The start of Season 18 in Diablo 3 is approaching. Patch 2.6.6 brought some balance and gameplay changes. We show you the patch notes for Season 18.
When does Season 18 start? On Friday, August 23, it kicks off. Season 18 will run for about 3 months in Diablo 3.
What’s the theme? Season 18 is the season of the Trinity. There is a passive bonus that makes powerful circles appear. The circles come in 3 variants:
- More damage
- Lower resource costs
- Faster cooldown
How these circles work can be found here:
Balance Changes in Season 18 – Patch 2.6.6
What is changing? For the new Patch 2.6.6, Blizzard has come up with quite a bit. There are new properties on items with which you can experiment in Kanai’s Cube. The class-specific changes are less significant in this patch.
There are now new items and many new bonuses in the game. Changes also apply to the sets that you can craft yourself with the help of the blacksmith.
Item Changes
The Flavor of Time: This new legendary property makes effects from pylons last twice as long. However, this only works if you are actually wearing the item.
The Executioner: The new legendary property causes attacks to kill enemies when they are at less than (5-10 %) of their health. The bonus of this weapon does not apply to companions.
Stone Gauntlets: This new legendary property makes you slowly petrify when attacked. Your armor increases by 50 %, but your attack and movement speed are reduced by 15 %. The effect can stack up to 5 times. Those immune to crowd control do not receive the debuff on attack speed and movement speed.
Echoing Fury: A new legendary property that puts you into a frenzy when you kill enemies. For each enemy killed, you gain 15 % attack speed and 5 % movement speed. The effect can stack up to 5 times. The effect also triggers if your minions kill enemies or if you were involved in kills.
Squirts Necklace: The new legendary property increases your damage by up to 100 % and reduces the damage taken by up to 50 % while you are not taking damage.
Messerschmidt’s Reaver: This new legendary property reduces your cooldowns by 1 second when you kill an enemy. The effect also triggers if your minions kill enemies or if you were involved in kills.
Mortick’s Bracers: The item is new in the game. It has the property that Wrath of the Berserker receives the effect of each rune. This barbarian item was already tested in Patch 2.2.0, but it was too strong for Diablo 3.
Spite: You can craft this item at the blacksmith. Through its legendary property, Golems learn the ability “Smash” and Cold damage from the Gigant Rune.
Legacy of Dreams: A new legendary gem that works like the set Legacy of Nightmares. We have described the stone for you in more detail in this post:
Crafted Sets
The crafted sets at the blacksmith have been revised. We show you the changes here.
Sage’s Journey: Haedrig now automatically learns the set at level 12 – A belt has also been added.
Captain Crimson’s Attire – 2 pieces: Regenerates 6,000 health per second. Reduces cooldowns now by 20% instead of 10%. Additionally, resource costs are reduced by 20%.
Captain Crimson’s Attire – 3 pieces: Damage dealt is increased by your total percent cooldown reduction. Damage taken is reduced by your total percent resource cost reduction.
Aughild’s Dominance – 2 pieces: Damage taken is reduced by 15%. Damage dealt is increased by 30%.
Aughild’s Dominance – 3 pieces: Reduces damage from elite enemies by 30% instead of 15%. Increases damage against elite enemies by 30% instead of 15%.
Cain’s Insight – 2 pieces: Attack speed has been increased by 8%. The 50% bonus experience is now available at the 2-piece bonus. At level 70, it’s a 5% experience point bonus.
Cain’s Insight – 3 pieces: There is a 25% chance that an additional portal key will drop when one drops.
What changes are you looking forward to in Season 18?
Blizzard has announced its plans for the future of Diablo 3:
