Summary
Season 15 has been live for about three weeks now, and the meta has shifted significantly since launch. Bugs have been patched, exploits have been acknowledged (and in some cases, openly permitted), and builds have been tested in the depths of the Tower and the Pit. If you want to skip some of the grind and gear up faster, you can also buy D4 Items from trusted sellers to accelerate your build. Here's a full breakdown of how all eight classes are performing, which builds are leading the leaderboards, and what you should play depending on your goals.
Key Mechanics to Understand First
Before diving into the rankings, two effects apply to many top builds:
Crushing Blow
Available via a unique rune or runeword items like Infinity.
Deals a portion of the monster's current HP as damage, ignoring your own damage multipliers.
Absolutely chunks enemies down to around 50% health, remains decent until ~35%, then stops.
Best for Pit and Tower pushing where enemies have massive health pools.
Deadly Strike
Also available via unique runes or runeword items.
Only applies to non-critting builds—a critical strike cannot be a deadly strike and vice versa.
Extremely strong in damage-over-time (DoT) builds.
If a DoT build is discussed, assume it uses Deadly Strike.
The Bugged Talisman Setup
Most leaderboard runs use a bugged exploit: having a five-set charm bonus active with a Hellfire Torch, plus two unique charms active simultaneously. The developers have stated this won't be fixed anytime soon and have essentially said players can use it freely. It's not required for builds to function, but it's a big reason they reach the heights they do.
Season 15 Class Rankings
8th Place: Druid
Peak Clear: Tier 147
Druid was second last time we talked, thanks to a busted interaction between a set bonus and a runeword unique. That's been patched, dropping Druid from fast tier 150 clears to not completing tier 150s at all.
Top Build: Storm Shred
Combines Shred (turned into a storm skill) with storm and wolf buffs.
Uses Avatar of Nature Grizzly Rage, turned into a werewolf skill.
Dark Howl changes Debilitating Roar into a werewolf skill.
Activates the old Mountain set bonus (5-piece) through frequent Stone Bursts.
Otherwise spams Shred, which is very powerful.
Verdict: Still impressive at tier 147, but comparatively the lowest peak of any class right now.
7th Place: Paladin
Peak Clear: Tier 149
Paladin has been in a weird space since release—overpowered, then heavily nerfed, then awkward. Builds haven't been shaken up in meaningful ways for several seasons.
Top Build: Thorns Shield Throw
Based on Blessed Shield and the thorns variant, Shield of Retribution.
Deals thorns damage pulses around thrown shields.
Stacking multiple shields pumps out damage.
Works well for Tower and Pit, but awkward elsewhere.
Alternative Build: Odin
Based on Holy Light Aura and Dawnfire unique gloves.
Layers damaging auras and wolf summons from the Se rune.
About 11 tiers behind Thorns Shield Throw for Tower and Pit, but much better for general content.
Verdict: If you want to push the class to its limits, you must use Blessed Shield.
6th Place: Spiritborn
Peak Clear: Tier 150 in 5 minutes 50 seconds
The slowest tier 150 clear among the six classes that have completed one—still a big gap from the two classes that haven't.
Top Build: Storm Stinger with Nimbo Stradle Strike
Uses Stinger to create Spirit Storms (piles of damage on the floor).
Stacks multiple Spirit Storms in the same place.
Built for stationary combat—perfect for Pit and Tower where enemies survive long enough for stacks to build.
The longer enemies are alive, the more damage you do over time.
Alternative Build: Pestilent Swarm Counter Strike
Based around Counterattack with Pestilent Swarm.
DoT-focused with orbiting swarms.
Still clears tier 150 and is almost as good for Tower and Pit.
Recommended for all other content.
Verdict: Storm Stinger is having its moment, but Pestilent Swarm is the more versatile choice.
5th Place: Rogue
Peak Clear: Tier 150 in 4 minutes 26 seconds
Rogue is in a fun spot with multiple builds competing for top completion.
Top Build: Cutthroat Poison Flurry
Combines Dance of Knives (held down for resource generation and lucky hit procs) with Flurry as the main damage skill.
Applies poison damage through Poison Abusement.
Dance of Knives' high lucky hit chance lets you cast Flurry more often and make it stronger.
Works well outside Tower and Pit, but is more push-oriented.
Alternative Build: Reign of Arrows
Has cleared tier 150 at 6 minutes 45 seconds.
Not far behind and more versatile.
Recommended for general play.
Also Notable: Penetrating Shot
Only 20 seconds behind the best clear.
Clearly second place among Rogue builds.
Verdict: Rogue has many high-power options. Reign of Arrows is the best all-rounder.
4th Place: Necromancer
Peak Clear: Tier 150 in 4 minutes 6 seconds
No surprises here—Bloodwave has been the top push build for Necromancer season after season.
Top Build: Bloodwave
The usual suspect for Pit and Tower pushing.
Has been dominant for multiple seasons.
Alternative Build: Shadow Skeletal Mages (Arch Mages)
Uses Hand of Nause unique to make mages count as Arch Mages.
Standard minion shadow crit style build.
Clears tier 149 pits—not far behind Bloodwave.
Less Pit/Tower-specific and more preferable for general use.
Verdict: Necro is strong, but the top builds aren't fresh or exciting.
3rd Place: Sorcerer
Peak Clear: Tier 150 in 3 minutes 39 seconds
Sub-4-minute runs of the highest difficulty content.
Top Build: Ring of Flames / Flame Wall
Stacks overlapping damage-over-time effects in the same place.
Similar to Shield of Retribution (Paladin) and Storm Stinger (Spiritborn).
Very Tower and Pit pushing focused—doesn't feel great elsewhere.
Key items: Writhing Aspect (high stacking DoT multiplier) and Hellfire Splinter (reduces crit chance by 100% but gives 76% damage increase; gem strength transfigures are more powerful this season).
Alternative Build: Blizzard
Best for general content.
Peak for push content is in the low tier 140s compared to Flame Wall at 150.
Verdict: Flame Wall is the push build; Blizzard is the comfort pick.
2nd Place: Barbarian
Peak Clear: Tier 150 in 3 minutes 33 seconds (only 6 seconds faster than Sorcerer)
Barb was nearly last place a couple weeks ago. As often happens, a funky bug has turned it into a leaderboard dominator.
Top Build: Call of the Ancients / Gigantic Party Size
Works around Call of the Ancients and every method of summoning more ancients.
Makes ancients as strong as possible.
The Bug: You can build up an army of ancients, summons, and minions, walk through Teis with that army already created, then start a Tower run with your giant group of summons already active. This skips the ramp-up entirely and makes the build much stronger than intended.
Without the bug, this build would cap below tier 150.
With the bug, it creates the second-fastest Tower run on the leaderboards.
Alternative Build: Whirlwind
Very strong right now.
Easy to use and fun.
Recommended for non-Pit/Tower content.
Verdict: The bug makes Barbarian a top contender, but Whirlwind is the normal, reliable choice.
1st Place: Warlock
Peak Clear: Tier 150 in 54 seconds
Warlock is screaming away with first place—fully clear of the 1-minute mark. This is absolutely nuts.
Top Build: Blazing Scream
Whenever a skull from Blazing Scream despawns (big skull or little skull splitter extra spawns), it counts as a demon dying.
This triggers:
Black Soul Stone Splinter (incredibly powerful)
Sadistic Aspect (healing)
Resource on kill (used extremely effectively)
Once the build is running mid-combat, it fuels itself.
Core skill is fast, high damage.
Uses Inferno Fragment in the soul shard choice, which pulses a portion of recent damage to close enemies—the more damage you do, the more damage you do.
Key items: Black Soul Stone Splinter, Splinter of Anguish, and a mythic unique version of Leoric's Crown (huge buff to both splinters, plus a greater affix version of gem strength transfigure).
Multi-transfigurations scale to the moon.
Verdict: Even without mythic uniques, this build clears Torment 12 easily. With maximized equipment, it gets silly.
Summary Table
Rank | Class | Peak Clear | Top Build | Best General Build |
1 | Warlock | 54 sec (T150) | Blazing Scream | Blazing Scream |
2 | Barbarian | 3:33 (T150) | Call of the Ancients (bugged) | Whirlwind |
3 | Sorcerer | 3:39 (T150) | Ring of Flames / Flame Wall | Blizzard |
4 | Necromancer | 4:06 (T150) | Bloodwave | Shadow Skeletal Mages |
5 | Rogue | 4:26 (T150) | Cutthroat Poison Flurry | Reign of Arrows |
6 | Spiritborn | 5:50 (T150) | Storm Stinger | Pestilent Swarm |
7 | Paladin | T149 | Thorns Shield Throw | Odin |
8 | Druid | T147 | Storm Shred | Storm Shred |
Final Tips
For Tower and Pit pushing: Use the top build listed for your class.
For general content: Use the alternative build recommendations.
Don't worry about the bugged talisman setup—the devs have said it's fine to use.
Check out the players shown on screen for each build—they know the intricacies better than anyone.
Warlock is the clear winner this season, but Barbarian's bug and Sorcerer's consistency make them strong contenders. If you're looking to gear up these top builds quickly, you can find D4 Items for sale from trusted sellers. For a reliable option, MMOEXP is a recommended marketplace where you can safely purchase items and other in-game resources.
