The Diablo IV Season 4 PTR: What You Need to Know

4 Apr 2024

Blizzard News

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The Diablo IV Season 4 PTR What You Need to Know

Test our revamped itemization, class updates, new and updated endgame systems, and more, from April 2 through April 9.

Change is coming, wanderer. Do you dare immerse yourself in what lies ahead for all of Sanctuary?

The first Public Test Realm (PTR) for Diablo IV is on the horizon, offering you the chance to test upcoming changes and features for Season 4! PTR will be available from April 2 through April 9 for players with a PC Battle.net account.

The purpose of the PTR is to test updates and features alongside you before the launch of Season 4. Then we’ll take your feedback from PTR to make adjustments to Season 4 before it goes live for everyone. Your experience in Sanctuary is shaking up in a big way: here’s an overview of what you need to know.

Codex

Itemization

Helltide Reborn

The Pit of Artificers

Boss Ladder Updates

Features Offered for Testing

How to Provide Feedback

How to Install the PTR

Class Updates and Full Patch Notes

Itemization

We have three guiding pillars for our itemization updates: quality over quantity, the best items having a journey of power and improvement that you can work toward, and of course, having items feel satisfying and exciting to use.

For a full list of what’s new or adjusted for Classes, check out the Class Update patch notes here, but here’s a summary of the itemization changes:

Basic Item Updates

Reduced number of affixes: now 3 on Legendary items, and 2 on Rare items.
Smaller pool of more potent affixes.
More relevant affixes (eg: ranks of a single Core Skill).
Only Sacred items in World Tier 3, only Ancestral items in World Tier 4.
Affix values are tuned up to be punchier; we want you (and the fiends of Sanctuary) to really feel them!
New affixes and positioning of affixes:
- Resource per Second
- Resource on Kill
- Lucky Hit: Apply Vulnerable
- Life per Hit
- Basic Skill Ranks

Miscellaneous Updates

Legendary items dropped from enemy level 95+ are always 925 item power.
Gems are simpler, more useful, and have a much longer crafting tail.
- Gems now have Core stats, and the more conditional bonuses have been simplified.
Salvage, crafting, and rewards have all been tuned.
- Significantly reduced item drop rates (less time sorting, more time slaying!)
- Item rerolling gold cost capped when Enchanting.
- Material removal and consolidation.
- Forgotten Souls can now be obtained from Whispers and are now a global rare drop from Elites.
Uniques appear earlier.
- Some Uniques now dropping starting in World Tier I and II.
- All Uniques can now drop in World Tier III.
- Uber Uniques can start dropping from monster level 55, drops at 925 item power.

New crafting system: Tempering

This new system will allow you to add affixes to your items at the Blacksmith through a new reusable item that can drop from most content in-game, called Temper Manuals!

These are categorized like the Codex of Power (eg: Resource, Mobility, etc)
- Once gained, you retain these for unlimited use!
Each manual contains a handful of affixes; you are able to attach one at a time.
Affixes can be rerolled up to the item’s Temper Reroll limit.
Ancestral items can have two Tempered affixes from different categories.

Greater Affixes

Only appearing on Ancestral Legendary and Unique items, these are more powerful versions of normal affixes, with a 1.5x multiplier on the affix’s maximum roll.
An item with a Greater Affix will be immediately obvious, with a unique audio cue, as well as a I up to a IV next to the item name indicating how many affixes are Greater.
- eg: Helm (Ancestral) – II
Each affix on an item has a chance to be Greater in World Tier III & IV.
Players cannot Enchant into a Greater affix – they can only be found!

Masterworking

A late-game crafting system to upgrade items, using materials gathered from The Pit.
Improves the value of your current affixes.
- There are 12 upgrade ranks.
- Every 4 ranks, a single affix is massively upgraded.
- Other ranks slightly increase the value of all affixes.

Codex of Power updates

All Legendary Aspects now appear in the Codex of Power, so you can focus on chasing great items instead of managing your inventory.
The highest roll Legendary you salvage is stored in your Codex.
Legendary Affix ranged increase based on item tier (Normal, Sacred, Ancestral).
Most Legendary Affix ranges have been increased.
The UI has been revamped, now includes manual and keyword search.
- You can also favorite Legendary Aspects to make them easier to find!

Helltide Reborn

A tide so nice we made it twice, here’s what’s new in the revamped Helltide event to bring the depths of Hell to the surface of Sanctuary:

Helltide Threat

As you battle through Helltides, you will generate Threat – how much will be determined by the difficulty of monster and how often you’re securing Tortured Gifts within Helltide. Dying will reset your Threat.
There are three Helltide Threat Tiers, with each increasing the danger and frequency of monster ambushes. At Tier 3, you will become Hell-Marked.
- Achieving maximum Threat will initiate a brief ambush frenzy of maximum enemy density. The ambush will end with a final Hellborne spawn, an immensely powerful agent of Hell, resurrected from the tortured souls of Sanctuary’s most powerful champions. There are five variants representing each Class in Diablo IV.
- Upon activating the Hellborn ambush, your Threat will reset.

Accursed Ritual

Baneful Hearts can primarily be earned through opening Tortured Gift chests and can be used at the Accursed Ritual location.
A scene of shocking gore, the Accursed Ritual is the ultimate testament to the disturbing lengths the manic Cultists will go to appease their dark wishes. It is here where you can begin the Accursed Ritual.
Deposit three Baneful Hearts to begin the ritual, and you will be swarmed with a dense demonic ambush. Other players within your subzone will be alerted that the ritual has begun if they wish to join you in your fight.
This ambush will climax with the arrival of the Blood Maiden, an immensely powerful demonic creature who will offer great reward upon her death.

World Tier I and II adjustments

To get players into the thick of Helltides much earlier in their overall Character journey, the PTR will see these upcoming adjustments to help make Helltide more fun and rewarding in World Tier I & II.
- All Tortured Gifts are Mystery Chests.
- No roaming bosses or ambient meteors.
- Less monster density overall compared to World Tier III and IV.

The Pit of Artificers

There are rumors that deep within the network of dungeons crisscrossing the north of Sanctuary, there are strange varieties of ore, perfect for crafting exceptionally crafted armor with secret Horadric techniques.

Upon entering World Tier IV, you’ll receive a priority Quest to complete a Tier 46 Nightmare Dungeon. Upon completion, you’ll begin to collect Runeshard during endgame activities. Collect enough Runeshard to ultimately activate the Obelisk in Cerrigar.
Activating the Obelisk will send you to The Pit. Your goal will be to slay enough monsters before a 10-minute timer runs out. Each player death removes time from the clock: first death removes 30 seconds, second death removes 60 seconds, third and subsequent deaths will remove 90 seconds.

If you slay enough monsters, a portal will appear, taking you to the boss’s arena.
Killing the boss before the timer expires will grant you Masterworking materials and unlocks the next tier of The Pit.
- Killing the boss with 4-6 minutes to spare grants you an additional Tier unlock.
- Killing the boss with 6 or more minutes to spare grants you two additional Tier unlocks.
- The Pit has hundreds of Tiers of difficulty.
  - If the Mastery timer expires before you finish running through the Pit you’ll still receive loot, but won’t receive any Masterworking materials.
The Pit can be undertaken with groups up to four, with the player who opened The Pit receiving the lion’s share of materials.
- Only the player who opened The Pit has the chance of receiving the Materials used for summoning Tormented Echoes.

Boss Ladder Updates

The Echo of Andariel joins the ladder in our Season 4 PTR, in the same bracket as her brother Duriel, with the same Uber Unique drop rate. With a mix of Shadow, Fire, Lightning, and her iconic Poison attack, Andariel stands ready to face all who dare fathom her demise.
- Summoning parts can be acquired from Beast in Ice and Lord Zir.
Tormented Echoes of all ladder bosses can be summoned with Stygian Stones, obtained from deep within The Pit.
- Stygian Stones are needed along with an increased amount of summoning materials, but fear not – they also drop more rewards!
- Tormented Echoes will be level 200.
- All items dropped are item level 925.
- Defeating your first Tormented Echo drops one Resplendent Spark as a first-time reward (account bound).

Features Offered for Testing

We will have servers for PTR in our largest regions: North America, Europe, Korea and Japan, South America, and Australia. Once you log-in through Battle Net, your account will carry over the following account-based progress:

Campaign Completion
Mounts and Skill Points
Fog of War
Altar of Lilith Stat bonuses

As so many of the changes apply to the endgame, the following features will be offered:

You will be able to instantly boost your character to Level 100.
- Upon entering the PTR and arriving at Kyovashad, there will be an NPC named ‘PTR boost’. They will only have one dialogue option, which is Boost me to level 100’
Upon boosting, you will receive:
- 100 million gold
- 1,000 Obols
- Two random sets of Ancestral gear at item power 920
- Upgraded Potions
- Fully unlocked Paragon Glyphs
- Up to 10 Tempering Manuals (class specific)
- Base amount of all consumable materials
  - Does not include materials for resources specifically earned for Masterworking, Scattered Prisms and Resplendent Sparks.
  - Materials to enter the Pit and Nightmare Dungeons are granted.
- Completed Class system mechanics (eg: enchantments for Sorceress, etc).
- Note: This boost can be repeated with new characters on the PTR, and you can trade between characters as needed.
Fog of War will be completely cleared.
Additionally, regardless of whether you choose to boost your character for the PTR, Legendary drop rates will be doubled.

Some things will be missing intentionally so we can test the flows we want to keep an eye on, and the Codex of Power won’t be fully unlocked.

How to Provide Feedback

Your feedback on the changes you will see and experience on the PTR is incredibly important to us, and is vital in ensuring that these changes for Season 4 are the best they can be when they go live in Diablo IV proper. If you participate in the PTR, please let us know what you think!

You can provide feedback through the in-game feedback tool or the Diablo IV PTR forums. Pressing the ‘Esc’ key while in the in-game menu will bring up the ‘Report a Bug’ menu. You can select the dropdown filter and select the ‘In-game feedback tool’ to provide feedback without leaving the game.

How to Install the PTR

Here are the steps to join the PTR:

Open the Blizzard Battle.net App and select Diablo IV from your Games list.
In the selector above the Play button, there is a game version drop down menu.
- Select the option 'Public Test Realm'.
Click Install to Install the PTR client. This becomes a Play button when ready.
Click Play to log in to the PTR, and select any of the available Test Servers.
Create a new test character.
Enter the game and test Season 4!

If you’re a PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate user, you’ll be able to access the PTR through the same flow as other Battle Net users. Access the Battle Net client through the Xbox App, then continue to access the PTR through Battle Net.

Class Updates and Full Patch Notes

There are a lot of changes coming. For a full rundown, you can see our full updates below, but if you’re looking for a tl;dr, you can expect three high-level concepts for Season 4, which will be reflected in the PTR:

There are many impactful Class updates. We are trying to move the needle, updating systems and designs instead of simply setting damage or health higher or lower.
We are making flat-damage Legendaries more viable – currently, they don’t scale at the rate we’d like, so now they scale with your Weapon Damage. We’re really interested to watch how this works out, so we’ll be monitoring your feedback both in the PTR and following the launch of Season 4 to see how we might need to change.
Opening up designs to be more generally useful, so you can make more connections and more builds! If you love Dust Devils on Barbarians, for example, but are frustrated at not being able to create a viable build to keep them in the deep endgame, we are making broad changes to make a build like that possible. We truly want you to play how you want to play and promote real build diversity.

1.4.0 PTR Build #51678 (PC) - April 2, 2024

Game Updates

Accessibility

New Character Highlights

We have added an option to highlight NPC’s, characters and enemies found within Sanctuary making them far easier to distinguish against different environments.
- Standard Highlight
  - Sets the in-game lighting to emphasize the dark and gritty world of Sanctuary as intended.
- Additional Highlights
  - Greatly increases the contrast for the characters within the world. In-game options can be used to modify the intensity, as well as the colors.

New Items

General

All Classes

Tyrael’s Might – Unique Chest Armor

While at full Life, your Skills unleash a divine barrage dealing damage.

Yen's Blessing – Unique Boots

Casting a Skill has a 20-30% chance to cast a Non-Mobility, Non-Ultimate Skill that is currently on Cooldown. This effect can only occur once every 12 seconds.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Frosty Strides

While below 45-60% Life, Evade Freezes Close enemies for Cold Damage and applies Vulnerable to them for 3 seconds.

Aspect of Concussive Strikes

Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 20% chance to Daze them for 2 seconds. You deal 5-20% increased damage to Dazed enemies.

Barbarian

Unique Items

Arreat's Bearing - Unique Pants

Ancients you summon are empowered.
- Korlic creates an Earthquake that deals Physical damage over 4 seconds when he leaps.
- Talic leaves behind Dust Devils that deal damage while he whirlwinds.
- Madawc ignites the ground Burning enemies for an additional damage over 4 seconds when he upheaves the ground.

Twin Strikes - Unique Gloves

After casting Double Swing 4 times, your next Double Swing will hit 2 additional times, each dealing 10-25% increased damage.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Fierce Winds

Your Shout Skills create 5 Dust Devils that deal damage to enemies along their path.
Your Dust Devils are 5%-15% bigger and deal 1% increased damage for each 1% their size is increased.

Druid

Unique Items

Earthbreaker - Unique Ring

Landslide causes the ground to erupt in tectonic spikes which continue to deal 0.6-0.9 damage over 2 seconds. Casting Landslide in this area has a 20-30% chance to cause additional Landslide pillars to spawn within.

Wildheart Hunger - Unique Boots

When you Shapeshift into a Werewolf or a Werebear, you gain Wildheart for 5 seconds. Wildheart grants you 1%-1.5% increased damage with Shapeshifting Skills every 2 seconds, stacking 20 times.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Fevered Mauling

When you hit at least 1 enemy with Maul, increase its Attack Speed by 1%-2% and you gain 1%-3% Damage reduction for 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.

Necromancer

Unique Items

Ebonpiercer - Unique Amulet

Blight also shoots 4 smaller projectiles that pierce enemies and deal Shadow damage over 3 seconds.

Cruor's Embrace - Unique Gloves

Blood Surge consumes Corpses to cause mini novas, dealing damage. Damage is increased by 10% per target drained by the initial cast, up to 50%. Damage is also increased by 20% for each Corpse consumed.

Legendary Aspects

Aphotic Aspect

Skeletal Priests empower your Skeletal Warriors' attacks to deal Shadow damage and have a 5%-15% chance to Stun enemies for 1.5 seconds.

Rogue

Unique Items

Scoundrel's Kiss - Unique Ring

Rapid Fire now lobs exploding arrows that deal 15%-25% increased damage.

Saboteur's Signet - Unique Ring

Casting Flurry has a 15-30% chance to release Stun Grenades that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Grenade Skills have a 5% Lucky Hit Chance.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of High Velocity

Barrage arrows now pierce through 1 enemy.
Barrage has 10%-20% increased Attack Speed.

Sorcerer

Unique Items

Fractured Winterglass – Unique Amulet

Casting Frozen Orb has a 35-50% chance to spawn a random Conjuration when it explodes. Lucky Hit: Your Conjurations have up to a 70-100% chance to launch a Frozen Orb at Nearby enemies.

Flameweaver – Unique Gloves

Casting Fire Bolt through your Firewall causes it to split into 4 bolts, each dealing 80-100% more damage.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect Of Tenuous Destruction

Deal 25-40% increased damage while you have no Defensive Skills on your Action Bar.

Flamethrower's Aspect

Incinerate splits into 3 beams, each dealing 70-85% of normal damage.

Balance Updates

General

Unique Items

Banished Lord's Talisman

Updated visuals and sounds to indicate that your next Core Skill will Overpower.
Critical Strike Overpower damage reduced from 80-120% to 20-60%.
Resources needed for guaranteed Overpower reduced from 300 to 275.

Tibault's Will

Damage increase while Unstoppable reduced from 20-40% to 10-20%.
Damage increase persists for 1 second longer after being Unstoppable.

Legendary Aspects

Disobedience

Armor stacks no longer fall off independently. They now refresh or reset at the same time.
Armor gain changed to 25-40%.

Assimilation

Previous - You have 8% increased Dodge Chance versus enemies affected by Damage Over Time effects. When you Dodge you gain 5-10 of your Primary Resource.
Now - You have 8% increased Dodge Chance. When you Dodge, Fortify for 5-20% of your Maximum Life.

Of Retribution

Chance to Stun increased from 8% to 10%.
Now increases damage to Stunned and Knocked Down enemies.

Of Inner Calm

Previous - Deal 5-10% increased damage for each second you stand still, up to 40%.
Now - Deal 5-10% increased damage. Triple this bonus after standing still for 3 seconds.

Of the Crowded Sage

Previous - You Heal for (0-181) Life per second for each Close enemy, up to (4-605) Life per second.
Now - You have 8% increased Dodge Chance. Successful Dodges restore 5-20% of your Maximum Life.

Bold Chieftain's

Now usable by both Barbarians and Druids.

Needleflare

Now also applies Thorns to Necromancer minions.

Miscellaneous

Necromancer, Barbarian, Druid, and Sorcerer Companions now receive 100% of the player's attributes.
Skill tags have been updated everywhere to allow more Aspects and other effects to affect more skills and abilities. Examples:
- Applicable "Shout" skills for Druid and Barbarian are now tagged as Shouts.
- New Chain tag for abilities like Chain Lightning and Rabies.
- New Mobility tag for abilities that move and or teleport the player, such as Caltrops or Teleport.
- More skills are now tagged as Core skills, such as Sorcerer Mastery Skills and other skills which use resources like Bone Spirit.
- Additionally, various Aspects have been updated to account for these changes.

Barbarian

Barbarian’s 10% innate Damage Reduction has been removed.
Legendary powers that require Call of the Ancients to be equipped no longer have that requirement.
Previously, Dust Devils would have varying durations, speeds, and movement patterns based on which legendary Aspect created them. Now, they all behave consistently regardless of which Aspect they are from.

Skills

Charge

Damage reduced from 250% to 180%.

Power Charge

Cooldown Reduction per Target Hit reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
Cooldown Reduction for hitting a Boss reduced from 6 to 4 seconds.
Maximum Cooldown Reduction reduced from 9 to 6 seconds.

Furious Hammer of the Ancients

Previous - Hammer of the Ancients deals 1%[x] increased damage for each point of Fury you had when using it.
Now - Hammer of the Ancients gains 2%[+] increased Critical Strike Chance for every 10 Fury you had when using it.

Violent Rend

Rend's Damage against Vulnerable enemies increased from 12%[x] to 25%[x].

Rupture

The initial damage dealt from Rupture is now guaranteed to Overpower.

Call of the Ancients

Korlic Leap damage increased from 104% to 156%.
Korlic Frenzy damage increased from 39% to 59%.
Talic Whirlwind damage increased from 65% to 98%.
Madawc Upheaval damage increased from 195% to 293%.

Kick

Range of damage increased from 2.2 meters to 3 meters.
Additional damage when enemy is knocked into a wall increased from 70% to 105%.

Power Kick

Damage per 10 Fury consumed increased from 20% to 25%.

Passives

Unbridled Rage

Bonus damage reduced from 135%[x] to 100%[x].

Weapon Expertise

Polearm Expertise

Lucky Hit chance increased from 10%[x] to 15%[x].
Damage while Healthy increased from 10%[+] to 15%[x].

Two-Handed Mace Expertise

Fury gain increased from 2 to 5.
- Previous - You deal 15%[x] increased Critical Strike damage to Stunned and Vulnerable enemies while Berserking.
- Now - You deal 15%[x] increased Critical Strike damage while Berserking.

Two-Handed Axe Expertise

Vulnerable Damage reduced from 15%[x] to 10%[x].

One-Handed Axe Expertise

Critical Strike Chance against Injured enemies increased from 5%[+] to 10%[+].

Paragon

Marshal Glyph

Cooldown reduction reduced from 4 to 2 seconds.

Blood Rage Legendary Node

Damage increased by Berserking bonus reduced from 25% to 10%, and caps at 30%[x] damage bonus.

Crusher Glyph

Additional Bonus: Overpower damage reduced from 30%[x] to 20%[x].

Dominate Glyph

Bonus Overpower Damage per 5 Willpower reduced from 39.9% to 14.9% at Glyph level 21.
Additional Bonus
- Previous - After not Overpowering for 30 seconds, your next attack will Overpower.
- Now - Every 30 seconds, your next attack will Overpower.

Seething Glyph

Additional Bonus: Fury gain on enemy kill increased from 3 to 5.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Sundered Ground

Description reworded for clarity, no functional change.
- Previous - Every 25 seconds, Upheaval is guaranteed to Overpower and deals 10–25%[x] increased damage. This timer is reduced by 4 seconds when Upheaval Overpowers a Boss or an Elite enemy.
- Now - Every 25 seconds, your next Upheaval cast is guaranteed to Overpower and deals 10-25%[x] increased damage. This timer is reduced by 4 seconds when Upheaval Overpowers a Boss or an Elite enemy.

Earthstriker's Aspect

Bonus Overpower Damage reduced from 35-50%[x] to 15%-30%[x].

Aspect of the Relentless Armsmaster

Fury Generation while all three Walking Arsenal bonuses are active increased from 20-35% to 35-65%.

Windlasher's Aspect

Previous - Casting Double Swing twice within 1.5 seconds creates a Dust Devil that deals 0.22-0.32 damage to enemies behind the target.
Now - Casting Double Swing creates a Dust Devil that deals 0.35-0.5 damage to enemies in its path. Triple the amount of Dust Devils created if Double Swing is cast twice within 2 seconds.

Devilish Aspect

Previous - After generating 100 Fury, your next attack that deals direct damage creates a Dust Devil that deals 0.24-0.38 damage to enemies behind the target.
Now - After generating 100 Fury, your next direct damage creates 3 Dust Devils that deal 0.4-0.6 damage to enemies in their path.

Dust Devil's Aspect

Previous - Whirlwind leaves behind Dust Devils that deal 0.22-0.32 damage to surrounding enemies (1 Dust Devil every 1.5 seconds).
Now - Whirlwind leaves behind Dust Devils that deal 0.4-0.6 damage to enemies in their path (1 Dust Devil every 0.75 second).

Veteran Brawler's

Now increases the damage for Charge, Leap, and Kick.
The timer on the buff has been removed.

Of Giant Strides

Previous - Reduces the Cooldown of Leap by seconds per enemy hit, up to a maximum of 9 seconds.
Now - Reduces the Cooldown of Leap by (2.5-5) seconds per enemy hit, up to a maximum of 9 seconds. Hitting a Boss with Leap provides the maximum cooldown reduction.

Of Anemia

Previous - Lucky Hit: Direct damage against Bleeding enemies has a 15-30% chance to Stun them for 2 seconds.
Now - Lucky Hit: Damaging Bleeding or Vulnerable enemies has a 15-30% chance to Stun them for 2 seconds.

Of Vocalized Empowerment (Previously Of Echoing Fury)

Now equippable by both Barbarians and Druids.
- Previous - Your Shout Skills generate 2-4 Fury per second while active.
- Now - Your Shout Skills generate 5-10 Primary Resource per second while active.

Unique Items

Rage of Harrogath

Previous - Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-40% chance to reduce the Cooldowns of your non-Ultimate Skills by 1.5 seconds when you inflict Bleeding on Elites.
Now - Lucky Hit: Inflicting Bleeding on an enemy has up to a 20-40% chance to reduce the Cooldowns of your Skills by 1 second.

Azurewrath

Damage dealt when Freezing enemies increased from 2.0-3.0 to 3.0-4.5.
Can now trigger from Non-Core skills.

Fields of Crimson

The blood pool now makes enemies take increased damage from all damage types.

Druid

Spirit Boons

Packleader

Cooldown reset chance increased from 20% to 25%.

Energize

Spirit restoration increased from 10 to 20.

Masochistic

Critical Strike Healing increased from 3% to 5%.

Skills

Claw

Damage increased by ~10% (.25 to .28).
Enhanced Claw
- Attack Speed increased from 15% to 20%.

Maul

Damage increased by ~10% (.24 to .26).
Enhanced Maul
- Fortify increased from 5% to 8%.

Raging Pulverize

Stun duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Shred

Damage increased by 10%.
Enhanced Shred
- Healing increased from 2% to 4%.

Debilitating Roar

Now categorized as a Shout skill.

Wolves

Wolves now gain Unstoppable when the Skill is cast.

Petrify

Prime Petrify
- Previous - Petrify's effect durations are increased by 1 second.
- Now - Petrify grants 50 Spirit when cast and its effect durations are increased by 1 second.
Supreme Petrify
- Previous - Killing an enemy affected by Petrify grants 25 Spirit.
- Now - Killing an enemy affected by Petrify reduces its Cooldown by 1 second. Hitting a Boss with Petrify reduces its Cooldown by 10 seconds.

Lacerate

Damage increased by 22%.
Prime Lacerate
- Previous - Lacerate hits Heal for 3% Maximum Life, doubled on Critical Strikes.
- Now - Lacerate hits Heal for 3% Maximum Life, doubled on Critical Strikes. The first Critical Strike is guaranteed and deals 150% increased damage.
Supreme Lacerate
- Previous - Lacerate's initial strike is guaranteed to Critically Strike and deals 150% increased damage.
- Now - Whenever Lacerate Critically Strikes, your Shapeshifting Skills deal 4% increased damage for 10 seconds, up to 40%.

Passives

Call of the Wild

Damage increased from 10% to 12%.

Quickshift

Previous - When a Shapeshifting Skill transforms you into a different form, it deals 7% increased damage.
Now - When Shapeshifting into a new animal form, you deal 1% increased damage for 3 seconds, up to 6%.

Heightened Senses

Previous - Upon Shapeshifting into a Werebear or Werewolf, gain 4% Damage Reduction against Elites for 5 seconds.
Now - When Shapeshifting into an animal form, Werebear grants 2% Damage Reduction and Werewolf grants 2% Movement Speed, each for 6 seconds. Bonuses are doubled while both are active.

Clarity

Previous - Gain 2 Spirit when transforming into Human form.
Now - After casting a Companion Skill, your next Core or Wrath Skill's damage and Critical Strike Chance are increased by 5%, up to 15%.

Digitigrade Gait

Movement Speed increased from 3% to 4%.

Legendary Aspects

Of The Changeling's Debt

Previous - Damaging a Poisoned enemy with a Werebear Skill will instantly deal 120-124% of the Poisoning damage and consume the Poisoning.
Now - You deal 25-40% increased damage while hitting a Poisoned enemy as a Werebear or a Crowd Controlled enemy as a Werewolf.

Of The Unsatiated

Previous - After killing an enemy with Shred, your next Werewolf Skill generates 25-32% more Spirit and deals 25-32% increased damage.
Now - After killing an enemy with Shred, you gain 20 Spirit. Your Werewolf Skills deal 10-25% increased damage when cast above 50 Spirit.

Of The Blurred Beast

Damage increased from 25-32% to 25-35%.

Nighthowler's

Previous - Blood Howl increases Critical Strike Chance by 5-10%. In addition, Blood Howl also affects Nearby Companions and Players for 3 seconds.
Now - Blood Howl is now a Shout Skill and increases Critical Strike Chance by 5-10%. In addition, Blood Howl also affects Nearby Companions and Players for 3 seconds.

Raw Might

Now all Shapeshifting Skills contribute to the buff stacks.
Damage increased from 35-50% to 40-55%.
Stun duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Shepherd's

Now Wrath Skills also gain increased damage from Companions.

Mangled

Previous - When you are struck as a Werebear you have a 25-40% chance to gain 3 Spirit.
Now - While in Werebear form, you gain 10-25 Spirit every 8 seconds.

Of Mending Stone

Killing an enemy with any Skill now replenishes the Barrier as well as Earth Skills.

Of Vocalized Empowerment (Previously of Echoing Fury)

Now equippable by both Barbarians and Druids.
- Previous - Your Shout Skills generate 2-4 Fury per second while active.
- Now - Your Shout Skills generate 5-10 Primary Resource per second while active.

Unique Items

Fleshrender

Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
Previous - Debilitating Roar and Blood Howl deal damage to Nearby Poisoned enemies, increased by 15% for every 100 Willpower you have.
Now - Casting a Defensive Skill deals damage to Nearby Poisoned enemies, increased by 15% for every 100 Willpower you have.

Paragon

Tracker Glyph

Poisoning damage effect duration increased from 33% to 40%.

Bane Glyph

Poison effect double damage chance increased from 10% to 15%.

Shapeshifter Glyph

Critical Strike Chance increased from 20% to 25%.

Wilds Glyph

Damage increased from 120% to 130%.

Inner Beast Legendary Node

Previous - After Shapeshifting, your Spirit costs are reduced by 10% for 5 seconds, up to 30%.
Now - After Shapeshifting, your Spirit costs are reduced by 5% for 10 seconds, up to 45%. If you reach 10 stacks, this bonus resets and reduces the Cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by 5 seconds.

Necromancer

Skills

Enhanced Blight

The Tooltip now correctly references the defiled area for the Slow effect.

Blood Mist

Removed the movement speed reduction.

Golem

This ability can now be activated while crowd controlled. Activating this ability makes the player Unstoppable.

Decompose

Reworded description to be more consistent with the use of Corpses.
Interval reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
Increased channeling Essence generation from 8 to 10 per second.
Upgrades now activate when spawning corpses instead of channeling for 1 second.
Enhanced Decompose
- Decompose now causes an explosion [40% weapon damage] when creating a corpse or when the target dies.
- Now also generates 10 Essence when creating a corpse.
Acolyte's Decompose
- Previous - Every 1.5 seconds, Decompose makes Enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds.
- Now - Decompose explosions make enemies vulnerable.
Initiate's Decompose
- Movement Speed bonus is now on Decompose explosions instead of channeling.

Army of the Dead

Increased spawn rate of Volatile Skeletons by 50%.
Supreme Army of the Dead spawn rate adjusted to match Volatile Skeletons.
Is now categorized as a Summoning skill.

Passive

Inspiring Leader

Previous - After you have been Healthy for at least 2 seconds, you and your Minions gain 4/8/12%[+] Attack Speed.
Now - While you are Healthy, you gain 4/8/12%[+] increased critical chance and your Minions gain 6/12/18%[+] increased Critical Strike Chance.

Kalan’s Edict

Previous - After you have not taken damage in the last 2 seconds, your Minions gain 15% Attack Speed. This bonus is doubled while you have at least 7 Minions.
Now - Your Minions gain 3% Attack Speed for each active Minion.

Book of the Dead

Skeletal Warriors will now run ahead of the Necromancer more often, and can initiate combat.
Skirmishers – Removed 3 second limit from the second upgrade.
Reapers
- First Upgrade
  - Previous - Reaper attacks against enemies who are Immobilized, Slowed, Stunned, or Vulnerable reduce the cooldown of their powerful wind-up attack by 2 seconds.
  - Now - Wind-up attacks now reduce one of your active Cooldowns by 3 seconds.
Defenders
- Now Taunts in an area around them, instead of negating damage every 6 seconds from the first upgrade.
- Second upgrade changed from increasing Thorns inherited from the player to Defenders reduce damage taken by 99%.
Shadow Mages
- Attacks now pierce.
- First upgrade
  - Previous - Shadow Mage attacks have a 10% chance to Stun for 2 seconds. This cannot happen toon the same enemy more than once every 5 seconds.
  - Now - You deal 3%[x] increased damage for each active Shadow Mage.
- Additional Shadow Bolt now occurs every 2nd attack after the second upgrade.
Cold Mages
- Attacks now gain 3 Essence from the first upgrade.
- Attacks now apply Vulnerable without condition.
Bone Mages
- First Upgrade
  - Previous - Reduce the Life cost of your Bone Mages' Attack from 15% to 10%. After being alive for 5 seconds, Bone mages deal 40%[x] increased damage.
  - Now - Bone Mages have a 25% chance to cast Bone Splinters or Bone Spear if it is on your equipped Skills.
- Second Upgrade
  - Previous - Each time a Bone Mage dies from its own attack they leave behind a corpse and Fortify you for 20% of your Maximum Life.
  - Now - Bone Mages drop a corpse when they die. Bone Mage attacks will grant 3% of Maximum Life Fortify.
Blood Golem
- Golem now absorbs 30%, up from 15%, from the first upgrade.
- The second upgrade active ability from Golem also heals the player for 5% of Maximum Life for each enemy drained.
Bone Golem
- First Upgrade
  - Previous - Each time your Bone Golem takes up to 20% of its Maximum Life as damage, it sheds a corpse.
  - Now - Spawn 5 corpses around the Golem where its ability is used.
- Second Upgrade
  - Previous - Your Bone golem gains 10% Maximum Life and the amount of Thorns it inherits from you is increased from 30% to 50%.
  - Now - Your Bone Golem unleashes Bone Spikes when taking damage.
Iron Golem
- First upgrade
  - Now casts the Shockwave every 2 attacks instead of 4.
  - Shockwave damage increased from 40% to 154%.
- Second upgrade
  - Now also pulls enemies in instead of applying Vulnerable.

Legendary Aspects

Blood-soaked Aspect

Previous - Your movement speed is no longer reduced while Blood Mist is active.
Now - While in Blood Mist form, increases movement speed by 20%.

Unyielding Commander Aspect

Previous - While Army of the Dead is active, your Minions gain 70-84% Attack Speed and take 90% reduced damage.
Now - While Army of the Dead is active, your Minions deal 70-100% increased damage and take 90% reduced damage.

Occult Dominion

Also increases the max number of Skeletal Warriors by 2.

Blood Getter’s

Previous - Your Maximum number of Skeletal Warriors is increased by 2.
Now - Your Skeletal Priests also empower you at 55-70% effectiveness.

Flesh-Rending

Previous - When Decompose spawns a Corpse, gain 25-40 Essence.
After: When Decompose explodes, gain 25-40 Essence.

Rotting

Previous - Decompose can chain and burst up to 2 additional targets. When Decompose spawns a Corpse, it has a 50-100% chance to spawn a Corpse under all afflicted targets.
After: Decompose can chain and burst up to 2 additional targets. Explosions from Decompose deals 15-30%[x] increased damage.

of the Damned

Previous - You deal 40-50%[x] increased Shadow damage to enemies afflicted by both Decrepify and Iron Maiden.
After: You deal 40-50%[x] increased Shadow damage to enemies afflicted by any Curse.

of Untimely Death

Previous - Each percent of your Maximum Life you Heal beyond 100% grants you 0.5%[x] bonus Overpower damage on your next Overpowering attack, up to a 30-60%[x] bonus.
After: Each percent of your Maximum Life you Heal beyond 100% grants you 0.5%[x] bonus Critical Strike Damage on your next Critical Strike, up to a 30-60%[x] bonus.

of Potent Blood

Previous - While Healthy, Blood Orbs grant 10-25 Essence.
After: Blood Orbs grant 10-25 Essence.

Unique Items

Ring of Mendeln

Previous - Lucky Hit: Up to a 10% chance to empower all of your Minions, causing the next attack from each to explode for X Physical damage.
Now - Every 6th attack from each Minion is empowered, exploding for X Physical damage.

Paragon

Control Glyph

Previous - Additional Bonus: You and your Minions deal 10%[X] increased damage to Slowed or Chilled enemies or, instead, 20%[X] increased damage to Stunned or Frozen enemies.
Now - Additional Bonus: You and your Minions deal 20%[X] increased damage to Crowd Controlled targets.

Deadraiser Glyph

Additional Bonus maximum bonus buffed to 15%[X].

Cult Leader Paragon Node

Previous - Your Minions deal 15%[X] increased damage for each 20%[X] of Attack Speed Bonus they have.
Now - Your Minions deal 30%[X] increased damage for each 20%[X] of Attack Speed Bonus they have, up to a maximum of 100% Attack Speed Bonus.

Rogue

Stun Grenades (granted by various aspects) base stun duration increased from .5 to 1 second.

Skills

Inner Sight

While the Inner Sight gauge is full, you also gain 25%[+] Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds.
Attacking enemies that are not marked will fill the gauge but at 5% of the normal rate.

Preparation

Reduced energy requirement from 100 to 75.

Flurry

Damage increased from 66% to 75%.

Volley

Can now be cancelled slightly earlier from another skill.

Passive

Victimize

Fixed an issue where this wasn’t activating and scaling from certain instances.
Increased chance to proc from 45% to 50%.

Paragon

Exploit Weakness Legendary Node

Maximum increased damage buffed from 15%[x] to 25%[x].

Leyrana’s Instinct Legendary Node

Previous - When Inner Sight’s gauge becomes full, you gain 100%[+] Dodge Chance for 2.0 seconds. Your next 3 Core Skills deal increased damage equal to 25%[x] of your Core Skill Damage Bonus.
New: When Inner Sight’s gauge becomes full, you gain 100%[+] Dodge Chance for 2.0 seconds. Your Core Skills deal increased damage equal to 25%[x] of your Core Skill Damage Bonus while Inner Sight’s gauge remains full.

Chip Glyph

Increased physical damage bonus from 6.6% to 9.9% for each 5 Dexterity purchased within range.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Encircling Blades

Increased damage range buffed from 10-25% to 15-30%.

Opportunist’s

Previous - When you break Stealth with an attack, you drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades around your location that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.5 seconds.
Now - When you enter or break Stealth, you drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades around you that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Grenade Skills deal 25-40% more damage.

Trickster’s

Now additionally increases Grenade Skill damage by 25-40%.

Of Surprise

Now additionally increases Grenade Skill damage by 25-40%.

Of Artful Initiative

Grenade Skill damage increase is now a range with higher potential, increased to 25-40%.

Of Uncanny Treachery

Previous - Dealing direct damage to a Dazed enemy with an Agility Skill grants Stealth for 4 seconds. Breaking Stealth with an attack grants you 15-21% Control Impaired Duration Reduction for 4 seconds.
Now - Dealing damage to a Dazed enemy with an Agility Skill grants Stealth for 4 seconds. When Stealth breaks, you gain 85-100% Dodge Chance for 2 seconds.

Of Siphoned Victuals

Previous - Lucky Hit: Damaging a Vulnerable enemy with a Core skill has up to a 10-20% chance to drop a Healing Potion.
Now - Damaging a Vulnerable enemy with a Non-Basic Skill has a 5-20% chance to drop a Healing Potion.

Frostbitten

Previous - Chilled enemies hit by your Grenade Skills have a chance equal to double your Critical Strike Chance to be instantly Frozen for 2 seconds. You deal x10-25% increased Critical Strike Damage against Frozen enemies.
Now - Enemies hit by your Grenade Skills have the same chance as your Critical Strike Chance to be Frozen for 2 seconds. You deal x10-25% increased Critical Strike Damage to Stunned or Frozen enemies.

Escape Artist’s

Smoke Grenade Dodge effect Cooldown has been reduced from 45 to 25 seconds.

Of Quickening Fog

Maximum Dash Cooldown Reduction is reached from hitting 3 enemies, reduced from 5.

Of Volatile Shadows

Previous - When a Dark Shroud shadow was removed, you would trigger an explosion around yourself that dealt Shadow damage.
Now - When a Dark Shroud shadow is removed, you trigger an explosion around yourself that deals Shadow damage and applies Shadow Imbuement to each enemy it hits.

Blast Trapper’s

Previous - Lucky Hit: Dealing direct damage to enemies affected by your Trap skills has up to a 30-50% chance to make them Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Now - Lucky Hit: Dealing damage to enemies affected by your Trap skills has a 15-30% chance to cause an explosion that deals Shadow Damage and applies Vulnerable for 2 seconds.

Of Lethal Dusk

Previous - Evading through an enemy infected by Shadow Imbuement grants Stealth for 4 seconds. Breaking Stealth with an attack grants you 1-5% Maximum Life on Kill for 6 seconds.
Now - Evading through an enemy infected by Shadow Imbuement grants Stealth for 4 seconds. Breaking Stealth grants you 10-25% Maximum Life.

Vengeful

Previous - Lucky Hit: Making an enemy Vulnerable has up to a 40-60% chance to grant 3% increased Critical Strike Chance for 3 seconds, up to 9%.
Now - Lucky Hit: Damaging a Vulnerable enemy has a 25% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal 25-40% more damage.

Of Arrow Storms

Previous - Lucky Hit: Your Marksman Skills have up to a 10% chance to create an arrow storm at the enemy’s location, dealing physical damage over 3 seconds. You can have up to 5 active arrow storms.
Now - Lucky Hit: Your Marksman Skills have up to a 36% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the enemy’s location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal 25-40% increased damage.

Developer’s Note: The maximum number of active Arrows storms remains at 5, we are just removing this from the tooltip to make it more succinct.

Unique Items

Writhing Band of Trickery

Reduced cooldown from 10 to 6 seconds.

Sorcerer

Mastery Skills are now also considered Core Skills.

Enchantments

Frost Nova Enchantment

Chance for conjuration skills to case a Frost Nova increased from 30 to 35%.

Frost Bolt Enchantment

Chill amount increased from 15% to 18%.

Flame Shield Enchantment

Previous - Flame Shield automatically activates upon taking fatal damage. This effect can only happen once every 120 seconds.
Now - Flame Shield automatically activates after cumulatively losing 100% Maximum Life. Can only happen once every 30 seconds.

Developer’s Note: We've received feedback from players that "Cheat Death" mechanics are not desired. The Flame Shield enchantment has been changed to not react to fatal damage, but instead react to taking 100% of your health within a 30 second window.

Skills

Frozen Orb

New Functionality: Travel distance is now controllable.
Damage increased by 20% (.34 to .41).
Enhanced Frozen Orb
- Previous - When cast above 40 Mana, Frozen Orb's explosion damage is increased by 45% against Elites and 30% against all other enemies.
- Now - While Healthy, the explosion of Frozen Orb deals 45% increased damage.

Greater Frozen Orb

Vulnerable chance increased from 30% to 40% and duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Ice Armor

Enhanced Ice Armor
- Mana Regeneration increased from 25% to 30%.
Shimmering Ice Armor
- Previous - Enemies that hit you while Ice Armor is active have a 15% chance to become Frozen for 3.23 seconds.
- Now - While Ice Armor is active, you reduce its Cooldown by 2 seconds for every 50 Mana you spend.
Mystical Ice Armor
- Previous - Damage against Vulnerable enemies contributes 50% more to Ice Armor's Barrier.
- Now - While Ice Armor is active, you periodically Chill Close enemies for 20% and deal 15% increased damage to Frozen enemies.

Shimmering Frost Nova

Previous - Frost Nova generates 4 Mana per enemy hit.
Now - Frost Nova grants 3% Dodge Chance per enemy hit, up to 15%. Hitting a Boss gives the maximum amount. For the next 8 seconds, you keep this effect, and successful Dodges generate 20 Mana.

Flame Shield

Enhanced Flame Shield
- Previous - Flame Shield grants 25% increased Movement Speed while active.
- Now - Flame Shield has a 50% larger burn radius.
Mystical Flame Shield
- Previous - You gain 25% Mana Cost Reduction while Flame Shield is active.
- Now - After Flame Shield ends, surrounding enemies are Stunned for 3 seconds and your next Skill within 10 seconds is a guaranteed Critical Strike.

Teleport

Enhanced Teleport
- Previous - Teleport's Cooldown is decreased by 0.5 seconds per enemy hit, up to 3 seconds.
- Now - You gain 30% Movement Speed for 3 seconds after Teleporting.
Mystical Teleport
- Previous - For 4 seconds after Teleporting, Crackling Energy hits 2 additional enemies.
- Now - Teleport deals 500% increased damage. It also forms a Crackling Energy for each enemy it hits, up to 3.