Blizzard recently showed off a bunch of new information about Diablo 4 at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase. In addition to gameplay footage and a 2023 release window, it revealed the Necromancer class and several videos showcasing its equipment and skills.
RELATED: Diablo 4 Dev Reveals About How Long It Will Take to Beat the Game
Like all the footage shown, the Necromancer weapons and armor showcase is in-development content–but one could not tell from looking at it. Already, the detailed models of the Necromancer’s grim, bone-studded armor and weapons are enough to make any Goth proud. The breadth of the character customization available to the Necromancer in both character and equipment is impressive. From armored death priests to gore-covered cultists to skull-faced knights straight out of The Witcher 4, the Diablo 4 art team is clearly delivering on the true Necromancer fantasy.
The Necromancer class was originally introduced in Diablo 2. While it wasn’t originally in Diablo 3, fan outcry over the reintroduction of the popular class saw it added in a later update alongside the Crusader. Both classes are in Diablo Immortal, but it seems the Necromancer alone made the cut for Diablo 4 at launch, though a Crusader or Paladin could be added in later Diablo 4 expansion content or DLC.
Fans are understandably excited to play the Necromancer in Diablo 4 for themselves, and seeing the gear only heightened their excitement. The Diablo 4 Necromancer seems to truly capture the emaciated, androgynous, and corpse-like features of the original Diablo 2 Necromancer in a way its other incarnations didn’t. Fans love how creepy and grim the armor sets look, and celebrate Diablo 4 diving into the dark fantasy that makes the franchise so compelling.
However, some fans are not so easily impressed. After the controversies surrounding the predatory business model of Diablo Immortal, and the revelation that Diablo 4 will contain microtransactions, many fans are concerned the coolest armor appearances will be locked behind the cash shop. Though Diablo 4 has promised fans its cash shop would be purely for cosmetics, and not progression like in Diablo Immortal, its players will have to wait and see how egregious its cash shop is once Blizzard shares more information about it, or once beta testing begins.
Diablo 4 will launch in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: How Diablo 4’s Necromancer Class Changes From Past Games
