Diablo’s first new class in nearly a decade, the Blood Knight, is coming soon
Blizzard will introduce a new class to the world of Diablo on July 13, bringing the Blood Knight to Diablo Immortal, the developer confirmed Thursday during a developer update livestream. The Blood Knight will be the seventh playable class in Diablo Immortal, joining the Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, and Wizard. It’s the first new class for the Diablo series in nearly a decade, after the Crusader’s introduction in Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls.
Diablo Immortal developers described the Blood Knight as a melee hybrid class that uses polearms for close combat. The Blood Knight can feel a bit slow at first, the developers said, but can also transform into a powerful monster, known as an Abomination, and perform powerful hand-to-hand blows against hordes of enemies.
The lore of the Blood Knight is based on Diablo’s version of vampires. Vampires are like a “living plague” in the world of Diablo, the developers said, and their victims sometimes devolve into Thralls (lesser vampiric beings) after being bitten. Blood Knights are humans who have been bitten by vampires, but, through means of an ancient ritual, halt the curse of Thralldom. Blood Knights are doomed to succumb to the Thrall curse at some point, but utilize a keepsake that maintains their connection to humanity and keeps the darkness at bay. When Blood Knights transform into Abominations, they temporarily “let the curse off the leash a little bit,” the developers said.
The developers did not say whether the Blood Knight will eventually make its way into Diablo 4, but Blizzard could use Diablo Immortal as a testbed to gauge interest in the new class. Existing Immortal players can change their current class to Blood Knight when it goes live, as
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