d2r Diablo 2 Patch 2.4 (Final Notes)

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Learn more about Patch 2.4 balance changes and the official Ladder launch in Diablo 2! 

Update: Patch 2.4 is now live. 

Blizzard is preparing servers for the launch of Patch 2.4. Stay tuned for more details on when the update releases on live servers!

(Source)

Note: We are preparing servers for the launch of Patch 2.4. Stay tuned for official updates here for when Patch 2.4 goes live.

Heroes of Sanctuary, the Lord of Terror welcomes you to the Diablo II: Resurrected Patch 2.4 and Ladder launch update. Put your battle skills to the test with the first competitive Ladder season as we introduce a world of updates impacting a multitude of gameplay elements. For the first time in over a decade, we’re implementing significant gameplay changes to promote new strategies for your next trip to Sanctuary. Among the changes are various updates for each class, new Rune Words, fresh Horadric Cube Recipes, Mercenary reworks, and much more! Study up, for using this newly penned knowledge to your advantage will have demons cowering in your presence.

Before you begin your quest east, you will need to make a handful of necessary preparations. So, we’ve assembled a guide to make sure you return to Sanctuary with ease, especially as you ready yourself for battle against the forces of the Burning Hells.

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PATCH NOTES

Below you will find patch notes for Diablo II: Resurrected, Patch 2.4.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. LADDER DETAILS
2. THE INFERNAL RACE
3. CLASS BALANCE CHANGES
4. ITEM TOOLTIP CHANGES
5. UBER DIABLO CHANGES
6. MERCENARIES
7. RUNE WORDS
8. NEW HORADRIC CUBE RECIPES
9. SET ITEM BONUS CHANGES
10. LEVEL AREA CHANGES
11. QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES
12. BUG FIXES
13. MODDING UPDATE

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LADDER DETAILS

We are excited to invite you the Diablo II: Resurrected competitive Ladder system starting on April 28, PT. The Ladder launch represents an optional ranked competitive system of the game through a series of modes available to select from with a fresh Ladder-specific character. Each mode will have their own leaderboard where players compete to strategically gain experience within a limited timeframe while having access to Ladder-specific content. When the Ladder season ends, leaderboard rankings will reset, transitioning characters to non-ladder mode, giving players an opportunity to store their hard-earned treasured loot as a new Ladder season awaits them.

Like Diablo II Legacy, Diablo II: Resurrected will feature four different Ladder modes, including:

Version	Description
Classic Ladder	The normal version of Ladder play that encompasses playing with four acts.
Hardcore Classic Ladder	The hardcore (only 1 life) version of Ladder play that encompasses playing with four acts.
Expansion Ladder	The normal version of Ladder play that encompasses playing five acts, as it includes the “Lord of Destruction” expansion content.
Hardcore Expansion Ladder	The hardcore (only 1 life) version of Ladder play that encompasses playing five acts, as it includes the “Lord of Destruction” expansion content.

Feature details:

• Select Diablo II: Resurrected content will be exclusively for Ladder modes
• Players can use /ladder and /helpladder chat commands to retrieve season start and end information
• Ladder information is made available in the leaderboard UI, and for console, players will be updated upon loading into each game
• At the end of a season, your Ladder character will be converted to a non- Ladder character, along with any Ladder -exclusive items your character has equipped or in their inventory
• Once a season ends, you will have until the start of the season after next to retrieve items from your seasonal Ladder shared stash tab to bring into your normal online play
  • For example, once Season 1 ends, you have until Season 3 begins to retrieve items from your Season 1 stash. Any items not retrieved will be lost forever

Ladder Launch Timing:

North America	April 28 at 5PM PDT
Europe	April 29 at 2AM CEST
Asia	April 29 at 9AM KST

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THE INFERNAL RACE – LADDER SHOWCASE

In celebration of the first Ladder season for Diablo II: Resurrected, we will be hosting a special broadcast and competition between fan favorite content creators from North America, Australia, and Korea as they work together and against each other to race to the top of the ladder leaderboards! The Infernal Race will be broadcasted on the official Diablo and the Diablo Korea Twitch channels beginning at the start of the Ladder season at 5PM PDT April 28 / 9AM KST April 29 so make sure to tune and watch the best of the best compete!

English Competitors	MrLlamaSC mekalb LuckyLuciano_6 Kano
English Casters	BTNeandertha1 MacroBioBoi
Korean Competitors	TBD
Korean Casters	Sanghyeon Park Seungwon Lee Useo Jung

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CLASS BALANCE CHANGES

We’re thrilled to share new balance changes are coming to your favorite heroes in Diablo II: Resurrected! As fans ourselves, we’re just as eager as you to find new ways to play. This is incredibly special, as the last patch to make balance changes to classes in Diablo II was Patch 1.13c, which was released back on March 23, 2010! Now, twelve years later, we’re making new changes to expand character build diversity, and retain class fantasy and specialty! These goals are crucial. We’ve reviewed many aspects of the game in order to fulfill these goals.

We want to empower you to be creative with the builds you want to play, but we don’t want to “reinvent the wheel” and steer classes from their core purposes. Dive deep below and review our various Class changes for Patch 2.4.

AMAZON

Javelin And Spear Skills

Impale

• This skill is now an uninterruptible attack
• Attack Rating modification has been removed, now this skill will always hit the target
• This skill now slows the target by a percentage for a duration
• Animation speed increased by 30%

Fend

• Attack Speed increased by 100% (Reduced the rollback frames value between each attack)

Power Strike

• Removed synergy from Lightning Fury skill
• Lightning Bolt synergy increased from +10% to +14%
• Charged Strike synergy increased from +10% to +14%
• Lightning Strike synergy increased from +10% to +14%

Charged Strike

• Removed synergy from Lightning Fury skill
• Power Strike synergy increased from +10% to +14%
• Lightning Bolt synergy increased from +10% to +14%
• Lightning Strike synergy increased from +10% to +14%

Lightning Strike

• Removed synergy from Lightning Fury skill
• Power Strike synergy increased from +8% to +11%
• Lightning Bolt synergy increased from +8% to +11%
• Charged Strike synergy increased from +8% to +11%

Poison Javelin

• This skill’s damage scaling at high levels has been slightly adjusted
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Plague Javelin

• Plague Javelin poison duration and damage has been adjusted. This should net out to a 20% damage-per-second increase at level 1 and up to a 33% damage-per-second increase at max level
• Poison Javelin synergy increased from +10% to +14%
• Casting Delay reduced from 4 seconds to 1 second
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Developer Comments: We wanted to give more advantages for using Amazon melee skills, so we are freeing up skill synergy reliance on “Lightning Fury”, which will make the lightning melee skills a cheaper skill point alternative to build around. Also, we are improving the power of the lesser-used melee skills such as “Impale” and “Fend.” Lastly, “Plague Javelin” has received improvements with Casting Delay, damage synergy, and duration scaling, to further diversify its usage compared to “Poison Javelin.”

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Passive And Magic Skills

Inner Sight

• This skill’s radius has increased by 35%

Slow Missiles

• Missile slow now scales instead of staying at a flat base of 33%
• This skill’s radius has increased by 35%
• This skill will now reduce enemy missile damage based on skill level

Valkyrie

• Casting Delay reduced from 6 seconds to 0.6 seconds
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Dodge

• The animation can now be interrupted and will no longer lock out the Amazon from performing other actions

Avoid

• The animation can now be interrupted and will no longer lock out the Amazon from performing other actions

Developer Comments: We wanted to add some quality-of-life changes to certain Passive and Magic Skills. We improved the radius for “Inner Sight” and “Slow Missiles”, and we gave more reason to invest skill points for “Slow Missiles.” Also, we wanted to alleviate the disadvantage of the animation lockout from using the “Dodge” and “Avoid” skills so that players are more willing to spend points on these skills.

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Bow And Crossbow Skills

Freezing Arrow

• Mana Cost per level reduced from +0.5 to +0.25

Magic Arrow

• Increased the amount of physical damage converted to magic damage for the base level and per level

Multiple Shot

• Added synergy from Guided Arrow: +12% physical damage per level

Guided Arrow

• Damage bonus per level increased from +5% to +7%
• Added synergy from Multiple Shot: +12% physical damage per level

Strafe

• Removed the 25% weapon damage reduction from this skill
• Now also gives increased Attack Rating with +30% baseline and +9% per level
• Added Synergy from Multiple Shot: +5% physical damage per level
• Added Synergy from Guided Arrow: +10% physical damage per level

Fire Arrow

• Mana Cost no longer increases per level

Exploding Arrow

• Damage scaling increased by about 50% for higher skill levels
• Fire Arrow synergy increased from +12% to +14%
• Mana Cost per level reduced from +0.5 to +0.25

Immolation Arrow

• Average Fire Damage per second scaling increased by about 100%
• Cooldown reduced by 40%
• Mana Cost per level reduced from +0.5 to +0.25
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Developer Comments: Fire bow skills are receiving damage scaling improvements at higher levels so that they consistently fulfill their fire elemental damage type roles for their level tier. Also, mana costs were reduced for the elemental arrow skills to give them more general usage. “Strafe” will no longer have weapon damage reduction and will also provide Attack Rating so that it can have distinctive advantages over the other physical bow skills. Finally, we believe it felt odd that the physical bow skills don't have any synergies like the cold and fire bow skills do. We hope that giving some synergies to the physical bow skills help them remain viable.

ASSASSIN

Martial Arts

Fist of Fire

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Claws of Thunder

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Blades of Ice

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Tiger Strike

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Cobra Strike

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Phoenix Strike

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Dragon Talon

• Now consumes only 1 of each Martial Arts charge when cast
• Now always hits the target only if the Assassin has any Martial Arts charges

Dragon Claw

• Now consumes only 1 of each Martial Arts charge when cast
• Now always hits the target only if the Assassin has any Martial Arts charges
• Damage bonus per level increased from 5% to 15%

Dragon Tail

• Now consumes only 1 of each Martial Arts charge when cast
• Now always hits the target only if the Assassin has any Martial Arts charges
• Damage bonus per level increased from 10% to 20%

Dragon Flight

• Now consumes only 1 of each Martial Arts charge when cast
• Now guarantee hits the target only if the Assassin has any Martial Arts charges
• Casting Delay removed
• Damage bonus per level increased from 25% to 35%

Developer Comments: Martial Arts skills are receiving a significant change with having Finishing Moves (including the Attack skill) only consume 1 of each charge at a time instead of all 3 at once. We feel like this will allow Martial Arts to perform smoother during combat by better maintaining current charges instead of having to re-acquire charges too often. In addition to this, we are increasing Attack Rating for Charge-up skills to compliment the smoothness of gaining and spending charges Lastly, we wanted to improve damage payoff for the lesser used Finishing Move skills.

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Shadow Disciplines

Fade

• Tooltip updated to now show the physical damage resist reduction

Venom

• Buff Duration scaling per level changed from 4 seconds to 12 seconds (matching Burst of Speed and Fade)

Shadow Warrior

• Casting Delay reduced from 6 seconds to 0.6 seconds
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Shadow Master

• Casting Delay reduced from 6 seconds to 0.6 seconds
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Developer Comments: We felt that Shadow Disciplines are generally widely used and effective, but we wanted to add some quality-of-life changes, so we added tooltip clarity, buff duration consistency improvements, and casting delay changes.

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Traps

Shock Web

• Removed synergy from Death Sentry skill
• Charged Bolt Sentry synergy increased from +11% to +17%
• Lightning Sentry synergy increased from +11% to +17%
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Charged Bolt Sentry

• Removed synergy from Death Sentry skill
• Fire Blast synergy increased from +6% to +9%
• Lightning Sentry synergy increased from +6% to +9%

Lightning Sentry

• Removed synergy from Death Sentry skill
• Shock Web synergy increased from +12% to +18%
• Charged Bolt Sentry synergy increased from +12% to +18%

Fire Blast

• Removed synergy from Death Sentry skill
• Shock Web synergy increased from +9% to +11%
• Charged Bolt Sentry synergy increased from +9% to +11%
• Wake of Fire synergy increased from +9% to +11%
• Lightning Sentry synergy increased from +9% to +11%
• Wake of Inferno Sentry synergy increased from +9% to +11%

Wake of Fire

• Fire Blast synergy increased from +8% to +10%
• Wake of Inferno synergy increased from +8% to +10%

Wake of Inferno

• Removed synergy from Death Sentry
• Fire Blast synergy increased from +10% to +18%
• Wake of Fire synergy increased from +7% to +18%
• Added yards calculation to the Wake of Inferno tooltip

Blade Sentinel

• Casting Delay reduced from 2 seconds to 1 second
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay
• Missile speed increased by 20%
• Weapon Damage increased from 37% to 75%
• Blade Fury synergy added: +10% Damage per level
• Blade Shield synergy added: +10% Damage per level

Blade Fury

• Blade Sentinel synergy added: +10% Damage per level
• Blade Shield synergy added: +10% Damage per level
• Attack rating increased by 10% per level

Blade Shield

• Duration baseline value increased from 20 seconds to 120 seconds (matching Burst of Speed and Fade)
• Duration scaling per level increased from 5 seconds to 12 seconds (matching Burst of Speed and Fade)
• Weapon Damage increased from 25% to 75%
• Blade Sentinel synergy added: +10% Damage per level
• Blade Fury synergy added: +10% Damage per level
• Tooltip updated to now display Radius

Developer Comments: With Trap skills, there are multiple underused skills that can be more effective or have improved synergy distribution. For Lightning and Fire Traps, we are freeing up synergy reliance on “Death Sentry” to give more build possibilities elsewhere. Also, Fire traps are receiving damage synergy improvements to make them more effective at higher difficulties. Lastly, the Blade skills are receiving multiple improvements to make them more viable to dedicate builds around these skills.

BARBARIAN

Warcries

General

• Tooltip updated to now display Radius

Howl

• Tooltip updated to now display Radius

Battle Cry

• Tooltip updated to now display Radius

War Cry

• Damage increased by about 30%
• Tooltip updated to now display Radius
• War Cry's mana cost now increases by only 0.75 per level instead of 1

Shout

• Duration baseline increased from 20 seconds to 30 seconds (matching Battle Orders)
• Tooltip updated to now display Radius

Battle Orders

• Tooltip updated to now display Radius

Battle Command

• Duration baseline increased from 5 seconds to 30 seconds (matching Battle Orders)
• Tooltip updated to now display Radius

Grim Ward

• Radius baseline value increased
• Now also Slows and increases Damage Taken for nearby enemies.
• Find Potion synergy added: +5% Damage Taken per level

Developer Comments: We are adding more tooltip descriptions to Warcries for clarification on hidden skill mechanics. “Shout” and “Battle Command” durations were updated to be consistent with each other for quality-of-life purposes. For “War Cry,” we want to make it more effective and rewarding to use at higher difficulties. Lastly, with “Grim Ward”, we are adding a new functionality and synergy to give more reason to use the skill, which also gives more reason to spend skill points on “Find Potion.”

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Combat Masteries

Sword Mastery

• Renamed to Blade Mastery
• Now affects daggers in addition to swords
• Increased base attack rating bonus to 40% (from 28%)

Axe Mastery

• Increased base attack rating bonus to 40% (from 28%)

Mace Mastery

• Increased base attack rating bonus to 40% (from 28%)

Polearm Mastery

• Increased base attack rating bonus to 40% (from 28%)

Spear Mastery

• Increased base attack rating bonus to 40% (from 28%)

Throwing Mastery

• Increased base attack rating bonus to 44% (from 30%)
• Added chance to not consume quantity per level up to 55% chance at level 20
• Critical strikes with throwing weapons now replenish quantity
• Added chance to pierce

Developer Comments: Barbarians run out of throwing weapon quantity far too quickly. Adding chances to not consume as well as chance to replenish will allow a throwing barbarian to be viable without having to return to town frequently.

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Combat Skills

Whirlwind

• When targeting an enemy with Whirlwind, the Barbarian will move to the initial position of the enemy - it will not track them as they move
• Whirlwind will be performed even when targeting adjacent enemies (used to perform a basic attack)

Leap

• Baseline minimum distance increased
• Speed of the leap motion increased by 75%
• Leap now has a minimum jump height and duration
• Tooltip updated to now display Knockback Radius

Leap Attack

• Speed of the leap motion increased by 75%
• Leap attack now has a minimum jump height and duration
• Damage baseline increased from 100% to 200%
• Attack Rating baseline increased from 50% to 100%
• Attack Rating per level increased from 15% to 20%
• The Barbarian now deals extra physical damage to surrounding enemies within a range of 4.6 yards when landing from a Leap Attack. Damage scales per level – increased scaling compared to the PTR implementation
• Leap synergy bonus applies to the AoE damage in addition to the attack
• Increased mana cost of Leap Attack from 9 to 10
• Leap Attack will be performed even when targeting adjacent enemies (used to perform a basic attack)

Developer Comments: Leap Attack has received a lot of changes: increased movement speed, smoother trajectory, improved controls, and increased attack rating and damage. Perhaps the biggest change is that Leap Attack now deals AOE damage to surrounding enemies when landing. This gives the Barbarian a strong multi-target skill as early as level 18. This damage does not scale with your weapon, so it's perfect for leveling up a Barbarian in Normal and Nightmare difficulties. The AOE damage won't make as much of an impact on Hell difficulty, but Leap Attack's primary attack and mobility will remain valuable.

Berserk

• Shout synergy replaced with Battle Orders

Double Throw

• Added damage bonus with 16% baseline and 8% damage increase per level

Frenzy

• Increased Stamina synergy added: +0.4 Seconds per Level

Developer Comments: For “Berserk”, the existing “Shout” synergy is changing to “Battle Orders,” because the Defense loss from the skill contradicts the usage of “Shout,” and this will better connect with other skill synergy build possibilities. “Double Throw” will now have a baseline damage increase so that it will not purely rely on synergies for damage. “Frenzy” is receiving a new synergy from the lesser used “Increased Stamina” skill to give more reasons to invest skill points there and add new build diversity.

DRUID

Elemental Skills

Firestorm

• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Molten Boulder

• Missile speed increased by 100%. Missile range decreased by 50% (The overall travel length remains the same)
• Casting Delay reduced from 2 seconds to 1 second
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay
• Volcano synergy increased from 10% to 12%

Fissure

• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Volcano

• Molten Boulder synergy increased from 12% to 16%
• Tooltip updated to now show Volcano duration
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Armageddon

• Casting Delay has been removed for this skill
• Physical Damage significantly increased
• Tooltip updated to now display Physical Damage
• Volcano synergy changed to increase Physical Damage instead of Fire Damage, and increased from 14% to 18%
• Removed the Hurricane skill requirement
• Increased the missile damage radius by 33% (from 3 to 4)
• Increased the missile drop rate by about 30% (from ~3 per second to ~4)"

Arctic Blast

• Removed synergy from Hurricane
• Base damage and level scaling increased by ~100% (also to compensate for the incorrect damage calculation in the past)
• Controls are updated so that the skill now casts in free form and no longer locks onto one target at a time

Cyclone Armor

• Can now be cast while in Werewolf or Werebear form

Twister

• Damage scaling increased by 50%
• Arctic Blast synergy added: +20% Stun Duration per level

Hurricane

• Casting Delay removed
• Can now be cast while in Werewolf or Werebear form

Developer Comments: With the Casting Delay changes, Druid Fire skills are generally going to be more widely used. In addition, we are increasing the physical damage scaling for Fire skills to be a reliable alternative damage source. We felt that “Arctic Blast” is generally lacking power, so we are increasing the damage scaling, reducing the synergy requirements to free up skill points, and improving the general player controls to allow for smoother freeform targeting. In addition, we wanted to complement the “Arctic Blast” changes with improvements to “Twister” to add more build possibilities. Lastly, we are allowing Shapeshift forms to cast each of the elemental buff skills to avoid the current hassle of having to change forms to continuously maintain these active buffs.

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Shape Shifting Skills

Werewolf

• Werewolf now only uses the new attack speed calculation that was originally introduced in the PTR
• Raised Werewolf attack speed cap from +75% to +150%
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Rabies

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +7% to +10% per level
• Poison Creeper synergy increased from 18% to 20%

Fury

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +7% to +10% per level
• Attack Speed increased by 40% (Reduced the rollback frames value between each attack)

Werebear

• Werebear now only uses the new attack speed calculation that was originally introduced in the PTR
• Raised Werebear attack speed cap from +75% to +150%
• Damage bonus per level increased from 8% to 15%
• Base defense value increased from 25% to 40%
• Defense bonus per level increased from 6% to 10%
• Cannot be interrupted while performing attacks or skills
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Maul

• Now grants +3% attack speed per charge
• Damage bonus per level increased from 20% to 30%
• Attack Rating bonus increased from +20% to +40% baseline, and +10% to +15% per level
• Tooltip Stun value will now properly cap at 10 seconds, which follows the core game's Stun duration cap

Shock Wave

• Maul synergy increased from 5% to 10%

Fire Claws

• Damage increased by 75%
• Removed synergy from Fissure
• Removed synergy from Volcano

Developer Comments: We've debated on the best way to bring shapeshifting Druids forward. Both forms use a new attack speed calculation that allows more weapons to be used effectively and properly incentivizes IAS gear. With the improved Fury, the Werewolf can reach even faster attack speeds than it could previously. As for werebear - we want to deliver on the fantasy of a powerful, unstoppable, killing machine. We've introduced uninterruptible attacks and skills, as well as increased damage and defense. While this will change the way players have played the Werebear in the past, we feel like it is more in line with the intended fantasy. For players who loved their fast werebear builds, we’ve added attack speed bonuses to Maul, but we also hope the new Werewolf changes will offer them the same style of play, as it is now the faster form.

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Summoning Skills

General

• Druids can now have spirit wolves, dire wolves, and bears all summoned at the same time

Oak Sage

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Physical Damage Resist in Normal Difficulty increased from 0% to 25%
• Physical Damage Resist in Nightmare Difficulty reduced from 100% to 25%
• Physical Damage Resist in Hell Difficulty increased from 0% to 25%

Heart of the Wolverine

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Physical Damage Resist in Normal Difficulty increased from 0% to 25%
• Physical Damage Resist in Nightmare Difficulty reduced from 100% to 25%
• Physical Damage Resist in Hell Difficulty increased from 0% to 25%

Spirit of Barbs

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Aura no longer returns a percentage of damage when hit. Now the aura will deal a flat amount of damage when the aura-effected targets are attacked.
• Physical Damage Resist in Normal Difficulty increased from 0% to 25%
• Physical Damage Resist in Nightmare Difficulty reduced from 100% to 25%
• Physical Damage Resist in Hell Difficulty increased from 0% to 25%

Raven

• Attack Rating bonus per level increased from 15% to 30% (now also displays in the tooltip)
• Modified the AI so that the Ravens attack more often
• Damage level scaling significantly increased
• Summon Spirit Wolf synergy added: +12% Damage per level
• Summon Dire Wolf synergy added: +12% Damage per level
• Summon Grizzly synergy added: +12% Damage per level

Summon Spirit Wolf

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Attacks now deal cold damage and chill for a duration (Provides utility with chilling and acts as an alternative damage type compared to Dire Wolves)
• Damage level scaling increased by 10%
• Base Life increased by about 80%
• Life now increases by 10% per level
• Updated the tooltip to display each synergy bonus value

Summon Dire Wolf

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Damage level scaling increased by 30%
• Base Life increased by about 90%
• Life synergy reduced from 25% to 15% (This is because the base life was increased, and Spirit Wolf and Grizzly now gain Life per level)
• Updated the tooltip to display each synergy bonus value

Summon Grizzly

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Base Life increased by ~15%
• Life now increases by 10% per level
• Updated the tooltip to display each synergy bonus value

Poison Creeper

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Poison damage level scaling significantly increased
• Life scaling increased by 100%
• Rabies synergy added: +10% Poison Damage per level

Carrion Vine

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Life recovery has been reworked to be +1% Healing per level, instead of using a diminishing calculation ranging from 3%-12%

Solar Creeper

• Min Life and Max Life values are averaged to always be the same, accurate to the tooltip
• Mana recovery has been reworked to be +3% Mana baseline with +1% Mana per level, instead of using a diminishing calculation ranging from 1%-8%

Developer Comments: The restriction of the Druid being allowed only one type of summonable at a time has restricted the viability of this build and has hampered the fantasy of a Druid Summoner from living up to its full potential. We feel that a druid being able to summon all of his allies at once will make for a more interesting and fun playstyle. In general, all summons will no longer have hidden randomized health values so that the tooltip is more accurate and so summons perform more consistently. Ravens are getting significant changes to help them function as a spell-like skill for summoning Druids to use, and this includes damage scaling buffs and new synergies from other summons to fuel their damage. Wolves are getting improvements to give them more of an identity as damage-dealing summons. The spirit summons are receiving a physical damage resist change across each difficulty to make them survive more consistently. ”Spirit of Barbs” is receiving changes to Thorns to make it a more reliable source of damage. Lastly, each of the creeper summons are receiving improvements to give more reason to invest skill points and to have them perform better at higher levels.

NECROMANCER

Summoning Skills

Raise Skeletal Mage

• Percentage HP per level increased from 7% to 10%
• Poison total damage scaling increased by about 750%. Poison duration no longer scales and now lasts 4 seconds
• Cold damage scaling increased by about 50%
• Lightning damage scaling increased by about 5%
• The tooltip will now properly display the Life scaling per level

Blood Golem

• Attack damage increased by about 20%
• 20% reduction in mana cost applied per level
• Now gains Max Life per level
• Damage scaling per level has been increased

Iron Golem

• Thorns no longer return a percentage of damage when hit. Now thorns will deal a flat amount of damage when the aura-effected targets are attacked

Fire Golem

• 20% reduction in mana cost applied per level
• Holy Fire damage increased by an average of 50%
• Fire attack damage increased by an average of 30%
• Fixed a bug which caused the Fire Golem’s Holy Fire damage max value to display as half of its true value

Developer Comments: We saw a good opportunity to improve lesser-used summons for the Necromancer. Skeletal Mages have received significant damage scaling improvements so that their elemental damage values are more consistent. This means that Cold damage is more effective but still slightly weaker than Fire damage because of its chill utility, and Poison damage is much more reliable with a fixed duration and better damage scaling. “Blood Golem“ and “Fire Golem” are receiving damage improvements to make them more competitive with the other Golems. For “Iron Golem,” we are changing the “Thorns” aura to deal more reliable damage to improve its source of effectiveness (See Paladin changes below for more details).

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Poison And Bone Skills

Bone Armor

• Damage Absorbed per level increased from 10 to 15

Bone Spear

• Teeth synergy increased from 7% to 8%
• Bone Wall synergy increased from 7% to 8%
• Bone Spear synergy increased from 7% to 8%
• Bone Prison synergy increased from 7% to 8%

Bone Spirit

• Teeth synergy increased from 6% to 8%
• Bone Wall synergy increased from 6% to 8%
• Bone Spear synergy increased from 6% to 8%
• Bone Prison synergy increased from 6% to 8%

Developer Comments: Bone skills are generally well performing but we saw an opportunity to improve synergy bonuses to better scale in the late game and to make their heavy skill point investment more valuable. Additionally, “Bone Armor” is receiving better damage absorb scaling to make it more rewarding to spend points on the skill itself instead of relying too heavily on its synergies.

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Curses

Weaken

• Damage reduction now scales based on level, from just 33%, to now 33% and +1% per level

Decrepify

• Tooltip updated to now show the status changes

Developer Comments: For the “Weaken” skill, we added new damage reduction scaling to give more reason to spend additional points on the skill and to give it a more powerful identity.

PALADIN

Defensive Auras

Resist Fire

• Tooltip now displays max resist bonus

Resist Cold

• Tooltip now displays max resist bonus

Resist Lightning

• Tooltip now displays max resist bonus

Developer Comments: We added more information to tooltips to describe hidden functionality for certain Defensive Auras.

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Offensive Auras

Blessed Aim

• Tooltip now displays passive Attack Rating bonus

Holy Fire

• Damage scales based on distance to the caster. Aura will deal double damage at melee range and linearly scale to normal damage at maximum range
• Tooltip: The maximum Area Damage values now incorporate the maximum proximity damage bonus
• Resist Fire Synergy increased from 18 to 21%
• Damage level scaling increased to 70%
• Salvation synergy increased from 6% to 10%

Holy Freeze

• Damage scales based on distance to the caster. Aura will deal double damage at melee range and linearly scale to normal damage at maximum range
• Tooltip: The maximum Area Damage values now incorporate the maximum proximity damage bonus

Holy Shock

• Damage scales based on distance to the caster. Aura will deal double damage at melee range and linearly scale to normal damage at maximum range
• Tooltip: The maximum Area Damage values now incorporate the maximum proximity damage bonus

Sanctuary

• Damage scales based on distance to the caster. Aura will deal double damage at melee range and linearly scale to normal damage at maximum range
• Tooltip: The maximum Area Damage values now incorporate the maximum proximity damage bonus

Thorns

• Now deals a flat amount of damage when attacked in addition to returning a percentage of damage taken to the enemy when hit

Developer Comments: We wanted to add more potential to the AoE (Area of Effect) Damage auras since they are a capable way for the Paladin to handle groups of monsters. By increasing damage based on distance to the caster, each AoE damage aura will have increased effectiveness while still maintaining the same cadence of visual VFX on the screen. Also, we saw that “Holy Fire” should scale better at higher skill levels to be consistent with general Fire Damage power compared to the other elements. For “Thorns”, we want to improve the gameplay around getting hit to deal damage, so we are making the skill deal flat damage based on attack attempts in addition to returning damage after getting hit. This will allow Thorns to have a more consistent combat performance instead of unpredictable and riskier results.

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Combat Skills

Sacrifice

• Damage to self now reduces per level, from 8% to 8%-1%

Conversion

• Maximum conversion chance increased from 50% to 90%

Smite

• Tooltip now shows that the skill always hits

Holy Bolt

• Now damages Demons in addition to Undead
• Removed synergy Blessed Hammer
• Damage increased by 50%
• Now pierces targets (Friendly and Hostile)
• Prayer synergy increased from 15% to 20%

Fist of the Heavens

• Now damages Demons in addition to Undead
• Casting Delay reduced from 1 second to 0.4 seconds
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay
• Holy Bolts now pierce targets
• No longer forces you to attack when out of mana
• Improved targeting functionality for auto acquiring enemies

Developer Comments: We wanted to improve the lesser-used Combat skills to give more viable build options. “Holy Bolt” will now pierce to increase its combat use cases and will have less skill point synergy investment to open more possibilities to spend skill points elsewhere. “Fist of the Heavens” is also getting the same “Holy Bolt” pierce changes and will now have less Casting Delay and improved controls to help make it a more effective Level 30 skill to use. By allowing both Holy Bolt and Fist of the Heavens to damage Demons in addition to Undead, we hope to open it up as a viable build to use in more situations.

SORCERESS

Cold Skills

Frost Nova

• Damage level scaling increased by about 25%

Blizzard

• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Frozen Orb

• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Frozen Armor

• Base duration increased from 120 seconds to 144 seconds

Shiver Armor

• Damage level scaling increased by about 25%
• Base duration increased from 120 seconds to 144 seconds

Chilling Armor

• Damage level scaling increased by about 200%
• Duration bonus per level increased from 6 seconds to 12 seconds
• Chill length bonus per level for level 16+ increased from 1 second to 2 seconds (matching Shiver Armor)
• Defense baseline increased from 45% to 60%
• Defense bonus per level increased from 5% to 7%
• Frozen Armor damage synergy increased from 7% to 9%
• Chilling Armor damage synergy increased from 7% to 9%

Developer Comments: With the cold armor skills, we want to further diversify them by ensuring that each has distinctive advantages. After these changes, “Chilling Armor” will have the greatest Defense bonus and damage potential while still only triggering on ranged attacks. Also, “Frost Nova” is receiving damage scaling improvements to give it more power where it was lacking in the later game.

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Lightning Skills

Nova

• Static Field synergy added: +5% Lightning Damage per level
• Nova mana cost reduced. The initial mana cost is now 13 from 15

Thunder Storm

• Static Field synergy added: +7% Lightning Damage per level
• Duration baseline increased from 32 seconds to 144 seconds
• Duration bonus per level increased from 8 seconds to 24 seconds
• Tooltip updated to now display Radius

Energy Shield

• Tooltip updated to display more information about the Mana consumed and the Telekinesis synergy

Developer Comments: We saw an opportunity to add new synergies for lesser used Lightning skills to increase their damage potential and create new skill build possibilities.

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Fire Skills

Inferno

• Base damage and level scaling increased by about 75% (also to compensate for the incorrect damage calculation in the past)
• Warmth synergy increased from 13% to 16%
• Controls are updated so that the skill now casts in free form and no longer locks onto one target at a time
• Mana Cost baseline reduced from 7 Mana per second to 4 Mana per second
• Range baseline increased by 75%

Blaze

• Damage scaling increased by about 60%
• Warmth synergy increased from 4% to 6%
• Removed synergy from Fire Wall
• Now also increases Run/Walk Speed by 2% per level
• Tooltip now also displays Blaze duration

Fire Wall

• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Meteor

• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Hydra

• You can now spawn multiple hydras on controller when holding the button down
• Casting delay removed
• Limited max number of Hydra groups to 6

Developer Comments: We wanted to improve the lesser used Fire skills and give more reasons to use them. Inferno is receiving player control improvements with free form casting, like Arctic Blast, and better damage scaling. Blaze is an often-ignored skill, so we wanted to free up synergy requirements and provide more utility and power with damage increases and a new Run/Walk Speed buff for extra utility. Lastly, with Hydra, we wanted to improve the gameplay of summoning Hydras to make it easier to use to skill in combat situations. The removal of Casting Delay and the new limitation on max Hydras will match the maximum Hydra count achievable from before the changes, but now players will have a much easier time to summon that amount.

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ITEM TOOLTIP CHANGES

Old Tooltip	New Tooltip
Piercing Attack	+X% Piercing Attack
Quantity: [CURRENT STACK]	Quantity: [CURRENT STACK] of [TOTAL]
X% Chance of Open Wounds	+X% Chance of Open Wounds
X% Damage Taken Goes to Mana	+X% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
X% Chance of Crushing Blow	+X% Chance of Crushing Blow
Fire Absorb X%	Fire Absorb +X%
Cold Absorb X%	Cold Absorb +X%
Lightning Absorb X%	Lightning Absorb +X%
Magic Absorb X%	Magic Absorb +X%
X% Deadly Strike	+X% Deadly Strike
Hit Causes Monster to Flee X%	Hit Causes Monster to Flee +X%

Developer Comments: The Piercing Attack tooltip now will display its pierce chance value in the tooltip. The quantity value of throwing weapons, ammo, and tome item tooltips will now always show the total amount to be clearer for players. Also, consistency improvements have been made to existing item modifier tooltips so that it is clearer that they can stack with themselves.

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UBER DIABLO CHANGES

The way that players summon Uber Diablo in Diablo II: Resurrected today will remain the same as it was first introduced in v1.10, by selling Stone of Jordan rings. However, we have updated how and where that progress is calculated to improve the experience for the entire community.

Uber Diablo progress for each game type will now be kept by the regional database. When the threshold is met by selling enough Stone of Jordan rings, Uber Diablo will spawn for everyone in the same region, not only those on the same server instance.

Progress towards Uber Diablo is now tracked per game type. Gathering a total of 8 progressions being tracked. Those being Classic, Classic Hardcore (HC), Classic Ladder, Classic HC Ladder, Expansion, Expansion HC, Expansion Ladder, Expansion HC Ladder. Given this change, we have added new messaging for players to help them anticipate when Uber Diablo may spawn. This messaging will be sent out to all players in the region at certain tiers of progress and can be manually checked by using a /uberdiablo chat command. We hope these changes allow more players to get to experience the true terror that is Uber Diablo.

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MERCENARIES

Hiring a Mercenary in Expansion mode will now always offer mercenaries that match your character's Level, instead of having a randomized Level difference from your character's Level.

Act 1 - Rogue Archer

• Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary
• Can now use Amazon Bows
• Can now gain + Amazon skill bonuses from gear

Cold Arrow

• Added Freezing Arrow

Fire Arrow

• Added Explosion Arrow

Developer Comments: The Rogue Archer is getting new flavored ranged skills that will scale as she levels up. These new skills should improve her AoE (Area of Effect) damage effectiveness and thus make her a more effective ranged damage dealer.

Act 2 - Desert Mercenary

• Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary
• Nightmare and Hell difficulty now have all 6 different aura types available from the Hire menu, instead of separating them out by 3 per difficulty. Normal is unchanged

Thorns (Combat - Nightmare)

• Thorns aura level scaling increased and will now continue scaling up beyond the highest-level threshold up to max level

Developer Comments: The Desert Mercenary is already popular, but we saw an opportunity to add some quality-of-life improvements by allowing players to hire all six different Aura types in Nightmare and Hell difficulty, rather than having to switch between modes. With the general improvements to “Thorns,” we wanted to improve the level scaling to make this aura mercenary type more meaningful.

Act 3 - Iron Wolf

• Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary
• Life baseline and scaling increased by about 25% (Now has Life similar to the Rogue Archer)
• Defense baseline and scaling increased by about 40% (Now has defense closer to the Rogue Archer)
• Resistances baseline and scaling increased by about 20% (Now has the highest resistances baseline compared to other mercenaries)

Cold

• Now casts Glacial Spike more often
• Glacial Spike level scaling increased
• Swapped Frozen Armor for Chilling Armor

Fire

• Removed Inferno
• Added Fire Bolt
• Increased chance of the Iron Wolf casting Fire Ball
• Added Enchant - Now the Iron Wolf will cast Enchant on himself, the player, and nearby allies

Lightning

• Added Static Field
• Charged Bolt level scaling increased
• Increased chance of the Iron Wolf casting Lightning

Developer Comments: The Iron Wolves are great elemental sorcerers, but we saw they have been underperforming in higher difficulties. We improved their core stats so that they are more in line with other mercenaries while also having a distinct advantage with having the most resistance values. For skills, we wanted to embrace their elemental fantasies, so we decided to give new flavorful utility skills, to further incentivize reasons to want to use these mercenary types.

Act 5 - Barbarian Warrior

• Can now gain + Barbarian skill bonuses from gear
• Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary
• Life baseline scaling increased (Now has the most life compared to other mercenaries)
• Defense baseline and scaling increased and the scaling at higher levels was reduced (Now has the highest defense baseline compared to other mercenaries)

Dual Wielding

• A new ferocious Barbarian is available for hire from Qual-Kehk. These warriors cannot use two-handed swords, but are well trained in the art of dual wielding. Utilizing the Frenzy, Taunt, and Iron Skin abilities, they lure enemies in and unleash a fierce barrage of attacks

Two-handed

• Bash level scaling increased and will no longer be capped at level 80
• Stun level scaling increased and will no longer be capped at level 80
• Added Battle Cry

Developer Comments: We want to give the Barbarian Warrior more identity while still maintaining his Barbarian fantasy. So, we decided to give him the “Battle Cry” skill as a new way for him to debuff enemies, which should prove to be a useful utility for players. In addition, we wanted to increase his Life and Defense scaling to ensure that he is the tougher mercenary type. By adding a new dual wielding Barbarian Mercenary, we hope to provide a powerful, fast-hitting merc that challenges the status-quo of common mercenary choice among players.

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RUNE WORDS

For the first time, players will have the chance to unlock a host of new Rune Words in the Ladder system! These will be exclusive to Ladder like the previous set of Ladder-only Rune Words in the original Diablo II experience. At the end of a Ladder season, players who successfully made these Rune Words will have their Ladder characters be moved into a “non-Ladder” version of the game.

Insight

• Now can also be used with Bows and Crossbows

Infinity

• Can now be used by Spears and Amazon Spears

Obedience

• Can now be used by Spears and Amazon Spears

Pride

• Can now be used by Spears and Amazon Spears

Developer Comments: Insight is a popular Rune Word, and we feel that allowing it on ranged weapons will promote more build possibilities that complement the skill and mercenary changes seen above.

New Rune Word	Allowed Items	Rune Order	Completed Stats
Plague	Sword, Claws, Daggers	Cham + Shael + Um	20% Chance to cast level 12 Lower Resist when struck 25% Chance to cast level 15 Poison Nova on striking Level 13-17 Cleansing Aura When Equipped (varies) +1-2 All Skills +20% Increased Attack Speed +220-320% Enhanced Damage (varies) -23% To Enemy Poison Resistance 0.3% (0-29.7) Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level) +25% Chance of Open Wounds Freezes Target +3
Pattern	Claw	Tal + Ort + Thul	+30% Faster Block Rate +40-80% Enhanced Damage (varies) 10% Bonus to Attack Rating Adds 17-62 Fire Damage Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage Adds 3-14 Cold Damage +75 Poison Damage Over 5 Seconds +6 to Strength +6 to Dexterity All Resistances +15
Unbending Will	Sword	Fal + Io + Ith + Eld + El + Hel	18% Chance to cast Level 18 Taunt on striking +3 To Combat Skills (Barbarian Only) +20-30% Increased Attack Speed (varies) +300-350% Enhanced Damage (varies) +9 To Maximum Damage +50 To Attack Rating +75% Damage to Undead +50 Attack Rating Against Undead 8-10% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies) Prevent Monster Heal +10 To Strength +10 To Vitality Damage Reduced By 8 +1 Light Radius Requirements -20%
Wisdom	Helm	Pul + Ith + Eld	+33% Piercing Attack +15-25% Bonus to Attack Rating (varies) 4-8% Mana Stolen Per Hit (varies) +30% Enhanced Defense +10 Energy 15% Slower Stamina Drain Cannot Be Frozen +5 Mana After Each Kill 15% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Obsession	Staff	Zod + Ist + Lem + Lum + Io + Nef	Indestructible 24% Chance to cast level 10 Weaken when struck +4 To All Skills +65% Faster Cast Rate +60% Faster Hit Recovery Knockback +10 To Vitality +10 To Energy Increase Maximum Life 15-25% (varies) Regenerate Mana 15-30% (varies) All Resistances +60-70 (varies) 75% Extra Gold from Monsters 30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Flickering Flame	Helm	Nef + Pul + Vex	Level 4-8 Resist Fire Aura When Equipped (varies) +3 To Fire Skills -10-15% to Enemy Fire Resistance (varies) +30% Enhanced Defense +30 Defense Vs. Missile +50-75 To Mana (varies) Half Freeze Duration +5% To Maximum Fire Resist Poison Length Reduced by 50%
Mist	Bow & Crossbow	Cham + Shael + Gul + Thul + Ith	Level 8-12 Concentration Aura When Equipped (varies) +3 To All Skills 20% Increased Attack Speed +100% Piercing Attack +325-375% Enhanced Damage (varies) +9 To Maximum Damage 20% Bonus to Attack Rating Adds 3-14 Cold Damage Freeze Target +3 +24 Vitality All Resistances +40

Developer Comments: For new Rune Words, we focused on complementing the skill and mercenary changes seen above, along with giving underused runes more usage. “Plague” and “Pattern” Rune Words previously existed in data but were never enabled, so we made some additional tweaks, and they are finally now available to be used in game.

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NEW HORADRIC CUBE RECIPES

1 Ral Rune + 1 Sol Rune + 1 Perfect Emerald + Normal Set Weapon	Exceptional Version of Set Weapon
1 Lum Rune + 1 Pul Rune + 1 Perfect Emerald + Exceptional Set Weapon	Elite Version of Set Weapon
1 Tal Rune + 1 Shael Rune + 1 Perfect Diamond + Normal Set Armor	Exceptional Version of Set Armor
1 Ko Rune + 1 Lem Rune + 1 Perfect Diamond + Exceptional Set Armor	Elite Version of Set Armor

Developer Comments: We felt that players enjoy the current Horadric Cube recipes for upgrading Unique items, so we decided to offer the same capability for upgrading Set items. This can add more possibilities by using lower-level Set items for more character builds.

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SET ITEM BONUS CHANGES

Arcanna's Tricks

• Increased +25 Mana to +50 Mana (2 Items)
• Added Regenerate Mana 12% (3 Items)
• Added +1 to All Skills (Full Set)

Arctic Gear

• Changed 6-14 Cold Damage to +2-198 to Maximum Cold Damage (+2 Per Character Level) (Full Set)

Bul-Kathos' Children

• Increased +20 Fire Damage to +200 Fire Damage (Full Set)
• Increased +25 Defense to +200 Defense (Full Set)
• Added 10% Life Stolen Per Hit (Full Set)
• Added +20% Deadly Strike (Full Set)

Cathan's Traps

• Added Regenerate Mana 16% (2 Items)

Civerb's Vestments

• Increased Fire Resist +15% to Fire Resist +25% (2 Items)
• Added 25% Bonus to Attack Rating (Full Set)
• Added +50 Defense (Full Set)

Cow King's Leathers

• Added +100 Defense (Full Set)
• Added +100 to Life (Full Set)
• Added +1 To All Skills (Full Set)

Infernal Tools

• Added Maximum Mana 20% (Full Set)
• Added Cannot Be Frozen (Full Set)

Iratha's Finery

• Added +24% Piercing Attack (3 Items)

Milabrega's Regalia

• Added Cannot Be Frozen (3 Items)
• Added +2-198 To Lightning Damage (+2 Per Character Level) (2 Items)

Naj's Ancient Vestige

• Added 1-148% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (+1.5 Per Character Level) (2 Items)
• Increased Replenish Life +10 to Replenish Life +20 (Full Set)
• Added +2 To Fire Skills (Full Set)
• Added Increased Maximum Life 12% (Full Set)

Sazabi's Grand Tribute

• Added Poison Length Reduced by 75% (2 Items)
• Added +1 To All Skills (Full Set)
• Added Damage Reduced by 16% (Full Set)

Vidala's Rig

• Added 7% Mana Stolen Per Hit (2 Items)
• Changed Adds 15-20 Cold Damage to +1-148 to Maximum Cold Damage (+1.5 Per Character Level) (Full Set)

Developer Comments: Many improvements have been made to Set items that are generally underused by players. These will offer more reasons to equip multiple of these Set pieces and to give some Sets new capabilities to make them stand out more, which further fuels more build diversity.

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LEVEL AREA CHANGES

• Players now must smash the Compelling Orb to enter the Durance of Hate, instead of killing the Council. This means the “Khalim's Will” quest needs to be completed to use the Durance of Hate Level 2 waypoint.

  Developer Comments: We saw that due to a logic glitch, players often chose to skip required content within Act III by bypassing “Khalim's Will” quest and not experiencing much of what Act III has to offer. We decided to make the “Khalim's Will” quest a proper requirement to complete Act III, much like how players need to assemble the Horadric Staff to enter Tal Rasha’s Chamber in Act II.

• Monster Levels in the following areas have been increased for Hell Difficulty:

Area	Previous Hell Level	New Hell Level
Act 1 – Underground Passage Level 2	83	85
Act 2 – Stony Tomb Level 1	78	85
Act 2 – Stony Tomb Level 2	79	85
Act 3 – Arachnid Lair	79	85
Act 3 – Swampy Pit Level 1	80	85
Act 3 – Swampy Pit Level 2	81	85
Act 3 – Swampy Pit Level 3	82	85
Act 3 – Disused Fane	84	85
Act 3 – Ruined Temple	84	85
Act 3 – Forgotten Reliquary	84	85
Act 3 – Sewer Levels 1	84	85
Act 5 – Abaddon	81	85
Act 5 – Pit of Acheron	82	85
Act 5 – Infernal Pit	83	85
Act 5 – Drifter Cavern	84	85
Act 5 – Icy Cellar	83	85

Developer Comments: We felt that certain optional areas in Diablo II often get ignored on Hell difficulty, so we decided to increase their monster levels to add more incentives with risk vs reward gameplay. We hope this provides more reasons to find loot in these areas.

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QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES

General

• Added language support for non-ASCII written language
• Added player messaging for when a player tries to launch the game on an out of date patch version
• Added 'Message of the Day' capabilities to the main menu to allow us to share important game updates with all players

New Feature - Legacy Graphics Emulation

• There is now an option in the Graphics Settings Menu under 'Legacy' that allows you to choose between 3 different emulation options for the Legacy game graphics. The options are 'GDI', 'Glide', and 'Resurrected'.
  • 'GDI' emulates the software rasterization of the original legacy game and does not apply any filtering
  • 'Glide' emulates the hardware accelerated backend of the original legacy game with bilinear filtering
  • 'Resurrected' uses the Glide emulation with additional fixes in place to address an artifact that would occur with the original Glide rendering

Developer Comments: We feel 'Resurrected' is the definitive emulation mode players should use, but we noticed feedback during PTR that some players preferred the style of legacy graphics released at launch, which did not have any filtering and most closely resembled the software rasterization of the original legacy game. We hope these emulation modes provide players the means to choose the legacy graphics they prefer.

AI

• Improved the reliability of pets, summons, and mercenaries teleporting to the player instead of being despawned

Barbarian

• Updated Barbarian Leap and Leap attack animation behavior to give it a smoother trajectory that should keep the Barbarian on-screen at all times, and reduce jerkiness when he lands

Character Selection

• Newly created characters will now sort to the top of the character selection list

Gameplay

• When holding down a mouse button to target an enemy with a skill, the skill will continue to execute after that target dies
• Minimap will now automatically re-open after death if you had it open prior to dying
• Arrow and Bolt max quantity increased to 500
• Throwing weapon quantity has been increased by 50%
• Blocking will no longer interrupt a player while performing a skill or attack. If a player character triggers a block during this time, the damage will still be negated, but the animation will not play
• Changed how attack speed is determined while dual-wielding weapons. Swapping weapons between hands should no longer result in dramatically different attack speeds
• Character hit recovery will now have diminishing returns when being hit by another player
• Quick cast skills behavior has been unified such that left click quick cast skills behave in the way the right click behavior operated

Developer Comments: We want to fix some of the awkward lockouts that reject player input from casting skills. For PVP, we added a way to reduce hit recovery spam to prevent edge cases of characters being locked out for too long.

Mercenaries

• Mercenary UIs will now display if the mercenary cannot use a skill because they are too low level

Online

• Added messaging if a player attempts to create a private channel with a name longer than the character limit
• Added a /offline chat command which sets your user presence to 'Offline'
• Added an option for players to control join access to their private games on consoles
• Added a toggle button to show/hide your game password

Vendors

• Players can now buy pre-filled tomes and keys when using a controller

Performance

• Optimized particle effects on some console platforms
• Added a VFX quality option for PC players
• Optimized inventory quick-move actions to reduce delay

Settings

• The Offline Game Difficulty Scale setting will now persist between game sessions.
• Added an option to choose whether or not to confine your mouse cursor to the game screen
• Added a VRAM usage bar in the settings menu

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BUG FIXES

Accessibility

• Fixed some issues in the UI that could occur when using Large Font Mode

Assassin

• Fixed an issue where Cloak of Shadows defense calculation was incorrect

Druid

• Fixed an issue where Hunger was not costing mana if it was cast without a target selected
• Druid Solar Creeper will now properly consume corpses and restore mana whenever the Druid is missing mana
• Rabies now properly consumes mana when your attack misses

Paladin

• Fixed an issue where you wouldn't be able to weapon swap if you were wielding a bow with no ammo as a Paladin on controller
• Fixed an issue where you could not disable auras as a Paladin if you were using a bow without ammunition on controller
• Fixed an issue where the Conviction Aura Tooltip would display incorrect information
• Fixed an issue where Sanctuary aura was not granting its bonus damage to Undead

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where Unique monster packs with mana drain were draining way more mana than was intended
• Fixed an issue where fire enchanted monsters were doing too much damage in Nightmare difficulty
• Fixed an issue with attacking as a Werebear with two weapons equipped. The primary weapon will be used exclusively when attacking while transformed
• Fixed an issue where using a skill could be interrupted if a player dodges, avoids, or blocks while executing a skill
• Fixed an issue where uninterruptible skills could be interrupted within a 1 frame window if you were using the skill repeatedly
• Fixed an issue where the skills granted by items sometimes couldn't be used on a controller
• Fixed an issue where you could be blocked from talking to an NPC if a player initiates a trade request with you while you are talking to an NPC
• Fixed an issue where weapon swap was not updating Faster Run/Walk on the game client
• Fixed an issue where skill bindings for OSkills wouldn't persist after dying and joining a new game
• Fixed an issue where one of the Chaos Sanctuary seals was difficult to select
• Fixed an issue where the Glacial Trail entrance wouldn't highlight
• Fixed an issue where continuing to move after running out of stamina could cause the stamina bar to not refill
• Fixed an issue where a room in Act 1 Caves had misplaced walls
• Fixed an issue where a few melee skills would often miss when attacking moving targets (Amazon Fend, Druid Fury, Paladin Sacrifice, Paladin Zeal)
• Fixed an issue where Quick Cast melee skills would sometimes fail to execute properly under certain circumstances
• Fixed an issue where Force Move and Quick Cast skills could still operate when in a full screen UI menu in Legacy Mode
• Fixed an issue that could cause players to miss their attack when using melee skills against enemies that are just barely within striking range and moving away
• Fixed a rare issue where casting spells rapidly could result in incorrect mana cost in certain networking situations
• Fixed an issue where Replenishing and Propagation item modifiers were not triggering when Quantity was removed from melee skills
• Fixed an issue where mercenary damage bonuses were being applied inconsistently. This will mostly affect damage when no weapon is equipped
• Fixed an issue where the mercenary damage UI would display inconsistent damage values
• Fixed an issue where scrolls weren't auto-populating to a belt slot when purchased
• Fixed an issue where the lower resist tooltip didn't list the percentage by which the target's resistance is lowered

Character Creation

• Fixed an issue where some players could bypass character name validation and create invalid offline character names. Those characters can now be repaired - affected players will be prompted to rename the invalid characters

Controls

• Fixed on issue where using a PlayStation controller on PC, some button prompts could appear with an Xbox controller button icon
• Fixed an issue where binding a skill to Key 2 without binding anything to Key 1 would show the keybind UI to not show

Graphics

• Fixed artifacting that could occur on certain VFX when using DLSS
• Fixed an issue where the player would become invisible if using Fade behind a transparent wall
• Fixed an issue where ethereal items were appearing invisible when standing behind transparent walls
• Fixed an issue where grass in Tamoe Highland could pop in and out while traversing
• Fixed an issue where VFX could become missing after playing for an extended period of time on consoles
• Fixed an issue where VFX could appear as black boxes on PS4 in high memory usage scenarios
• Fixed a DLSS-related ghosting artifact that could occur on moving objects while the game camera is stationary

Localization

• Fixed some localization issues with skill tooltips
• Fixed some localization issues related to user presence in the Xbox social menus
• Fixed some localization issues in the Settings menu
• Fixed miscellaneous issues related to localization of chat commands

Online

• Fixed an issue where users in Europe or Korea were unable to block or report users
• Fixed an issue where the right click context menu options in the Friends List would not consistently function
• Fixed an issue where you could not highlight game names and join if using a controller in the Lobby menu
• Fixed an issue where you could get stuck in an 'attempting to join' state if you tried to join a game through the friends list while you were rate limited
• Fixed an issue where swapping between Keyboard and Controller on the front end could rarely force you into the Offline character tab and prevent access to the online tab for a small amount of time
• Fixed an issue on consoles where online friends who have their presence set to appear 'Offline' in their platform settings would appear in the friends list sorted into other online friends rather than with their other offline friends
• Fixed an issue on Switch where if you remove someone from your friends list, they may not correctly get removed
• Fixed a visual issue that could occur when opening the Horadric Cube while in the middle of a trade with another player
• Auto-generated game name and password from game sessions generated using the main menu 'Play' button will now be hidden
• Fixed an issue where your character selection wouldn't persist if you exited the lobby
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause your character to display the wrong name if you join a game from the friend’s list

Performance

• Fixed an issue where users with 3050 series GPUs would have incorrect default graphics settings
• Fixed a crash that could occur when exiting the game
• Fixed a crash that could occur during the Pandemonium event
• Miscellaneous crash/stability fixes

Settings

• Fixed an issue where your game difficulty settings on Lobby would not update properly after changing characters

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MODDING UPDATE

We have added new columns to various .txt files. While this will cause compatibility issues for current offline single player mods, the columns added will allow for further customization options. Developers of existing offline single player mods can remake their changes with the new data or they can add the following columns before merging.

belts.txt:

• "defaultItemTypeCol1", "defaultItemCodeCol1", "defaultItemTypeCol2",
  "defaultItemCodeCol2", "defaultItemTypeCol3", "defaultItemCodeCol3",
  "defaultItemTypeCol4", "defaultItemCodeCol4"

difficultylevels.txt:

• "PlayerHitReactBufferVSPlayer", "PlayerHitReactBufferVSMonster"
• "MonsterFireEnchantExplosionDamagePercent"

hirelings.txt:

• "equivalentcharclass"

monstats.txt:

• "rightArmItemType", "leftArmItemType", "canNotUseTwoHandedItems"

skills.txt:

• "passivestat6", "passivecalc6"
• "calc5", "*calc5 desc", "calc6", "*calc6 desc"
• "Param9", "*Param9 Description", "Param10", "*Param10 Description", "Param11", "*Param11 Description", "Param12", "*Param12 Description"

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THANK YOU TO THE COMMUNITY

Our team is immensely grateful for your support. As we launch with all of the 2.4 content, we hope to continue to hear from all of you! If you want to learn more about Diablo II: Resurrected, check out our website here, or for real-time updates, follow our official Twitter @Diablo.

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[MeOnIV 23]

Would there be any new MrLlamaSC post-2.4 builds posted here? I know most of the builds he authored are still valid as no changes were made. Just wondering if there are any new viable alternatives from 2.4.

Edited April 16, 2022 by MeOnIV

[MasterRottweiler 1]

On 4/16/2022 at 1:00 PM, MeOnIV said:

Would there be any new MrLlamaSC post-2.4 builds posted here? I know most of the builds he authored are still valid as no changes were made. Just wondering if there are any new viable alternatives from 2.4.

Yeah, plus I've been looking so far if there are more alternatives when it comes to mercenaries, gear combinations and choices, and how they affect current builds and so on.