Diablo 2 Gets Awesome New Class Thanks To Biggest Update Since 2010

We had the chance to visit the Blizzard campus in Irvine, California, recently, and test out a new content drop for the Diablo series. Assuming it was Diablo 4-related, little did we know that it would be a shocker of a reveal.

That’s right, Diablo 2: Resurrected is getting a massive update soon, and it’s not just quality of life changes. We’re getting a brand-new class: the Warlock.

Diablo 2 Is Getting The Warlock Class

I Know, It’s A Surprise

Starting today, on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch platforms, the Warlock will be introduced to Diablo 2: Resurrected. We had the chance to play the Warlock with a hands-on session, and I walked away impressed. The team managed to thread the needle by creating a classthat is true to Diablo 2 without making it “too modern” or betraying the original game’s intent.

According to a Blizzard rep we talked to on site, you cannot use the “legacy mode” toggle when playing as the Warlock, and you can only utilize the “modern” aesthetic.

As a big fan of the Necromancer class, I asked Tim Vasconcellos, Game Designer for Diablo 2: Resurrected, how Blizzard managed to craft the Warlock without stepping on the Necro’s (or even the Druid’s) toes: “So I can’t tell you how many meetings we said like, how the hell can we make this thing different? But we landed up. We started this process by saying, ‘Okay, we’ll give them only one pet, and they can’t have multiple pets.’ So it’s not like an army, like you have the Necromancer or the Druid.”

There’s more than just a lack of an army, though: “We ended up iterating on that because it was too constraining, so we limited it to only three active demons. But you can mix and match those, and that feels really good, at least from my perspective, to be able to limit the size and also interchange the composition in your gameplay. Today, you’ll be able to basically find only one demon. So you can pick any demon in the game, but you only have one of those, where you can summon one of three demons, or three of three demons, right? Or any combination of one or three of those.”

He goes on: “So you have a Goat Man who’s, you know, your tanky melee kind of like choice. You have a tainted who we changed slightly, not spitting lightning balls, but now spits fireballs and offers some defensive utility in that space to give you a kind of fire resistance. And then we have the Defiler, who offers a utility function. He doesn’t attack at all. It just spreads this sort of curse on people that allows you to kind of spread your damage out across the battle space. It’s a sticking point; I’m curious whether our design intent achieves that goal, but we considered it and tried to intentionally address it.”

The team also made a concerted effort to keep the Warlock’s balance in check, though that will ultimately be up for the community to decide on launch: “I mean, this is the case with any, I think, new class across any game, right? There’s a bit of unintentional overbalancing, and people like you may need to pull it back slightly. But I think about whether the balance is just right, and we hit that mark. There’s also something you have to consider: this is the first class in 25 years. The leaderboard will see a lot of warlocks. Like, there’s no avoiding that.”

Blizzard seems to be taking the lore seriously as well, as Vasconcellos chimed in and described the Warlock in one sentence: “To me, the Warlock is somebody who’s spent their whole life studying demons. It’s like an idealist, a scholar, right, who’s seeing the world kind of descend into madness with the return of the Prime Evils, and is willing to tarnish their soul to make a difference. He says, I’m going to use the tools that were forbidden to fix this problem.”

This is reflected in the Warlock’s personality and moveset, which has a “possibly going too far” vibe that a lot of players are going to naturally resonate with in an ARPG. It’s a compelling theme that sets them apart fromother classic classes in Diablo 2.

Vasconcellos elaborated on this a bit with us: “The way that he fights is with his will. And so being able to summon versus bind, like we’ve put the bind demon at the bottom of the tree to kind of also help, kind of communicate that class fantasy. So you’re going to start by summoning demons, because it’s easier to bring them into this world from hell and control them that way, versus when they’re already here and established.”

Chatting With The Warlock Himself, Rahul Kohli

He Brought A Lot To The Role

After playing the Warlock, we had the chance to chat with actor Rahul Kohli (The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, iZombie), who will be stepping into the role. According to Kohli, he was even surprised at the reveal of a new Diablo 2 class:

“I was aware of Diablo since I was a kid. My first time playing it was Diablo 3 when that came to consoles. I think the demo first came out, and I gave it a go, because I’ve never tried a Diablo, but was very aware of the series. Immediately loved it was there, immediately when it came out. And, yeah, been following the series since, and then just got a random text one evening…I got a random text from Rod Ferguson, who I had worked with on Gears of War. He had cast me in Gears, and it was my first ever video game, and it said something like, ‘do you not want to do Diablo then?’ And I was like, ‘what’s happening?’ And he said my team hadn’t responded yet. So I got back my team, and was like, what’s happening. Why are we sitting on this? And they showed me the email, and it was an offer for Diablo 2, which, at the time I thought was a typo.”

I’d say that voice acting in video games has made me a better screen actor, and I noticed it happening live when I did my first game.

Kohli had a specific process in mind to embody this character, which was different from a lot of other voice actors I’ve interviewed in the past: “So with the Warlock, you know, they sent me the concept art, and it’s in an image of them, I immediately, you know, wanted to affect my voice, just to make sure it had nothing to do with me. I really don’t want audiences to just go, ‘Oh, it’s him.’ So, yeah. So I stay out of that as much as I can. I try not to relate on any level, and just try to completely embody whoever it is I’m being asked to play.”

Fascinatingly, he elaborates on his process quite a bit, as I shifted to conversation to his live action roles, and if he’s gleaned anything from his prior experience for voice roles: “I’d say that I think screen acting has had very little impact. I’d say that voice acting in video games has made me a better screen actor, and I noticed it happening live when I did my first game. I was also filming iZombie at the time. So you have your line, and you would just give an ABC, and then the director would hear it and say, is that you could actually take a little bit of the beginning of A, we mainly keep B, but add that C. Can you strip that, put that together, that level of precision that’s expected of you, being able to give that variety, being able to then mishmash it and do that on the fly with very little context. You know, with film and TV, I’m given such time, and I can sit with the script for a week or two or a month, whatever game, video games, I think, are far more difficult. You are making so many choices on the fly and having to be so technical and so precise, but then also giving so much because it’s also heightened with so much emotion and gravitas.”

He continues: “I felt that while I was going, I was doing a session, and then the next day I’d be at work, I could now bring those ABCs down to my performance. I was doing it there, and then I was able to, now, all of a sudden, say the same line in different ways on the fly. So I felt that really, really helped. I will say, like, one of the great things about gaming, which naturally works for me anyway, was when you join a project, when you join a video game, there tends to be concept art, character models, some form. There’s something tangible, there’s something there already, rather than just a pitch, by the time an actor is involved anyway, and being able to look your character in the eyes before you’ve played them is super handy. There are already just these instincts that come to you about who they are, what they sound like. You already know what’s wrong. You know that they won’t sound like this, and that’s already helped you. Actors are just detectives. You’re just following clues as to who this person is.”

With film and TV, I’m given such time, and I can sit with the script for a week or two or a month. Video games, I think, are far more difficult.

According to Kohli, the voice director at Blizzard also helped set him up for success: “So she [voiceover director Andrea Toyias] had playback music in my ear, and she went to a lot of effort to create a very dark, Gothic Diablo session. She even told me once, I think, that in other recording sessions, they’d lit candles for other voice actors. And to really give it a Diablo feel, that was my experience. Yeah, so it really set the tone.”

Now that the hard work is done, if you’re looking for streams to watch, Kohli has plans for the launch of the Warlock: “I love Diablo, so I’m playing it regardless of who…the voice of the Warlock is. We’re actually planning on jumping in on the day, as soon as it’s available in streaming it, that’s awesome. So, yeah, we’ll be there so I can hear [my partner’s] reaction as well, because she hasn’t heard it yet.”

Shockingly, Diablo 2 Isn’t Done Yet

This Was Hard To Predict

It’s not just the Warlock that’s coming to Diablo 2: Resurrected. Enhanced terror zones are coming, which will “terrorize” specific zones by tuning up their difficulty and rewards. While playing in Hell mode, you can find Heralds of Terror, which are enemy mobs that stalk the player and get more dangerous over time.

Fascinatingly, conquering these Heralds will sometimes provide “mystical statues,” of which there are five. If you place them in the Horadric Cube and combine them, you can take on the Colossal Ancients: a reworked superboss battle against the Act V Ancients group boss.

We had a chance to play against the Colossal Ancients with a pre-created character, and it was extremely hectic. Taking down each Ancient will, in turn, power up the others to an even greater degree, so it’s appropriately stressful and challenging. I immediately wanted to go play it again with one of my characters.

Quality of life updates are also coming, including loot filters, stash tabs, and a new collection system. Loot filters will not require external mods, but Vasconcellos confirmed that those mods will still work if you want: “People can decide whether they want to use our loop filter or the one they have the mod with. That’s completely on them, but it’s available to them to choose which one they want.” Stash tabs are now more advanced, and you can stack items in your stash in Diablo 2.

Finally, the “Chronicle” mechanic lets you track everything you’ve collected, including “uniques, sets, and runewords.” According to Blizzard, it tracks “when and where” you found those items. If it works as intended for everyone at launch, it would be a huge accomplishment.

It turns out Diablo 2: Resurrected isn’t done yet. For some, the fun of Diablo 2 never ended, and I know plenty of people (myself included), who have been playing off and on since the year 2000.