Diablo IV officially releases on June 6th – some players already have early access– and Blizzard has already released the first official update for the upcoming dungeon crawling and loot collecting RPG. There are a number of changes here worth exploring, but the key takeaway is simple: Four of the five classes have been significantly nerfed, while the Necromancer has only gotten stronger.
Continue reading: This is where you can actually start playing Diablo IV
the patch, Available now for all platforms, does a lot of the usual stuff you’d expect: fixing game crashes and stability issues, changing the spawn rate of certain monsters (like the moneybag-wielding Treasure Goblins that now appear less frequently in PvP areas), and fixing text issues. But the main thing the update does is tweak all five character classes, specifically nerfing four to make them a little sleazy while Necromancer is significantly strengthened. To all the barbarian, druid, rogue, and caster players out there, you’re all a bit weaker now. Ouch.
What will you do if that? Diablo IV Any nerfs coming for you?
The Barbarian, for example, has been hit with some of the worst nerfs. A few of his damage dealing abilities, such as Aspect of the Terrible Whirlwind And Challenging reputationHer power has been reduced. The same story applies to the druid, whose damage dealing and lucky strike abilities have also been reduced. Rogue and Wizard players have also been hit hard, with many of the Rogue’s and Wizard’s cooldown-reducing skills being nerfed teleport
Things are actually getting a little worse for Barbs and Sorcs in particular. Although the druid and the rogue have had some nerfs, at least some of their abilities, the druid’s Thunderstorm and that of the villain rapid fire, saw her damage mount. Unfortunately, this is all bad for barbarians and casters, as many of their cooldown reducing skills have had their fangs affected so their cooldowns have been reduced – such as the Barb’s Aspect of the Bold Chief and that of the sorcerer bowwhip– will now be longer. Overall, this update accounts for four of them Diablo IVThe five classes have significantly less power than before.
Continue reading: Diablo IVThe best class of ‘s just got better
All in all, the patch notes for the first major update to Blizzard’s looting RPG are pretty lengthy and full of numbers and percentages of all kinds. It’s worth reading them in full to understand how much better – or worse, if we’re being honest – some of the class abilities have become.
Full Diablo IV Sticky Notes
barbarian
- Ability Changes
- Challenging Scream’s damage reduction from skill ranks has been reduced from 4% to 2%.
- Legendary aspect changes
- Aspect of the Brave Chieftain cooldown reduction per nearby enemy reduced to 1.0-1.9 seconds from 2.7-5.4 seconds. Maximum cooldown reduction from 12 to 6 seconds. Aspect of the Terrible 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: Decreased the explosion damage dealt by Whirlwind from 50-70% to 16-26%. Damage against destructible objects no longer increases explosion damage. Explosion damage is only increased by the first 100 hits of Whirlwind.
Druid
- Ability Changes
- Pulverize lucky hit chance reduced from 33% to 25% Lightning Storm damage increased from 32% to 40%. Grizzly Rage: Reduced maximum extended duration on kills from 10 seconds 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
- Electrocute 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 hit damage reduced from 40-50% to 30-40%. Lightning Dancer splash damage increased from 0.5-0.6 to 0.7-0.8
necromancer
- Ability 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
- Shadow Blight damage increased from 20% to 22%. Grim Harvest essence gained reduced from 3/6/9 to 2/4/6. Serration critical strike chance reduced to 0.3/0.6/0.9% from 0.5/1/1.5% Death Defense: Reduced a minion’s maximum damage loss in a single damage instance to 60/45/30% from 75/60/45%.
- class specialization
- Skeleton Warrior attack damage increased by 10%. Golem Golem’s attack damage increased by 10% Golem’s hit damage increased from 25% to 175%. Iron Golem shockwave damage increased from 30% to 40%.
- Changes to the Necromancer Paragon Board
- Huge Abomination Golem health and damage bonus increased from 30% to 40%. Cult Leader damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
villain
- Ability Changes
- Twisting Blades Advanced Twisting Blades Cooldown reduction per enemy hit reduced from 0.25 seconds to 0.1 seconds. Advanced Twisting Blades maximum cooldown reduction reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds. Rapid Fire damage increased from 24% to 30%. Dark Shroud’s damage reduction per shadow gained through skill ranks has been reduced from 0.8% to 0.4%. Dash Improved dash critical damage bonus from 20% to 15%. Crow’s Feet damage increased from 30% to 40%.
- Passive Changes
- Concussion critical strike chance reduced to 4/8/12% from 5/10/15%.
- Legendary affix changes
- Repeated max minion health loss in a single damage instance reduced from 75/60/45% to 60/45/30%
wizard
- Ability Changes
- Arc Lash lucky hit chance reduced from 30% to 14%. Glinting Arc Lash cooldown reduction reduced from 0.25 seconds to 0.15 seconds. Teleport Shimmering Teleport damage reduction duration reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds.
- Legendary affix changes
- Aspect of Control damage reduced from 30-40% to 25-35%
Generally
- Various class changes
- Druid Companions and Necromancer Servants: Reduced maximum damage over time per damage instance from 2% to 1% of maximum health.
- Changes in the Paragon Board of Directors
- Rare NodesPlayer’s attack speed nodes have been reduced by 50%. Glyphs Scaling of all glyph bonuses has been reduced by approximately 34% with the following exceptions: Glyphs critical hit damage bonus has been reduced by approximately 66%. Vulnerable glyph bonus reduced by approximately 66%. Glyphs’ bonus on rare nodes reduced by approximately 50%. Glyph bonus on Magic Nodes reduced by approximately 40%. Glyph bonus on cold/fire/lightning/non-physical/physical nodes reduced by ~62.5%.
monster changes
- Treasure Goblin spawn rate in PvP zones has been significantly reduced.
Troubleshooting
- Corrected the name for the Lightbearer mount.
- The Go to Shop button in the Wardrobe now properly opens the shop.
- Fixed an issue where a caster would be permanently stunned when using Deep Freeze while being affected by another effect that would freeze them.
- Various stability and crash fixes.
stability
- Fixed an issue where gamers using high-speed NVMe SSDs would experience game crashes on launch.
- Fixed various issues that caused crashes.
- Fixed an issue where stuttering could occur on high-end (PC) machines.
Other
- Fixed an issue where some players were unable to enter their locale’s language when checking out in the shop.
