Season 1 of Diablo 4 is almost here and Blizzard has released a new patch for the game. One thing that we can say about this new patch is that the patch notes is really long, having over 6,600 words.
Patch 1.1.0 will shake up the meta builds for Diablo 4 having nerfs for the most used skills and buffs for underutilized ones. There is also a major change in leveling particularly in the World Tiers with early game getting a boost in XP gain while there will be a significant slowdown in XP farming in the endgame.
World Tier 3 and 4 get a substantial change in difficulty as the level scaling will now allow players to progress five levels about the monsters in the overworked and in dungeons. According to the devs, “We want to give players a better sense of their power progression and mastery over the world while still challenging themselves with structured End Game activities.”
Monsters in World Tier 3 will have a base level of 55 and will scale five levels below players. This means that monsters will only start scaling in level when a player reaches level 61 and the enemies in World Tier 3 will max out at level 70. Monsters in World Tier 4 start out at level 75 and will again scale five levels lower than players.
World Tier 2 doesn’t get a difficulty adjustment but will have a huge buff in XP, Loot, and Gold gains. Players in World Tier 2 will receive 15% more XP, 20% additional gold, and an increase of 15% to the loot drop rate. World Tier 2 may be the way to go in Season 1 to get to the end game faster.
All classes in the game will see a buff to “numeric increases to Skill Upgrades and Legendary Aspects that players haven’t yet found compelling.” Devs want players to try out things like the Sorcerer’s Incinerate or Fireball which many players see as mediocre compared to Ice Shards and Arc Lash.
There will also be nerfs to overpowered skills that “grant extreme amounts of damage, healing, or Unstoppable.” We recently reported that players have figured out how to deal billions of damage with the Druid’s Shred skill when combined with a particular aspect.
Blizzard may be looking to rebalance player power to a lower level with Patch 1.1.0 as Season 1 adds Malignant Hearts. The new seasonal gameplay element will add a new source of damage which explains why a lot of the meta builds are getting a significant nerf.
Season 1 will also introduce an Uber Unique in Ahavarion Spear of Lycander which grants players a “random Shrine effect for 10-20 seconds after killing an Elite enemy. Can only occur once every 30 seconds.” As powerful as it sounds, many players will never get to see this Uber unique given the current drop rates of these ultra-rare items.
There will also be five new unique items, one for each class. Most of the uniques buff skills that are not very popular with players. Blizzard also introduced legendary aspects that will boost underutilized skills.
Diablo 4: Season of the Malignant is coming on July 20. You can read the full patch notes here.
