The next chapter in Diablo IV’s post-launch journey is almost here and it’s once again going to be turning a lot of the action-RPG on its head. A bevy of changes coming to all players as part of the Season 6 update will also be met by a ton of new content from the simultaneous Vessel of Hatred expansion. Blizzard finally outlined everything players can expect from Diablo IV 2.0.
Vessel of Hatred and Season 6 are both set to go live at 7:00 p.m. ET on October 7. While the expansion’s campaign, new Spiritborn class, Nahantu region, Kurast Undercity time-attack dungeon, and more were all revealed previously, the game-wide changes coming to all Diablo IV players with the arrival of Season 6 were detailed in a livestream this week, followed by a full list of the Hatred Rising season patch notes.
Highlights include Realmwalkers, enormous creatures with evil eye portals on their backs, which can now be found roaming the countryside. Once killed, they leave behind portals players can enter to discover new dangers and riches in Seething Realm dungeons. The creatures drop alongside a new Creeping Hatred quest that revolves around teaming up with the Zakarum Remnants, a brooding band of ennui-inflicted religious warriors who, when you encounter them, are in disarray.
More importantly, Diablo IV’s underlying leveling system and character progression are getting massive overhauls. Paragon and character levels are getting split, with Paragon levels—the post-game upgrade system—now being shared across all characters in either the eternal or seasonal realms. After level 60, players will start earning Paragon levels that unlock Paragon nodes. At the end of a season, all Paragon experience will be added to a player’s Eternal Realm progression.
World Tiers are also getting swapped out with standard difficulties to try and streamline the level of challenge players encounter in the game. World Tier I, II, III, and IV are now Normal, Hard, Expert, and Pentiment. Enemies no longer have levels and will just scale to the difficulty, granting more experience, gold, and better loot the harder the difficulty setting. A new Paragon board has been added for each character as well, and the Pit has received a big rework to make it less grindy and more rewarding.
There’s a ton more. Every character is getting one new skill and five additional passive abilities. The wardrobe can now be accessed from the character menu. A party finder now makes it way easier to link up with players who want to do similar activities and play with other people, which is clearly how so much of Diablo IV is intended to be played. The pros and cons of all of these changes will start to become apparent in the weeks ahead, but for now it should make the experience of playing a new seasonal character feel fresh all over again.
Here’s the full patch notes for Diablo IV update 2.0.1 and 2.0.2:
Note: Additional changes made since the PTR’s conclusion are highlighted in red.
Developer’s Note: We love the enthusiasm around combining Runes, but we understand many would prefer the optimal combinations of Runewords to have bonuses other than scaling damage stats.
Our original approach was to create a journey where both the Runes of Ritual and Runes of Invocation would eventually lead to Legendary Runes becoming the most potent, but in practice, this led to a handful of combinations being favored. Now, the gap in power between rarity tiers for Runes of Invocation and Runes of Ritual will be much smaller, and Runes that provide utility will be more potent than Runes that only provide damage across all rarity tiers.
Additionally, to make sub power Runes competitive, the Rune type will deal more than other types found in Diablo IV depending on the amount of utility they provide.
Lith (Don’t walk or evade)
Feo (Become Crowd Controlled or Injured)
Vex (+3 to all Skills)
Kry (Spiritborn Vortex)
Ner (Rogue Concealment)
Jah (Sorcerer Teleport)
Qua (Movement Speed and Evade refresh)
Que (Enhanced Earthen Bulwark)
Yom (Petrify)
Ohm (Warcry)
Teb (Abhorrent Iron Maiden)
Tun (Stun Grenades)
Tal (Spiritborn Pestilent Swarm)
Xan (Critical Overpower)
Eom (Generic Cooldown Reduction)
Cah (Spiritwolves)
Zec (Ultimate Cooldown Reduction)
Lac (Barbarian Challenging Shout)
Runes removed:
The following runes have had their icons updated to match their Diablo II predecessors.
Updates for adding sockets to items:
Developer’s Note: We’re glad the return of quest experience rewards, like Strongholds, in Patch 2.0 is being enjoyed. We’ve adjusted the experience reward so that Strongholds remain a strong early to midgame levelling activity, but not strong enough that it’s mandatory to hold them from completion until later character levels.
Hemorrhage
Blood Rage
Carnage
Decimator
Flawless Technique
Weapon Master
Force of Nature
Thunderstruck
Earthen Devastation
Survival Instincts
Heightened Malice
Inner Beast
Constricting Tendrils
Ancestral guidance
Untamed
Hulking Monstrosity
Flesh Easter
Scent of Death
Bone Graft
Blood Begets Blood
Bloodbath
Wither
Eldritch Bounty
Tricks of the Trade
Cheapshot
Deadly Ambush
Leyrana’s Instinct
No Witnesses
Exploit Weakness
Burning Instinct
Icefall
Static Surge
Ceaseless Conduit
Elemental Summoner
Enchantment Master
Developer’s Note: Intensity causes monsters to move faster, their cooldowns to recharge faster, and they’re better at aiming projectile attacks.
Heir of Perdition – Mythic Unique Helm
Shroud of False Death – Mythic Unique Chest Armor
Shattered Vow – Mythic Unique Polearm
Aspect of Assistance – Generic Utility Aspect
Developer’s Note: Because this Aspect is related to Mercenaries, it is exclusive to Vessel of Hatred.
New Recipe Sharpened Finesse
Elemental Surge Tempering Recipe has been split into two recipes
All class’s Skill Trees have been updated to create new connections between nodes.
Mighty Throw – Weapon Mastery Skill – 12 second Cooldown
Barbed Carapace
Belligerence
Heavy Hitter
Warpath
Irrepressible
Ugly Bastard Helm – Unique Helm
Aspect of Shattering Steel – Offensive Aspect
Aspect of the Flaming Rampage – Offensive Aspect
Aspect of Herculean Spectacle – Offensive Aspect
Bleed Innovation – New Utility Recipe
Barbarian Breach – New Utility Recipe
Brute Innovation – New Utility Recipe
Core Augments – Barbarian New Weapon Recipe
Brawling Augments – New Weapon Recipe
Weapon Augments – New Weapon Recipe
Legendary Node
Rare Nodes:
Stone Burst – Earth Core Skill – 30 Spirit Cost
One With Nature
Humanity
Calamity
Feral Aptitude
Backlash
Stone of Vehemen – Unique Totem
Aspect of the Agile Wolf – Utility Aspect
Aspect of the Rabid Bear – Offensive Aspect
Stormcrow’s Aspect – Offensive Aspect
Aspect of Shattered Defenses – Offensive Aspect
Aspect of Anticline Burst – Offensive Aspect
Lightning Augments
Legendary Node
Rare Nodes
Soulrift – Darkness Ultimate Skill – 50 second Cooldown
Affliction
Titan’s Fall
Precision Decay
Finality
Necrotic Fortitude
The Unmaker – Unique Helm
Reaping Lotus’ Aspect – Offensive Aspect
Phasing Poltergeist’s Aspect – Offensive Aspect
Aspect of Fel Gluttony – Offensive Aspect
Bone Innovation – New Utility Recipe
Blood Innovation – New Utility Recipe
Decay Innovation – New Utility Recipe
Execution Innovation – New Utility Recipe
Legendary Node
Rare Nodes
Dance of Knives – Cutthroat Agility Skill – 6 Charges, 1 second Charge Cooldown
Alchemical Admixture
Target Practice
Balestra
Evasive
Unto Dawn
Pitfighter’s Gull – Unique Ring
Aspect of Poisonous Clouds: Offensive Aspect
Aspect of Splintering Shards: Offensive Aspect
Aspect of Star Shards: Offensive Aspect
Agile Augments – New Weapon Recipe
Assassin Augments – New Weapon Recipe
Warped Augments – New Weapon Recipe
Basic Augments — Rogue
Core Augments — Rogue
Legendary Node
Rare Nodes
Familiar – Conjuration Skill – 3 Charges, 12 second Charge Cooldown
Enlightenment
Evocation
Energy Focus
Dampen Layer
Elemental Synergies
Sidhe’s Bindings – Unique Gloves
Aspect of Charged Flash – Offensive Aspect
Aspect of Elemental Constellation – Offensive Aspect
Aspect of Overheating – Offensive Aspect
Pyromancy Augments – Fiery – Weapon Recipe
Frozen Augments – Frozen – Weapon Recipe
Sorcerer Innovation – Utility Recipe
Legendary Node
Rare Nodes
Deflecting Barrier
Aspect of Slaughter
Starlight Aspect
Andariel’s Visage
Frenzy
Enhanced Frenzy
Combat Frenzy
Battle Frenzy
Ground Stomp
Enhanced Ground Stomp
Tactical Ground Stomp
Strategic Ground Stomp
Upheaval
Furious Upheaval
Hamstring
Slaying Strike
Unconstrained
Martial Vigor
The following lists all the affixes now available for each Tempering recipe.
Bleed Augments – Weapon Recipe
Furious Augments – Weapon Recipe
Berserking Augments
Berserking Finesse – Offensive Recipe
Barbarian Innovation – Utility Recipe
Wasteland Augments – Changed to a Utility recipe
Sandstorm Augments – Weapon Recipe
Demolition Finesse – Offensive Recipe
Of Giant Strides
Of Bul-Kathos
Of Earthquakes
Of Sundered Ground
Bold Chieftain’s Aspect
Twin Strikes
Overkill
Ring of Red Furor
Hellhammer
Hemorrhage Board
Blood Rage Board
Carnage Board
Decimator Board
Bone Breaker Board
Flawless Technique Board
Warbringer Board
Weapons Master Board
Squall Rare Node
Brawl Rare Glyph
Dominate Rare Glyph
Innate Debilitating Roar reworked
Preserving Debilitating Roar
Earthen Bulwark
Trample
Cataclysm
Developer’s Note: Cataclysm was previously updated to be guaranteed to hit an enemy with its lightning strikes, if one is in range. While this felt better to use, it turned out to be a bit overpowered. Now we’re limiting how frequently Cataclysm’s lightning strikes can repeatedly hit the same target to ensure that other Ultimate Skills can still be a competitive option in single target situations. The damage of the lightning strikes is being increased to compensate.
Ursine Strength
Developer’s Note: Ursine Strength is one of the most popular Key Passives for Druids, and was designed with Werebear and or Overpower focused builds in mind. However, it is often being used in builds that have little interest in Werebear Skills or Overpower effects, because the 30%[x] Damage bonus while Healthy was generically powerful. We are reducing the power of this effect, while increasing the Maximum Health and Overpower damage bonuses to better support its Werebear and Overpower niche, versus other builds that it was not intended for.
Grizzly Rage
Wolves
Petrify
Developer’s Note: Triggering Petrify through the Yom rune will grant 100 of the Primary Resource for your class.
Prime Petrify
Quickshift
Heightened Senses
Bestial Rampage
Perfect Storm
Nature’s Fury
Developer’s Note: Nature’s Fury triggered more than intended when using Landslide along with the Earthbreaker Unique Ring. It should only trigger from Casts, which happen once when you press a Skill button that is on your Action Bar. Not from the extra effects from various Legendary or Unique items. This is a substantial decrease in power for builds that were using this interaction, and to compensate, Earthbreaker has been made more potent (see below).
Overload Spirit Boon
Bolster Spirit Boon
Aspect of the Blurred Beast
Shockwave Aspect
Stormclaw’s Aspect
Aspect of the Ursine Horror
Seismic-shift Aspect
Stormshifter’s Aspect
Aspect of Retaliation
Crashstone Aspect
Bold Chieftain’s Aspect
Fleshrender
Dolmen Stone
Wildheart Hunger
Hunter’s Zenith
Earthbreaker
Mad Wolf’s Glee
Greatstaff of the Crone
All Weapon Tempering recipes have been updated with the following stats.
Storm Augments
Lightning Augments
Earth Augments
Werewolf Augments
Werebear Augments
Companion Augments
Moved or Removed Recipes
Starter Board
Thunderstruck Board
Earthen Devastation Board
Survival Instincts Board
Lust for Carnage Board
Heightened Malice Board
Inner Beast Board
Constricting Tendrils Board
Ancestral Guidance Board
Blight
Reap
Blood Lance
Blood Wave
Army of the Dead
Transfusion – Cooldown for spawning a Blood Orb reduced from 4 to 2 seconds.
Death’s Approach – Movement Speed increased from 4/8/12% [+] to 5/10/15% [+].
Kalan’s Edict
Bonded in Essence
Death’s Defense
Necrotic Carapace
Bone Golem Active Skill
Blood Golem Sacrifice
Aspect of Cursed Aura
Tidal Aspect
Shademist Aspect
Aspect of Fel Gluttony
Aspect of the Damned
The Mortacrux
Black River
Greaves of the Empty Tomb
Ring of Mendeln
Lidless Wall
Mutilator Plate
All Weapon Tempering recipes have been updated with the following stats.
Bone Augments
Blood Augments
Shadow Augments – Decay
Shadow Augments – Execution
Summoning Augments
Thorn Army
Other Tempering Updates:
Starter Board
Hulking Monstrosity
Flesh-Eater Board
Scent of Death
Bone Graft Board
Blood Begets Blood Board
Bloodbath Board
Wither Board
Enhanced Blade Shift
Fundamental Blade Shift
Invigorating Strike
Fundamental Invigorating Strike
Enhanced Invigorating Strike
Disciplined Shadow Step
Concealment
Subverting Concealment
Countering Concealment
Prime Shadow Clone
Death Trap
Supreme Death Trap
Rain of Arrows
Supreme Rain of Arrows
Prime Rain of Arrows
Weapon Mastery
Close Quarters Combat
Adrenaline Rush
Impetus
Victimize
Momentum
Mending Obscurity
Aspect of True Sight
Resistant Assailant’s
Uncanny Treachery
Opportunists
Icy Alchemists Aspect
Toxic Alchemists Aspect
Ravager’s
Bladedancer’s Aspect
Encircling Blades
Of Iron Rain
Escape Artist’s
Word of Hakan
All Weapon Tempering recipes have been updated with the following stats.
Trap Augments
Basic Augments – Rogue
Core Augments – Rogue
Agile Augments
Assassin Augments
Other Tempering Changes:
Devious Glyph
Starter Board
Eldritch Bounty Board
Tricks of the Trade Board
Cheap Shot Board
Deadly Ambush Board
Leyrana’s Instinct Board
No Witnesses Board
Exploit Weakness Board
Cunning Stratagem Board
Enhanced Charged Bolts
Enhanced Fireball
Prime Deep Freeze
Chain Lightning Enchantment
Hydra Enchantment
Arc Lash Enchantment
Incinerate Enchantment
Endless Pyre
Conjuration Mastery
Storm Swell Aspect
Aspect of Engulfing Flames
Aspect of Armageddon
Meteorites from Aspect of Armageddon and Aspect of Shattered Stars now more consistently land around or on the enemies near the cast target.
Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop
Axial Conduit
Gloves of the Illuminator
All Weapon Tempering recipes have been updated with the following stats.
Pyromancy Augments
Pyromancy Augments – Fiery
Frozen Augments – Frozen
Frost Augments
Conjuration Augments
Shock Augments – Discharge
Shock Augments – Surge
Other Tempering Updates:
Starting Board
Searing Heat Board
Burning Instinct Board
Frigid Fate Board
Icefall Board
Static Surge Board
Ceaseless Conduit Board
Elemental Summoner Board
Enchantment Master Board
Developer’s Note: Since this cache has been very popular, we are making it more accessible while also broadening its applications. The highest tier cache is intended to be a late-game material dump.
Developer’s Note: These changes to Smoldering Ashes continue to ensure those who use Tier Skips cannot gain access to the benefits of Smoldering Ashes any sooner than players who don’t. You will also be able to claim and use Smoldering Ashes as soon as you’ve earned enough Favor—no more waiting around for your character to reach the level requirement. There’s a new icon on the Battle Pass reward track that displays your Earned Favor progress, so you’ll know exactly how far you are from unlocking your next Smoldering Ashes.
Developer’s Note: This was only possible on the Eternal Realm since the tempering recipe for additional ranks of these skills was removed in the Season of Infernal Hordes. The Damage Reduction from these passives is now capped at 80%, which requires 20 Ranks of the Skill.
Developer’s Note: Call of the Ancients has been slightly rebalanced to compensate for this issue, dealing less damage for low-level Barbarians, and dealing more damage for Barbarians with stronger late game gear.
Note: Nvidia DLSS Frame Generation and Ray Traced Foliage will be disabled while the team works on addressing an issue in an upcoming patch.
Legendary aspect affix values now have a separate cap between Ancestral and Non-Ancestral items. Now, the maximum values for aspects can only be found on Ancestral items.
Developer’s Note: Previously, max rolls of aspects could be found much earlier on. This made the transition into Ancestral items less exciting, as your aspects could already be maxed out before you entered Torment Difficulty. Now there is more noticeable item progression as you move through Torment Difficulties.
Magic Runes of Ritual
Rare Runes of Ritual
Runes of Invocation
Unstable Currents
Developer’s Note: The effects of Unstable Currents are not treated as casts, which only occurs once when you press the Skill button.
Lightning Spear
Enlightenment
Aspect of Splintering Energy
Aspect of Elemental Constellation
The Oculus
Flamescar
Fracture Winterglass
Burning Instinct Legendary Node
Developer’s Note: We made several changes to ensure Infernal Hordes remains a fun and rewarding activity. Our changes address not being able to target farm specific Unique items on a consistent basis, loot rewards feeling lackluster, and the process of opening chests feeling tedious.
Developer’s Note: When trying to Socket a gem into a two-Socket item that is already full, the bottom Gem will be removed, and the new Gem will become the top Gem—think first in, first out. If you try to Socket a Gem into an item that has 1 or more Runes in it, all Runes are automatically removed. The opposite is also true when Socketing Runes into an item that contains Gems. Additionally, Unsocketing no longer costs Gold to perform.
Developer’s Note: We’ve received requests for a reliable way to obtain a Mythic Unique during a season. This change fills that need. We’ve also created an avenue that allows you to target a specific Mythic Unique using Runes, giving more flexibility and progressive chase in your pursuit of Mythic Unique items.
Developer’s Note: With the substantial increase to Impairment Reduction sources through Paragon, we found this was a good opportunity to improve the overall pool of Affixes on gear by removing Impairment Reduction as a gear Affix.
Developer’s Note: We found an issue where Classes could sometimes unintentionally benefit from Affixes and Legendary Powers that are Class-specific for other Classes. An example of this would be a Sorcerer benefitting from War Cry legendary items that belong to Barbarians. We find the design space interesting, particularly with Runewords being added to the game, and may explore these kinds of synergies in the future. Currently, we do not believe it is healthy for players to farm items and Affixes on one Class to benefit a different one.