Update 2.0.5 is now live on Diablo 3 and with it come a huge number of changes. So many, in fact, that the change log is dozens of pages long.
The big highlights of the incremental update are three things: each of the game’s six classes have received major adjustments, enchanting an item no longer can result in a repeated result, and gems have had their absurd costs cut.
On the topic of class adjustments, this is the most significant balancing patch Diablo 3 has seen in a while, and certainly the largest of the post-Reaper of Souls era. No matter which class you play, today you’ve been impacted by the patch. In some cases skills have been nerfed, but for the most part skills have been balanced to promote more flexibility with skill selection. Before marching out into Inferno 3 you may want to look at the changes and adjust your build accordingly.
Below you’ll find the major adjustments to each class as well as Blizzard’s philosophy behind the changes.
Barbarian
- To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.
- Rend is being changed to make the damage more consistent. The difference between getting a Critical Hit or not on Rend made the ability too unpredictable. This is particularly important when the player has the option of reapplying the Damage over Time effect.
- Finally, we are buffing the least used Fury spender – Seismic Slam. While there will always be a least used skill, we feel the aesthetic of Seismic Slam is very strong, and we would love for more people to enjoy using it. To this end we are making the skill mechanically easier to use as well as directly buffing the damage.
Crusader
- Crusaders should be the toughest class in the game and currently they are not. We’ve increased the 15% damage reduction to 30% to match that of the Monk and Barbarian. In addition we are removing the movement speed penalty on Heavenly Strength while also changing Fervor to be a very strong passive for Crusaders who want to play with a 1-handed weapon. Together these changes should solidify the Crusader fantasy of a powerful tank wielding a giant shield.
- To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.
- Akarat’s Champion has been redesigned. Many of the runes were lackluster while Rally was both too strong but also promoted a style of play that consisted primarily of mashing buttons mindlessly. We’ve redesigned Rally and buffed the skill and all the other runes.
- Overall builds that used certain skills such as Judgment – Resolved could do solid damage (though somewhat inconsistent), but if you did not take specific skills or have access to specific Legendary items the damage would fall behind. We are nerfing Judgment – Resolved significantly. A change this large is never easy but this was a mistake we should have caught.
- To keep Crusader damage competitive we are buffing most of the Crusader’s damage abilities across the board. While a few skills have come down slightly in damage, the vast majority are being increased, some by a large margin.
- Fist of the Heavens and Blessed Shield both fill a similar role of being ranged multi target skills. In order to provide better differentiation we are adjusting Fist of the Heavens to be better at damaging a single target, with the area damage component being a peripheral bonus. To this end the damage of the primary strike of Fist of the Heavens has been increased, while the damage of the secondary bolts has been decreased.
- Finally, we have done significant redesign to the Crusader’s passive abilities. We feel there was an overall lack of interesting passive choices on the Crusader. Rather than try to simply change numbers on existing passives we’ve tried to provide interesting and compelling choices.
Demon Hunter
- Demon Hunter survivability is lower than we would like. While the Demon Hunter is not as tough as other classes, this can be frustrating when taken to an extreme. The change to the Awareness passive is a first step; we will be keeping an eye on this and making additional changes as needed in the future. The Marauder’s Set bonuses are attractive, but often the pets would get in each other’s way or Sentries would not use your spenders often enough. To help improve this set’s functionality, Companions have received collision box revisions and the rate at which Sentries use your Hatred spenders has been increased.
Monk
- To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.
- We want to give Monks more options for spending their Spirit. The damage on Wave of Light is being increased to encourage its use as an alternative to the existing popular Spirit spenders.
Witch Doctor
- To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.
- We are changing the way Fetish Sycophants works. Previously it triggered while casting. This caused it to create twice as many fetishes with certain skills such as Firebats (which trigger on-cast effects at double the normal rate), and also create fetishes even when there was no target available. We want to preserve the existing Fetish builds while allow Fetish Sycophants to be combined with all skills in the Witchdoctor arsenal. Fetish Sycophants now works with all skills and triggers on hit rather than on cast. While this means you can no longer get fetishes by simply casting at nothing, you will now get more fetishes if casting against large groups of enemies. In the case of spells other than Firebats, you will generally get more Fetishes than before. In the case of Firebats, you will get less Fetishes than before versus 1-3 targets, and more fetishes than before when facing groups of 5 or more.
- Haunt and Locust Swarm are being changed to make the damage more consistent. The difference between getting a Critical Hit or not made these abilities too unpredictable. This is particularly important when the player has the option of reapplying the Damage over Time effect.
- The Witchdoctor sometimes had trouble keeping up in a party situation. At the same time, we feel each class should feel unique. To this end we are redesigning Fierce Loyalty to improve the Witchdoctor’s mobility in a uniquely Witchdoctor way.
Wizard
- To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.
- Wormhole is by far the most common rune choice on Teleport. While we like the functionality and frequency with which it allows you to cast Teleport, we do not like the frustration it sometimes produces: players are often left clicking wildly, feeling punished for misclicks, or increased frustration if you find yourself up against an obstacle that wastes your second and third Teleport. To improve this experience we are reducing the cooldown on Teleport to 11 seconds and changing Wormhole to only give one additional cast, but increasing the window of time you have to use your second Teleport to 3 seconds. This affords the same number of Teleport casts overall as before while allowing you to be more thoughtful and deliberate about how to use your second Teleport. With the base cooldown on Teleport coming down to 11 seconds, all runes should now be more appealing. While the effect on some runes has been reduced, this should be more than made up for by the reduced cooldown in all cases.
The update is already live, so when you log in the changes will already be in effect.
Check out the official Diablo 3 site for a full list of changes.
