At the end of April, the new season in Diablo 4 begins – and with it, new skills will come into play. Experts agree: these abilities will dominate the builds. And that is currently causing discussions.
Season 8 starts on April 29 and brings a new mechanic: if you defeat world or hideout bosses, you adopt their skills. This allows for powerful attacks to be integrated into your builds, or you benefit from passive bonuses. Here you can find out how the boss powers work and which ones exist.
Players, experts, and content creators recently looked at the season mechanic on the PTR and are now discussing the boss powers. Some fans and experts agree: in Season 8, there will probably be no strong builds that can do without the new boss skills.
There are also special skills to acquire in Season 7 – the witch powers:
The new powers overshadow “normal” builds
Experts say about the skills: In a YouTube video from March 23, 2025, Diablo expert wudijo explains that the season theme reminds him of the witch powers from Season 7. Again there are new, powerful abilities, but this time they come from the bosses. He finds the idea of defeating boss enemies and receiving rewards for it is fundamentally “actually quite cool.”
However, he views the powers themselves critically. According to wudijo, they are “silly.” Many of the strongest builds on the PTR with the current balance rely entirely on these boss powers.
In the video, he categorizes the new powers as follows:
So there aren’t really any true builds, just the best S-tier builds that simply exploit the boss powers. For example, the best Spiritborn build at the moment is simply designed to exploit the Ashava power.
It doesn’t feel like you’re scaling your actual skills or investing in a core skill. You’re just stacking generic multipliers that harmonize with the boss powers. […]
I think that’s a problem. Of course, these powers are the central feature of the season, and it’s perfectly fine for builds to revolve around them. But they are just way too strong – at least for some classes.
Diablo expert wudijo is sure: adjustments are needed here. In his opinion, the boss powers should be nerfed overall because the gap between the builds is currently just too large.
Diablo expert Rob2628, who is known for his OP builds in Diablo 4, sees it similarly. In his YouTube video from March 22, 2025, he explains that some boss powers are “obviously way too strong.” Instead of playing an individual build based on the character, you basically just use the seasonal powers – because they are simply too powerful.
He also believes: the powers need a nerf because they overshadow most “normal” builds. He expands on this thought:
There are many powers that have a more supporting role – I think that’s good. They should complement your build rather than completely take it over and turn every class into a seasonal power.
For a single season, it might be interesting to build around seasonal powers, but currently these powers are up to 100 times stronger than normal builds – and that’s just way too much. There’s no choice at all: your own skills are meaningless, and your entire DPS only comes from the seasonal powers. I would definitely wish for some adjustments there.
What are players afraid of? There are also discussions on Reddit about the new boss powers from Season 8. User ExtremeCertain4837 writes that the class fantasy is “dead” – you only choose a body type and then use the best attacks. In his opinion, with the increased difficulty and the overpowering powers, there is only one option: use them – or not progress at all.
With Season 8, Blizzard is revising some of the most important systems: bosses, leveling, and endgame. Bosses are supposed to survive longer – one-shots are a thing of the past. Leveling will be slower at the lower levels. And generally, starting from Season 8, Diablo 4 will be harder: Only 10% of players are expected to reach Torment 4.
