Diablo 4’s 9th season is nearly here, and as the launch date draws ever closer, everyone begins to ask the same old question. What classes are the strongest in the next Diablo 4 season?
S-Tier Classes
While Season 9: Sins of the Horadrim doesn’t shake up class balancing severely, three builds currently stand high above the rest from the PTR.
- Flay Barbarian (likely to get nerfed prior to release)
- Hydra Sorcerer
- Poison Volley Spiritborn
One of the strongest, if not the strongest, builds on the PTR is the Flay Barbarian, but it might not remain at the top once the full season releases. This build is so strong because of the new 
Hooves of the Mountain God item, which is currently bugged, allowing the Barbarian to deal negative damage, which causes them to one-shot enemies. Of course, this allows the current version of the Barbarian to clear past Pit level 100. This bug will very likely be fixed, dropping the Flay Barbarian build down into likely B tier, but until then, this remains potentially strong.
The Hydra Sorcerer also has the potential of being the strongest build if and or when Flay Barbarian gets nerfed. Thanks to the new 
Ophidian Iris, you will always summon a three-headed hydra that now deals splash damage, with the potential to make each spawn grow larger and more potent if it rolls over three heads. Similar to the Flay Barbarian, this build has a bug that allows it to double-dip into scaling with Shatter, resulting in greater effectiveness than intended. However, even if this bug is fixed, the Hydra Sorcerer will still likely be a top build for season 9. With this in mind, the Hydra Sorcerer comfortably reaches at least Pit level 100, excels at speed clearing, and quickly defeats any Torment 4 bosses.
Lastly, rounding out the current three strongest builds for Season 9 is Poison Volley Spiritborn. The new 
Balazan’s Maxtlatl item allows the Spiritborn to scale further with Thorns and heightens their Poison synergies. This, in turn, works beautifully with their 
Noxious Resonance key passive, making it one of the tankiest builds on top of having high mobility, making it perfect for speed clears. Yet, like the two previous builds, the Poison Volley build also has a double-dipping bug involving dual Jaguar Spirit Hall powers.
A-Tier Classes
As stated previously, this season doesn’t have too many drastic changes from the previous season, so many of the giants of Season 8 will still be viable in Sins of the Horadrim.
- Blood Spear Necromancer
- Death Trap Rogue
- Whirlwind Barbarian
- Blood Wave Necromancer
- Lightning Spear Sorcerer
- Fleshrender Druid (The build will be available on our site in the near future)
- Quill Volley Spiritborn
Many of these are older builds, but they still plan to hit end-game content just as hard in Sins of the Horadrim. Despite getting several nerfs over the past few seasons, Blood Wave Necromancer still has the potential to push around Pit lvl 90 to 100, with the Blood Spear build not falling too far behind.
It is likely that Flay Barbarian will see nerfs before its release. While Earthquake Barbarian continues to get nerfed, Whirlwind will definitely still be dominating simply because Dust Devils still hit very hard, especially since Arreat’s Bearing remains strong.
Rogues have little changes moving into the next season, and sometimes, no news is good news. Death Trap Rogue will likely continue to be on top of the tier list for most Rogue builds, despite the Overpowered stat being nerfed, along with the Eyes in the Dark item.
Sorcerer’s Lightning Spear build will also stick around in Season 9 despite getting some nefs that continue to cap their conjurations’ overall effectiveness. Yet, still, this build looks to be a solid alternative that offers competitive speed clear times.
As for Druid, the PTR demonstrated a few good builds, but the strongest will likely be the Fleshrender build. In the wake of the Overpower nerfs (which Druid will be one of the main classes impacted by this change), the Fleshrender Druid build will likely be the best build for pushing the Pit and the new Escalating Nightmares from Season 9.
In Season 9, Quill Volley will continue to be one of the best options for Spiritborn. This is because Spiritborn hasn’t had any significant changes on the PTR. As a result, any dominant build in Season 8 is expected to remain just as effective in the upcoming season.
Honorable Mentions
There are still plenty of builds that could make it into the A-Teir listing that we would also like to highlight:
Spiritborn seems to be among the strongest and most stable classes moving into Season 9 and will have a variety of builds to choose from. Quill Volley will still likely hold a top spot, with Firestorm Evade also a good option, both offering unmatched mobility and speed. Minion Necromancer might also take the spotlight with the release of the new 
The Hand of Naz item, which revives the minion playstyle and shifts it to Skeletal Mage-focused.
With Overpower being nerfed, Druid and a few other classes will feel the weight of the changes, but in light of this, Boulder Druid remains a solid alternative choice for Season 9, especially for its boss-killing power. Additionally, while Rogues weren’t significantly affected by the recent changes, Flurry Rogue remains a viable option, especially with the introduction of the new Deathmask of Nirmitruq.
Overall, Diablo 4’s Season 9: Sins of the Horadrim looks promising from testing, with some clear winners charted while some classes continue to need some buffs and tuning. Yet some players see more negative changes than welcome ones before the season’s launch date.