The wait is over! Blizzard has just released the official patch notes for Diablo 4 Season 11, giving us the first full look at the massive changes coming to the game.
From the highly anticipated content overhaul to long-requested quality-of-life improvements, and even a new boss, this update promises to change the game in ways you did not expect. With the Sanctuary Sitdown stream starting later tonight, here is everything you need to know!
Sanctuary Ignites with Itemization & Systems Changes
To get your hands on any of these features coming with Season 11, check out the 2.5.0 PTR, available on October 21 for PC Battle.net users. For more details on the 2.5.0 PTR, read our blog here.
Note that much of the information contained in this blog is reflected in the 2.5.0 PTR blog. This blog is intended as a convenient way to read all the changes that will be permanent to the game beyond Season 11.
Codex
Item Journey Reworks: Tempering and Masterworking
System Updates: Defense, Healing, Renown
Changes to the Welcome Back Booster
Item Journey Reworks: Tempering and Masterworking
We are changing the item journey in a big way. Based on community feedback, we’re overhauling your item journey through the many difficulty tiers of Diablo IV.
Tempering and Masterworking have been refocused around their most core elements: customization, and prestige. Players now always get their desired Tempering Affix, and Masterworking has a direct path towards perfection.
Tempering
You can now select which specific affix you want to apply to your item from a Tempering Recipe. No longer will you have to have it randomly applied!
Items can now only have one tempered affix, as opposed to two randomly applied affixes while Tempering Charges can be restored indefinitely.
Masterworking
Masterworking no longer increases your item’s affix values. Instead, it improves the Quality of an item, which gives a bonus to the base damage, armor, or resistance of an item.
Items can be Masterworked to a maximum Quality threshold of 20. Once at maximum Quality, you can roll it one last time for a Capstone bonus.
This Capstone bonus upgrades a random non-greater affix on your item into a Greater Affix. You can then choose to re-roll the Masterworked Greater Affix, without resetting your Masterworking Quality.
Additionally, we’re increasing the amount of base affixes found on non-unique items from 3 to 4.
Monster Combat Changes
Improved Monster Behavior
Monsters will better react and adapt to combat in their express desire to end your life. Each monster should now have its own clear role and own identity when fighting. Monster behavior was previously too predictable; they’ll now be more dynamic in how they respond to you in combat.
Deadlier Enemies Lurk
Expect your defenses to be tested by your enemies; you’ll be more regularly dealt damage from these intelligent packs. Monster affixes will also be more powerful, making them more necessary to deal with before moving on to other less important enemies.
Monster packs will also group up less, making them harder to take out in one fell swoop. Their tactics have improved, and so yours should too. Additionally, Champion enemy rarity have been reworked to form champion packs.
Elite Enemy Updates
Elites are receiving several large changes, first of those is there are now 20+ new monster affixes to learn and conquer.
Elites now spawn with minions that inherit some of their affixes. Overall, we’ve updated enemy affixes to be more engaging, reduced overlap in their designs, and made some visual clarity improvements.
System Updates: Defense, Healing, Renown
Defense Overhaul: Introducing Toughness
In an effort to better equalize effective Health across classes and builds, we’re making several changes to way effective Health interacts with Damage Reduction and how those individual stats are calculated. Our goal is to properly test your defenses as you climb through difficulty tiers, putting more emphasis on gearing your builds towards survivability.
Armor and Resistances will both become rating systems, with diminishing returns at higher values. Armor now reduces all damage taken, both Physical and Non-Physical. We’re also introducing a new type of Damage Resistance: Physical Damage.
With these changes to Armor and Resistances in mind, the Armor and Resistance penalties per Torment Tiers have been removed. Additionally, Skills and Paragon Nodes are being reworked with these changes in mind. Paragon Nodes and Skills that provide various forms of Damage Reduction now grant a multiplicative bonus to your armor or all resistances.
To help you understand your defenses better, we’re adding a new stat called Toughness that represents the total amount of raw damage of each type you can take after considering all damage mitigation sources.
Healing Updates
Potions are changing significantly to make their use more impactful and tactical. These changes go in tandem with the Renown changes next, so keep that in mind when reading these changes.
Base Potion capacity has been reduced to 4 (regardless of previous Renown progress). Potion healing is now an instant, percentage based heal. Using a Potion heals you for 35% of your total Health immediately on use.
In addition to the Potions you pick up, you’ll also slowly regenerate a Potion every 30 seconds.
To compensate, Life on Hit has been re-added as a potential affix. It has a minor cooldown so that it no longer multiplicatively scales with enemy density.
We’ve also increased values for Life Regeneration, Life on Kill, Healing %, and made them more readily available. Healing Potion upgrades have been removed considering Potions are now a portion of your overall Health.
Fortify Re-design
To work in tandem with the changes to Healing and Potions, Fortify is shifting from a type of Damage Reduction to an additional reservoir of Life that’s drained to heal you over time.
When you now gain Fortify, it will stack up to your Maximum Life. When you have Fortify under Maximum Life, you’ll heal for a percentage of your Maximum Life per second in exchange for an equal amount of Fortify.
You will be considered Fortified as long as you have any amount of Fortify. Specific changes to Skills, Passives, and items related to Fortify are detailed in the 2.5.0 PTR Patch notes found here.
Introducing Season Rank
The Season Journey is now shifting into a more challenging version stocked with Season Rank. Each Tier now requires you to complete a challenge—usually a Capstone Dungeon—before progressing to the next Rank. Similar to previous Capstone Dungeons, these can be attempted before the recommended level and difficulty.
Renown Changes in the Seasonal Realm
Your Renown will now only stand permanently in the Eternal Realm. Note that the Potion capacity changes (and removal from Renown) affects the Eternal Realm as well.
Within the Seasonal Realm, you can still earn the additional benefits associated with Renown based on your progress, tied to the new Season Rank system.
Complete various challenges within each Rank to earn specific benefits, while completing an entire Rank will grant additional Capstone bonuses.
Season Rank rewards additional Skill points at Rank 1, 2, and 3. Season Rank awards additional Paragon points at Rank 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Altars of Lilith and Tenets of Akarat will still grant some Experience and minor rewards, rather than permanent stats and power.
Capstone Dungeons Return
The Capstone Dungeons have returned, aimed to challenge your progress through the many difficulty tiers as you gain power through your journey. Note that depsite Capstone Dungeons stating a suggested Level to attempt them, they do not scale in difficulty with your current level.
There are five Capstone Dungeons to conquer:
Torrid Menagerie
- Suggested level: 30
- Difficulty Tier: Normal
Hellish Descent
- Suggested level: 50
- Difficulty Tier: Expert
Unseen Awakening
- Suggested level: 60
- Difficulty Tier: Torment I
Tempest Oasis
- Suggested level: 60
- Difficulty Tier: Torment II
Sins of the Many
- Suggested level: 60
- Difficulty Tier: Torment III
The Tower and Leaderboards (Beta)
Note that both The Tower and Leaderboards will officially be in Beta for both the 2.5.0 PTR and in Season 11. They will be released from Beta at a further date.
Ascend the Tower
A new challenge arrives to test the mettle of the most battle-hardened warriors in Sanctuary. The Tower is a multi-stage timed dungeon that is meant to only be bested by the most elite of wanderers. While the Pit descends you to the greatest depths to galvanize your strength, the Tower rises in challenge to match you against others who think themselves worthy.
Our plan is to update The Tower through multiple seasons to come. This introduction of the Tower is the first iteration of this game mode. We look forward to reading your feedback on this mode to help shape it moving forward.
The Tower was distinctly built with the new monster combat changes in mind, becoming an expert at outwitting the new tactics of these foes to gain the upper hand within The Tower.
Unlock the Tower through the Obelisk in Cerrigar. From there, you can run The Tower on any difficulty level already unlocked for The Pit. You have 10 minutes from exiting the first circle to complete the entire dungeon.
How to Master the Tower
Fight through multiple floors, each with a randomized tile set and monster family. Earn progress by killing monsters and collecting Orbs. The more experience monsters provide upon death, the more score they provide.
During your run, Pylons will appear after destroying Towers found throughout the level. You are guaranteed to see four Pylons across your Tower run. Use these to tactically empower you for a short duration. The first three Pylons will appear in a random order while still guaranteeing each of the three options will appear at least once, but the fourth will be random repeat of one of the prior Pylons each Tower run.
You can also collect Orbs to earn progress in the Tower. These drop from killing Elites, Champions, or Goblins.
When enough progress has been made, a random Tower boss will spawn. Defeat them before the timer ends to complete the run and mark your spot on the Leaderboards.
The Return of Leaderboards
With the arrival of The Tower, the Leaderboards have made their triumphant return to Diablo IV. This is where the elite will compete to see who can call themselves the pinnacle of all wanderers. While in Beta, the Leaderboards will not have any specific rewards linked to them. Stay tuned for more details on that at a later date.
Upon completing your Tower run, you’ll see the Tower Tier you completed, and your final time. Note there will be two entirely separate entries of Leaderboards split by both Hardcore and Normal.
We have plans for the Leaderboard following Season 11 launch, while this PTR will be more focused on introducing the overall functionality. Expect more details around the timeline and testing schedule for both The Tower and Leaderboards closer to Season 11 launch.
Leaderboards will be organized by the following categories:
- Solo Barbarian
- Solo Necromancer
- Solo Sorcerer
- Solo Rogue
- Solo Druid
- Solo Spiritborn
- Party of 2
- Party of 3
- Party of 4
Additionally, entries on the Leaderboards will display the following:
- Rank
- Player Name
- Tier Completed
- Time
- Date
You can also Filter the results by:
- All Platforms or PC only
- Friends
- Clan
Changes to the Welcome Back Booster
For players who have not yet used your Welcome Back Booster, it will now be moving to the Training Ground to avoid unintended use. Following the end of Season 10, there will be some changes to the Welcome Back Booster.
Starting with Season 11, new accounts will not be granted a Winback Booster and will no longer be automatically added to the Journal for new characters.
However, if you create an account and log-in any time before the end of Season 10, you will still earn and be able to use the Welcome Back Booster at any time. This includes during or after Season 11.
New World Boss: Azmodan
Azmodan, the Lord of Sin is making his diabolical return to torment the denizens of Sanctuary. With Season 11, Azmodan becomes a permanent world boss that can appear as one of the potential world bosses who invade Sanctuary.
Rally against his flaming attacks and bloodlusted minions to end his reign of sin.
To get your hands on these sweeping changes and try them out yourself, jump in to the 2.5.0 PTR on PC Battle.net from October 21, 10:30 p.m. PDT to October 28, 11 a.m. PDT. For more details on the 2.5.0 PTR, you can read our blog here.
May you take these powerful changes and ascend to devastating new heights.
—The Diablo IV Team
