Quote from bill233 on January 8, 2026, 5:54 amI will be honest, when the Season 11 notes landed I did not think Paladin would end up running the whole game like this, even though people were already planning their new builds and where to buy Diablo 4 Items for the class. Once you actually take one into The Pit and start pushing higher tiers, it kind of feels like you have been trolling yourself by staying on a squishier class. The jump in comfort is huge, and it almost feels like you are playing some "easy mode" version of Diablo 4 while everyone else is still dodging for their lives.
Survivability That Feels Wrong
The biggest shock is how hard it is to die. On other classes you are used to playing perfect: bad dodge, bad pull, wrong angle, and you are on the floor. With Paladin this season, you mess up, you brace for the hit, and then your health bar barely twitches. You are sitting on high armor, capped resists, but that is not really the story; the class just layers mitigation in a way that makes big mechanics feel like light taps. You start standing in ground effects "just to see" and then realise you can tank them while still attacking. After a while you stop flinching at most elite packs, which is a weird feeling if you came from Rogue or Sorc.
Damage Without The Usual Trade Off
Normally if you build a wall of a character, you accept that your damage will be kind of sad. That is the deal in most seasons. Right now Paladin just ignores that rule. Holy burst skills chunk bosses in a way that looks like you are playing some overgeared seasonal test character. Spin style hammer setups keep the damage flowing so you are not waiting on long cooldowns either. Fights that used to feel like a four or five minute endurance test drop to a couple of rotations, and you barely have time to worry about the next big mechanic because the boss is already on its last phase.
Room To Play Around With Builds
Another thing you notice pretty fast is how many ways you can build this class without feeling like you are griefing your own run. Other classes often have that one "approved" endgame setup and everything else is cope until you farm a very specific Unique. Paladin in Season 11 feels way more open. You can lean into a support build for groups, stacking buffs and utility, and still walk into solo Pit runs without feeling weak. Then you swap a few pieces and go full zealot, chasing crits and attack speed. I have tried a few different setups in one week and none of them felt like throwaway experiments, which helps a lot with keeping the grind fresh.
Enjoy It While It Lasts
There is always that feeling at the back of your mind that a balance patch is coming, because Blizzard does not let one class sit at the top forever, especially when it is this obvious. For now though, if you want to cruise through The Pit without sweating every cooldown and every step, rolling a Paladin makes a lot of sense, whether you are starting fresh or gearing up with D4 items cheap along the way. It is the kind of power level that makes you log in "for one run" and then suddenly it is three hours later.
I will be honest, when the Season 11 notes landed I did not think Paladin would end up running the whole game like this, even though people were already planning their new builds and where to buy Diablo 4 Items for the class. Once you actually take one into The Pit and start pushing higher tiers, it kind of feels like you have been trolling yourself by staying on a squishier class. The jump in comfort is huge, and it almost feels like you are playing some "easy mode" version of Diablo 4 while everyone else is still dodging for their lives.
The biggest shock is how hard it is to die. On other classes you are used to playing perfect: bad dodge, bad pull, wrong angle, and you are on the floor. With Paladin this season, you mess up, you brace for the hit, and then your health bar barely twitches. You are sitting on high armor, capped resists, but that is not really the story; the class just layers mitigation in a way that makes big mechanics feel like light taps. You start standing in ground effects "just to see" and then realise you can tank them while still attacking. After a while you stop flinching at most elite packs, which is a weird feeling if you came from Rogue or Sorc.
Normally if you build a wall of a character, you accept that your damage will be kind of sad. That is the deal in most seasons. Right now Paladin just ignores that rule. Holy burst skills chunk bosses in a way that looks like you are playing some overgeared seasonal test character. Spin style hammer setups keep the damage flowing so you are not waiting on long cooldowns either. Fights that used to feel like a four or five minute endurance test drop to a couple of rotations, and you barely have time to worry about the next big mechanic because the boss is already on its last phase.
Another thing you notice pretty fast is how many ways you can build this class without feeling like you are griefing your own run. Other classes often have that one "approved" endgame setup and everything else is cope until you farm a very specific Unique. Paladin in Season 11 feels way more open. You can lean into a support build for groups, stacking buffs and utility, and still walk into solo Pit runs without feeling weak. Then you swap a few pieces and go full zealot, chasing crits and attack speed. I have tried a few different setups in one week and none of them felt like throwaway experiments, which helps a lot with keeping the grind fresh.
There is always that feeling at the back of your mind that a balance patch is coming, because Blizzard does not let one class sit at the top forever, especially when it is this obvious. For now though, if you want to cruise through The Pit without sweating every cooldown and every step, rolling a Paladin makes a lot of sense, whether you are starting fresh or gearing up with D4 items cheap along the way. It is the kind of power level that makes you log in "for one run" and then suddenly it is three hours later.
