If you're up for a challenge and ready to take on Diablo 4's Hardcore Race to 100, you know you'll need to strategize and choose the best classes before diving into this battle. The risks are high, where your character is permanently deleted if you die in the game, even once. If you're serious about overcoming this obstacle, you don't want to rush in too fast without a plan.
You don't only have to consider DPS here but also consider using a class with a blatant advantage in all areas. And, of course, skill is a huge factor in this race since there are players who made it so far ahead of their competition with an unexpected class choice. But if it's your first time, you're better off picking the safest option.
5 Necromancer
As we've stated, any class can be used to finish Hardcore in Diablo 4, but it will take a certain level of skill and strategy to make use of some of the classes. This is the case when using the Necromancer. If you have a Necromancer, you can at least find some reassurance that there were two Necromancers in Season One's leaderboard for the Hardcore Race. Everything's possible.
Regardless, using a Necromancer for Hardcore will prove tougher for most players than other classes. Necromancers can take advantage of using their minions. Skills like Bone Storm and Blood Mist have proven successful for the top players; at the end of the day, however, this class just doesn't have the best defensive skills and has zero mobility skills.
Mobility skills and great defensive capabilities are essential to tackling Hardcore, and the sheer lack of these in the Necromancer class can spell trouble for many. It might lead to the permanent deletion of their character. To have a chance at surviving and playing it as smart as you can, we recommend emulating top players and perhaps using the skills they're using.
Take your time to focus your passive skills on healing abilities as well. You can also use buffs to help your minions. Speaking of minions, try using a Blood Golem. They can take a lot of damage for you. Minions that can impede enemies' mobility can also prove extremely helpful, like Ice Mages, for example.
4 Rogue
Exceptional players for the Rogue class can deal an impressive DPS, especially when using a skill like Twisting Blades, the only big downside to using the Rogue is that they don't have many good defensive skills. This is the reason why they're second to last on our list. For skilled players, you can leverage your damage, agility, and mobility capabilities, but there's a high risk of dying at any time.
A silver lining to get you motivated: the second player on Hardcore Season One's leaderboard happens to be a rogue, so again, nothing is possible. But if you do happen to choose this class to run Hardcore, you are in for a challenge.
Skills like Dash can be particularly helpful for dealing critical damage and lowering your opponents' life bars quickly. As we've already said, Twisting Blades is one of the best skills you can leverage since it's great for fighting hordes of enemies and bosses.
Combine it with a skill like Poison Trap which can immobilize opponents, and you can go far, but you're still completely open to any foe you might overlook because of the lack of good defense. Rapid DPS and crowd control are great on the battlefield, but unfortunately, it doesn't outweigh the risk you take in Hardcore.
3 Barbarian
A tanky class like a Barbarian is recommended to tackle Hardcore on Diablo 4. Barbarians have a plethora of escape capabilities which are great for avoiding death in Hardcore. But more than that, they have great defense and offense skills, making them extremely enduring and lethal.
Rage, Wrath of The Berserker, Whirlwind, Rallying Cry, and Challenging Shout are all great offense and defense skills. The downside is that since their attacks are primarily melee attacks, they are more likely to die during battle.
But, if you are skilled at balancing attacks with defensive strategies, dodging, and escaping, you can subdue their enemies before your foes can even lay a hand on you. At the end of the day, if you use a good build for your Barbarian during gameplay, you can have an immensely strong character that's hard to kill.
For example, create a build that relies on Thorns and Max Life, and your Thorns damage can be combined when using Challenging Shout. The damage will be equivalent to around thirty percent of your Max Life. This will help you stack life while simultaneously increasing your damage output.
2 Druid
As a shape-shifter, Druids are a great and safe class to play in Hardcore. The number one spot in Hardcore Season One is filled in by a Druid player. The Druid can deal great damage, equally balanced out by their great defensive and healing capabilities. Druids can survive Hardcore with more ease and more at their disposal compared to other classes.
Druids have the skills that can activate Fortify, for example, which is great for Hardcore; Fortify lets your Druid character maintain a high health bar. Couple this with a plethora of defense capabilities and the cheat death skill, and you've got a die-hard character that has all the potential to reach 100 without too much risk of dying.
A good and popular build to use in Hardcore can be the Pulverize Druid Build. You can use skills like Debilitating Roar to deal bonus damage and use Pulverize to leverage your offense. You can take advantage of skills like Trample to immobilize your foes and then deal them with heavy damage using your offensive attacks.
All in all, the fact that the top spot is taken by a Druid player should be motivating enough, but to add to that, there are a total of six druids in the top twenty-five of Hardcore's Season One, which is quite reassuring for players who have decided to tackle Hardcore with this class.
1 Sorcerer
Arguably a top choice by many players who've experienced Hardcore, the Sorcerer class can take advantage of the fact that their combat style is ranged. It's much harder for Sorcerers to die compared to the other classes in Hardcore. There are four Sorcerers in the top twenty-five of the leaderboard.
Maximize your use of Flame Shield and Enchant for easier and more efficient gameplay. Equipping Flame Shield as your enhanced skill will let you use the cheat death skill once every 120 seconds, which can be a lifesaver. This is one of the Sorcerer's best perks when tackling Hardcore.
Coupled with the fact that you don't have to get too close to your foes when in combat, evading massive and lethal attacks just becomes so much easier. Because of these two elements alone, the probability of your Sorcerer character dying is much lower when compared to melee-type classes like Barbarians and Rogues.
Use a strong build like the Arc Lash Sorcerer. You are not only at an advantage by being within range, but you can also maximize this play style by using skills like Frost Nova to immobilize your enemies and render their attacks to total futility. What's more, you can use skills like Teleport, and voilà, you have an almost untouchable character.