proficient with weaponry, that have the fewest restrictions.
Deadpan Snarker: They all have their moments of this, though the Demon Hunter and the Wizard are the most prominent.
The Dreaded: After the Nephalem defeated Malthael, they're feared by both the High Heavens and the Burning Hells.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": No matter how you name your character, he/she will always be referred to either as a "Hero/Heroine" or by their class name. "Nephalem" will become the most frequent designation he/she will get after The Reveal.
Everyone Has a Special Move: Unlike the previous two games, there is no basic attack.^note For Diablo III, everybody only has special moves, and like Diablo II, every spell/skill is different for each class. The lack of a basic, common move leads to things such as melee characters not able to use bows.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: Barbarians and Crusaders as the fighters, Wizards, Witch Doctors and Necromancers as the mages, and Monks and Demon Hunters as the thief. Their defining stat (the stat that determines their damage output) respectively make it clear; for Barbarians and Crusaders, it's Strength. For Witch Doctors, Necromancers and Wizards, it's Intelligence. And for Monks and Demon Hunters, it's Dexterity. On a conceptual level, the Barbarian, Wizard and Witch Doctor, and Demon Hunter are the pure fighter, mage, and thief, respectively. The Crusader is a fighter with elements of mage, the necromancer is a mage with elements of fighter, and the monk is an interesting blend of all three.
The Hero: Of various shades, from a light shade of Anti-Hero up to a Byronic Hero. Never the less, they're humanity's champion, and come to be recognized as such by everyone involved in the Eternal Conflict.
Hello, [Insert Name Here]: They can be named freely, but these names are never referred to. However, supplementary materials like the comics and Heroes of the Storm have slowly been assigning them canon names.
Heroic Willpower: It's well established that exposure to the natures of powerful demons, especially the Prime Evils, quickly erodes the sanity of any human, thus the tragic fates of all of the Diablo classes and most of the Diablo II ones. However, the Nephalem show no sign of Sanity Slippage, whether due to their great power or just the strength of their own conviction.
Immune to Fate: Stated to be their ability; since none of them has his fate written in the Scroll of Fate, they are the only ones who can Screw Destiny and save Creation from Diablo.
It's Personal:
- All classes seem to take personal satisfaction in killing Magda to avenge Deckard Cain.
- The hatred Nephalem had for Magda pales in comparison to the sheer fury they have for Adria and Diablo for sacrificing Leah for their schemes. The Nephalem care far more about getting the chance to kill them painfully for that than any world-ending horrors they unleashed.
The Kingslayer: The one to kill Leoric for the third and, according to prophecy, final time. Although that third time, he was the Skeleton King who had been corrupted by Diablo.
Knight in Sour Armor: By the end of Reaper of Souls, they have been driven to cynicism thanks to the surrounding events such as Leah's death, the many, many deaths of innocents and the callous self-righteousness of all but a few angels, barring exceptions like Tyrael. They are still driven with virtuous goals such as saving the world and protecting the innocent people, but their opinion of Heaven being the so-called Forces of Good has soured.
Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Downplayed. Though this effect is not nearly as bad as in other games, it is there. The melee classes tend not to be able to keep up with the magic-users as they keep improving in level. Wizard is the master of raw damage and has multiple ways to survive fatal damage, while Demon Hunters and Witch Doctors have fantastic DPS, and the Necromancers summons and corpse skills can outpace almost anyone with the right build. Meanwhile, the Monk can get bogged down with a lack of ranged options, Barbarians can have issues with keeping their Fury high enough to use their skills, and the Crusader is a Master of None.
Long-Lived: Possibly, the ancient nephalem were known for their extremely long life-spans (in the expansion, you even get to fight one that's at least centuries old). The Male Barbarian and Monks could have come into their nephalem powers rather late in life, which would account for them looking their age.
Made of Iron: The melee classes (Barbarians, Monks and Crusaders) get a flat 30% damage reduction from every attack. The other classes only get natural damage reduction through passive skills, and these are not even close to being as protective.
Nephilim: The Nephalem are pretty obviously based on the Angel half-breeds from the Bible. Only instead of being angel-human hybrids, these guys are the children of angels and demons, and they are the beings that humans in Sanctuary are descended from. The game implies that these seven are but the first of humanity to begin regaining the power of their ancestors since the Sin War.
One-Man Army: Both gameplay-wise and story-wise, those Player Characters are incredibly good at obliterating entire armies of their own. To put this in perspective: after the Nephalem killed a Siegebreaker Assault Beast in Act III, two soldiers mention that it took Captain Haile and a hundred men just to kill the last one.
One-Winged Angel: Each of the characters except for the Witch Doctor has a super-powered form that they can transform into. The cooldowns on these tend to be rather long, at about two minutes apiece.
Physical God: What your character is essentially. The original, ancient Nephalem were so powerful that they were worshipped as gods even by their lesser brethren, and one Nephalem ghost, Alaric, outright proclaims that you're easily on the level of the most powerful of those. Itherael even states the only Nephalem that rivals them in power was Uldyssian.
Rage Against the Heavens: As Reaper of Souls wears on, the player character becomes increasingly aware of how useless the angels are. Even the Witch Doctor refers to them as annoying at best. Most other classes consider the angels an active danger to humanity, especially after seeing the results of the Eternal Conflict (which to them, is destructive and pointless). By the end, the Nephalem sees the angels as little different from demons, which in some character classes causes some noticeable distancing between the Nephalem and Tyrael, and if any of the High Heavens or Burning Hells ever try to continue the Eternal Conflict and involving humanity at any form... Those two better watch out.
Reconstruction: The Nephalem are a Reconstruction of the heroes in a Diablo game. The first two games used Deconstructed Character Archetype to show how hard it would be for normal people to fight so much evil and supernatural horror along with the price of doing so with many dying ignobly, ending up corrupted by and in service to the evil they once fought, or just plain going nuts. The best fate for any of them was being left functional, but dealing with severe PTSD for the rest of their lives. Here the heroes kick all kinds of ass and are rarely ever tempted by evil or corrupted by dark forces^note because, while they have a Dark and Troubled Past, they are genuinely heroic people who just want to help others and unlike previous heroes they are not puny mortals but the newest breed of Nephalem making them Physical Gods and Persons of Mass Destruction beyond the petty mentally warping magics of demons.
Revenge Before Reason: They come dangerously close to this in Act V when they discover that Adria has info on where Mathael resides, with Lorath Nahr having to remind them repeatedly to get the information before killing her, as none of the Nephalem (with the exception of the Necromancer) seem to be able to mention the evil witch without bringing up how badly she needs to die. Had Adria not been in the midst of talking about Malthael being in Pandemonium when the hero arrives, it's likely the hero would've gone for her throat anyway and doomed all of humanity just to get their badly-desired revenge.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against Maghda after Deckard Cain's death. Even more so against Adria in Reaper of Souls. While the Demon Hunter is by far the most driven about this, even the normally kind and forgiving Witch Doctor relishes in getting an opportunity to kill her.
Sexy Dimorphism: As expected of a Blizzard game, some characters more than others.
- The male Barbarian appears significantly older and more grizzled than the female Barbarian, though the female is still quite large and powerful.
- The male Demon Hunter is quite svelte and attractive, but his face is still more weathered than the gorgeous Female.
- The male Monk is bald with a thick, long beard and a body hardened by asceticism, while the female is a fine-featured, strongly-built woman with tomboyish platinum blonde hair.
- The male Witch Doctor is aged and haggard compared to the more youthful and beautiful female, with cataracted eyes, painful facial piercings and a conspicuous spasming twitch.
- Like the Demon Hunter, the difference in attractiveness between the Wizard genders is significantly smaller than other classes, though the female dresses far skimpier than the male. Originally the male design was actually even prettier than it is now, almost as soft as the female, but later in development they hardened his features and gave him thicker eyebrows.
- The male Crusader is downright burly, with a tanned, hard-lined face, piercing eyes, a militant buzzcut, a beefy physique, colossal armor and comically bulky pauldrons straight out of World of Warcraft. The female is more traditionally beautiful, with long flowing blonde hair like a princess, although she still has a good physique as expected of her class.
- The Necromancer is perhaps the most jarring example alongside the Witch Doctor. The female is eerily pale, yet still beautiful, whereas the male looks much more haggard, and almost decrepit even.
Shipper on Deck: Starts encouraging Kormac to act on his feelings for Eirena and her to give him a chance late in Reaper of Souls.
Stripperiffic: All of the female characters (except the Crusader) begin the game wearing very little clothing.
- This is lampshaded in one of the dialogues between the Enchantress and the female Wizard, and also with the female Witch Doctor:
  Enchantress: Do all women dress like you, in your country?
  Female Wizard: Well, I do show slightly more than most.
  Female Witch Doctor: Some wear less.
- The game enforces this look for the female Barbarian and Monk in terms of their armor options, at least until they get a few levels of experience. The Barbarian's early chest armor will always look like some variant on a strapless leather bra, while the Monk's will be essentially a sports bra made out of cloth wrappings. Likewise, the Barbarian's pants options will be leather underwear and a pelt loincloth of some manner, while the Monk's pants will always be extremely short shorts.
Summon Magic: Every class has the ability to summon allies into battle, but the Witch Doctor and Necromancer stand out for the sheer variety and number they can call upon. Between the two, the Necromancer focuses on flooding the battlefield with disposable minions, while the Witch Doctor prefers to bring out a smaller number of quality summons instead.
Supporting Protagonist: Granted, their role isn't minor in any way, but other than fight the enemies, they have no direct leading in the plot. They don't even show up in the cinematics, as those focus instead on Leah and occasionally Tyrael... until Reaper of Souls, in which the protagonist plays a major role in the story. And your hero will also appear in the ending cinematic.
Took a Level in Badass: As powerful as the Nephalem already are, with the introduction of Kanai's Cube, the Nephalem becomes even more godlike. Kanai's Cube allows the Nephalem to have up to 3 special powers from legendary items. For example, your character could have a small gang of demonic suicide bombers, a semi-regular fireball blast and the ability to absorb arcane damage, all without having equipped any of those items.
Took a Level in Cynic: By the end of Reaper of Souls, between failing to save Leah and finding out the hard way that the Angels are little better then the Demons, the Nephalem is left considerably more jaded and bitter then they were at the start of their journey. Their final journal entry before confronting Malthael has them bitterly musing about how all the death and chaos they've seen thus far is a direct consequence of Angelic arrogance and self-righteousness, and ruefully notes that humanity is truly on its own. Even their relationship with Tyrael seems strained by the end. Its all but stated that the Nephalem is fully expecting Tyrael to eventually betray and try to kill them just as Imperius and Malthael did, and Tyrael notes in the ending that, with how powerful the Nephalem has become, were they to turn against Sanctuary, nothing would be able to stop them, and he needs to prepare for when or if that day comes.
Tranquil Fury: They carried out their revenge with Adria without ever raising their voice, letting their beating do the talking. They didn't even bother to grace an angry remark to how Adria boasted how she offed Leah.
Transhuman: All of them are revealed toward the game to be Nephalem, the Angel/Demon hybrids humans are descended from. This is apparently the reason they are so unusually powerful, as well as what makes them Immune to Fate.
True Companions: By the middle of Act II, an NPC can comment that the Nephalem, the three companions, Leah, Tyrael, and even the merchants seem like almost a family. The Nephalem denies it at first but becomes more openly friendly with their allies as the game goes on. Their bond was strong enough that Leah's death drove them into a righteous fury that carried them to Heaven and Hell to kill those responsible.
What Happened to the Mouse?: As the guardian(s) of Sanctuary, the Nephalem is a central, majorly important character to the overall story. By the time of Diablo IV, fifty years after Reaper of Souls, a new demonic conflict rises, yet their status is left unknown.

Barbarian

"I tire of the empty battles I once craved. I wander, outcast, while my tribe curses the gods who abandoned us."

Voiced by: Dorian Harewood (male), Athena Karkanis (female)

One of the two returning classes from Diablo II, Barbarians play similarly to their earlier counterpart. Earlier, Blizzard stated that the DIII barbarian was the same as the DII version, but this is no longer the case. The Barbarian uses Rage, which builds up when using certain abilities, but fades away when not in combat. The female Barbarian is given the name "Sonya" in Heroes of the Storm.

Amazonian Beauty: The female Barbarian is a red-headed warrior who is incredibly tall and muscular, much like her male counterpart. The two main differences are that she's a lot younger than the male barbarian, who's an old man, and her armor sets, especially in the official art for the game tends to be slightly more sexualized. Of course the latter two make her no less of an intimidating looking woman◊.
The Atoner: The male Barbarian is this in the tie-in story.
Barbarian Hero: They're both Barbarians from Harrogath. And both heroes, obviously.
The Berserker: The Barbarian's energy is Fury. Without special skills, this energy can only be generated by hitting enemies, and naturally drains over time.
The Big Guy: Of the six classes, the Barbarian specializes the most in physical combat.
Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: While the Barbarian cannot do the One-Handed Zweihänder thing like his Diablo II counterpart, s/he is the only class in the game that can wield Mighty Weapons, which run the gamut from giant one-handed cleavers and axes to giant two-handed clubs and swords. The other classes can't use Barbarian gear because of how heavy the equipment is.
Continuity Nod: They can summon the three ancestor spirits that were bosses in Diablo II.
Cool Old Guy: The male Barbarian has this air during conversations out of battle, being a rather calm and friendly old giant of a man.
Death Seeker: According to the entries in their journal, the Barbarian wishes for nothing more than an honorable death in the hand of a Worthy Opponent. By the end of the game, though, they admit that while this is still something they are looking for, they realize now that there are many things worth living for.
Dual Wielding: One of the three major classes who can do this, the others being the Monk and the Demon Hunter.
Enemy Mine: In Act 3, the irony of working alongside the people of Bastion's Keep, their sworn enemies, is not lost on them.
Fiery Redhead: The female Barbarian, in contrast to the male one, is in general much more temperamental and enthusiastic.
Grim Up North: The Barbarians hail from the lands north of Bastion's Keep, which used to be where Mount Arreat stood before the end of Diablo II.
Heavy Equipment Class: The only class strong enough to wield "Mighty Weapons".
Heroic Build: Male or female, the Barbarian is by far the largest of the character classes, with the Crusader ranking a close second.
In a Single Bound: The Leap skill, which lets them jump in the air and smash into all enemies in the immediate vicinity, dealing extra weapon damage and slowing them. It can also be used as a fast way to close distance to enemies.
Ludicrous Gibs: The Barbarian's Cleave ability with the Rupture rune is quite capable of producing this en masse.
Magic Knight: The Barbarian's powers are outright more supernatural than the abilities they had in the previous game. In Diablo II, it's completely possible to design a Barbarian character who was nothing but weapon skills and big guy moves that aren't remotely mystical. Here, when the Barbarian has the levels, they automatically gain the ability to transform, summon supernatural beings, throw projectiles made of energy and generate flames out of nothing.
Mechanically Unusual Class: Unlike the other classes, the Barbarian's unique resource, Fury, starts out empty and constantly drains when out of combat, encouraging Barbarians to move quickly between fights. However, in addition to having "generator" skills that restore it, Barbarians can also generate Fury simply by taking damage, and the Unforgiving passive will turn the constant drain into regeneration instead.
Mighty Glacier: The Barbarian focuses on Strength, which increases their damage output. They're also slow and bulky, which means they take more hits than other, more maneuverable classes.
Old Soldier: The male Barbarian by his tribe's standards, being a visibly-aged warrior who's still quite capable of being a one man raiding party by himself.
Parental Abandonment: It is not known what happened to the Barbarian's mother, but they lost their father in their youth to an archer in battle with the forces of Westmarch. The barbarian climbed the walls of Bastion's Keep and kept their emotions in check until they found the one who did it, whereby they went berserk on him and strangled him to death.
The Quiet One: Compared to the other classes, the Barbarian's journal entries are short, terse, and to the point.
Shout-Out:
- The female Barbarian's canon name of Sonya, and her being a redhead barbarian woman, seems to make her one to Red Sonja from Conan the Barbarian.
- Unused Heroes of the Storm files reveal that the male Barbarian's canon name, if he were included, would have been Kronan... which sounds very similar to Conan.
Spin Attack: The Whirlwind skill, which allows you to damage multiple foes around you at high speed.
Statuesque Stunner: The female Barbarian is taller and more buff than most of the male PCs.
Status Buff: The Barbarian's Shout abilities (such as Battle Rage and War Cry).
Stripperiffic: Both sexes in their unarmored look when you start the game, so applying vanishing dye to equipment will keep them looking like that. Of course, this is a pretty standard look for Barbarian Heroes everywhere.
Super Mode: Wrath of the Berserker transforms your Barbarian into a powerful warrior even larger than their usual form with big white hair and serious melee power, in addition to being immune to certain status effects until it wears off.
Took a Level in Kindness: Barbarians in Diablo II were rather antagonistic to outsiders, and could be contemptuous of other civilizations. With the destruction of Mount Arreat and the breaking of their people, the current Barbarian is humble and kindly disposed to people who aren't outright cowards or criminals of the worst sort. To the point where they're genuinely touched when Leah offers them a job at her future inn.
Unstoppable Rage: A trademark of the Barbarian, especially when Wrath of the Berserker is invoked.
Young Gun: In contrast to the jaded Old Soldier male Barbarian, the female one comes off as an up-and-coming prodigy with something to prove.

Demon Hunter

"I stand alone. And if they keep coming, I will never stop killing!"

Voiced by: Robin Atkin Downes (male), Anna Graves (female), Laura Bailey (female, Reaper of Souls)

Vengeful harbingers of righteous doom who bring swift judgment and death to the hellish creatures daring enough to trespass on the mortal lands of Sanctuary. The Demon Hunter goes Guns Akimbo with crossbows, and uses a variety of traps and devices to keep enemies at bay. Their energy is divided into Hatred, which replenishes quickly and focuses on offense, and Discipline, which replenishes more slowly and keeps the Demon Hunter out of harm's way. In the tie-in story and Heroes of the Storm, the female Demon Hunter's name is Valla.

Action Bomb: With the Grenadier passive Demon Hunters become a Dead Man Switch variant of this trope.
Anti-Hero: The closest thing among the five character classes, though they're the Knight in Sour Armor / Pragmatic Hero variety at worst.
Attack Animal: The Companion skill which comes in a variety of types such as demonic bats, wild boars, Giant Spiders, ravens, wolves or a couple of weasels.
Attack Drone: The Sentry skill summons a stationary turret to fire at enemies. The Embodiment of the Marauder set takes this trope further; equipping at least four out of its six items will cause the turrets to fire certain attacks in sync with the caster.
Automatic Crossbows: The Demon Hunters' crossbows, especially hand crossbows, often fire as fast as semiautomatic weapons — and when they turn on Rapid Fire, it's machine gun time!
Badass Cape: In some armor sets, they trade in their Scarf of Asskicking in for one of these.
Battle Bolas: The Demon Hunter can choose to have their bows shoot bolas instead of arrows, which explode shortly after hitting their target.
The Beastmaster: The Demon Hunter has the Companion skill, which summons an animal at their side, with a raven being the default choice and each rune representing a different animal. Normally, a Demon Hunter can have only one animal at their side (or two, in case of the ferrets), but with the right equipment a Demon Hunter can field up to 10 companions at the same time (to be specific: two ravens, a bat, a boar, a spider, two ferrets and three wolves).
Brutal Honesty: Will casually inform any wounded civilians if they're about to die. Basic attitude if someone has to kill their wife before she turns into a zombie? "Sometimes death is the only mercy we have left."
Caltrops: The Caltrops skill drops one of these under the user when used. Enemies that step into the caltrop's Area of Effect take damage and additionally have their movement speed reduced.
Casting a Shadow: Many of their skills which include summoning creatures called Shadow Beasts.
Combat Stilettos: The female Demon Hunter wears these. They don't actively use them in battle, though.
The Comically Serious: The Demon Hunter's dour personality is usually played for laughs when interacting with other characters.
The Cowl: The Demon Hunter is probably the closest any of the game's playable characters comes to this archetype.
Critical Hit Class: One of the Demon Hunter's passive abilities causes their critical hit chance to gradually rise, resetting to the base level one second after they score a critical hit.
Cutting Off the Branches: The short story Hatred and Discipline reveals that the canon incarnation of the Demon Hunter is a woman named Valla.
The Cynic: Downplayed. While some characters remark on the Demon Hunter's gloomy attitude, they are still far more idealistic than your average Anti-Hero, and will actually reassure many other characters who lose their hope.
Damage-Increasing Debuff: The Marked for Death skill confers a 15% increase in damage sustained to the target. Its various Runes can do things like make the mark spread to nearby enemies upon death or create an Area of Effect that inflicts the 15% damage to anyone who remains in it in lieu of directly debuffing a target.
Dark Is Not Evil: They dress in capes and hoods, fight with shadow-based powers, rely partially on the Power Of Hate and have a pretty much grim attitude, but they are good guys.
Death from Above: The Rain of Vengeance skill rains down a hail of arrows that target enemies or have a wide Area of Effect. Some of its Runes instead make the skill summon Shadow Beasts that dive down to attack or call forth a Shadow Beast that drops a stream of grenades.
Demon Slaying: While all Diablo player characters are tasked with killing The Legions of Hell, the Demon Hunter is the only character who has made it their sworn mission to do so.
Difficult, but Awesome: The Demon Hunter is among the most powerful classes for dealing with the highest level Greater Rifts, with incredible DPS and mobility, but they must use that mobility as much as they can to stay alive and not eat any unnecessary hits.
Doomed Hometown: Demon Hunters are drawn from the ranks of people who have lost their homes and families to the demons, and just about every Demon Hunter has one of these in his or her backstory. The only survivors of the player character's hometown were the Hunter and their sister Halissa, who was driven mad by the demon attack and subsequently drowned.
The Engineer: Shows varying shades of this, what with numerous skills based on explosives, the various traps, and perhaps most of all an automatic Sentry turret.
Expy: The female Demon Hunter is an expy of Selene from the Underworld films. There's even an achievement called "Death Dealer". And there's a legendary cloak to be found named Beckon Sail.
Flechette Storm: The Fan of Knives skill as well as a few of the chakram runes, which throws a whole bunch of knives or Fuuma Shuriken.
Fragile Speedster: What Demon Hunters lack in durability, they more than make up for with speed and agility.
Fantasy Gun Control: Even though the Demon Hunters have grenades, rockets and automated turrets, somehow Sanctuary has never developed the gun.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Typically the Demon Hunter will wear one pauldron and one gigantic gauntlet for their armour appearance.
Glass Cannon: Has one of the higher DPS potentials, but isn't very good at taking damage without the proper gear. Instead, a Demon Hunter prefers to not get hit at all by dodging with Vault.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: It would be easier to count which helm transmogs don't give them glowing yellow eyes.
Good Is Not Nice: Demon Hunters have a grim, cynical attitude and don't hesitate to harshly criticize cowardice. They do, however, genuinely wish to protect the innocent.
Grenade Spam: One of their primary skills is a Grenade that can be tossed en masse at enemies. A number of their other skills, most notably Cluster Arrow, can also fire off grenades like they're Halloween candy.
Gun Kata: When using the Strafe skill, the Demon Hunter blasts off in all directions much like a Tetragrammaton Cleric. In the earlier versions of the game, there was even a skill rune for it called "Equilibrium".
Guns Akimbo: The Demon Hunter is the only character in the game who can dual-wield hand crossbows.
Hell-Bent for Leather: Compared to the other player classes, Demon Hunters wear far more black leather-based equipment.
Hellfire: The grenades are literally loaded with the essence of fire demons.
Hidden Eyes: The Shadow's Mantle set that is exclusive to Demon Hunters hides the wearer's eyes in shadow rather than making them glow.
Homing Projectile: The arrows fired by the Hungering Arrow skill automatically seek out nearby enemies. Overlaps with Pinball Projectile when fired in narrow passages, where it will look like it bounces off the walls, but in open spaces the Demon Hunter can fire in the opposite direction of their enemies and the arrow will simply make a sharp turn mid-air and hit the enemy anyhow. Furthermore, the Demon Hunter has various skills that can be upgraded with runes to fire homing rockets.
Ink-Suit Actor: Robin Atkin Downes bears more than a slight resemblance to the male Demon Hunter, skin tone aside.
In the Hood: Along with the cloak, this is part of the Demon Hunter's full attire.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: By all accounts, the Demon Hunter is a less-than-tactful hardass who does not tolerate cowardice or show any pity for those who would surrender to destruction. But they show a very protective side when it comes to the innocent and bear a certain amount of sympathy for those who have lost family, especially to demons like they have. They are also concerned with Templar initiation methods making people lose their humanity, as their fight against the demons is as much about saving humans as getting their revenge on demonkind.
Life Drain: Both Shadow Power and Nether Tentacles can do this, turning damage the Demon Hunter inflicts into health.
Lightning Bruiser: They're capable of doing massive damage from a distance, and the sheer spammability of their Vault skill (especially when paired with certain equipment enchantments) allows them to quickly move out of harm's way or zoom along to their next target.
Long-Range Fighter: While they're not exactly useless up front, their comparatively weak defenses means they have to take advantage of their attacks' distance-damage properties. The Steady Aim skill further encourages this trope by providing a damage buff if no enemies are within a 10-yard radius.
One Hit Poly Kill: Most notably the Hungering Arrow and Elemental Arrow skill lines, though several of the Impale skills can also do this to a lesser degree.
Macross Missile Massacre: Several of the Demon Hunter's skills can be modified to fire rockets. Combine this with the Ballistics passive (buffs rocket damage and gives all attacks a chance to fire off a random rocket) and watch the fireworks.
Magitek: Some of their abilities and contraptions make use of demonic elements to fuel them or give them extra punch.
Mechanically Unusual Class: They are the only class to have two types of resources shown on the HUD.
More Dakka: The Rapid Fire skill fires such a rapid stream of arrows that it counts as a beam attack similar to those of the Wizard's.
Multi Shot: The skill of the same name fires off an impossibly large number of arrows at once in a wide cone.
No Social Skills: All the training and the time tracking demons through the wilds have left the Demon Hunter a little bit lacking in the tactful department.
Pay Evil unto Evil: When it comes to demons, the Demon Hunter is all about this.
The Power of Hate: A rare heroic example; Hatred is the resource that fuels the Demon Hunter's offensive skills, while Discipline, the skill they use to avoid falling into Mephisto's domain, is used for their defensive and utility skills.
Power Gives You Wings: Shadow Power's main effect is giving you Life Drain, and gives you a pair of blackened angel wings.
Rain of Arrows: The Rain of Vengeance skill unleashes one of these. With runes equipped, the arrows become shadow beasts that tear apart his or her prey.
Recursive Ammo: Cluster Ammo, which shoots an arrow that explodes to fire a bunch of rockets at the enemy.
Scarf of Asskicking: The signature element of their outfits, together with their hoods. In some armor sets, they trade it in for a Badass Cape.
She-Fu: Demon Hunters are very fond of acrobatic moves to evade their foes, which is especially pronounced if the Demon Hunter is female.
Shoulder Cannon: A Demon Hunter that's transformed into Vengeance, will get a pair of side cannons which are mounted on the shoulders. These things have a good rate of fire and when combined with the missiles (or whatnot) and the Demon Hunter's regular shots, Vengeance mode greatly increases the amount of More Dakka that can be put out.
Spread Shot: Multishot fires a wide cone of More Dakka that damages all enemies it touches, although it is more of an Area of Effect attack (enemies behind other enemies will still take damage and point-blanking an enemy isn't going to damage them any more than hitting them from 30 yards away).
Stuff Blowing Up: Several of the Demon Hunter's skills can be changed to various explosives ranging from grenades to missiles and even an airstrike from over a dozen dragonlike creatures.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: A demon hunter gains these if they can peer into the soul of a demon without going crazy.
Super Mode: The Vengeance skill from Reaper of Souls turns Demon Hunters into the embodiment of vengeance for a short time, with a massive power boost.
Superior Successor: The Demon Hunter is the successor to the Assassin class of Diablo II and is superior to them in terms of mystical power and morality. Demon Hunters have the Assassin's acrobatics, powers over darkness and magical technology, but instead of high-risk martial arts they opt for much safer long-ranged attack mastery and have superior summoning ability. In terms of morality, the Assassins were so focused on killing rogue sorcerers, that they missed out on demon invasion of Sanctuary and didn't lift a finger to stop the assault on Mount Arreat. This led to one Diablo II NPC, Natalya, quitting the Assassins and becoming a Demon Hunter as a means of atoning.
Throw Down the Bomblet: The aptly named Grenade skill which can completely replace standard bow attacks.
Trap Master: Caltrops, Spike Traps and Sentry Turrets can be used to trap enemies and keep them from attacking.
Tranquil Fury: The Demon Hunter is fuelled by rage and hatred, but it's a cold fury tempered by their discipline and esoteric training. If you have the Demon Hunter talk to Kormac, they'll eventually find out that Kormac's memory was removed by torture and they'll strongly disapprove.
Demon Hunter: Restraint bolsters the weak, not pain. You have suffered needlessly.
The Unchosen One: The others believe their quest is guided by Ytar, Bul-Kathos, prophecy, spirits or Akarat. The demon hunter?
Demon Hunter: They asked me if I wanted to hunt demons, and I said yes.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The Demon Hunter has this opinion of Lyndon, as the following quote attests:
Lyndon: If I keep killing enough demons, I might actually become a good person, eh?
Demon Hunter: I don't think so.
Lyndon: Are you serious?
Demon Hunter: You were already a good person.

Monk

"I must carry out the will of the Patriarchs. When they need to see, I am their eyes. Where they wish to strike, I am their fist! Where they would ignite the light of truth, I am their torch!"

Voiced by: Jamieson Price (male), Rajia Baroudi (female)

Holy warriors from the Theocracy of Ivgorod who believe that the madness and chaos of Sanctuary are destined to be brought into order, and that it is their sacred mission to assist their thousand and one gods in doing so. Monks are physical attackers who are very good one to one but have difficulty with crowds. They use Spirit, which is built up through combos and specific moves, and can be used for devastating attacks. The male Monk is given the name Kharazim in Heroes of the Storm.

All Monks Know Kung-Fu: Of course they do have several shaolin influences in their design.
Badass Boast: The Monk gets a few impressive one-liners when they defeat enemies, but one that stands out comes from the Quest Journal prior to the final battle:
Monk: "...Today, I become order itself, and I shall rein in the god of all chaos — Diablo.
Barefisted Monk: Naturally, the Monk will usually sheathe his weapon (with a couple of exceptions) to go barehanded with many of their attacks.
Blow You Away: The Monk's talents include harnessing the wind in various ways, such as forming a constant vortex of slicing wind around themselves.
Boyish Short Hair: The female Monk has this. Easy to maintain, no risk of getting grabbed during fights and it befits her sober lifestyle as a monk.
Celibate Hero: The female Monk indicates as much in dialogue with Lyndon and Eirena. Presumably it applies to the male Monk as well.
The Comically Serious: While all the Diablo III protagonists are pretty deadpan, the Monk's consistently even tone can pull out some great lines here and there.
Enchantress: This place is lovely.
Monk: Wonderful. Then I can just leave you here then.
Enchantress: What!? I was — I mean — I was only joking!
Elemental Punch: Their Fists of Thunder, which adds lightning damage to their punches.
Elemental Shapeshifter: The Monk's Mystic Ally skill summons an ethereal copy of themselves, whose appearance takes after the rune it is upgraded with, every rune being based on an element. A Fire Ally will look like it is made out of flames, for example, while a Water Ally will look like it is made out of, you guessed it, water.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Ivgorod is clearly a Russia Expy, specifically the Russian Orthodox Church with a large dose of Chinese Shaolin. Their religion is a combination of Buddhism and Hinduism in the large number of Gods and Goddesses and belief in frequent reincarnation and focus on spiritual exercise.
Fragile Speedster: In comparison to the Barbarian, the Monk is faster but can't take as many hits, relying on dodging attacks rather then simply taking the hits.
Flash Step: Some of the effects that can be added to the Monk's skills let him/her pull this off.
Holy Hand Grenade: Many of their attacks deal holy elemental damage which is fitting for a Warrior Monk.
Hurricane Kick: Their Lashing Tail Kick, which starts out as a simple Round House Kick but upgrades to this with certain runes.
Ice Queen: The female Monk constantly displays a cold demeanor to those she encounters in her journey. The only ones who get spared this are people like Leah and Eirena, where she starts displaying something of a sense of humor.
Instant Runes: The Monk's Mantras form a sigil under their feet which applies the aura like bonus.
Kamehame Hadoken: It's hard to see due to how fast it goes, but the third attack from the Monk's Fists of Thunder ability has them take on the classic Hadouken pose, resulting in a lightning ball at point-blank range.
Ki Manipulation: A couple of the Monk abilities are this, being explicitly powered by the Monk's spiritual energy in order to use them.
Manly Facial Hair: The male Monk has a particularly impressive beard, fitting his image of a Russian Orthodox priest.
Mission from God: The driving force behind everything the Monk does in the game, starting with their journey to investigate the fallen star that fell near New Tristram. Come Act III, it really starts to show that the Monk believes they must be specifically created/chosen by the gods to defeat the various (Prime, Lesser) Evils.
Mother Russia Makes You Strong: The setting's equivalent to Russia, anyway. The Monk is an incredibly powerful fighter, both having a strong Russian accent while they fight monsters and demons.
Not Afraid to Die: In the various conversations with the people inside Bastion's Keep, the Monk makes it clear that they accept and are in fact perfectly fine with the fact that they could die anytime. The Monk values balance more than anything, and without death, there would be no balance to life.
Not So Stoic: While they tend to be mostly serious, they do have their moments like making witch jokes when Haedrig is talking about how he met his wife or in the case of the male monk at least getting audibly angry when the Templar talks about the 'initiation' of his order.
Ornamental Weapon: Unless it's a Power Fist or daibo, the Monk will rarely if ever use their weapons to hit anything. More often than not, most weapons will be stuck to the Monk's back while they punch and kick things.
Power Fist: One of the Monk's weapons of choice, the other being the daibo. The designs range from your average brass knuckles to Blades Below The Shoulder. And there is the legendary Sledge Fist, which is basically a glove attached to a slab of concrete covered with spikes.
Shock and Awe: As the name implies, the Monk's starting skill, Fists of Thunder, adds lightning to their punches. This skill can be further enhanced with runes like Thunderclap and Static Charge as the Monk grows in level.
Statuesque Stunner: The female Monk. Not as much as the female Barbarian, but she is still easily as large as most male NPCs.
The Stoic: As kung-fu Monks tend to be. The Monk is fittingly one of the sedate classes, maintaining a serene calm even when Hell itself is poised against them.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Both male and female Monks displays shades of this on occasion, most notably by warming up on Leah, the Enchantress and even Lyndon at one occasion:
Lyndon: If I die, will you bury me with dignity?
Monk: I will study the question.
Lyndon: What?! After all I did for you?
Monk (chuckling): Don't worry, my friend. I shall bury you.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Their Way of the Hundred Fists skill, of which the second attack has the Monk delivering a flurry of seven lightning fast strikes, which can be upgraded to ten with a rune.
Spin to Deflect Stuff
Stone Wall: There's a build dedicated to monks building all resistances and other defense stats to make use of their high defense stats in this regard.
Supernatural Martial Arts: Their entire moveset is based on martial arts empowered by their own spiritual energy and the blessings of their pantheon.
Teleport Spam: Seven-Sided Strike uses an offensive version of this.
Warrior Monk: Which goes without saying in a game like this, crosses over with Church Militant and Religious Bruiser.
Wolverine Claws: Their primary weapon type. Even gets referenced with a unique claw weapon.
You Are Already Dead: The Exploding Palm technique. The Monk strikes their enemy three times, the third one being a seemingly innocent strike that adds a symbol above the opponent's head. They then start to bleed, the bleeding only gets worse if they move. Finally, when they die, they explode in a fountain of blood and bone.
Your Eyes Can Deceive You: referenced by one of the Monk's legendary Spirit Stones, The Eye of Peshkov. Fittingly, wearing it causes the Monk's in-game model to appear with their eyes closed.
"The mind sees most clearly when the eyes are shut." —High Abbot Peshkov

Witch Doctor

"[My people] say I defy the spirits. But I say no. I follow them."

Voiced by: Carl Lumbly (male), Erica Luttrell (female)

Sage conjurers, enchanters, and mystical warriors who are driven by a charge to maintain spiritual balance and harmony in the violent world of Sanctuary. They command ancient magics rooted in the primal powers of life and death, and are adept at summoning fearsome, shadowy creatures. They use Mana, which replenishes slowly and can be drained from enemies. Heroes of the Storm game the male Witch Doctor the name "Nazeebo".

Bad Powers, Good People: The Witch Doctors' abilities are often quite sinister—hurling spiders, poison, and flaming skulls, to say nothing of summoning zombies — but they are unquestionably heroic.
Bald Mystic: The male Witch Doctor is completely bald making him fall under this.
Bears Are Bad News: The Gargantuan summon is a flaming skeletal bear, and one of the runes for Zombie Charger turns it into a trio of Zombie Bears.
Beware the Nice Ones: The Witch Doctor is perhaps the kindest and most personable of the player classes, but when they have a chance to exact revenge against the witch Adria, they obviously look forward to it.
Blow Gun: At least one default ability manifests as this.
Brown Note: The Horrify skill acts as this to enemies, causing them to run away in fear for a short time.
Cast from Hit Points: One of the Witch Doctor's passive abilities causes them to pay part of their mana costs from their health, while also granting increased health regeneration to compensate for the loss.
Creepy Good: Even more so than the Necromancer from II; they look scarier, but the Necromancer has Anti-Hero traits, while the Witch-Doctor, according to their dialogue, are surprisingly nice despite their creepy appearance and powers. They are actually one of the friendliest and kindest characters in the playable classes.
Culture Clash: The Witch Doctor class has some unusual ideas about death. Since they are in constant contact with the spirits of the dead, they don't really consider death to be a true loss. This can lead to them saying some rather insensitive things to people who have recently lost loved ones, such as the blacksmith after his wife dies.
Darkest Africa: The inspiration for the Witch Doctor's look and personality.
Dark Is Not Evil: They attack with poison, spiders and zombie dogs, and their aesthetic draws on death and decay, but in dialogue are they are perhaps the gentlest and kindest of the heroes.
Deadpan Snarker: Comes out every so often in their conversations with Lyndon and, in the Reaper of Souls expansion, Myriam.
Death of a Thousand Cuts: Their focus on both DoTs and pets means this is how they kill. Rather then blow targets up they melt their foes, in some cases literally.
"There are some terrors that cannot be outrun. Bit by bit, second by second, they consume you." ~Creeping Death description
Ethnic Magician: The Witch Doctor plays an African theme up to the hilt.
Everything's Deader with Zombies: Several of the Witch Doctor's powers revolve around summoning various forms of zombies.
Expy: Of the Necromancer in the previous game.
Forced Transformation: The hex spell, which turns enemies into chickens... or, if you select one of the runes in particular, turns the Witch Doctor into a chicken (that soon explodes in the enemy's face).
Fragile Speedster: The Witch Doctor, with the right perks, has the best base speed in the game, but is fragile compared to the other classes. It is no surprise that one of those perks calls forth an extra Zombie Dog to protect him when they are summoned.
Hollywood Acid: The Acid Rain spell unleashes caustic liquids that eat through enemy defenses.
Hollywood Voodoo: This is a Witch Doctor we're talking about, here.
Incendiary Exponent: Aside from the Fire Bomb primary attack, several of the Witch Doctor's other spells have runes that turn them into flaming versions of the usual attack.
Mask of Power: Their headgear manifests as this.
The Minion Master: A number of skills involve summoning various kinds of creatures, either as single attacks or as permanent companions. With the right build, it's possible to have dozens of minions following you around at once.
Nice Guy: Ironically for their really morbid powers and tastes, the Witch-Doctor turns out to be the nicest and kindest player character in the whole series, let alone their home game. As an early example, during their rescue of Deckard Cain from the Skeleton King, he asks the player character why they came for him. Most of the classes answer that Leah asked them to. The Witch doctor responds simply with "Because you needed my help."
Nightmare Fetishist: Let's see...not only does their wardrobe include skulls and bones, they also use zombie dogs and bears as pets, hurl jars filled with cat-sized spiders, like a place full of giant carnivorous spiders (in fact, they express regret for killing the Spider Queen at the end of the boss fight), and regularly communicate with the spirits of the dead. And seeing their dead sister's ghost dancing with said spirits is a wonderful thing to them. Granted, it's implied that the afterlife that the Witch Doctor's referring to isn't a bad place at all, and the spirits that they see their dead sister with are quite benevolent.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The Witch Doctor has one of the highest damage per second rates out of all the classes. While they do have a few limited, More Dakka rapid-fire attacks, their main method of dishing out pain is to have all their pets gang up on the enemy and pound them, while the Witch Doctor offers support-fire with spells like Acid Cloud.
Not Afraid to Die: In Reaper of Souls, they explain that death is little more than a black line separating the mortal world and the spirit world, and that they do not fear crossing it.
Piranha Problem: Their new spell in Reaper summons a pool of vicious piranhas to both damage and debuff enemies in an area.
Primal Fear: The Horrify skill serves to invoke this effect in enemies.
Quality over Quantity: Compared to the Necromancer, the Witch Doctor doesn't have very many options for minions, but the ones they do summon often last longer in a straight up fight than the Necromancers.
Rain of Something Unusual: The Witch Doctor can make it rain frogs or acid.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Kulle asks them if they have ever seen anything as beautiful as his laboratory, they calmly reply that they have seen glimpses of the Unformed Land, and nothing in the mortal world can compare to it. Kulle is a bit flummoxed by this.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: The Witch Doctor heavily uses this motif.
Soul Power: The Witch Doctor possesses many soul and spirit based powers, ranging from haunting targets, throwing a soul barrage, or even separating their soul and body as an escape measure.
Shrunken Head: Can use shrunken heads as a charm for their powers.
The Swarm: The Locust Swarm.
Spider Swarm: Some of their spider-related spells have a vein of this trope to them. At highter level, it allows you to summon a Spider Queen that spawns smaller spiders.
Throw Down the Bomblet: Fire Bomb is a supernatural equivalent of this, as the Witch Doctor hurls a flaming skull that explodes in the enemy's midst.
Traumatic Superpower Awakening: The connection with the spirits manifested after the death of a little sister.
Voodoo Doll: One of the Witch Doctor's options when equipping an off-hand item.
Weaponized Animal: The Witch Doctor's choices for attacks include a rather extensive menageries: bats, frogs and toads, spiders, and zombie bears, to name a few.
Wild Hair: The female Witch Doctor has this.
Your Soul Is Mine!: Soul Harvest drains the souls of any enemy in close proximity to buff the player.

Wizard

"Since my youth, I have been told that I was special. A prodigy of vast potential."

Voiced by: Crispin Freeman (male), Grey DeLisle (female)

Wizards are renegade spellcasters who use their bodies as vessels for arcane energy, forsaking the more careful path favored by other magic users. They manipulate all manner of forces to disintegrate, burn, and freeze their foes, and they can control time and light to teleport, create powerful illusions, and deflect oncoming attacks. They use Arcane Power, which regenerates quickly. However, their spells have cool-down times, due to the dangers of channeling too much energy. In the tie-in short story on the Diablo III website and Heroes of the Storm, the female Wizard's name is Li-Ming.

Appeal to Force: Basically what happened in the Wizard's backstory.
Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite being a magic user in a Dark Fantasy world full of demons, angels, ghosts, and many other supernatural things, the Wizard outright tells Shen and the Templar they doesn't believe in Gods or an afterlife. They get better however, eventually admitting that, after all that happened, they doesn't really know what to believe in anymore.
The Archmage: On the way to becoming this. Indeed, the Wizard already has abilities not only falling under the three standard elemental categories (Fire, Ice, and Lightning), but also Wind/Force, Arcane, and even Time. Furthering their claim to archmage status, there are two legendary items canonically made by the female Wizard, the Twisted Sword and the Fortress Ballista.
Badass Boast: Azmodan's forces have breached the depths of Bastion's Keep and are launching a sneak attack against the Keep's defenders?
Wizard: Their corpses should serve to seal the breach once I'm through with them.
Badass Bookworm: When Kormac wonders what ancient tomes lay buried in dungeons, the Wizard also shows curiosity, and seems to want a look. One of their offhand items is a spellbook.
Badass Longrobe: Par for the course, although the female wizard's one is much skimpier.
Black Magician Girl: The female Wizard. Specialized mostly in offensive magic? Check. Tomboyish Ponytail and attitude? Check. Outgoing, taunting and teasing personnality? Check, check, check.
Celibate Hero: Neither Wizard has any interest in romance, being far too focused on their magic and the legions standing in their way.
The Chosen One: Sees him/herself as this.
Child Prodigy: The Wizard was originally just a poor kid living in a slum somewhere in Xiansai. However their talent was so great that they were quickly brought into the mage clans despite their background. Their raw talent allowed them to quickly master their order's forbidden arts and TKO a master sorcerer.
Colony Drop: The aptly named Meteor spell, whose ultimate skill rune calls down a much larger version of the base spell (and incurs a cooldown).
Cutting Off the Branches: The short story Firefly reveals that the canon incarnation of the Wizard is a young woman named "Li-Ming".
Deadpan Snarker: All characters have their moments of this, but the Wizard is especially prone for doing this almost all the time.
Death Ray: The Disintegrate spell, which sends out a bright orange beam of pure laser death that disintegrates any monster the Wizard kills with it. Except Fallen, Unless you're wielding Sever.
Difficult, but Awesome: Like the Demon Hunter, the Wizard is considered to be among the strongest classes for dealing with the highest level Greater Rifts, with truly insane DPS potential, but their lack of durability requires some finesse to stay alive and keep blasting.
Elemental Powers: Much like the Sorcerer and Sorceress, the Wizard's powerset is based on these. Having access to ones outside of the Fire, Ice, Lightning trinity is due to the Wizard's willingness to study what the Vizjerei consider Dangerous Forbidden Techniques.
Ethnic Magician: The appearance of the Wizard is based on East Asian characteristics and they are stated to be from Xiansai, the equivalent of China in the Diablo universe.
Energy Beings: A late game spell lets the Wizard become one. In-game, this gives her/him a new astral form, the ability to produce shockwaves by hitting the ground and an enhanced version of the disintegration spell that doesn't cost anything in mana. Naturally, the form only is temporary and comes with a lengthy cooldown.
Energy Weapon: The Disintegrate and Ray of Frost spells resemble this.
Equivalent Exchange: Why the other mages fear them so much in the backstory. They defy or ignore the laws of Equivalent Exchange that bind other mages, because they believes their cause is just enough that any magical fallout from their actions is a small price to pay.
Expy: Of the Sorceress in the previous game. Fitting, as the Sorceress from II was this character's mentor.
Flat-Earth Atheist: The Wizard claims not to believe in the afterlife in dialog with Kormac literally while fighting ghosts.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Originally the Wizard was an impoverished street urchin and now the mightiest spellcaster around.
Glass Cannon: Even has a passive skill named this, that increases damage at the cost of reduced defense. A Wizard tends to rely more on energy shields for staying power, and has several passive skills that provide them. Without said shields, the Wizard can't take many hits.
Immortality Seeker: Implied in Reapers of Souls; one of the Wizard's journal entries mentions they have been studying ways to extend their lifespan, and successfully found a way to live several centuries. They also wonder if killing Malthael will cause people to no longer die, and, when the answer turns out to be no, are resigned to finding another way to be immortal.
Insufferable Genius: Very much so, and they have the skills to back it up. One of their Deathblow quotes is "You dare attack me?!"
I Shall Taunt You: The Wizard's natural arrogance means that they tend to do this a lot with their enemies.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The male Wizard is quite the pretty boy with fairly long hair. He used to be even prettier in his initial design, which led to complaints of him being too effeminate.
Magical Girl Warrior: The female version resembles this much more than an average RPG wizard archetype, being Asian in a Mini Dress Of Power and featuring distinctly anime-inspired attacks, from a Wave-Motion Gun to Roboteching missiles.
Merlin and Nimue: The male Wizard had this relationship with the Sorceress from Diablo II.
Mind over Matter: Mentioned in several talent descriptions, specifically those that offset the usual Squishy Wizard weaknesses. Apparently it is routine for wizards to augment their bodies with magic to withstand the rigors of combat.
More Dakka: The Wizard's Disintegrate and Ray of Frost are beams that are continuous in dealing out damage. The damage output is so constant and rapid, that the Wizard actually gets penalized if they have a high attack rate. They end up burning through their energy reserves a lot quicker, without getting the same channeling damage bonus that's gained from standing still for a set length of time.
Playing with Fire: Normally, fire is simply one of their main attack elements, but the Firebird's Finery equipment set encourages fire-elemental damage by setting enemies ablaze if they are hit with fire skills. Hitting an enemy with three different fire skills results in "ignited" status, suffering a massive amount of damage per second until they die.
Pride: The Wizard's hat, so to speak, and why they're called a Wizard instead of a sorceress or mage. In-Universe, "wizard" is considered a vulgar appellation to apply to a magic-user.
Purple Is Powerful: When they go into Archon mode, their bodies turn purple and all of their Archon-exclusive attacks are colored the same way. Additionally, two of the Wizard's exclusive sets, Tal Rasha's Elements and Vyr's Amazing Arcana, are purple by default.
Robe and Wizard Hat: The game has no robes (though some body armor for Wizards resembles a Badass Longcoat), but the wizard hat is a special type of helmet exclusive to the Wizard. They're quite proud of them, too, if the loading screen is to be believed.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The other half. The Vizjerei believe in holding back their power. The Wizard believed that if they have the power to help people, then they should use it.
Short Teens, Tall Adults: The Wizard is the only player-character who is under 20. Fittingly, the male and female Wizard are the shortest out of all the classes with the male Wizard especially dwarfed by other male characters like the Barbarian and Crusader.
Status Buff: The Wizard is notorious for their heavy damage per hit and one of the biggest reasons why is they get so many passive damage buffs and also active damage buff abilities like Sparkflint Familiar and Magic Weapon. This is taken to an extreme with the Archon which not only boosts the Wizard's power and durability, they gain +6% damage for every enemy killed and this stacks infinitely while in Archon mode. Archon spam becomes the only viable build for the Wizard in high-end Torment levels (there are plans to change this).
Storm of Blades: The Spectral Blade skill evokes this, summoning a multitude of cuts in front of the Wizard when used.
Stripped to the Bone: The Disintegrate spell ostensibly does this. The portrait for the attack shows an enemy being scorched with nothing but their bones left.
Squishy Wizard: They're not really that effective at avoiding damage, because they have so much teleport cool-down to deal with. Instead, they passively create overlapping force-fields to soak damage, and a few skills that reduce the damage they takes. But once those shields are gone, they're in for a world of hurt.
Teleport Spam: With a certain glyph, or a certain source, the cooldown on the Teleport spell is delayed, allowing the Wizard to teleport multiple times in rapid succession.
Tomboyish Ponytail: The female Wizard wears her hair like this, and has the tough personality to go with it.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Though they never say it outright, the Wizard's quest journal in the Caves of Aranea indicates that they're none too fond of spiders.
Wuxia: The Wizard has elements of this in their clothing design and storyline.

Crusader

"By the Light be damned!"

Voiced by: Gideon Emery (male), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (female)

Introduced in Reaper of Souls, the Crusader is part of a special unit of the Paladins that long ago pushed eastwards on a secret mission to cleanse the faith of Zakarum from Mephisto's corruption. While Crusaders can use any one-handed or two-handed melee weapon, their special weapons are one-handed and two-handed flails, along with a special Crusader Shield for defensive skills — and with a special passive skill called Heavenly Strength, they can use a two-handed weapon AND a shield at once. The Crusader's abilities are powered by Wrath, which regenerates slowly but can be built up quickly through melee attacks. In game Heroes of the Storm the female Crusader is given name Johanna.

Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Upon meeting the ghost of the Crusader's Master in Act V, said Master begins to reminiscence the times when the Crusader was still a young crybaby. The Crusader denies it ever happening but their voice loses that calm edge it always had and sounds more like a teenager embarrassed by their parent's words.
Badass Creed
"Armored by faith; driven by duty; bound to kill the enemies of Zakarum. Sworn to live as a Crusader, and to die as one."
Blood Knight: Seems to genuinely enjoy a good fight.
[when encountering a champion pack] "A foe worth killing!"
Bolt of Divine Retribution: Fist of the Heavens, like the Paladin ability in Diablo II, calls down a bolt of light to smite foes.
Brutal Honesty: When Haedrig finishes repairing the crown, he'll remark how he wants his life to mean something. While the other classes will request that he build gear for them on the journey ahead, the Crusader goes the extra mile and tells him exactly what he's in for.
Haedrig Eamon: I need something more than making spades to occupy my mind. I want my life to mean something.
The Crusader: Then join my crusade. The work is hard, the rewards are few, and you'll likely die.
Haedrig Eamon: That does sound meaningful... and awful.
Church Militant: While the Church is corrupted, the Crusaders themselves continue to serve the cause of Zakarum and eventually cleanse it of corruption.
Cool Horse: The ability Steed Charge summons a magical horse which picks up the Crusader to charge unimpeded through a group of enemies for a short time. The Stampede rune for the Phalanx skill also summons some to charge forward, adding a chance to stun enemies hit to the skill.
Cultured Warrior: Hand-in-hand with their courteous demeanor, even in combat the Crusader's boasts are among the more poetic of the player characters.
[scoring a One Hit Poly Kill] "Like chaff before the wind."
Deadly Euphemism: The Crusader will occasionally use "I have questions for..." or "I intend to have words with..." when referring to an enemy, when what they actually mean is "I am going to kill...".
Deadpan Snarker: Though all the heroes have this, the male Crusader's take on this is much more direct and barbed, which is put in sharp contrast to his otherwise professional, courteous demeanor and speaking style. The female Crusader, while being a lot less snarky than the other female player characters (save for the Witch Doctor) still has her moments. A perfect example comes from Act V's Plague Tunnels. Upon entering, the Crusader will remark:
Crusader: "Bones, blood, and excrement. Another happy day on the crusade."
Death from Above: Falling Sword teleports the Crusader away and down upon a group of enemies. It's described as the Crusader essentially becoming an artillery shell.
Epic Flail: The Crusader wields a huge flail as their signature main hand weapon, and no other class can use these.
Glacier Waif: Unlike the male Crusader, who's almost as large as the Barbarians, the female Crusader isn't much taller than the Demon Hunter or Wizard, and not much more muscular either — but she can still carry a two-handed weapon in one hand and a giant shield in the other while dressed in full plate armor.
Good Is Not Soft: Although the Crusader is one of the nicest playable characters of the game, do NOT make the mistake of messing with the innocent around them. You WILL regret it.
Crusader: The Light have mercy on you, Maghda, for I will not.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: The female Crusader has long blonde hair.
Heroic Build: The male Crusader. He's one of the very few human non-Barbarian characters, both playable and non playable, that come close to the Barbarians in size.
Holy Hand Grenade: Like the Paladins, the Crusaders utilize holy spells to burn and smite their foes.
Ink-Suit Actor: The female Crusader very heavily resembles her voice actress.
It's the Journey That Counts: In an early conversation, the Crusader states that even if they don't succeed in cleansing the Order of Zakarum from corruption, they believe their journey still holds meaning.
Knight Errant: A descendant of a entire order of them spreading out for their quest.
Knight in Shining Armor: Though the developers seem to prefer the term battle-scarred armor over shining armor to describe them.
Lady of War: The female Crusader.
Legacy Character: Each Crusader takes on an apprentice who takes on the identity, armor and weaponry of their mentor when they die.
Light 'em Up: Most of their abilities, with some rune variants changing damage types to non-holy changing the look away from this trope. The biggest one in the Crusader's repertoire is their Heaven's Fury ability which summon a large beam of light straight from the sky to copiously smite the enemies nearby where the beam connects to the ground.
Light Is Good: The Crusader's easily one of the most openly noble heroes, making their use of holy-based powers rather fitting.
Lightning Bruiser: The Crusader has been described as a war-machine made human, and being so heavily armored as to be considered an immovable object. The One-Handed Zweihänder passive skill below reinforces this, and originally applied a movement speed penalty, leaning the class into Mighty Glacier territory. A recent patch removed the movement cap associated with the passive, turning the Crusader into a class able to wield a 2-handed weapon, a towering shield, and full plate armor simultaneously while moving just as quickly as any other class. If the player makes use of abilities like Shield Bash and Steed Charge, they can use all the aforementioned heavy equipment, while simultaneously being faster than most other classes.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Heavily specialized in the use of shields, even more so than the Paladin.
Magic Knight: One of the more traditional examples in the game, the Crusader boasts an impressive array of weaponry, an enormous shield, and hardened plate armor, yet still has a significant number of ranged and melee spell-like abilities such as calling down pillars of light and fire, and is empowered with Light to strengthen both attacks and defenses. Helps to differentiate them from the Barbarian class which is far more direct in approach, the Crusader tends to fair better at mid-range though no less capable up close if alone.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: An unfortunate and inevitable part of being a Crusader. An apprentice can become a full fledged Crusader only by inheriting the name and the armor of their Master who died in combat.
Nice Guy: The Crusader's quite friendly and easygoing when talking with allies, and is often sympathetic whenever they're upset.
One-Handed Zweihänder: The Heavenly Strength passive skill allows the Crusader to wield a two-handed weapon in one hand and a shield in the other.
The Paladin: The Crusader is a Paladin devoted to the search for a way to cleanse the faith of Zakarum. Even when they learn that the root cause of the corruption (Mephisto) has already been dealt with, their mission is not ended, as they believe that the quest still has importance.
Practical Taunt: The Provoke ability does this, taunting enemies around you to attack you for a short duration in addition to generating some Wrath, with more for more enemies affected by it.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: During the mini-introduction to one of the game's larger enemies, the Colossal Golgor, the character comes upon three shaman who summon in a beast with gory effect. All the other classes will comment in dismay on the horror of the ritual or its "evilness" as the beast bursts in and begins to attack. The Crusader?
"Ah. Finally, a challenge."
The Quiet One: Compared with the other classes, the Crusader doesn't waste words and speaks with the greatest succinctness (and politeness). They also have a penchant for understatement, for instance reacting to news that Demon Lord Belial has taken over Caldeum by promising to "have words with him".
Running Gag: On a related note, the Crusader tends to use "having words"◊ with someone as a euphemism for killing them.
Screw Destiny: When the Archangel of Fate himself tells the Crusader that the Scroll of Fate decrees that Diablo is destined to win and the High Heavens will fall, their only response is "Ah. Then the Scroll is wrong."
Seeker Archetype: They seek to find and destroy the corruption within the Zakarum church. Even with Mephisto dead, their quest continues, as they believe the quest itself has importance.
Seen It All: Though all of the heroes display this to some effect, the Crusaders in particular ooze this with very few exceptions; likely done on purpose, since the Crusader was added via an expansion and chances are likely that a greater majority of the players will have already gone through the game repeatedly by the time Reaper of Souls had been released. In-universe, the Crusaders likely traveled far more than the other classes in the pursuit of their crusade.
Shield Bash: The Crusader doesn't just use their shields to defend themselves, but also uses them to bash in the heads of their foes.
Spontaneous Weapon Creation: The Crusader is capable of conjuring hammers infused with holy magic, which they either throw straight at their foes or send spinning around themselves in a circular pattern to hit every foe in its path.
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: A quest in Diablo IV follows a Zakarum Crusader apprentice attempting to retrieve her mentor's armor. Said mentor is revealed to have been named Johanna, though it's not clear whether this Johanna is the same crusader from Diablo III, or one of her successors even as Crusaders pass their names to their apprentice.
Smarter Than You Look: The male Crusader looks very much like a stereotypical (thickly-canned) meathead fanatic, much like the game's resident naive, blinkered Knight Templar, Kormac. In truth, they're a Cultured Badass Deadpan Snarker who's amongst the most perceptive and level-headed player characters.
Summon Magic: The Crusader has the ability to summon a magical horse to ride or a group of soldiers to charge their foes.
Superior Successor: The Crusader is this to the Paladin. they are explicitly taught secrets of the Light that the Paladins never knew, they can supercharge their auras for a time, and they are Lightning Bruisers rather than Stone Walls.
Super Mode: Akarat's Champion allows the Crusader to transform into a powerful avatar of holy might.
Take Up My Sword: Every Crusader living the present time of the Diablo universe is the latest of a long line of apprentices that took up their mentor's equipment and adopted their name to continue the crusade.
Throwing Your Shield Always Works: The Crusader can hurl their shield that ricochets to nearby enemies, similar to the Sorceress's Chain Lightning and Wizard's Electrocute.
Tranquil Fury: Most of the time, the Crusader will maintain a calm attitude, even when it's clear that they're absolutely livid.
Understatement: Whenever they have a target to kill, their journal often states that they intend to "have words" with them.
Walking the Earth: The Crusader order's modus operandi is their crusade, wandering the planet doing good deeds in the hope of somehow finding a way to cleanse the Zakarum's corruption along the way. The Player Character Crusader freely states they doubt they'll be the one to succeed in the order's quest and fully expects to die on the road undertaking it.

Necromancer

"All that grows must also wither and die. All dies and rots, and will then nourish the living. This is the Great Cycle of Being."

Voiced by: Ioan Gruffudd (male), Eliza Jane Schneider (female)

A character introduced in June 2017 in their own standalone "Rise of the Necromancer Pack," the Necromancer is a Priest of Rathma, like the Necromancer of Diablo II. As such, the Necromancer is dedicated to maintaining "Balance" in the cycle of life and death. Their unique weapon is the scythe, and their primary resource is Essence. Essence doesn't regenerate on its own, but it can be replenished by using certain skills in combat, and some of their skills use Life instead of Essence.

And Show It to You: Several of the Necromancer's class-specific offhand items take the form of a desiccated human heart. Who the heart previously belonged to is not addressed.
Bad Powers, Good People: Just like the Witch Doctor, the Necromancer deals in horrific and gruesome magic, dealing with bone, blood, poison, and corpses which they can consume or blow up, but they are still a heroic individual.
Balance Between Good and Evil: While the Necromancer believes good should triumph over evil, it shouldn't always win, lest good turn on itself. The reason they oppose Diablo and the Lords of Hell is because, with them around, the Balance has been chaotically thrown off.
Blood Magic: One of their focuses. They can drain blood from their foes and make some of their skills more powerful by adding a Life cost to them. The Trag'Oul set removes the Essence cost from any skills that cost Life, and also greatly boosts healing to let them spam their blood spells some more.
Cast from Hit Points: Their Blood spells cost Life instead of Essence. Certain skills may alleviate or dispel the cost, however.
The Comically Serious: Unlike the other player characters, the Necromancer tends not to crack their own jokes, and instead simply reacts to the World of Snark around them.
Leah: When this is over, I could open my own little inn somewhere. If I live.
Necromancer: That would suit you.
Leah: Well, if you ever want a job, I will consider your credentials.
Necromancer: ...hm.
Dark Is Not Evil: Even more so than the Witch Doctor. The Necromancer summons the dead, uses spells with their own blood, uses Sinister Scythes as a weapon, and is generally very broody. That said, they're still just as heroic as any of the other classes.
Death of a Thousand Cuts: Their Curse spells function this way, doing damage and/or causing debilitating status effects. It's not quite on-par with the Witch Doctor, as between the two the Necromancer prefers to whack the enemy hard for direct damage...or have their minions do the job for them.
Flesh Golem: One of their minions. "Flesh Golem" is actually a Rune augment for it that causes it to spawn an extra 3 Corpses when ordered to tactically kill itself. A certain pair of shoes also causes it to periodically shed Corpses.
Good Needs Evil: A firm believer in this. While the Priests of Rathma (aka the necromancer cult) believe that good should weaken evil, it should never entirely eliminate evil. Considering that a bunch of reaper-angels go nuts on the human race after Diablo's defeat, they may have a point.
Glass Cannon: Using the Blood skills will make the Necromancer into one of these, capable of dealing massive amounts of damage in exchange for spending their Life to do it.
Hero with Bad Publicity: According to some of the Necromancer's comments, the Priests of Rathma aren't very popular with regular people to the point where the female Necromancer is honestly surprised when a mother in Bastion's keep wants to entrust her children to her.
Instant Armor: Their Bone Armor skill is generated by sucking up random bones from their enemies to create armor on top of whatever they're already wearing.
Jack of All Stats: Or rather Jack of All Skills. Between their moves and the minions they summon, the Necromancer is an incredibly versatile class. With a scythe-attack, the passive that makes them tougher for having no minions and corpse-devouring they become one of the tankiest melee classes, for example. They even unlock a turret-like skill as early as level 5, though it pales in comparison to the Demon Hunter's.
Knight in Sour Armor: Very blunt, very broody, and almost no sense of humor to speak of. That said, they're still using their dark arts to save the world, and absolutely fighting for the good guys.
Lovecraftian Superpower: Quite a number of their spells use their own blood, flesh and bones. For instance, Blood Lance not only uses the bones in an enemy corpse to impale another enemy, but also uses the Necromancer's own blood; fittingly, it also has an added health cost.
Mechanically Unusual Class: Unlike the other classes' primary resources, the Necromancer's Essence is completely inert outside of skill usage and can never be made to regenerate over time. The Necromancer can also make use of enemy corpses as an auxiliary resource to fuel certain skills, and many skills can consume health to increase their damage.
The Minion Master: Like the Necromancer from II, he can summon up a small army of skeletons or one very big golem to mash his enemies. Unlike the old Necromancer, the golem and skeleton warriors are auto-generated at no cost (and the skeleton mages/archers are basically a special attack). Instead the Essence cost is for commanding them to do their special attack on the enemy.
My God, What Have I Done?: The Necromancer's journal reveals they take Diablo's resurrection very hard, wondering if they are at fault due to a lack of training. Even after defeating Diablo the Necromancer worries if they can be forgiven.
Mystical White Hair: The Necromancer's hair is white, likely due to overexposure to necromantic magic and/or lack of sunlight. A short comic shows a Necromancer taking a young girl as his apprentice, and as she studies with him over the years, it eventually turns white.
Necromancer: Duh. They raise the dead to do their bidding, or use said dead as weapons.
Nightmare Fetishist:
- Subdued example: unlike the townsfolk of New Tristram the Necromancer is able to see that, underneath the bile and pus, the Wretched Mothers still have the souls of the beautiful handmaidens they once were.
- Most classes are perturbed by the Repository of Bones and Plague Tunnels in Westmarch, where the bodies of the city's many plague victims were dumped. Not the Necromancer.
  Necromancer: An ossuary? Delightful. (Repository of Bones)
  Necromander: What interesting bones. (Plague Tunnels)
Not So Stoic: The Necromancer is probably the only Nephalem of the main group who seems to have any kind of chill regarding Adria, seeing the quest to take her down as more of a means to keep her from obtaining the Black Soulstone than avenging Leah's death. But come the actual confrontation, the Necromancer speaks her name in utter fury (whereas the other classes coldly say her name, the Necromancer outright shouts "ADRIA!!!"), and coldly states that "Angels and demons will not kill you — I will," revealing that the Necromancer is just as utterly furious with Adria about what she's done and what she's doing as the other Nephalem, if not more.
Not Afraid to Die: Needless to say, given their relationship with it, the Necromancer sees death as a valuable part of the Balance and not as something that should be feared.
Quantity vs. Quality: Easily beats the Witch Doctor in the quantity of minions he can have, and the rate they can be summoned. The drawback is that the minions of the necromancer don't last nearly as long.
The Quiet One: Compared to NPCs and other classes, the Necromancer is far more blunt and taciturn, saying what needs to be said and little more.
Sinister Scythe: Their signature weapon.
Statuesque Stunner: The female Necromancer is the second tallest of the female classes at 5'10", just below the female Barbarian.
Stuff Blowing Up: They can blow up the corpses of fallen enemies with the Exploding Corpses skill.
Summon Magic: Topping the Witch Doctor in terms of number and variety of minions and the frequency in which they can be deployed, the Necromancer is able to overrun even large groups of enemies with their summons. The downside is that these minions do not last nearly as long as the Witch Doctor's, either in direct combat or just for duration of time.
Tranquil Fury: Make no mistake, the Necromancer is just as furious at Adria as the other Nephalem, perhaps even more so. They just keep it very well controlled, and is ready to slaughter her after they find out where Malthael is.

Diablo IV Character Classes/The Wanderer

Tropes applying to all classes

Character Customization: Like in Diablo Immortal, the player can customize their character's physical appearance beyond their gender and outfit.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: The Wanderer is always willing to help against the darkness of the world. When told of the evil in the ruins of Nevesk, despite having just come close to freezing to death, they immediately set out to purge the evil. Even when they learn of their new connection to Lilith and the danger of losing their soul to her corruption, they quickly decide to use this connection to hunt down Lilith and protect Sanctuary from her.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Unlike their Nephalem predecessor who was always exceptional even before awakening their power, the Wanderer starts as a skilled, but relatively unremarkable example of their respective class. Instead of coming to seek out the cause of the coming battle between angelic and demonic forces and guided by Tyrael himself, they ended up involved by stumbling onto demonic activities by pure chance and are left with no choice but to see their quest through with no supernatural guidance. Well, almost none. The Bloodied Wolf who helps them get to safety is later revealed to be Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, engaging in some Pragmatic Villainy by singling out the Wanderer as his best choice to stop Lilith from wiping out humanity.
The Corruption: After the prologue mission, they are involuntarily fed a dosage of Lilith's blood by her cultists in preparation to use them as a Human Sacrifice to their "goddess". They're rescued before the sacrifice could go through, but consuming the blood links them to Lilith and threatens to turn them into another of her brainwashed servants. Their only hope of salvation is to find and kill Lilith before their tainted blood takes over completely.
Enemy Mine: They are aided by Mephisto in the battle against Lilith. They aren't at all happy about it, but reluctantly agree as they had no chance of saving Sanctuary from Lilith and Inarius otherwise.
Faustian Rebellion: They are tainted with the blood of Lilith. While this threatens to subvert them to her will, they can use their link to her demonic power as a tool in their quest to defeat her.
Hero with Bad Publicity: By the end of the main quest, the Church of Light declares them public enemy #1 after Prava accuses them of having left Inarius to die in Hell.
Heroic Willpower: They spend most of the main campaign of Diablo IV working to resist the influence of Lilith. Even when Lilith traps them in a psychological dungeon, they retain enough of their will to defy her attempts to turn them to her side long enough to allow Mephisto to grant them the power to free themselves and return to reality.
One-Man Army: As expected of a Diablo player character, all are more than capable of obliterating scores of demons on their own.
Psychic Link: They're bound to Lilith mentally and occasionally see visions of her memories. They use these visions as a source of intel to learn of Lilith's activities. Unfortunately for them, the link goes both ways, letting Lilith manipulate their perceptions and even trap them in their own minds.
Right Man in the Wrong Place: Unlike the heroes of the previous games, who Jumped at the Call to right whatever wrongs are plaguing Sanctuary, the Wanderer is just that; a random vagabond who travels into the region near Nevesk and nearly freezes to death after their horse is killed by demons. They end up a key part of the hunt for Lilith thanks to ingesting some of her blood but holding onto themself and become the best hope of stopping her. Even then, the only reason they're alive at all is thanks to Mephisto's aid. It's implied that he was the one who orchestrated the "accident" that got them involved with Lilith and guided them along their journey purely so he could have an agent he could use to stop Lilith for him.
Touched by Vorlons: While ingesting Lilith's blood is mostly a form of The Corruption there is an actual benefitable side effect as seen in the Season Of Blood. While never said outright it is heavily implied Lilith's blood prevents the vampiric curse from fully taking you over which means you get all the power, but none of the downsides. A quest line added in Season of Blood sees a Monk try to purge the blood fully from your body...with not so successful results, again we get hints that Lilith's blood has some unknown effects on you even after her death.
Unwitting Pawn: Mephisto guided their journey from the beginning. Each major step of the way, he nudged events to ensure that they would have no choice but to confront Lilith and either seal her and leave him free or kill her and transport his essence into Sanctuary. Near the end of the main plot, he outright admits to manipulating the Wander as he knows they have no options left but to accept his aid.

Barbarian

"Will no one challenge me?!"

Voiced by: Ray Chase (male), Laila Berzins (female)

Powerful warriors who rely on brute force to subdue their enemies. Barbarians are able to swap between an array of powerful weapons during combat, ensuring that they are prepared for any situation.

Barbarian Hero: The Barbarian continues the proud warrior legacy of their ancestors.
The Berserker: Barbarians have a unique status effect called Berserking which gives them a massive damage and movement speed increase.
Chain Pain: "Iron Maelstrom" has the Barbarian attach chains to their weapons and lash out at the enemy in a three-part combo.
Culture Chop Suey: The Barbarian's armor options mix typical Viking outfits with Crusades-era Middle Eastern-flavored options.
Damage Over Time: The Barbarian has several skills dedicated to inflicting enemies with the Bleed status that reduces their health by small margins over time.
Draw Aggro: "Challenging Shout" Taunts nearby enemies into attacking the Barbarian, but also inflicts them with Damage Reduction.
Dual Wielding: Like previous iterations, a Barbarian can dual-wield weapons in combat.
In a Single Bound: "Leap" sends the Barbarian hurtling forward, knocking enemies away and damaging them upon impact.
Punched Across the Room: "Kick" is a Skill that knocks an enemy away from the Barbarian, taking extra damage if they're kicked into part of the terrain.
Shockwave Stomp: "Ground Stomp" has the Barbarian slam the ground with one leg to damage and Stun nearby enemies.
Spin Attack: "Whirlwind" is the Barbarian's iconic spin attack, slowing moving forward while spinning with any weapon available out.
Status Buff:
- "Rallying Cry" increases the Barbarian's movement speed and resource generation while also granting some resource generation to nearby allies.
- "War Cry" increases damage dealt by the Barbarian and nearby allies.
Summon Magic: "Call of the Ancients" is an Ultimate skill that summons the three Ancients of Mt. Arreat to fight at the Barbarian's side.
Super Mode: "Wrath of the Berserker" is an Ultimate skill that turns the Barbarian into a flaming monster, granting increased attack strength and speed for a short period of time.
Super-Scream: Shouts are a specific set of Skills that grant Status Buffs to allies or Status Effects to enemies.
Walking Armory: The Barbarian carries four weapons at all times; two one-handed weapons for Dual Wielding, a two-handed bludgeoning weapon, and a two-handed slashing weapon. Most of the Barbarian's Skills require or gain bonuses from one of the three weapon types.
You Will Not Evade Me: "Steel Grasp" has the Barbarian throw out three hooked chains toward the enemy and pull them closer upon contact.

Druid

"The beast dwells within you."

Voiced by: Andrew Morgado (male), Courtenay Taylor (female)

Flexible and resilient, Druids harness the power of Nature to protect life. Druids can Shapeshift between the cunning Werewolf and the powerful Werebear to fight their enemies. Additionally, those who prefer spellcasting can unleash Earth and Storm magic from a distance.

Animorphism: The Druid can take the form of a werewolf or werebear and have a dedicated suite of skills to suit both forms.
The Beastmaster: Companion skills summon animals to the Druid's side in combat. The Companions are a murder of Ravens, two Wolves, and a vine called a Poison Creeper.
Critical Hit Class: Werewolf form benefits from critting, with bonuses like being able to increase their crit damage or getting a bit of Life Drain on a successful crit. They can get further talents that assist in this, like one that guarantees every fifth Werewolf attack will crit and another that makes the first hit of their ultimate ability "Lacerate" always crit.
Crown of Horns: Druid headgear often includes animal horns or antlers as decoration.
Green Thumb: Downplayed, but the Druid can summon a Poison Creeper, a sentient vine that can poison and strangle enemies.
Dishing Out Dirt: One of the two forms the Druid's Nature Magic can take is Earth-based spells, which have the chance to deal Crushing Blows.
Foe-Tossing Charge: One of their abilities is "Trample", which has them shapeshift into a Werebear and charge forward, knocking aside any enemies in their path. Foes that are knocked into walls take extra damage and are stunned.
Jack of All Trades: The Druid has skills that let them fill any style of combat; Werebear for heavy physical combat like Barbarians, Werewolf for swift melee strikes like Rogues, Nature magic for ranged combat like Sorcerers, and Companion skills for minions like a Necromancer.
Multiform Balance: Each of the Druid's forms have different strengths and weaknesses. Werebear is a Mighty Glacier with lots of crowd control and bonus health, Werewolf is a Glass Cannon group-attacker that drains life and poisons enemies, while any of the human builds are Squishy Wizards with superior range.
Nature Hero: The druid is a wielder of nature magic and protector of the natural world. When the villagers of Nevesk ask the Wanderer to save them from the evil in the nearby ruins, the other classes remark that no one should live in fear when offering their aid. The Druid remarks that the demons in the ruins upset the balance of nature, showing their primary concern.
Perpetually Protean: Mixing together abilities from the different forms will allow you to shift between forms on command. There are even talents that reward playing like this, with one restoring a bit of Spirit every time you shapeshift and another giving different bonuses for remaining in Werebear or Werewolf form, which will carry over between forms if you continue shifting.
Poisonous Person: The Werewolf skills can be upgraded to inflict poison on enemies with their claws and teeth.
Shapeshifter Default Form: Druids will always return to human form after not using any transformation attacks for a few seconds, and will instantly turn back upon using any non-transformation attack.
Spell Blade: "Storm Strike" charge's the Druid's weapon with electricity. Strikes with the weapon cause lightning to arc and hit nearby enemies as well.
Taken for Granite: "Petrify" is an Ultimate skill that traps all nearby enemies in stone for a few seconds. Petrified enemies take more critical hit damage when struck.
Weapon-Based Characterization: The Druid can use only use weapons like clubs, staves and axes, fitting with their primal nature.
Weather Manipulation: One of the two forms the Druid's Nature Magic can take is Storm Magic, which manifests as gusts of wind and bolts of lightning.

Necromancer

"Your death comes."

Voiced by: Jesse Burch (male), Elle Newlands (female)

The enigmatic Necromancers are custodians of the balance between life and death. They can raise powerful undead armies to fight for them while also wielding the powerful magics of Bone, Shadow, and Blood.

Bad with the Bone: Bone skills weaponize bones as projectiles or create cages to trap enemies within.
Blood Magic: They have an entire skill tree dedicated to spells using Blood.
Casting a Shadow: Darkness magic is one of the areas of specialty for a Necromancer, either creating necrotic energy to Make Them Rot or creating duplicates of weapons or even the self to attack for you.
Combat Tentacles: "Corpse Tendrils" makes the veins of nearby corpses come to life and drag nearby enemies towards them.
Elemental Shapeshifter: "Blood Mist" turns the Necromancer into a sanguine vapor that can pass through enemies, harming them in flight.
Life Drain: Several of the Nercromancer's Blood skills grant extra life when they damage enemies.
Ludicrous Gibs: Weaponized with "Corpse Explosion", which causes nearby corpses to explode into a bloody mess that damages nearby enemies.
Make Them Rot: "Decompose" and "Blight" are Darkness skills that erode the victim from within. "Decompose" is a channeled beam while "Blight" is a projectile that leaves behind a damaging area.
The Minion Master: They can summon an army of Skeleton Warriors, Skeleton Mages, and Golems to aid them in battle.
Necromancer: To protect the balance of life and death, Necromancers can manipulate the forces of death through bones, blood, and darkness magic.
Sinister Scythe: They retain this as their signature class-specific weapon from Diablo III.
Status Effects: Necromancers have two Curse skills to inflict debuffs on enemies. "Iron Maiden" injures a victim every time they attack and "Decrepify" slows the victim and makes them do less damage.

Rogue

"I'll make this quick... but not painless."

Voiced by: Anders Williams (male), Anna Koval (female)

The cunning Rogue uses whatever tools are available to get the job done. Rogues are both agile and resourceful, able to fight enemies at range with Bows, or up close with Daggers. They are also able to Imbue their weapons with various Magics.

Blade Spam: "Flurry" is a quick series of four attacks that cut into anyone in front of the Rogue.
Bow and Sword in Accord: Rogues can alternate between ranged weapons and melee weapons as they choose.
Devious Daggers: The unscrupulous Rogue's signature melee weapon is a pair of daggers.
Doppleganger Attack: "Shadow Clone" creates a copy of the Rogue to fight at their side for fifteen seconds.
Dual Wielding: Rogues can dual-wield swords and daggers.
Flash Step: "Shadow Step" has the Rogue quickly rush behind their target and stab them In the Back.
Homing Projectile: "Heartseeker" shoots an arrow that seeks out the target to hit. "Primary Heartseeker" upgrades it to home in on an additional target after the first hit.
Intangibility: Downplayed. "Blade Shift" allows the Rogue to pass through enemies as if they weren't there, but won't protect them from harm on its own.
Multishot: "Barrage" fires a wave of five Pinball Projectiles.
Pinball Projectile: "Barrage" is a shot of five arrows that can ricochet off of the surroundings to continue hitting enemies.
Rain of Arrows: "Rain of Arrows" is an Ultimate Skill that fires two waves of raining arrows down on the enemies.
Smoke Out: "Smoke Grenade" is a bomb the Rogue can use to leave a group of enemies Dazed.
Spell Blade: The Infused Weapon set of abilities will coat the Rogue's weapons in shadow magic, cold magic, or poison.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works:
- "Puncture" has the Rogue throwing their bladed weapons as a Basic Skill. Every third throw or Critical Strike Slows the victim.
- "Twisting Blades" throws a copy of the Rogue's melee weapons into an enemy. After 1.5 seconds, the blades rip out of the target and return to the Rogue, cutting into others as they fly.
Trap Master: The Rogue inherits the suite of trap-based attacks from the Demon Hunter and Assassin, allowing them to plant poisonous mines, caltrops, and smoke grenades.
Walking Armory: The Rogue carries two bladed weapons at their hips, a bow or crossbow on their back, and a hidden collection of traps and explosives on their person.

Sorcerer

"Your screams will reveal the agony you suffer!"

Voiced by: Joseph Balderrama (male), Maya Soroya (female)

Masters of the elements, Sorcerers inflict Cold, Fire, and Lightning damage to subdue their enemies.

Elemental Shapeshifter: "Teleport" briefly turns the Sorcerer into lightning to travel to a new location, damaging any enemies at the point of teleportation.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Their entire arsenal of spells is based around one of these three elements. Unlike the Wizard from Diablo III, they do not dabble in the forbidden Arcane magic.
Glass Cannon: Described as a "high risk, high reward" style of hero, being capable of dishing out formidable damage while also being fragile. There is even a perk on the skill tree that references the trope by name and gives you the ability to do even more damage but at the cost of taking more as well.
Meteor-Summoning Attack: They can summon meteors and blizzards to rain death upon their enemies.
Shaping Your Attacks: "Inferno" is an Ultimate Skill that conjures a giant snake made of fire.
Squishy Wizard: Toughness is not the Sorcerer/ess' strong suit. That said there are many tools, spells, and special items that can help mitigate the squishiness of your character by placing multiple levels of barriers that one would have to get through before they can even touch your life points.
Wreathed in Flames: "Flame Shield" briefly engulfs the Sorcerer in fire, damaging any nearby enemies.

Characters / Diablo: Character Classes

Diablo Character Classes

Prince Aidan (The Dark Wanderer)

Moreina (Blood Raven)

Sorcerer (Jazreth, then the Summoner)

Diablo: Hellfire Character Classes

Diablo II Character Classes

Amazon (Cassia)

Assassin

Barbarian

Druid

Necromancer (Xul)

Paladin (Marshall Carthas)

Sorceress (Isendra)

Diablo III Player Characters/The Nephalem

Barbarian

Demon Hunter

Monk

Witch Doctor

Wizard

Crusader

Necromancer

Diablo IV Character Classes/The Wanderer

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Characters / Diablo: Character Classes

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Diablo Character Classes

Prince Aidan (The Dark Wanderer)

Moreina (Blood Raven)

Sorcerer (Jazreth, then the Summoner)

Diablo: Hellfire Character Classes

Diablo II Character Classes

Amazon (Cassia)

Necromancer (Xul)

Paladin (Marshall Carthas)

Sorceress (Isendra)

Diablo III Player Characters/The Nephalem

Diablo IV Character Classes/The Wanderer

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