Diablo 5 to launch with record number of classes, director says
Diablo 5 will launch with more playable classes than any earlier Diablo game, game director Joe Shely has said.
Shely set out the plan during a panel at BlizzCon 2026. His comments followed Blizzard's reveal of the game during the show's opening ceremony, with an announced release window of spring 2029, GameSpot.
Three classes are confirmed so far. They are the returning Monk and Demon Hunter, plus the Plague Knight, a new addition to the series. A class, in Diablo terms, is a playable character type with its own weapons, skills and style of fighting.
Blizzard describes the Plague Knight as the embodiment of walking death, a fighter that roams the battlefield spreading disease and pestilence, Blizzard. The detail comes from the company's official article, "Diablo V: Forging the Next Era". The Monk is traditionally a fast, close-range fighter, while the Demon Hunter specialises in bows, crossbows and traps.
Shely said the record roster applies twice over. Diablo 5 will have more classes at launch than any Diablo game, and more classes in total than any Diablo game once later additions are counted. The game is already in full production, IGN.
The panel also clarified what happens next for Diablo 4. Blizzard has revealed the Amazon as a newly announced class for that game. The company confirmed Diablo 4 will not receive new expansions going forward, but will continue to receive new seasonal content, the time-limited updates that add fresh tasks and rewards.
The next update, Season of Hell's Legacy, is scheduled to go live on 15 September. It brings back Deckard Cain, the scholar and storyteller who has guided players since the early games in the series. In this season, Cain tasks players with taking on echoes of the Prime Evils, including Diablo himself.
What makes this stand out is the arithmetic. Diablo games have long grown their rosters after launch, so promising the largest starting line-up and the largest final roster sets two separate tests for Diablo 5 to meet before its announced spring 2029 window.
