In an interview with Game Rant, the developers of Diablo Immortal talked about the new Blood Knight class and how it compares to other classes.

Diablo Immortal has been a mobile game for action-RPG fans for the second year now, and with the game’s next big patch, it may be the most significant yet. Diablo Immortal introduces the Blood Knight class, a brand new class never seen before in the series. Blood Knight will be free-to-play for all players as soon as it becomes available, so players who want a little more blood in their Diablo gameplay will be able to reroll or switch classes on day one.

In an interview with Game Rant ahead of the update’s announcement, Diablo Immortal Lead Narrative Designer Ryan Quinn and Lead UX Designer Chris Liao explained some of Blood Knight’s key features and potential strengths and weaknesses in PvP and elsewhere. Overall, this looks like it will be a well-rounded class with exceptional survivability and strong build variety that can accommodate many playstyles.

Diablo’s Immortal Blood Knight is a hybrid melee transformation class

While many classes in Diablo Immortal have a mix of melee and ranged abilities, they tend to be “one-or-the-other” build decisions. Blood Knight is a completely different case, his abilities in combat actually transform depending on the situation. One example the developers have pointed out is the primary dagger attack, which turns into a ranged ability when attacking distant targets.

“With the hybrid gameplay, I think there are some really unique abilities. In particular, the primary attack, Shadow’s Edge, is actually an attack that morphs depending on the proximity of the enemy. When you’re far away, you throw a dagger without a hilt, and when you’re close then the Blood Knight cuts with the dagger So there are some skills where even depending on the legendary essence they morph between ranged or melee so you have a lot of options to shape your character however you want and I think , that now there are plenty of opportunities.”

Blood Knight is also Diablo Immortal’s first transformation class, thanks to its unique Abomination transformation ability. Blood Knights are able to transform into an Abomination, which comes with powerful abilities, and maintaining this Abomination form is an important consideration for certain builds. The Blood Knight thrives best when the fights are intense, as this is when he can take full advantage of his myriad life-draining abilities, as well as build up the Abomination form as often as possible.

Blood Knights may have a special place in Diablo Immortal’s PvP meta

The developers noted that the Blood Knight is less mobile than other classes, but makes up for it with punishing crowd control abilities and gap closures. In Diablo Immortal’s PvP, opponents will want to keep as much distance as possible to deny the Blood Knight the ability to drain or disable their life. The class seems to have a relentless “drain tank” approach, becoming stronger the longer they are kept in combat.

“It’s always hard to tell how a new class will play in the meta, but I can say that some of their advantages are that they have a lot of crowd control. So a lot of stuns, and some gap closers and mobility options. However, compared to other classes they have limited mobility just because those slithers are on cooldown, while a monk has a teleport punch and multiple ways to escape combat, a Blood Knight needs to find himself in the thick of combat and be able to get out alive out of it, where life drains can help sustain them in longer matches. I feel like they’re in a unique position in PvP.”

Players will have plenty of options to customize their Blood Knight builds thanks to the full range of new legendary essences coming to Diablo Immortal that can improve or change the behavior of the class, and it will be exciting to see what theories crafters come up with and how how the class ultimately stacks up against its peers.

Source: GameRant