There is a lot of talk and excitement going around within the Diablo 4 community currently. Especially since the game’s next expansion, Lord of Hatred, will release later this month, on April 28th. So, it makes sense that players start bringing up interesting questions ahead of Lord of Hatred, such as: with passive skill nodes being removed from the skill tree, does the amulet slot lose what makes it special?
Right now, amulets are one of the most exciting items to chase in Diablo 4. Rolling the right passive with good stats and a Greater Affix makes for a genuinely rare and powerful item, one that many players find even more exciting to find than a Mythic Unique.
The concern is understandable. If passive skill nodes disappear entirely, amulets would simply become another slot with generic stat affixes.
There Is More to It
Looking at the Warlock skill planner already available on d4builds.gg, passive nodes do still appear to exist in the new skill tree. What Lord of Hatred is actually removing are Key Passives, the large build-defining nodes at the bottom of the current skill tree. Regular passive nodes seem to still be part of the system.
So the amulet slot losing its identity entirely is probably not the concern it first appeared to be.
Where the Real Frustration Comes From
However, the overall conversation about what will happen to amulets in Lord of Hatred is still worth having. A lot of players found passive amulet chasing frustrating, with drop rates that felt rarer than Mythics for minimal power gains. The idea of Unique amulets (such as 
Melted Heart of Selig) finally getting more time to shine, or the Horadric Cube opening up new ways to craft interesting affixes for amulets in general, is very exciting to many.
Either way, April 28 will answer a lot of these questions.
For more updates on Lord of Hatred and future patches, visit our Diablo 4 news hub.
