The Tower and Leaderboards are finally debuting in Diablo 4 Season 11 after being teased in the lead-up to the season’s start back in December. After Leaderboards were removed from the game, along with Diablo 4‘s previous competitive dungeon, The Gauntlet, back in Season 6, players have been waiting for some sort of replacement. Now that The Tower is filling this void, Diablo 4 players are likely looking for the ideal build to reach the top spot on the Leaderboard, and Paladins have a clear best choice.
With the debut of the Paladin in Season 11, the meta of Diablo 4 has shifted dramatically. The previous powerhouse that was the Spiritborn is still a viable option with its fantastic Evade build, but the Paladin has eclipsed the class in terms of build potential. As such, there will likely be a huge push to earn the top spot of the Paladin’s Leaderboard once The Tower is live, and the Auradin will likely be the build to reach this position.
The Tower and Leaderboards are set to go live in beta on January 12, at 11am PST, so Blizzard warns there may be some bugs in the initial experience.
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Diablo 4 Season 11’s Tower Will Be Dominated by Auradin Paladins
While the Paladin has been blessed with several meta builds in Diablo 4 Season 11, the Auradin build has moved to become the best of the bunch. This build is an adaptation of Diablo 2‘s iconic Paladin build that utilizes the passive buffs and damage of the class’s Aura mechanic to deal damage without having to swing a weapon. Since the Paladin is already built to be a tanky, “sword and board” class in Diablo 4, being able to survive an onslaught of enemies while dealing passive damage in return makes the Auradin’s playstyle appealing to many players.
What Makes the Auradin Paladin Build So Strong
- Defiance Aura – 75% Armor and Resistance Increase
- Fanaticism Aura – 12%+ Attack Speed, 4.8%+ Crit Chance, Weakens enemies for 4 seconds
- Holy Light Aura – Deals damage to 3 nearby enemies every 1 second
- Dawnfire Unique Gloves –Holy Light’s passive now deals [150- 300%] Fire Damage every second around you. Each time an enemy dies within this aura, its damage increases by 50%[+] for 15 seconds, up to 10 times.
There are a few key components to the Aurdin build’s success in Diablo 4 Season 11. As the name implies, this build gets the majority of its power from the Paladin’s three Aura skills. Defiance Aura and Fanaticism Aura buff the player’s Armor, Resistances, Attack Speed, and Crit Chance, while debuffing enemies, and Holy Light Aura damages enemies within range of the Paladin. Adding the Dawnfire Unique into the mix changes Holy Light Aura’s damage into Fire damage that scales for each enemy that is killed within the Paladin’s Aura range. As a result, the player can essentially snowball kills to create a powerful ring of death around them that allows them to remain tanky at the same time.
The Tower Seems Made for Auradin Builds to Thrive
In The Tower, players will need to race against the clock to complete the multi-floor dungeon within 10 minutes, using Pylons to gain buffs and increase their score before time runs out. With the release of The Tower in Diablo 4, the game will have a total of 3 time-based dungeons alongside The Pit of the Artificer and the Kurast Undercity. All of these dungeons favor classes that can clear hordes of enemies quickly for the best chance of success. This makes the Auradin the perfect candidate for a Tower powerhouse since it thrives on creating a zone where enemies that enter are quickly melted.
Although the Leaderboards are broken down by class, the Auradin seems primed to hold the top spots for the Paladin’s Leaderboard. Other builds that will likely find spots on their respective classes’ Leaderboards are the Evade Spiritborn and Earthquake Barbarian. Both of these builds emphasize speed and mobility while dealing large AoE damage. Diablo 4 builds that emphasize these features are going to find the most success during the two-week rounds when the Leaderboards are active throughout the season.
- Released
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June 5, 2023
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
