Last time we visited Sanctuary we made three proposals for Nephalem heroes: the wizard, monk, and barbarian, but there are still three more playable classes in Diablo 3—plus the necromancer DLC—and we can’t abandon them! So brace yourselves, here comes the second part of our archetype reimagining!

Demon Hunter: Josen

We all love Valla, one of the most rewarding auto-attack-based heroes in the game. Her role is clear: destroy everything in range (or Vault to take it into your own range). The demon hunter class is all about the balance between hatred and discipline, the two resources they use to fuel their abilities. Valla portrays the rage of this inner conflict, but we’ve chosen the quieter and more strategic side for this demon hunter hero, the discipline.

To make them different from the other archers, we could use Impale (a knife throwing basic ability in Diablo) as the basic attack four our demon hunter. Then, their core would be formed by Elemental Arrow—or elemental dagger in our case—Sentry, and Chakram. The first one would temporarily turn the auto-attacks into shadow orbs with tentacles to drain the health from enemies. Sentry would summon a turret to shield allies within range by a percentage of the demon hunter self-healing. Chakram is just a poke tool, and would throw a long-range projectile.

This kit would make our demon hunter a support or healer character, with the same hit-to-heal philosophy of Whitemane or Tyrande. Their ults would help them burst the healing. The first one would be Shadow Power, surrounding the demon hunter with shadows and healing them a percentage of all the damage dealt (stacks with Elemental Arrow). The alternative for this would be Companion, allowing the hero to summon animals—a raven, a boar, a spider, ferrets…it could depend on the skins or talents—that attack enemies and slow them. While this heroic ability is active, Sentry turrets would heal allies instead of just shielding them.

For the appearance of this demon hunter we could use the Marauder set, as it’s the one that empowers both Sentry and Companion (though not exactly as we did). And the one to wear this gear could be Josen, the one who took Valla into the order.

Crusader: Dregan

A crusader can be a tank as hard as Johanna, an unstoppable force to deal with all the enemy threats...but they could also be the threat. Imagine a rampaging colossus covered with heavy plates charging against you while wielding a huge flail. That’s another way to think about crusaders. And that’s clearly a bruiser role.

The idea behind our design is a hero with slow but punishing attacks and a kit of medium range tools to catch anyone who dares flee. The theme of his abilities is the concept of light, something really important in the crusader archetype. The first ability is Fist of the Heavens: summon a light pillar that explodes, dealing damage and shooting a few bolts to make it even more dangerous. The next tool in the kit would be Heaven’s Fury, which calls down a ray of light that scorches the ground and deals damage to the enemies walking through. The last basic ability is Justice. The crusader throws a hammer, something like Muradin’s Storm Bolt but without the stunning part. If it hits an enemy hero, the crusader movement speed is increased.

If the basic abilities let our hero chase their enemies, the heroic abilities increase their damage, so there are no more escape attempts. The first one is Akarat’s Champion, a buff that empowers the crusader’s attacks and speeds up the cooldown of basic abilities. The other heroic would be Phalanx. It summons two avatars that charge against the targeted location, dealing a huge amount of damage to everything in their way.

The set that synergizes best with these abilities in Diablo 3 is Aegis of Valor, but it’s quite similar to Imperius, so it could be confusing (though the crusader wouldn’t have wings). Instead, the chosen set could be the Armor of Akkhan, and that would still be a right choice, as it improves Akarat’s Champion. The one to join Johanna would be Dregan, a crusader who adorned his shield with a demon head.

Witch Doctor: Zunimassa

Spiders and toads are just a part of the witch doctor identity. In the beginning they were known for their pets: zombie dogs, the Gargantuan, and Fetishes (little demons). The dogs in particular are very interesting because they coould be sacrificed to explode or even to generate regen globes. But that’s not the style we’ve chosen for our witch doctor.

This time we’ve started from the hero role and then made the character design. We want a tank based on neutralizing damage. The playstyle of this witch doctor would be tricky, as they need to get near the enemy team, but they need to hit their abilities or they would quickly die.

The core kit consists of Soul Harvest, Haunt and Locust Swarm. The first one reduces the movement speed of all the enemies surrounding the witch doctor. Haunt releases a spirit that possesses an enemy and increases the damage they receive from any source. The last ability, Locust Swarm, is the most important, as it’s the one which reduces the damage dealt by the target. It unleashes a plague of locusts that swarm the enemy, leaving behind a damaging cloud of bugs upon dying.

The heroic abilities available would be Piranhas and Fetish Army. Piranhas summons a tornado of these lethal fish that suck in nearby enemies to help peel and allow the witch doctor to use all their abilities more safely. With the second heroic, basic attacks would have a chance to summon a Sycophant, a little psycho demon with huge knives that would attack and chase an enemy.

The three basic abilities are related to the Raiment of the Jade Harvester, and that could be the armor set for our witch doctor. According to this, Tukam—the Jade Harvester—should be the obvious choice to portrait our hero, but we’ve gone for a more exotic choice: Zunimassa, whose set reduces the damage taken for every active Fetish.