Say goodbye to the longest reigning Diablo 4 meta class and welcome a new ruler

Diablo 4 recently released its Season of Divine Intervention, season 11 abbreviated. The patch that came with it brought many significant changes Diablo 4crafting system, including how Masterworking and Tempering work, while also adding a new Sanctification step to make cool items at their best. Still, it could be argued that the most important and least advertised parts of Season 11 were the Uber version of Lesser Evils and the addition of the new Paladin class, which is already popular for its flavor and gameplay.

New bosses, an overhaul of core crafting mechanics, and a brand new class all called for a massive meta shift, and that's exactly what happened Diablo 4 With Season 11, Season 10 had a fairly clear meta when it came to which classes were best to pick, and then which builds of them were most effective at clearing endgame content. Spiritborn was particularly good in Season 10, perhaps due to benefiting from Chaos Armor more than other classes and builds, eventually dominating the rankings for D4's Pit. Now, after a long time, Season 11 is apparently no longer the kingdom of the Spiritborn, but ruled by the Paladin.

diablo-4-season-11-killing-best-druid-build

Diablo 4 Season 11 is the best build of Season 10

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

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

D4 Paladin Character Creation Screen — Diablo 4 Paladin character creation screen

Diablo 4The best Paladin builds don't boil down to just a handful of skills, as the class' set is great overall and allows for incredible variety. Judgment building is probably best right now for clearing bosses and regular enemies, but skills like Advance, Blessed Hammer, Blessed Shield, Divine Lance, Consecration, and Zenith are fantastic options to build for the end game. This alone gives Paladin more replay value compared to Spiritborn, which has some excellent builds like Evade and maybe Crushing Hand, but it doesn't bring a lot of 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, or whether it's because its build is more sophisticated, the Paladin is the clear winner of Season 11. Diablo 4Aura Paladin builds can even take out enemies in the endgame and high level Pit by walking around and not using their weapons, which is fun on the now classic Evade Spiritborn.

The so-called Auradin build by renowned Diablo 4 player and content creator Wudijo requires the unique Dawfire Gloves to function.

Diablo 4Spiritborn builds have dominated the game since the new class came out with Vessel of Hatred, so it's all the more refreshing to have another class take the crown in Season 11 ahead of the Lord of Hatred expansion in April 2026. With Evade Spiritborn builds having been so good for over a year now, maintaining their size while making plenty of room for all the new classes reveals the hype surrounding the new Druid builds.

Paladin vs. Spiritborn from Diablo 4: Which is better?

Why you should play Spiritborn in Diablo 4 Season 11

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

Diablo 4's Evade Spiritborn is a fast and clean endgame that is easy to use.
The various Quill Rain Spiritborn builds produced each season are consistently strong and fast, rewarding good placement.
Spiritborn has some great guaranteed aspects to it Diablo 4so it is very affordable and reliable.
The Spiritborn is a tried-and-true class that doesn't typically see many changes across seasons, so it's a fantastic pick for a season's first character, and it's easy to make the best builds for it in the game.
Spiritborn have a unique powerful fantasy not found in other classes as they focus on spirit animals and their leadership.

Why you should play Paladin in Diablo 4 Season 11

However, the new Paladin is perhaps on par with the Spiritborn, if not outright better. The reason is:

Paladin's Arbiter of Justice v Diablo 4 can speed up an otherwise slower class quite a bit, although the extra movement speed on this skill was recently nerfed in patch 2.5.1.
Evade Paladin builds exist and are quite strong as an alternative to Spiritborn.
Paladin more easily enables “passive” builds like Holy Light Aura and Thorns in Diablo 4while Spiritborn requires more build-up for the same or less effective results.
Paladin is a naturally bulky class with self-healing capabilities in multiple skills such as Consecration and Fanaticism, Aura's Rite of Redemption enhancement.
An Aura Paladin build is an incredible alternative to Necromancer and Druid minion builds with wolf-related aspects, strengthening allies while weakening enemies and dealing damage.

Ultimately, both classes have their pros and cons, but it's undeniable that Paladin has generated an incredible amount of hype for it Diablo 4present and future, spawning not a few, but more than a dozen meta builds that mostly outperform all other options in the game. That's not to say there aren't any outliers, as Sorcerer's Crack Energy and Rogue's Death Trap build in. Diablo 4. Still, Paladin is the shiny new thing, and it's understandable that he's dominating the meta and quickly becoming a fan favorite.