Diablo 4 Season 5 patch notes — Release date, Infernal Hordes & Sorcerer buffs

Season of the Infernal Hordes is Blizzard’s last chance to solve every quirk from Diablo 4 before the Vessel of Hatred release.

The Season 5 patch notes are one of the biggest that the game has received since its launch, and have outlined a new storyline, plenty of balance changes to all classes, and an overhaul to pre-existing Uniques and Legendary Aspects.

Here’s everything you need about Diablo 4 Season 5, including its release date and full patch notes.

Diablo 4 Season 5 release date

Diablo 4 Season 5 will arrive on August 6, 2024, at 6 AM PT / 9 AM EDT / 2 PM BST.

The devs confirmed that this new storyline will be shorter than the rest since it will lead to Vessel of Hatred’s events.

New endgame mode Infernal Hordes in Diablo 4

Season 5 comes with a new endgame mode called Infernal Hordes, where players have to defeat waves of Hell’s Legions in the Realm of Hatred. After surviving each wave, they’ll have to choose between three different Infernal Offers which will summon new enemy types for the next rounds.

After beating several Hordes, players get to go to the Well of Hatred and face the Fell Council in an epic final battle. There are five members in the Fell Council, each with a unique ability.

However, players have to beat three members, selected at random, to complete the challenge. Exterminating every enemy grants Burning Aether, which can be spent at the end of the challenge on the Spoils of Hell.

Hellbreach dungeons

The new season also brings Hellbreach dungeons, new areas you can take on to get an idea of what it’ll be like to survive Infernal Hordes.

You’ll encounter an event from Infernal Hordes in these dungeons, and once you’ve cleared the wave, you’ll have the option to choose an Infernal Offering before facing the boss. At increased difficulties, you’ll also be rewarded with Burning Aether.

New seasonal questline

There are two new seasonal questlines in Diablo 4, and the first starts in World Tier 1 or 2 where you need to speak with Captain Cireska to start ‘Of Lambs and Wolves.’

This new story starts right after defeating Lilith when she warns players that the Prime Evils (Mephisto, Lord of Hatred; Diablo, Lord of Terror; and Baal, Lord of Destruction) will return to Sanctuary.

While Mephisto is still trapped in the Soulstone that Nyrelle steals (which can be seen in the Vessel of Hatred teaser), players need to defend Sanctuary. Blizzard confirmed that players will meet old allies that turned into enemies, and some unlikely alliances come forward from the shadows.

Once you’ve unlocked the seasonal progression and have access to World Tier 3, you’ll also be able to do the new Eternal Questline, ‘The Eyes of the Enemy,’ which introduces players to Infernal Hordes. This is essentially how you’ll unlock the new endgame mode.

New Unique and Legendary items

Diablo 4 Season 5 is bringing 50 new Unique and Legendary items you can earn, and they’ll be available beyond the season and in both Realms.

The best chance to get the best of the new items is to run Infernal Hordes and spend your Burning Aether in the Spoils of Hell.

Battle Pass & Season Journey

The Season 5 Journey will be broken up into Chapters, each with tasks to complete. As you progress, you’ll get new rewards like Legendary Aspects, up to three Scrolls of Amnesia, and Favor. The Battle Pass goes live with Season 5 and has 90 Tiers including 28 Free Tiers and 62 Premium Tiers.

The Premium Battle Pass offers Awoken Armor Sets, Platinum, the Awoken Archenemy Barding Mount Armor, Awoken Aetheric Steed Mount, and Soul Brazier Mount Trophy.

There are a couple of new Season Blessings that can be bought with Smoldering Ashes:

• Urn of Spoils: Boost the chance to receive a Legendary Item from Spoils of Hell chests, found while fighting Infernal Hordes.
• Urn of Abyssal Knowledge: Boost the chance to receive an Abyssal Scroll from Spoils of Hell chests, found while fighting the Infernal Hordes.

Diablo 4 Season 5 patch notes

Game Updates

Infernal Hordes

• Distinct audio queues have been added to signal the beginning and end of a wave.
• The number of waves has been tuned.
  • Tiers 1-3: 6 Waves
  • Tiers 4-5: 7 Waves
  • All other tiers remain unchanged.
• The wave timer has been reduced to 60 seconds.
• The number of Monsters encountered has been generally increased across the board.
• The Health Pools of the Council and other Bosses have been reduced.
• Infernal Compasses can now be acquired more frequently and through more means.
  • Tier 4-5 Compasses can drop in High Tier Nightmare Dungeons.
  • Tiers 4-8 Compasses now naturally drop in high tier Pit runs.
  • Tiers 4-8 Compasses will now rarely drop in Helltide and from Whisper caches after completing these tiers of Nightmare Dungeons or Pits. (Ex: Tiers 4 and 5 Compasses can drop in Helltide and Whispers after completing Nightmare Dungeons of Tier 75 and 100 respectively).
  • Infernal Compasses can now be crafted at the Occultist. They cost Forgotten Souls and Sigil Powder. Additionally, Compasses can now be salvaged for Sigil Powder.
• The drop rate of Compasses within the activity itself has been increased.
• Rewards from chests have been significantly increased, and the price of all chests have been decreased.
• The drop rate for Abyssal Scrolls has been increased.
• Common Herbs and Angelbreath have been added as potential drops. The drop rate for Shattered Prisms has been reduced.
• Defeating the council has an additional, guaranteed drop of Aether that scales with tier.
• Shocktroopers, Aether Masses, Hellseekers, and Soul Spires now drop more Aether.
• Pets now can pick up Aether on the ground.

General

• Exploit Weakness no longer Executes all enemies at any health.
  • Previous: Lucky Hit: Direct damage to a Vulnerable enemy has up to a 45% chance to increase your damage by 1% for 25 seconds, up to 50%. At 50 stacks, this bonus resets and you Execute all Nearby Non-Boss enemies.
  • Now: Lucky Hit: Hitting a vulnerable enemy has up to a 60% chance to increase your damage by 1%[x] for 25 seconds, up to 25%[x]. At 25 stacks the bonus remains for 6 seconds then expires.
• Björnfang’s Tusks has been reworked and given a new name. A part of its power was introduced to be inherent for Cataclysm. See below in each relevant section for more info.
• Drop rate for Legendary items in Helltide has been improved for monsters higher than Level 100.
• We have made numerous other updates to Helltide. See below for more details.
• Previously, only the player who opened the Pit would receive the full amount of Masterworking materials. This penalty for other party members has been removed.

Bug Fixes

Barbarian

• Fixed an issue where Double Swing did not strike additional times on a fifth cast when using Twin Strikes.
• Fixed an issue where the Expose Vulnerability passive could trigger from Basic Skills when using the Shard of Verathiel Unique item.
• Fixed an issue where stacks wouldn’t be granted from Crown of Lucion while channeling Whirlwind.

Druid

• Fixed an issue where Poison Creeper’s damage could scale extremely high when hitting multiple enemies.

Necromancer

• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of Bursting Bones didn’t properly scale with the effect from Path of Trag’Oul.

Rogue

• Fixed an issue where certain Stun Grenade effects didn’t properly function.
• Fixed an issue where Advanced Flurry and Momentum lost stacks when triggering Lucky Hit or other on-hit effects.
• Fixed an issue where the Tempering Affix that grants bonus life while Dark Shroud is active didn’t function.
• Fixed an issue where the Tempering Affix that grants bonus damage per active Dark Shroud was granting more damage than intended.
• Fixed an issue where the Tempering Affix that grants bonus Resistance and Max Resistance after using a Health Potion did not increase Maximum Resistance.
• Fixed an issue where Enhanced Caltrops did not increase damage as expected.
• Fixed an issue where the Vengeful Aspect had 10% Lucky Hit Chance instead of 25%.
• Fixed an issue where Fundamental Blade Shift did not Daze targets after applying 3 stacks.
• Fixed an issue where Advanced Flurry didn’t gain damage from its stacks if it was imbued.
• Fixed an issue where the damage bonus from Malice was additive instead of multiplicative.
• Fixed an issue where the Bonus Movement from Enhanced Dark Shroud could be lost when switching equipment.

Sorcerer

• Fixed an issue where Enhanced Lightning Spear didn’t properly function.
• Fixed an issue where Enhanced Lightning Spear was granting more Critical Strike Chance than intended.
• Fixed an issue where Axial Conduit’s Explosion did not benefit from Greater Chain Lightning.
• Fixed an issue where the Axial Conduit’s explosion was dealing much less damage than intended.
• Fixed an issue where bonus Chain Lightning Projectiles did not benefit from Axial Conduit.
• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of Elemental Acuity couldn’t be applied to Amulets.
• Fixed an issue where Flame Shield Enchantment was not functioning properly.
• Fixed an issue where the Flame Shield Enchantment granted for free by the Aspect of the Firebird would place Flame Shield on cooldown.

General

• Fixed an issue where Azurewrath did not Freeze enemies or deal Cold damage when equipped by a Druid or Sorcerer.
• Fixed an issue where several new Unique items would become account-bound on pickup.
• Fixed an issue where Tortured Gifts in World Tiers I and II didn’t always drop items.
• Fixed an issue where certain Tempering Recipes could be lost after Seasonal Migration.
• Fixed an issue where skills that grant immunity would trigger their cooldown incorrectly when they were automatically cast by another source, such as Yen’s Blessing.
• Fixed an issue where Boss health in The Pit would decrease each subsequent respawn.
• Fixed an issue where non-boss monsters in The Pit could gain the damage reduction buff applied to Bosses.
• Fixed an issue where the Mother’s Judgement boss could not drop loot.
• Fixed an issue where Varshan could fail to spawn.

Game Updates

New Items and Tempering Recipes

The Alchemist Control Rogue Temper Manual will not be available in Patch 1.5.0. It will return with Patch 1.5.1.

All Classes

Tempering Recipes

Worldly Finesse – Offensive

• +X% Critical Strike Damage
• +X% Vulnerable Damage
• +X% Overpower Damage
• +X% Ultimate Damage

Barbarian

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Forward Momentum – Mobility

• Knocking back an enemy grants 25-40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds.

Tempering Recipes

Slayer’s Finesse – Offensive

• +X% Vulnerable Damage
• +X% Bonus Damage against Injured
• +X% Bleeding Damage

Druid

Unique Items

Mjölnic Ryng – Unique Ring

• While Cataclysm is active, you gain unlimited Spirit and deal 40-100%[X] increased damage.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of the Rushing Wilds – Mobility

• Casting a Companion Skill grants 5-15% Movement Speed for 5 seconds, up to 15-45%.

Tempering Recipes

Ultimate Efficiency – Resource

• +X% Cataclysm Cooldown Reduction
• +X% Lacerate Cooldown Reduction
• +X% Petrify Cooldown Reduction
• +X% Grizzly Rage Cooldown Reduction

Necromancer

Unique Items

Path of Trag’Oul – Unique Boots

• Bone Prison traps a larger area and fires 20-35 Bone Splinters at enemies trapped within. Increase your Maximum Essence by 2 for 8 seconds each time these Bone Splinters hit an enemy.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of the Unholy Tether – Mobility

• Casting Golem’s active Skill creates a bond between you for 6 seconds. While the bond is active, both of you are Unhindered and gain 25-40% Movement Speed.

Inexorable Reaper’s – Mobility

• Sever now dashes you forward to attack instead. It becomes a Mobility Skill and costs no Essence, but has a 22-7 second cooldown.

Aspect of Creeping Mist – Mobility

• Gain 20-35% Evade Cooldown Reduction.
• You can now Evade during Blood Mist, traveling twice as far. Entering or exiting Blood Mist resets your Evade Cooldown.

Imprisoned Spirit’s – Offensive

• When Bone Spirit explodes inside a Bone Prison, it explodes an additional time, dealing 40-70% of normal damage.
• Bone Spirit now prioritizes enemies inside a Bone Prison.

Tempering Recipes

Necromancer Wall – Defensive

• Skill Ranks of Necrotic Carapace
• Skill Ranks of Drain Vitality
• Minion Damage Reduction
• Chance for your Minion Attacks to Fortify you for 3% Maximum Life

Rogue

Unique Items

Shroud of Khanduras – Unique Chest Armor

• Dark Shroud grants Immune for 3 seconds, but your Evade Cooldown is increased by 9-3 seconds. Evading while Dark Shroud is active leaves behind an explosion that deals Shadow damage and pulls in enemies.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Nebulous Brews – Mobility

• Using a Healing Potion grants 35-50% Movement Speed for 3 seconds. After moving 20 meters, you spawn a Healing Potion.

Galvanized Slasher’s – Resource

• Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy with a Mobility Skill has a 15-30% chance to fully restore your Energy. Your Maximum Energy is increased by 15-30.

Of Iron Rain – Offensive

• Smoke Grenade has a 35-50% chance to create an Arrow Storm where it explodes, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms continuously apply Vulnerable.

Breakneck Bandit’s – Offensive

• Flurry deals 25-40% increased damage and has a 20% chance to Stun enemies for 3 seconds with each hit.

Mired Sharpshooter’s – Utility

• Caltrops is now a Marksman Skill that periodically throws 5-20 piercing daggers over its Duration, each dealing Shadow damage and applying Vulnerable for 3 seconds.

Tempering Recipes

Subterfuge Expertise

• Increased Smoke Grenade damage.
• Increased Smoke Grenade Size.
• Increased damage for each Dark Shroud Shadow.
• Increased damage on Next Attack after entering Stealth.

Rogue Persistence

• Increased Maximum Life Percentage gained while Dark Shroud is active.
• Increased Maximum and All Resistance Percentage for 5 Seconds from Health. Potions.
• Increased Skill Ranks of Second Wind.
• Increased Skill Ranks of Aftermath.

Sorcerer

Unique Items

Axial Conduit – Unique Pants

• Chain Lightning alternates between orbiting you and seeking up to 3 enemies. When it returns, it drains 6 Mana from you for each active Chain Lightning. After draining 66 total Mana, the bolt explodes for (150%-600%) Lightning damage.
• Chain Lightning expires if you don’t have enough Mana for it to drain.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect Of Tenuous Agility

• Gain 5-15% increased Movement Speed. This bonus is doubled if you haven’t used a Defensive Skill in 8 seconds.

Aspect Of the Firebird

• Gain the Flame Shield Enchantment for free.
• When Flame Shield activates, Meteorites fall around you dealing (50%-70%) Fire damage.

Lightning Rod Aspect

• Chain Lightning has a 25% chance to deal 50-80%[x] increased damage. This chance is doubled against Bosses or Crowd Controlled enemies and prefers them as targets.

Aspect Of Elemental Acuity

• Casting a Pyromancy, Shock, or Frost Skill increases your Mana Regeneration by 10-20% for 5 seconds, once per Element.
• At maximum stacks, the total bonus is increased to 60-120% for 10 seconds, but all stacks expire after the duration.

Aspect Of the Orange Herald

• Lucky Hit: Up to a 5-10% Chance when you damage an enemy with a Skill to reduce the Cooldown of your Ultimate Skill by 2 seconds. Can only happen once per Skill cast.

Tempering Recipes

Discharge – Weapon

• +X% chance to cast an additional Charged Bolt (moved from Shock Augments)
• +X% Teleport size (moved from Shock Augments)
• +X% chance for Arc Lash to swipe twice

Conjuration – Weapon

• +1-2 Hydra Heads on Cast.
• X% chance for another Ice Blade on Cast.
• X% chance for another Lightning Spear on Cast.

Conjuration Fortune – Utility

• +X% Hydra Lucky Hit Chance.
• +X% Ice Blade Lucky Hit Chance.
• +X% Lightning Spear Lucky Hit Chance.

Elemental Control – Utility

• +X Skill ranks to Convulsions.
• +X Skill ranks to Snap Freeze.
• +X Skill ranks to Crippling Flames.

Existing Tempering Recipe Additions

• +X Skill ranks to Conduction – Added to Sorcerer Motion.
• +X Ice Armor Duration – Added to Frost Cage.

Balance Updates

Barbarian

Skills

Bash

• Adjusted functionality: After bashing enemies 4 times, your next Bash will Clobber, Stunning enemies for 1.5 seconds. Clobber twice as often while using a Two-Handed weapon.

Enhanced Bash

• Adjusted functionality: Clobbering an enemy grants you 20% Maximum Life as Fortify.

Battle Bash

• Adjusted functionality: Clobbering an enemy generates an additional 10 Fury.

Enhanced Flay

• Vulnerable duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.

Combat Flay

• Damage Reduction increased from 3% to 4%.
• Maximum stacks increased from 4 to 5.
• Buff duration increased from 3 to 6 seconds.

Combat Lunging Strike

• Berserking duration increased from 1.5 to 3 seconds.

Rend

• Damage increased by 10%.

Violent Rend

• Damage bonus to Vulnerable increased from 25% to 30%.

Furious Rend

• Fury gain increased from 4 to 5, and maximum Fury gain increased from 20 to 25.

Hammer of the Ancients

• Damage Increased by 10%.

Furious Hammer of the Ancients

• Previous – Hammer of the Ancients gains 2% Critical Strike Chance for every 10 Fury you had when using it.
• Now – Hammer of the Ancients gains 2% Critical Strike Chance for every 10 Fury you had when cast. Its Critical Strikes Knock Down enemies for 1.5 seconds.

Violent Hammer of the Ancients

• Damage bonus increased from 30%[x] to 40%[x].

Upheaval

• Damage increased by 15%.

Enhanced Upheaval

• Stun chance increased from 20% to 35%.
• Stun duration increased from 2.5 to 3 seconds.

Violent Upheaval

• Base Berserking duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds, and bonus duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.

Tactical Ground Stomp

• Fury gain increased from 40 to 60.

Enhanced Iron Skin

• Barrier amount increased from 20% to 25% of maximum Life.

Tactical Challenging Shout

• Fury gain when taking damage increased from 3 to 6.

Kick

• Charge Cooldown reduced from 13 to 9 seconds.

Passives

Endless Fury

• No longer requires Two-Handed weapons.
• Fury gain from Basic Skills increased from 10/20/30% to 12/24/36%.

Imposing Presence

• Maximum Health reduced from 6/12/18% to 5/10/15%.

Thick Skin

• Fortify gain increased from .4/.8/1.2% to .6/1.2/1.8% of Maximum Life.

Concussion

• Stun duration reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.

Unconstrained

• Bonus damage reduced from 75%[x] to 35%[x].

Unbridled Rage

• Bonus damage reduced from 100%[x] to 45%[x].

Walking Arsenal

• Bonus damage per weapon type used reduced from 12%[x] to 8%[x].
• Bonus damage while all three bonuses are active reduced from 20%[x] to 10%[x].
• Bonus Attack Speed while all three bonuses are active reduced from 20% to 10%.

Gushing Wounds

• Previous – When causing an enemy to Bleed, you have a chance equal to your Critical Strike Chance to increase the Bleed amount by 140%[x] of your Critical Strike Damage bonus. Overpowering a Bleeding enemy creates an explosion that inflicts 85% Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.
• Now – When causing an enemy to Bleed, you have a chance equal to your Critical Strike Chance to increase the Bleed amount by 70%[x], then by 100%[+] of your Critical Strike Damage. Overpowering a Bleeding enemy creates an explosion that inflicts 120% Bleeding damage over 5 seconds.

Legendary Aspects

Wanton Rupture Aspect

• Frequency increased from every 40-25 seconds to every 30-15 seconds.

Aspect of Grasping Whirlwind

• Now pulls in new targets three times as frequently.

Steadfast Berserker’s Aspect

• No longer requires a Lucky Hit, and now always triggers.

Of Sundered Ground

• Previous – Every 25 seconds, your next Upheaval cast is guaranteed to Overpower and deals 10-25% increased damage. This timer is reduced by 4 seconds when Upheaval Overpowers a Boss or an Elite enemy.
• Now – Every 20 seconds, your next Upheaval cast is guaranteed to Overpower and deals 15-30% increased damage. Critical Strikes with Upheaval against Elites reduce this timer by 1 second.

Of Ancestral Force

• Previous – Hammer of the Ancients quakes outward and its damage is increased by 2-17%.
• Now – Hammer of the Ancients quakes outward for 5-20% increased damage. This bonus is doubled against Bosses.

Unique Items

Gohr’s Devasting Grips

• Explosion size is now affected by increases to Whirlwind’s size.

Paragon

Hemorrhage Legendary Node

• Now bonus Bleeding damage now caps at 45%.

Weapons Master Legendary Node

• Fury gain increased from 4% to 8% of Maximum Fury.

Bloodfeeder Glyph

• Critical Strike Chance bonus against Bleeding enemies increased from 5% to 10%.

Dominate Glyph

• Time between guaranteed Overpowers reduced from 30 to 20 seconds.

Executioner Glyph

• Damage bonus while wielding a Polearm increased from 10%[x] to 15%[x].

Tempering

• Bash Cleave (Furious Augments) reduced from 85/95/105% to 15/17.5/20%.
• The Barbarian Protection Manual and its augments have been removed.
• Flay Duration moved from Barbarian Innovation (Utility) to Bleed Augments (Weapon).

Druid

• Passive Rank bonus for Clarity affix added to Amulets.
• Now gain 25% more increased Skill Damage from their primary Core Stat.
  • Gain 1% increased Skill Damage for every 8 primary Core Stat, reduced from 10 primary Core Stat.

Skills

Landslide

• Damage per hit of Landslide increased from 37.5% to 70%.
• Damage area increased from 1.5 to 2.
• Doubled the number of pillars.
• Total damage increased from 70% to 280%.

Shred

• 1st Attack Damage buffed from 28% to 52%.
• 2nd Attack Damage buffed from 39% to 72%.
• 3rd Attack Damage buffed from 77% to 143%.

Pulverize

• Damage buffed from 50% to 92.5%.

Tornado

• Damage buffed from 35% to 65%.

Boulder

• Damage increased from 46% to 70% of weapon damage.

Lightning Storm

• Damage buffed from 40% to 74%.

Hurricane

• Damage buffed from 187% to 346%.

Ravens

• Can now be cast while moving.

Poison Creeper

• Can now be cast while moving.

Rabies

• The increased spread rate granted by the Natural Rabies upgrade has been applied to the base skill.

Natural Rabies

• Previous – Rabies Spreads 50% Faster.
• Now – Spread distance is increased by 70%.

Lacerate

• Damage area increased from 1 to 2.
• Casting Lacerate now teleports to the target instead of starting at the caster.

Cataclysm

• Lightning Strike rate is doubled.
• Now more consistently hits enemies with its lightning strikes.

Grizzly Rage

• Cooldown for this ability now starts after Grizzly Rage ends.
• Previous – Shapeshift into a Dire Werebear for 10 seconds gaining 20%[x] bonus damage and 20% Damage Reduction. Damage bonus is increased by 3% each second while in this form. Kills extend the duration by 1 second up to an additional 5 seconds.
• Now – Shapeshift into a Dire Werebear for 10 seconds gaining 30%[x] bonus damage and 20% Damage Reduction. Damage bonus is increased by 3% each second while in this form, up to a maximum of 75%. Kills extend the duration by 1 second, but the duration cannot go above 10 seconds.

Debilitating Roar

• Damage Reduction decreased from 70% to 40%.

Blood Howl

• Is now always a Shout Skill, not just when using Nighthowler’s Aspect.

Earthen Bulwark

• Previous – Rocks surround you for 3 seconds, granting a Barrier that absorbs 45% of your Base Life in damage.
• Now – Rocks surround you for 3 seconds, granting a Barrier that absorbs 45% of your Maximum Life in damage.

Cyclone Armor

• Non-Physical Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Passives

Lupine Ferocity

• Reduced amount of hits from 6 to 3 to benefit from the effect.

Vigilance

• Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 5% to 7%.

Iron Fur

• Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 3% to 4%.

Heightened Senses

• Damage Reduction increased for each Skill Rank from 2% to 3%.

Perfect Storm

• Damage bonus increased from 30%[x] to 40%[x].

Earthen Might

• Base Lucky Hit chance increased from 5% to 10%.

Legendary Aspects

Metamorphic Stone Aspect

• No longer removes Wrath skill tag from Boulder.

Shepherd’s Aspect

• Previous – Core and Wrath Skills deal an additional 5-10% damage per Companion you have.
• Now – Companion Skills deal an additional 5-10% damage per Companion you have.

Skinwalker’s Aspect

• Previous – When you use a Shapeshifting Skill that changes your form, gain 2-5 Life. If you are at full Life, gain the same amount as Fortify.
• Now – When you use a Shapeshifting Skill that changes your form, gain 5-20% Life. If you are at full Life, gain the same amount as Fortify.

Aftershock

• Delay from second set of landslides slightly decreased.

Stormclaw’s Aspect

• Shred’s Critical Strikes damage increased from 15-30% damage to 25-40% of the damage dealt.

Aspect of the Blurred Beast

• Bonus damage to Poisoned enemies increased from 25-40% to 40-55%.

Aspect of Retaliation

• Core Skill bonus damage based on Fortify increased from 15-25% to 25-40%.

Seismic-Shift Aspect

• No longer adds a cooldown to Earth Spike.

Runeworker’s Conduit Aspect

• Previous – Critical Strikes with Storm skills that you cast charge the air around you for 2 seconds causing a Lightning Bolt to periodically hit an enemy in the area for (250%-310% Weapon Damage) Lightning damage. This duration can be extended by additional Critical Strikes.
• Now – Critical Strikes with Storm skills that you cast charge the air around you for 3 seconds causing a Lightning Bolt to periodically hit an enemy in the area for (250%-350% Weapon Damage) Lightning damage. Your Lightning Bolts deal 20-40%[x] increased damage.

Balanced Aspect

• Spirit Generation while Grizzly Rage is active increased from 20%[x] to 50%[x].

Nighthowler’s Aspect

• No longer makes Blood Howl a Shout Skill, since Blood Howl is always a Shout Skill.
• Critical Strike Bonus increased from 5-10% to 10-15%.

Paragon

Thunderstruck Legendary Node

• Now has a maximum bonus capped at 60%.

Human Glyph

• Damage bonus increased from 6.6% to 9.9%.
• Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Protector Glyph

• Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Werebear Glyph

• Damage bonus increased from 6.6% to 9.9%.
• Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Werewolf Glyph

• Damage Reduction increased from 10% to 15%.

Necromancer

• Now gain 25% more increased Skill Damage from their primary Core Stat.*
  • Gain 1% increased Skill Damage for every 8 primary Core Stat, reduced from 10 primary Core Stat.

Book of the Dead

• Necromancer Minion attacks can now Overpower.
• Minions are now more aggressive and will automatically engage nearby enemies.

Golem

• Active ability – If the Golem is far from the targeted location, it will now leap to the target.
• Iron Golem – Slam size increased by 56%.

Skills

The Lucky Hit Chance has been increased for various skills.

• Sever: From 20% to 40%.
• Blood Lance: from 33% to 50%.
• Blood Surge: from 12% to 20%.
• Reap: From 17% to 30%.
• Hemorrhage: from 35% to 50%.
• Bone Splinters: from 17% to 30%.
• Corpse Tendrils: from 17% to 30%.
• Blood Wave: from 20% to 50%.

Decompose

• The explosion from Enhanced Decompose can now trigger Lucky Hits.

Sever

• Primary damage increased from 80% to 110%.
• Secondary damage increased from 30% to 45%.

Blight

• Damage over time increased from 105% to 135%.

Blood Wave

• Damage increased from 150% to 450%.

Passive

Shadowblight

• Hits required reduced from 10 to 8.
• Damage increased from 22% to 44%.

Hellbent Commander

• Previous – Your Minions deal 15/30/45%[x] increased damage while you are Close to them.
• Now – While you control at least 7 Minions, they deal 10/20/30%[x] increased damage.

Legendary Aspects

Blighted Aspect

• Bonus damage after triggering Shadowblight 10 times reduced from 60-120%[x] to 35-50%[x].

Developer’s Note: Blighted Aspect has been a disproportionately large source of damage for Shadowblight based Necromancers, giving far more power than we normally give for a single Aspect. To compensate for this change, we are increasing the baseline power of the Darkness Core Skills and Shadowblight with the goal of keeping these builds at approximately the same overall power level.

Aspect of Bursting Bones

• Bone Prison Burst damage increased from 9-12.2% to 75-120% of Weapon Damage.

Aspect of Empowering Reaper

• Chance for Sever to create Blight increased from 10-25% to 15-30%.
• Blight bonus damage increased from 40-100%[x] to 60-120%[x].

Aspect of Hungry Blood

• Additional Blood Lance damage increased from 33-48% to 40-70%.

Aspect of Grasping Veins

• Critical Strike Chance after casting Corpse Tendrils reduced from 10-25% to 5-20%.
• Critical Strike Damage to enemies damaged by Corpse Tendrils reduced from 20-50% to 10-40%.
• Critical Strike Damage bonus now lasts for 6 seconds, rather than indefinitely.

Cadaverous Aspect

• Previous – Consuming a Corpse increases the damage of your next Core Skill by 5-10%[x], up to 25-50%[x].
• Now – Consuming a Corpse increases the damage of your Core Skills by 3.5-6%[x] for 5 seconds, up to 17.5-30%[x].

Torturous Aspect

• Previous – Iron Maiden is now also a Darkness Skill and deals Shadow damage. Enemies afflicted by Iron Maiden have a 10-25% chance to be Stunned for 1 second when they deal direct damage.
• Now – Iron Maiden is now also a Darkness Skill and deals Shadow damage. Enemies have a 10-25% chance to be Stunned for 1 second when they take damage from Iron Maiden.

Inexorable Reaper’s Aspect

• Sever Cooldown reduced from 22-7 to 13.5-6.

Paragon

Wither Legendary Paragon Node

• Intelligence scaling is now capped at 1200 Intelligence.

Bloodbath Legendary Node

• Overpower damage increased from 35%[x] to 70%[x].

Blood Begets Blood Legendary Node

• Damage bonus per Blood Orb pickup increased from 5%[x] to 10%[x].
• Maximum bonus damage increased from 30%[x] to 50%[x].

Tempering

Developer’s Note: Values provided for Tempering Recipe updates reflect their values at Legendary rank. Magic and Rare recipes have also been similarly adjusted.

Blood Finesse Tempering Recipe

• Blood Damage increased from 41.5-55% to 57.5-80%.
• Blood Overpower damage increased from 62.5-85% to 82.5-105%.
• Damage While Fortified increased from 41.5-55% to 57.5-80%.

Shadow Finesse Tempering Recipe

• Shadow Damage Over Time increased from 57-75% to 67.5-90%.
• Darkness Damage increased from 41.5-55% to 57.5-80%.

Rogue

• Maximum Arrow Storms increased from 5 to 7.
• Preparation
  • Previous – Every 75 Energy you spend reduces your Ultimate Skill’s Cooldown by 5 seconds. Using an Ultimate Skill resets the Cooldowns of your other Skills.
  • Now – Spend 75 Energy to reduce your Ultimate Skill’s Cooldown by 5 seconds. Ultimate Skills reset other Cooldowns and grant 15% Damage Reduction for 10 seconds.
  • Now gain 11% more increased Skill Damage from their primary Core Stat.
    • Gain 1% increased Skill Damage for every 9 primary Core Stat, reduced from 10 primary Core Stat.

Skills

Blade Shift

• Damage increased by 50% (0.2 to 0.3).
• Previous – Quickly stab your victim for damage and shift, allowing you to move freely through enemies for 4 seconds.
• Now – Quickly stab your victim for damage and shift, making you Unhindered for 4 seconds.

Fundamental Blade Shift

• Enemies moved through needed to activate Daze reduced from 5 to 3.

Primary Blade Shift

• Control Impairing Effect Duration Reduction increased from 20% to 30%.

Invigorating Strike

• Damage increased by 20%.

Enhanced Twisting Blades

• Return damage bonus increased from 30% to 35%.

Shadow Step

• Damage increased by 11% (0.72 to 0.8).

Enhanced Shadow Step

• Previous – Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step increases your Critical Strike Chance against them by 8% for 3 seconds.
• Now – Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step Dazes and applies Vulnerable to them for 3 seconds.

Methodical Shadow Step

• Previous – Enemies damaged by Shadow Step are Stunned for 2 seconds.
• Now – After Shadow Stepping, you gain 20% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds.

Disciplined Shadow Step

• Previous – Shadow Step’s Cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds when it damages an enemy you have not hit with Shadow Step in the last 4 seconds.
• Now – Damaging an enemy with Shadow Step Stuns them for 2 seconds and reduces its Cooldown by 3 seconds.

Dash

• Damage increased by 25% (0.32 to 0.4).
• Additional functionality: Dash Slows enemies hit by 30% for 3 seconds.

Enhanced Dash

• Previous – Enemies damaged by Dash take 15% increased Critical Strike Damage from you for 5 seconds.
• Now – Casting Dash increases your Critical Strike Chance by 10% for 5 seconds.

Disciplined Dash

• Previous – Dash Slows enemies it hits by 30% for 3 seconds. Any enemy already Slowed will be Dazed for 2 seconds instead.
• Now – At the end of Dash, Knock Down surrounding enemies for 2 seconds and deal 350% of its damage to them.

Methodical Dash

• Previous – Dealing damage to Crowd Controlled enemies with Dash reduces its Charge Cooldown by 0.5 seconds, up to 4 seconds per cast.
• Now – Dash has 1 additional Charge and its Charge Cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds.

Flurry

• Damage increased from 94% to 130%.
• Lucky Hit Chance increased from 10% to 20%.

Enhanced Flurry

• Previous – Each time Flurry damages a Crowd Controlled or Vulnerable enemy, you are Healed for 1% of your Maximum Life, up to 12% Maximum Life per cast.
• Now – Each time Flurry damages an enemy, it has a 10% chance to apply Vulnerable for 3 seconds and deals 1% increased damage for 5 seconds after hitting a Vulnerable enemy, up to a total of 25%.

Advanced Flurry

• Previous – Evading through an enemy will cause your next Flurry to deal 30% increased damage and Stun enemies hit for 2.5 seconds.
• Now – Successive casts of Flurry increase its damage by 10% and reduce its Energy cost by 10%, up to 3 times.

Improved Flurry

• Previous – Flurry deals 20% increased damage to Vulnerable targets. If Flurry hits any Vulnerable enemy, it will make all enemies hit by that cast Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
• Now – Casting Flurry dashes you to the target and Heals 10% of your Maximum Life.

Caltrops

• Damage increased by 13% (0.4 to 0.45).
• Disciplined Caltrops
  • Critical Strike Chance bonus increased from 5% to 10%.

Dark Shroud

• You can now only lose 1 Dark Shroud shadow every 1.5 seconds.

Enhanced Dark Shroud

• Previous – Dark Shroud’s shadows have a 14% chance to not be Consumed.
• Now – Each active Dark Shroud shadow grants you 5% increased Movement Speed and also has a 15% chance to not be Consumed.

Subverting Dark Shroud

• Previous – Each active shadow from Dark Shroud grants you 4% increased Movement Speed.
• Now – You Heal for 10% of your Maximum Life when a Dark Shroud shadow is removed.

Countering Dark Shroud

• You only need 1 active shadow to get the bonus Critical Strike Chance instead of 2.
• Critical Strike Chance increased from 8% to 10%.

Smoke Grenade

• Additional functionality: Smoke Grenade now deals 45% Physical damage, has a 25% Lucky Hit Chance, and its Skill Ranks now give increased damage and Cooldown Reduction.

Enhanced Smoke Grenade

• Previous – Enemies affected by Smoke Grenade take 25% increased damage from you.
• Now – Enemies hit by Smoke Grenade take 25% increased damage from you for 5 seconds.

Countering Smoke Grenade

• Previous – Lucky Hit: Dealing direct damage to enemies affected by Smoke Grenade has up to a 25% chance to reduce its Cooldown by 1 second, or by 3 seconds instead if the enemy is Vulnerable.
• Now – Hitting an Elite or Boss with Smoke Grenade reduces its Cooldown by 5 seconds.

Subverting Smoke Grenade

• Previous – If an enemy is Vulnerable, Slowed, or Chilled then Smoke Grenade will Daze them for 20% longer.
• Now – Smoke Grenade now deals Poison damage and applies another 45% Poisoning damage over 5 seconds.

Poison Imbuement

• Poisoning Duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds.

Enhanced Poison Imbuement

• Previous – Poison Imbuement’s Poisoning Duration is increased by 1 second.
• Now – Casting Poison Imbuement generates 30 Energy, increased by 2 for each Nearby Poisoned enemy.

Poison Trap

• Damage increased by 36% (0.11 to 0.15).

Subverting Poison Trap

• Poison damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.

Countering Poison Trap

• Chance to reset Imbuements increased from 30% to 40%.

Penetrating Shot

• New functionality: Now deals 10% increased damage per enemy it pierces.

Enhanced Penetrating Shot

• Previous – Penetrating Shot deals 10% increased damage for each enemy it pierces.
• Now – Casting Penetrating Shot and hitting a Boss or Elite with it has a 25% Chance to fire an additional shot for free.

Rain of Arrows

• Casting Speed has been increased by 30%.
• Lucky Hit Chance increased from 2% to 4%.
• Cooldown reduced from 55 to 50 seconds.

Passive

Concussive

• Renamed to Unstable Elixirs.
• Previous – After Knocking Back or Knocking Down an enemy, you gain 4% increased Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds.
• Now – Using a Healing Potion Stuns surrounding enemies for 2 seconds and increases your damage by 6% for 10 seconds.

Rapid Gambits

• Previous – Your Evade Cooldown is reduced by 0.5 seconds when you Daze an enemy.
• Now – Evading through an enemy Dazes them for 2 seconds. Your Evade Cooldown is reduced by 0.25 seconds when you Daze an enemy.

Trick Attacks

• Previous – When you Critically Strike a Dazed enemy they are Knocked Down for 0.5 seconds.
• Now – Dazing or Stunning an enemy increases your Critical Strike Chance by 2% and Critical Strike Damage by 2% for 5 seconds, both up to 12%.

Impetus

• New functionality: Added visuals to show when the effect is ready.
• Previous – After moving 12 meters, your next Non-Basic attack deals 7% increased damage.
• Now – After moving 15 meters, your next Core or Ultimate attack deals 8% increased damage. While the damage bonus remains, your Agility and Subterfuge Skills deal 5% increased damage.

Malice

• Previous – You deal 3% increased damage to Vulnerable enemies.
• Now – You deal 4% increased damage to Vulnerable or Knocked Down enemies.

Alchemical Advantage

• Previous – You gain 1% increased Attack Speed for each enemy you’ve Poisoned, up to 15%.
• Now – Dealing Poison damage increases your Attack Speed and Lucky Hit Chance by 1% for 8 seconds, up to 5%.

Developer’s Note: The maximum stack potential increases by 5% with each Skill Rank.

Second Wind

• Previous – Every 100 Energy you spend grants you 5% increased Lucky Hit Chance for 5 seconds.
• Now – Every 100 Energy you spend grants 15% of your Maximum Life as a Barrier for 3 seconds.

Aftermath

• Previous – After using an Ultimate Skill, restore 30 Energy.
• Now – While an Ultimate Skill is on your Action Bar, you Heal for 0.5% Maximum Life every second. After using an Ultimate, restore 25 Energy.

Weapon Mastery

• Dagger damage to Healthy enemies increased from 5% to 7%.

Key Passives

Victimize

• The Explosion damage of Victimize has been increased by ~50% to compensate for a bug fix, detailed below.

Momentum

• Previous – Cutthroat Skills grant a stack of Momentum for 8 seconds if they either hit a Stunned, Dazed, or Frozen enemy, or hit any enemy from behind. While at 3 stacks of Momentum you gain 20% increased Damage Reduction, 30% increased Energy Regeneration, and 15% increased Movement Speed.
• Now – Casting a Cutthroat Skill grants a stack of Momentum. Casting a Non-Cutthroat Skill removes a stack of Momentum. For each stack of Momentum, you gain 3% Damage Reduction, 3% Maximum Energy, 3% Energy Regeneration, 3% Movement Speed, and 5% Damage. This can stack up to 10 times.

Legendary Aspects

Enshrouding Aspect

• Previous – Gain a free Dark Shroud shadow every 3 seconds when standing still. Each Dark Shroud shadow grants 2.5-4.0% increased Damage Reduction.
• Now – Using a Healing Potion makes a free Dark Shroud shadow. Each shadow grants 2.5-4.0% increased Damage Reduction.

Of Arrow Storms

• Previous – Lucky Hit: Your Marksman Skills have up to a 25% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the enemy’s location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal 30-40% increased damage.
• Now – Lucky Hit: Your Marksman and Cutthroat Skills have up to a 25% chance to create an Arrow Storm at the enemy’s location, dealing Physical damage over 3 seconds. Your Arrow Storms deal 45-60% increased damage.

Vengeful

• Arrow Storm Damage increased from 25-40% to 45-60%.

Ravager’s

• Damage bonus to Shadow Step increased from 2.5-10% to 4.5-12%.

Trickster’s

• Previous – Caltrops also throw a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal 25-40% increased damage.
• Now – Caltrops and Smoke Grenade receive Stun Grenade benefits and throw Stun Grenades that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades deal 25-40% increased damage.

Of Noxious Ice

• Poison damage bonus to Frozen enemies increased from 15-30% to 20-35%.

Of Bursting Venoms

• Toxic Pool Poisoning damage increased by 24%.

Of Volatile Shadows

• Dark Shroud shadow Explosion damage increased by 50%.

Of Stolen Vigor

• Previous – Each stack of the Momentum Key Passive Heals you for Life per second and grants you 5% Damage Reduction.
• Now – While at maximum stacks of the Momentum Key Passive, your Cutthroat Skills deal 30-45% increased damage and you become Unstoppable for 3 seconds every 8 seconds.

Unique Items

Saboteur’s Signet

• Previous – 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 2% Lucky Hit Chance.
• Now – Casting a Core Skill has a 15-30% chance to throw Stun Grenades that deal Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1 second. Your Stun Grenades gain 5% Lucky Hit Chance.

Windforce

• Ranks of Concussive changed to Ranks of Malice.
• Vulnerable Damage changed to Dexterity.
• Previous – Lucky Hit: Hits with this weapon have up to a 30-40% chance to deal double damage and Knock Back the target.
• Now – Hits of Barrage have a 30-50% chance to deal double damage and Knock Down enemies.

Scoundrel’s Kiss

• Explosion radius increased by 10%.
• The visual effect for the Physical damage has been improved to be more consistent.

Writhing Band of Trickery

• Decoy Trap damage increased by 8%.

Word of Hakan

• Previous – Your Rain of Arrows is always Imbued with all Imbuements at once.
• Now – Your Rain of Arrows is always Imbued with all Imbuements at once and receives your Arrow Storm benefits.

Paragon

Tricks of the Trade – Legendary Node

• Previous – Your Marksman Skills grant your next Cutthroat Skill 25% increased damage. Your Cutthroat Skills grant your next Marksman Skill 25% increased damage.
• Now – Your Marksman Skills grant your Cutthroat Skills 25% increased damage for 8 seconds. Your Cutthroat Skills grant your Marksman Skills 25% increased damage for 8 seconds.

Cheap Shot – Legendary Node

• Previous – You deal 5% increased damage for each Nearby enemy that is Crowd Controlled, up to 25%.
• Now – You deal 5% increased damage for each Nearby enemy that is Crowd Controlled, up to 25%. A Nearby Staggered Boss provides the maximum bonus.

Exploit Weakness – Legendary Node

• Previous – Whenever you deal damage to a Vulnerable enemy, they take 1% increased damage from you for 6 seconds, up to 25%.
• Now – Lucky Hit:Hitting a vulnerable enemy has up to a 60% chance to increase your damage by 1%x for 25 seconds, up to 25%x. At 25 stacks the bonus remains for 6 seconds then expires.

No Witnesses – Legendary Node

• Is now capped at a maximum damage bonus of 35 45%.
• Duration increased from 8 to 10 seconds.

Developer’s Note: This is to compensate for increased sources of Ultimate Skill Damage added to the Rogue Paragon Board this season.

Leyrana’s Insinct – Legendary Node

• Is now capped at a maximum damage bonus of 35%.

Culler – Rare Node

• Execute Chance changed to Ultimate Damage.
• Magic Nodes in this cluster that gave Execute Chance now give Ultimate Damage.

Ruin – Rare Node

• Damage to Healthy changed to Ultimate Damage.
• Magic Nodes in this cluster that gave Damage to Healthy now give Ultimate Damage.

Sorcerer

• Crackling Energy base damage increased from 20% to 30%.
• Now gain 25% more increased Skill Damage from their primary Core Stat.
  • Gain 1% increased Skill Damage for every 8 primary Core Stat, reduced from 10 primary Core Stat.

Skills

Charged Bolts

• Base damage increased from 30% to 45%.

Enhanced Charged Bolts

• Explosion damage increased from 45% to 79% 

Spark

• Base damage per hit increased from 10% to 12%.

Enhanced Spark

• Damage increased from 8% to 10%.

Glinting Spark

• Previous: Spark grants 2% increased Critical Strike Chance per cast for 5 seconds, up to 8%.
• Now: Spark grants 2% increased Critical Strike Chance per cast for 5 seconds, up to 8%. At max stacks, your Spark hits grant 1 Mana.

Hydra

• Base damage increased from 14% to 16%.

Summoned Hydra

• Burn damage increased from 60% to 100%.

Inferno

• Base damage increased by 20%.

Firewall

• Damage increased from 160% to 230%.

Meteor

• Damage increased from 80% to 96%.

Incinerate

• Damage increased from 84% to 101%.

Fireball

• Damage increased from 60% to 66%.

Flickering Arc Lash

• Previous: Gain 6% Movement Speed for 5 seconds for each enemy hit with Arc Lash, up to 18%.
• Now: Arc Lash grants 5 Mana if your swipe hits at least one enemy. When you hit 3 or more enemies or a Boss, your next swipe also deals 50% more damage.

Chain Lightning

• Now tracks how many Chain Lightnings are out.
• Damage increased from 36% to 43%.

Greater Chain Lightning

• Previous: Each time Chain Lightning bounces, it deals 5% increased damage for its duration.
• Now: Each time Chain Lightning bounces, it deals 10% increased damage for its duration, up to 30%.

Chain Lightning Enchantment

• Now has a 4 second Cooldown.
• No longer tracks Mana or sends out Chain Lightnings if the instance of Mana Drain is from an Auto Cast skill.

Flame Shield

• Cooldown begins when Invulnerability ends.

Ice Armor

• Max Life Base Shield amount increased from 25% to 40%.
• No longer gains increased Shield based on damage.

Enhanced Lightning Spear

• Previous: After Critically Striking, Lightning Spear gains a 5% increased stacking Critical Strike Chance for its duration.
• Now: Casting Lightning Spear spawns an additional Lightning Spear and increases their Critical Strike Chance by 15%.

Blizzard

• Base damage increased from 130% to 150 210%.

Enhanced Blizzard

• Blizzard damage to Frozen enemies increased from 25% to 40%.

Wizard’s Blizzard

• Previous: While Blizzard is active, your Core Skills cost 20% less Mana.
• Now: While Blizzard is active, you gain 1 Mana Regeneration for every 20 Maximum Mana.

Teleport

• Cooldown increased from 11 to 14.
• Base damage increased from 25% to 35%.

Ball Lightning

• Damage increased from 20% to 24%.

Ice Shards

• Damage increased from 32% to 36%.

Frozen Orb

• Base Damage increased from 41% to 50%.
• Shard damage increased from 43% to 52%.

Passives

Convulsions

• Stun chance increased from 5% to 7%.

Crippling Flames

• Immobilize chance increased from 5% to 7%.

Snap Freeze

• Freeze chance increased from 5% to 7%.

Static Discharge

• Chance to spawn Crackling Energy increased from 5% to 6%.

Shocking impact

• Damage for each Rank increased from 40% to 50%.

Combustion

• Base Burning damage increased from 20% to 60%.

Vyr’s Mastery

• Previous: Close enemies take 15% increased damage from your Shock Skills and deal 20% less damage to you. Critical Strikes increase these bonuses to 20% and 25% respectively for 3 seconds.
• Now: When you Critical Strike an enemy with a Shock Skill you become Charged and take 25% less damage for 5 seconds. While Charged, Critical Strikes have a 10% chance to causes the damage to arc as Lightning damage to another Nearby enemy, or if there are no other targets you hit the target again for 250% of the damage.

Developer’s Note: Shock Sorcerer is often highly incentivized to play in close combat. This rework aims to open up the Shock Sorcerer playstyle, allowing for both close and ranged options while maintaining the defensive capability of the original design that players love.

Shatter

• Damage increased from 30% to 45% of the damage you deal to them.
• Shatter no longer receives damage from itself.

Warmth

• Healing from non-elites increased from 0.5/1/1.5% to 1/2/3%.
• Healing from bosses increased from 2/4/6% to 4/8/12%.

Align the Elements

• Damage Reduction from Elites cap increased from 40% to 60%.

Mana Shield

• Damage reduction Increased from 8% to 10%.

Legendary Aspects

Charged Aspect

• Movement Speed bonus increased from 10-20 to 15-25.

Aspect Of Efficiency

• Mana Cost Reduction increased from 10-25% to 35-50%.

Aspect of Engulfing Flames

• Burning damage to enemies below 50% Life increased from 15-30% to 30-45%.

Aspect Of Abundant Energy

• Previous: Crackling Energy has a 35-50% chance to chain to an additional enemy.
• Now: Crackling Energy has a 35-50% chance to deal 40%|x| increased damage and chain to an additional enemy.

Aspect Of Splintering Energy

• Previous: Casting Lightning Spear always spawns an additional Lightning Spear and increases your damage with Shock Skills by X for Y seconds.
• Now: Critical Hits with Lightning Spear cause Lightning to arc from it dealing 25%-55% damage to its target and up to 5 other enemies. This damage is increased by your Critical Strike Damage Bonus.

Aspect of Binding Embers

• Previous: Flame Shield lets you move unhindered through enemies. Enemies you move through while Flame Shield is active are Immobilized for X seconds.
• Now: Flame Shield grants you unhindered for its duration. Enemies you move through while Flame Shield is active are Immobilized for X seconds.

Aspect Of the Frozen Wake

• Ice Spike damage increased from 60%-80% to 80%-100%.
• Now has 15% extra damage to Ice Spikes instead of 15% extra Chill.

Aspect Of the Frozen Tundra (Deep Freeze)

• Ice Spike damage increased from 60%-80% to 100%-120%.

Glacial Aspect

• Now has 15% extra Chill with Ice Spikes instead of 15% extra Damage.

Snowveiled Aspect

• Previous: Ice armor makes you unstoppable and grants you 30% armor for 3.5-5 seconds.
• Now: Ice armor makes you unstoppable and grants you 25% Damage Reduction for 3.5-5 seconds.

Paragon

Burning Instinct

• Burning Instinct Critical Strike bonus reduced from 1% per 25 Intelligence to 1% per 50 Intelligence and now caps at 40%|x|.
• Critical Strike Bonus changed from 1% per 25 Intelligence to 1% per 20 Intelligence and now caps at 80%[x].

Ceaseless Conduit

• Crackling Energy damage reduced from 3% per 20 Intelligence to 1% per 25 Intelligence and now caps at 60%[x].
• Changed from 3% per 20 Intelligence to 2% per 20 Intelligence. Crackling Energy damage now caps at 120%[x].

Elemental Summoner

• Now caps at its damage bonus at 30 60%[x].
• Scaling from damage with Cold/Fire/Lightning increased from 5% to 10%.

Icefall

• Damage with Frost Skills increased from 15%[x] to 18%[x].

Unleash Glyph

• Increased the damage bonus from 7% to 8%.
• Increased the Mana Regeneration from 7% to 25%.

Frigid Fate

• Now caps its damage bonus at 60%[x].
• Scaling from damage with Cold increased from 10% to 20%.

Searing Heat

• Now caps its damage bonus at 60%[x].
• Scaling from damage with Fire increased from 10% to 20%.

Tempering Updates

• The following Tempering Affixes have been moved from existing Tempering Recipes onto new Recipes in the Utility Category.
  Developer’s Note: We are looking to expand what Affixes are available within the Utility Category to bring more depth and variety to Tempering.
• Barbarian Innovation
  • Earthquake Duration – from Wasteland Augments
  • Kick Vulnerable Duration – from Furious Augments
  • Frenzy Duration – from Berserking Augments
• Druid Magic Innovation
  • Hurricane Size – from Storm Augments
  • Lightning Storm Duration – from Storm Augments
  • Petrify Duration – from Earth Augments
  • Cyclone Armor Active Size – from Nature Magic Wall
• Rogue Innovation
  • Invigorating Strike Duration – from Basic Augments
  • Twisting Blades Return Time Reduction – from Core Augments
  • Flurry Size – from Core Augments
  • Heartseeker Duration – from Basic Augments
• Items with Greater Affixes now have an additional Tempering durability charge per Greater Affix present.
• Damage to close enemies granted by the Natural Finesse tempering affix reduced from 65%/75%/85% to 35%/45%/55%.

Endgame Bosses

• The summoning Urn now respawns after the boss is defeated, allowing players to more quickly reset and defeat the bosses repeatedly.
• Beast in the Ice
  • The Beast in the Ice boss fight now functions as a standard dungeon— you no longer must craft a sigil to enter the fight.
  • After defeating the Beast in the Ice, any players on the Eternal Realm can use leftover crafted Sigils to immediately resummon it again without paying the summoning material cost.
  • The boss fight is now much closer to the entrance —you’ll no longer need to progress through the Dungeon to fight the boss.
  • We’ve removed Sigil Dust as a material cost to summon the Beast in the Ice.
• Summoning Varshan now only requires Malignant Hearts. Trembling Hands, Blackened Femurs, and Gurgling heads have been removed from the game. Eternal Characters that have the other body parts can convert them to hearts at the Alchemist.
• Boss Ladder bosses no longer drop Rare items. They now drop additional Gold instead of Rare items.
• Tormented Bosses
  Developer’s Note: The goal of these changes is to broaden the chances of acquiring Mythic Unique Items. Now, players can engage with whatever Tormented Boss they have the materials for in their quest to find a Mythic Unique.
• Tormented Bosses now drop 5 times as many Boss Materials.
• Rebalanced Tormented Boss loot to have parity with each other.
• All Tormented Bosses have 5 chances to drop a mythic at 1.5% chance each. In total, a 7.5% chance to drop a Mythic Unique. The resulting effect of this change is that the bosses have a chance to drop multiple Mythic Uniques instead of just 1.
• The cost to summon a Tormented boss had been reduced from 2 Stygian Stones to 1.

Helltide

• The way baneful hearts are earned has been adjusted.
  • Chance to get one from a Tortured gift starts at 15% and increases each time you fail to get one. Once you are rewarded with a baneful heart, the chance resets to 15%.
  • Hellborne and the Helltide Assassin start with a 1% chance to drop a heart and increase each time you fail to get one. It resets to 1%.
  • Helltide Commanders always drop a heart.
  • A World Boss spawned in an active Helltide Zone will drop 3 Hearts.
  • Local Event chests have a small chance to grant hearts when achieving Mastery.
• Threat gain now consistently scales with the health of slain monsters.
• Helltide Whispers
  • They only spawn in one subzone.
  • These Whispers will always add up to equal 10 Grim Favors’.
  • Icons have been updated to be consistent with other Whispers.
  • Cull Demons now includes Fallen.
  • Cull Fallen replaced with Cull Cultists.
• Profane Mindcages return in Season of the Infernal Hordes!
  • They always drop from Hellborne.
  • Can be stacked up to 3 times.
  • Only available in the Seasonal Realm.
• In World Tiers I & II, the Blood Maiden now requires only two Baneful Hearts to summon.
• Tortured Gift chests in World Tiers I & II now require 75 Cinders instead of 100 to open.

Loot Rewards

• Resplendent Spark awards for defeating Tormented bosses can now be earned separately on both Hardcore and non-Hardcore modes.
• Resplendent Sparks and Scattered Prisms will no longer be automatically picked up. Additionally, these items can now be found in the lost items Stash if forgotten on the ground.
• Unique and Mythic Unique items can now be acquired from Whisper Caches, Purveyors of Curiosity, and Tortured Gifts in Helltide.
• The chance to find Mythic Unique items through all non-boss means has been increased.
• Treasure Goblin drop quality has been improved.
  • Can drop 1-3 Legendary items and 2-6 Rare items.
• Developer’s Note: The higher the number of Legendary Drops, the lower the number of Rare Drops. The opposite is also true. (Ex: If 2 Legendary items drop, then 4 Rare items will drop alongside.
  • Additionally Common Ore, Herbs, Leather, and Gem Fragments will always drop.
  • Treasure Goblins can also drop Forgotten Souls in World Tiers III & IV.
  • Treasure Goblins now have a 10/20/30% chance to drop 1-2 Scattered Prisms in World Tiers I & II/World Tier III/World Tier IV.
  • Treasure Goblins drop 1-2 Elixirs.
  • Gold drop increased (Ex: Level 1 in World Tier I: 40k Gold. Level 100 in World Tier IV: 150k Gold).

User Interface and User Experience

• Floating Combat Text has been updated to be more consistent and be more legible.
• Settings for Floating Combat Text have been added to allow players to further customize what sort of floating text they want to see.
• The Stats window now has a highlight for when the Armor Cap has been reached.
• The sections in the Stats window can now be collapsed and expanded as desired.
• Mythic Unique Items now have new visual effects and have a unique look in the Inventory for them to stand out more.
• Legendary Aspects can now be favorited and filtered while interacting with the Occultist.
• Shift-clicking a skill will now add 5 points (or as many as possible) to it in the Skill tree.
• The notification for unlocking and upgrading Aspects has been improved to be more prominent.
• A new setting has been added to display the Health and Resource bars above the player character’s head.
• Map pins dropped by party members now display a suggested path to match self-placed pins.

Miscellaneous

• For this Season, Helltide Chests no longer contain Obols.

Developer’s Note: Obols received from Helltide Chests were part of the Season 4: Loot Reborn Blessings only.

• This season’s Nightmare Dungeon rotation remains the same as the previous season.
• World Bosses are now more resilient to damage.
• Experience rewards for side quests, including Priority Quests (Ex: Gem Crafting Quest) and Class Quests, have been increased.
• Skills that grant Immunity, e.g. Flame Shield and Blood Mist, now only go on cooldown once the Immunity effect ends.
• We have made some updates to Crowd Control sources.
  • Hard Crowd Control from monsters now lasts 1.5 seconds on average, down from 2.5 seconds on average.
  • The maximum duration of monster hard Crowd Control is now 2 seconds.
  • Reworked some monster attacks that apply short hard Crowd Control effects frequently, so they no-longer chain these effects on players.
  • Additionally, Potions can now be used while Crowd Controlled.
• Certain tutorial quests, such as the quest for crafting a Gem, are now tracked account-wide for completion status.
• Various Dungeons have had tweaks to their layouts to further streamline them.
• More Weapon Types are now available to more Classes.
  • Druids can now use Polearms, 1-handed Swords, and Daggers.
  • Necromancers can now use Maces and Axes. This includes Butcher’s Cleaver being usable for Necromancers.
  • Sorcerers can now use 1-Handed Swords and 1-Handed Maces. This includes Azurewrath and Doombringer being usable for Sorcerers.
• Inherent Affixes on multiple Weapon Types have been changed.
  • Axes inherent Affix changed from Damage to Healthy Enemies to Damage Over Time.
  • Wands inherent Affix changed from Lucky Hit Chance to Vulnerable Damage.
  • Scythes inherent Affix changed from Life on Kill to Summoning Damage.
  • Staffs inherent Affix changed from Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies to Damage Over Time.
  • Bows inherent Affix changed from Damage to Distant Enemies to Critical Strike Damage.
  • Polearms inherent Affix changed from Damage to Injured Enemies to Vulnerable Damage.
  • Focus and Totem inherent Affix changed from Cooldown Reduction to Lucky Hit Chance.
• Enchanting no longer requires Angelbreath. Instead, it requires the legendary crafting material for the item slot.
  • Jewelry: Abstruse Sigils
  • Weapons: Baleful Fragments
  • Armor: Coiling Wards
• We increased the character level requirements for unlocking Smoldering Ashes in the Battle Pass.

Developer’s Note: This change was necessary due to increased XP gain rates that were allowing players to reach the character level requirement for Smoldering Ashes before they reached the corresponding Tier in the Battle Pass. We want to avoid instances that allow players to purchase Tier Skips to gain the benefits from of the Smoldering Ashes ahead of players who aren’t purchasing them. We will continue to iterate on this system in future seasons.

• We’ve increased the max level difference you can earn base monster experience from. The maximums have been updated:
  Developer’s Note: We wanted to properly reward players for pushing to a higher monster difficulty, especially since Profane Mindcages can now stack. With this change, max stacked Profane Mindcages should have an impact on experience gained.
  • World Tier I and II: 3 to 30
  • World Tier III: 6 to 30
  • World Tier IV: 10 to 30
  • Example of previous system at World Tier IV: A Level 60 player killing a Level 80 monster will reward experience equivalent of having killed a Level 70 monster.
  • Example of current system at World Tier IV: A Level 60 player killing a Level 80 monster will receive experience appropriate for a Level 80 monster.
• Boss Health has been reduced across the game.
  • Before:
    • WTI: 0%
    • WTII: 4000%
    • WTIII: 6500%
    • WTIV: 30000%
  • After:
    • WTI: 0%
    • WTII: 2000%
    • WTIII: 4000%
    • WTIV: 6000%
• Pit Boss damage has been reduced by 66% across the board.
• Shadow Pit Boss Affix attacks now apply a stacking damage debuff which stacks up to 3 times.
• At the third and final stack, Pit Boss damage is the same as Loot Reborn.
• The Bandit Sharpshooter boss has been replaced with Mother’s Judgement.

Developer’s Note: We’ve made this change to reduce the amount of one-shots that happen when fighting bosses in the Pit. Players should have more room to get hit by boss attacks up to a certain point.

Bug Fixes

Accessibility

• Fixed an issue where the Screen Reader didn’t identify Paragon Nodes when navigating the Paragon Board on controller.

Gameplay

Barbarian

• Fixed an issue where Fury Regeneration would malfunction when assigning the Tactical Rallying Cry Upgrade.
• Fixed an issue where the 5 second internal Cooldown for the Aspect of Ancestral Echoes was not listed in the Aspect’s description.
• Fixed an issue where stack granted by the Aspect of Limitless Rage could be inconsistently acquired.
• Fixed an issue where Charge could be used to bypass interaction channels, such as opening Helltide Chests.
• Fixed an issue where Earthstrikers Aspect could waste its guaranteed Overpower trigger on autocast instances. This includes triggers from Overkill and Ring of the Ravenous.
• Fixed an issue where bonus Fury generated by the Aspect of Berserk Fury didn’t grant Fortify when used in conjunction with the Aspect of Numbing Wrath.
• Fixed an issue where Whirlwind didn’t scale with Passive and temporary Attack Speed.
• Fixed an issue where the damage modifier for the Rumble Glyph was additive when fighting Crowd Controlled enemies. Rumble’s Damage bonus is now capped at 30%[x].
• Fixed an issue where Death Blow wasn’t being consistently reset when enemies were killed by shockwaves created by Overkill.
• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of Giant Strides did not reduce the Cooldown of Leap after killing enemies.

Druid

• Fixed an issue where the tooltip for Aspect of the Changeling’s Debt was missing the damage type indicator when using advanced tooltips.
• Fixed an issue where projectiles from Tyrael’s Might behaved erratically when used with Shred.
• Fixed an issue where the tooltip description for Enhanced Poison Creeper was missing information.
• Fixed an issue where Rabies did not fully benefit from the Toxic Claws Passive.
• Fixed an issue where the pull effect from Airidah’s Inexorable Will had a larger area of effect than intended.
• Fixed an issue where Enhanced Rabies was scaling beyond the 60% bonus if the Damage over time duration was extended.
• Fixed an issue where weapon drops for Druids were skewed towards 2-Handed Weapons.
• Fixed an issue where Lightning Storm didn’t scale with Passive and temporary Attack Speed.
• Fixed an issue where a second Boulder Projectile granted by the Tempering Affix did not deal any damage when used with Dolmen Stone.

Necromancer

• Fixed an issue where Skeleton Reapers could get both bonuses when using the Second upgrade option.
• Fixed an issue where the bonus Critical Strike chance from Supreme Bone storm did not trigger if Bone Storm was recast while another Bone Storm was still active.
• Fixed an issue where the Grasping Veins Aspect could apply its bonus without using Corpse Tendrils.
• Fixed an issue where Hellbent Commander’s effect could still function when removing points after entering a new zone.
• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of Frenzied Dead had an irrelevant addition of “Summoning” to its description.
• Fixed an issue where the Cooldown Reduction granted by Rapid Ossification didn’t apply to Bone Spirt when cast with 100 or more Essence.
• Fixed an issue where the Untimely Death Aspect was not gaining stacks when the player Healed values smaller than 1% of your max life.
• Fixed an issue where Reap didn’t scale with Passive and temporary Attack Speed.

Rogue

• Fixed an issue where the Methodical Dash upgrade didn’t reduce the Cooldown of Dash by the full, intended amount.
• Fixed an issue where Puncture could generate multiple combo points when additional resource generation was high.
• Fixed an issue where Rapid Fire used with Scoundrel’s Kiss and the Repeating Aspect behaved inconsistently.
• Fixed an issue where Shadow Clone didn’t deal damage with Rapid Fire.
• Fixed an issue where Rapid Fire did not have a range limit when used with Scoundrel’s Kiss.
• Fixed an issue where Scoundrel’s Leathers would properly function when a Core Skill hit a target that wasn’t explicitly aimed at.
• Fixed an issue where Forceful Arrow made targets Vulnerable after 2 hits instead of 3.
• Fixed an issue where Caltrops didn’t trigger Movement Speed from the Aspect of Explosive Verve.
• Fixed an issue where Improved Penetrating Shot didn’t display its duration on the Skill icon on your Action Bar.
• Fixed an issue where Victimize was double dipping its damage multiplier. A compensatory buff to Victimize was made here, as mentioned above.
• Fixed an issue where the Tempering affix for granting bonus movement speed per active Dark Shroud did not function properly.

Sorcerer

• Fixed an issue where damage from Shatter would double dip when multiple enemies were Frozen.

General

• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of the Crowded Sage was calculating using base Life instead of Maximum Life.
• Fixed an issue where Damage over Time effects were receiving the bonus from the %Damage Stat twice.
• Fixed an issue where Needleflare Aspect was doing excessive amounts of damage to bosses while also being hit by other monsters.
• Fixed an issue where the Elixir of Antivenin could be active alongside other Elixirs.
• Fixed an issue where Evade could trigger Yen’s Blessing.
• Fixed an issue where Elite Scorpion enemies with the Teleporter Affix didn’t actually teleport.
• Fixed an issue where the High Velocity Aspect was not restricted to Rogues.
• Fixed an issue where Items could disappear when opening many caches at once.
• Fixed an issue where Starlight did not properly work with Overhealing effects.
• Fixed an issue where Aspect of Frosty Strides couldn’t be imprinted onto Pants.
• Fixed an issue where the player couldn’t be revived if the player trying to revive them died right before the revive channel would have finished.
• Fixed an issue where the effect of Incense did not persist after death.
• Fixed an issue where using a Town Portal and using a Waypoint, or interacting with the World Tier statue, at the same time could cause the player to get stuck.

User Interface and User Experience

• Fixed an issue where there was no indication on how to unlock Tempering if the player failed to pick up their first recipe. The quest now properly guides the player to pick up the free recipe.
• Fixed an issue where, in certain circumstances, Legendary materials could appear in the Lost Items Stash but could not be withdrawn.
• Fixed an issue where certain tooltips, such as for Berserking, did not properly indicate whether or not their damage was additive or multiplicative.
• Fixed multiple instances where Aspect tooltips had inconsistent info in their descriptions.
• Fixed an issue where many Unique Items did not display Class restrictions.
• Fixed an issue where incompatible Mount armors could be selected in the Stablemaster menu.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an issue where materials from Season of the Malignant could drop in the Malignant Burrow.
• Fixed an issue where the Farther Together achievement couldn’t be earned properly.
• Various performance, visual, and stability improvements.

Blizzard are trying to smooth Diablo 4’s biggest issues before Vessel of Hatred and the Spiritborn debut, and since Season 5 will be shorter than usual, the Public Test Realm was key to testing all these changes.