Massive Diablo 4 Season 2 Update Almost Completely Rebalances The Game: Full Patch Notes

Diablo IV’s Season 2 update is a doozy, with the full patch notes counting in at over 14,000 words. Turns out there’s a good reason for the length of the patch notes: Almost every aspect of how Diablo IV works will be rebalanced come the release of Season of Blood.

As discussed in detail during Blizzard’s latest Campfire Chat livesteam and elaborated on in a blog post, there are few aspects of Diablo IV that aren’t being touched in some way. How Resistances are calculated, and their importance, are changing. Overpowered damage types like Critical Strike damage and Vulnerable damage are being rebalanced, and, as a result, so too are the game’s monsters to compensate. Unique items are becoming more powerful, class skills and Paragon Board glyphs are being adjusted, and much, much more.

A big part of the update are the changes to what Blizzard refers to as “damage buckets.” Since launch, the best way for nearly every class and build to deal damage was to stack as much Vulnerable damage and Critical Strike damage as possible. Come the Season 2 update, that will no longer be the case. Rather than the mixing of both types of damage rewarding their full, multiplicative damage bonus amounts, each type of damage will instead be capped, with extra bonus damage becoming additive. While Overpower damage will become more powerful with this change, builds that currently rely on Critical Strike and Vulnerable damage will take a hit. Numbers, Blizzard warned, will go down.

However, Blizzard made clear during the livestream that the goal is not to nerf players, something it even noted had the danger of being perceived that way and which was certainly perceived to be the case with the game’s controversial Season 1 update. Instead, making Critical Strike and Vulnerable damage less overwhelmingly effective will make it so the different types of damage types available to players will become more equal, opening up the game to more viable builds. To compensate for the damage changes, Blizzard will balance monster power to make it so, overall, players should not feel less powerful than before.

“Our goal is not to make you weaker,” Diablo IV lead class designer Adam Jackson said. “It’s to make everything have more parity, and we’re going to balance the whole game around this new world we live in in the Season of Blood.”

In fact, Blizzard said players should feel more powerful following the Season 2 update than ever before, thanks to changes to Uniques, Paragon Boards, and various class changes. One change players will need to be aware of is how Resistances will work come patch 1.2. Whereas before the stat was deemed to generally be almost worthless, Blizzard said it will matter far more when building a character following the game’s Season 2 update. That’s because Resistances will now be additive and cap at 75%. Armor, a highly desirable stat prior to Season 2 thanks to it granting both Resistances and a reduction in physical damage taken, will no longer grant Resistances. Blizzard will additionally make it so Resistance Elixirs are far more powerful, granting both a percentage increase to Resistances as well as increasing the max Resistance players can have.

In addition to various class changes, Unique items will see significant updates. Nearly every Unique in the game has been adjusted in some way, according to Jackson, with the goal being to make them feel more exciting. Uniques going forward will have larger stat roll ranges, are able to roll with stats normally not allowed for that Unique’s typical item slot, can potentially have new stats not found elsewhere, and their effects will become more powerful with fewer caveats.

All of the above is just the tip of the iceberg. Class changes include buffs to Rogue basic skills, major buffs to Necromancer minions, and many more. All of the changes discussed above are in addition to previously detailed quality-of-life changes to player inventories and Stashes, updates to Diablo IV’s endgame, and new vampire-themed seasonal content. Season of Blood’s arrival will also coincide with Diablo IV’s official release on Steam. You can check out the official Diablo IV Season of Blood Patch notes below.

Diablo IV Update 1.2.0 Patch Notes

NEW UNIQUE ITEMS AND LEGENDARY ASPECTS

New Unique items harboring immense power have been unearthed just in time for Season of Blood. The Unique items below can only be acquired from playing on World Tier IV in either the Eternal or Seasonal Realms.

Unique Items

• Tassets of the Dawning Sky (Generic Unique Pants): When you take damage from a Non-Physical damage type, you gain +6-10% Maximum Resistance to that damage type for 6 seconds. This effect can only apply to one damage type at a time.
• Tuskhelm of Joritz the Mighty (Barbarian Unique Helm): When you gain Berserking while already Berserk, you have a 40-60% chance to become more enraged granting 15% (multiplicative damage) [x] increased damage, 2 Fury per second, and 10% Cooldown Reduction.
• Dolmen Stone (Druid Unique Amulet): Casting Boulder while Hurricane is active will cause your boulders to rotate around you.
• Scoundrel’s Leathers (Rogue Unique Chest): While you have unlimited Energy from Inner Sight, your Core Skills have a 60-80% chance to spawn Caltrops, Poison Trap, or Death Trap.
• Blood Moon Breeches (Necromancer Unique Pants): Your Minions have a 3-7% chance to curse enemies. Enemies affected by at least 1 of your curses take 70% [x] (multiplicative damage) increased Overpower damage from you.
• Blue Rose (Sorcerer Unique Ring): Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 30% chance of forming an exploding Ice Spike, dealing 0.25-0.35 Cold damage. Triple this chance if the enemy is Frozen.

Legendary Aspects

The Aspect below can be found on Boots and Amulets.

• Aspect of Slaughter (Generic Mobility Aspect): You gain 20% Movement Speed. Lose this bonus for 2.5-5 seconds after taking damage.

The Aspects below can be found on Amulets, Gloves, Rings, and Weapons.

• Aspect of Elements (Generic Offensive Aspect): Gain 20-30% (additive damage) [+] increased damage to a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between 2 sets:
  • Fire, Lightning, and Physical.
  • Cold, Poison, and Shadow.
• Wanton Rupture Aspect (Barbarian Offensive Aspect): Your Rupture does not remove the Bleeding damage from enemies. This can occur once every 30-40 seconds.
• Raw Might Aspect (Druid Offensive Aspect): After you hit 15 enemies with your Werebear Skills, your next Werebear Skill will deal 30-50% (multiplicative damage) [x] more damage and Stun enemies for 2 seconds.
• Aspect of Artful Initiative (Rogue Offensive Aspect): When you spend 100 Energy you release a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal 0.2-0.3 total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.5 seconds. Your Grenade Skills deal 15% [x] more damage.
• Aspect of the Long Shadow (Necromancer Offensive Aspect): Lucky Hit: Your Shadow Damage Over Time effects have a 10-30% chance to generate 3 Essence. Damage from your Shadowblight Key Passive will always generate 2 Essence.
• Battle Caster’s Aspect (Sorcerer Offensive Aspect): Lucky Hit: When your Conjuration Skills hit you have up to a 30-40% chance to gain +1 Rank to your Conjuration skills for 12 seconds. This can stack up to 3 times.

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GAMEPLAY UPDATES

Accessibility

• We have added more cursor icon options, including higher contrast icons. These can be found in the Accessibility Options menu.
• We have added an audio cue to signal when you are near a traversal (Ex: A ladder or broken bridge to jump over).

User Interface & User Experience

• Items can now be marked as Favorite. Items marked this way cannot be sold or salvaged.
• Items in the Stash can now be marked as Junk or Favorite.
• The Stash can now be searched and filtered to more quickly find items.
• Using the Sell all Junk option will now only sell Junk in the active Inventory tab.
• Extracted Aspects with the same Legendary Power will now be grouped together when sorted in the Inventory and Stash.
• The sorting of normal Affixes on items has been improved to be more consistent.

Developer’s Note: Affix sorting has been curated to more deliberately sort similar Affixes together.

• Dungeons that have active Whispers associated with them will now display the Aspect Name and Description on the map Tooltip.
• Streamer mode has been implemented. Players that wish to hide identifying information—such as their character name or Battle.net username—can find these new settings in the Connect Options menu.
• An additional option for hiding Combat Text is now available in the settings.
• Auto-run has been added. When pressing the bound key/button, the player will continuously move in the direction they or their mouse cursor are facing until another movement action or Skill is initiated.
• We have added an in-game announcement for upcoming World Boss spawns.
• The visual effect on the Map to denote active Helltide is now also shown on the Minimap.
• The Minimap has been zoomed out to display a wider area.
• Three new icons have been added for Helltide Chests on the map. One each for Jewelry, Armor, and Weapons.
• Two additional character slots have been added, totaling 12.

Items

• Enchant cost is now determined by a coefficient of Base Item Power and item type instead of the item’s sell value. For Rare items, this will generally result in a higher initial Enchant cost, but subsequent Enchanting will continue to escalate at a significantly reduced rate than prior. Enchant costs will be generally reduced across the board for Legendary items.
• For example, when Enchanting a Rare Ancestral Wand with 750 base Item Power, prior to Season of Blood:
  • First Enchant: 56,430 Gold
  • Second Enchant: 282,150 Gold
  • Third Enchant: 338,580 Gold
• When Enchanting the same Wand during Season of Blood and beyond.
  • First enchant: 64,492 Gold
  • Second enchant: 128,984 Gold
  • Third enchant: 193,477 Gold
• When enchanting a Legendary wand with 800 base Item Power.
  • Prior to Season of Blood: First Enchant costs 164,262 Gold
  • Now: First Enchant costs 72,203 Gold
• Additionally, imprinting, adding Sockets, or upgrading will no longer increase Enchant cost.

Developer’s Note: Enchant being determined by sell value encouraged players to re-roll a Rare item before upgrading it at the Blacksmith or imprinting an aspect on it. The overall formula for Enchant cost has been adjusted so item adjustments need not be done in a specific order to be the most cost-effective. Additionally, this change reduces overall costs incurred when re-rolling an item.

Gems will no longer drop from regular sources, and can instead be crafted at a Jeweler.

• Previous Gem sources now drop Gem Fragments, which are stored in the Materials tab.
• Crafted Gems can be Salvaged back into Gem Fragments at a Jeweler.
• The equivalent number of Gem Fragments will drop less frequently than Gems did from regular sources, but more frequently from Whisper Caches.

Developer’s Note: By moving Gem acquisition to an active player action, they will no longer passively fill your inventory, reducing stress on overall space. We’re also weighing the equivalent drops more towards targeted rewards to reduce the potential frequency of checking the Materials tab during regular play.

• The overall drop rate of elixirs has been reduced.
  • The 0.5% chance of dropping from any monster has been reduced to 0.02%.

Developer’s Note: We are trying to reduce stress on players’ Consumable Inventory tab. Similar to our changes made for Gems, we hope players will be interacting with Elixirs they purposefully crafted.

• Whisper Caches will now always only reward items of the specified equipment slot instead of having a chance to include a random item of any equipment slot.
• The drop chance of Scroll of Escape has been reduced from 0.1% to 0.025%.
• Fiend Roses and Forgotten Souls are no longer required to upgrade non-Sacred or Ancestral items.
• The item power ranges for Sacred and Ancestral items have been adjusted.
  • Sacred:
    • Previous Range: 625–720
    • New Range: 625–750
  • Ancestral:
    • Previous Range: 725–820
    • New Range: 780–925
  • Level Scaling examples. Note this is iPower range for items dropped from Monsters of the listed level:
  • Sacred:
    • Level 55: 625–700
    • Level 56: 627–702
    • Level 70: 655–730
  • Ancestral:
    • Level 75: 780–855
    • Level 76: 782–857
    • Level 100: 830–925
  • Post Level 100:
    • Level 101: 831–925
    • Level 102: 832–925
• The acquisition rate of Forgotten souls from Salvaging has been adjusted.
  • Salvaging a Sacred item has a 5% chance to grant a Forgotten Soul.
  • Salvaging an Ancestral item has a 10% chance to grant a Forgotten Soul.
  • Two-handed Weapons can grant up to 2 Forgotten Souls from salvage, all other equipment types can grant 1.

Developer’s Note: Forgotten souls became much easier to get in Season of the Malignant. Helltide was designed to be the primary source of Forgotten Souls, but being able to acquire them through other means disincentivized players from playing Helltide. We want to encourage players to participate in Helltide more, but do not want to completely shut down alternative sources of Forgotten Souls. So, we have broadened the types of items that can grant Forgotten Souls when salvaged but decreased the drop rate. Previously, only weapons could provide them when salvaged but it was a guarantee.

• The following loot adjustments have been implemented per World Tier.
  • World Tiers I and II: Unchanged.
  • World Tier III: Only Legendary, Unique, Uber Unique, and Sacred Rare items will drop. Players will instead receive additional crafting resources.
  • World Tier IV: Only Legendary, Unique, Uber Unique, and Ancestral Rares. Players will instead receive additional crafting resources.
  • Gold drop rates have also been increased in World Tiers III and IV to balance out these changes.

Dungeons

• Teleporting to a Nightmare Dungeon now takes the player inside the Dungeon, instead of teleporting to its entrance.
• Nightmare Sigils will now be rewarded upon completing a Nightmare Dungeon, instead of only after defeating the final boss.
• Monsters in Season of Blood Nightmare Dungeons will spawn sooner to the entrance. This is meant to help reduce the amount of walking needed before your first encounter in the Dungeon.
• Nightmare Dungeon Affix Adjustments:
  • General
    • Direct Damage from Major Affixes can now be passively dodged (Ex: Blood Blister and Death Pulse).
  • Backstabbers
    • Previous: Monsters deal X% more damage when attacking from behind.
    • New: Close monster attacks from behind cause you to become Vulnerable. Vulnerable damage taken is increased by X%.
• Death Pulse
  • Death Pulse will no longer trigger on monsters that already have death explosions, examples:
    • Zombie Brute
    • Spider Host
    • Fly Host
    • Goatman (poisoned)
• Death Pulses will no longer spawn on top of each other. A Death Pulse will only occur if there is open space around the monster.
  • Drifting Shade
    • Persistent duration reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds.
    • Respawn time increased by 2 seconds.
  • Lightning Storm
    • Avoiding shock damage in the bubble grants 35% bonus Movement Speed for 5 seconds.
    • Lightning Storm will only begin once players are in combat.
    • Lightning Storm will only begin if the player has a direct path to where the bubble would spawn.
  • Monster Critical Resist
    • Previous: Monsters take X% less damage from Critical Strikes.
    • New: Monster attacks reduce the damage of your Critical Strikes for 3 seconds by X%, stacking up to Y%.
  • Monster Overpower Resist
    • Previous: Monsters take X% less damage from Overpower attacks.
    • New: Monster attacks reduce the damage of your next Overpower attack by X%, stacking up to Y%.
  • Potion Breakers
    • Previous: Monster attacks from a distance have X% chance to disable your Healing Potion for 2 seconds.
    • New: Monster attacks from a distance increase the cooldown of your next Potion by X seconds, up to Y seconds.
  • Poisonous Evade
    • Previous: Using Evade leaves a pool of Poison behind that damages enemies.
    • New: Using Evade leaves a damaging pool of Poison under the first enemy you evade through or at your destination.
  • Resistance Breaker
    • Sacred: Monster attacks from a distance reduce All Resistances by -3% for 6 seconds, stacking up to -15%.
    • Ancestral: Monster attacks from a distance reduce All Resistances by -5% for 6 seconds, stacking up to -25%.
  • Thorns
    • Previous: Your Thorns are increased by X.
    • New: After attacking an enemy, your Thorns are increased by X for 3 seconds, up to Y at max stacks.
• Glyph Experience has increased across the board, with a significant increase at earlier tiers. Overall glyph experience across all tiers is up 19%.
• Many Dungeons have received visual updates and layout improvements.

Developer’s Note: We’ve received feedback that some Dungeons lacked visual diversity and required quite a bit of backtracking to complete, making them feel cumbersome. We believe our adjustments to Dungeons in these areas will remedy player frustration but will continue to listen to community feedback and make additional changes as needed.

• Miscellaneous quality of life updates for various Dungeons.

Endgame Activities

Legion Events

• The time between Legion Events has been reduced from 30 minutes to 25 minutes.
• Every Legion Event will now have a Whisper objective associated with it.
• Additional Life scaling for Legion Event monsters has been increased.

Developer’s Note: We have received feedback that players don’t often fight monsters during Legion Events because of the monsters dying too quickly. We have increased the health of these monsters to compensate, adding a little bit of extra difficulty for Legion Events.

• The experience reward for completing a Legion Event has been increased by 75%.

World Bosses

• The time between World Boss spawns has been reduced from 6 hours to 3.5 hours.
• World Boss health and damage has been increased.
• The quality of rewards received for defeating a World Boss has been significantly increased.
• The warning that indicates when a World Boss will spawn now broadcasts an hour in advance versus 30 minutes previously. Players are also notified 15 minutes before a World Boss spawns.
• World Bosses now become immune 2 seconds after beginning their escape.

General

• Silent Chests can now spawn in areas where Helltide is active.
• The tier for Nightmare Sigils rewarded from Whisper Caches will now always be within 5 Levels of the highest-level Nightmare Dungeon the player has completed.

Developer’s Note: Sigil Levels will still respect the maximum and minimum levels determined by World Tier.

• Various Quality of Life updates for Whispers, such as moving the altars to bring collected resources to a more central location and reducing the number of monsters needed to be slain to complete certain objectives.
• Whisper Caches will now reward significantly more Gold and increased Gem Fragments.

Mounts

• General
  • The overall responsiveness of Mounts has been improved.
  • Mounts are now less likely to get stuck or slow down unexpectedly.
  • Mounts automatically jumping over traversals will work more consistently.
  • The mouse cursor no longer needs to be at the edge of the screen for keyboard and mouse players to achieve full Mount speed.
  • Base Mount Movement Speed has been increased by 14%. Your Mount’s top speed remains unchanged.
• Spur
  • The speed boost from Spur has had its duration increased by 50%.
  • Using Spur now allows mounts to break through barricades.
• Cooldowns
  • Manual Mount Cooldown has been reduced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
  • The cooldown appearing after you’ve been forced to dismount from taking damage has been reduced from 30 seconds to 15 seconds.
  • The cooldown for the Mount Combat skill has been reduced from 10 to 3 seconds (Ex: Barbarian’s Bounding Slam).

Town Adjustments

• An Occultist has set up shop at The Tree of Whispers waypoint.
• Additional stashes have been added to Capital cities near important Vendors.
• Stashes have been added to all small towns with waypoints. The Purveyors of Curiosities have set up shop closer to the Waypoint in the following locations:
  • Kyovashad
  • Zarbinzet
  • Ked Bardu
  • Gea-Kul
• The following waypoints will now be automatically unlocked for characters that skip the Campaign:
  • Dry Steppes
    • Chambatar Ridge and Untamed Scraps
  • Fractured Peaks
    • Bear Tribe Refuge and Yelesna
  • Hawezar
    • Backwater and Ruins of Rakhat Keep: Inner Court
  • Kehjistan
  • Scosglen

Monsters

• All monsters and bosses across the game have been rebalanced around all the other changes slated for Season of Blood to ensure the overall difficulty of the game does not drastically change.
• Level Scaling in the open world has been adjusted. Levels of the monsters encountered in the Open World will scale with the player’s Level, with a minimum and maximum Level determined by the World Tier.
  • World Tiers I and II: Level 1–50
  • World Tier III: Min 55 – Max 70
  • World Tier IV: Min 75 – Max 100
• We have generally reduced the evasiveness of many monsters.
• The cooldown for Teleport cast by Knight monsters has been increased and the range has been decreased.
• The Spider Host Cold Explosion now Chills instead of Freezes.
• The Bloated Corpsefiend Death Explosion no longer has knockback.
• Spider Hosts, Bloated Corpsefiends, and Fly Hosts will no longer spawn with the Fire Enchanted or Plaguebearer affixes.
• The Seething Abomination’s Ground Slam ability now also spawns a poison pool under the player.
• Ghost monsters have received a visual upgrade.

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EXPERIENCE UPDATES

• Incenses now grant a bonus to experience, and they persist after death.
• The experience bonuses for being in a party and for playing in Higher World Tiers have been made multiplicative to increase effectiveness later into the game.
• Experience gained from killing higher level monsters has been significantly increased.
  • Examples values of experience gained from a normal monster (before any other bonuses):
  • Levels 1-50: Unchanged
  • Level 55
  • Level 70
  • Level 90
• The Experience rewards for completing individual Whispers, cashing in Grim Favors, and opening Helltide Chests have been increased.
  • Opening Helltide Chest:
    • World Tier III: +375%
    • World Tier IV: +750%
  • Rewards for turning in Grim Favors:
    • World Tiers I and II: +200%
    • World Tier III: +17%
    • World Tier IV: +11%
  • Individual Whisper Completion
    • Tier I whisper experience reward increased by 100%.
    • Tier II whisper experience reward increased by 75%.
    • Tier III whisper experience reward increased by 150%.

Developer’s Note: Whisper Tiers refers to how many Grim Favors the Whisper grants upon completion.

Miscellaneous

• Necromancer Minions and Druid Companions are now much less likely to target invulnerable enemies.
• Effects that guarantee an Overpower on your next cast will always be consumed on the next appropriate cast, regardless of whether a target is hit. If you have multiple of such effects activate, only one will be consumed per cast.
• All Renown rewards now persist between Seasons and new characters.
• The Level at which players will receive the priority quest for unlocking the next World Tier difficulty has been increased.
  • World Tier III: From 40 to 48.
  • World Tier IV: From 60 to 68.

Developer’s Note: Players are free to attempt the capstone dungeons at any Level, but we have raised the Level at which the player is prompted to attempt them. This is so players don’t feel encouraged to attempt challenges that might be too difficult for them at that point in the game.

• Rewards for completing side quests have been improved to scale with higher World Tiers.
  • Increased Veiled Crystal drops from Salvage Caches.
  • Slightly increased Rare Leather and Rare Ore drops from Salvage Caches.
  • Salvage Caches will now also contain an item.
• Effects of various traps in the world have been adjusted.
  • Barrels
    • Now just a one-time explosion, no longer have a lingering effect.
    • Inflicts more chill on monsters.
    • The effect can now be passively dodged.
  • Bear Trap
    • Duration reduced from 3 to 1 second.
    • Remains 3 seconds for monsters.
    • Can now be passively dodged.
    • Now Immobilizes players versus the previous Stun.
  • Mines
    • All mines now apply knockback.
    • Cold Mines chill players and Freeze monsters.
    • Lightning Mines Stun monsters.
    • The effect can now be passively dodged.
  • Rock Drop
    • Now applies a stacking slow (up to 60%) to the player for 1.5 seconds when hit.
    • Knocks down hit monsters for 2 to3 seconds.
• Increased monster density for the following events:
  • Sole Survivor
  • Cursed Shrine
  • Nest
  • Rest for the Weary
  • Immolation
  • Eternal Torment
  • Wayward Soul
• Increased the speed of progression for the following events (time between waves, time to start, time to end, etc.)
  • Last Stand
  • Wandering Soul
  • Sole Survivor
  • Cursed Shrine
  • Rest for the Weary
  • Wayward Soul
• Health of stranded NPCs, NPCs that need to be protected to achieve Mastery goals for events, now scales better in higher level areas and Dungeons, to increase their survivability.
• In the event a Hardcore player disconnects while in combat, a scroll of escape will automatically be consumed to teleport the player’s character to a safe location.

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BALANCE UPDATES

Unique Items

Developer’s Note: Our goal for Unique items is that they feel impactful to your build and create a moment of excitement upon dropping. Some Unique items were falling short of this goal, so we are updating them in a few ways to ensure that these items feel distinctly different from other items and are appealing:

• Add new Affixes that didn’t exist yet on items.
• Add Affixes that already exist, but with at a much higher value than normal.
• Add Affixes in a Slot where they normally wouldn’t exist.
• Update Unique powers to be more desirable.

• The Butcher’s Cleaver
  • Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies affix increased by 160%.
• Frostburn
  • Freeze Duration affix increased by 70%.
  • Cold Damage affix replaced with Attack Speed.
• Mother’s Embrace
  • Overpower Damage affix replaced with bonus Maximum Life.
  • Number of enemies hit required for Resource refund reduced from 5 to 4.
• Fists of Fate
  • Lucky Hit: Chance to Heal Life affix replaced with Lucky Hit: Chance to Gain Damage for 4 Seconds.
• Andariel’s Visage
  • Poison Resistance affix increased by 32%.

Resistances

• Prior to Season of Blood, Resistances stacked inverse multiplicatively, with each additional source of resistance becoming less effective.
  • Ex: You have three sources of 20% resistance. The first source would provide the full 20%, the second source would add 16%, and the third source would add 12.8%, totaling 48.8% resistance.
• Starting with Season of Blood, Resistances will now stack additively. Additionally, resistance stats now cap at 70%.
  • Ex: You have 30% resistance, and an item gives you 20% resistance. You now have 50% total resistance.
  • Resistance boosting elixirs now also increase the player’s maximum resistance value.
• Added a new Resistances category within the Stats section in the Inventory.
• World Tiers III & IV now apply a -25% and -50% penalty to Resistance to All Elements instead of a multiplier.
• Single Resistance affixes can now roll on Pants.
• Single Resistance affixes now contribute a maximum value of +35% Resistance for a fully upgraded Normal item, +48% for a Sacred, and +65% for an Ancestral to your total Resistance.
• All Resistance affixes now give a maximum value of +9% Resistance for a fully upgraded Normal item, +12% for a Sacred, and +16% for an Ancestral.
• Ring inherent affixes now give +% Resistance to All Elements and +% Single Resistance, instead of two +% Single Resistances.
• The maximum value is +6%/+6% for a fully upgraded Normal item, +8%/+8% for a Sacred, and +10%/+10% for an Ancestral.
• Amulet inherent affixes have been adjusted to +14% Resistance to All Elements for a fully upgraded Normal item, +19% for a Sacred, and +24% for an Ancestral.
• Single Resistance values on Gems have been adjusted:
  • Crude: +8%
  • Chipped: +13%
  • Normal: +18%
  • Flawless: +24%
  • Royal: +30%
• All Resistance values on Diamond Gems have been adjusted:
  • Crude: +1%
  • Chipped: +2%
  • Normal: +3%
  • Flawless: +4%
  • Royal: +5%
• Single Resistance Paragon nodes have been adjusted to +10% on Rare nodes and +5% on Magic nodes.
• All Resistance Paragon nodes have been adjusted to +3% on Rare nodes and +1.5% on Magic nodes.
• Single Resistance Elixirs have been adjusted:
  • Tier I (Weak): +2% Maximum Resistance (Single), +10% Resistance (Single)
  • Tier II (Normal): +3% Maximum Resistance (Single), +15% Resistance (Single)
  • Tier III (Strong): +4% Maximum Resistance (Single), +20% Resistance (Single)
  • Tier IV (Potent): +5% Maximum Resistance (Single), +25% Resistance (Single)
  • Tier V (Heady): +6% Maximum Resistance (Single), +30% Resistance (Single)
• Elixir of Magic Resist
  • Adjusted to +25% All Resistance.
  • The Level required to Craft this Elixir has been reduced from 90 to 35.
  • The Level required to use this Elixir has been reduced from 36 to 35.
• Storm of the Wilds Incense
  • Previous: Increases Lightning, Cold, and Poison Resistances by 12% for every nearby player.
  • New: Increases Lightning, Cold, and Poison Resistances by +15% and their Maximum Resistances by +2% for every nearby player.
• Desert Escape Incense
  • Previous: Increases Fire and Shadow Resistances by 7.5% and Armor by 75.
  • New: Increases Fire, Cold, and Shadow Resistances by +15% and their Maximum Resistances by +2% for every nearby player.
• Soothing Spices Incense
  • Previous: Increases all Resistances by 10% and armor by 150.
  • New: Increases Resistance to All Elements by +10%, Maximum Resistance for All Elements by +1%, and Armor by 150 for every nearby player.
• Intelligence now gives +0.025% All Resistance per 1 Intelligence instead of 0.05% All Resistance per 1 Intelligence.

Armor

• Disobedience Legendary Aspect
  • Armor % value has been increased from a maximum of +30% Armor to +66% Armor.
• Snowveiled Legendary Aspect
  • Armor % value has been increased from a maximum of +10% Armor to +30% Armor.
• Armor Contribution Percent
  • Non-physical Damage Reduction from Armor and Resistances are no longer split.
    • Resistances now contribute their full value to Non-physical Damage Reduction.
    • Armor no longer contributes to Non-physical Damage Reduction and now only reduces damage against Physical damage.
• Armor
  • +% Total Armor affix has been increased by 160%.
  • +% Total Armor while in Werewolf form and +% Total Armor while in Werebear form have been increased by 130%.

Attributes and Affixes

• The Evade Grants Movement Speed (inherent on Boots) affix duration now increases with Item Upgrades.
• Skill Rank and Passive Rank affixes that roll at +1 now upgrade to +2 when at five Item Upgrades, rather than remaining at +1 (higher base rolls are unaffected).

Damage Bucket Updates

Developer’s Note: Builds that utilized Critical Strike Damage and Vulnerable Damage have been disproportionately powerful. This is because these stats were previously calculated as part of separate damage buckets that were fully multiplicative when combined with other damage bonuses. In order to promote greater build diversity, we are changing how Critical Strike, Vulnerable, and Overpower damage is calculated. These damage types will now always have a baseline multiplicative bonus. Additional sources of bonus Critical Strike Damage, Vulnerable Damage, or Overpower Damage will be additive to your other damage bonuses. Overpower will also receive additional additive damage based on your Maximum Health and Fortify amounts. This change represents an overall decrease in damage output, so we are adjusting monster scaling to ensure that the best Class builds are still as powerful as before. This change is not intended to lower the power of the best builds, but rather allow more builds to reach that same level of power. We have also added a variety of mechanics to classes that encourage them to chase other stats for multiplicative bonuses, rather than always chasing Critical Strike and Vulnerable Damage.

• Overpower:
  • Overpower attacks now always deal up to x50% increased damage, based on your current life percentage.
  • Overpower attacks gain +2% damage per 1% of your Base Life you have in Fortify.
  • Overpower attacks gain +2% damage per 1% of your Base Life that you have in bonus life above your Base Life.
  • All Overpower Damage Affixes have increased by 50%.
  • Overpower Damage Paragon Glyphs have increased by 33%.
  • Overpower Damage Paragon Nodes have increased by 50%.
• Critical Strike:
  • Critical Strikes now always deal x50% increased damage.
  • Critical Strike Damage Affix, and Critical Strike Damage with Bone, Earth, Imbued, and Werewolf Skills Affixes has increased by 20%.
  • Critical Strike Damage Affix (Inherent on Swords) has increased by 100%.
  • Critical Strike Damage Paragon Glyphs has increased by 100%.
• Vulnerable:
  • Dealing damage to a Vulnerable enemy now always deals x20% increased damage.
  • Vulnerable Damage Affix has increased by 40%.
  • Vulnerable Damage Affix (Inherent on Crossbows) has increased by 87%.
  • Vulnerable Damage Paragon Glyphs has increased by 100%.

Miscellaneous

• The effect of the Death’s Defense passive, which prevents Necromancer minions from taking more than 30% of their maximum Life in damage in one hit with all points allocated to it, has now been made an inherit attribute for all summons (The Necromancer’s Minions and Druid’s Companions).
  • Now, all minions will only take up to 30% of their maximum Life in a single hit as damage.
  • Death’s Defense has been updated with a new effect to compensate for this change (see Necromancer section below).

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CLASS BALANCE UPDATES

Developer’s Note: The loot chase to find an item with ideal stats for your build is core to the Diablo experience. We want to encourage increased diversity in itemization and make creating your build more interesting. To achieve this, we are adding a variety of ways for Classes to scale with specific stats in interesting ways, particularly through using Key Passives and Paragon. For example, Barbarian’s Hemorrhage Legendary Paragon Node will now multiplicatively increase your Bleeding damage by a portion of your Damage to Vulnerable Enemies stat. The remainder of the Class changes were aimed at improving underused Skills, Legendary Aspects, and powers, as well as addressing other pressing issues. For example, we have reworked several Paragon Glyphs for the Sorcerer and Necromancer, who did not have appropriate places on their Paragon Boards to properly utilize these Glyphs.

Barbarian

• The bonus damage granted while Berserking is active is now multiplicative instead of additive.

Skills

• Enhanced Bash
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Upheaval
  • Damage increased from 0.7 to 0.77.
• Furious Upheaval
  • Bonus damage per stack increased from 5% to 12%.
  • Maximum number of stacks reduced from 10 to 6.
• Strategic Rallying Cry
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Strategic Iron Skin
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Mighty War Cry
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Supreme Wrath of the Berserker
  • Maximum damage bonus is now x100% bonus damage.
• Enhanced Rupture
  • Additional functionality: This damage is increased by x10% for each 50 Strength you have.
• Warrior’s Rupture
  • Attack Speed increased from 30% to 40%.
• Fighter’s Rupture
  • Healing increased from 18% to 22% Maximum Life.

Passives

• Endless Fury
  • Fury gain increased from 5/10/15% to 7/14/21%.
• Imposing Presence
  • Maximum life amount increased from 5/10/15% to 6/12/18%.
• Martial Vigor
  • Damage Reduction against Elites increased from 3/6/9% to 4/8/12%.
• Thick Skin
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.

Paragon

• Decimator
  • Previous: Two-Handed Slashing Weapon attacks have up to a 8% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.
  • New: Each time you make an enemy Vulnerable, your damage is increased by 10% for 5 seconds. Overpowering a Vulnerable enemy grants an additional 10% bonus for 5 seconds.
• Bone Breaker
  • Previous: Overpowers with your Two- Handed Bludgeoning Weapon Stun enemies for 1 second and grant you 20% of your Maximum Life (273) as Fortify.
  • New: Every 12 seconds, your next Skill is guaranteed to Overpower.
• Flawless Technique
  • Duration increased from 2 to 4 seconds.
  • Critical Strike Chance maximum amount increased from 5 to 8%.
• Carnage
  • Attack Speed maximum amount increased from 8% to 16%.
• Warbringer
  • Fortify amount increased from 12% to 15% maximum Life.
• Weapons Master
  • Previous: Swapping weapons grants you 3 Fury.
  • New: Swapping weapons grants you 4% of your Maximum Fury.
• Hemorrhage
  • Previous: Enemies that have been affected by your Bleeding for 3 or more seconds take 12% (multiplicative damage) [x] increased damage from you.
  • New: Your Bleeding damage is increased by 15% [x] of the total amount of your Damage to Vulnerable Enemies bonus.
• Blood Rage
  • Additional Functionality: Your damage dealt is increased by 25% [x] of the total amount of your Damage while Berserking bonus.

Legendary Aspects

• Of Ancestral Force
  • Previous: Hammer of the Ancients quakes outwards, dealing 32-50% of its damage to enemies.
  • New: Hammer of the Ancients quakes outward and its damage is increased by 5-15%.

Developer’s Note: Instead of containing a separate source of damage, this aspect now directly increases the total damage and Area of Effect of Hammer of the Ancients.

• Earthstriker’s Aspect
  • Weapon Swap requirement for Overpower attack reduced from 10 to 8.
  • Adjusted functionality: Overpower proc now happens on your next non-Basic Attack.

Unique Items

• Ramaladni’s Magnum Opus
  • Damage to Vulnerable Enemies affix replaced with Maximum Fury at 150% of normal value.
  • Damage per Fury increased from 0.1-0.3% to 0.2-0.4%.
• Azurewrath
  • Non-Physical Damage affix increased by 120%.
• Hellhammer
  • Critical Strike Damage affix replaced with Bonus Ranks of Upheaval.
  • Damage to Burning Enemies affix increased by 150%.
• Ancient’s Oath
  • Damage to Slowed Enemies affix replaced with Damage to Close Enemies.
  • The Unique Power Has been Adjusted
    • Previous: Steel Grasp launches 2 additional chains. Enemies hit by Steel Grasp are slowed by 55-65% for 3 seconds.
    • New: Steel Grasp launches 2 additional chains. Enemies that have been pulled by Steel Grasp take x30-x50% bonus damage from you for 3 seconds.
• Overkill
  • Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies affix replaced with Ranks of Death Blow.
• Fields of Crimson
  • Bonus Ranks of Rupture affix replaced with Rupture Cooldown Reduction at 200% of normal value.
• Battle Trance
  • Bonus Ranks of Frenzy affix increased by 100%.
  • Damage Reduction While Injured affix replaced with bonus Maximum Fury.
• 100,000 Steps
  • Dexterity affix increased by 100%.
  • Damage with Skills That Swap to New Weapons affix increased by 50%.
  • Cooldown for free Ground Stomp reduced from 30 to 15 seconds.
• Rage of Harrogath
  • Damage Reduction From Bleeding Enemies affix increased by 15%.
• Gohr’s Devastating Grips
  • Non-Physical Damage affix replaced with Damage.
  • Attack Speed affix replaced with Critical Strike Chance Against Close Enemies.

Developer’s Note: Improving the Attack Speed of Whirlwind is a fantasy we want players to be able to chase. However, the interaction between the stat and Skill is inconsistent. We are replacing the Affix so it is more functional.

Druid

Unique Items

• Mad Wolf’s Glee
  • Poison Damage affix replaced with Damage at 140% of normal value.
  • Physical Damage affix replaced with bonus Maximum Life.
• Insatiable Fury
  • Overpower Damage affix increased by 100%.
  • Total Armor while in Werebear Form affix increased by 180%.
• Storm’s Companion
  • Ranks of Wolves affix increased by 66%.
  • Companion Skill Damage affix replaced with bonus Maximum Life.
  • Potion Drop Rate affix replaced with Damage Reduction.
• Fleshrender
  • Damage While Shapeshifted Affix increased by 100%.
  • Damage While Healthy Affix replaced with Core Skill Damage.
  • The damage dealt to Poisoned enemies from Debilitating Roar and Blood Howl is now increased by x10% for each 100 Willpower you have.
• Hunter’s Zenith
  • Damage While Shapeshifted affix increased by 60%.
  • Bonus Ranks of the Quickshift Passive affix increased by 200%.
  • Critical Strike Damage with Wolf Skills affix replaced with Critical Strike Chance.
  • Overpower Damage with Bear Skills affix replaced with Bonus Ranks of the Heightened Senses Passive.

Skills

• Fierce Earth Spike
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Enhanced Maul
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Ravens
  • Passive damage increased from .2 to .24.
  • Active Damage increased from 1.6 to 2.5.
• Enhanced Ravens
  • Bonus Critical Strike Chance increased from 5% to 8%.
• Rabies
  • Damage increased from 1.1 to 1.4.
  • Spread speed increased by 50%.
• Natural Rabies
  • Spread Speed bonus reduced from 100% to 50%.

Developer’s Note: Actual spread speed remains unchanged due to base spread speed increase for Rabies.

• Preserving Earthen Bulwark
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Enhanced Debilitating Roar
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Ferocious Wolf Pack
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Trample
  • Knockback distance reduced by 10%.
• Natural Trample
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Supreme Grizzly Rage
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.

Passives

• Ancestral Fortitude
  • You gain +5/10/15% Resistance to All Elements.
• Charged Atmosphere
  • Interval for Lightning Bolts reduced from 18/15/12 seconds to 14/11/8 seconds.
• Electric Shock
  • Lucky Hit: Chance to Immobilize increased from 5/10/15% to 8/16/24%.
  • Bonus damage to Immobilized enemies increased from 6/12/18% to 7/14/21%.
• Safeguard
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Thick Hide
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Nature’s Resolve
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Natural Fortitude
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Nature’s Fury
  • Casting an Earth Skill has a 30% chance to trigger a free Storm Skill of the same category, and vice versa. These free Skills count as both Earth and Storm Skills.
• Ursine Strength
  • While Healthy, deal 25% (multiplicative damage) [x] increased damage, and 25%[x] increased Overpower damage.
• Lupine Ferocity
  • The guaranteed Critical Strike’s bonus damage is increased to 140% [x] against Injured enemies.

Legendary Aspects

• Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast
  • Critical Strike Damage bonus amount now has a maximum of 200%.

Paragon

• Earthen Devastation
  • Previous: Your Earth Skills deal 30% [x] increased damage to enemies afflicted by Crowd Control.
  • New: Earth Skills deal 10%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage, increased by 25%[x] of the total amount of your Bonus Damage to Crowd Controlled up to 40%[x].
• Thunderstruck
  • Previous: Storm Skills deal 30%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage against Vulnerable or Immobilized enemies.
  • New: Storm Skills deal bonus damage equal to 50%[x] of the total amount of your Damage to Close and Damage to Distant bonuses.

Necromancer

• The Skeletal Warriors Inherit Thorns, Skeletal Mages Inherit Thorns, and Golem Inherits Thorns affixes have been combined into a single Affix: Minions Inherit Thorns.
• A new Affix has been added: Minions Inherit Critical Strike Chance.
• Cooldown Reduction can now appear on Shields.
• Shields now have an Armor Value determined by their Item Power.
• Blood Orbs now also heal your Minions for 15% of your Maximum Life when picked up.

Skills

• Prime Army of the Dead
  • Chance to leave behind a Corpse increased from 15% to 100%.
• Initiate’s Hemorrhage
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Supernatural Blood Surge
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Dreadful Blood Mist
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Dreadful Bone Prison
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
  • Decompose time to make a Corpse reduced from 2 to 1.5 seconds.

Passives

• Death’s Defense
  • Previous: Your minions cannot lose more than 60/45/30% of their Maximum Life from a single Damage Instance.
  • New Functionality: Your Minions gain +4/8/12% Armor and 8/16/24% Resistance to All Elements.

Developer’s Note: We’ve redesigned the Death’s Defense passive, and its previous functionality, when at max Rank, now serves as a baseline for all Minions.

• Terror
  • Now applies to your Shadow damage, rather than Darkness skills.
  • The first bonus now applies to Chilled enemies, and its second bonus applies to Frozen enemies.
• Stand Alone
  • The description for this Passive has been updated to: Increases Damage Reduction by 6/12/18% when you have no minions. Each active minion reduces this bonus by 2%.
• Drain Vitality
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Necrotic Carapace
  • Fortify amount changed from being based on Base Life to Maximum life.
• Rathma’s Vigor
  • Previous: Increase your Maximum Life by 10% [x]. After being Healthy for 12 seconds, your next Blood skill Overpowers.
  • New: After being Healthy for 12 seconds, your next Blood Skill Overpowers. This timer is reduced by 2 seconds each time Blood Orbs Heal or Overheal you for an amount greater than or equal to your base Life.
• Shadowblight
  • Previous: Shadow Damage infects enemies with Shadowblight for 2 seconds. You and your minions deal 10% [x] bonus damage to enemies with Shadowblight. Every 10th time an enemy receives Shadow damage from you or your Minions while they are affected by Shadowblight, they take an additional 22% Shadow Damage.
  • New: Shadow damage infects enemies with Shadowblight for 2 seconds. Every 10th time an enemy receives Shadow damage from you or your Minions while they are affected by Shadowblight, they take an additional 22% Shadow damage. Shadowblight’s damage is increased by 100% [x] of your Shadow Damage over Time bonus.
• Transfusion
  • Previous: Blood Orbs also Heal your Minions for 20%/40%/60% of their heal amount.
  • New: Lucky Hit: Blood Skills have a 3/6/9% chance on hit to spawn a Blood Orb. This can only occur once every 4 seconds. This chance is doubled against bosses.

Developer’s Note: We’ve reworked the Transfusion passive. Its previous functionality is now the default effect of blood orbs.

• Gruesome Mending
  • Previous: While below 50% life, you receive 10%/20%/30% Healing from all sources.
  • New: Receive 10/20/30%+ more Healing from all sources.
• Inspiring Leader
  • Healthy duration requirement reduced from 4 to 2 seconds.
• Ossified Essence
  • Damage % per Essence past 50 reduced from 1.0% to 0.5%.
• Bonded in Essence
  • Cooldown increased from 5 to 8 seconds.

Developer’s Note: This is an adjustment to match the update to Skeletal Priests, which can be seen below.

Book of the Dead

• Skeletal Warrior’s Defenders Sacrifice Bonus has been updated to: You gain +20% Resistance to All Elements, but you can no longer raise Skeletal Warriors.
• Skeletal Warrior
  • Skirmishers
    • Base damage increased from 0.11 to 0.14.
  • Defenders
    • Base damage increased from 0.11 to 0.14.
• Golems
  • Basic attack damage increased by 100%.
• Blood Golem
  • Active damage increased from 0.9 to 1.4.
• Iron Golem
  • Active damage increased from 1.75 to 2.
• Raise Skeleton
  • Skeleton Priest duration increased from 5 to 8 seconds, total healing increased from 15% to 25%.
• Bone Mage Sacrifice
  • Overpower Bonus reduced from 40% to 25%.

Paragon

• Mage Paragon Glyph’s Additional Bonus
  • Previous: Skeletal Mages gain 25% Resistance to All Elements.
  • New: Minions gain +35% Resistance to All Elements.
• Warrior Paragon Glyph’s Additional Bonus
  • Previous: Skeletal Warriors gain 20% increased Armor.
  • New: Minions gain +30% increased Armor.
• Infused Caster Rare Node
  • Previous: Skeletal Mages Resistance to All Elements.
  • New: Minion Resistance to All Elements.
• Flesh-horror Rare Node
  • Previous: Golems Resistance to All Elements.
  • New: Minion Resistance to All Elements.
• “+% Minion Armor” on Paragon Nodes has been increased from +4% to +8% on Rare Nodes and +2% to +4% on Magic Nodes.
• +% Skeletal Warriors Armor on Paragon Nodes has been increased from +6.5% to +14% on Rare Nodes and +3.2% to 7% on Magic Nodes.
• +% Golems Armor on Paragon Nodes have been increased from +6.5% to +14% on Rare Nodes and +3.2% to 7% Magic Nodes.
• +% Total Armor while Golems are Active on Paragon Nodes have been increased from +2% to +6%% on Rare Nodes and +1% to +3% on Magic Nodes.
• Hulking Monstrosity Legendary Node
  • Golem damage increased from 40% to 100%.
• Infused Warrior Rare Node
  • Skeleton Warrior Damage increased from 17% to 25%.
• Infused Caster Rare Node
  • Skeleton Mage Damage increased from 17% to 25%.
• Frenzied Golem Rare Node
  • Golem Damage increased from 17% to 25%.
• Mutation’s Golem Damage increased from 17% to 25%.
• Infused Golem Rare Node
  • Golem Damage increased 17% to 25%.
• Corporeal Rare Glyph
  • Previous: Paragon nodes within range gain +40.0% bonus to their Physical damage and damage reduction modifiers.
  • New: All Magic nodes within range have their effects increased by 150%.
• Wither Legendary Node
  • The description now displays your current chance to trigger and the current value of bonus damage.
• Bloodbath
  • Previous: Attacks that are guaranteed to Overpower deal 50% [x] increased Overpower damage.
  • New: All Overpowered attacks deal 35% [x] increased Overpower damage.
• Bone Graft
  • Maximum Essence per stack reduced from 3 to 2, total Maximum Essence reduced from 24 to 16.
• Changed Wither Legendary Node scaling from Willpower to Intelligence.
• Changes Darkness Glyph scaling from Willpower to Intelligence.
• Change Scourge Glyph scaling from Willpower to Intelligence.

Unique Items

• Blood Artisan’s Cuirass
  • Total Armor affix replaced with bonus Maximum Life.
• Deathless Visage
  • Total Armor affix replaced with Damage Reduction.
  • The Echoes left behind by Bone Spear from the Unique power now deal 5% [x] increased damage for every +30% of your Critical Strike Bonus Damage stat.
  • Damage reduced from 0.28-0.38 to 0.25-0.35.
• Bloodless Scream
  • Damage to Frozen Enemies affix replaced with Bonus Intelligence.
  • Chill amount for Darkness skills increased from 40 to 100.
  • The Unique Power has had the following effect added: Darkness Skills deal x20-x50% bonus damage to Frozen enemies.
• Deathspeaker’s Pendant
  • Summoning Skill Damage affix increased by 100%.
  • Overpower Damage affix replaced with Essence Cost Reduction.
  • Damage increased from 0.1-0.15 to 0.15-0.2.
• Black River
  • Damage to Healthy Enemies affix replaced with Bonus Ranks of All Corpse Skills at up to 1 Rank above normal value.
  • Damage to Distant Enemies affix replaced with Bonus Ranks of the Hewed Flesh Passive.
• Lidless Wall
  • Damage to Distant Enemies affix replaced with bonus Maximum Life.
• Ring of Mendeln
  • The unique power no longer requires 7 or more minions to be active.

Legendary Aspects

• Hulking Aspect
  • Hulking Aspect will no longer appear on Rings. Instead, it will appear on Helmets, Chest Armor, Boots, Gloves, Amulets, and Shields.
• Tidal Aspect
  • Damage penalty reduced from 60-50% to 50-40%.
• Aspect of Empowering Reaper
  • Blight bonus damage increased from 20-60% to 40-80%.
• Aspect of Hardened Bones
  • No longer requires 7 or more minions.
• Aspect of Reanimation
  • Now affects your Golem as well as your Skeletons.
• Coldbringer’s Aspect
  • Any Skeletal Mages can cast Blizzard, rather than just Cold Skeletal Mages.
• Aspect of Potent Blood
  • Previous: While at Full life, Blood Orbs grant 10-20 Essence.
  • New: While Healthy, Blood Orbs grant 10-20 Essence.

Rogue

Unique Items

• Grasp of Shadow
  • Bonus Ranks of all Core Skills affix increased by 100%.
  • Shadow Clone Damage affix increased by 150%.
  • Damage to Vulnerable Enemies affix replaced with bonus Dexterity.
• Condemnation
  • Critical Strike Chance Against Injured Enemies affix replaced with Critical Strike Damage.
• Windforce
  • Core Skill Damage affix increased by 40%.
  • Damage to Distant Enemies affix replaced with bonus Ranks of the Concussive Passive.
  • Lucky Hit Chance to deal double damage and Knock Back enemies increased from 10-20% to 20-30%.
• Skyhunter
  • Previous: The first direct damage you deal to an enemy is a guaranteed Critical Strike. If you had maximum stacks of the Precision Key Passive when you cast the Skill, gain 20-30 energy. This can only happen once per cast.
  • New: The first direct damage you deal to an enemy is a guaranteed Critical Strike. If you have the maximum stacks of the Precision Key Passive when you cast a Core Skill, then that skill gains 10-20% bonus Critical Strike Damage and you gain 5-10 Energy.
• Cowl of the Nameless
  • Maximum Energy affix replaced with bonus Ranks of Imbuement Skills at up to 1 Rank above normal value.
  • Dexterity affix replaced with Damage Reduction from Close Enemies.
• Eaglehorn
  • Previous: 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.
  • New: Penetrating Shot has a 30-80% chance to fire an arrow that bounces off walls and scenery. Damaging 5 enemies with Penetrating Shot will cause your next cast to make enemies hit Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
• Eyes in the Dark
  • Damage to Enemies Affected by Trap Skills increased by 150%.
  • Damage to Elites affix replaced with Maximum Life.
  • Dodge Chance affix replaced with Damage Reduction.
  • The Unique Power now additionally increases the damage of Death Trap by 30-50%.
• Word of Hakan
  • Ultimate Skill Damage affix increased by 200%.
  • Cooldown Reduction affix replaced with Rain of Arrows Cooldown Reduction at 300% of normal value.
  • Critical Strike Damage with Imbued Skills affix replaced with Movement Speed.

Skills

• Primary Blade Shift Upgrade
  • Description has been updated to: While Blade Shift is active, you gain +15% Resistance to All Elements and reduce the duration of incoming Control Impairing effects by 20%.”
• Blade Shift
  • Lucky Hit Chance increased from 35% to 50%.
  • Enhanced Blade Shift now gives the full 20% Movement Speed bonus immediately.
• Heartseeker
  • Critical Strike Chance bonus effect increased from 3% to 5% per stack. The cap is still 15%.
• Forceful Arrow
  • Lucky Hit Chance increased from 40% to 50%.
• Countering Dark Shroud
  • Now requires at least 2 active shadows, down from 4, to gain its Critical Strike Chance increase.
• Caltrops
  • Duration increased from 6 to 7 seconds.
• Enhanced Smoke Grenade
  • Damage taken increased from 20% to 25%.

Passives

• Impetus
  • Distance for Damage buff reduced from 15 to 12 meters.
  • Now increases the damage of your next non-Basic attack.
• Victimize
  • Victimize’s damage is increased by 120% of your Damage vs Vulnerable bonus.
• Close Quarters Combat
  • Damage Calculation Updated.
  • Previous: Damaging a Close enemy with Marksman or Cutthroat Skills each grant a 10% (additive damage) [+] Attack Speed bonus for 8 seconds. While both Attack Speed bonuses are active, you deal 30% [x] increased damage against Crowd Controlled enemies.
  • New: Damaging a Close enemy with Marksman or Cutthroat Skills each grant a 10% [+] Attack Speed bonus for 8 seconds. While both Attack Speed bonuses are active, your damage dealt is increased by 40%[x] of the total amount of your Damage vs Crowd Controlled bonus.

Paragon

• Eldritch Bounty Legendary Node
  • Previous: When you attack with an Imbued Skill, you gain 20% Resistance and 20% increased damage for that Imbuement’s element for 9 seconds.
  • New: When you attack with an Imbued Skill, you gain +3% Maximum Resistance and 20% increased damage for that Imbuement’s element for 9 seconds.
• Pride Rare Glyph
  • Previous: Paragon nodes within range gain +40.0% bonus to their Physical damage and Damage Reduction modifiers.
  • New: +125% bonus to all Rare nodes within range.
• No Witnesses Legendary Node
  • Previous: Your Ultimate Skills deal 30% [x] increased damage and grant you 10% [x] increased damage for 20 seconds when cast.
  • New: Your Ultimate Skills gain an additional 10% [x] damage from your Damage with Ultimate bonus and grant this bonus to all Skills for 8 seconds when cast.

Legendary Aspects

• Energizing Aspect
  • Energy gain when hitting an Elite with a Basic Skill increased from 3-7 to 5-9.
• Icy Alchemist’s Aspect
  • Damage increased from 0.22-0.4 to 0.3-0.48.
• Toxic Alchemist’s Aspect
  • Damage increased from 0.11-0.16 to 0.15-0.2.
• Aspect of Volatile Shadows
  • Damage increased from 0.22-0.27 to 0.3-0.35.
• Aspect of Synergy
  • Agility Skill damage increased from 10-30% to 30-50%.
• Aspect of Bursting Venom
  • No longer requires a Critical Strike.
  • Lucky Hit chance increased from 10% to 15%.
  • Toxic pool damage increased from 1.08-1.35 to 1.25-1.52.

Sorcerer

Skills

• Glinting Fire Bolt
  • Previous: Critical strikes with Fire Bolt increase the Burning damage you deal to the enemy by 20% for 4 seconds.
  • New: Fire Bolt increases the Burning damage you deal to the enemy by 25% for 3 seconds.
• Incinerate
  • Bonus damage dealt ramp-up time reduced from 4 to 2 seconds. Total damage remains unchanged.
• Enhanced Frozen Orb
  • Threshold for bonus damage reduced from 50 to 40 Mana.
  • Maximum distance reduced from 6 to 4.
  • Additional functionality: Bonus explosion damage is increased to x45% against Elites.
• Meteor
  • Effect radius increased by 10%.
• Wizard’s Ball Lightning
  • Adjusted the maximum number of Crackling Energy generated per cast from 1 to 2.
• Hydra
  • Summoned Hydra damage increased from 12% to 60%.
• Supreme Currents
  • Additional Functionality: Crackling Energy pulses 25% faster while Unstable Currents is active.

Passives

• Potent Warding
  • Previous: After casting a Non-Basic Skill, you gain 2/4/6% Resistance to All Elements and 1/2/3% additional Resistance to that Skill’s element from 9 seconds.
  • New: After casting a Non-Basic Skill, you gain +3/6/9% Resistance to All Elements and +1/2/3% Maximum Resistance to that Skill’s element for 9 seconds.
• Align the Elements
  • Additional Functionality: This bonus persists for 2 seconds after taking damage.

Paragon

• Enchanter Glyph
  • Previous: For each Skill equipped in your Enchantment Slots, gain 13% Resistance to that Skills’ element.
  • New: For each Skill equipped in your Enchantment Slots, gain +5% Maximum Resistance to that Skill’s element.
• Galvanic Catalyst Rare Node
  • +17% Crackling Energy Damage changed to +10% Lightning Damage.
  • Surrounding Crackling Energy Damage Magic Nodes changed to +5% Lightning Damage.
• Winter Rare Glyph
  • Previous Bonus: Paragon nodes within range gain +15.0% bonus to their Cold damage and damage reduction modifiers.
  • New Bonus: Rare Paragon nodes within range gain +125% bonus to their effects.
• Searing Heat Legendary Node
  • Previous: Casting Fireball or Meteor increases the Critical Strike Chance of further casts of that Skill by 5% (additive damage) [+] for 5 seconds, up to 15% [+]. Additional stacks do not refresh this timer.
  • New: Your Fire skills have their Critical Strike Chance increased by +10% and their Direct Damage is increased by an amount equal to x10% of the total amount of your Bonus Damage with Fire, up to a maximum of x30%.
• Burning Instinct Legendary Node
  • Previous: Your Burning damage is increased by 40% of your Critical Strike Damage, further increased by 5% for every 20 Intelligence you have.
  • New: Your Burning damage deals bonus damage equal to x10% of the total amount of your Critical Strike Damage bonus, plus x1% for every 75 Intelligence you have.
• Static Surge Legendary Node
  • Previous: Stunning Close enemies restores 10 mana.
  • New: After spending 100 Mana, your next cast of Chain Lightning or Charged Bolts makes enemies Vulnerable for 2 seconds and grants you 10% of your maximum Mana. This Mana cost requirement is reduced by Mana Cost Reduction bonuses.
• Elemental Summoner Legendary Node
  • Previous: Your Conjuration Skills have a 5% reduced Cooldown or Mana cost per Conjuration Skill you have equipped.
  • New: Your Conjuration Skills have 10% reduced Cooldown or Mana cost. They also deal bonus Damage equal to x3% of the total amount of your Bonus Damage with Cold, Fire, and Lightning.
• Frigid Fate Legendary Node
  • Previous: Dealing Cold damage to Vulnerable enemies increases your Lucky Hit Chance by 1% [+] for 5 seconds up to 15%[+].
  • New: You deal bonus damage to Vulnerable enemies equal to x10% of the total amount of your Bonus Damage with Cold, up to a maximum of x30%.
• Icefall Legendary Node
  • Previous: Killing a Frozen enemy grants you 15% of your Maximum Life as a Barrier (236) for 5 seconds.
  • New: Your Frost skills deal x15% bonus Critical Strike Damage to Vulnerable enemies. This bonus is doubled against Frozen enemies who are Vulnerable.

Legendary Aspects

• Of Piercing Static (previously Of Static Cling)
  • The Legendary Power has been swapped with the Staff of Lam Essen.
    • Previous Power: Your casts of Charged Bolts have a 15-25% chance to be attracted to enemies and last 300% longer.
    • New Power: Charged Bolts pierce, but deal 60-40% less damage to targets hit after the first.
• The Aspect’s name has been changed to Of Piercing Static to reflect its new power.
• Of Engulfing Flames
  • Previous: While enemies are affected by more Damage Over Time than their total life, you deal 30-40% increased burning damage to them.
  • New: You deal 10-30% bonus Burning damage to enemies who are below 50% of their total Life or 80-100% if they are affected by more Damage Over Time than their total Life.

Unique Items

• Staff of Endless Rage
  • Lucky Hit: Chance to Slow affix replaced with Fire Damage.
  • The Unique Power now also gives each 3rd cast of Fireball 20-40% bonus damage.
• Iceheart Brais
  • Damage to Injured Enemies affix replaced with Damage Reduction.
  • Intelligence affix replaced with bonus Maximum Life.
• Esu’s Heirloom
  • Slow Duration Reduction affix replaced with Critical Strike Damage.
  • Evade Grants Movement Speed inherent affix duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds.
• Staff of Lam Essen
  • The Unique Power has been swapped with the Of Static Cling Legendary Aspect.
    • Previous Power: Charged Bolts pierce but deal 35-25% less damage to targets hit after the first.
    • New Power: Your cast of Charged Bolts have a 30-50% chance to be attracted to enemies and last 300% longer.
  • Damage to Injured Enemies replaced with Critical Strike Damage.
• Gloves of the Illuminator
  • Lucky Hit: Chance to Restore Resource affix restoration value increased by 50%.
  • Damage penalty reduced from 45-35% to 35-25%.
• Esadora’s Overflowing Cameo
  • Non-Physical Damage affix replaced with Cooldown Reduction.
  • Crackling Energy Damage affix increased by 50%.
  • Lightning Nova’s base damage increased by 100%.
  • The Lightning Nova deals 50% (multiplicative damage) [x] increased damage for every 100 Intelligence you have.
• Flamescar
  • Ranks of Incinerate affix increased by 50%.
  • Non-Physical Damage affix replaced with Mana Cost Reduction.
• The Oculus
  • Lucky Hit: Chance to Restore Resource affix replaced with Damage at 315% of normal value.