You're watching Advertisements

Since its release in 2004, only two new classes have been added to the evergreen MMORPG: Death Knights and Monks. With Demon Hunters now becoming the third, players are going to be treated to an experience much like Death Knights in Wrath of the Lich King: kicking off in a unique starting zone only accessible by Demon Hunters, players start in Mardum at level 98 as a member of Illidan's elite guards, known as the Illidari.

After consuming a demon heart, thereby taking on demonic aspects such as horns, Demon Hunters are born. Fighting fire with fire, you use your demonic powers to fight demons and stop them from taking over the Legion world, Mardum. At level 100 you may venture outside of the phased starting zone - only to be captured and imprisoned. Wielding forbidden powers, you are considered just as dangerous as the demon whose heart you've consumed. However, when the Burning Legion once again threatens Azeroth, you are released in order to help free the world from the demonic invasion.

Demon Hunters can be Damage dealers (Havoc) or Tanks (Vengeance), use Fury to power their attacks, and dress in cloth or leather. As a melee class, Demon Hunters wield either warglaives, daggers, fist weapons or one-handed axes, maces and swords. Relying on swiftness and agility, this class is easy to navigate even if melee isn't your first choice of play. As seen with Death Knights, you're given a class-exclusive mount as well. We hope you like cats.

Befitting the lore, all Demon Hunters are blind - in order to gain Spectral Sight, they sacrifice their natural vision. Therefore, many Demon Hunters will be wearing blindfolds. Combined with horns and covered in tattoos that increase arcane power, Demon Hunters certainly look impressive. But it doesn't stop there; when jumping or falling, your character will sprout massive wings by tapping the spacebar twice. If that still isn't enough, you also have an ability that briefly changes you into a full demon, allowing more powerful attacks specific to your specialisation.

All in all, Demon Hunters seem to have been made with fans in mind, incorporating aspects that have been proven popular in the past when Warlocks dipped into demonic resources. Their attacks are as imposing as their looks - as a melee class, you'll face enemies up close and personal with a plethora of nicely animated abilities that will surely make victory feel a lot sweeter.

When Blizzard does introduce a new class, they certainly deliver: Demon Hunters feel like a unique, well-rounded class who seamlessly fit in with the already existing classes.

Only Blood Elves (Horde) and Night Elves (Alliance) can become Demon Hunters. When creating a Demon Hunter, players can pick from a range of skin colours, horns, and tattoos in an attempt to create a unique character. However, even after fairly recent character upgrades, customisation in World of Warcraft still feels limited, especially compared to its rivals such as Elder Scrolls Online and Guild Wars 2 (where you can modify everything from body-shape to even the smallest facial details). Luckily, Transmorgify 2.0 is introduced in Legion, giving players a lot more options to customise the armour of their characters with a wardrobe UI system similar to Blizzard's other major fantasy title, Diablo III.

Apart from adding a brand new class, the twelve existing classes will see several changes as well. Some attacks should get upgraded, whilst others may be removed entirely, most notably the Hunter class who will have each specialisation majorly altered. Similarly, Warlocks will see huge changes in their Demonology specialisation: as morphing into a demon is now given exclusively to Demon Hunters, it will no longer be available to Demonologists.

There's a lot more to Legion than just the new Demon Hunter class, and you can read our impressions of the expansion as a whole by hitting this link.