Two weeks ago, we published an article outlining how every class was expected to perform based on the Season 15 PTR. Blizzard has now updated the patch notes, with further changes aimed at narrowing the gap between classes and giving underperforming builds more support.
You can check all of the 3.2.1 Patch Notes here. Changes that are colored blue are new.
Here are some of the most significant updates for every class.
Barbarian
Barbarians are still facing an overall nerf after two strong seasons. One of the biggest changes is the reduction to their Core Stat scaling, lowering the damage gained from Strength across virtually every build.
One of the strongest nerfs came in the form of Ramaladni’s Magnum Opus. This powerful weapon has been a staple of many Barbarian builds thanks to its huge damage potential. Rather than directly reducing that damage, Blizzard changed its downside: the weapon would drain a percentage of Maximum Fury instead of a flat 10 Fury per second.
The latest notes list that drain at 7% of Maximum Fury, down from the 10% we covered in our PTR article, and restrict it to combat. This should help Barbarians keep their resource while traveling.
Druid
Druids haven’t changed much, but the latest notes bring some welcome quality-of-life improvements, Talisman adjustments, and bug fixes.
One interesting addition is that the Fleshrender’s damage bonus now applies to all Tornadoes. This might further open up the option of a dedicated Tornado build. Dolmen Stone has also received a substantial damage increase, with its bonus now applying to the entire skill rather than just the explosion. Druids traditionally lacked strong Earth builds, so Boulder opens as another option.
Storm Shepherd set received a 100%(x) damage increase for its 5-piece bonus, while lowering the damage of double and triple casts, making the set more consistent. Other talisman sets also received further improvements.
Necromancer
Necromancer is perhaps the biggest winner of the changes made since the PTR, receiving a long list of buffs and bug fixes. Blizzard wants to give players stronger alternatives to Blood Wave and Bone Spirit, with additional support for Blood Surge, Bone Spear, and Corpse Explosion.
The developers also believe Soulrift has lacked a clear identity compared to other Ultimates. Its latest adjustments aim to make it an appealing option for Shadow damage-over-time builds.
Rathma’s Waking Touch is being reworked to support Summoning builds more broadly, rather than focusing so heavily on Army of the Dead. Meanwhile, Army of the Dead will now stack when cast repeatedly while active, which should increase damage for builds that rely on it as their primary damage source.
Key items such as the Red Blessing or Banished Lord’s Talisman are also being adjusted. Blizzard wants to move away from simply stacking as much Maximum Overpower as possible, encouraging players to generate and spend Overpower stacks instead.
With further improvements across Legendary Aspects, Uniques, skills, and Paragon, Necromancer has considerably more going for it than the original PTR notes suggested.
Paladin
Paladin has been among the weakest classes in the game for several seasons in a row, so Blizzard aims to address this with strong buffs to Oaths and Core skills.
The developers paid particular attention to Judgement-based builds, identifying them among the weakest of the class. One of the key changes coming in Season 15 allows Judgement to scale with the rank of the skill that applies it, giving these builds another way to increase their damage. Skill ranks are becoming more important elsewhere, too: Necromancer’s Soulrift now has a Darkness damage bonus that scales with them.
The updated notes also improve Heaven’s Radiant Fire and Cathan’s Righteous Will, making their bonuses easier to build or maintain. These changes should help them compete with other Talisman options.
Divine Lance, Zeal, and Shield Bash receive additional damage buffs, while Blessed Shield’s Shield of Retribution variant gains skill-rank scaling for the percentage of Thorns damage it deals.
Combined with the Oath buffs and several important bug fixes, these changes give Paladin a better chance of becoming competitive again.
Rogue
Rogue has consistently been among the strongest classes in the game, which is particularly true in Lord of Hatred. Blizzard recognizes the variety of endgame builds the class has available, so the latest adjustments focus on selected Cutthroat builds that have fallen behind.
Flurry is receiving more damage, while Deathmask of Nirmitruq now grants its Transporter variant for free.
Another notable change affects the Damage per Combo Point Spent Offensive Temper, whose values increase from 3–4.5% to 10–15%. This gives Combo Point builds another improvement alongside the changes already announced in the original PTR notes.
Rogue also receives numerous bug fixes affecting Combo Points, Imbuements, and other mechanics, which should help several builds perform more reliably.
Sorcerer
For Sorcerer, Blizzard has focused on improving the Cold archetype, since Lightning dominated the past couple of seasons.
Deep Freeze’s Frigid Ward variant now also creates Ice Spikes dealing 39% weapon damage. Meanwhile, Ice Blades’ Blazing variant switches from a cooldown to a 20 Mana cost and loses its Mana drain per attack.
Ice Shards’ Piercing Cold variant receives additional damage, while Meteor and several of its variants—including Comet—also get stronger.
Several Legendary Paragon Nodes receive further improvements as well. These changes should give Sorcerer players more reasons to experiment with Cold builds, while also supporting some options outside that archetype.
Spiritborn
Alongside Paladin and Necromancer, Spiritborn completes the list of least performing classes in Lord of Hatred.
Despite this, strong Swarm builds have still allowed it to compete at the highest difficulty levels.
This might come to an end, as Blizzard is fixing a bug with the Tzic Rune that incorrectly gave a massive damage increase, as well as reducing the maximum stacks on Aspect of Supremacy. To compensate, the developers are significantly buffing Spiritborn’s Paragon boards, Core skills, Potency skills, and Unique weapons.
There is also an interesting mechanical change. Variants that previously replaced a skill’s base Spirit will now add the new Spirit as an additional skill tag instead. Keeping both tags should make Spirit Hall interactions more consistent and open up additional build combinations.
Rake, Stinger, Quill Volley, Crushing Hand, Payback, Touch of Death, and Razor Wings all receive buffs, alongside a broad selection of Legendary Paragon Nodes.
In our original article, I criticized the lack of a Core Stat scaling buff for Spiritborn. These more targeted improvements are welcome, though we will need to see how much they offset the nerfs to its strongest interactions.
Warlock
Warlock was the clear favorite in our original Season 15 assessment. After two underwhelming seasons for the game’s newest class, the PTR notes offered one buff after another.
The updated notes bring further improvements, but also some deliberate reductions to excessive damage scaling. Blizzard wants to preserve the class’s momentum and build variety while addressing interactions that were stronger than intended.
One priority is moving some power out of Demonform. The Dynamism Legendary Paragon Node now provides additional Summon Skill damage outside Demonform, while its damage scaling inside Demonform is reduced.
Several attacks also gain damage or new skill tags. Bombardment becomes a Summon Skill, Dread Claws becomes a Greater Demon Skill, and Hellion Sting gains the Lesser Demon tag. Doom, Terror Swarm, and several Sigils receive additional damage improvements.
These changes extend to Soul Shards. Command Abodian and Abodian’s Basic Attack now count as Summon Skills, while Twisted Fragment makes Command Valloch an Abyss Hellfire Skill. This follows a broader trend in the patch notes, with skills gaining additional or different tags to open up new synergies and encourage more build variety.
Aspects and Unique items also receive further adjustments, although there are nerfs among the buffs. Hands of the Worldbreaker, for example, has its Apocalypse damage bonus reduced.
Warlock remains in the pole position after the new round of changes, and is still looking to be a top class in Season 15.
