Diablo 5 will launch with more classes than any other game in the franchise, according to game director Joe Shely.
Shely revealed more details about what to expect from Diablo 5’s launch roster during a BlizzCon 2026 panel, following the game’s surprise reveal (and Spring 2029 release window) as part of BlizzCon’s opening ceremony. During the panel, Blizzard revealed three of Diablo 5’s classes: Monk, Demon Hunter, and the new Plague Knight.
“Diablo 5 is going to launch with more classes than ever before,” Shely said. “And I don’t just mean more classes than another Diablo game at ship. I mean more classes total.”
That means Blizzard is aiming for nine or 10 classes in Diablo 5 at launch, depending on whether or not they are counting Diablo 4’s newly revealed Amazon class.
Shely elaborated on how the team was viewing classes, and the number of them coming right out the gate, in a group interview attended by GameSpot at BlizzCon.
“What that does…it allows us to, if you started playing Diablo in Diablo 3, you probably know the Demon Hunter, and you can jump into Diablo 5 and have an experience that’s familiar and new at the same time,” Shely said. “It’s a new representation of the class. It’s going to be different, but you’re still going to have twin crossbows. We’re going to pay off that nostalgia you have and that feeling of what that experience was like. Having a lot of classes lets us do that in a way we haven’t been able to do before. It also affords us the opportunity to explore new classes like the Plague Knight.”
With work on Diablo 5 in full swing, Blizzard confirmed Diablo 4 won’t receive new expansions going forward. It will, however, continue to receive new seasonal content. Season of Hell’s Legacy goes live September 15 and sees the return of Deckard Cain. The iconic Horadrim from previous Diablo games will task players with taking on echoes of the Prime Evils, including Diablo himself.
