Diablo IV Season 1, entitled “Season of the Malignant,” launches in a couple of days, but Blizzard has already dropped their big 1.1 update in anticipation of the season. That means the new content and changes coming to the core game are available as of now.
For those who haven’t been keeping up, you won’t be able to jump into Diablo IV Season 1 content until you’ve finished the main game, and you’ll have to roll a new character, but some things like Altars of Lilith, cleared fog of war, and their associated Renown carries over. As of update 1.1, Altars and Fog of War are now account wide, you just need to log in with the character you’ve made the most progress with for it to be registered. Here are some of the broad gameplay changes you can expect from ver. 1.1…
- Altar of Lilith Unlocks are now account wide.
- Map discovery is now account wide.
- Whispers will no longer reward Sigil Dust.
- Overall loot quality has been significantly improved for Silent Chests.
- The channel time for the Leave Dungeon ability has been increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
- We have generally reduced the tendency for many monsters to move around in combat, so that melee characters don’t have to chase down their enemies as much.
- Added PS5 Dual Sense Edge Wireless controller support for PC.
Blizzard has also boosted the amount of gold of items you’ll get at World Tier II, but are significantly reducing the bonus XP for killing higher-level monsters.
“We are adjusting bonus experience rewards for killing monsters that are at a higher level than the player.
Pre-Season of the Malignant bonuses:
- 1 Level higher: +15%.
- 2 Levels higher: +20%.
- 3+ Levels higher: +25%.
Post-Season of the Malignant 1.5% bonus per level up to 10 levels:
- +1 level: +1.5%.
- +2 levels: +3%.
- +10 levels: +15%.
Level scaling has also been adjusted in dungeons and the overworld in World Tier III and IV, with monsters actually lagging behind you if you level up enough. So, for instance, if you’re a level 60, you’ll be encountering level 55 monsters. This should help you feel you power more, but will result in less XP. Of course, some balance changes have also been made, with Barbarians, in particular, being nerfed, although Sorcerers and others haven’t faired well either. A number of new unique items and Legendary Aspects have also been added, which you can read up on below.
New Unique Items
General
- Ahavarion Spear of Lycander (Uber Unique Staff – World Tier 4): Gain a random Shrine effect for 10-20 seconds after killing an Elite enemy. Can only occur once every 30 seconds.
- Developer’s Note: Ahavarion Spear of Lycander is an extremely rare drop. We wish you luck in recovering it from the armies of the Burning Hells.
Barbarian
- Azurewrath (Unique Sword): Lucky Hit – Your Core Skills have up to a 20% chance to Freeze enemies for 3 seconds and deal 0.75-1.5 Cold damage to them.
Druid
- Fleshrender (Unique One-Hand Mace): Debilitating Roar and Blood Howl deal 0.5-1.0 damage to Nearby Poisoned enemies.
Necromancer
- Lidless Wall (Unique Shield): Lucky Hit – While you have an active Bone Storm, hitting an enemy outside of a Bone Storm has up to a 5-25% chance to spawn an additional Bone Storm at their location. Each of your active Sacrifice bonuses increases the chance by 25% and the total number of additional Bone Storms you can have by +1.
Rogue
- Eaglehorn (Unique Bow): Penetrating Shot has a 30-80% chance to fire an arrow that bounces off walls and scenery. Hitting enemies from behind with Penetrating Shot will make them Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Sorcerer
- The Oculus (Unique Wand): Gain the effect of the Teleport Enchantment for free. When you Evade using Teleport Enchantment, you are taken to a random location.
New Legendary Aspects
General
- Audacity (Utility Aspect): When there are at least 5 Close enemies, Stun them for 2-4 seconds. This can only occur once every 20 seconds.
- Craven (Mobility Aspect): You gain 20-40% increased Movement Speed when moving away from Slowed or Chilled enemies.
Barbarian
- Ancestral Charge (Offensive Aspect): Charge calls forth 4 Ancients who also Charge, dealing 50-100% of normal damage.
Druid
- Subterranean (Offensive Aspect): Poison Creeper’s active also casts Landslide in a circle around you. Earth Skills deal 10-20% increased damage to Poisoned enemies.
Necromancer
- Gore Quills (Offensive Aspect): Blood Lance will consume Blood Orbs to also conjure lances from them. Each additional Blood Lance deals 20-50% of normal damage and prioritizes targeting un-lanced enemies.
Rogue
- Pestilent Points (Offensive Aspect): Every third cast of Puncture is Poison Imbued with 100-150% of normal potency.
Sorcerer
- Searing Wards (Offensive Aspect): After spending 200-100 Mana your next Firewall is free to cast and will destroy incoming Small Missiles.
Of course, Diablo IV includes a very long list of bug fixes and nitty-gritty balance changes. If you need to know everything, you can check out the full, unabridged patch notes here.
Diablo IV can be played on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. Update 1.1 is available now and Season 1 kicks off this Thursday (July 20).
