NOTE: any of this may be wrong - any corrections or additions are happily accepted.
Since there are still a lot of people asking what they should play in Season 5, I thought I'd put together of summary of things I've read on the forums. I didn't come up with any of this myself; I'm just summarising what I've read. I also don't have 2000 paragon levels.
TLDR Version:
You should play: whatever you want. All classes are relatively balanced and fully capable of the sort of levels you're likely to reach with any other. Some classes are better at certain things (bounties, speed rifts, GR, groups) than others, but may involve playing a build that you personally don't find enjoyable.
All: T10 fast, GR70 all sets, at least GR80 with best builds.
Barb: potentially top solo, but annoying to play. Support barb most popular in groups. Crusader: easy start, tricky to max. Losing favour in top end groups. DH: very strong in all areas thanks to high adaptability and new vengeance. Easy start, popular in groups, good potential. Monk: no one likes you right now. Still performs on par with everyone else. WD: no one ever likes WD but they're about as useful as a DH in each area of the game. Wiz: very high group aoe potential, strong solo too. Lots of melee, beams, and twisters.
(Picking one based off this data is not the best idea. They're all fairly even and there will be stronger builds that have been hidden.)
Bit more detail:
All classes will be able to stomp T10, reach at least GR80 at their peak, and clear at least GR70 with any of their sets. Some setups will be easier than others to build and play.
Barb is currently thought to have the highest plausible ceiling with IKRaekor, but people hate the playstyle and it is not remotely group friendly. People are only likely to want support Barbs in their groups. MoTE is your starter set and a good, stable option for general use.
Crusader is really popular but people are thinking that it's going to fall off and not be so popular in groups. It may or may not do so. You start with
Invokers which is very strong off the bat with little other gear to support it, but finetuning it for high level rifting is going to be trickier (more specific stat requirements than some others) and require specific rift types. There may be a support Crusader build that becomes popular in groups, or just plain Invoker DPS. Novalds+Akkahn is a good easy to make setup for speed bounties.
Demon Hunter has fast bounty and speed T10 builds thanks to UE working very well with the newly buffed Vengeance. The starter set Shadow's is also currently popular in groups for its elite assassinating abilities. Mara is considered the most stable build that will be easiest for people to
climb GRs with, though others will outshine it at the very top end (but be harder to play.)
Monk is considered to be dead in the water - largely because one build that a Chinese person found is now dead, and because the starter set Sunwoku is kind of a mess. Inna's still performs pretty well and clears to the average level of GR80 or so. Expect groups to hate you until a ways into the season when Quin or someone else reveals a new build that will once again dominate.
Witch Doctors are as unpopular as ever, but bring fantastic group buffs, extreme single target damage for high level groups via LoN Dart, while in single player Jade, Helltooth and LoN pets are all clearing solo rifts at high levels. Extremely fast bounties via Locust Chicken, and LoN Locust may be a fast speedclear T10 build.
Wizards are looking very strong, despite the starter set Firebird being nerfed to what is now considered a T10 speed build (still doing mid 70s.) Archon is still very strong for solo play, while Energy Twister and other skills are fantastic group additions. Potentially thought of as the highest aoe DPS class overall. Many new items to support melee, Explosive Blast, Energy Twister, and beam attacks.
Obviously all of this is subject to change the moment the season starts, and these answers may not suit your personal needs.
i tryed going into T10 on ptr with my wizzard today, (firebirds) and tbh the kill speed is very slow but extreamly easy to get 400+ mass bonus.
Except kill spree bonuses are completely pointless in rifts :/ Nephalem Rifts would be so much better if they'd left kill sprees in them. Now they're so inferior to equivalent GRs it's sad.
Updated with some of the suggested builds for T10 speed.
Isnt Wiz - Firebird/Disintegrate/Meteor pretty good soloing ? Dudes are doin like GR70 even without ancient weapon
That was kind of my point = every set can still do 70s just fine. If it isn't the absolute top set for that class anymore it's been labelled as worthless by many players. The same way monks are considered garbage now and yet they aren't even the bottom class for solo GRs.
Isnt Wiz - Firebird/Disintegrate/Meteor pretty good soloing ? Dudes are doin like GR70 even without ancient weapon
That was kind of my point = every set can still do 70s just fine. If it isn't the absolute top set for that class anymore it's been labelled as worthless by many players. The same way monks are considered garbage now and yet they aren't even the bottom class for solo GRs.
Yeah, guess that true. But they still nerfed both static charge and healing for monks. Guess its AOE- time with Twister!
Isnt Wiz - Firebird/Disintegrate/Meteor pretty good soloing ? Dudes are doin like GR70 even without ancient weapon
That was kind of my point = every set can still do 70s just fine. If it isn't the absolute top set for that class anymore it's been labelled as worthless by many players. The same way monks are considered garbage now and yet they aren't even the bottom class for solo GRs.
Yeah, guess that true. But they still nerfed both static charge and healing for monks. Guess its AOE- time with Twister!
Right, they nerfed Static and Healing which sucks for monks in groups. But they're still clearing at least 81/83 rifts even as a "dead class" and I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone figures out a build that we haven't seen for both solo and groups that is suddenly and unexpectedly desirable.
Remember when Shenlong got nerfed in PTR and it was a useless set - for half a season until Static Charge turned up?
Pure Firebird seems kinda eh because FireTal is so much stronger and does the same thing - but I bet you could get pretty far with both if you wanted to. Woh+Blast offhand are stronger on Delsere's but you can still murder everything with them on Firebird if you like, too. Firebird beamTwister might be better than beamMeteor but Tal beamMeteor is pretty funny. I don't like Delsere's as much anymore because they took away my super death bubbles and made it so that your entire damage range is kept inside the bubbles instead. rip DalRasha.
Will unpopular set x be top or even top 10 on the leaderboard? No, but how many people who don't already know the ins and outs of every build are expecting to be top 10? Those spots are going to players who play all day, know all the mechanics in detail, have lots of connections who share inside information, and have clans/friends powerleveling the crap out of each other. So why worry about playing their specifically tailored builds when all of them are pretty good right now for most players?
All the things that are good or "crap" now on the PTR might remain that way, or they might not. But even the crap garbage nerfed to the ground stuff can still clear GR70+ which let's face it the majority of players will probably never reach, or will only just reach.
I just think there is so much viability right now that asking people to tell you which super popular because there happens to be a leaderboard entry for it build to play is such a waste of fun you could be having if there's something else you like more. Not to mention the playstyle involved is often not what people would expect and so they won't get the results with it. Or it needs a super specific rift layout and enemy type to clear at that level.
No Tal Rasha is fine as far as I know (2000% damage that you can actually keep up instead of having to rebuild every 8 seconds.)
Dal Rasha is actually dead (4pc Delsere + 6pc Tal'Rasha, using Slow Time as one of your elements) because the bubbles don't do damage anymore so it just doesn't work.
WD is actually a very fun class to play. Different playstyles available. Powerful too.
Going for DH in next season; haven't played it a lot.
I'm starting with WD because it's funny as hell and very easy for fast, lazy farming. Then with the many farmed mats I'll gear up a DH for rifts because I really enjoy the revamped Shadow and UE sets.
Thanks for this post! I was torn between Wizard, Monk, and WD (All 3 are pretty low geared on non-seasonal). Guess I'll go with Wizard as that was my first character played.
Both Crusaders and WDs will not be good on high end groups really i think you are wrong imo, both can stay easily in end game groups, specially LoN Crusaders, where they help the group and the damage is very good, maybe not like a Wizard, DH and WD, but still insane damage.
This season i choosed crusader, easy to gear up at start, and you can start farming pretty fast at early stages, (not like with the horse build, but still fast) a bit hard to gear up for end game, specially for groups, but well, atm with the DH, they are the 2 best class in performance for t10, fast gr, bounties, and pretty competent on high end grs imo.
Maybe im wrong and you not, but i think both Crusaders and WD will be very competitive class.
Both Crusaders and WDs will not be good on high end groups really i think you are wrong imo, both can stay easily in end game groups, specially LoN Crusaders, where they help the group and the damage is very good, maybe not like a Wizard, DH and WD, but still insane damage.
This season i choosed crusader, easy to gear up at start, and you can start farming pretty fast at early stages, (not like with the horse build, but still fast) a bit hard to gear up for end game, specially for groups, but well, atm with the DH, they are the 2 best class in performance for t10, fast gr, bounties, and pretty competent on high end grs imo.
Maybe im wrong and you not, but i think both Crusaders and WD will be very competitive class.
Sorry for my bad english
I said that their popularity is low (WD) or dropping (Crusader) not that they are bad. What is good and what people want in groups are different things. I also expect that what people want in groups will change once the season is underway
None of the classes are actually bad right now - unless you are aiming for #1 of all classes, but the only people who are going to do that already know what to play and how to play it. Most players should get roughly the same results with any class, it just depends what style you enjoy (and what people like to let in groups.)
NOTE: any of this may be wrong - any corrections or additions are happily accepted.
Since there are still a lot of people asking what they should play in Season 5, I thought I'd put together of summary of things I've read on the forums. I didn't come up with any of this myself; I'm just summarising what I've read. I also don't have 2000 paragon levels.
TLDR Version:
You should play: whatever you want. All classes are relatively balanced and fully capable of the sort of levels you're likely to reach with any other. Some classes are better at certain things (bounties, speed rifts, GR, groups) than others, but may involve playing a build that you personally don't find enjoyable.
All: T10 fast, GR70 all sets, at least GR80 with best builds.
Barb: potentially top solo, but annoying to play. Support barb most popular in groups.
Crusader: easy start, tricky to max. Losing favour in top end groups.
DH: very strong in all areas thanks to high adaptability and new vengeance. Easy start, popular in groups, good potential.
Monk: no one likes you right now. Still performs on par with everyone else.
WD: no one ever likes WD but they're about as useful as a DH in each area of the game.
Wiz: very high group aoe potential, strong solo too. Lots of melee, beams, and twisters.
Most popular for group: Support Barb, Wizard, DH
Fastest bounties: DH, WD, Crusader
Fastest speed T10: UE DH, Raekor Barb, Uliana Monk, LoN Locust WD, Spiky Horse Crusader, FireBlast Wiz, etc. [Basically everyone has something.]
Highest solo GR: Barb, Wiz. [Barb playstyle considered annoying.]
End of PTR Leaderboards:
Barb 79 MotE [NS 86 IK Raekor]
Cru Invoker 85 [NS 86 LoN Bomb]
DH 80 Nat FoKStrafe, 79 Shadow [NS 81 LoN Strafe, Mara, UE]
Monk 81 InnaGen [NS 83 LoN Palm]
WD 81 Helltooth [NS 84 LoN GargBat]
Wiz 81 Dalsere Meleeorb or Twister [NS 88]
(Picking one based off this data is not the best idea. They're all fairly even and there will be stronger builds that have been hidden.)
Bit more detail:
All classes will be able to stomp T10, reach at least GR80 at their peak, and clear at least GR70 with any of their sets. Some setups will be easier than others to build and play.
Barb is currently thought to have the highest plausible ceiling with IKRaekor, but people hate the playstyle and it is not remotely group friendly. People are only likely to want support Barbs in their groups. MoTE is your starter set and a good, stable option for general use.
Crusader is really popular but people are thinking that it's going to fall off and not be so popular in groups. It may or may not do so. You start with
Invokers which is very strong off the bat with little other gear to support it, but finetuning it for high level rifting is going to be trickier (more specific stat requirements than some others) and require specific rift types. There may be a support Crusader build that becomes popular in groups, or just plain Invoker DPS. Novalds+Akkahn is a good easy to make setup for speed bounties.
Demon Hunter has fast bounty and speed T10 builds thanks to UE working very well with the newly buffed Vengeance. The starter set Shadow's is also currently popular in groups for its elite assassinating abilities. Mara is considered the most stable build that will be easiest for people to
climb GRs with, though others will outshine it at the very top end (but be harder to play.)
Monk is considered to be dead in the water - largely because one build that a Chinese person found is now dead, and because the starter set Sunwoku is kind of a mess. Inna's still performs pretty well and clears to the average level of GR80 or so. Expect groups to hate you until a ways into the season when Quin or someone else reveals a new build that will once again dominate.
Witch Doctors are as unpopular as ever, but bring fantastic group buffs, extreme single target damage for high level groups via LoN Dart, while in single player Jade, Helltooth and LoN pets are all clearing solo rifts at high levels. Extremely fast bounties via Locust Chicken, and LoN Locust may be a fast speedclear T10 build.
Wizards are looking very strong, despite the starter set Firebird being nerfed to what is now considered a T10 speed build (still doing mid 70s.) Archon is still very strong for solo play, while Energy Twister and other skills are fantastic group additions. Potentially thought of as the highest aoe DPS class overall. Many new items to support melee, Explosive Blast, Energy Twister, and beam attacks.
Obviously all of this is subject to change the moment the season starts, and these answers may not suit your personal needs.
Edit: Added PTR Leaderboards
Edit 2: Added T10 summaries
i tryed going into T10 on ptr with my wizzard today, (firebirds) and tbh the kill speed is very slow but extreamly easy to get 400+ mass bonus.
my medium geared WD cleared T10 alot faster, same with monk and barb.
not realy played crussader but this ses he does very well, but iam afraid that his nerfs was to big.
Isnt Wiz - Firebird/Disintegrate/Meteor pretty good soloing ? Dudes are doin like GR70 even without ancient weapon
Except kill spree bonuses are completely pointless in rifts :/ Nephalem Rifts would be so much better if they'd left kill sprees in them. Now they're so inferior to equivalent GRs it's sad.
Updated with some of the suggested builds for T10 speed.
Those Who Do Not Know True Pain Cannot Possibly Understand True Peace...
Yeah, guess that true. But they still nerfed both static charge and healing for monks. Guess its AOE- time with Twister!
Well you can still play that way with 5pc tal and 3pc firebird and get better results than with full firebird.
Those Who Do Not Know True Pain Cannot Possibly Understand True Peace...
Right, they nerfed Static and Healing which sucks for monks in groups. But they're still clearing at least 81/83 rifts even as a "dead class" and I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone figures out a build that we haven't seen for both solo and groups that is suddenly and unexpectedly desirable.
Remember when Shenlong got nerfed in PTR and it was a useless set - for half a season until Static Charge turned up?
Pure Firebird seems kinda eh because FireTal is so much stronger and does the same thing - but I bet you could get pretty far with both if you wanted to. Woh+Blast offhand are stronger on Delsere's but you can still murder everything with them on Firebird if you like, too. Firebird beamTwister might be better than beamMeteor but Tal beamMeteor is pretty funny. I don't like Delsere's as much anymore because they took away my super death bubbles and made it so that your entire damage range is kept inside the bubbles instead. rip DalRasha.
Will unpopular set x be top or even top 10 on the leaderboard? No, but how many people who don't already know the ins and outs of every build are expecting to be top 10? Those spots are going to players who play all day, know all the mechanics in detail, have lots of connections who share inside information, and have clans/friends powerleveling the crap out of each other. So why worry about playing their specifically tailored builds when all of them are pretty good right now for most players?
All the things that are good or "crap" now on the PTR might remain that way, or they might not. But even the crap garbage nerfed to the ground stuff can still clear GR70+ which let's face it the majority of players will probably never reach, or will only just reach.
I just think there is so much viability right now that asking people to tell you which super popular because there happens to be a leaderboard entry for it build to play is such a waste of fun you could be having if there's something else you like more. Not to mention the playstyle involved is often not what people would expect and so they won't get the results with it. Or it needs a super specific rift layout and enemy type to clear at that level.
Uh yeah this was random and ranty >.>
Tal rasha has become even worse on the PTR now ? Like in useless ?
No Tal Rasha is fine as far as I know (2000% damage that you can actually keep up instead of having to rebuild every 8 seconds.)
Dal Rasha is actually dead (4pc Delsere + 6pc Tal'Rasha, using Slow Time as one of your elements) because the bubbles don't do damage anymore so it just doesn't work.
WD is actually a very fun class to play. Different playstyles available. Powerful too.
Going for DH in next season; haven't played it a lot.
Thanks for this post! I was torn between Wizard, Monk, and WD (All 3 are pretty low geared on non-seasonal). Guess I'll go with Wizard as that was my first character played.
Going with WD this season. Had a blast with it playing HT Season 4, now chicken got buffed and LoN Locust looks really fun.
i think you are wrong with 2 things.
Both Crusaders and WDs will not be good on high end groups really i think you are wrong imo, both can stay easily in end game groups, specially LoN Crusaders, where they help the group and the damage is very good, maybe not like a Wizard, DH and WD, but still insane damage.
This season i choosed crusader, easy to gear up at start, and you can start farming pretty fast at early stages, (not like with the horse build, but still fast) a bit hard to gear up for end game, specially for groups, but well, atm with the DH, they are the 2 best class in performance for t10, fast gr, bounties, and pretty competent on high end grs imo.
Maybe im wrong and you not, but i think both Crusaders and WD will be very competitive class.
Sorry for my bad english
I said that their popularity is low (WD) or dropping (Crusader) not that they are bad. What is good and what people want in groups are different things. I also expect that what people want in groups will change once the season is underway
None of the classes are actually bad right now - unless you are aiming for #1 of all classes, but the only people who are going to do that already know what to play and how to play it. Most players should get roughly the same results with any class, it just depends what style you enjoy (and what people like to let in groups.)