While the first season and battle pass don’t officially kick-off until Thursday the 20th, the update is now available which includes a wide-range of fixes, adjustments, and additions. Before we dive into that, if you missed the Season 1 rundown, you can find all the details here.
The full patch notes are extensive and we will list them all below. They include new unique items and legendary affixes, class updates, and a huge range of fixes for various bugs. With regard to class changes, they are broken down by class so we recommend going to Diablo’s main site via the link above for those specifically.
New Unique items and Legendary Aspects
New Unique items and Legendary Aspects have been discovered in Sanctuary. Use them to enhance your characters in the Eternal or Seasonal Realm. These Unique items can be obtained from World Tier IV and the Legendary Aspects can be obtained from any World Tier.
6 Unique Items
General
- Ahavarion Spear of Lycander (Uber Unique Staff – World Tier 4): Gain a random Shrine effect for 10-20 seconds after killing an Elite enemy. Can only occur once every 30 seconds.
Developer’s Note: Ahavarion Spear of Lycander is an extremely rare drop. We wish you luck in recovering it from the armies of the Burning Hells.
Barbarian
- Azurewrath (Unique Sword): Lucky Hit – Your Core Skills have up to a 20% chance to Freeze enemies for 3 seconds and deal 0.75-1.5 Cold damage to them.
Druid
- Fleshrender (Unique One-Hand Mace): Debilitating Roar and Blood Howl deal 0.5-1.0 damage to Nearby Poisoned enemies.
Necromancer
- Lidless Wall (Unique Shield): Lucky Hit – While you have an active Bone Storm, hitting an enemy outside of a Bone Storm has up to a 5-25% chance to spawn an additional Bone Storm at their location. Each of your active Sacrifice bonuses increases the chance by 25% and the total number of additional Bone Storms you can have by +1.
Rogue
- Eaglehorn (Unique Bow): Penetrating Shot has a 30-80% chance to fire an arrow that bounces off walls and scenery. Hitting enemies from behind with Penetrating Shot will make them Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Sorcerer
- The Oculus (Unique Wand): Gain the effect of the Teleport Enchantment for free. When you Evade using Teleport Enchantment, you are taken to a random location.
Developer’s Note: The Azurewrath and Fleshrender Unique Items have flat damage effects, which scale with power. For example, at 820 Item Power, Azurewrath deals between 3359-6718 damage.
7 New Legendary Aspects
General
- Audacity (Utility Aspect): When there are at least 5 Close enemies, Stun them for 2-4 seconds. This can only occur once every 20 seconds.
- Craven (Mobility Aspect): You gain 20-40% increased Movement Speed when moving away from Slowed or Chilled enemies.
Barbarian
- Ancestral Charge (Offensive Aspect): Charge calls forth 4 Ancients who also Charge, dealing 50-100% of normal damage.
Druid
- Subterranean (Offensive Aspect): Poison Creeper’s active also casts Landslide in a circle around you. Earth Skills deal 10-20% increased damage to Poisoned enemies.
Necromancer
- Gore Quills (Offensive Aspect): Blood Lance will consume Blood Orbs to also conjure lances from them. Each additional Blood Lance deals 20-50% of normal damage and prioritizes targeting un-lanced enemies.
Rogue
- Pestilent Points (Offensive Aspect): Every third cast of Puncture is Poison Imbued with 100-150% of normal potency.
Sorcerer
- Searing Wards (Offensive Aspect): After spending 200-100 Mana your next Firewall is free to cast and will destroy incoming Small Missiles.
Bug Fixes
Accessibility
- Made various improvements from an accessibility perspective—primarily, many fixes to the Screen Reader where it failed to read specific elements.
Challenges
- Fixed multiple issues where specific Challenges wouldn’t provide the proper proper rewards or could not be completed.
- Fixed multiple issues where certain Challenges could be progressed through unintended means.
- Fixed multiple issues where players could gain progress for certain Challenges through the actions of other nearby players.
- Fixed multiple instances where activities that should count towards the criteria for some Challenges were not counted.
- Fixed an issue where players would not receive notifications for when one of their friends completed a Challenge.
- Fixed an issue where Feats of Strength were not accounted for when calculating Challenge completion percentage.
- The Feat of Strength, Final Slayer of the First Mother, now requires you to slay the Level 100 Pinnacle boss solo. The Silence is Hellish challenge remains unchanged.
- Fixed an issue where The Feats of Strength, One of the First and Earliest Experience, did not display all the titles they rewarded.
Cooperative Play
- Fixed an issue where the camera wasn’t functioning properly when players were far apart in Local Co-Op.
- Fixed an issue where NPC conversation boxes would overlap if multiple Local Co-Op players talked to the same NPC at the same time.
- Fixed an issue where the Rogue’s Inner Sight would only fill up for one of the players in a Co-Op session.
- Fixed an issue where the Dark Potential challenge would be granted to both players when either player completed it, regardless of the other player’s progress.
- Fixed multiple instances where quest progress would not properly synchronize, or quest progression could be blocked for Local Co-Op players.
- Fixed multiple issues that occurred during cutscenes for Co-Op players.
Dungeons
- Fixed an issue where the player would not be able to receive enough animus to progress through the Hallowed Ossuary dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where the Stone carving in the Fallen Temple capstone dungeon would duplicate.
- Fixed an issue where the Monster Regen affix in a Nightmare Dungeon would also affect structures in that dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where the Goatman and Shambling Corpse enemies would continuously respawn in the Forsaken Quarry dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where the Sentinel enemies would not have weapons in the Bastion of Faith dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where the Bastion of Faith dungeon could sometimes not be completed.
- Fixed an issue where the player could respawn behind a barrier in the Fallen Temple capstone dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where the map for the Crusader’s Cathedral dungeon was incomplete.
- Fixed an issue where the Curse of Indolence and the Curse of the Weak would stack even while the player was dead in the Fallen Temple capstone dungeon.
- Fixed multiple instances where the Fog Door could not be progressed through in some dungeons.
- Fixed an issue where the Monster Thorns affix in Nightmare Dungeons was reflecting Physical damage, it will now properly reflect non-physical damage.
- Fixed an issue where Blood Boils would not properly spawn in the Kor Dragan Barracks dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where Traps would deal more damage than intended.
- Fixed an issue where level scaling in the Level 100 Pinnacle dungeon was inconsistent.
- Fixed an issue where the Awakened Glyphstone wouldn’t spawn if the party leader left the dungeon before the dungeon was completed.
Gameplay
Barbarian
- Fixed an issue where the number of enemies to defeat for the Barbarian Class quest Masters of Battle was not displayed.
- Fixed an issue where Iron Maelstrom could be cast more than 3 times rapidly casting War Cry.
- Fixed an issue where stacking the Berserk Ripping, Skullbreaker, and Anemia aspects would allow the player to deal extreme amounts of damage.
- Fixed an issue where the outer edge of the quakes granted to Hammer of the Ancients via The Aspect of Ancestral Echoes was dealing far more damage than intended.
Developer’s Note: We recognize this adjustment is a significant decrease to the Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian build, but we do not want its strength to be reliant on an underlying bug.
Druid
- Fixed an issue where Earth skills and the Pulverize skill would consume two Overpower buffs simultaneously.
- Fixed an issue where the bonus effect on Blood Howl from Nighthowler’s Aspect would apply twice to Wolf companions but not at all for Ravens.
- Fixed an issue where Provocation passive stacks wouldn’t update properly after adding more points to it.
- Fixed an issue where the automatic transformation from Insatiable Fury would cause the Ursine Strength key passive to not proc consistently.
- Fixed an issue where the Enhanced Pulverize buff would not remove itself while in town.
- Fixed an issue where seeking Tornados produced by Stormchaser’s Aspect would not deal damage.
- Fixed an issue where Ravens’ passive damage did not improve after the skill was upgraded.
- Fixed an issue where Rabies would deal no damage while standing very close to an enemy.
- Fixed an issue where Stormclaw’s Aspect allowed Shred to do extreme amounts of damage.
Necromancer
- Fixed an issue where Necromancers could not obtain daggers from the Purveyor of Curiosities.
- Fixed an issue where the Necromancer’s Minions would have their life bonuses deactivated while in town.
- Fixed an issue where Bone Spear cast through Chilling Wind from an Elite enemy would increase the number of generated Echoes for that cast.
- Fixed an issue where Enhanced Bone Spear could cause erratic movement.
- Fixed an issue where cancelling Blood Mist when it’s already off Cooldown would immediately recast it.
Rogue
- Fixed an issue where Shadow Step wouldn’t trigger the Aspect of Uncanny Treachery if the target was killed.
- Fixed an issue where Advanced Penetrating shot would not knock down other players in PvP play.
- Fixed an issue where Twisting Blades would not come back when the ability killed a Bloated Corpsefiend enemy.
- Fixed an issue where the Dash skill would not move the full distance if targeting an enemy while using a controller.
- Fixed an issue where the Eldritch Bounty Paragon node granted bonus resistances incorrectly.
- Fixed an issue where Rapid Fire had an extra arrow VFX that behaved erratically.
- Fixed an issue where the Awakened Glyphstone wouldn’t spawn for Rogue players using Improved Barrage.
Sorcerer
- Fixed an issue where the Firebolt Enchantment effect did not contribute to the Combustion key passive.
- Fixed an issue where the passive stacks generated by Align the Elements could partially reset in an unexpected way.
- Fixed an issue where casting Deep Freeze would prevent the Ice Shard Enchantment effect from triggering.
- Fixed an issue where Aspect of Control was applying its damage bonus 3 times for Staggered bosses.
- Fixed an issue where the Gravitational Aspect was appearing weaker on two-handed weapons or amulets.
- Fixed an issue where the Enchantment effect for Chain Lightning had no visual tracking bonus and could also unexpectedly drop off.
- Fixed an issue where Incinerate would immediately cost 30 mana when cast in addition to the consistent channeling mana cost. Incinerate now properly only costs mana as it is being channeled.
General
- Fixed multiple instances where players could unnaturally teleport during boss encounters.
- Fixed an issue where a chest in the Western Ways could be interacted with infinitely.
- Fixed an issue where the Eriman NPC couldn’t be interacted with in certain situations.
- Fixed an issue where otherwise breakable objects in the world would not be broken when evading through them.
- Fixed multiple instances where the player could avoid damage from bosses if they positioned themselves in a specific location.
- Fixed an issue where Forged Relics could not be interacted with.
- Fixed an issue where monsters with a Cold, Bleeding, Burning, or Corruption affix would freeze players in 1 hit in Nightmare Dungeons with the Cold Enchanted affix.
- Fixed an issue where Cold Enchanted monsters froze players more often than intended in higher World Tiers.
- Fixed an issue where a chest could spawn that would provide infinite loot.
Helltide and the Fields of Hatred
- Fixed an issue where the player could be damaged by the Helltide firestorm while standing in Jirandai.
- Fixed an issue where enemies resurrected by Shamans would continuously drop Aberrant Cinders in Helltide.
- Fixed an issue where Chain Lightning could bounce infinitely between the caster and other player characters standing in a Fields of Hatred town.
- Fixed an issue where Crackling Energy could hit other players in a Fields of Hatred town. (We know, shocking!)
- Fixed an issue where players could not see other players that they should when re-entering the Alzuuda Fields of Hatred Zone.
- Fixed an issue where certain areas in the Fields of Hatred would be incorrectly flagged as a Town, rendering players unable to cast Skills while still being able to be damaged.
Items and Aspects
- Fixed an issue where the Cost reduction bonus from the Ring of Starless Skies could unexpectedly drop off.
- Fixed an issue where the Aspect of the Protector would trigger its barrier effect after destroying a breakable object.
- Fixed an issue where the Ring of Misfortune had incorrect stats.
- Fixed an issue where the Ember Staff weapon didn’t apply the bonus damage to Crowd Controlled enemies, which is inherent for all Stave-type weapons.
- Fixed an issue where any character menu interaction would reset the bonus granted by the Inner Calm aspect.
- Fixed an issue where the Maximum Life affix on the Mark of the Conclave quest item was scaling improperly.
- Fixed an issue where Aspect power would also increase when upgrading an item at the Blacksmith.
- The level requirement for Sacred Items will now cap at level 60.
- The level requirement for Ancestral Items will now cap at level 80.
- Fixed an issue where the Mother’s Embrace Unique Ring did not trigger properly with several abilities.
Monsters
- Fixed an issue where items of higher power than intended were dropping from rare monsters.
- Fixed an issue where the Warg’s jumping attack dealt no damage when passing through the player.
- Fixed an issue where the Pitiless Gur monster would endlessly run around in circles.
- Fixed an issue where the lightning-enhanced Champion Goatman would fail to deal damage to the player.
- Fixed an issue where monsters with the Suppressor Affix would be immune to damage from abilities that started initially outside the immunity circle (Ex: when a Barbarian started a Whirlwind cast before getting within proper range of the Suppressor monster).
- Fixed an issue where clones of a monster with the Suppressor affix could also have the Suppressor affix.
- Fixed an issue where Treasure Goblins would behave erratically if initially engaged from a long distance.
- Fixed multiple other issues where monster behavior could not perform properly and could be exploited in some cases.
Quests and Events
- Fixed an issue where the progress bar could not fill during the Caravan Under Siege event.
- Fixed an issue where the Putrid Remains enemies could remain idle during the Defiled Ground event.
- Fixed an issue where Champion enemies could not spawn during the Ancient Obelisk event.
- Fixed multiple issues where using Traversals could cause Elite and Boss monsters to disappear during multiple events.
- Fixed an issue where Radiant and Greater Radiant chests would not spawn when completing the Fearful Bones event.
- Fixed an issue where the Cursed Chest event could not be completed.
- Fixed an issue where the Defiled Ground even in Hawezar would have a respawn point much further away than intended.
- Fixed an issue where unique drowned enemies spawned during events in the Forgotten Coastline could be invulnerable to damage.
- Fixed an issue where the Suppressor Monster Affix’s effects would be active on containers and furniture inside the dungeon during the Remnants quest.
- Fixed an issue where the player could teleport through the Ancient Gate and block progression during the Storming the Gates quest.
- Fixed an issue where progression could be blocked during the Flesh and Blood quest.
- Fixed an issue where quest dungeons did not reset if the associated quest was abandoned.
- Fixed an issue where the quest tracker would be missing if the player re-entered the game during the Picking Through the Bones quest.
- Fixed an issue where not enough monsters would spawn to fulfill the requirements for completing the Hungering Necrolyte’s Cache quest.
- Fixed an issue where an enemy was missing when progressing through the Lost Archives dungeon during the Legacy of the Magi quest.
- Fixed an issue where the Immemorial Inscription could not be read during the Augury of Bones quest.
- Fixed an issue where the player character couldn’t face to speak to an NPC when initiating dialogue for multiple quests.
- Fixed an issue where the ghost body of Bakira could remain visible after being defeated during the True Potential Rogue class quest.
- Fixed an issue where outside party members could influence the progression of the Bad Blood quest.
- Fixed an issue where the player could be blocked from reentering the boss’ area after dying during the fight against Elias in the Piercing the Veil quest.
- Fixed various other issues where quest progression could be blocked.
User interface and User Experience
- Fixed an issue where the mini-map didn’t accurately depict the game world during the The Blind Eye quest.
- Fixed an issue where the map was incomplete for the Loch Raeth region in Scosglen.
- Fixed an issue where a portion of the map was invisible in the Exalter Terrace dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where the Mad Bomber title would not display for enemies encountered through the Whisper of the same name.
- Fixed an issue where articles in the News Feed could not be opened using Mouse & Keyboard.
- Fixed an issue where the You have cross network play enabled message was being sent to chat each time a campaign quest objective was completed.
- The Cult Leader Paragon passive no longer appears above hostile Minions in PvP.
- Fixed an issue where the bonus from the Ballistic Aspect displayed +0 to skills instead of +2 on the bonus bar.
- Fixed an issue where Sigil sorting was inconsistent between Inventory and the Stash.
- Fixed an issue where the Social tab on the Action Wheel editing window would be skipped when navigating on Controller.
- Fixed an issue where the amount of gold would not properly display when trading gold in large quantities.
- Fixed an issue where item comparison numbers would be inaccurate if the item in question had a Gem socketed that granted a stat that was also present on the base of the item.
- Fixed an issue where images would not properly load in the News Feed on the main menu.
- Fixed multiple issues with Map Pin functionality.
- Fixed multiple issues where Quest and Whisper markers weren’t displaying properly.
- Various improvements to the consistency and clarity of Messaging, Skill description, and Tooltips.
- Various other UI and UX Improvements.
Miscellaneous
- Fixed an issue where the Completion music for defeating Avarice could start playing before the boss was defeated. (Always confirm your kills before celebrating, wanderers)
- Fixed an issue where players couldn’t send Battle.net friend requests to friends playing on console.
- Fixed an issue where players could confirm if Hardcore mode was enabled after logging in with a new character.
- Fixed an issue where players that haven’t unlocked a higher World Tier could be invited into a higher World Tier party.
- Fixed an issue where players couldn’t transfer leadership of a Clan.
- Fixed an issue where the sender of the party invite would not be informed that the invite failed due to incompatibility with campaign prologue progress.
- Fixed an issue where Nafain’s spear would duplicate in the cutscene where the player picks it up.
- Fixed an issue where Meshif’s camel made no noises.
- Fixed an issue where there was no sound when Lorath kicks Meshif awake.
- Various other Improvements.
Loading Screen Updates
We’ve added more dynamic loading screens with the release of Season of the Malignant. This includes adding more assets to the loading screen, such as your player character.
Gameplay Updates
General
- Altar of Lilith Unlocks are now account wide.
- Map discovery is now account wide.
- Whispers will no longer reward Sigil Dust.
- Overall loot quality has been significantly improved for Silent Chests.
- The channel time for the Leave Dungeon ability has been increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
- We have generally reduced the tendency for many monsters to move around in combat, so that melee characters don’t have to chase down their enemies as much.
- Added PS5 Dual Sense Edge Wireless controller support for PC.
- Renown Value Adjustments:
- Side Quest Renown reward values increased from 20 to 30.
- Dungeon Renown reward values increased from 30 to 40
Developer’s Note: This change is retroactive and the additional renown gain will be applied to characters who have already completed side quests and dungeons.
World Tier
- World Tier II has had the following bonuses added:
- Bonus Gold: Increased from 15% to 20%.
- Monsters now drop 15% more items.
Developer’s Note: We like where World Tier II has landed overall but are increasing its reward pace to better align with its difficulty.
- Level scaling inside dungeons and most overworld territories has been adjusted in World Tiers III and IV. Monsters will begin to trail behind the player in Level after a certain point (up to a maximum of 5 Levels behind). This change does not affect World Bosses, Legion Events, Fields of Hatred, Helltide, or Nightmare Dungeons.
Developer’s Note: We want to give players a better sense of their power progression and mastery over the world while still challenging themselves with structured End Game activities.
World Tier III Example:
- If the the player’s Level is below 55, the monster’s Level is 55.
- If the player’s Level is 56-60, the monster’s Level is 55.
- If the player’s Level is 61, the monster’s Level is 56.
- If the player’s Level is 62, the monster’s Level is 57, etc. (from this point the monsters will always be -5 until World Tier III’s max monster Level of 70).
World Tier IV Example:
- If the player’s Level is below 75, the monster’s Level is 75.
- If the player’s Level is 76-80, the monster Level is 75.
- If the player’s Level is 81, the monster’s Level is 76.
- If the player’s Level is 82, the monster’s Level is 77, etc. (from this point the monsters will always be -5).
Experience
- Reward experience for completing Whispers in World Tiers III and IV has been significantly increased.
Developer’s Note: We have observed that the experience bonus rewarded for killing higher level monsters escalates too fast when compared to the relative challenge involved. We still want to reward players for taking on this challenge by encouraging them to participate in powerleveling together instead of one player killing enemies while another member of their Party waits at the dungeon’s entrance.
- We are adjusting bonus experience rewards for killing monsters that are a higher Level than the player.
- Pre-Season of the Malignant bonuses:
- 1 Level higher: +15%.
- 2 Levels higher: +20%.
- 3+ Levels higher: +25%.
- Post-Season of the Malignant:
- 1.5% bonus per Level up to 10 Levels.
- Ex:
- +1 level: +1.5%.
- +2 levels: +3%.
- +10 levels: +15%.
- Ex:
- 1.5% bonus per Level up to 10 Levels.
- Pre-Season of the Malignant bonuses:
- We are also adjusting experience rewards for monster Level offsets for higher World Tiers.
- Current World Tier Level offsets
- World Tier II: Up to +3.
- World Tier III: Up to +10.
- World Tier IV: Up to +100.
- We are changing this to
- World Tier II: Up to +3 (Unchanged).
- World Tier III: Up to +6.
- World Tier IV: Up to +10.
- For Example:
- You are Level 1. Your friends bring you to World Tier IV and leave you at the entrance of a dungeon. They start killing Level 100 monsters.
- Prior to Season of the Malignant, you get:
- (Level 100 Monster XP) * (1 + 25%)
- After Season of the Malignant, you get:
- (Level 11 Monster XP) * (1 + 15%)
- Prior to Season of the Malignant, you get:
- You are Level 1. Your friends bring you to World Tier IV and leave you at the entrance of a dungeon. They start killing Level 100 monsters.
- Current World Tier Level offsets
Helltide
Developer’s Note: We’re looking to increase the danger in Helltide’s risk-reward gameplay by making the monsters a bit more challenging and the Tortured Gift of Mysteries harder to open.
- Helltide monsters are now 3 Levels higher than the player instead of 2.
- The Tortured Gift of Mysteries chest has had its cost increased to 250 Aberrant Cinders from 175.
- All interactable objects in Helltide zones now have a small chance of dropping Aberrant Cinders.
Balance Updates
Developer’s Note: As our community continues to battle the Burning Hells, the builds emerging from new players have shocked and delighted us. We’ve chosen to focus Season of the Malignant’s balance updates on clear itemization disparities over redesigns of Class features. The Class changes are largely focused on numeric increases to Skill Upgrades and Legendary Aspects that players haven’t yet found compelling. Additionally, we’re changing Critical Strike Damage Paragon Glyphs to empower all damage—instead of only Core Skills—to enable more build strategies.
There are also a few Class stat decreases on sources which grant extreme amounts of damage, healing, or Unstoppable. In general, we prefer build-specific changes to be bonuses instead of decreases, but we feel these changes are necessary for the overall health of the game. Diablo IV is a game that is continually evolving through its Seasons, thus the adjustments we make will evolve with them.