Patch 2.1

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Patch 2.1 was a major content patch for Reaper of Souls. It was developed during the spring and summer of 2014[1] and went live to the PTR for player testing in late June, 2014[2]. After numerous patches and changes and added content/features, Patch 2.1 finally went live on August 26, 2014.

New features added in Patch 2.1 include: Greater Rifts, Legendary Gems, the artisan Urshi, the Realm of Trials, The Cesspools tileset, Greed's Domain, Seasons, Seasonal Legendaries, and hundreds of changes to legendary items and class skills.

This article houses not just the patch notes, but extensive collections of changes made during the lengthy PTR period, tracking the evolution of various new game features.


Contents

Official Patch Notes[edit | edit source]

Numerous versions of the patch were rolled out over the course of the PTR testing, with major updates on: June 26th start date, July 11, July 18, August 5, and August 13.

The full final patch notes can be seen below.[1]



PATCH FEATURES[edit | edit source]

Seasons are an optional, recurring game mode that offers players the opportunity to periodically start fresh, leveling Normal or Hardcore characters from scratch without gold, resources, items, or previously earned Paragon experience. Similar to the separation between Normal and Hardcore game modes, Seasonal characters will have their own shared stash and artisan progression as well. Any items, gold, artisan progression, or Paragon experience earned during a Season will be rolled over to a player's non-Seasonal characters once the Season concludes.

Seasons offer unique rewards and new challenges for players, including new Legendaries, an exclusive Transmogrification set only available to those who compete in each Season, and new achievements called Conquests. Progress within a given Season will be tracked in our new Leaderboard system.

Formerly referred to as Tiered Rifts, Greater Rifts are a special type of timed Nephalem Rift. There are an infinite number of Greater Rift levels, and each Greater Rift level will be progressively more difficult than the last.

Completing a Greater Rift within its allotted time will allow players to progress to the next level (and if your time is exceptionally good, you may even skip multiple levels at once). Players can continue progressing through Greater Rift levels so along as they complete the Rift before its timer expires. Once a timer expires, players will reach the end of their current Greater Rift journey and their best results will be tracked in our new Leaderboard system.

With the addition of Seasons and Greater Rifts, we want to provide players with a way to measure their progress within each of those environments. To do so, we've created Leaderboards.

Leaderboards will track a variety of competitive player data including Greater Rifts clear times, Seasonal achievement point totals, and Seasonal Conquest completion ranking across several different game styles. Designed to be informative and detailed, Leaderboards will also allow you to compare your progress to that of players within your gameplay region, on your friends list, and in your clan roster.

In patch 2.1.0 and moving forward, players will now have a chance to spawn a new level environment while in a Nephalem Rift or Greater Rift: The Cesspools.

Originally designed as the sewers of Westmarch, we weren't quite able to include the Cesspools in the list of playable environments in Reaper of Souls by the time the expansion launched. Still, we loved the look and feel of this festering, dank underworld and have spent some time polishing it up for use in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts. We hope you enjoy this new randomized landscape!


GENERAL[edit | edit source]

  • An additional Stash Tab is now available for all players with Reaper of Souls
  • Players will now be disconnected from Diablo III upon being inactive for 30 minutes while outside of a game
  • Cooldown Reduction now affects the recharge time of skills with charges
  • Healing Changes
    • The amount of Life restored by Health Globes from Rare monsters has been reduced from 30% to 15%
    • The amount of Life restored by Health Globes from Champion and Minion monsters has been reduced from 20% to 15%
    • The amount of Life Regeneration and Life On Hit granted by items has been increased
      • These changes apply to all items from level 1 to 70
      • These changes are retroactive and will apply to existing gear
    • The amount of Life per resource spent granted by items has been significantly increased
      • These changes are retroactive and will apply to existing gear
    • Life on Hit is no longer affected by proc coefficients and will now only be triggered once per attack, as long as that attack dealt damage
      • Channeled attacks will provide an amount of healing over any given period of time that is equivalent to a non-channeled attack


CLASSES[edit | edit source]

  • Made a number of improvements to the AI of several pets:
    • Pets that belong to other players will now be less visible
    • Fixed a number of issues which could sometimes cause pets to not attack a nearby enemy or stand still and stop attacking the enemy they were currently attacking
      • Pets affected by these improvements include:
        • Call of the Ancients
        • Companion
        • Fetish Army
        • Gargantuan
        • Mystic Ally
        • Phalanx
        • Zombie Dogs


Barbarian[edit | edit source]

Philosophy

The Barbarian continues to receive changes to increase elemental diversity, providing more ways to build out your character. The Primary attacks Bash, Cleave, and Frenzy have all received adjustments to make them more attractive.

Furious Charge has received a number of changes to both make the skill more effective as well as more fun to use. We've looked at every aspect of Furious Charge including the timing of the animation, how far you can charge, and movement delays on your character after the ability ends.

Patch 2.1.0 brings changes to how the heroes of Sanctuary recover Life. Health globes are being de-emphasized while item and skill choices will be more prominent. Numerous healing related skills on the Barbarian have been increased.


Barbarian Active Skills[edit | edit source]

Bash

  • Weapon damage increased from 215% to 320%
  • Skill Rune - Clobber
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: "Frostbite"
      • Each hit freezes the enemy for 1.5 seconds, enemies can only be frozen once every 5 seconds
      • Deals Cold damage
  • Skill Rune - Instigation
    • Fury generated increased from 8 to 9
  • Skill Rune - Pulverize
    • Shockwave weapon damage increased from 70% to 100%
  • Skill Rune - Onslaught
    • Has been redesigned
      • The enemy hit has a 10% increased chance to be Critically Hit for 3 seconds
      • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning


Call of the Ancients

  • Weapon damage increased from 180% to 270%
  • Duration reduced from 30 to 20 seconds
  • Ancients should now more reliably hit moving targets
  • Korlic's Furious Charge ability now deals damage to enemies he passes through
  • Mawdawc's Seismic Slam ability now has a small knock up effect instead of the knock back
  • Skill Rune - Ancients' Fury
    • Fury gained per hit increased from 3 to 4
  • Skill Rune - Duty to the Clan
    • Has been redesigned
      • Enemies hit are now chilled reducing Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds
      • Chilled enemies have a 10% increased chance to be critically hit
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause the ancients to never use their bonus abilities
  • Fixed an issue that allowed the Ancients to snapshot attack speed when summoned


Cleave

  • Weapon damage increased from 150% to 200%
  • Fury generated increased from 5 to 6
  • Damage area has been increased from 120 to 180 degrees to more closely match the visual
  • Skill Rune - Broad Sweep
      • Weapon damage increased from 215% to 235%
      • Now hits all enemies around you
  • Skill Rune - Gathering Storm
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now Chills all enemies hit and causes them to take 10% increased damage from all sources for 3 seconds
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold


Earthquake

    • Weapon damage increased from 2600% to 4200%
    • Skill Rune - Cave-In
      • Damage type changed from Fire to Physical
  • Skill Rune - Giant's Stride
    • Secondary tremor weapon damage increased from 160% to 200%
  • Skill Rune - Molten Fury
      • Weapon damage increased from 4500% to 5100%


Frenzy

  • Weapon damage increased from 155% to 220%
  • Skill Rune - Berserk
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Sidearm
    • Weapon damage increased from 130% to 300%


Furious Charge

  • Weapon damage increased from 360% to 600%
  • Maximum charge distance increased from 35 to 60 yards
  • Radius of final damage cone increased from 15 to 20 yards
  • Furious Charge should now more reliably move around obstacles and corners
  • The travel speed has been significantly increased
  • The ending animation time has been significantly reduced and will now scale down with your attack speed
  • No longer alternates between using main hand and off-hand weapons
  • Skill Rune - Battering Ram
      • Weapon damage increased from 760% to 1050%
  • Skill Rune - Bull Rush
    • The stun has been replaced with a freeze
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
    • Has been renamed "Cold Rush"
  • Skill Rune - Dreadnought
      • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning


Ignore Pain

  • Now grants immunity to all crowd control effects while active
  • Skill Rune - Bravado
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now increases your run speed by 40% and knocks back enemies as you run
  • Skill Rune - Contempt for Weakness
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now instantly heals you for 35% of your maximum Life
  • Skill Rune - Ignorance is Bliss
    • Has been redesigned
      • Life per Fury spent increased from 4126 to 5364


Rend

  • Weapon damage increased from 1000% to 1100% over 5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Lacerate
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning
  • Skill Rune - Mutilate
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now causes enemies Chilled by Rend to take 10% increased damage from all sources
  • Skill Rune - Ravage
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Fire

Revenge

  • Weapon damage increased from 220% to 300%
  • Heal amount increased 2% to 4% of maximum Life per enemy hit
  • Skill Rune - Blood Law
    • Heal amount increased 4% to 6% of maximum Life per enemy hit
  • Skill Rune - Retribution
    • Weapon damage increased from 480% to 700%


Seismic Slam

  • Will now lock on to an enemy you targeted with your mouse if you hold down the button


War Cry

  • Skill Rune - Invigorate
    • Increased life per second from 8253 to 8315


Weapon Throw

  • Weapon damage increased from 185% to 275%
  • Skill Rune - Balanced Weapon
    • Fury generated increased from 8 to 9
  • Skill Rune - Ricochet
    • Slightly increased bounce range
  • Skill Rune - Mighty Throw
    • Weapon damage increased from 270% to 400%


Whirlwind

  • Weapon damage increased from 275% to 340%
  • Removed the movement speed reduction while Whirlwinding
  • Significantly increased proc coefficient
  • Skill Rune - Dust Devils
    • Tornado weapon damage increased from 80% to 120%
    • Tornadoes now travel approximately the same direction you are traveling
    • Increased duration and movement speed of the tornadoes
  • Skill Rune - Hurricane
    • Doubled the frequency at which enemies are pulled in


Wrath of the Berserker

  • Skill Rune - Slaughter
    • Damage caused by this rune can now trigger procs
  • Skill Rune - Thrive on Chaos
    • Life per fury spent increased from 4126 to 5364


Barbarian Passive Skills[edit | edit source]

Berserker Rage

  • Changed from maximum Fury to at or above 95% Fury


Bloodthirst

  • Life per Fury spent increased from 578 to 966


Inspiring Presence

  • Life regeneration increased from 1% to 2% of maximum Life per second


Weapons Master

  • Mighty Weapons
    • Fury per hit increased from 1 to 2
    • There is no longer a chance to gain Fury based on a proc coefficient, instead the amount of Fury gained will be affected by a proc coefficient
      • For example: A skill with a proc coefficient of 1 will generate 2 additional Fury, while a skill with a proc coefficient of 0.5 will generate 1 additional Fury


Crusader[edit | edit source]

Philosophy

In addition to numerous skill adjustments, there is a new six-piece set, Roland's Legacy, being introduced this patch. The set is focused on using either Sweep Attack or Shield Bash to get up close and personal with your foes. To better support this set we have revised Shield Bash to make it synergize very well with the new set.

We have buffed two-handed weapons across the board, and these changes are retroactive to existing two-handed weapons. To compensate, Heavenly Strength now reduces your damage done by 20%. The buff to two-handers is greater than the reduction to Heavenly Strength, so you should overall log in with more damage than before.

Patch 2.1.0 brings changes to how the heroes of Sanctuary recover Life. Health globes are being de-emphasized while item and skill choices will be more prominent. Numerous healing related skills on the Crusader have been increased.


Crusader Active Skills[edit | edit source]

Consecration

  • Life regeneration increased from 8253 to 32,185 per second
  • Skill Rune - Bathed in Light
    • Life regeneration increased from 12,379 to 48,278 per second


Judgment

  • Skill Rune - Penitence
  • Life regeneration increased from 1032 to 2682 per second


Justice

  • Skill Rune - Holy Bolt
    • Healing increased from 1651-2476 to 2146-3219


Laws of Hope

  • Life regeneration increased from 3714 to 10,728 per second


Laws of Justice

  • Skill Rune - Faith's Armor
    • Damage absorption increased from 20632 to 26821


Laws of Valor

  • Skill Rune - Invincible
    • Life on hit increased from 16505 to 21457


Phalanx

  • Avatar run speed increased from 100% to 200%
  • Skill Rune - Bowmen
    • Bug Fixes
        • Fixed an issue that caused the Bowmen to stop attacking when an enemy was in range, but out of line of sight


Provoke

  • Skill Rune - Cleanse
    • Life on hit increased from 825 to 1073


Punish

  • Skill Rune - Rebirth
    • Life regeneration increased from 4952 to 12,874 per second


Shield Bash

  • Movement speed while charging has been increased by 60%
  • Increased attack animation speed
  • Attack speed animation is now affected by Attack Speed
  • Skill Rune - Pound
    • Weapon damage increased from 1200% to 1320%


Smite

  • Skill Rune - Reaping
    • Life regeneration increased from 1238 to 6437 per second


Steed Charge

  • The duration for which you're restricted from casting other skills has been reduced from 1 to 0.4 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Rejuvenation
    • Life recovered increased from 10% to 15% of maximum Life


Sweep Attack

  • Skill Rune - Holy Shock
    • Life regeneration increased from 2063 to 5364 per enemy hit


Crusader Passive Skills[edit | edit source]

Heavenly Strength

  • Now reduces your damage dealt by 20% while wielding a two-handed weapon
    • This is in response to an increase in damage to all two-handed melee weapons and the goal is for the damage of Crusaders using Heavenly Strength to stay the same or increase slightly


Indestructible

  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue that caused players to become immune to crowd control and interrupt effects while the immune buff was active


Renewal

  • Life gained increased from 12379 to 16093


Vigilant

  • Life regeneration increased from 2063 to 2682


Wrathful

  • Life per Wrath spent increased from 825 to 1341



Demon Hunter[edit | edit source]

Philosophy

We've chosen to focus the Demon Hunter more on Cold skills and away from Poison skills. This change allows us to provide more Cold options to the Demon Hunter. Going from five to four elements for the class overall increases the likelihood you'll get an elemental damage bonus you want.

Preparation – Punishment has been redesigned. The previous gameplay encouraged using all of your Discipline for offensive purposes, which undermined the role of Discipline as a defensive or tactical resource.

Patch 2.1.0 brings changes to how the heroes of Sanctuary recover Life. Health globes are being de-emphasized while item and skill choices will be more prominent. Numerous healing related skills on the Demon Hunter have been increased.

  • Dexterity no longer grants Dodge chance
  • Dexterity now grants 1 Armor per point


Demon Hunter Active Skills[edit | edit source]

Bolas

  • Skill Rune - Acid Strike
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: "Freezing Strike"
      • Enemies have a 50% chance to be Frozen for 1 second when the Bolas trigger
      • Deals Cold damage


Cluster Arrow

  • Skill Rune - Maelstrom
    • Tendrils have been replaced with Rockets
    • Rocket weapon damage increased from 220% to 450%
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Shooting Stars
    • Rocket weapon damage increased from 400% to 600%


Companion

  • Skill Rune - Ferret Companion
    • Ferret movement speed has been increased by 150% when picking up gold


Elemental Arrow

  • Skill Rune - Frost Arrow
    • Slow effect changed to a Chill effect


  • Skill Rune - Screaming Skull
  • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: "Immolation Arrow"
      • Shoot a fiery arrow that hits an enemy for 300% weapon damage then explodes, immolating the ground for 315% weapon damage over 2 seconds in a 10 yd radius


Entangling Shot

  • Skill Rune - Chain Gang
    • Damage type changed from Poison to Physical


Evasive Fire

  • Removed cooldown on backflip
  • Backflip distance reduced from 15 to 5 yards
  • Increased the maximum distance from an enemy allowed to trigger the backflip effect
  • Skill Rune - Displace
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: "Focus"
      • Instead of backflipping, increases Hatred generated to 7
  • Skill Rune - Surge
    • Has been redesigned
      • Increases the backflip distance to 15 yards


Fan of Knives

  • Weapon damage increased from 450% to 620%
  • Skill Rune - Assassin's Knives
    • Weapon damage increased from 450% to 620%
    • Removed cast delay on the long-range knives
    • Long-range knives now seek out targets within a larger radius
  • Skill Rune - Bladed Armor
    • Duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds
    • Bonus Armor reduced from 65% to 40%
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Fan of Daggers
    • Stun duration increased from 2.5 to 3 seconds
    • Damage type changed from Lightning to Fire
    • Removed Knockback
  • Skill Rune - Knives Expert
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Fire
  • Skill Rune - Pinpoint Accuracy
    • Weapon damage increased from 1200% to 1600%
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning


Impale

  • Weapon damage increased from 620% to 750%
  • Skill Rune - Chemical Burn
    • Weapon damage increased from 220% to 500% over 2 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Grievous Wounds
    • Additional damage on Critical Hit increased from 130% to 330%
  • Skill Rune - Impact
    • Stun chance increased from 50% to 100%



Marked for Death

  • Added a 0.1 second cooldown to help prevent accidental double casting
  • Skill Rune - Death Toll
    • Heal amount increased from 1% to 3% of maximum Life per hit
  • Skill Rune - Grim Reaper
  • Damage dealt to surrounding enemies increased from 15% to 20%
  • Skill Rune - Mortal Enemy
    • There is no longer a chance to gain Hatred based on a proc coefficient, instead the amount of Hatred gained will be affected by a proc coefficient
    • For example: A skill with a proc coefficient of 1 will generate 4 additional Hatred, while a skill with a proc coefficient of 0.5 will generate 2 additional Hatred
  • Skill Rune - Valley of Death
    • Area increased from 12 to 15 yards
    • Damage bonus increased from 12% to 15%


Multishot

  • Skill Rune - Arsenal
    • Rocket weapon damage increased from 160% to 300%
  • Skill Rune - Burst Fire
    • Initial explosion radius increased from 12 to 15 yards
    • Damage type changed from Poison to Cold


Preparation

  • Skill Rune - Punishment
    • The Discipline cost has been removed
    • Now has a 20 second cooldown


Rain of Vengeance

  • Weapon damage increased from 1250% to 1500% over 5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Anathema
    • Weapon damage increased from 5400% to 5800% over 5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Dark Cloud
    • Weapon damage increased from 2650% to 3500% over 8 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Flying Strike
    • Weapon damage increased from 3200% to 3800% over 5 seconds
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Shade
    • Weapon damage increased from 2400% to 2800% over 5 seconds
  • Sill Rune - Stampede
    • Weapon damage increased from 4200% to 4600% over 6 seconds


Rapid Fire

  • Weapon damage increased from 525% to 685%
  • Skill Rune - Bombardment
    • Weapon damage increased from 465% to 545%
  • Skill Rune - High Velocity
    • Pierce chance increased from 40% to 50%
    • Damage type changed from Poison to Lightning
  • Skill Rune - Web Shot
    • Slow duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds
    • Slow effect changed to a Chill effect
    • Has been renamed Frost Shots


Sentry

  • Weapon damage increased from 200% to 280%
  • Skill Rune - Aid Station
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: "Polar Station"
      • Chills all enemies within 16 yards, reducing their movement speed by 60%
      • Deals Cold damage
  • Skill Rune - Chain of Torment
    • Weapon damage increased from 240% to 300% per second
    • Chain damage can now critically hit
  • Skill Rune - Impaling Bolt
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning


Shadow Power

  • Life on Hit increased from 8253 to 16093
  • Skill Rune - Blood Moon
    • Life on Hit increased from 16505 to 32185
  • Skill Rune - Gloom
    • Damage reduction increased from 15% to 35%
  • Skill Rune - Well of Darkness
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now reduces the cost to 10 Discipline


Smoke Screen

  • Skill Rune - Special Recipe
    • Cooldown has been removed
    • Now reduces the Discipline cost to 10


Spike Trap

  • Weapon damage increased from 250% to 340%
  • Skill Rune - Echoing Blast
    • Weapon damage increased from 250% to 420% per explosion
  • Skill Rune - Lightning Rod
    • Weapon damage increased from 280% to 500%
  • Skill Rune - Long Fuse
    • Weapon damage increased from 300% to 520% per explosion
  • Skill Rune - Sticky Trap
    • Weapon damage increased from 680% to 800%


Strafe

  • Weapon damage increased from 400% to 675%
  • Skill Rune - Demolition
    • Weapon damage increased from 340% to 460%


  • Skill Rune - Drifting Shadow
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning


  • Skill Rune - Emberstrafe
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: "Icy Trail"
      • Leave an icy trail in your wake that deals 300% weapon damage as Cold over 3 seconds and Chills enemies by 60%
  • Skill Rune - Rocket Storm
    • Weapon damage increased from 90% to 130%
  • Skill Rune - Stinging Steel
    • Extra damage on Critical Hit increased from 130% to 140%


Vault

  • Skill Rune - Acrobatics
    • Cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds


Vengeance

  • Skill Rune - Side Cannons
    • Heal amount increased from 1.5% to 3% of maximum Life per enemy hit


Demon Hunter Passive Skills[edit | edit source]

Awareness

  • Has been redesigned
    • Now when you receive fatal damage, you instead vanish for 2 seconds and regenerate 50% of maximum life
      • This effect has a 60 second cooldown


Brooding

  • Healing increased from 1.5% to 3% of maximum Life per second per stack


Cull the Weak

  • Clarified tooltip to state that it includes Chilled enemies


Perfectionist

  • No longer increases your Life by 10%


Monk[edit | edit source]

Philosophy

The mechanics of Exploding Palm caused the skill to be underpowered in some situations while simultaneously being overpowered in other situations. We have redesigned Exploding Palm to perform more consistently in a broad number of situations, which also gives us the flexibility to buff other skills on the class.

We've done a broad revision of how Spirit functions on the Monk overall. We looked at the rate of spending spirit versus generating spirit and have made changes to all the spirit generators as well as a number of spirit spenders such as Tempest Rush and Lashing Tail Kick.

The changes to Spirit synergize well with changes we have made to the Sunwuko Set which gives you benefit for spending spirit.

Patch 2.1.0 brings changes to how the heroes of Sanctuary recover Life. Health globes are being de-emphasized while item and skill choices will be more prominent. Numerous healing related skills on the Monk have been increased.

  • Dexterity no longer grants Dodge chance
Dexterity now grants 1 Armor per point
Maximum Spirit increased from 150 to 250


Monk Active Skills[edit | edit source]

Blinding Flash

  • Skill Rune - Replenishing Light
    • Spirit gained for each enemy you Blind increased from 7 to 10
  • Skill Rune - Soothing Light
    • Life regeneration bonus increased from 11,966 to 26,821 per second


Breath of Heaven

  • Healing increased from 53642-70147 to 69735-91192
  • Skill Rune - Circle of Light
    • Healing increased from 107284-140295 to 139469-182383
  • Skill Rune - Infused with Light
  • Extra Spirit generated by Spirit Generating attacks increased from 4 to 14


Crippling Wave

  • Weapon damage increased from 143% to 155%
  • Increased the Attack Speed scalar of the first and second hits
  • Skill Rune - Mangle
    • Weapon damage increased from 216% to 255%
  • Skill Rune - Rising Tide
    • Has been redesigned
    • Now generates 2.5 additional Spirit for each enemy hit
  • Skill Rune - Tsunami
    • Every third hit now also Freezes enemies for 1 second


Cyclone Strike

  • Skill Rune - Wall of Wind
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now Freezes enemies for 1.5 seconds after pulling them in


Dashing Strike

  • Weapon damage increased from 305% to 370%
  • Charge rate increased from 6 to 8 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Barrage
    • Weapon damage increased from 489% to 975% over 2 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Blinding Speed
    • Dodge bonus increased from 29% to 40%
  • Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Flying Side Kick
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Radiance
      • Gain 15% increased Attack Speed for 4 seconds after using Dashing Strike
      • Deals Fire damage
  • Skill Rune - Quicksilver
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning
  • Skill Rune - Way of the Falling Star
    • Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Holy


Deadly Reach

  • Weapon damage increased from 109% to 150%
  • Skill Rune - Foresight
    • Buff duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Keen Eye
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Searing Grasp
      • Increases weapon damage dealt to 260%
  • Skill Rune - Piercing Trident
    • Chance to knock enemies up on the third hit increased to 100%
  • Skill Rune - Scattered Blows
    • Third hit weapon damage increased from 156% to 215%
  • Skill Rune - Searing Grasp
    • Weapon damage increased from 200% to 260%
  • Skill Rune - Strike from Beyond
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now reduces the Spirit cost of your next Spirit spender by 8% for each enemy hit by the third hit


Epiphany

  • Skill Rune - Soothing Mist
    • Heal amount increased from 20,632 to 40,232
  • Skill Rune - Windwalker
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Insight
      • Increases bonus Spirit regeneration from Epiphany to 45 per second


Exploding Palm

  • Weapon damage increased from 1179% to 1200% over 9 seconds
  • Explosion damage has been changed from a percentage of the enemy's maximum Life to % Weapon Damage
  • Now deals 2770% weapon damage as Physical if an enemy dies while bleeding
  • Skill Rune - Creeping Demise
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: "Shocking Grasp"
      • Exploding Palm now arcs to another target up to 15 yards away
  • Skill Rune - Essence Burn
    • Weapon damage increased from 1623% to 1875% over 9 seconds
    • Weapon damage of the explosion DoT effect increased from 258% to 3260% over 3 seconds
    • This effect can no longer happen multiple times


  • Skill Rune - Impending Doom
    • Has been redesigned
      • Explosion now deals 6305% weapon damage
      • Now only deals damage if the target is killed


  • Skill Rune - Strong Spirit
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Holy
    • Spirit granted per enemy hit by the explosion increased from 10 to 15


Fists of Thunder

  • First and second hit weapon damage increased from 122% to 200%
  • Third hit weapon damage increased from 183% to 400%
  • Increased the Attack Speed scalar of the first and second hits
  • Skill Rune - Bounding Light
    • Weapon damage increased from 195% to 240%
  • Skill Rune - Quickening
    • Has been redesigned
    • Now increases Spirit generated to 20
  • Skill Rune - Static Charge
    • Additional weapon damage dealt to enemies affected by Static Charge increased from 125% to 180%
  • Skill Rune - Thunderclap
    • Shockwave weapon damage increased from 95% to 120%
  • Skill Rune - Wind Blast
    • Freeze duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds


Inner Sanctuary

  • Skill Rune - Intervene
    • Shield absorb amount increased from 68,332 to 107,284
  • Skill Rune - Safe Haven
    • Heal amount increased from 11,389 to 35,779 per second


Lashing Tail Kick

  • Weapon damage increased from 624% to 755%
  • Spirit cost increased from 30 to 50
  • Increased damage arc from 150 to 180 degrees
  • Skill Rune - Hand of Ytar
    • Significantly increased the damage radius
  • Skill Rune - Scorpion Sting
    • Stun chance increased from 85% to 100%
    • Stun duration increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Spinning Flame Kick
    • Weapon damage increased from 677% to 755%
    • Increased maximum projectile distance
    • Increased projectile speed
    • Significantly increased the Column's collision radius and height
  • Skill Rune - Sweeping Armada
    • Weapon damage increased from 671% to 825%
    • Significantly increased the damage radius
    • Removed the knockback and slow effects
  • Skill Rune - Vulture Claw Kick
    • Has been redesigned
      • Release a torrent of Fire that burns enemies within 10 yards for 755% weapon damage and an additional 230% weapon damage over 3 seconds
      • Deals Fire damage


Mantra of Evasion

  • Has been removed
  • Replaced with: Mantra of Salvation
    • Passive: You and your allies within 60 yards gain 20% increased resistance to all elements
    • Active: You and your nearby allies gain an additional 20% increased resistance to all elements for 3 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Agility
    • Passive: Mantra of Salvation also increases Dodge Chance by 35%
  • Skill Rune - Divine Protection
    • Mantra of Salvation also protects you and your allies when reduced below 25% Life, granting a shield that reduces damage taken by 80% for 3 seconds
      • Each target may be protected by this effect once every 90 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Hard Target
    • Passive: Mantra of Salvation also increases Armor by 20%
  • Skill Rune - Perseverance
    • Passive: Increases resistance to all elements bonus to 40%
  • Skill Rune - Wind through the Reeds
    • Passive: Mantra of Salvation also increases movement speed by 10%
      • This bonus movement speed can now exceed the cap


Mantra of Healing

  • Life regeneration increased from 4126 to 10,728 per second
  • Skill Rune - Heavenly Body
    • Has been redesigned
    • Passive: Mantra of Healing also increases maximum Life by 20%
  • Skill Rune - Sustenance
    • Life regeneration increased from 8,253 to 21,457 per second
  • Skill Rune - Time of Need
    • Has been redesigned
      • Mantra of Healing also reduces damage taken by 30% when below 50% Life


Mystic Ally

  • Weapon damage per hit increased from 40% to 130%
  • Skill Rune - Air Ally
    • Spirit generated increased from 2 to 4
  • Skill Rune - Earth Ally
    • Boulder weapon damage increased from 333% to 380%
  • Skill Rune - Enduring Ally
    • Life regeneration increased from 4176 to 10,728
    • Passive Life Regeneration is now increased by 30% of your Life per Second
  • Skill Rune - Fire Ally
    • Explosion weapon damage increased from 149% to 290%
  • Skill Rune - Water Ally
    • Wave attack weapon damage increased from 190% to 625%
    • Wave attack now Freezes enemies hit for 3 seconds


Serenity

  • Skill Rune - Peaceful Repose
    • Heal amount increased from 56,943 - 62,101 to 93,874 - 120,685


Seven-Sided Strike

  • Significantly increased proc coefficient
  • Skill Rune - Fulminating Onslaught
    • Explosion weapon damage reduced from 977% to 877% per hit
    • Significantly increased proc coefficient
  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause Fulminating Onslaught to end early even if there were valid targets remaining
  • Skill Rune - Pandemonium
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now removes the Spirit cost and Freezes all enemies hit for 7 seconds
    • Significantly increased proc coefficient
      • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold


  • Skill Rune - Several-Sided Strike
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Incinerate
      • Seven-Sided Strike causes enemies to burn for 630% weapon damage as Fire over 3 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Sudden Assault
    • Weapon damage increased from 6477% to 8285%
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning
    • Significantly increased proc coefficient
  • Skill Rune - Sustained Attack
    • Cooldown reduced from 17 to 14 seconds
    • Significantly increased proc coefficient


Sweeping Wind

  • Weapon damage increased from 30% to 105% per stack
  • Skill Rune - Blade Storm
    • Weapon damage increased from 40% to 145% per stack
  • Skill Rune - Cyclone
    • Tornado weapon damage increased from 23% to 95%
  • Skill Rune - Inner Storm
    • Spirit generated at maximum stacks has been increased from 4 to 8
  • Skill Rune - Master of Wind
    • Has been redesigned
      • Enemies damaged by Sweeping Wind for 3 consecutive seconds while the vortex is at 3 stacks will now be Frozen for 2 seconds
        • Enemies cannot be Frozen by Sweeping Wind more than once every 3 seconds


Tempest Rush

  • Weapon damage increased from 240% to 390%
  • The initial Spirit cost has been removed
  • The channeling cost has been increased to 30 Spirit
  • Skill Rune - Bluster
    • Buff duration increased from 2 to 4 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Flurry
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now creates an icy blast that deals 135% weapon damage as cold to all enemies within 15 yards when you stop channeling
      • While channeling you periodically build stacks that increase the damage of the blast
      • Each stack increases the weapon damage of the blast by 150% up to a maximum of 100 stacks
  • Skill Rune - Northern Breeze
    • Weapon damage increased from 285% to 500%
    • Reduces the channeling cost to 25 Spirit
  • Skill Rune - Slipstream
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Electric Field
      • Enemies within 20 yards are shocked for 135% weapon damage as Lightning every second while channeling


Wave of Light

  • Removed the additional damage dealt in a line
  • Weapon damage increased from 605% to 835%
  • Reduced delay from 1.4 to 1 second
  • Skill Rune - Empowered Wave
    • Has been redesigned
      • Increases bell weapon damage to 1045%
  • Skill Rune - Explosive Light
    • Significantly increased the size of the projectiles
  • Skill Rune - Numbing Light
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Shattering Light
      • Has been redesigned
        • Wave of Light is followed up by an additional 820% weapon damage as Cold in a line
                • Line damage can no longer hit targets that have already been damaged by the bell
  • Skill Rune - Wall of Light
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now has a 100% chance to stun enemies for 1 second


Way of the Hundred Fists

  • Weapon damage decreased from 192% to 190%
  • Removed the target cap on the third hit
  • Increased the Attack Speed scalar of the first and second hits
  • Skill Rune - Spirited Salvo
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: "Assimilation"
      • Each enemy hit by the third hit increased your damage by 5% for 5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Windforce Flurry
    • Wave of wind weapon damage increased from 191% to 500%


Monk Passive Skills[edit | edit source]

Chant of Resonance

  • Spirit generated increased from 2 to 4


Exalted Soul

  • Spirit generated increased from 2 to 4
  • Maximum Spirit bonus reduced from 100 to 50


Guiding Light

  • Has been removed
  • Replaced with: Alacrity
    • Increase the attack speed of Spirit Generators by 15%


One With Everything

  • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Harmony
    • 40% of your single elemental resistances from items instead increases your resistance to all elements


Provocation

  • Has been removed
  • Replaced with: Determination
    • Your damage is increased by 4% for each enemy within 12 yards of you up to a maximum of 20%


Relentless Assault

  • New passive skill
  • Available at Level 30
  • You deal 20% more damage to enemies that are Blind, Frozen, or Stunned


Resolve

  • Duration increased to 4 seconds
  • Added a spell effect for enemies that are affected by the debuff


Seize the Initiative

  • Has been redesigned
  • Damage dealt to enemies above 75% Life will now increase your Attack Speed by 30% for 4 seconds


Sixth Sense

  • Has been redesigned
    • Now reduces all non-Physical damage taken by 25%


The Guardian's Path

  • Dodge chance while dual wielding increased from 15% to 35%
  • Bonus to resource regeneration while wielding a two-handed weapon decreased from 35% to 15%


Transcendence

  • Life per Spirit spent increased from 248 to 429


Witch Doctor[edit | edit source]

Philosophy

In addition to changes to increase elemental diversity and improvements to underused runes, the Witch Doctor has also received a number of quality of life changes such a pet counter for fetishes.

Sacrifice has gotten a redesign this patch. Rather than sacrificing all of your active Zombie Dogs, using the skill will instruct one of your zombie dogs to run over and explode, dealing damage to enemies in the targeted area.

Patch 2.1.0 brings changes to how the heroes of Sanctuary recover Life. Health globes are being de-emphasized while item and skill choices will be more prominent. Numerous healing related skills on the Witch Doctor have been increased.

  • The collision boxes for the following pets have had their radii reduced
    • Zombie Dogs
    • Gargantuan
    • Fetishes


User Interface

  • An icon has been added to display the number of Fetishes summoned by Fetish Army that are currently alive
  • An icon has been added to display the number of Fetishes summoned by Fetish Sycophants that are currently alive
  • An icon has been added to display the remaining duration of Gargantuan - Wrathful Protector

Witch Doctor Active Skills[edit | edit source]

  • Skill Rune - Corpse Bomb
    • Damage type changed from Poison to Fire
  • Skill Rune - Slow Burn
    • Damage type changed from Poison to Cold


Corpse Spiders

  • Weapon damage increased from 324% to 576%
  • Skill Rune - Spider Queen
    • Weapon damage increased from 1575% to 2625%


Fetish Army

  • Skill Rune - Fetish Ambush
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Bug Fixes
    • Summoning your Fetish Army no longer unsummons Fetishes summoned by Fetish Sycophants


Gargantuan

  • Skill Rune - Humongoid
    • Cleave arc increased from 120 to 180
  • Skill Rune - Wrathful Protector
    • Bug Fixes
      • Fixed an issue that caused the Gargantuan summoned by this Skill Rune to receive a greater damage bonus from Attack Speed than intended


Grasp of the Dead

  • Skill Rune - Death is Life
    • Damage type changed from Physical to Poison


Haunt


Hex

  • Skill Rune - Hedge Magic
    • The Fetish Shaman should now more reliably heal 3 times per summon
    • Periodic healing increased from 24758 to 32185


Horrify


Locust Swarm

  • You will now move into range before casting if you are targeting an enemy that is out of range
  • Skill Rune - Devouring Swarm
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now grants 25 mana per second as long as the first enemy hit is still alive
        • Damage type changed from Poison to Cold


Mass Confusion

  • Skill Rune - Devolution
    • Chance to summon a Zombie Dog reduced from 50% to 30%


Poison Dart

  • Skill Rune - Flaming Dart
    • Weapon damage increased from 425% to 565% over 4 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Numbing Dart
    • Damage type changed from Poison to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Spined Dart
    • Damage type changed from Poison to Physical


Sacrifice

  • Has been redesigned
    • Now sacrifices a single dog at a time
    • The dog will now be thrown to you cursor location and detonates on impact
    • Weapon damage increased from 185% to 1090%
    • If you're wearing The Tall Man's Finger, the damage is tripled to 3270% weapon damage for sacrificing your dog
        • You do not gain additional damage if your giant dog represents more than 3 normal dogs
  • Skill Rune - Black Blood
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now stuns enemies in the impact area for 3 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Pride
    • Mana gained increased from 60 to 280 per dog
  • Skill Rune - For the Master
    • Has been redesigned
      • All your dogs will now be sacrificed in a single cast for 1300% weapon damage each
  • Skill Rune - Provoke the Pack
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now gain 20% increased damage for 5 seconds when you sacrifice a dog
        • This buff gains a stack with each cast and has a maximum of 5 stacks


Spirit Barrage

  • Skill Rune - Well of Souls
    • Damage type changed from Cold to Fire


Soul Harvest

  • Skill Rune - Siphon
    • Healing increased from 24758 to 32185 per enemy harvested


Wall of Zombies

  • Skill Rune - Creepers
    • Bug Fixes
        • Fixed an issue preventing this from spawning the full 3 creeper zombies


Witch Doctor Passive Skills[edit | edit source]

Circle of Life

  • Chance to summon a Zombie Dog has been reduced from 30% to 15%

Physical Attunement

  • Now limited to a maximum of 25 enemies


Wizard[edit | edit source]

Philosophy

The Wizard has received more elemental diversification as well as general buffs to a number of skills.

We've reviewed the Wizard's channeling skills such as Disintegrate and Ray of Frost. The intent is for channeling skills to be a fantastic choice when you are able to stand still for a few seconds, but are weaker than other skills if you are constantly moving and never stopping to channel. The mechanics of channeled skills on other classes already support this type of mechanic and we would like the Wizard's channeling skills to fulfill those same design goals.

Patch 2.1.0 brings changes to how the heroes of Sanctuary recover Life. Health globes are being de-emphasized while item and skill choices will be more prominent. Numerous shielding and absorption related skills on the Wizard have been increased.


Wizard Active Skills[edit | edit source]

Arcane Orb

  • Weapon damage increased from 381% to 435%
  • Skill Rune - Arcane Orbit
    • Explosion weapon damage increased from 236% to 265%
  • Skill Rune - Obliteration
    • Weapon damage increased from 509% to 700%


Arcane Torrent

  • Now initially deals 400% weapon damage and increases by 305% weapon damage every second up to a maximum of 1010%
  • Skill Rune - Arcane Mines
    • Weapon damage increased from 688% to 825%
  • Skill Rune - Death Blossom
    • Now initially deals 1215% weapon damage and increases by 640% weapon damage every second up to a maximum of 2495%
  • Skill Rune - Disruption
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Flame Ward
      • You take 15% less damage from attacks while channeling, increasing by 5% every second up to a maximum of 25% damage reduction
      • Deals Fire damage
  • Skill Rune - Power Stone
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Static Discharge
      • Each missile explodes into 2 piercing bolts of electricity that each deal 150% weapon damage as Lightning


Archon

  • Now makes you immune to all crowd control effects


Black Hole

  • Weapon damage increased from 360% to 700% over 2 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Blazar
    • Explosion weapon damage increased from 464% to 725%
  • Skill Rune - Supermassive
    • Weapon damage increased from 570% to 1290% over 2 seconds


Blizzard

  • Weapon damage increased from 807% to 1075%
  • Skill Rune - Frozen Solid
    • Freeze chance and duration increased from 40% for 1.5 seconds to 100% for 2.5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Grasping Chill
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Lightning Storm
      • Enemies affected by Blizzard take 15% increased Lightning damage
      • Deals Lightning damage
  • Skill Rune - Snowbound
    • Arcane Power cost reduced from 13 to 10
  • Skill Rune - Stark Winter
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Apocalypse
      • Increases the damage radius of Blizzard to 30 yards
      • Does Fire damage


Diamond Skin

  • Damage absorption increased from 71798 to 93337
  • Skill Rune - Crystal Shell
    • Damage absorption increased from 143596 to 186674


Disintegrate

  • Now initially deals 390% weapon damage and increases by 250% weapon damage every second up to a maximum of 890%
  • Skill Rune - Convergence
    • Damage type changed from Arcane to Fire
  • Skill Rune - Entropy
    • Now initially deals 435% weapon damage and increases by 340% weapon damage every second up to a maximum of 1115%


Electrocute

  • Additional jumps no longer deal reduced damage


Energy Twister

  • Weapon damage increased from 1000% to 1525%
  • Twisters now originate from the player's click location
  • Skill Rune - Raging Storm
    • Weapon damage increased from 1935% to 3200%
  • Skill Rune - Wicked Wind
    • Weapon damage increased from 743% to 835%


Explosive Blast

  • Weapon damage increased from 616% to 945%
  • Skill Rune - Chain Reaction
    • Weapon damage increased from 320% to 520%
  • Skill Rune - Obliterate
    • Weapon damage increased from 760% to 990%
    • Damage type changed from Arcane to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Time Bomb
    • Has been removed
    • Replaced with: Flash
      • Reduces the cooldown of Explosive Blast to 3 seconds
      • Deals Lightning Damage
  • Skill Rune - Unleashed
    • Weapon damage increased from 970% to 1485%


Familiar

  • Weapon damage increased from 179% to 240%
  • Skill Rune - Arcanot
    • Arcane Power regeneration increased from 2 to 4.5 per second
  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Sparkflint from procing Conflagrate, Firebird's Finery (6) Set Bonus and other Fire related passives


Hydra

  • Weapon damage increased from 66% to 195%
  • Skill Rune - Arcane Hydra
    • Weapon damage increased from 111% to 245%
  • Skill Rune - Blazing Hydra
    • Weapon damage increased from 108% to 185% over 3 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Frost Hydra
    • Weapon damage increased from 108% to 275%


  • Skill Rune - Mammoth Hydra
    • Weapon damage increased from 178% to 400%


Ice Armor

  • Skill Rune - Frozen Storm
    • Weapon damage increased from 28% to 80%


Magic Missile

    • Weapon damage increased from 170% to 230%
  • Skill Rune - Charged Blast
    • Weapon damage increased from 240% to 325%
  • Skill Rune - Conflagrate
    • Has been redesigned
      • Magic Missile pierces through enemies and causes them to burn for 130% weapon damage over 3 seconds
      • Burn damage stacks up to 3 times and Fire damage you deal with other skills to burning enemies refreshes all stacks to their maximum duration
  • Skill Rune - Seeker
    • Weapon damage increased from 211% to 285%


Magic Weapon

  • Skill Rune - Conduit
    • Design has been modified
      • Enemies hit by your attacks now restore up to 3 Arcane Power


  • Skill Rune - Deflection
    • Shield amount increased from 8253 to 10728
  • Skill Rune - Ignite
  • Weapon damage increased from 86% to 300%


Meteor

  • Impact weapon damage increased from 501% to 740%
  • Molten fire weapon damage increased from 167% to 235% over 3 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Comet
    • Has been redesigned
    • Summon a Comet that deals 740% weapon damage as Cold on impact and Freezes Chilled enemies for 1 second
      • The impact site is covered in an icy mist that deals 235% weapon damage as Cold over 3 seconds and chills enemies by 60%
  • Skill Rune - Molten Impact
    • Molten fire weapon damage increased from 549% to 625% over 3 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Star Pact
    • Has been redesigned
      • Expend all remaining Arcane Power
      • Each point of extra Arcane Power spent increased the damage of Meteor by 20%


Ray of Frost

  • Now initially deals 430% weapon damage and increases by 405% weapon damage every second up to a maximum of 1240%
  • Skill Rune - Black Ice
    • Weapon damage increased from 1204% to 1625% over 3 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Sleet Storm
    • Now initially deals 300% weapon damage and increases by 220% weapon damage every second up to a maximum of 740%
  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Ray of Frost from hitting short enemies when Light of Grace was equipped


Slow Time

  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue preventing players from having multiple Slow Time bubbles out at once


Spectral Blade

  • Skill Rune - Barrier Blades
    • Shield amount increased from 8253 to 10728
  • Skill Rune - Thrown Blade
    • Damage type changed from Arcane to Lightning


Storm Armor

  • Weapon damage increased from 147% to 175%
  • Skill Rune - Shocking Aspect
    • Electrocute weapon damage increased from 51% to 425%
  • Skill Rune - Thunder Storm
    • Weapon damage increased from 194% to 315%


Teleport

  • Bug Fixes
  • Fixed an issue that could sometimes prevent you from being returned to your original location


Wave of Force

  • Weapon damage increased from 351% to 390%
  • Skill Rune - Arcane Attunement
    • Damage bonus increased from 2% to 4% per enemy hit
  • Skill Rune - Debilitating Force
    • Damage reduction amount and duration increased from 10% for 3 seconds to 20% for 4 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Heat Wave
    • Weapon damage increased from 427% to 475%
  • Skill Rune - Static Pulse
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now restores 1 Arcane Power for each enemy hit


Wizard Passive Skills[edit | edit source]

Arcane Dynamo

  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Hydra from gaining increased damage from Arcane Dynamo


Astral Presence

  • Arcane Power generation increased from 2 to 2.5 per second


Cold Blooded

  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue that could sometimes prevent skills from refreshing this skill when their Chilled duration was refreshed
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Hydra from applying Cold Blooded


Dominance

  • Shield amount increased from 12379 to 16093


Elemental Exposure

  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue that prevented Hydra from applying Elemental Exposure


Galvanizing Ward

  • Shield amount increased from 62720 to 81536


Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused Arcane Torrent, Disintegrate and Ray of Frost to charge an upfront resource cost in addition to their channeling cost


Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue that was preventing a number of abilities that reduce monster damage from properly reducing the damage of some monster affixes


ITEMS[edit | edit source]

  • The sell value of Health Potions and dyes has been reduced to 1 gold
  • The base damage range of all two-handed melee weapons has been increased by approximately 26-30% depending on the speed of the weapon, with slower weapons receiving a slightly higher increase
    • This change affects weapons from level 10 - 70
    • This change will retroactively apply to existing items
    • This change will apply to all item rarities
    • As a direct result of this change, the Crusader Passive Skill, Heavenly Strength has also been adjusted

Amethysts

  • The amount of Life on Hit provided by the top 4 ranks of Amethysts has been significantly increased
    • Imperial increased from 800 to 3000
    • Flawless Imperial increased from 900 to 6400
    • Royal increased from 1000 to 8800
    • Flawless Royal increased from 1100 to 11200

A new Legendary consumable has been added: Ramaladni's Gift

  • Ramaladni's Gift can be used to add a socket to an unsocketed weapon
  • The added socket provided by Ramaladni's Gift cannot be enchanted
  • You cannot use Ramaladni's Gift on a weapon more than once
  • Similarly, you cannot use Ramaladni's Gift on a weapon that already has a socket
  • Upon use, Ramaladni's Gift will be consumed (i.e. the item cannot be used more than once)
  • With Ramaladni's Gift, you can however:
    • Replace a natural socket on a weapon with another primary stat (like VIT or STR or INT), and then use Ramaladni's Gift after.
    • Replace a re-rolled socket on a weapon with another primary stat (like VIT or STR or INT), and then use Ramaladni's Gift after.
    • Enchant a weapon after a socket has been added using Ramaladni's Gift (you just won't be able to re-roll another socket on that particular weapon)

Legendary Gems have been added

  • Legendary Gems can only be dropped by Greater Rift Guardians and Greed, Baroness of the Vault
  • Legendary Gems are Account Bound and can only be socketed into Rings and Amulets
  • Legendary Gems can be upgraded by speaking with Urshi (a new NPC) inside a Greater Rift
    • Urshi will appear every time a Greater Rift Guardian is defeated and will allow you to choose to upgrade either your Greater Rift Keystone or a Legendary Gem
      • Upgrading a Greater Rift Keystone will allow you to continue on to a more challenging Greater Rift
      • In order to upgrade your Rift Keystone, you must complete the current Greater Rift level within the designated time limit
      • Urshi will grant you three attempts to upgrade your Legendary Gems
      • The chance for an upgrade attempt to succeed is based on a combination of the rank of the Legendary Gem you're attempting to upgrade and the level of Greater Rift you reached
      • As a Legendary Gem's rank gets closer to the level of Greater Rift you've completed, the chance of success decreases
      • Finally, once the rank of a Legendary Gem exceeds the level of Greater Rift you're able to complete the chance to upgrade is cut in half for each rank above the Greater Rift level you completed
        • For example: If you attempt to upgrade a rank 1 Legendary Gem in a level 30 Greater Rift the chance for success is 100%; however a rank 31 Legendary Gem will only have a 30% chance for success in a level 30 Greater Rift and a level 32 Legendary Gem will have a 15% chance of success

The only requirement to upgrade a Legendary Gem is the gem itself; there is no other cost associated with upgrading

  • Each Legendary Gem has a property listed in blue that will be upgraded each time the gem's rank increases
  • Each Legendary Gem has a secondary power that will be unlocked when it reaches rank 25
  • Players will not receive a duplicate of any Legendary Gem the character they're currently playing has access to
    • This includes Legendary Gems in the character's inventory, its followers' inventories, or the Shared Stash, as well as Legendary Gems socketed in items in those locations

Bovine Bardiche

  • The chance to summon cows has been increased to 100%
    • Note: The cooldown on the Legendary Power still applies
      • The summoned cows should now be significantly more murderous
      • The summoned cows should now be significantly more durable

Bul-Kathos's Wedding Band

  • The Life drain effect on this is now capped at 2000% weapon damage per second

Etrayu

  • Now rolls with +15-20% Cold damage


Heart Slaughter

  • Now rolls with +25-30% Physical damage


Mad Monarch's Scepter

  • Now counts assists in addition to kills


Rimeheart

  • Has been redesigned
    • 10% chance to instantly deal 10,000% weapon damage as Cold to Frozen enemies
    • The Legendary Power now has a fixed damage number


Stalgard's Decimator

  • Weapon damage increased from 275-350% to 550-650%
    • This change will apply retroactively
      • Legendary Power can now proc from Rend, Whirlwind, Cyclone Strike, Tempest Rush, and Shield Bash
      • Can no longer smart roll for Witch Doctor or Wizard


The Furnace

  • Has been redesigned
    • Increases damage against elites by 40-50%


Scourge

  • Explosion weapon damage increased from 130-160% to 1800-2000%


Uskang

  • Now rolls with +15-20% Lightning damage


Wrath of the Bone King

  • Now rolls with +25-30% Cold damage


Several existing Legendary items have been updated to include a unique Legendary power

  • Note: Existing items will not be affected by the following changes. Only new versions of the items will roll with the added Legendary. power.


Depth Diggers

  • Legendary Power added
    • All resource generators deal 80-100% more damage


Kymbo's Gold

  • Legendary Power added
    • Picking up gold heals you for an amount equal to the gold that was picked up


Leoric's Crown

  • Legendary Power added
    • Increase the effect of any gem socketed into this item by 75-100%


-[Sash of Knives]]

  • Legendary Power added
    • Chance on attack to throw a dagger at a nearby enemy for 275-350% weapon damage


Barbarian

  • Added a +% Furious Charge item affix
  • Can now roll on 2H Mighty Weapons, Chest Armor, and Shoulders
  • Added a +% Call of the Ancients item affix
  • Can now roll on 2H Mighty Weapons, Chest Armor, and Shoulders

Fury of the Vanished Peak

  • Now rolls +25-30% Seismic Slam damage as a fifth primary affix


Immortal King's Eternal Reign

  • (3) Set
    • Life per Fury spent increased from 289 to 500

Madawc's Sorrow

  • Stun duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds


Might of the Earth

  • Earthquakes caused by the Might of the Earth set will once again generate Fury through the Earthen Might Passive Skill


The Legacy of Raekor

  • (5) Set Bonus
    • The damage type dealt by Furious Charge will now be based on the element of the Skill Rune you're currently using


Crusader

  • The +% Cold Damage affix will no longer smart drop for Crusaders

Roland's Legacy

  • (2) Set Bonus
    • +500 Strength
  • (4) Set Bonus
    • +100% Shield Bash Damage
    • +100% Sweep Attack Damage
  • (6) Set Bonus
    • Hitting an enemy with Shield Bash or Sweep Attack grants 20% Attack Speed for 3 seconds, stacking up to 5 times


Unrelenting Phalanx

  • New Legendary Crusader Shield
  • Allows Phalanx to summon twice as many Avatars
  • Applies to all rune variants


Blade of Prophecy

  • The text on this item no longer improperly states that all enemies hit by Condemn will trigger another explosion


Fate of the Fell

  • Extra Fires of Heaven hits will now be able to generate procs


Jekangbord

  • Extra Blessed Shield hits will now be able to generate procs


Demon Hunter

  • The +% Poison Damage affix will no longer smart drop for Demon Hunters

Balefire Caster

  • Now rolls with +15-20% Fire damage

Embodiment of the Marauder

  • (6) Set Bonus
    • Fixed an issue that caused Hatred spenders cast by the Sentries to have a slower attack speed than intended

Natalya's Vengeance

  • (4) Set Bonus
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 2 seconds per kill
    • Now also triggers on assists


The Shadow's Mantle

  • (2) Set Bonus
    • Now, upon receiving fatal damage you instead automatically cast Smoke Screen and are healed to 25% Life
    • This effect may only occur once every 120 seconds
  • (4) Set Bonus
    • Has been redesigned
      • Now enables all Shadow Power runes


Wojahnni Assaulter

  • New Crossbow
  • Rapid Fire deals 30-40% more damage per second, stacks up to 4 times


Monk

Flying Dragon

  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue preventing this item from correctly granting +100% Attack Speed

Gyana Na Kashu

  • Fireball weapon damage increased from 300-400% to 525-700%


Inna's Mantra

  • (2) Set
    • Life per Spirit spent increased from 124 to 200

Incense Torch of the Grand Temple

  • Has been redesigned
    • Reduces the Spirit cost of Wave of Light by 40-50%
    • Now rolls +25-30% Wave of Light damage as a fifth primary affix


Monkey King's Garb

  • (4) Set
    • Weapon damage increased from 1600% to 3500%
    • The decoy will now attempt to spawn next to an enemy at your cast location
      • If it doesn't find any enemies near your cast location, it will attempt to spawn next to an enemy near you
      • If it doesn't find any enemies near you, it will spawn in a random location near you


Shenlong's Spirit

  • (2) Set
    • Energy ball weapon damage increased from 300% to 1200%
    • Spirit generation increased from 1 to 4 per second
    • Energy ball size significantly increased
    • The internal cooldown is now reduced by Attack Speed


The Fist of Az'Turrasq

  • Has been redesigned
  • Now increases Exploding Palm's on-death explosion damage by 75-100%


The Flow of Eternity

  • Cooldown reduction for Seven-Sided Strike increased from 45-50% to 45-60%


The Laws of Seph

  • Sprit gained increased from 75 - 100 to 125 - 165


Tzo Krin's Gaze

  • Now rolls with 20 - 25% increased Wave of Light damage


Witch Doctor

The Dagger of Darts

  • New Ceremonial Dagger
  • Your Poison Darts and your Fetishes' Poison Darts now pierce


The Gidbinn

  • Fetishes spawned by The Gidbinn should now work with the Fierce Loyalty passive and Carnevil's Legendary Power


Wizard

Firebird's Finery

  • (6) Set Bonus
    • Has been redesigned
      • Dealing Fire damage causes the enemy to take the same amount of damage over 3 seconds, stacking up to 3000% weapon damage as Fire per second
      • After reaching 3000% damage per second, the enemy will burn until they die


Mirrorball

  • Extra Magic Missile hits will now be able to generate procs


Several existing class-specific Legendary items have been updated to now include a unique Legendary power

  • Note: Existing items will not be affected by the following changes. Only new versions of the items will roll with the added Legendary. 
  • Barbarian
    • Bastion's Revered
      • Legendary Power added
        • Increases maximum number of Frenzy stacks to 10
  • Lamentation
    • Legendary Power added
    • Allows Rend to be applied twice


Vile Ward

  • Legendary Power added
    • Furious Charge deals 30-35% increased damage for every enemy hit while charging


Crusader

Angel Hair Braid

  • Legendary Power added
  • Allows Punish to gain the effect of all runes


Eternal Union

  • Legendary Power added
    • Increases the duration of all Phalanx Avatars by 200%


Demon Hunter


Silver Star Piercers

  • Legendary Power added
    • Chakram now generates 3-4 Hatred


Monk

Madstone

  • Legendary power added
    • Apply Exploding Palm to enemies hit by Seven-Sided Strike


The Crudest Boots

  • Legendary power added
    • Mystic Ally summons two Mystic Allies to fight by your side
      • Minimum level increased to 22


Wizard

  • The Grand Vizier
    • Legendary power added
      • Reduces the Arcane Power cost of Meteor by 40%-50%
      • Now rolls +25-30% Meteor damage as a fifth primary affix


The Swami

    • Minimum level increased to 30
    • Legendary Power added
      • The damage bonus from enemies killed while in Archon form now lasts for 10-15 seconds after Archon expires


Seasonal Legendary Items[edit | edit source]

General

Krelm's Buff Belt

  • New Legendary Belt
  • Grants a 25% Movement Speed bonus
  • Taking damage causes you to lose this effect for 5 seconds

Krelm's Buff Bracers

  • New Legendary Bracers
  • Grant you immunity to Knockback and Stun effects

New Legendary Follower items


Barbarian

Remorseless

  • New Legendary one-handed Mighty Weapon
    • Grants Hammer of the Ancients a 25-30% chance to summon an Ancient for 20 seconds


Crusader

  • Frydher's Wrath
    • New Legendary Crusader Shield
    • Removes the cooldown of Condemn
    • Condemn now costs 40 Wrath


Demon Hunter

  • Leonine Bow of Hashir
    • New Legendary Bow
      • Grants Bola Shot a 15-20% chance on explosion to pull in all enemies within 24 yards


Monk

  • Vengeful Wind
    • New Legendary Fist Weapon
    • Increases the maximum stack count of Sweeping Winds by 3

Witch Doctor

  • Sacred Harvester
    • New Legendary Ceremonial Dagger
    • Soul Harvest now stacks up to 10 times


Wizard

  • Aether Walker
    • New Wand
    • Removes the cooldown of Teleport
    • Teleport now costs 25 Arcane Power


Legendary items that directly deal damage should now all properly benefit from the appropriate +% Elemental Damage item affix, including:


Fixed an issue that caused Nemesis Bracers to only spawn Fallen Champions when used inside Nephalem Rifts

  • Fixed an issue that prevented players from purchasing class-specific Legendary items for other classes from Kadala
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the Frostburn Guantlets Freeze effect from being triggered by Sentry - Polor Station attacks
  • Fixed an issue that prevented some crafted level 70 Legendary items from being able to roll Thorns damage
  • Fixed an issue that could sometimes prevent the thrown axe created by Stalgard's Decimator from piercing

ACHIEVEMENTS[edit | edit source]

Champion Subjugators will now properly be counted towards Achievements

  • Fixed an issue preventing some of the criteria for the On the Edge of Reality achievement from being completed in Adventure Mode
  • A Prisoner's Journal should now properly drop after freeing the prisoner from the A Stranger In Need event
  • Players should now properly receive credit when completing Realm of the Banished in Adventure Mode for the Dungeon Master Achievement
  • Fixed an issue that prevented looted follower tokens from progressing the [[I Got What You Need[[ achievement
  • The Swamp Hawks needed to complete the Stamp the Champs achievement should now properly spawn


ADVENTURE MODE[edit | edit source]

  • The following Bounties have had their gold and XP reward values decreased:
    • Act I - Clear Khazra Den
    • Act II - Complete event: A Miner's Gold
    • Act III - Clear Cryder's Outpost
    • Act III - Clear Forward Barracks
    • Act IV - Clear Hell Rift level 2
    • Act V - Complete event: The Miser

The cost to open a Nephalem Rift has been reduced from 5 Rift Fragments (total) to 1 Rift Fragment (per player)

  • Each player must pay the 1 Rift Fragment cost in order to enter a Nephalem Rift
  • You can no longer click the Rift Obelisk to open a new rift while one is already open
  • Conduit Pylon duration reduced from 30 to 15 seconds only while in a Greater Rift

Fixed an issue that allowed the matchmaking system to place players in games with open rifts where the Rift Guardian has already been killed

Rift Keystone Fragments should no longer be improperly consumed from your Stash if you have more than one stack in your inventory


CRAFTING[edit | edit source]

  • The number of Magic materials required to craft Legendary and set Bracers has been reduced from 120 to 72
  • New buttons have been added to salvage all normal, magic, or rare quality items in your inventory at once
    • These buttons unlock when the Blacksmith reaches maximum level

When Transmogrifying an item with existing visual effects into a Legendary item, the original item's visual effects will no longer be displayed in addition to the Legendary item's visual effects

  • Torment-only Set items can now be restored to their original appearance after being transmogrified
  • Class-restricted appearances can now be applied to any item of the same slot
    • If an item that has been transmogrified with a class-restricted appearance is equipped on a class that isn't normally able to equip the item to which the appearance belongs, the base appearance will be used instead
    • For example: You can Transmogrify your Barbarian's Vile Ward to look like Raekor's Burden, but if you use that same Vile Ward on your Crusader it will still look like a Vile Ward


FOLLOWERS[edit | edit source]

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that allowed Onslaught to sometimes be cast when out of range


EVENTS[edit | edit source]

  • A new reward has been added: The Hellfire Amulet
    • New Legendary amulet
    • Will randomly roll a passive appropriate to your class
    • Recipe is available for purchase from Squirt in Act II for 5 million gold
    • Requires the same materials to craft as the Hellfire Ring plus 10 additional Forgotten Souls


MONSTERS[edit | edit source]

  • The Skeleton King will now drop the Broken Crown the first time you kill him from level 11 to level 65
  • Larvas will now also drop loot
  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue that could prevent some DoTs from dealing damage while Treasure Goblins were running


USER INTERFACE[edit | edit source]

  • Character "Minis" have been added to Profiles
  • Added a text box to the friends list that will filter the list as you type
  • Filter settings on the Clan News pane will now be saved even if you log out
  • The Achievements drop down filter will now save your selection as long as you remain logged in
  • Holding down Shift when comparing items will now exclude bonuses provided by sockets from the comparison
  • A new option has been added to display an icon that indicates an item's rarity
  • A new minimap icon has been added for Set items
  • A new matchmaking tag has been added for Greater Rifts
  • The value of an item's Legendary power will now be displayed in blue on the tooltip
  • Legendary power roll ranges will now be displayed on the tooltip when holding CTRL
  • Clan news will now display when a player was removed from a Clan and who removed the player
    • Messages will now convert to a whisper after space is pressed when entering a player name
    • New messages will now prioritize your whisper targets if you are currently whispering someone
    • A new hotkey has been added to display the chat window
      • You can now force the chat window to be displayed by holding down the X key
  • Players will now properly be notified when the Party Leader changes the games difficulty setting
  • Fixed an issue that could sometimes prevent the last few monsters required to clear a bounty from displaying on the minimap
  • Fixed an issue preventing Paragon levels and portraits from displaying on the Heroes Profile tab for offline players
  • Fixed an issue causing Paragon portrait award toasts to pop up before a new portrait was actually earned
  • Fixed an issue that was improperly limiting Community news posts to a character limit that was lower than intended
  • Fixed and issue that caused the recharge timer to remain on a specific slot when a skill was moved
  • Crusaders can now properly view their Life per Wrath Spent in the Details pane


BUG FIXES[edit | edit source]

  • Fixed an issue that allowed other players to join your game when your status was set to busy




Upcoming Patch 2.1 Item Changes[edit | edit source]

Dozens of legendary items are being buffed or modified in the patch, and a few new ones added created as well. An overview:

  • Ramaladni's Gift is a new legendary material that can add a socket to any unsocketed weapon.


New item set: Roland's Legacy. Crusader set, six pieces. Helm, Roland's Visage, shoulders Roland's Mantle, chest Roland's Bearing, gloves Roland's Grasp, legs Roland's Determination, and boots Roland's Stride.

Roland's Legacy item set bonuses

(2) Set Bonus:

  • +500 Strength

(4) Set Bonus:

  • +100% Shield Bash Damage
  • +100% Sweep Attack Damage

(6) Set Bonus:

  • Hitting an enemy with Shield Bash or Sweep Attack grants 20% Attack Speed for 3 seconds, stacking up to 5 times

Other new legendary items:

Seasonal Legendaries[edit | edit source]

New legendary items only findable by seasonal characters. All these items will move into the general character pool once the season concludes and new seasonal legendary items will be added with season two. Full details on the Seasonal Legendary items page.


Bottomless Potion of Rejuvenation -- Health potion.

  • Legendary Affix: Restores 15% of your primary resource when used below 25% Life.

Krelm's Buff Bulwark

  • Krelm's Buff. Belt. No class restriction.
    • Legendary Affix: Grants a 20% Movement Speed bonus. Taking damage causes you to lose this effect for 15 seconds.
  • Krelm's Buff -- Bracers
    • Legendary Affix: Grant you immunity to Knockback and Stun effects.

Follower Items:

  • Hillenbrand's Training Sword -- Templar Relic (follower item)
    • Legendary Affix: Reduces the cooldown of all Templar skills by 50%.
  • Slipka's Letter Opener -- Scoundrel Token, follower item.
    • Legendary Affix: Reduces the cooldown of all Scoundrel skills by 50%.
  • Vadim's Surge -- Enchantress Focus, follower item.
    • Legendary Affix: Reduces the cooldown of all Enchantress skills by 50%.


Weapons:

  • Aether Walker -- Wand, wizard only.
    • Legendary Affix: Removes the cooldown of Teleport. Teleport now costs 25 Arcane Power.
  • Frydehr's Wrath -- Crusader Shield
    • Legendary Affix: Removes the cooldown of Condemn. Condemn now costs 40 Wrath.
  • Leonine Bow of Hashir -- Bow.
    • Legendary Affix: Grants Bola Shot a 15-20% chance on explosion to pull in all enemies within 24 yards.
  • Remorseless -- One-handed Mighty Weapon. Barbarian only.
    • Legendary Affix: Grants Hammer of the Ancients a 25-30% chance to summon an Ancient for 20 seconds.
  • Sacred Harvester -- Ceremonial Dagger, WD only.
    • Legendary Affix: Soul Harvest now stacks up to 10 times.
  • Vengeful Wind (Fist Weapon)
    • Legendary Affix: Increases the maximum stack count of Sweeping Winds by 5-7.



Helms[edit | edit source]

Shoulders[edit | edit source]

Barbarians can now roll +damage to Furious Charge and Call of the Ancients on shoulders.


Amulets[edit | edit source]

Hellfire Amulet added as a reward for the Infernal Machine. Standar 4/2 legendary with legendary property that grants 1 passive skill for the appropriate class.


Chest Armor[edit | edit source]

Barbarians can now roll +damage to Furious Charge and Call of the Ancients on chest armor.


Gloves[edit | edit source]


Belts[edit | edit source]

  • Angel Hair Braid -- New legendary affix: Allows Punish to gain the effect of all runes.
  • Lamentation -- No longer inherent affix to critical hit chance. New legendary affix: Allows Rend to be applied twice.
  • Saffron Wrap -- No longer rolls life%. Now rolls a primary affix that reduces resource cost of skills, which was formerly found on Sash of Knives.
  • Sash of Knives -- No longer rolls Resource Cost reduction. New legendary affix: Chance on attack to throw a dagger at a nearby enemy for 275-350% weapon damage.
  • Vigilante Belt -- No longer rolls Regen and LoH. Now rolls cooldown reduction.


Bracers[edit | edit source]


Legs[edit | edit source]


Boots[edit | edit source]

The fact that inherent bonuses to Movement Speed are actually unwanted by high level characters (since Movement Speed can easily be made up with Paragon Points) seems to have prompted the removal of inherent MS from a few legendary boots.


Rings[edit | edit source]

  • Band of Untold Secrets -- Inherent roll to Attack Speed removed. Now rolls 5 primary stats.
  • Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band -- Removed inherent bonus to Life% and LoH. Legendary Affix Life drain effect now capped at 2000% weapon damage per second. (Capped to prevent it being OP in deep Greater Rifts.
  • Eternal Union -- New Legendary Affix: Increases the duration of all Phalanx Avatars by 200%.
  • Focus -- No longer LoH inherently.
  • Justice Lantern -- Now rolls 5 primary stats.
  • Litany of the Undaunted -- No more inherent affixes.
  • Manald Heal -- May roll with all resource cost reduction. (Formerly only Spirit cost reduction was possible.)
  • Natalya's Reflection -- Removed inherent Regen affix.
  • Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac -- Removed bonus to all main stats and other default rolls.
  • Restraint -- Removed inherent rolls to Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction by default.
  • Rogar's Huge Stone -- Removed inherent rolls to life regeneration and vitality.
  • Stolen Ring -- Now rolls 5 primary affixes.
  • Stone of Jordan -- No longer rolls Max resource inherent bonus. (Sometimes rolled 5 primary stats on PTR, but changed for live.)
  • The Compass Rose -- Now rolls 5 primary affixes.
  • Unity -- Removed inherent bonus to LoH.

One-Handed Weapons[edit | edit source]

New weapons:

  • Akanesh, The Herald of Righteousness -- Spear with 15-25% holy damage.
  • The Dagger of Darts -- New ceremonial WD dagger.
    • New Legendary Affix: Your Poison Darts and your Fetishes' Poison Darts now pierce.
  • Arreat's Law -- Critical hit chance affix removed.
  • Azurewrath -- No longer rolls Attack Speed inherently.
  • Doombringer -- No longer rolls life % and life per hit.
  • Genzaniku -- Visuals were changed from reddish glow to greenish/blueish glow.
  • Manajuma's Carving Knife -- Removed roll critical hit damage property.
  • Mad Monarch's Scepter -- Now counts assists in addition to kills, making the 10 count for the proc easier to achieve in a group.
  • Rimeheart -- Redesigned legendary affix since the previous "instantly shattered" was OP in greater rifts.
    • New Legendary Affix: Now 10% chance to instantly deal 10,000% weapon damage as Cold to Frozen enemies.
  • The Barber -- Removed critical hit damage.
  • The Fist of Az'Turrasq -- Legendary Affix redesigned since Exploding Palm has been changed.
    • New Legendary Affix: Increases Exploding Palm's on-death explosion damage by 75-100%.
  • The Gidbinn -- Fetishes spawned by The Gidbinn should now work with the Fierce Loyalty passive and Carnevil's Legendary Power.


Two-Handed Weapons[edit | edit source]

All two-handed weapons had their base damage increased to create a 26-30% DPS buff. This is retroactive and applies to all existing two-handers. The Crusader's Heavenly Strength passive has been tweaked (nerfed) to compensate, though Crusaders should still be stronger on the whole than they were previously.

Barbarians can now roll +damage to Furious Charge and Call of the Ancients on two-handed Mighty Weapons.

  • Baleful Remnant -- Now counts assists in addition to kills.
  • Bastion's Revered, New Legendary Affix: Increases maximum number of Frenzy stacks to 10.
  • Blade of Prophecy -- Legendary affix text changed as a clarification. (No change in function.)
  • Bovine Bardiche -- The chance to summon cows has been increased to 100%, though the internal cooldown is unchanged. Cows are also greatly upgraded in attack ability and hit points.
  • Fate of the Fell -- Extra Fires of Heaven hits will now be able to generate procs. -
  • Flying Dragon -- Fixed an issue preventing this item from correctly granting +100% Attack Speed. -
  • Fury of the Vanished Peak -- Now rolls +25-30% Seismic Slam damage as a fifth primary affix. -
  • Heart Slaughter -- Has had its critical hit damage roll removed, now rolls with +25-30% physical damage. -
  • Incense Torch of the Grand Temple -- Has been redesigned: Reduces the Spirit cost of Wave of Light by 60%-80%. Now rolls +25-30% Wave of Light damage as a fifth primary affix. -
  • Madawc's Sorrow -- Stun duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds. -
  • Scourge -- Explosion weapon damage increased from 130-160% to 1800-2000%. -
  • Stalgard's Decimator -- Has had its critical hit damage roll removed. Can no longer smart roll for Witch Doctor or Wizard. Weapon damage increased from 275-350% to 550-650%. This change will apply retroactively. Legendary Power can now proc from Rend, Whirlwind, Cyclone Strike, Tempest Rush, and Shield Bash. -
  • The Flow of Eternity -- Cooldown reduction for Seven-Sided Strike increased from 45-50% to 45-60%. -
  • The Furnace -- Removed legendary affix that caused 6-8% monster health in damage.
    • Legendary Affix: Increases damage against elites by 40-50%.


Bows and Crossbows

Newly added item:

  • Wojahnni Assaulter
    • Legendary Affix: Rapid Fire deals 40-50% more damage per second, stacks up to 4 times.

Changed:

  • Balefire Caster -- Now rolls with +15-20% Fire damage inherently primary affix.
  • Etrayu -- No longer rolls life per hit by default, now rolls 15-20% cold damage.
  • Natalya's Slayer -- No longer rolls +%damage inherently.
  • Uskang -- No longer rolls LoH inherently. New inherent property, +15-20% lightning damage.


Orbs

  • Mirrorball -- No longer rolls CDR inherently. Extra Magic Missile hits will now be able to generate procs.


Mojos

  • Homunculus -- No longer rolls Reduced Damage from Elites and AllRes inherently.


Quivers

Unconfirmed: All quivers can now roll +elemental damage as a primary affix. (Maybe just Holy Point Shot, as seen below.)


Shields[edit | edit source]

New:

Changed:

  • Akarat's Awakening -- No longer rolls with socket by default.
  • Hellskull -- No longer rolls cooldown reduction by default.
  • Jekangbord -- Extra Blessed Shield hits will now be able to generate procs.
  • Lidless Wall -- Inherent bonuses to Attack Speed and Resource Cost Reduction removed.
  • Stormshield -- Removed inherent bonus to Elite Damage Reduction and Melee Damage Reduction.


Item Sets[edit | edit source]

New:

  • Roland's Legacy -- New melee themed Crusader set. Includes the standard Torment set items of: helm, shoulders, chest, pants, gloves, boots.
    • (2) set bonus: +500 strength.
    • (4) set bonus: Increases Shield Bash Damage by 100%. Increases Sweep Attack Damage by 100%.
    • (6) set bonus: Every use of Shield Bash or Sweep Attack that hits an enemy grants 20% increased Attack Speed for 3 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times.


Changes to Item Sets:

  • Embodiment of the Marauder -- (6) set bonus: Fixed an issue that caused Hatred spenders cast by the Sentries to have a slower attack speed than intended.
  • Firebird's Finery -- (6) set bonus: Has been redesigned - Dealing Fire damage causes the enemy to take the same amount of damage over 3 seconds, stacking up to 3000% weapon damage as Fire per second. After reaching 3000% damage per second, the enemy will burn until they die. -
  • Immortal King's Call -- (3) set bonus: Life per Fury spent increased from 289 to 500.
  • Inna's Mantra -- (2) set bonus: Life per Spirit spent increased from 124 to 200.
  • Might of the Earth -- Earthquakes caused by the Might of the Earth set will once again generate Fury through the * [[Earthen Might Passive Skill.
  • Monkey King's Garb -- (4) set bonus: Weapon damage increased from 1600% to 3500%. The decoy will now attempt to spawn next to the closest enemy within 15 yards.
  • Natalya's Vengeance -- (4) set bonus: Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 2 seconds per kill. Now also triggers on assists.
  • Shenlong's Spirit -- (2) set bonus: Energy ball weapon damage increased from 300% to 1200%. Spirit generation increased from 1 to 4 per second. Energy ball size significantly increased. Internal coodown decreased from 3 to 1.66 seconds.
  • The Legacy of Raekor -- (5) set bonus: The damage type dealt by Furious Charge will now be based on the element of the Skill Rune you're currently using.
  • The Shadow's Mantle -- (2) set bonus: Now, upon receiving fatal damage you instead automatically cast Smoke Screen and are healed to 25% Life. This effect may only occur once every 120 seconds. (4) set bonus: Has been redesigned - now enables all Shadow Power runes.


Legendary Gems[edit | edit source]

There are 14 new Legendary Gems, findable only in Greater Rifts and socketable only in rings/amulets. They can be upgraded, boosting their base effect and they unlock a second legendary property at level 25. See the legendary gems article for full details.


Weapon Procs[edit | edit source]

Previously, only few legendary items with an elemental proc would benefit from the appropriate type of +elemental damage. For instance Thundergod's Vigor was buffed by +lightning damage gear while Thunderfury was not. This has changed in Patch 2.1 and most items with some sort of elemental damage proc now benefit from +elemental damage affixes.

The following legendary items have procs that are confirmed to now benefit from the appropriate type of elemental damage.

Arcane Damage:


Fire Damage:


Lightning Damage:

Physical Damage:

Thanks to numerous fans for collecting the item changes info. [2][3][4][5][]

PTR Patch 2.1 Feature Previews[edit | edit source]

New Feature: Seasons[edit | edit source]

Seasons are an optional, recurring game mode that offers players the opportunity to periodically start fresh, leveling Normal or Hardcore characters from scratch without gold, resources, or previously earned Paragon experience. Similar to the separation between Normal and Hardcore game modes, Seasonal characters will have their own shared stash and artisan progression as well. Any items, gold, or Paragon experience earned during a Season will be rolled over to a player’s non-Seasonal characters once the Season concludes.

Seasons offer unique rewards and new challenges for players, including new Legendaries, an exclusive Transmogrification set only available to those who compete in each Season, and new achievements called Conquests. Progress within a given Season will be tracked in our new Leaderboard system.

Please note that Seasons are not yet available for testing on the PTR. This feature will be enabled at a later date.


New Feature: Greater Rifts[edit | edit source]

Formerly referred to as Tiered Rifts, Greater Rifts are a special type of timed Nephalem Rift. There are an infinite number of Greater Rift levels, and each Greater Rift level will be progressively more difficult than the last.

Completing a Greater Rift within its alloted time will allow players to progress to the next level (and if your time is exceptionally good, you may even skip multiple levels at once). Players can continue progressing through Greater Rift levels so along as they complete the Rift before its timer expires. Once a timer expires, players will reach the end of their current Greater Rift journey and their best results will be tracked in our new Leaderboard system.


New Feature: Leaderboards[edit | edit source]

With the addition of Seasons and Greater Rifts, we want to provide players with a way to measure their progress within each of those environments. To do so, we’ve created Leaderboards.

Leaderboards will track a variety of competitive player data including Greater Rifts clear times, Seasonal achievement point totals, and Seasonal Conquest completion ranking across several different game styles. Designed to be informative and detailed, Leaderboards will also allow you to compare your progress to that of players within your gameplay region, on your friends list, and in your clan roster.


New Feature: The Cesspools[edit | edit source]

In patch 2.1.0 and moving forward, players will now have a chance to spawn a new level environement while in a Nephalem Rift or Greater Rift: The Cesspools.

Originally designed as the sewers of Westmarch, we weren't quite able to include the Cesspools in the list of playable environments in Reaper of Souls by the time the expansion launched. Still, we loved the look and feel of this festering, dank underworld and have spent some time polishing it up for use in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts. We hope you enjoy this new randomized landscape!


General[edit | edit source]

  • An additional Stash Tab is now available for all players with Reaper of Souls
  • Players will now be disconnected from Diablo III upon being inactive for 30 minutes while outside of a game
  • Healing Changes
  • The amount of Life restored by Health Globes from Rare monsters has been reduced from 30% to 15%
  • The amount of Life restored by Health Globes from Champion and Minion monsters has been reduced from 20% to 15%
  • The amount of Life Regeneration and Life On Hit granted by items has been increased
  • These changes apply to all items from level 1 to 70
  • These changes are retroactive and will apply to existing gear


Classes[edit | edit source]

Made a number of improvements to the AI of several pets:

  • Pets that belong to other players will now be less visible
  • Fixed a number of issues which could sometimes cause pets to not attack a nearby enemy or stand still and stop attacking the enemy they were currently attacking
Pets affected by these improvements include:


Barbarian[edit | edit source]

Active Skills

Call of the Ancients

  • Ancients should now more reliably hit moving targets
  • Korlic's Furious Charge ability now deals damage to enemies he passes through
  • Mawdawc's Seismic Slam ability now has a small knock up effect instead of the knock back
  • Skill Rune - Duty to the Clan
  • Has been redesigned
  • Enemies hit are now chilled reducing Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds
  • Chilled enemies have a 10% increased chance to be critically hit
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause the ancients to never use their bonus abilities
  • Fixed an issue that allowed the Ancients to snapshot attack speed when summoned


Cleave

  • Damage area has been increased from 120 to 180 degrees to more closely match the visual
  • Skill Rune - Gathering Storm
  • Has been redesigned
  • Now Chills all enemies hit and causes them to take 10% increased damage from all sources for 3 seconds
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold


Earthquake

  • Weapon damage increased from 2600% to 4200%
  • Skill Rune - Giant's Stride
  • Secondary tremor weapon damage increased from 160% to 200%
  • Skill Rune - Molten Fury
  • Weapon damage increased from 4500% to 5100%


Furious Charge

  • Weapon damage increased from 360% to 540%
  • Skill Rune - Battering Ram
  • Weapon damage increased from 760% to 900%
  • Skill Rune - Bull Rush
  • The stun has been replaced with a freeze
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Dreadnought
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning


Ignore Pain

  • Now grants immunity to all crowd control effects while active
  • Skill Rune - Bravado
  • Has been redesigned
  • Now increases your run speed by 40% and knocks back enemies as you run
  • Skill Rune - Contempt for Weakness
  • Has been redesigned
  • Now instantly heals you for 35% of your maximum Life


Rend

  • Skill Rune - Mutilate
  • Has been redesigned
  • Now causes enemies Chilled by Rend to take 10% increased damage from all sources


Seismic Slam

  • Will now lock on to an enemy you targeted with your mouse if you hold down the button


Rend

  • Weapon damage increased from 1000% to 1100% over 5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Lacerate
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning
  • Skill Rune - Mutilate
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Ravage
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Fire


Wrath of the Berserker

  • Skill Rune - Slaughter
  • Damage caused by this rune can now trigger procs


Crusader[edit | edit source]

Active Skills


Phalanx

  • Avatar run speed increased from 100% to 200%
  • Skill Rune - Bowmen

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue that caused the Bowmen to stop attacking when an enemy was in range, but out of line of sight


Demon Hunter[edit | edit source]

  • Dexterity no longer grants Dodge chance
  • Dexterity now grants 1 Armor per point


Active Skills

Cluster Arrow

  • Skill Rune - Maelstrom
  • Tendril weapon damage increased from 220% to 450%
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Shooting Stars
  • Rocket weapon damage increased from 400% to 600%

Companion

  • Skill Rune - Boar Companion
  • Now cleaves enemies in front of him

Entangling Shot

  • Skill Rune - Chain Gang
  • Damage type changed from Poison to Physical

Impale

  • Weapon damage increased from 620% to 750%
  • Skill Rune - Chemical Burn
  • Weapon damage increased from 220% to 500% over 2 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Grievous Wounds
  • Additional damage on Critical Hit increased from 130% to 330%
  • Skill Rune - Impact
  • Stun chance increased from 50% to 100%
  • Skill Rune - Overpenetration
  • Damage type changed from Poison to Cold

Multishot

  • Skill Rune - Arsenal
  • Rocket weapon damage increased from 160% to 300%

Preparation

  • Skill Rune - Punishment
  • The Discipline cost has been removed
  • Now has a 20 second cooldown

Rain of Vengeance

  • Weapon damage increased from 1250% to 1500% over 5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Anathema
  • Weapon damage increased from 5400% to 5800% over 5 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Dark Cloud
  • Weapon damage increased from 2650% to 3500% over 8 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Flying Strike
  • Weapon damage increased from 3200% to 3800% over 5 seconds
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
  • Skill Rune - Shade
  • Weapon damage increased from 2400% to 2800% over 5 seconds
  • Sill Rune - Stampede
  • Weapon damage increased from 4200% to 4600% over 6 seconds

Rapid Fire

  • Weapon damage increased from 525% to 685%
  • Skill Rune - Bombardment
  • Weapon damage increased from 465% to 545%
  • Skill Rune - High Velocity
  • Pierce chance increased from 40% to 50%
  • Damage type changed from Poison to Lightning
  • Skill Rune - Web Shot
  • Slow duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds


Sentry

  • Weapon damage increased from 200% to 280%
  • Skill Rune - Chain of Torment
  • Weapon damage increased from 240% to 300% per second
  • Skill Rune - Impaling Bolt
  • Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning
  • Skill Rune - Spitfire Turret
  • Weapon damage increased from 70% to 120%

Shadow Power

  • Skill Rune - Gloom
  • Damage reduction increased from 15% to 35%
  • Skill Rune - Well of Darkness
  • Cooldown reduced from 14 to 10 seconds

Smoke Screen

  • Skill Rune - Special Recipe
  • Cooldown has been removed
  • Now reduces the Discipline cost to 10

Spike Trap

  • Weapon damage increased from 250% to 340%
  • Skill Rune - Echoing Blast
  • Weapon damage increased from 250% to 420% per explosion
  • Skill Rune - Lightning Rod
  • Weapon damage increased from 280% to 500%
  • Skill Rune - Long Fuse
  • Weapon damage increased from 300% to 520% per explosion
  • Skill Rune - Sticky Trap
  • Weapon damage increased from 680% to 800%


Strafe

  • Weapon damage increased from 400% to 575%
  • Skill Rune - Demolition
  • Weapon damage increased from 340% to 400%
  • Skill Rune - Emberstrafe
  • Weapon damage increased from 80% to 185% over 2 seconds
  • Skill Rune - Rocket Storm
  • Weapon damage increased from 90% to 110%
  • Skill Rune - Stinging Steel
  • Extra damage on Critical Hit increased from 130% to 140%


Vault

  • Skill Rune - Acrobatics
  • Cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds


Vengeance

  • Skill Rune - From the Shadows
  • Damage type changed from Poison to Cold


Passive Skills

Awareness

Has been redesigned

  • Now when you receive fatal damage, you instead vanish for 2 seconds and regenerate 50% of maximum life
  • This effect has a 60 second cooldown

Perfectionist

  • No longer increases your Life by 10%


Blizzard News and Quotes Before PTR[edit | edit source]

Healing[edit | edit source]

19th June[edit | edit source]

Healing Globes drop rate. [3]

The number of Health Globes that drop isn’t changing, which should reduce the impact for items or skills that proc off of collecting them.


17th June[edit | edit source]

The healing power of Health Globes is to be reduced. [4]

The next change will be to Healing. Currently, Healing provided by gear isn’t very valuable because you receive the vast amount of your healing from Health Globes. During internal testing, we discovered that as you reached higher Greater Rift levels, you really wanted more of your healing to come from your gear in order to survive. To facilitate this, we are reducing the amount of healing Health Globes provide, but buffing Life on Hit and Life Regeneration on gear to compensate. This change should make a more consistent experience when you turn up the difficulty (or reach a higher tier in a Greater Rift) in situations where you’re not killing as quickly and actually require the increased Healing.


Pets[edit | edit source]

4th June 2014[edit | edit source]

To Call of the Ancients specifically: [5]

We’re planning to make several bug fixes to Call of the Ancients in patch 2.1 that should address some of the concerns we’ve seen players reporting with the skill. So, make sure you keep a hold of that Immortal Kings set!
  • The Ancients should no longer sometimes stand idle when they have foes they could be clobbering instead.
  • The Ancients should now use their secondary abilities as indicated on the tooltip.
Again, these bug fixes are currently expected to arrive with patch 2.1, but we don’t have an estimate to share for the date of that patch at this time. Thanks for all of the reports!

Other pets to be addressed: [6]

I did some digging and found out that these changes will update multiple pets, and not just Call of the Ancients. I’ll go over what those changes are, and what pets it should affect. I also want to emphasize that we don’t have an estimate to share for when we expect patch 2.1, but we’re definitely working on it and are looking to provide a PTR.

We’re making a number improvements to the AI of several pets:

We’re also fixing a number of issues that sometimes prevented some pets from attacking nearby enemies, or caused them to stand still and stop attacking their current target. Pets affected by these changes should include:

  • Call of the Ancients
  • Companion
  • Fetish Army
  • Gargantuan
  • Mystic Ally
  • Phalanx
  • Zombie Dogs


Demon Hunter[edit | edit source]

18th June[edit | edit source]

Preparation - Punishment db is being rebalanced. Changes to Preparation - Blizzard CM, 18/06/2014</ref>


Preparation (Punishment) was creating less than ideal gameplay by encouraging the conversion of Discipline to direct DPS. The byproduct of this was Demon Hunters frequently finding themselves without their defensive or utility skills, often resulting in more frequent character death. To address this, we are reworking this rune to no longer cost Discipline, but have a 20 second cooldown.

While this change may initially seem severe, it has several major benefits we hope players will take the opportunity to explore and experiment with:

  • All Discipline is now reserved for defensive and utility skills, encouraging Demon Hunters to take greater advantage of these skills.
  • Nightstalker will feel less mandatory in conjunction with Punishment, freeing up a Passive slot in many builds.
  • If you choose to keep Preparation (Punishment) in your build, the cooldown corresponds with roughly how long it would take to regenerate the appropriate amount of :*Discipline (unless you had a large amount of Resource Cost Reduction).
  • Cooldown Reduction is now a more attractive stat, and this may open up new CDR-focused builds.


We know this changes builds and the gameplay pattern for some Demon Hunters. We’re also working hard to adjust other skills as well as introduce Legendary items both in this patch and constantly in the future in order to continue opening up new and exciting ways to play.

This change will soon be available on the PTR, and we hope that you will take the opportunity to try it out and let us know how it feels. We're eager to hear your feedback on this and other changes coming in Patch 2.1.


Monk[edit | edit source]

18th June[edit | edit source]

One With Everything is being removed. [7]

With Patch 2.1 around the corner, many classes are receiving some substantial revisions to core functionalities. These changes have equally substantial philosophy behind them, so we want to prepare you in advance for the kinds of adjustments you should expect.

Adjustments to One With Everything has been a long-standing community request, but we wanted to make sure we could address this in a way that solves all of its components without reducing the Monk’s survivability. There are two major issues with One With Everything:

It’s too good, to the point it feels mandatory for all Monks to use. It forces Monks to gear a specific way, which is difficult and frustrating. We are addressing this issue in two ways. First, both Monks and Demon Hunters will no longer receive Dodge from Dexterity. Instead, they will receive Armor, similar to Barbarians and Crusaders. For more information on this change, please refer to our Patch 2.1.0 PTR Preview blog.

Second, One With Everything is being replaced with a new passive called DiabloWikiHarmony. Harmony allows 30% of your single elemental resistances from items to apply to all elements.

With these two changes, we can move away from a place where Monks are forced to rely on their secondary affixes for DiabloWikiToughness. It’s possible you may see your Toughness as a lower number after this change is in effect, depending on how you’ve previously geared. However, the exchange of DiabloWikiDodge to more reliable survivability stats like DiabloWikiArmor and more accessible DiabloWikiAll Resist should provide you roughly the same amount of survivability, and overall you shouldn’t notice a big difference.

These changes will soon be available on the PTR, and we hope that you will take the opportunity to try them out and let us know how they feel. We’re eager to hear your feedback on this and other changes coming in Patch 2.1.

Nevalistis: Just some additional clarification, since I see some confusion on the new passive:

Harmony will apply 30% of a single resist to all other resistances aside from the element it normally provides (meaning it doesn’t double-dip on itself). Here’s a math-y example in hopes this provides a clearer picture:

I acquire a piece of gear with 100 Fire Resist. From that gear, I’m gaining 100 Fire Resist and 30 Resistance to all others.

Hope that makes more sense. :)


A player wanted clarification on the maths:

"So let me get this new maths right
Gear
  • 1000 AR, 800 Lit Resist
With OWE
  • 1000 + 800 = 1800 AR
With Harmony
  • 1000 + 800*.3 = 1240 AR
  • 1000 AR + 800 LR = 1800 Lightning Resist"


Nevalistis: This is correct.


17th June 2014[edit | edit source]

A change to Dexterity that will affect the Demon Hunter as well as the Monk was announced in a blog preview. [4]


A major change is coming to Dexterity to benefit Demon Hunters and Monks. Each point of Dexterity will grant 1 point of Armor instead of Dodge chance. Dodge isn’t as reliable as Armor or Resistances and doesn’t protect you from some of the most dangerous monster affixes like Plagued or Thunderstorm. In light of this buff, the existing passives that grant 30% of your Dexterity as Armor (Seize the Initiative and Awareness) will be completely redesigned.


15th May[edit | edit source]

Blizzard specifically addressed the planned Monk changes, although all classes will be addressed. [8]


Our future goals for the Monk in 2.1.0 focus improving core class attributes, class abilities, and addressing Legendaries that need improvement. You should all be able to see (and test out) these changes soon™ on the 2.1.0 PTR once its live. (Note: Initially, the PTR will not have all the changes we want to do for 2.1.0, but as the PTR progresses, more changes will be added. Also note that we do not have an ETA for the 2.1.0 PTR at this time.)

We also want to let you all know that we will be improving some of the underwhelming Set items. The following Sets will be receiving buffs or redesigns to their full-Set bonuses in 2.1.0 and will be retroactive, so keep those pieces:

  • Firebird’s Finery
  • Raiment of a Thousand Storms
  • Monkey King’s Garb
  • Thorns of the Invoker
  • The Shadow’s Mantle


Ladders and Seasons[edit | edit source]

17th June[edit | edit source]

A large blog post from Blizzard. [4]


Similar to Ladders in Diablo II, Seasons will offer players in Diablo® III a chance to periodically start fresh, leveling their level 1 characters and artisans from scratch. Season participation benefits include exclusive rewards and unique Legendaries as well as the the thrill of climbing all-new Leaderboards by completing achievements, earning Conquests, or running Greater Rifts.


6th June[edit | edit source]

Ladder-Only legendaries. [9]

Nevalistis: Just to confirm our current plans with Seasons, as we’ve stated in earlier interviews/livestreams (though bear in mind that as with any current plans, this is subject to change):
  • Seasons will be optional. Similar to how you flag a character as Hardcore, when you create a character, you have the option to also make them Seasonal.
  • There will be Seasonal Legendaries.
  • At the end of a Season, Seasonal Legendaries will roll over into the non-Season loot pool.
  • New Seasonal Legendaries will be available for Seasonal characters once the new Season begins.
We’re not quite ready to share the finer details on 2.1 or Seasons just yet, but as we get nearer the 2.1 PTR, you can be sure we’ll have more info to share. ;)

"To be very clear here, that means that we’ll be able to find Seasonal Legendaries on regular (softcore/hardcore) characters after that season has expired, correct?"


Correct!


"Not just that we’ll be able to keep the Seasonal Legendaries we found during the season."


That too!


25th March 2014[edit | edit source]

Ladders, much requested, have been confirmed by Blizzard to be coming in the next content patch. Although Blizzard have toyed with the community with cryptic clues on Twitter or images of the devs stood surrounded by ladders Josh Mosqueira finally confirmed at the Reaper of Souls Launch party that ladders were coming to Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls. [10]


Well that's a really good question, isn't it, Wyatt? When you're making a game you come up with a lot of good ideas, and some ideas like Devil's Hand you say: it's awesome, it probably needs to bake a little bit longer. But one of them that we felt was really important, that we felt we really needed to take the proper time to develop it, was one of the features you guys have asked about a lot. You might have noticed that Wyatt and myself have done a lot of research for something called ladders. I'm very happy to say that as part of our first big content patch coming out in the next couple of months, we are going to be releasing Seasons, which will include a ladder-like aspect to them.


Well, we're still working on them, but the general gist is that you'll be able to level up a character, we will have specific ladders for seasons, and also some goodies that will drop along the way. There's more information of that to come, and we're not making an announcement of when, but for sure Seasons are coming to Reaper of Souls. Yeah, the secret is out.


24 April 2014[edit | edit source]

John Hight in a later interview elaborated, giving away a few more details. [11]

Seasons are a shard of the existing game where everything is a fresh start. You start with a brand new character without access to any of the gold or items you collected with your primary account for the length of the season. We plan on creating brand new, powerful legendaries that only drop within in the season. After the season ends, all of your progress — your experience, your items, your gold, etc. — will be rolled into the main roster. The goal is the fresh-start feeling — so many changes and tweaks have happened since the launch of Diablo III — it is really energizing and fun to recreate that ‘first-moment-in-a-new-game’ feeling. We’ve also added leaderboards. Players can race on a variety of metrics to try to become the leader in their region or the top of their friends and clan lists. That friendly competition angle lends itself really well to Diablo games.


Leaderboards[edit | edit source]

19th June[edit | edit source]

Are there going to be any Paragon point based Leaderboards? [12]

Nope, not currently. There are no Leaderboards planned at this time that would track Paragon levels (or even total experience gained) within a Season. It was a conscious choice on our end to shift Leaderboards for Seasonal characters away from a pure level grind towards more objective-based (or even skill-based) goals like Greater Rifts, Seasonal achievement points, and Conquests.

17th June 2014[edit | edit source]

Announcement of Leaderboards. [4]


With so many ways to compete, we want to provide players with a quick and easy way to measure their progress. Enter our next big feature for patch 2.1.0: Leaderboards. Leaderboards will track progress for Greater Rifts, Seasonal achievement points, and Seasonal Conquests across a variety of game styles. Designed to be informative and detailed, Leaderboards will allow you to compare your progress to that of your gameplay region, friends, and clan members, and each type of board will track progress a little differently.


They also released details of the different type of Leaderboards.


Greater Rift Leaderboards

Greater Rift leaderboards will be split between both Hardcore and Normal gameplay modes as well as Seasonal and Non-Seasonal characters. To help encourage a variety of play styles and allow you to measure yourself against similar competitors, we’ve also broken up Greater Rift leaderboards into the following categories:
  • Solo play for each class (e.g. top players for Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Crusader, etc.)
  • 2-Player Groups
  • 3-Player Groups
  • 4-Player Groups


Season-Only Leaderboards

Some Leaderboards will be Season-only. For example, Conquests are only tracked on Seasonal characters, so these Leaderboards won’t have a non-Season equivalent. The same will be true for Seasonal achievement points. In addition, because Conquests and achievements are account-wide, their associated Leaderboards will not be split between Normal and Hardcore (even though some tasks may require playing a particular mode).


Conquests[edit | edit source]

19th June 2014[edit | edit source]

Hardcore and Softcore conquests. [13]

As noted in the preview, some Conquests will require your character to be in Hardcore mode to achieve. In fact, we intend to have the number of Conquests per Season split evenly between both Hardcore and Normal game modes. The goal with Conquests in general is to encourage different styles of play, or at least target those different styles to some degree. That’s under our current philosophy, at least; Conquests are still development and may see some iteration during the PTR. :)

17th June[edit | edit source]

Announcement of "Season-only achievements". [4]

With the start of each Season, players will have the opportunity to earn Conquests. Conquests are special Season-only achievements (offered in addition to the suite of non-Seasonal achievements already available in the game) that represent a variety of challenging goals. These goals can vary in terms of gameplay and difficulty, and some might be easier to complete than others. With tasks ranging from killing [wiki]Malthael[/wiki] at level 70 on Torment VI to finishing Acts I-V in an hour or less, Conquests are designed to encourage and promote an array of different playstyles. Conquests are considered “first come, first served,” and the first 1000 individuals to complete a Conquest within a given Season will be immortalized on that Season’s regional Leaderboard. Right now, we’re looking to provide between 10-15 unique Conquests each Season, and each Conquest will have its own Leaderboard. Conquests will also provide achievement points and will count toward your Seasonal point total. These points will be provided regardless of whether your character placed in the regional Leaderboard.


Greater Rifts[edit | edit source]

19th June[edit | edit source]

How does the timer in Greater Rifts work? Greater Rifts Timer - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014]</ref>

The timer in a Greater Rift is only to determine if you’ll progress to a more difficult Greater Rift.

Running out of time will prevent you from progressing in difficulty, but it will not remove you from the Rift you’re currently in, and you’ll be able to continue your progression towards the Rift Guardian like normal.

As usual, the normal caveat applies that this is still in development, and possibly subject to change.

17th June 20[edit | edit source]

Previously known as "Tiered Rifts". [4]


Greater Rifts are a special type of Nephalem Rift that are designed to provide players way to measure their gear progression and efficiency.


To access a Greater Rift, simply complete a regular Nephalem Rift in any difficulty. When you defeat the Rift Guardian, they’ll have a chance to drop a Greater Rift Key. You can then use this new key at the Nephalem Obelisk, similar to other Rift Fragments—this will open a Greater Rift. If you have members in your party, each player will be prompted to use one of their own Greater Rift keys to join the fun!

How Greater Rifts Work

While Greater Rifts are a type of Nephalem Rift, there are some key differences between the two features. In Greater Rifts:
  • You’ll race against a clock to fill a progress bar by accruing monster kills.
  • Most monsters do not drop loot; rewards have been completely shifted to the Rift Guardian.
  • This removes conflicting pressure from attaining a better time versus picking up all your loot.
  • Monsters grant differing amounts of progress for your progress bar; the tougher the monster, the more they fill up your progress bar.
  • You cannot resurrect at your corpse or in town while in a Greater Rift—only at the last checkpoint.
  • Note that, currently, if you die in a Greater Rift on a Hardcore character, that death will be permanent.
  • You cannot use player banners or the Teleport option if the target player is in a Greater Rift.
  • Higher Greater Rifts levels are progressively more difficult.
  • This difficulty is separate from the standard difficulty settings (Master, Torment I-VI, etc.)

If you complete a Greater Rift before time expires you’ll advance to the next difficulty level. Should your time be exceptionally good, you might even skip a few levels! If time instead expires, you’ll have reached the end of your current Greater Rift journey and your best results will be posted to the appropriate Leaderboards.

25 March 2014[edit | edit source]

Tiered Rifts were first mentioned by Wyatt Cheng in an interview he gave at the Reaper of Souls launch party. [14]


New end game challenges... Josh mentioned that the first content patch is going to have Seasons. I'm happy to announce that there is another major feature coming in the patch 2.1, which is going to be what we're internally calling Tiered Rifts. The idea behind that is an actual challenge scenario, where players do increasingly hard Rifts, to try and see who can get the farthest. The basic mechanics that we have working right now is: you go through the game in Adventure Mode, you do your Bounties, you do a Nephalem Rift. If you clear the Nephalem Rift, there's a chance to get what's called a Greater Rift Token. If you successfully clear the Greater Rift in a certain time limit, then you unlock a Greater Rift Key (Rank 2). If you clear that one, you get Rank 3, etc. Each one is harder than the previous one. Much like Seasons, we're looking at having a leaderboard as well, so you'll be able to compare your progress to the people on your Friends List, your Clan, and the whole region. You'll be able to see who got to the highest Tiered Rift, and what time were they able to obtain on that.


24 April 2014[edit | edit source]

Later in an interview from Shacknews John Hight reiterated.[11]


Second is Tiered Rifts. Tiered Rifts are variations on the Nephalem Rifts concept from Reaper of Souls. You have a timer to finish a Rift (kill enough monsters to draw out the boss and slay the boss) and the better you do, the more challenging the level that you get to tackle. For example, if you finished a Tiered Rift in just a few minutes, you’d get to jump ahead to a much harder rift. These will also have unique rewards, custom leaderboards, etc. Tiered Rifts are a new end game activity that offers both challenge and competition but are easy enough for everyone at max level (70) to try.


Nephalem Rifts[edit | edit source]

17th June 2014[edit | edit source]

From the blog post preview by Blizzard. [4]

Some of the changes in Greater Rifts are also coming to regular Nephalem Rifts—like the way the completion bar will advance based on monster difficulty. In addition, we’re slightly modifying the entry mechanism for all Rifts. All players will need to have a Rift Fragment in order to enter a Nephalem Rift; however, we’ve reduced the cost for entering a Nephalem Rift down to one Rift Fragment per character to compensate.


Legendary Gems[edit | edit source]

17th June 2014[edit | edit source]

From the blog post preview by Blizzard. [4]

Greater Rifts are truly a challenge, and conquering such challenges should be met with great reward. To provide a unique and upgradable incentive, we’re introducing Legendary Gems. Legendary Gems are still undergoing significant iteration at this time, so you won’t see them available on the PTR right away. The gist is that these gems are infinitely upgradeable, and provide special Legendary powers when socketed into the appropriate gear slot. They can only be socketed into Rings and Amulets, and can be upgraded by completing additional Greater Rifts. The higher you place in a Greater Rift, the more likely your gem will be successfully upgraded. We’ll have more details in the future as we continue development on these powerful baubles, so stay tuned!


24th April[edit | edit source]

In an interview John Hight gave the first mention of a new level of gem to try to deepen the socketing mechanic currently in play. [11]


We don’t have any short term plans at the moment, but we all agree that the socketing game is not super deep and we’ve said so before. We are talking seriously about some legendary gem ideas that will offer new tactical options to players. Stay tuned as we do hope that this design gathers steam.


Combat Changes[edit | edit source]

17th June 2014[edit | edit source]

Blizzard shared a some examples of types of class-specific changes they are working on in a blog preview. [4]

Dexterity & Survivability

A major change is coming to Dexterity to benefit Demon Hunters and Monks. Each point of Dexterity will grant 1 point of Armor instead of Dodge chance. Dodge isn’t as reliable as Armor or Resistances and doesn’t protect you from some of the most dangerous monster affixes like Plagued or Thunderstorm. In light of this buff, the existing passives that grant 30% of your Dexterity as Armor (Seize the Initiative and Awareness) will be completely redesigned.

Healing

The next change will be to Healing. Currently, Healing provided by gear isn’t very valuable because you receive the vast amount of your healing from Health Globes. During internal testing, we discovered that as you reached higher Greater Rift levels, you really wanted more of your healing to come from your gear in order to survive. To facilitate this, we are reducing the amount of healing Health Globes provide, but buffing DiabloWikiLife on Hit and Life DiabloWikiRegeneration on gear to compensate. This change should make a more consistent experience when you turn up the difficulty (or reach a higher tier in a Greater Rift) in situations where you’re not killing as quickly and actually require the increased Healing.


The Cesspools[edit | edit source]

24th June 2014[edit | edit source]

The Cesspools are not a fully fleshed out area with distinct mobs and bosses and will only appear in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts.[15]


The Cesspools are an additional environment that will begin spawning exclusively in Nephalem Rifts (including Greater Rifts). They aren’t a new zone, however, so there aren’t new monsters or bosses associated specifically with them. That would also run somewhat counterintuitive to one of the qualities of Nephalem Rifts in that they are always randomized. It’d be a bit odd to introduce a new environment to Rifts and then have them produce static results. Adding the Cesspools in was an opportunity for us to toss in a sort of “bonus” for Patch 2.1, as well as feature the awesome artwork and animations that didn’t make it into the launch version of Reaper of Souls that our environment team worked on.

17th June[edit | edit source]

Blizzard announced a new area. [4]


Originally designed as the sewers of Westmarch, we weren’t quite able to include the Cesspools in the list of playable environments in Reaper of Souls by the time the expansion launched.


Still, we loved the look and feel of this festering, dank underworld and we’ve spent some time polishing it up for use in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts. You’ll have a chance to spawn Cesspool levels while in a Rift, and we hope you enjoy this new randomized landscape!


Non-Season Players[edit | edit source]

17th June 2014[edit | edit source]

Some of the additions rolling out in Patch 2.1 for season players will also find their way to non-season players eventually. [4]

No Seasons? No Problem! Not in the mood to start from scratch? You’ll still benefit from Seasons (which, by the way, are completely optional). New Seasonal Legendaries will roll over to non-Seasonal loot pool after a Season concludes. In addition, Greater Rift leaderboards will also become available to non-Seasonal characters, so you can compare the progress of your friends and clanmates with that of your most veteran heroes!


Clans[edit | edit source]

24th June 2014[edit | edit source]

No changes to clans planned for Patch 2.1.[16]


We’re definitely interested in adding additional clan features in a future patch. Patch 2.1, however, is primarily focused on introducing Seasons and Greater Rifts, along with a few other changes you can read about in our preview blog.



References[edit | edit source]

  1. Patch 2.1 release - Josh Mosqueira, 25/03/2014
  2. PTR Live - Blizzard Entertainment, 26/06/14
  3. Healing Globes drop rate - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Patch 2.1 Preview - Blizzard Entertainment, 17/06/2014
  5. Call of the Ancient changes - Blizzard Community Manager, 04/06/2014
  6. List of Pets to change - Blizzard Community Manager, 04/06/2014
  7. Removal of One with Everything - Blizzard CM, 18/06/2014
  8. Monk Changes - Community Manager, 15/05/2014
  9. Ladder-only legendaries - Blizzard Community Manager, 06/06/2014
  10. Ladders coming to Diablo 3 - Josh Mosqueira, 25/03/2014
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Tiered Rifts - John Hight, 24/04/2014
  12. Paragon Leaderboards - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014]
  13. Hardcore and Softcore conquests - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014
  14. Tiered Rifts - Wyatt Cheng, Blizzard Entertainment, 25/03/2014
  15. Cesspools scope - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014
  16. Clans in 2.1 - Blizzard CM, 24/06/2014