Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 PTR Class Changes Released
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Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 PTR Class Changes Released

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

  • Genre: Action-RPG
  • Developed by: Vicarious Visions & Blizzard Entertainment
  • Published by: Activision Blizzard
  • Release Date: September 23, 2021
  • Patch Date: January 25, 2022 (PC Public Test Realm)
  • Platforms: Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

All 7 Classes in Diablo 2 Ressurected
All 7 Classes in Diablo 2 Ressurected

It has been over a month since Blizzard teased us with a massive amount of changes for the upcoming Patch 2.4. This new update will be the first major balance change the game received since version 1.13c. That means that Diablo 2 has 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 the seven classes’ skills. We also have some new Runewords to check out later on. But for now, let’s jump in!

Amazon

Diablo 2 Amazon Class
Diablo 2 Amazon Class

Javelin and Spear

First up, the Amazon’s Melee skill synergies are being buffed. Affected skills are Power Strike, Charged Strike and Lightning Strike. Impale in particular, will now be uninterruptible and will always hit its targets. Fend will have its attack speed increased by 100%. Lastly, Plague Javelin’s numbers have been improved to make it more distinct from Poison Javelin.

Passive and Magic Skills

Few passive skills have received minor buffs. Inner Sight and Slow Missiles’ radius were increased by about 35%. Slow Missiles now scales per level instead of it being a  fixed rate. Dodge and Avoid skills animation can now be interrupted to perform other actions, making combat feel more fluid.

Bow and Crossbow Skills

Freezing Arrow, Magic Arrow, Guided Arrow and Strafe receive minor damage or mana cost buffs to make them more usable. Fire Arrow, Exploding Arrow and Immolation Arrow are 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

Assassin

Diablo 2 Assassin Class
Diablo 2 Assassin Class

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 Tail and Dragon 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 skills Claws of Thunder, Blades of Ice, Tiger Strike, Cobra Strike and Phoenix Strike will 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’s duration scaling was changed to be consistent with the duration of Bust of Speed and Fade. Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master casting delays reduced from 6 seconds to 0.6 seconds, and no longer share a cooldown with other skills with cast delay.

Traps

The reliance on Death Sentry synergies was removed from multiple traps. Fire traps such as Fire Blast, Wake of Fire and Wake of Inferno are being rebalanced to be more effective at higher difficulties. Blade Sentinel, Blade Fury and Blade Shield receive major buffs to make dedicated builds around these skills.

Barbarian

Diablo 2 Barbarian Class
Diablo 2 Barbarian Class

Warcries

These skills are generally getting quality of life changes, such as updating tooltips to show hidden skill mechanics. Grim Ward also Slows and Increases Damage Taken from enemies, added Synergy for the skill Find Potion.

Combat Masteries

As mentioned before, Throwing Barbarians should be more viable now. Throwing Mastery added a chance for projectiles to pierce.

Combat Skills

Leap and Leap Attack animation speeds increased by 75% to make it feel more responsive. Leap Attack also received multiple damage and attack rating buffs. Double Throw increased damage bonus. Frenzy’s  synergy with Increased Stamina skill to add the duration.

Druid

Diablo 2 Druid Class
Diablo 2 Druid Class

Elemental Skills

Flames are the main focus of the Druid’s Elemental skills. Fire skills such as Firestorm, Molten Boulder, Fissure, Volcano and Armageddon have 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 Armor and Hurricane buffs can now be cast in Werewolf or Werebear form, thereby removing the need to switch forms to maintain the buffs.

Shape-Shifting

Werewolf and Werebear forms 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 skills Rabies and Fury have gained Attack Rating Improvements. Werebear skills Maul, Shock Wave and Fire Claws received damage buffs.

Summoning

All summons are getting standardized health values instead of being random.

Spirit Summons Oak Sage, Heart of the Wolverine and Spirit of Barbs are 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 summons are getting damage buffs to further their role as the damage-dealing summons. Creeper summons have their functions buffed to be more worthy to invest skill points in.

Necromancer

Diablo 2 Necromancer Class
Diablo 2 Necromancer Class

Summoning

Skeletal Mage is 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 Golem and Fire Golem have their damage increased. Iron Golem’s Thorns ability now has more consistent damage.

Poison and Bone

Bone Spear and Bone Spirit receive minor buffs to their synergies to reward investing in the Bone Skills. Bone Armor will now absorb a bit more damage.

Curses

Weaken’s damage reduction now scales based on level.

Paladin

Diablo 2 Paladin Class
Diablo 2 Paladin Class

Defensive Auras

Tooltips updated to show the hidden functionality of the aura that increases Maximum Resist Bonus.

Offensive Auras

Damaging auras such as Holy Fire, Holy Freeze, Holy Shock and Sanctuary now 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.

Thorns is 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.

Combat Skills

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 Heavens also gets the changes of Holy Bolt and have less Casting Delay to make it more viable.

Sorceress

Diablo 2 Sorceress Class
Diablo 2 Sorceress Class

Cold

Frozen Armor, Shiver Armor and Chilling Armor all 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 and Frozen Orb no longer shares a casting delay cooldown.

Lightning

Nova and Thunder Storm both had their synergies with Static Field improved. Thunder Storm also received a massive increase in base duration (from 32 to 144) and duration per level (from 8 to 24).

Fire

Hydra’s casting delay was removed to make it easier to summon multiple copies. However, the maximum number is limited to 6. Damage from Fire Bolt and Fire Ball synergies has been slightly increased. Inferno and Blaze are getting damage increases as well as increased synergy with Warmth. Meteor and Fire Wall no 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 be Fury Werewolves, Frozen Orb Sorceresses (even more so with the slight buff), or master Necromancer Summoners. But hopefully, this patch is a step in the right direction to create much more build diversity.

Be sure to check out our beginner guide and other guides to 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.


For more news, check out Coromon Takes on the Classic Monster Taming RPG System Adding Nuzlocke Mode and More and Castle Morihisa is a Roguelike Cardgame Set in Feudal Japan Releasing February 2022.

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