Diablo III's Demon Hunter in detail

Blizzard has explained that the Demon Hunter - the fifth and final Diablo III player class to be revealed - is a ranged weapon user with a penchant for gadgets, traps and shadow magic, and a revenge-fuelled obsession with killing demons.

The class was detailed in a panel presentation following the Demon Hunter's unveiling at BlizzCon's opening ceremony.

Game director Jay Wilson said that the Demon Hunter is a "very dark character, almost an anti-hero" that fits the Diablo universe, completes the line-up of archetypes as a conventional ranged weapon user, and has a "bounty hunter vibe".

The Demon Hunter wears a cowl and has an armoured torso, but very light armour below the waist. It's a swift-moving class that deploys traps and uses grenades as well as being able to dual-wield pistol crossbows. Skills include Multi Shot, Spike Trap, an explosive Bola Shot and a dash-like Vault.

Unlike the other classes, Demon Hunters aren't born to their class but recruited. Nomads, they all have an insatiable thirst for revenge on demons who have slaughtered their friends and families. Story guru Leonard Boyarsky described it as a "challenging to play", "obsessed" class that "combines the best elements of a ranger and bounty hunter with an epic revenge quest".

"The Witch Doctor and Monk are in it for religious ideals, the Wizard for personal gain, the Barbarian for their people," he said. "The Demon Hunter's only in it for one thing - killing demons."

The Diablo III team also showed a new, simpler interface for acquiring skills as you level up; Traits, passive skills that customise the core mechanics and attributes of your class, replacing attribute points; the Talisman, a bespoke inventory for charms the grows over time; and the Rune system that allows you to customise your skills in spectacular and visual ways.

So customisable are the skills in Diablo III, the team has calculated that there are 97 billion possible builds per class.

We'll have more detail on all of this, plus the player-versus-player Battle Arenas, and hands-on impressions of the game, in a forthcoming full-service preview.