Diablo 4 patch balances Necromancers and leaves Barbarians yearning

The newest patch notes for Diablo 4 have just been released, packed with a ton of exciting updates to the game ahead of its full release on June 6. In Diablo 4, numbers are crucial, just like in any action role-playing game. The game's captivating visual style initially grabs players' attention, but what really keeps them hooked is the freedom to create and customize their own unique characters.

The latest patch notes for Diablo 4, specifically version 1.0.2d, indicate that the game's various classes have not undergone significant alterations since its early access on June 3. Rather than introducing major changes to what early access users are already familiar with, the latest patch seems to concentrate on refining and fine-tuning existing features. Among the classes, the Barbarian class received the fewest adjustments, with the damage reduction from Challenging Shout being reduced and some tweaks made to the class' Legendary Aspects.

On the other hand, both necromancer minions and druid companions have received a defensive boost, resulting in reduced damage taken from damage-over-time effects. Necromancer abilities like Blood Lance, Blood Wave, and Army of the Dead have also been enhanced, bringing good news to necromancer builds that utilize these abilities. However, there has been a nerf to Paragon Glyphs in the game, with an overall reduction of 34%. Certain glyphs that previously increased critical strike chance and the potency of the vulnerability debuff have seen a more significant reduction of 66% in their power. Additionally, some node bonuses have been decreased by at least 50%.

In a blog post, Blizzard explained their rationale for the adjustments:

“Overall, we're quite happy with the performance of our Classes, but we know there is always room for improvement. Our goal behind these changes is to create a better balanced and enjoyable experience across the board.”

Another objective of the recent Diablo 4 update is to reduce the overreliance on specific class combinations and their synergies. The developers have expressed that certain builds were deemed to be “outside of our bounds for what is reasonable for the health of the game. As an example, we generally want to avoid creating situations where players can survive unreasonably high amounts of damage for long periods of time because it too greatly warps our vision for how combat should be in Diablo 4.”

Diablo IV patch notes 1.0.2d Build #42131

Below are the full patch notes shared by Blizzard:

The Diablo IV team has been diligently monitoring your feedback. As we introduce patches to keep your experience in Sanctuary smooth, we will update the below list and denote whether the fixes are intended for PC, Xbox, PlayStation, or all platforms.

June 3, 2023 - Diablo IV Patch Notes 1.0.2d Build #42131 (All Platforms)

Hello wanderer!

We’ve made some balance adjustments to Classes and want to provide our reasoning behind them. Overall, we're quite happy with the performance of our Classes, but we know there is always room for improvement. Our goal behind these changes is to create a better balanced and enjoyable experience across the board. Our updates fall into 3 categories:

1. While we want players to both feel and be truly powerful, some Class builds and synergies are outside of our bounds for what is reasonable for the health of the game, so we are reducing their effectiveness. As an example, we generally want to avoid creating situations where players can survive unreasonably high amounts of damage for long periods of time because it too greatly warps our vision for how combat should be in Diablo IV.

1. Some skills and builds are not as effective as we would like, so we're pushing out some buffs to increase their strength.

1. Paragon Glyphs are currently providing too much player power, so we're reducing their overall effectiveness.

An ideal we have carried throughout development and will uphold is that Class balance is a journey, not a destination. We want more Class builds to be fun, powerful, and competitive within reason.

Thank you all for supporting us, and we'll see you in Sanctuary!

Barbarian

Skill Changes

Challenging Shout

• Damage Reduction gained from Skill Ranks reduced from 4% to 2%

Legendary Aspect Changes

Bold Chieftain's Aspect

• Cooldown reduction per Nearby enemy reduced from 2.7-5.4 seconds to 1.0-1.9 seconds.
• Maximum Cooldown reduction from 12 to 6 seconds.

Aspect of the Dire Whirlwind

• Increased Critical Strike Chance per second reduced from 5-10% to 3-8%.
• Maximum Critical Strike Chance bonus reduced from 20-40% to 9-24%.

Item Changes

Gohr's Devastating Grips

• Explosion damage gained from Whirlwind reduced from 50-70% to 16-26%.
• Damage against wreckable objects no longer increases explosion damage.
• Explosion damage is only increased by the first 100 hits of Whirlwind.

Druid

Skill Changes

Pulverize

• Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 33% to 25%.

Lightning Storm

• Damage increased from 32% to 40%.

Grizzly Rage

• Maximum extended duration from kills reduced from 10 to 5 seconds.

Class Specialization

Obsidian Slam

• Kills required for bonus increased from 10 to 20.

Calm Before the Storm

• Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 15% to 10%.

Passive Changes

Electric Shock

• Damage bonus increased from 5/10/15% to 6/12/18%.

Legendary Aspect Changes

Shockwave Aspect

• Damage reduced from 90-130% to 60-100%.

Crashstone Aspect

• Critical Strike Damage reduced from 40-50% to 30-40%.

Lightning Dancer's Aspect

• Flat damage increased from .5-.6 to .7-.8.

Necromancer

Skill Changes

Blood Lance

• Damage increased from 67.5% to 80%.

Army of the Dead

• Damage increased from 30% to 45%.
• Cooldown reduced from 90 to 70 seconds.

Blood Wave

• Damage increased from 90% to 120%.

Passive Changes

Shadowblight

• Damage increased from 20% to 22%.

Grim Harvest

• Essence gained reduced from 3/6/9 to 2/4/6.

Serration

• Critical Strike Chance reduced from .5/1/1.5% to .3/.6/.9%.

Death's Defense

• Maximum Minion Life lost in a single damage instance reduced from 75/60/45% to 60/45/30%.

Class Specialization

Raise Skeleton

• Skeleton Warrior attack damage increased by 10%.

Golem

• Golem attack damage increased by 10%.

Blood Golem

• Blood Golem Life drain damage increased from 40% to 90%.
• Blood Golem Life drain healing from enemies hit increased from 4% to 5%.

Iron Golem

• Iron Golem slam damage increased from 25% to 175%.
• Iron Golem shockwave damage increased from 30% to 40%.

Necromancer Paragon Board Changes

Hulking Monstrosity

• Golem Life and damage bonus increased from 30% to 40% Life.

Cult Leader

• Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.

Rogue

Skill Changes

Twisting Blades

• Advanced Twisting Blades Cooldown reduction per enemy hit reduced from .25 to .1 seconds.
• Advanced Twisting Blades maximum Cooldown reduction reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.

Rapid Fire

• Damage increased from 24% to 30%.

Dark Shroud

• Damage Reduction per shadow gained from Skill Ranks reduced from .8% to .4%.

Dash

• Enhanced Dash Critical Strike Damage bonus from 20% to 15%.

Caltrops

• Damage increased from 30% to 40%.

Passive Changes

Concussive

• Critical Strike Chance reduced from 5/10/15% to 4/8/12%.

Legendary Affix Changes

Repeating

• Maximum Minion Life lost in a single damage instance reduced from 75/60/45% to 60/45/30%.

Sorcerer

Skill Changes

Arc Lash

• Lucky Hit Chance reduced from 30% to 14%.
• Glinting Arc Lash Cooldown reduction reduced from .25 to .15 seconds.

Teleport

• Shimmering Teleport’s Damage Reduction duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds.

Legendary Affix Changes

Aspect of Control

• Bonus damage reduced from 30-40% to 25-35%.

General

Miscellaneous Class Changes

Druid Companions and Necromancer Minions

• Maximum damage over time taken per damage instance reduced from 2% to 1% of maximum Life.

Paragon Board Changes

Rare Nodes

• Player Attack Speed nodes reduced by 50%.

Glyphs

• All Glyph Bonus scaling has been reduced by ~34%, except for the following:
• Critical Strike Damage Glyphs’ Bonus reduced by ~66%.
• Vulnerable Glyphs’ Bonus reduced by ~66%.
• Glyphs' Bonus to Rare nodes reduced by ~50%.
• Glyphs' Bonus to Magic nodes reduced by ~40%.
• Glyphs' Bonus to Cold/Fire/Lightning/Non-Physical/Physical nodes reduced by ~62.5%.

Monster Changes

• Significantly reduced the spawn rate of Treasure Goblins within PvP zones.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the name for the Light Bearer Mount.
• The Go to Shop button from the Wardrobe will now properly open the shop.
• Fixed an issue where if a Sorcerer uses Deep Freeze and is affected by another effect that would freeze them, it caused them to be permanently stunned.
• Miscellaneous stability and crash fixes.

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