Does Diablo 4 have a skill diversity issue?

So many potential builds, but only a few being played

Over the years, “Action RPG” games have evolved quite a bit, adding more and more player customization with each new entry into the genre. Diablo 3 released in 2012 with over a billion unique build possibilities across all of its classes. Hit ARPG Path of Exile has been constantly adding new abilities via its unique skill gem system for almost ten years.

As we began to learn more about Diablo 4 leading up to its release, just one week ago, it quickly became apparent we’d once again get a massive amount of potential builds. With five classes each with their own unique skill trees full of active and passive skills, the possibilities seemed endless. But now less than two weeks since the early access release of the game, it’s starting to look like Diablo 4 may have a bit of a skill diversity issue. Let’s take a bit of an analytics look at the situation and try to determine if things are as bad as they seem, or if this is just an early exaggeration.

Examining Diablo 4 skill diversity

Skill diversity or lack thereof? Top SC skill statistics (d4armory.io)
by indiablo4

Thanks to a nifty spreadsheet compiled on the /r/diablo4 subreddit, we can see what skills players are using.  This sheet shows us what percentage of skills the highest level players in non-hardcore Diablo 4.

We obviously can’t draw conclusions based on this limited sample size of the top players. But this information at least gives us a glimpse at what may be some pretty lacking skill diversity. For leveling, some skills are better than others but most are viable enough. This data is based on the highest-level players, so these builds are intended for the all-important endgame.

The boring life of an elemental master

Let me start by saying my main class is a Sorcerer. Even though I’m not at max level, I’m over Level 50 and participating in endgame content. While I’m still enjoying the class, I’ve considered rolling as another primarily for the issues apparent by looking at the above spreadsheet. Once you’ve reached the endgame as a Sorc, you take all four defensive skills.

Teleport is arguably the best mobility skill in the game, so it’s understandable that over 99% of Sorcs are using it. Ice Armor and Flame Shield both give extreme tankiness to an otherwise squishy class. Frost Nova is not only great for crowd control, but also for applying Vulnerability, which is extremely important.

Even still, it’s very telling that about 97% of Sorcerers are using at least 3 defensive skills.

From there, we have two slots for offensive skills. As you can see, the choice really comes down to Ice Shards paired with Deep Freeze or Arc Lash paired with Unstable Currents. About 10% of players are attracted to the slower but high-burst damage Meteor build. This class has six potential core skills, and five basic skills. Despite this, only two or three of those are actually being used. Furthermore, Sorcerers have three unique Conjuration skills, but 95% of players aren’t using any of them.

Overall, we can see that despite the class having many possibilities, only a couple of those are practical.

Spinning and winning

Barbarians have been through a series of nerfs and balance changes in the short time since Diablo 4 released. They’ve also had several of their most effective Aspects get completely disabled, leading to less build variety until their full arsenal is available to them. Despite the nerfs, however, one thing is certain: shouts are strong. Nearly every Barbarian is using all three shouts; Rallying Cry, War Cry, and Challenging Shout. Similar to the mass use of Teleport, most Barb players use their Lunging Strike mobility skill.

Whirlwind has been a staple Barb skill since Diablo 2. The popularity of the skill continues in Diablo 4, with 84% using it as their primary skill. Almost all Whirlwind Barbs are using the Wrath of Berserker Ultimate. If not running this build, most other players are using Hammer of the Ancients with the Call of the Ancients Ultimate.

Unfortunately, that is pretty much the current variety for Barbarians in Diablo 4.

Rogues prefer melee over ranged

For the Rogue class, most players seem to be leaning towards melee play. Twisting Blades is the most popular build by far, followed by Death Trap. These two are very similar to each other, and focus on the melee-style gameplay of the class. Even though the ranged Penetrating Shot skill has viability, only about 10% of the top players are running it.

Understandably, a large portion of Rogues are using the two mobility skills Dash and Shadow Step regardless of their build. The mobility of the class paired with their high damage is what makes them so strong, as they don’t have much in the way of defensives.

Bone Necromancers

A last-minute nerf to Necromancer Minions during the Server Slam beta has led to Bone being the favorite skills for Necro. Nearly 70% of Necros favor the high-damage Bone Spear build. The tight AoE-focused Bone Spirit is also seeing quite a bit of play. Minions were extremely popular in the first two beta weekends, which makes me wonder if they’d be as popular as the two Bone-focused builds if Minions weren’t nerfed.

Druids are perhaps in the best spot

As we look at the final class, we can see that Druids may have the most viable end-game builds right now. Most Druid players are using Earthen Bulwark, Debilitating Roar, and Grizzly Rage, because all three skills are beneficial regardless of damage skills. From there, we see Trample getting a lot of use. Trample is part of the strong AoE Pulverize build as well as Trampleslide. Another increasingly popular AoE skill is Tornado, which is being used with Grizzly Rage to eventually achieve permanent werewolf form.

What does this all mean?

So does Diablo 4 have a skill diversity issue? It’s obviously way too early to claim the sky is falling. With nearly three million players, this ~2,500 sample size is definitely too small to consider anything as proven fact. Furthermore, we have to remember this data is based on the top player pool. Some players play whatever they want, regardless of what is meta or optimal.

But the fact that these players are essentially choosing between the same two or three builds for each class when they are hundreds of possibilities is a bit alarming. Is it a balancing issue? Do these popular builds do too much damage and simply need to be balanced to encourage others to pick whatever skills are most fun to them? There’s plenty of room for improvement, and I’m not exactly sure what ideal diversity would look like in Diablo 4. I think an optimistic, (although unrealistic), scenario would include every Core Skill having a viable build. As of now, less than half of them seem to.

The developers have made it clear they plan to balance things. On top of the nearly daily hotfixes and balance changes, they are intentionally waiting to add competitive leaderboards. Hopefully, by then, we will see even more diversity in skills across Sanctuary.