Diablo 2 Resurrected Tier List

Diablo 2 Resurrected Tier List TL;DR

• S-Tier: Sorceress, Paladin - best overall power, speed, and coverage.
• A-Tier: Assassin, Warlock - strong, flexible picks with great endgame.
• B-Tier: Amazon, Necromancer - good but more gear- and matchup-dependent.
• C-Tier: Barbarian - fun but slow and inefficient versus top farmers.
• D-Tier: Druid - weakest and most niche in the current post-Warlock meta.

Guess you're reading this to choose the best class and then go level them up. You'll need some runes, so feel free to browse Diablo 2 Resurrected runes offers on Playhub. That's an easy way to get to your preferred class late-game ASAP.

Diablo 2 Resurrected Class-Tier List

This tier list exists for one simple reason: it can be really hard to decide on a class in D2R in 2026. With Warlock mixing things up, Terror Zones, Ladder Resets, and a million “Best Build” thumbnails on YouTube, it can be hard to tell what really works and what just looks good on paper. This section is meant to be a kind of “meta snapshot”, a sense of which classes feel good right now and which ones feel more like “for enjoyers only.”

I don't rate them based on my vibes alone. I rate them based on a bunch of different factors: how many viable end-game builds they have (MF, Ubers, TZ farms, HC), how well they perform at the start of the ladder with low gear, how well they perform with BIS sets, and how many times they appear in the most recent tier lists, guides, etc. On top of that, there's a fair bit of actual playtime with the class itself, seeing how it performs in multiple seasons of the ladder and balance changes. When a class appears in the S/A-Tiers on multiple sites and hard carries random lobby games, that's a good sign.

With that in mind, the table below is the “at a glance” version of the whole discussion: tiers, classes, and their standout builds you can safely invest in. Use it as your quick reference, then dive into the class sections later if you want the full breakdown of why each pick lands where it does.

Sorceress - S-Tier

Sorceress is, in my opinion, the best class in Diablo 2 Resurrected and an easy S-Tier pick. What I like most is her elemental versatility - I love switching to casting icicles after playing 300 hours with fireball builds. She also has crazy clear speed, screen-wide AoE, built-in Teleport, and some of the strongest ladder-start and endgame builds in the entire game.

Lightning Sorceress build

Lightning Sorc is the very essence of the term “go anywhere, kill anything” in D2R right now. She has stupidly high end-game damage output with her Lightning and Chain Lightning spells while remaining ridiculously mobile with her Teleport spell. She farms everything on the map without needing to change her identity mid-run. Once you're geared up with Infinity, Griffon's, Crack of the Heavens, and 117 FCR, you literally don't care about most lightning immunes anymore and just delete screens in games with high player counts. I think the uniqueness of this build compared to other sorc variants is that while it can perform efficiently in the early game with a starting set of equipment, it can later be used as a true “jack-of-all-trades” sorceress that can boss rush, MF farm, and key farm at a top-tier level instead of specializing in just one aspect.

Meteorb Sorceress build

Meteor Sorc is the classic fire bomb build that makes craters out of bosses and tight areas. She excels in areas like Andariel, Meph, Stony Tomb, and Cows, where you can stack mobs in tight areas and let the Meteors and Fire Balls stack up. The playstyle is a bit more methodical than the Lightning build, where you're actually planning where the impacts will land and working with the fire immunes with your merc and equipment in mind. Still, if that's the type of playstyle you enjoy as a caster character, this build can be very rewarding when it finally starts working.

Paladin - S-Tier

Paladin is truly the no‑brainer S-Tier pick in D2R. If Sorc is the queen of clear speed, Pally is the king of consistency. Hammerdin, FoHdin, and a bunch of hybrid flavors bring you insane damage, great survivability, and fancy auras. Tastes differ, and I think their consistency is a gift and a curse. It’s an amazing class to start playing Diabloids on, but it’s kinda boring to abuse them for long. Funny for ten or twenty hours, then I get tired of this typo gameplay. And I’m not alone with that feeling - some Reddit users even rate Paladin extremely low because of that repetitiveness.

Blessed Hammer Paladin (Hammerdin)

Hammerdin is the classic "I do everything and don't die" Paladin build, and that's still true in 2026. Blessed Hammer is a magic damage dealer that nothing is resistant to and does extra damage to demons and undead, making this build rip through Chaos Sanctuary, Baal, and most other endgame areas with little in the way of counterplay. With Holy Shield, you are tanky, group-friendly, and powerful even on a budget build, and once you get the hang of the hammer dance, a single Hdin setup is more than happy to handle all of your MFing, ladder pushing, and other PvM needs.

Fist of the Heavens Paladin

FoHdin is the "laser from the sky" paladin, focusing on picking off targets with Fist of the Heavens while Holy Bolts clear out hordes of the undead or demons at long range. With Conviction breaking most lightning immunes and the opportunity to add in some Blessed Hammer or Smite for variety, he clears out a ton of annoying matchups. He is a stylish, completely meta-viable alternative to the classic Hammerdin. Strong? Yeah. Completely enjoyable? Kinda…

Assassin - A-Tier

For me, Assassin fits comfortably into A-Tier. Not as mindless as Sorc or Pally, of course, but oh so rewarding once you "get" her kit. From Lightning Sentry spam that covers the screen in damage to Dragon Talon builds that rip through bosses with Crushing Blow, she provides excellent control, safety, and surprising damage for solo or smaller party play.

Lightning Sentry Assassin

Lightning Sentry Assassin is the comfy "low APM, high value" Assassin build: we drop the Lightning and Death Sentries, they clear the packs and chain Corpse Explosion for us. With Fade, Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast, and Weapon Block, she is much safer than she looks, and with the mixed damage types combined with lower enemy lightning res scaling traps since Patch 2.6, she can be used from budget gear all the way to endgame.

Dragon Talon Assassin (Kicksin)

With Crushing Blow kicks coming at breakneck speed, she will destroy Ubers in an instant. With dual Mosaic and the changes past 2.5/2.6, she can maintain Tiger Strike and Cobra Strike charges indefinitely for massive damage and sustain. Fade, high block, and Life Tap make her extremely tough; she runs on a decently low budget, and as long as you're not bothered with subpar AoE and a playstyle that's more single-target focused, she's an extremely consistent specialist at organ farming and Uber Tristram.

Warlock - A-Tier

Warlock is the new kid on the block and already feels like an A-Tier rising star with clear S‑tier potential. Added with the February 2026 DLC, he brings demon summons, hybrid magic/physical skills, and wild gearing options like two‑handers plus an off‑hand. Players have already found some seriously strong demon-focused, caster, and hybrid builds that are popping up near the top of early TZ and endgame tier lists, so unless Blizzard swings the nerf bat hard, I expect him to climb into S-Tier fast.

Echoing Strike Warlock

The "this might actually be broken" poster child for the new class is Echoing Strike Warlock. Echoing Strike + Hex Purge is basically just spamming packs with the constant application of Physical + Magic damage from the Echoing Strikes, so nothing is ever really safe from the effect, as elites simply melt away under the application of your boomerang blades twice through them. You stack demon buffs (Goatman, Defiler, a Cursed Fanaticism Hephasto) for huge aura numbers, damage amp, and DR, then zip around the screen with Blade Warp/Teleport while leeching life and mana off each hit to make the build an extremely fast and extremely hard-hitting all-content farmer once the endgame gear is in place.

Fire Warlock

Apocalypse and Flame Wave simply lay waste to entire rooms of enemies in delayed fire damage, complete with -enemy fire res that can break early immunes and let your other fire skills finish them off. Once you start stacking Flame Rift, Conviction from a bound demon, and -enemy fire res on gear, this build becomes a tanky, fast farmer that comfortably clears most Terror Zones in any party size. The downside is being locked into a single damage type and needing good gear to really make this build shine.

Amazon - B-Tier

Amazon is a B-Tier for me. She’s still very powerful and definitely playable, but she’s just so much more situational than the big guns. If you like your javelin/bow fantasy, Amazon will be your friend; just don’t expect the same level of comfort and playability with all the content that you do with exploiting the meta.

Lightning Fury Amazon

We can’t really discuss Amazon without bringing up Javazon and Bowazon, but we’ll just have to gloss over it since we all know the story there. Lightning Fury/Charged Strike is still the “meat grinder” build that blows everything in its path to kingdom come when you’re running Infinity, Crack of the Heavens, and some decent gear. Still, it’s just so reliant on having both density and -light res if you want it to actually function in Hell.

Strafe Amazon

Strafe is that sweet glass cannon bow build that feels awesome in corridor maps and smaller player counts, but you’re locked in physical damage, long attack animations, and some very pricey endgame equipment. All of that just gets it to the point where it’s “good, but not insane” clear times, rather than it being the most efficient build in the game.

Necromancer - B-Tier

Necromancer is a good B-Tier choice, capable of clearing everything, providing dual damage types, and sporting some of the safest gameplay in the game. Still, most of the good builds he offers are more ramp-slow and gear-hungry than the all-stars in the current meta. If you enjoy playing the game methodically, setting things up, and then destroying everything in the process, he’s an amazing choice, it’s just not going to be at the front of the pack in terms of speed clearing.

Poison Nova Necromancer

I suppose we do kind of need to talk about this build, since everyone and their mom has seen the highlights. Poison Nova + Corpse Explosion is an absolute beast in areas with high density, such as Pits, TZs, and Cows, especially with Lower Resist, good -enemy poison res, and the right gear. Of course, the downside is he sucks at bosses, is pretty rough if you’re trying to start the season with him, and is only really the powerhouse everyone talks about when you’re already stacked and comfortable with playing at higher APM.

Summoner Necromancer

Summoner (Fishymancer) typically complements the Necro pairing. It plays slower, safer, and feels very "fire and forget" once your army is deployed. Skeletons, Revives, and Corpse Explosion provide different damage types and offer a great safety net. This works well for Uberfarming and MF routes. However, the build can be slow and somewhat reliant on gear for effective farming. It can also be awkward to use in smaller maps. Overall, it's good but not particularly thrilling in the current meta.

Barbarian - C-Tier

Barbarian is now in C-Tier. Of course, I mean, I’m not really a fan of melee spam, but he’s just a regular guy, objectively. He’s not unplayable, but he’s definitely not as strong as the current caster and hybrid playstyles. He’s very gear-dependent, very dependent on certain farming niches, and he’s not always the best choice if you just want one character to “do it all.” If you really like the playstyle, though, there are some fun ones to play around with: Berserk MF “pit zerker” Barb, or even Double Throw Barb, are all out there to be played, and you just play them because you like the playstyle, not because the meta says so.

Druid - D-Tier

Druid is sitting in D-Tier for me, and that just kind of hurts to type out, because mechanically, he's a great class, but just hasn't been well represented in the meta. Even Fissure Druid and Wind Druid can feel a bit slow, position-dependent, and require a lot of gearing out before they even start feeling competitive in comparison to other classes like Sorcs, Pallys, and Warlocks, and Summon Druid is more of a comfortable meme-zoo play than a serious grinder. Sure, you can make Fissure Druid, Tornado Druid, Hurricane Druid, or even Summon Druid work and get through a lot of content with enough patience and runes, but if you're still choosing to fight in Werebear form at this point in the game, you're probably just a furry enjoyer and accepting that your class is weaker and playing it purely for that fantasy.