Recently, the developers of Diablo 4 revealed more details about the content of Season 3 (Season of the Constructs). In addition to new features, the focus is on class balance. Less-played builds such as Meteor-Sorc will receive new uniques and buffs.
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In the developer livestream for Season 3, the Diablo 4 developers showcased some new uniques designed to assist wizards and druids, among others. Additionally, abilities that have been rarely used so far are set to be improved. However, it was also announced that overpowered builds like Ball Lightning will be toned down.
Below, you can find some of these new uniques for Season 3 and the developers’ ideas for class balance. The complete patch notes for Season 3 will be released today, on January 19, 2024, by Blizzard.
Diablo 4 Developer Livestream Before the Start of Season 3
Class Updates
Wizards receive a unique helmet that enhances the previously less-played Meteor build and receive buffs for certain Paragon nodes as well as the Meteor spell itself. Additionally, Lightening Spear is intended to make enemies more vulnerable.
Druids receive a new unique for Storm Totem builds, and some of the Spirit Boons are enhanced. Additionally, Frenzy is set to be buffed.
The Barbarian’s Charge will cause significantly more base damage. Additionally, some passives like Walking Arsenal receive buffs for the Barbarian. The Barbarian is intended to no longer have to focus entirely on shouts in the future.
The Hunter also receives some buffs for previously underutilized skills, especially ranged attacks. To enhance ranged builds, the legendaries Windforce, SkyHunter, and EagleHorn are getting buffs.
Necromancers will find their Blood and Iron Golems more appealing as the companions gain the ability to cleave. To improve group play, friendly players and NPCs are now allowed to move through Bone Prison. Additionally, an update for the Bone Spirit is in the works.
Bug Fixes and Class Nerfs
Overpowered builds such as the Ball Lightning Build for the Wizard will be toned down, and some errors will be addressed. Overall, the developers perceive Overwhelm as having too much strength and will weaken it.
We will likely only learn the details of these and other class changes in the extensive blog post later this evening.
Schedule for Patches in Season 3 – a Mid-Season Patch Planned
With the release of Season 3 on January 23, the new uniques and balance updates showcased here will be implemented for all classes. There will be more buffs than nerfs. Additionally, with the start of the season, item drop rates will be adjusted, such as higher item levels dropping in World Tier 4 compared to before.
The developers cannot promise major class overhauls in every season. Significant updates to itemization systems will also not occur in every season.
Mid-season updates will now introduce fan favorites like the Sinister Rings to the season, and there will still be class balance adjustments if a build is underperforming or excessively powerful.
Improvements in Season 3
Some challenges, such as PvP tasks, have been removed from the Season Challenge. To make completing later stages of the Season Journey more rewarding, the rewards will be enhanced.
With the earned ash, you can unlock new Seasonal Achievements (see image above).
For Season 3 of Diablo 4, some Quality-of-Life changes are planned, including an increased drop rate for summoning materials for Duriel and others, as well as an improvement for trading gold on consoles. In the developer stream, the devs mentioned again that the Challenge Dungeon will not be active at the launch of Season 3 but will be implemented shortly afterward.
