Diablo Immortal will add another class on July 3, but rather than an entirely new creation like the Blood Knight or Tempest, Blizzard’s free-to-play mobile ARPG will instead introduce a fresh take on the franchise’s Druid archetype.
This isn’t the same Druid players of Diablo 2 or Diablo 4 might be familiar with. More isolationist and feral than other Druid groups, the Druids of the Sharval Wilds unleash primal fury upon their foes, brimming with the chaotic energy of mother nature.
When it came to making Diablo Immortal’s Druid stand out from earlier versions, Blizzard looked to the real world for timely inspiration. There’s a reason Diablo Immortal’s version of the Druid uses wildfire-inducing fire magic and earthquake-creating earth magic, two elements that can spiral out of control and wreak havoc on the surrounding environment.
“At Blizzard generally, not even just on this team, we talk a lot about what is the right time for this class, what is the right time for this zone?” Diablo Immortal senior narrative designer Ryan Quinn said in an interview with GameSpot. “Knowing that we’re going to this densely wooded place where Druids and witches fight over how to share the land…not to channel too much of the fact that I live in southern California, but a wildfire seems very, very poised to create tension and conflict in that environment.”
While the class maintains many of the familiar aspects of the Druid that fans of the class from previous installments will be familiar with–elemental spellcasting, shapeshifting abilities, and animal companions–how Diablo Immortal’s Druid actually looks and plays will be quite different. The class puts an emphasis on constantly transitioning between forms, whether it’s diving into the fray as a werebear, repositioning and crowd-controlling enemies as the new stag form, or dissolving into a swarm of dive-bombing ravens.
Quinn said Blizzard knew this new version of the Druid needed to feel different. Part of realizing that goal came in the form of the Druid’s new shapeshifting abilities, going beyond the usual werebear and werewolf forms.
“We wanted to do stuff that’s a little more diverse, we didn’t want to just do predator forms,” Quinn said. “And we wanted it to look and feel more chaotic.”
Quinn used an example of how earlier in development, the Druid simply transformed into a single raven. But that didn’t feel powerful enough, so the team instead opted for the Druid to transform into an entire flock of ravens. That line of thinking can be seen throughout the Druid’s toolkit, where each ability feels like it’s ready to spiral out of control.
It also translates to the Druid’s gameplay. Blizzard’s goal was to make Diablo Immortal’s Druid more agile than previous versions, lead systems engineer John Yoo said, with an emphasis on constantly shapeshifting.
“We wanted to encourage people to have dynamic play by swapping in and out of forms, using abilities,” Yoo said. “We wanted it to feel very, very active.”
Players don’t have to always be swapping in and out of forms and can be successful just playing as more of a straight spellcaster or sticking to one form, Yoo said. While sticking to one playstyle will be “viable,” Yoo said those who want to push the class to its limits and maximize their damage will likely want to change forms depending on the situation.
For fans of older versions of Diablo’s Druid, there are still some throwbacks to what fans already know. Diablo Immortal’s Druid can use fire magic, like in Diablo 2, and has similar summonable companions, like direwolves (although Yoo said the team did experiment with summonable direboars instead). Quinn said since Diablo Immortal takes place between Diablo 2 and 3, the team is always aware of the legacy preceding the mobile ARPG. With that in mind, Blizzard looks to strike a balance when it comes honoring what came before while also making room for new ideas.
“Occasionally it is take the familiar thing [in] a very familiar direction,” Quinn said. “Sometimes, it’s just add. Take the familiar thing, but bolt something new and cool onto it that doesn’t contradict it. And sometimes it’s whole cloth invention.”
One example of that philosophy in action is the return of the Druid’s Oak Sage ability. Previously seen in Diablo 2, Oak Sage is back in Diablo Immortal. Instead of a more passive aura like in Diablo 2, the Oak Sage in Diablo Immortal is instead punched up and depicted as a friendly forest fae that boosts players’ health and defense but also attacks enemies.
“We wanted to push the boundaries, make our Druid feel different from other Druids,” Yoo said. “While we wanted to keep the inherent theme and nature of the Druid, no pun intended, we still wanted to make it unique, fresh, and distinctly our own in Diablo Immortal.”
The addition of the Druid is just the latest in a series of updates outlined in Diablo Immortal’s 2025 roadmap Blizzard has dubbed the Epoch of Madness, all of which continue to explore the defeat of Diablo last year and the power vacuum left in his wake. A fourth major update currently shrouded in mystery, titled The First & Last King, is slated to arrive later this year.
Diablo 4, meanwhile, continues to evolve, as Blizzard looks to update the ARPG’s endgame. Season 8 overhauled Diablo 4’s endgame bosses, while the upcoming Season 9 brings permanent changes to Nightmare dungeons.
