Summary
Blizzard has updated its patch notes forDiablo 4Season 8 - Belial’s Return and detailed a slew of last-minute changes affecting several classes in the game. The Season 8 update will also bring many balance changes to the game, along with various bug fixes to improve the overall player experience inDiablo 4.
DuringtheDiablo 4Season 8 livestream, Blizzard detailed update 2.2.0, which releases on April 29 to kick off the new season. The update focuses on game balance by improving classes like Barbarian and Druid with buffs to specific skills and abilities. Moreover, Blizzard made changes to Lair Bosses to make them more challenging and fun to encounter. For example, Duriel is getting new mechanics, and Lord Zir will receive a notable damage buff. The Lord of Lies will also receive new moves and buffs to health and damage based on feedback fromDiablo 4’stest server. Ahead of the update’s launch, Blizzard revealed even more changes that will be made to Diablo 4 as fans make early preparations for their campaign against Belial.
Blizzard updated itsofficial websiteforDiablo 4, revealing many last-minute changes to update 2.2.0 ahead of Season 8’s launch. Firstly,Rune Words fromDiablo 4’sVessel of Hatred expansionwill receive adjustments, with Xan having its duration increased from 0.25 to 0.35 seconds. Xan’s Overflow Effect will instead increase duration instead of damage, and the Tec Rune Word receives a damage nerf from 1000% to 700%. Moreover, the Spiritborn class receives some major changes, with its Aspect of Apprehension being moved from the utility category to offensive. Spiritborn’s Rushing Claw, Sepazontec, and Sunbird’s Gorget skills all receive damage buffs as well.
Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Sorcerer, and Rogue classes will receive even more buffs and nerfs to skills, passives, legendary aspects, and any unique items that are relevant to the respective classes. Each of the aforementionedclasses inDiablo 4will receive more bug fixes to address glitches and other unintentional changes to certain abilities. For example, Barbarian’s Call of the Ancients could spawn unlimited Ancients due to a bug, and in Season 8, Ancients are now capped at 12.
Moreover,Diablo 4Season 8 will introduce a collaboration with the popularBerserkmangaon May 6. During the new event, players can obtain Behelits by defeating enemies and trade them for unique rewards like Hawks Destiny Back Trophy or Skull Knight’s Heraldry Mount Armor. The in-game shop will offer premium armor based on Berserk characters as well, including Guts, Hawk of Light, and Skull Knight.
Whirlwind
Furious Whirlwind
Developer’s Note:We recognized that none of the options were previously attractive for a pure whirlwind build so we’ve greatly adjusted the bleed option to compensate as a powerful second choice.
Hammer of the Ancients
Rend
Warrior’s Mighty Throw
Developer’s Note:The value was adjusted to a reasonable level to compensate for the bug fix made to Warrior’s Mighty Throw, but it will ultimately result in heftier BONKS.
Fighter’s Steel Grasp
Warrior’s Steel Grasp
Developer’s Note:We’ve moved some of the damage bonus for Steel Grasp baseline to make gaining additional charges a more attractive option. This is an increase in damage for both options.
Legendary Aspects and Unique Items
Executioner’s Aspect
Developer’s Note:Earthquakes maintained a clear advantage over other builds in the PTR, even after updates meant to bring them in line with other builds. These changes aim to return them to the levels we want and make room for more Barbarian builds to enter the spotlight.
Gift of the Stag
Wildheart Hunger
Gathlen’s Birthright
Developer’s Note:The break between the benefits of Anima of the Forest allows for much larger bonuses to be granted on this effect, but after feedback and testing, we’ve decided to increase the uptime on this effect by 50%. Giving it much greater boss fighting effectiveness in order to help the moment of power feel more consistent.
Passives and Effects
Terror
Developer’s Note:This bonus still applies to Shadow damage from your Minions. Your Minions benefit from all of your damage bonuses, so it was redundant to include that specification here.
Aspect of Service and Sacrifice
Prime Death Trap
Items and Tempering
Trap Expertise tempering recipe moved from the Offensive to the Utility category.
Aspect of the Frozen Wake
Aspect of Frozen Memories
Developer’s Note:Frost Skill cost reduction is additive with the Key Passive.
Enchantment Master Legendary Node
Tempering
The Elemental Control Recipe has had levels of Convulsion replaced by levels of Static Discharge.
Belial, Lord of Lies
After PTR feedback, the final form of Belial, Lord of Lies was made meaner and more challenging.
Rip and Tear Aspect
Xan
Qax
Vex (+1 to all skills for 10s. Overflow: More ranks up to 3)
Lum (Gain max resource)
New Items
New Unique Item Drop Locations
The following items have a higher chance to drop from these Lair Boss Hoards.
(Available for Vessel of Hatred owners only)*
Aspect of Service and Sacrifice - Offensive Aspect
Fighter’s Mighty Throw
Developer’s Note:Whirlwind’s base damage is determined by the attack speed of your weapon. These values are based on an attack speed of 1.0.
Ground Stomp
Tactical Ground Stomp
Developer’s Note:The damage from this upgrade trivialized the leveling process, leading to players skipping elite packs, even when playing in higher Difficulties.
Wrath of the Berserker
Unique Items
The Third Blade
Developer’s Note:This Cooldown Reduction breaks the cap of 75% and will provide the maximum bonus of 75% that Cooldown Reduction would normally grant on the Aspect of Delayed Extinction.
Of Anticline Burst
Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast
Developer’s Note:This change will result in a much higher damage bonus than previously.
Army of the Dead
Skills
Puncture
Developer’s Note:These bonuses are intended to work even when copied by Shadow Clone.
Passives
Trick Attacks
Developer’s Note:This Passive will now operate on single-target Boss fights. Its overall power has been significantly reduced to account for this and make its place in the Skill Tree less oppressive. Additional bonus stacks are no longer multiplicative with each other.
Legendary Aspects
Of Nebulous Brews
Developer’s Note:Healing Potions are now automatically added to your total amount instead of being dropped on the ground.
Writhing Band of Trickery
Developer’s Note:Decoy Traps deal damage-over-time now and can be respawned and reoriented repeatedly. When used with thrown Trap Skills, it will be placed where that Skill is aimed.
Developer’s Note:This season, we’re focusing on Lair Bosses and their role in the player journey. Unique items find themselves pulled in two directions. On one side, they are must-find, build-enabling, pieces of gear with one-of-a-kind powers. On the other, they are super rare items to strive for that create moments of celebration once acquired. In previous seasons, Lair Bosses leaned heavily towards supporting the former. In our next season, we want to push more towards a middle-ground, where standard Unique items are readily attainable through Initiate and Greater Lair Bosses, but the path Ancestral Unique items lie directly through defeating the Exalted Lair Boss, Belial, Lord of Lies. Because Belial can reward Ancestral Uniques, we want to give players more freedom on how they get to him. By allowing Initiate and Greater Lair Bosses to have a chance at dropping any Unique item, these bosses should always feel more relevant to fight. Finally, while we like the social element of bossing, the efficiency gained from doing so in a full party is too high. Adjusting the boss summoning flow aims to make the experience more equitable regardless of party size while retaining a small bonus for social play.
Developer’s Note:We’ve increasing the power of Magic and Rare items during levelling while reducing the Legendary item drop rates to address feedback about Legendaries too quickly become the only item rarity you care about.
Lair Boss Updates
All Lair Bosses have been updated to make their fights more challenging and engaging. This includes increased health and damage across the board, and changes to the fight itself.
Gregoire
Varshan
Developer’s Note:Tormented Echo of Varshan’s Malignant monster summon and absorption mechanic was complicated, not well communicated and can provide Uber Varshan with some potentially frustrating bonuses (Such as constant shield regeneration and on-hit blind). This change is aimed at making it clearer to the player what is happening.
Beast in the Ice
Miscellaneous
Developer’s Note:Player power has grown considerably with the re-introduction of Seasonal Power systems. This creates a disjointed early game experience, where the pace of leveling vs. other elements of progression are not aligned. This change reduces the need to constantly upgrade early game items, increases the relative value of activity and seasonal rewards, and creates a more seamless early game journey.
Developer’s Note:We have heard feedback on the Conduit shrines. We are disabling them until further notice while reworking them.
Druid
Necromancer
Developer’s Note:Indira’s Memory will no longer trigger if the player’s health is 10% or lower.
Rogue
Developer’s Note:This aspect will now always roll at 100% chance and the only variance is the damage of the Arrow Storm.
