Say goodbye to Diablo 4's longest reigning metaclass and welcome a new monarch

Diablo 4 recently released its Season of Divine Intervention, abbreviated Season 11. The patch that came with it made many significant changes Diablo 4s crafting system, including how Masterworking and Tempering work, while adding the new Sanctification step to make fantastic items the best they can be. Still, it could be argued that the most important and least advertised parts of Season 11 were the Uber versions of the Lesser Evils and the addition of the new Paladin class, which is already a fan favorite due to its flavor and gameplay.

New bosses, a rework of the core crafting mechanics, and a brand new class call for a massive meta shift, and that's exactly what happened with Diablo 4 with Season 11. Season 10 had a pretty clear meta when it came to which classes were best to pick, and then which of their builds were most effective at clearing endgame content. Spiritborn was particularly good in Season 10, possibly thanks to it benefiting more from Chaos Armor than other classes and builds, so it ended up dominating the charts for D4s Pit. Now, after a long time, season 11 is apparently no longer the kingdom of the Spiritborn, but the Paladin reigns.

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Diablo 4 Season 11 is Killing Season 10's best build

Diablo 4 Season 10 players should enjoy the game's best build while they can, as it will effectively be dead by the time Season 11 starts.

Say hello to the new best class in Diablo 4 Season 11

D4 Paladin Character Creation Screen — Diablo 4 Paladin Character Creation Screen

Diablo 4's best Paladin builds don't boil down to just a handful of skills, as the class's kit is fantastic overall and offers incredible variety. Judgment builds are arguably the best right now for clearing bosses and regular enemies, but skills like Advance, Blessed Hammer, Blessed Shield, Divine Lance, Consecration, and Zenith are all great options to build around for the endgame. This alone gives Paladin more replay value compared to Spiritborn, which has some outstanding builds, like Evade ones and possibly Crushing Hand, but it doesn't add much variety to the table.

Why Diablo 4's Paladin is suddenly the most popular class

Whether it's because it's the newest toy to play with, whether it's because its kit is more rounded, the Paladin is the clear winner of Season 11. Diablo 4s Aura Paladin build can even take out endgame enemies and high level Pits just by walking around and not using their weapons, which is a fun spin on the now classic Evade Spiritborn.

The so-called Auradin build from renowned Diablo 4 player and content creator Wudijo requires the Dawfire Unique Gloves to work.

Diablo 4s Spiritborn builds have dominated the game since the new class came out with Vessel of Hatred, making it all the more refreshing for another to take the crown in Season 11 ahead of the Lord of Hatred expansion in April 2026. Because the Evade Spiritborn builds have been so good for over a year now, they've maintained their greatness while still having something fun to build the new game, because it's fun to build the new game. hype surrounding new Druid builds reveals.

Diablo 4's Paladin vs. Spiritborn: Which is Better?

Why you should play a Spiritborn in Diablo 4 Season 11

The main reasons Spiritborn are a metaclass now and have been for a very long time are:

Diablo 4's Evade Spiritborn is a fast endgame finisher that is easy to use.
The various Quill Rain Spiritborn builds made each season are consistently strong and fast, rewarding good positioning.
The Spiritborn has some great guaranteed aspects in it Diablo 4which makes it very accessible and reliable.
Spiritborn is a tried and true class that usually doesn't get many changes over seasons, so it's a great choice for a first character in a given season, and it's easy to make the best builds in the game for it.
Spiritborn has a unique power fantasy that cannot be found in other classes, as it focuses on spirit animals and their guidance.

Why you should play a Paladin in Diablo 4 Season 11

However, the new Paladin is possibly on par with the Spiritborn, if not outright better. This is because:

The Paladin's Arbiter of Justice i Diablo 4 can make the otherwise more sluggish class quite fast, although the extra movement speed on this skill was recently tweaked in patch 2.5.1.
Evade Paladin builds exist and are quite powerful as an alternative to Spiritborn.
Paladin allows for lighter “passive” builds like Holy Light Aura and Thorns in Diablo 4while Spiritborn requires more build up for equal or less effective results.
Paladin is a naturally bulky class with self-healing options in several skills, such as Consecration and Fanatism Aura's Rite of Redemption upgrade.
The Aura Paladin build provides an incredible alternative to Necromancer and Druid minion builds with wolf-related aspects, empowering allies while weakening and damaging enemies.

Ultimately, both classes have their pros and cons, but it's undeniable that Paladin generated an incredible amount of hype for Diablo 4s present and future, creating not a couple, but over a dozen meta builds that mostly outperform every other option in the game. This doesn't mean there aren't any outliers, as Sorcerer's Crackling Energy build and Rogue's Death Trap build in Diablo 4. Still, Paladin is the new shiny thing, and it's understandable that it's dominating the meta while quickly becoming a fan favorite.