Diablo 2 Resurrected’s highly anticipated Patch 2.4’s class changes were finally revealed. The new patch will be available on the PC PTR starting January 25 and brings new and exciting changes to Diablo 2.
Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 PTR Class Changes Released
It has been over a month sinceBlizzard teased us with a massive amount of changesfor the upcoming Patch 2.4. This new update will be the first major balance change the game received since version 1.13c. That means thatDiablo 2has been the same game for 11 years.
Starting on January 25, PC players will be able to finally participate and experience the first huge update to the beloved ARPG classic. Today, we will be discussing the changes to theseven classes’skills. We also have somenew Runewords to check outlater on. But for now, let’s jump in!
Javelin and Spear
First up, the Amazon’s Melee skill synergies are being buffed. Affected skills arePower Strike,Charged StrikeandLightning Strike.Impalein particular, will now be uninterruptible and will always hit its targets.Fendwill have its attack speed increased by 100%. Lastly,Plague Javelin’s numbers have been improved to make it more distinct fromPoison Javelin.
Passive and Magic Skills
Few passive skills have received minor buffs.Inner Sight andSlow Missiles’radius were increased by about 35%. Slow Missiles now scales per level instead of it being a fixed rate.DodgeandAvoidskills animation can now be interrupted to perform other actions, making combat feel more fluid.
Bow and Crossbow Skills
Freezing Arrow,Magic Arrow,Guided ArrowandStrafereceive minor damage or mana cost buffs to make them more usable.Fire Arrow,Exploding ArrowandImmolation Arroware getting major buffs. Their overall mana costs have been reduced. Damage scaling was also improved, especially at higher skill levels to be more useful in Nightmare and Hell Difficulty
Martial Arts
The Martial Arts resource system, combo points and finishers are getting a major change. Instead of a Finishing Move consuming all 3 combo charges, it will now only use 1. This should make resource management a lot easier.Dragon Talon,Dragon Claw,Dragon TailandDragon Flight are all being buffed as they always hit their targets as long as the Assassin has a Martial Arts charge. Their damage is being increased as well. Combo skillsClaws of Thunder,Blades of Ice,Tiger Strike,Cobra StrikeandPhoenix Strikewill all get attack rate improvements for smoother gameplay.
Shadow Disciplines
The Shadow Disciplines skills are already widely used and generally effective so no major buffs were warranted.Venom’sduration scaling was changed to be consistent with the duration ofBust of SpeedandFade.Shadow WarriorandShadow Mastercasting delays reduced from 6 seconds to 0.6 seconds, and no longer share a cooldown with other skills with cast delay.
The reliance onDeath Sentrysynergies was removed from multiple traps. Fire traps such asFire Blast,Wake of FireandWake of Infernoare being rebalanced to be more effective at higher difficulties.Blade Sentinel,Blade FuryandBlade Shieldreceive major buffs to make dedicated builds around these skills.
These skills are generally getting quality of life changes, such as updating tooltips to show hidden skill mechanics.Grim Wardalso Slows and Increases Damage Taken from enemies, added Synergy for the skillFind Potion.
Combat Masteries
As mentioned before, Throwing Barbarians should be more viable now.Throwing Masteryadded a chance for projectiles to pierce.
Combat Skills
Leapand Leap Attack animation speeds increased by 75% to make it feel more responsive.Leap Attackalso received multiple damage and attack rating buffs.Double Throwincreased damage bonus.Frenzy’ssynergy with Increased Stamina skill to add the duration.
Elemental Skills
Flames are the main focus of the Druid’s Elemental skills. Fire skills such asFirestorm,Molten Boulder,Fissure,VolcanoandArmageddonhave their Casting Delays tweaked and will not share cooldowns with other skills. Physical Damage components of certain skills had their scaling improved to make them viable alternate damage sources. This will make them more useful against fire immune enemies particularly in Hell difficulty.
Cyclone ArmorandHurricanebuffs can now be cast in Werewolf or Werebear form, thereby removing the need to switch forms to maintain the buffs.
Shape-Shifting
WerewolfandWerebearforms get changes to attack speed. Base attack speed should now match the druid’s natural form. Previously, the morphed forms had lower base attack speed. This should make them attack faster and feel more responsive. Werewolf skillsRabiesandFuryhave gained Attack Rating Improvements. Werebear skillsMaul,Shock WaveandFire Clawsreceived damage buffs.
All summons are getting standardized health values instead of being random.
Spirit SummonsOak Sage,Heart of the WolverineandSpirit of Barbsare getting a flat 25% Physical Damage Resistances across all difficulties to aid in their survivability. Raven damage scaling improved greatly and synergies were added. However, the number of hits they can do is being reduced to 5 and no longer increases per level.
Wolf summonsare getting damage buffs to further their role as the damage-dealing summons.Creeper summonshave their functions buffed to be more worthy to invest skill points in.
Necromancer
Skeletal Mageis getting significant buffs as it is the most under-utilized summoning skill. Aside from a minor health increase, Poison, Cold and Lightning damages have been buffed across the board.Blood GolemandFire Golemhave their damage increased.Iron Golem’s Thorns ability now has more consistent damage.
Poison and Bone
Bone SpearandBone Spiritreceive minor buffs to their synergies to reward investing in the Bone Skills.Bone Armorwill now absorb a bit more damage.
Weaken’sdamage reduction now scales based on level.
Defensive Auras
Tooltips updated to show the hidden functionality of the aura that increases Maximum Resist Bonus.
Offensive Auras
Damaging auras such asHoly Fire,Holy Freeze,Holy ShockandSanctuarynow deal damage based on distance from the caster. The damage will range from 100% from the farthest range to 200% when the target is right beside the caster.
Thornsis being updated to now deal a flat damage value instead of percentage-based. The player will now deal thorns damage after an enemy attempts to attack them, not after they get hit. This should make Thorns usage less risky and more consistent. The change also affects the Druid’s Spirit of Barbs and Necromancer’s Iron Golem.
Holy Bolt’s damage is increased by 50% but loses Blessed Hammer Synergy. It will now also pierce targets to make it more viable.Fist of Heavensalso gets the changes of Holy Bolt and have less Casting Delay to make it more viable.
Frozen Armor,Shiver ArmorandChilling Armorall receive duration increases. Chilling Armor’s defensive and damage potentials have all been greatly increased, but will still only trigger from ranged attacks.Frost Nova’s damage scaling has been increased andFrozen Orbno longer shares a casting delay cooldown.
NovaandThunder Stormboth had their synergies withStatic Fieldimproved.Thunder Stormalso received a massive increase in base duration (from 32 to 144) and duration per level (from 8 to 24).
Hydra’s casting delay was removed to make it easier to summon multiple copies. However, the maximum number is limited to 6. Damage fromFire BoltandFire Ballsynergies has been slightly increased.InfernoandBlazeare getting damage increases as well as increased synergy withWarmth.MeteorandFire Wallno longer share casting delay cooldowns with other skills.
Stay a While and Listen - the Future of Diablo 2
That is definitely a huge list of changes and a lot to be excited about. What’s interesting here is that no skills have received any immediately apparent nerfs, which means Blizzard isn’t intending to make currently popular builds less viable. There will always beFury Werewolves,Frozen Orb Sorceresses(even more so with the slight buff), or masterNecromancer Summoners. But hopefully, this patch is a step in the right direction to create much more build diversity.
Be sure to check out ourbeginner guideand otherguidesto get your favourite character up to speed in anticipation of this new balance patch. For the full balance patch details, including hard numbers, you can find them on the Blizzard main site.
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