Alongside Diablo 4's stunning cinematic trailer, Blizzard also revealed some of the starting classes for the upcoming game. Making a triumphant return from Diablo 2 is the Sorceress, which will be one of the magic-wielding classes in the game. Following the reveal of the Sorceress, Blizzard also announced the skills and abilities for the Sorceress that players will get to play around with whenever the game finally launches - spoiler alert, she plays a lot like the Wizard from Diablo 3.
Diablo 4's Sorceress is a practitioner of the arcane arts, meaning she can sling spells and harness the elements to strike down foes with ease. The Sorceress is a master of elemental damage, capable of applying steady damage-over-time or crippling crowd control effects. For her basic attacks, there is: Lightning, Fire Bolt, Frost Bolt, and Arc Lash. Lightning deals damage and bounces between enemies. Fire Bolt can apply a burn status effect. Frost Bolt can chill enemies. Arc Lash is unique shocks nearby enemies, then returns to the Sorceress to restore mana.
The Sorceress' kit starts getting interesting with her Major Destruction skills: Charged Bolts, Fireball, Ice Shards, Incinerate, Chain Lightning, and Frozen Orb. Players saw a couple of these abilities in the Diablo 4 gameplay trailer that debuted at BlizzCon. Charged Bolts sends a web of electricity across the ground in erratic patterns. Fireball, as one might guess, sends forth a fiery explosion. Ice Shards shoots out an icy attack that deals bonus damage to frozen enemies. Incinerate channels a fiery beam that burns enemies, and damage ramps up each second. Chain Lightning does as the name implies, chaining lightning bolts between nearby enemies. Frozen Orb hurls a chilling orb that pierces enemies and then explodes.
The Sorceress' defensive spells all revolve around crowd control or buffing defense. Flame Shield engulfs the Sorceress in fire and damages nearby enemies. Ice Armor absorbs damage after the Sorceress does not take damage for a few seconds. Blizzard damages and chills nearby enemies. Lastly, Teleport allows the Sorceress to pass safely from one location to the next. These spells will be crucial when the players go forth to take on Diablo 4's new villain.
Mastery spells are all about dealing massive damage and locking down areas of the map. Fire Wall locks down a large area of the map and deals big damage over time to enemies in the flames. Nova is a passive ability that causes a massive lightning burst after using a certain amount of mana. The classic Meteor ability returns, which calls forth a large meteor to deal damage and set the ground aflame. These high elemental damage spells will be even better if players use the new Diablo 4 loot system to create great builds.
The powerful Ultimate spells allow the Sorceress to do wild and powerful things once unlocked. Deep Freeze encases the Sorceress in ice, granting damage immunity, and for the duration she constantly emits a chilling wave that damages and freezes enemies longer than normal. Inferno creates an intermittent pulse of flames in an area that deals massive damage over time. Conduit turns the Sorceress into a ball of electricity, allowing her to teleport rapidly, and all nearby enemies are constantly shocked. These abilities will surely cause a lot of chaos in Diablo 4's PvP zones.
Lastly, the Sorceress features a Talent Tree filled with 27 different passives that help round out specific builds. Skills like Frostbite and Numbing Cold help buff the Sorceress while debuffing enemies while she is using cold skills. The Talent Tree features several neutral skill that are not tied to elements before the Tree branches down three separate paths - one for each element. Each class, like Diablo 4's returning Druid class, features unique Talent Trees like this that focus on specific aspects of the character.
A lot of Diablo 4 details were revealed at BlizzCon 2019, and more information is still coming out. Videos of the playable Diablo 4 demo are slowly surfacing and showcasing the three starting classes announced so far, so hopefully more details about the long-awaited game will continue to come out in the coming days. In the mean time, players can start theory-crafting fun builds for the Sorceress for when the game finally releases.
Diablo 4 is currently in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.