BlizzCon 2018 Diablo Immortal World and Q&A Panel Transcript

DIABLO IMMORTAL: CLASSES

Wyatt: Let’s have a look at the classes as well as a sneak peek like we promised in the beginning at some of their abilities. Starting with: Barbarian.

BARBARIAN

Matt: Barbarians. Now, Barbarians have lived on the slopes of Mount Arreat for generations. Their ancestral duty to protect the mountain and the Worldstone that was beneath it. The destruction of the Worldstone, the destruction of Mount Arreat has thrown all that into question. This is a fresh scar still on the Barbarian spirit as they try and find a new purpose, a new sense of identity.

Barbarians are proud warriors and dangerous warriors who like to take the fight up close to their enemies. They harness their fury, charge at them and then unleash it in a savage series of blows.

Wyatt: Let’s have a look at some of the skills in the Barbarians arsenal. Starting with Furious Charge. This is a returning favorite that makes use of Diablo Immortals’ touch controls.

With the ability that aim the skill in different directions, you can direct the Barbarian, tackle multiple enemies in a line. Another returning favorite is Hammer of the Ancients. The Barbarian is a master of melee weaponry; and Hammer of Ancients represents the barbarian’s connection with spiritual ancestors; and by channeling some of that energy can summon a mighty hammer to smash all enemies in front of him.

The Barbarian has been able to throw many things in the past: axes, spears–

Matt: Himself.

Wyatt: …boulders; and in Diablo Immortal, we have a Throw ability that allows you to throw enemies at each other. In Diablo Immortal, you can pick up that annoying Fallen and throw them at his friends.

Matt: At the Shaman.

Wyatt: At the Shaman. That would probably be the best choice. Alright, The Necromancer.

NECROMANCER

Matt: Necromancers. Disciples of Rathma. Necromancer’s represent the thin line between light and darkness. They believe that it is their sacred mission to maintain balance between these opposing forces. As befits their unique mission, Necromancers are willing to use a power that no one else is: control over the dead.

Whether it is raising a skeleton from the ground, or ripping the bones out of a corpse and using them as a projectile, or even using a Necromancer’s own blood to empower themselves. It wouldn’t be a necromancer without the ability to raise skeletons. We loved the way that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls — with the Rise of the Necromancer pack allowed you to direct your skeletons at who to attack next. And so, we’re bringing that functionality into Diablo Immortal.

And the Necromancer is a master of the undead, but also uses corpses as a resource. We love the way Corpse Lance allows you to reap the skeletal structure, the spine out of a fallen foe and hurl those bones at another foes, sometimes killing them and allowing you to use their corpse.

Matt: If you really like doing that circle of death, killing one guy with–

Wyatt: It’s the circle of death. In addition to skeletons and corpses, we also know that the Necromancer is a master of bone. And Skeletal Spikes allows you to rip bones out of the Earth itself and impale enemies from below. Skeletal Spikes, and then user their corpses for Corpse Lance.

CRUSADER

Matt: Crusaders are holy warriors of Akarat. They were first created to remove the taint of Mephisto from the Zakarum faith. They represent honor, goodness and a steadfast devotion to duty. Holy war machines encased in steel, Crusaders are a fearsome sight on the battlefield.

And yet their martial prowess is not the end of it. It is augmented by their faith, which allows them to use the power of the light to strike down at their enemies.

Wyatt: The Crusader uses both melee weapons and shields in combat; and to capture that, we’re bringing back Blessed Shield with a twist.

The Blessed shield can be aimed using Diablo Immortal’s directional aiming, but it damages enemies on the way out and on the way back in; and any enemies who aren’t killed, are pulled towards you. So you can continue to pummel them at point blank range.

Matt: And then kill them.

Wyatt: And then kill them, if they somehow survived the blunt force trauma from the shield. Another skill we’re bringing back is Sweep Attack. Much like the wizard’s Chill Wind, the Sweep Attack allows you to begin… as soon as you press your thumbs down to the skill, you start charging up and swinging your flail, winding it up. You gain damage and range the longer that you hold down your thumb while aiming the skill. And when you have those enemies in your sight, you can simply activate the ability to unleash your fury.

And a new twist on another skill: Falling Sword. So, Falling Sword has been adjusted to be a two-stage ability. The first activation of the ability, you can target a location in the world and that drops the sword in that location and damages enemies in that area. However, when you activate the ability a second time, you come crashing down from above.

You can use other abilities in between the first and second activation. So you can drop your sword, jump on a horse, run around the battlefield, use some extra melee attacks and then activate the ability a second time for your grand finale.

Matt: Or use your horse, drag the guy to the sword, and then jump back in on them.

Wyatt: Right on their head.

Matt: That’s what I’m going to do.

WIZARD

Matt: Wizards. Magic. Yes, wizards.

Wyatt: Wizard fans, you guys are going to like this.

Matt: Magic is a tricky element to master in Sanctuary. This is why it is taught under strict conditions in one of the few magical academies. Wizards, however, have no time for such timidity. They believe that as long as the reward is worth it, the risk does not matter. They show no restraint, be it in their personality or in their magic. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing in style.

Wyatt: The first ability we want to look at today for the wizard is Meteor. Meteor allows you to target at a location for that call down, for that celestial body to fall down and rain destruction on your enemies. We’re bringing back Ray of Frost. Again, it’s an activated ability in two stages. The first stage starts the channel, and the second ends it. We’re going to see a little bit of Ray of Frost in just a little bit.

Another cold skill. This one’s a new one… is Ice Crystal. Also a two-stage ability. The first activation of Ice Crystal allows you to place the ice crystal somewhere on the battlefield. The second activation or when the duration runs out, the crystal explodes sending shards of glass in all directions.

Matt: Why? I kind of said they had style. So, this is great. This feels a little strange, like can you help me out?

Wyatt: We can do something more.

Matt: Okay!

Wyatt: If you want to check out what happens when you combine Ray of frost with Ice Crystal.

Matt: Oooh, cool! That makes me happy. I like that.

Wyatt: It’s pretty fun. So, the first activation you dropped your Ice Crystal on a spot near some enemies, channel-in Ray of Frost which gets fractured by the Ice Crystal in all directions, and follow it up with a final explosion.

Demon Hunters

Matt: Demon Hunters. Yes! So Wyatt told you a little bit about Valla, and Valla’s story mirrors the story of a great many Demon Hunters: tragedy at an early age.

She had a choice to make. There was a moment after this tragedy, a moment so brief that it existed between two breaths, and yet it stretched before her across all eternity. Was she going to give up? Was she going to go on? Valla made the choice that all Demon Hunters make faced with that moment in their life. They choose revenge.

Armed with a variety of range weapons, traps and harnessing ancient shadow magic, Demon Hunters hunt down demons wherever they may be with the singular goal of destroying them. Now Diablo Immortal is a unique time, because this is the moment where the Demon Hunters are beginning to come together to create their order.

Wyatt: Demon Hunters capture both acrobatics, dexterous movement and ranged weaponry. One of her new skills, Daring Swing allows you to reposition yourself from one location on the battlefield to another while shooting from an advantageous position.

Strafe is another skill that really captures that Demon Hunter essence with the ability to have both mobility and range weaponry at the same time.

And Rain of Vengeance captures that sense that the Demon Hunter can fire a cluster of arrows up into the air which then rain down and puncture all enemies in the affected area.

Matt: And you cannot stop using Daring Swings. Did you do these?

Wyatt: Daring swing is super fun. It’s super fun to use.

Monk

Matt: Monks. Holy warriors from the land of Ivgorod. Monks’ strength comes from within. Such is their spirit that they’re able to express it outwardly to either damage their enemies or shield their allies. While monks wield weapons, they’re more than capable of defeating their enemies with their bare hands. In fact, such is their hand-to-hand prowess that they often are able to strike at multiple enemies at the same time, in multiple places.

Nothing captures that sense that the monk is in many places at once quite like Seven-Sided Strike, which many of you have seen in the demo. Seven-Sided Strike allows you to move so fast so as to appear in multiple places at once.

Matt: Saying seven.

Wyatt: One might even say seven.

Matt: One day I will make an Eight-Sided Strike and I’ll be happy.

Wyatt: In Diablo Immortal, the monk also has Kick, but it’s a little bit of an amped up kick. You can use kick off of walls to rebound off of them and hit enemies on the return path. If an enemy is near a wall, you can slap them once with your foot on the way in, rebound off the wall, and kick him in the back of the head on the way back for even more damage.

Matt: And then Seven-sided Strike if anybody is still standing.

Wyatt: And finally, we feel the monk needed a skill that represents the spiritual side of the monk.

Matt: I agree, I agree.

Wyatt: A more transcendent. Imprisoned Fists allows you to hit an enemy in just the right way that you knock their spiritual essence out of their body.

Matt: That is not spiritual.

Wyatt: It’s very spiritual. It’s very Zen.

Matt: That is not Zen.

Wyatt: I find it very relaxing.

Matt: Okay, it might be relaxing.

Wyatt: So there we have it. Those are the six classes in Diablo Immortal with a sneak peek at some of their abilities.

NEXT: DIABLO IMMORTAL: Q&A

DIABLO IMMORTAL WORLD AND Q&A PANEL TRANSCRIPT
1. Story	2. Zones	3. Classes	4. Q&A

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