Diablo 4’s Patch Update is recently released, primarily focusing on balancing the game’s five starting classes. These classes play a crucial role in players’ quests to defeat Lilith and safeguard Sanctuary. In a detailed blog post, Blizzard has shared the patch notes and provided insights into the reasoning behind the adjustments. While the development team is generally satisfied with the current state of the characters, they acknowledge the perpetual need for improvement. Consequently, the changes have been categorized into three distinct areas.
The first category aims to address class builds and synergies that exceed the boundaries of what is considered reasonable for the game’s overall health. The team intends to reduce the effectiveness of such combinations to avoid situations where players can endure excessively high amounts of damage for extended periods, as this deviates from their vision of combat in Diablo IV.
The second category focuses on skills and builds that are currently underperforming. To rectify this, the team has implemented buffs to enhance their strength and viability, ensuring a more satisfying gameplay experience for players.
Lastly, the team has identified Paragon Glyphs as a source of excessive player power and has therefore reduced their overall effectiveness. This adjustment aims to restore balance and prevent certain aspects of the game from becoming overly dominant.
Blizzard emphasizes that class balance is an ongoing process, acknowledging that further balancing changes will be implemented in the future. The intention is to create class builds that are both enjoyable and formidable while maintaining a sense of fairness and competitiveness.
As for the specifics of this patch, several adjustments have been made to each class. For the Barbarian, the damage reduction gained from skill ranks of Challenging Shout has been reduced from 4% to 2%. The Druid’s Lightning Storm has received a damage increase from 32% to 40%. The Necromancer’s Army of the Dead now deals 45% damage instead of 30% and has a reduced cooldown from 90 to 70 seconds. The Rogue’s Dark Shroud sees a decrease in damage reduction per shadow gained from .8% to .4%. Finally, the Sorcerer’s Arc Lash has had its lucky hit chance reduced from 30% to 14%, along with a reduction in the Glinting Arc Lash’s cooldown from .25 seconds to .15 seconds.
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These are just a few examples of the changes introduced in the patch. For a comprehensive list, please refer to the details provided below. Blizzard encourages players to share their feedback on these changes and their impact on their character builds in the comments section.
For additional information, feel free to explore our Diablo 4 review, our guide on selecting the right class for you, and our extensive Diablo 4 Wiki, offering everything you need to successfully save Sanctuary while having an amazing time doing so.
Below are the specific changes for each class:
Barbarian
- Challenging Shout: Damage Reduction gained from Skill Ranks reduced from 4% to 2%
- Bold Chieftain’s Aspect: Cooldown reduction per Nearby enemy reduced from 2.7-5.4 seconds to 1.0-1.9 seconds. Maximum Cooldown reduction from 12 to 6 seconds.
- Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind: Increased Critical Strike Chance per second reduced from 5-10% to 3-8%. Maximum Critical Strike Chance bonus reduced from 20-40% to 9-24%.
- Gohr’s Devastating Grips: Explosion damage gained from Whirlwind reduced from 50-70% to 16-26%. Damage against wreckable objects no longer increases explosion damage. Explosion damage is only increased by the first 100 hits of Whirlwind.
Druid
- Pulverize: Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 33% to 25%.
- Lightning Storm: Damage increased from 32% to 40%.
- Grizzly Rage: Maximum extended duration from kills reduced from 10 to 5 seconds.
- Obsidian Slam: Kills required for bonus increased from 10 to 20.
- Calm Before the Storm: Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 15% to 10%.
- Electric Shock: Damage bonus increased from 5/10/15% to 6/12/18%.
- Shockwave Aspect: Damage reduced from 90-130% to 60-100%.
- Crashstone Aspect: Critical Strike Damage reduced from 40-50% to 30-40%.
- Lightning Dancer’s Aspect: Flat damage increased from .5-.6 to .7-.8.
Necromancer
- Blood Lance: Damage increased from 67.5% to 80%.
- Army of the Dead: Damage increased from 30% to 45%. Cooldown reduced from 90 to 70 seconds.
- Blood Wave: Damage increased from 90% to 120%.
- Shadowblight: Damage increased from 20% to 22%.
- Grim Harvest: Essence gained reduced from 3/6/9 to 2/4/6.
- Serration: Critical Strike Chance reduced from .5/1/1.5% to .3/.6/.9%.
- Death’s Defense: Maximum Minion Life lost in a single damage instance reduced from 75/60/45% to 60/45/30%.
- Raise Skeleton: Skeleton Warrior attack damage increased by 10%.
- Golem: Golem attack damage increased by 10%.
- Blood Golem: Blood Golem Life drain damage increased from 40% to 90%. Blood Golem Life drain healing from enemies hit increased from 4% to 5%.
- Iron Golem: Iron Golem slam damage increased from 25% to 175%. Iron Golem shockwave damage increased from 30% to 40%.
- Hulking Monstrosity: Golem Life and damage bonus increased from 30% to 40% Life.
- Cult Leader: Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
Rogue
- Twisting Blades: Advanced Twisting Blades Cooldown reduction per enemy hit reduced from .25 to .1 seconds. Advanced Twisting Blades maximum Cooldown reduction reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
- Rapid Fire: Damage increased from 24% to 30%.
- Dark Shroud: Damage Reduction per shadow gained from Skill Ranks reduced from .8% to .4%.
- Dash: Enhanced Dash Critical Strike Damage bonus from 20% to 15%.
- Caltrops: Damage increased from 30% to 40%.
- Concussive: Critical Strike Chance reduced from 5/10/15% to 4/8/12%.
- Repeating: Maximum Minion Life lost in a single damage instance reduced from 75/60/45% to 60/45/30%.
Sorcerer
- Arc Lash: Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 30% to 14%.
- Glinting Arc Lash: Cooldown reduction reduced from .25 to .15 seconds.
- Teleport: Shimmering Teleport’s Damage Reduction duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds.
- Aspect of Control: Bonus damage reduced from 30-40% to 25-35%.
General
- Miscellaneous Class Changes:
- Druid Companions and Necromancer Minions: Maximum damage over time taken per damage instance reduced from 2% to 1% of maximum Life.
- Paragon Board Changes:
- Rare Nodes: Player Attack Speed nodes reduced by 50%.
- Glyphs: All Glyph Bonus scaling has been reduced by ~34%, except for specific glyphs.
- Monster Changes: Significantly reduced the spawn rate of Treasure Goblins within PvP zones.
- Bug Fixes: Fixed the name for the Light Bearer Mount. The “Go to Shop” button from the Wardrobe now properly opens the shop. Fixed an issue where a Sorcerer using Deep Freeze and affected by another freezing effect caused them to be permanently stunned. Miscellaneous stability and crash fixes.
Feel free to let us know in the comments below if you’re happy with these changes or if they impact the character you are trying to build. For more information, you can check out our Diablo 4 review, our guide on choosing a class, and our comprehensive Diablo 4 Wiki, which includes everything you need to save Sanctuary and have a great time doing it.
