Paladin is finally in Diablo 4, and my weekend plans evaporated the second Blizzard shadow-dropped the class during the Lord of Hatred expansion reveal at The Game Awards. I pre-ordered, rolled a Paladin, and didn’t touch another class for three long, bleary-eyed days.
My very first swing told me everything: that chunky, armored “thud” from Diablo 3’s Crusader is here, dialed back on the cartoonish flair but amplified in weight and authority. Even at level 1 I felt like a walking fortress: shields clanging, steel ringing, and holy light crackling on every hit. By level 5, I’d slotted in Zeal and a nascent aura—suddenly I was auto-attacking goatmen into golden flurries, nostalgic memories of Duriel’s charge attack flashing in my head.
But after an hour, I realized the design brain here is half Crusader, half Diablo 2 Paladin: you get quick shield slams, compact shield charges, and circular holy explosions that scream Diablo 3. If you expected a pure Diablo 2 throwback, you’ll feel that tension between classic auras and new action loops.
Paladin’s identity revolves around holy damage—a returning damage type unique to this class—and the dynamic Oath system. Instead of static aura stacking like Diablo 2’s Paladins, you swear a sacred Oath that unlocks primaries, ultimates, and passives specific to one of four playstyles. The result? A class that can tank, burst, or mow down foes with divine artillery, depending on your chosen Oath.
Moment to moment, it’s less about nimble dancing and more about anchoring the fight. You’ll mark enemies, dash or pull them in, then obliterate them with hammers, beams, or ricocheting shields. It’s the fantasy of being a holy anchor in the chaos—sometimes you feel unstoppable, other times you get swarmed if you misjudge your reach.
Zealot Oath channels that Diablo 2 Zeal+Fanaticism vibe through modern combat. Zeal becomes your backbone: faster swings, higher crits, and a buzzworthy aura that makes you feel like a demon blender. Around level 35 I dove into a Helltide pack with a Suppressor elite. Normally I’d dance around its bubble—this time I just dove in and watched it die before its shield even faded. Cheating, but oh so fun.
Downside? Range and ground effects can bite you. If a force arena or affix spawns underfoot, all that speed doesn’t save you from a well-placed AoE ring.
Fed up with one-shots in higher-tier Nightmares, I switched to Juggernaut Oath to test the ultimate tank fantasy. Shield Bash became my hammer, Shield Charge my getaway tool, and block windows turned me into an impregnable citadel. Pulling Butcher in a mid-tier Nightmare dungeon? I planted my feet and facetanked him to death without a flinch. Slow but hilariously safe.
It’s pure Crusader vibes—if you want to cosplay an unmovable wall of steel and light, Juggernaut nails it. Just don’t expect the fireworks of Judicator or the airborne burst of Disciple.
Judicator Oath is your Hammerdin playground. Judgement marks, Blessed Hammers spinning like a holy weed-whacker, and Holy Light aura pulsing like a divine lawn mower. I even found a Unique that converted Holy Light to fire damage, recreating the classic Holy Fire aura in Diablo 4’s engine—enemies literally igniting as they crossed my path felt like a long-awaited dream come true.
In group play, you’re the mobile killbox. Tag big packs, spread Judgement, and watch everything melt. This Oath is joyous chaos for both solo and co-op runs.
Disciple Oath throws you into a mini-Tyrael cosplay. Hit your transformation button, wings unfurl, movement speed spikes, and a constant holy tick chews through nearby foes. It’s less “knightly crusader” and more “divine skirmisher.” Peak fun when you time Arbiter form on a massive elite pack—invincible for 10 seconds. Peak frustration when it drops right as the boss phases away.
Managing Arbiter uptime becomes its own rhythm game. You lean into cooldown-feeding skills, pick engagements that stretch your form, and pray you don’t pop right before the next critical wave.
On paper, the Diablo 4 Paladin is the spiritual successor to Diablo 2’s aura-stacking priest and Diablo 3’s Crusader tank. In practice, it lifts many Crusader skills—Shield Charge, Blessed Shield, Condemn—and layers them over new mechanics like the Oath system and Faith (the class’s resource). Think of it as Crusader cosplay wearing a Diablo 2 name tag: familiar combos, but with fresh Holy damage interactions, Judgement detonations, and that angelic Arbiter twist.
Are classic auras back? Sort of. You can still weave Fanaticism-style buffs, defensive shields, and area halos into your build, but they’re modular rather than static. The strongest synergies came from juggling aura uptime with Oath-specific primaries: Fanaticism + Zealot, Holy Light + Judicator, Conviction aura + Juggernaut. But the number of Crusader riffs on the tree sometimes made me wish for deeper, cross-Oath aura interactions—there’s potential here that feels just out of reach.
Without the full Lord of Hatred expansion content live yet, I stuck to Helltides, world bosses, and Nightmare Dungeons. Judicator and Disciple shone brightest in Helltides thanks to their AoE density and pack-wide detonations. Juggernaut breezed through world boss mechanics by facetanking abilities that would one-shot squishier builds. Zealot struggled at extreme range and had to play smart around affixes, but its burst remains addictive.
Nightmare Dungeons highlighted each Oath’s strengths: Judicator’s crowd control, Juggernaut’s sustain, Disciple’s burst windows, and Zealot’s pure damage. No single Oath dominates every scenario, which is a victory for build diversity—though some of the Crusader-inspired skill overlap still begs for more specialized synergy slots.
The Diablo 4 Paladin isn’t a simple nostalgia ride; it’s a compelling hybrid that fuses Diablo 2’s aura ethos, Diablo 3’s Crusader mechanics, and new Holy damage twists. Each Oath delivers a distinct fantasy—from blender-armed Zealot to unbreakable Juggernaut, hammer-spinning Judicator, and winged Disciple. While the tree occasionally flirts with redundancy, the core loops are satisfying enough to warrant a full endgame dive. If you love tanking hordes or turning demons into glowing mist, this is Blizzard’s most versatile melee class yet.
Score: 8.5/10
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