[UPDATED] Paladin Class is coming - Top Reasons Why (Speculation)

PC General Discussion
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Here is a breakdown of my total & exhausted speculation:

Paladin Class is coming, but not when you think it is. It will be announced next Thursday with a release date for Season 12/next year.

  • Season Theme:

The name “Season of Divine Intervention” and its storyline involving angels and the Lesser Evils (Azmodan, Belial, Andariel, and Duriel) align thematically with the holy warrior archetype of the Paladin/Crusader class.

  • Datamine Leaks:

An internal Blizzard build for Patch 2.5 was found with the name 2.5.Xpaladin67961, heavily suggesting that a Paladin-type class is in internal testing. Season 11 is expected to be Patch 2.5.x.

  • Datamined Assets

Screenshots and datamines from the new Reliquary feature in the upcoming season have shown the flail weapon model. The flail is a signature weapon type for the Paladin (and Diablo 3 's Crusader) and is not currently used by any other class in Diablo 4 .

  • Community Desire:

The Paladin is a highly requested and popular class from previous Diablo games (Diablo 2 and Diablo 3’s Crusader). Many of us were disappointed it wasn’t included at launch or with the first expansion, making its eventual reveal a likely crowd pleaser.

  • Windows Central Reporter Confirmation:

Jez Corden, a reputable journalist from Windows Central, tweeted a cryptic message about the TGA teaser, suggesting it was for a Diablo 4 expansion, and also mentioned “more”. He previously told people it was “time to reinstall Diablo 4” in a way that implied significant new content was coming.

  • Potential Reveal:

The start of the season is timed to coincide with The Game Awards, leading to speculation that a Paladin announcement could be part of a surprise reveal there.

  • Expansion Schedule & Timing:

Blizzard has officially confirmed that the next major expansion (Expansion 2, following Vessel of Hatred ) will be released in 2026. The Paladin reveal would be for this future expansion, rather than Season 11 itself, which is consistent with the typical game development and marketing lifecycle.

  • OTHER

Chinese server launch on the 12th indicates 'NEW SECRET CONTENT. There are also notes about ‘Shield buffs’ coming to season 11 - AND - The season launch was delayed by two days to coincide with TGA.

A Paladin class is

ON THE WAY.

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Thanks for letting us know.

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It’s important to spread awareness. I’ve noticed that some stubborn forum users remain unconvinced.

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indifferent. Is paladin launching today? Not that i know of. Is it launching in 6 days? Not that i know of. Is it launching in 3/6/9 months? Not that i know of. If i find out it is, will it change anything for me until then? Not that i know of. I don’t care until there’s a reason to care.

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Begone, non-believer!

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Mid rage bait. Get hyped!

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Until it is announced no one knows.

Have you not learned anything about Blizzard in the last decade?

Both you and them have taken the fun out of speculation.

What are you going to do when it isn’t Paladin?

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Probably stay off the forums and come back in a few months like nothing happened.

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I still believe it won’t be dropping in S11. I also doubt the class (whatever it is) is even fully fleshed out. I’m not convinced a single line of code that mentions Paladin is definitive proof it’s even the next class. At least with SB we had multiple lines of code, and weapon code too.

Now that being said. One could pop up during the seasonal quest. I could easily see a Paladin being part of the lore of the story for S11. Either a long lost Paladin or one referenced during the story.

So for example they could make up a story where these beings have entered sanctuary before, and the paladins had to band together to push them back. So we have to uncover how they succeeded.

We’ll see soon enough. Now if the stars align and the giant spaghetti monster in the sky comes down, sure we’ll get a Paladin, the expansion launch, and 10k platinum added to our accounts if you pre-order. Worst case scenario that won’t happen, we get a trailer for the expansion, and S11 has a weird launch time and date to coincide with the Chinese servers coming online.

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there is a small chance that they can drop paladin as beta where you can play it with pre-defined builds as in previous events up to level 25 or something. So they can get feedback. Instead of doing this on specific to an event they can do it for everybody, that would be super cool.

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Next Friday, I’m either playing Paladin, or I’m playing Druid.

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13+ probably, or undeclared. I hope it’s not S12. This staff in its 2025 form doesn’t instill confidence… I think they need a few more months of process & gelling to get it right.

Anyway, my prediction that expac 2 comes late spring/ early summer 2026 at the earliest, is old. The more lackluster the seasons the more plausible it is that they took Ybarra’s advice to heart & redirected resources toward expac (incl. new class). But look at the staffing shakeup, starting with Jackson… it more than cancels out any ‘reallocation’.

Then add in the ‘confidence’ they exude every time they’re on screen (if they’re not quitting or being demoted), and only 2 possibilities remain: either they’ll squirt it out prematurely with a ton of hype for a final cash-in & it’ll be lame as hell (but flashy)… or they’ve learned many lessons, still retain pride in their legacy (jeez… I hope the departures/ demotions don’t speak to this very thing :eyes: ) and therefore will use this announcement to buy as much time as possible to make it good. Because they love the franchise, and because this is not just a job.

So… Blizzard being what it is today, expectations should be low. If you’re one of those people with short attention spans, who wants it ‘now!’, and you get your way - may you enjoy D4’s last-ever major content patch when it does land.

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You’re probably right on timing. Also the wings in S11 are ‘Templar’ Wings.

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Rhykker says paladin could be coming in S11 so not S12. Its all part of the build up to game awards. The hype is starting to build. The secret might be out and we need just a bit more evidence to really say it with certainty.

45 s into vid. Then watch at 5 min fer awhile.

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Gee, now that statement wouldn’t be used to generate clicks/views would it??

Seeing as he is under and NDA why would say things like this?

Click more, we don’t need him in the real work world.

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Whose buildup? ‘Content creators’?

If you mean Blizzard’s buildup… i.e. NDA information-drip behind the scenes to ‘content creators’… one should marvel at the business sense of explicitly linking the ‘savior class’ to a middling season roll-out… whose release date wasn’t even pinned down (which = no months-long planning, something a class rollout almost requires)… and whose core feature (Towers) was scrapped for release because the devs are still finding their footing on basic game features. (The main point here is, they obviously didn’t plan to shadow-drop Paladin alongside Leaderboards… which would make the swap-out even less likely due to how haphazard it is. Bosses would never OK that.)

I think it’s still safe to assume ‘seasonal work’ is B Team effort, expansion work is A Team effort, and the weirdest thing the company could do is merge the two. (And expansion without a new class ain’t happening… and I very much doubt they have the means to release 2 classes in the next half year or so).

Not S12 either bro. Especially now that Tower + Leaderboards were postponed to S12 (so far).

It was never coming in S12 IMO. S13 or 14 probably (unless more stuff goes wrong). Expansion roll-out means several months of marketing.

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Thay can release paladin and still release paladin. Hear me out. S11 paladin is temporary and only on season. We are just testing it out as a prepurchase gift. Then they make changes and real paladin comes out released on eternal and season as part of expansion.

There are many more options like paladin being separate purchase releasing at the same time as expansion maybe as a hero pack. Prepurchase of expansion gives you this hero but not the other 2 in hero pack. You get a discount on hero pack if u buy expansion.

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He’s literally just recapping what I wrote lol

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You need to have a cult of followers; otherwise your words don’t have any weight.

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Finding a piece of corn in your poop is nothing to be excited over.