With just under two weeks to go in Season 11 of Diablo 4, the unofficial Pit rankings have revealed that the Paladin has been the dominant class throughout the latest season. Paladin players have consistently gone to the highest tiers in the Pit, doing so the quickest. As the newest class in Diablo 4, it makes sense that the Paladin is a little overpowered at the moment, with further balances likely to arrive in the future.
Blizzard is consistently making balance changes to classes in every season of Diablo 4. This ensures the game’s meta remains fresh, and players don’t feel compelled to play the same class season after season. Last season, the Spiritborn was Diablo 4‘s strongest class due to how it combined with Season 10’s Chaos Armor mechanics, but every class has its moment. Players are always looking for ways to make different classes viable all the time, and seasonal mechanics are often a driving factor in how class metas develop over the course of a season.
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Diablo 4 Pit Rankings Reveal Season 11’s Best Class is the Paladin
With Diablo 4 Season 11 expected to end on March 10, the curtain is starting to draw on the Season of Divine Intervention. According to the Diablo 4 Pit leaderboards on Helltide, it’s the Paladin that has stood out amongst the crowd, proving to be by far the best class in Season 11. Paladin players have reached up to Tier 144 this season, with the fastest Pit run at this tier being an impressive 12:48. For context, it takes until rank 182 for any other class to appear, with one Barbarian player reaching Tier 132 and completing the Pit in 14 minutes and 25 seconds. There are a few more Barbarians that appear a little lower in the top 200, but the Paladin has undoubtedly been the dominant force throughout Season 11.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Diablo 4‘s Season 11 introduced the Paladin, available exclusively for players who pre-ordered the Lord of Hatred expansion. It was a surprise shadow-drop from Blizzard, and will become available to all players when the DLC releases on April 28, 2026. A new class being overpowered in its first season is nothing new, and it was the same when the Spiritborn launched alongside Season 6 with the Vessel of Hatred expansion. After all, it’s easier to make a class overpowered for a time and nerf it later down the line, rather than underwhelm players when the new class doesn’t feel fun to play.
The next few seasons of balance changes will be very interesting to watch. The Diablo 4 2.6.0 PTR actually buffed the Paladin by fixing some of its broken mechanics, but it remains to be seen if there will be any further adjustments for the full release of Season 12. The next season is arriving at an awkward point, as it drops a short time before Lord of Hatred, meaning Blizzard may be reluctant to nerf the Paladin immediately. This is especially true with the Warlock class also arriving in Lord of Hatred, which the developer will want to have its own moment in the spotlight. It’s more likely that the Paladin will see heavy nerfs in Season 13, at which point the Warlock would become the dominant class, but this is merely speculation based on how Blizzard has handled class balance in recent times.
With Lord of Hatred releasing in two months, it’s going to be an exciting period for Diablo 4, in what should be the biggest content drop for the game to date. Looking beyond the current game, Blizzard’s Gavian Whishaw has recently said that the studio would like to release Diablo games more quickly in the future, indicating that fans may have more titles to look forward to in the years to come.
- 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
