Even before the patch notes for Season 3 in Diablo 4 are revealed, Blizzard announces that certain builds will be affected and what the future patch philosophy will look like.
Where do the info come from? On the evening of January 18, 2024, a developer stream took place with part of the Diablo 4 team. The devs talked during this time about the upcoming Season 3 and what changes it will bring for you. Of course, game balance was also an important topic that was discussed.
Some of you might breathe a sigh of relief now, as Wizards and Barbarians, who dominated in Season 2, will receive nerfs for certain builds.
What will be nerfed?
This is what Blizzard says: Today, on January 19, 2024, the official patch notes for Season 3 are set to be released. In the developer stream, the team explained that it will also provide fixes for the bugs that currently benefit the strongest builds. Additionally, weaker builds are to be strengthened.
- Barbarian: In the current season, the ability “Hammer of the Ancients” is a problem. Because even if you don’t spend a skill point, it counts as active. Thus, every Barbarian player using the hammer gets a free 30% damage multiplier. In Season 3, this bug will no longer exist, causing the build to lose potential.
- Wizard: Similar to the Barbarians, Wizards had a beneficial bug that affected a skill. In this case, the Improved Chain Lightning, which incorrectly benefited from attack speed. This issue is also set to be fixed with Season 3, which will reduce the strength of the associated builds.
How severe are the nerfs? The changes mentioned are not as drastic as the nerfs before the start of Season 1 with patch 1.1. Blizzard wants to maintain that nerfs are always associated with significantly more buffs. Additionally, they aim to announce such changes in advance so that players can prepare for them.
The future of patches: Fixes for bugs as severe as those affecting the Barbarian and Wizard will be given a higher priority in the future. Blizzard explains that they do not want to take away anyone’s enjoyment of a new season, but if something is not working correctly, they will fix it quickly.
For bugs, they want to observe how much they affect the rest of the game. “We are really going to try not to make changes unless we feel they are necessary to keep the game ‘healthy’,” explains Class Designer Adam Jackson.
What to expect in the new patch: Blizzard wanted to present a few teasers for the buffs and nerfs.
- Barbarians will receive improvements for their Charge
- Wizards can look forward to buffs to Meteor
- Hunters are expected to receive improvements for their range builds
- Druids and their Spirit Boons will receive buffs
- Necromancers and their Golems will be improved
If you want to learn more details about the upcoming patch, check out our summary of the developer stream for Season 3 in Diablo 4.
