Blizzard’s announcement of Diablo IV back in November started a hype train that has been chugging along for the last couple months. While we don’t have an official release date yet (aside from being told that it’ll be quite some time), the developers behind Diablo IV have been doing a fantastic job of keeping fans updated on changes and coming additions.
In their first quarterly report, developers went in-depth on two features of the approaching title, namely the UI (which we discussed here) and the new enemy family coming to Diablo, the Cannibals.
Previously, the Diablo developers explained how the enemies in the new title will be separated into families, which isn’t too different to how it’s been in previous titles. The Fallen, which have been a staple in the Diablo franchise, are a solid and familiar example of a family. Cannibals join the ranks as their own family, with their own unique characteristics.
The Cannibals are suitably grim. Lorewise, they’re rumored to be a clan of former Barbarians that were banished from Arreat, making home in the Dry Steppes. They raid the nearby villages to slaughter and loot, taking humans back to their territory to use as livestock until the next raid.
In terms of variants, there are four “members” to the Cannibal family. Two standard melee combatants appear, one with a giant two-handed greatsword and the other with a halberd that allows them to keep their target at range. Another variation, the bruiser, uses two spiked clubs to deliver fast and vicious stunning blows.
Another dual-wielding enemy comes with the swarmers, who come prepared with two axes that can tear a player down in a swift flurry. In combination, the stuns of the bruisers and the high damage output of the swarmers will spell death for unprepared players.
One interesting design choice with the Cannibals is that there are no ranged variants. Instead, they rely on their incredible speed and gap-closing leaps to rapidly approach players. This is guaranteed to provide players with a sense of frantic repositioning, especially ranged classes that excel when they have some distance between them. Conversely, they could also work as a fun bit of cannon fodder for close-ranged classes like the Barbarian that can make short work of melee enemies – provided they can avoid getting stunned and torn apart.
There’s still a world of information to come out of Diablo IV before it’s release, so keep looking out for the tidbits of information they’re feeding us!
