Challenge Rift Week 126 is live! Because Season 19 begins this Friday, we advise that you DO NOT complete the challenge rift until after you've made your seasonal character! This week the Challenge Rift features three different Crusader builds, two of which focus on the new Valor set! If you are curious how Challenge Rift builds are chosen each week, you can view this official blog post!
Diablo III Season 19 Begins On November 22!
Brandy has once again taken to the official forums to post an upcoming update to patch 2.6.7! This update reintroduces the Rend damage modifier on Lamentation, and also implements a damage nerf to the new crusader set by placing a cap of 20 on the Shield of Fury!
Originally Posted by Nevalistis (Official Post)
Hey all,
So as you may have seen elsewhere, we’ll be issuing a small update to 2.6.7 between now and the start of Season 19 to address some balance issues prior to the start of the Season of Eternal Conflict. This patch isn’t going to resolve every balance issue; there’s simply not enough time between the need for QA verification and patch submission for all our platforms to address everything. That said, we’re committed to continuing to balance with community feedback in mind as we release additional patches throughout 2020.
For Season 19, though, here’s what you can look forward to (these Patch Notes are currently pending through Localization for official release, so please take unofficial translations you read with a grain of salt):
- Lamentation 52
- Now increases the damage of Rend by [100-150%]
- Developer's Note: As we've indicated in forum posts, we overshot on Lamentation's original implementation during the 2.6.7 PTR. However, we also very much undershot the overall balance of Rend/Whirlwind's adjustments by removing this bonus completely. After reading a ton of your feedback and completing our own internal testing, we've settled on a middle ground we believe reaches the balance level we were shooting for.
- Shield of Fury 98
- The benefit of this item now stacks up to a cap of 20
- Developer's Note: As many of you noted coming out of our 2.6.7 update, we also overshot on Crusader with the live patch. We love to see Crusader performing much better with it's new set, and this cap should reign in damage to a more reasonable level
- Patterns of Justice
- Fixed an issue where the Tempest Rush Flurry rune attack did not benefit from the 6-Piece bonus when cancelling Tempest Rush (PC Only)
- Developer's Note: We were unable to resolve this for 2.6.7a for Console; however, it is slated to be fixed on Console in a future patch.
- Fjord Cutter 9
- Fixed an issue where Fjord Cutter was increasing all damage to slowed or chilled enemies instead of just Seismic Slam damage
- Won Khim Lau 6
- Fixed a bug where Epiphany would trigger teleporting while channeling Tempest Rush (Electric Field) when Won Khim Lau was equipped
We know there are still other things to address, including Rathma Necromancer, Bazooka Wizard, and general Demon Hunter performance (among other concerns for other classes that we have slated for future patches). We’re not ready to deploy changes on these fronts, but we are continuing to pore through feedback, experiment, and iterate on potential solutions, so please keep making your voice heard in a constructive manner!
We’re also discussing extending future PTRs for patches that include additional set items; one week was simply not enough for the iteration process, and we’re adjusting accordingly.
It’s taken time to get communication to a more mobile and agile place, and I appreciate your patience while we’ve worked to get new processes in place. Hopefully it shows that we’re working on addressing as much as we can, as timely as we can; we are passionate about Sanctuary and its inhabitants, and we’re doing our best to make Diablo III as awesome as it can possibly be.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you in Patch 2.6.7a and Season 19!
Diablo III Season 19 Begins On November 22!
Brandy has posted on the official forums regarding some balance issues that have surfaced in patch 2.6.7, and mentions that a small balance patch will release between now and the start of Season 19 to address some of these concerns.
Originally Posted by Nevalistis (Official Post)
Whew, okay, let’s see if I can address these.
- Bazooka - we definitely consider this an issue (as I’m sure you can see from our last change), but it’s proving trickier to address than we anticipated. While Bazooka is harder to execute now, we don’t like that a build more or less requires macros to use effectively. This is something we want to address, but it’s looking like that will be a longer term process beyond 2.6.7.
- We did make a change to Blighter for this reason in 2.6.7. If this wasn’t enough, we’ll continue to re-evaluate.
- We’ll be releasing a small balance patch between now and the start of Season 19 to address some of the balance concerns the community has brought to us. Still getting the final details on exactly what this entails. Stay tuned.
- Because we’ll be releasing a small balance patch, we’ll be resetting the Era again. We’re just waiting for that to happen first.
- See point #3. This is also one of our areas of concern. We don’t want to “nerf it to the ground,” but we do want to pull it back. If AoV continues to need adjustments afterwards in either direction, we’ll keep looking at it in the long run, too. Sometimes finding the right balance takes us a few tries, and we appreciate your patience with us while work to get things where they need to be.
I know it doesn’t always look like we listen or act immediately on feedback, and we can’t always act this fast; we’ve had a lot of conversations over the past couple of days regarding 2.6.7 and the areas where we could improve. Having a larger gap between patch and Season launch is serving us well in this regard.
Lastly, I want to mention I’m working with the development team on a blog that focuses on Greater Rift Level Cap and our philosophy/approach around game balance. I think there’s some context the community is missing in our approach, and we want to explain this better and more clearly—it’s just going to take some time for me to put that communication together. I’m not trying to be mysterious; I just want to make sure we’re taking the time necessary to make things clear.
After keeping the community guessing for a couple of days since the launch of patch 2.6.7 as to when the new season would start, Blizzard has official announced the beginning of Season 19 as November 22nd. Alongside the typical seasonal rewards there will be two all new rewards for achieving the rank of Guardian as you'll see below.
Season 19 begins Friday, November 22 at:
5:00 p.m. PST in North America
5:00 p.m. CET in Europe
5:00 p.m. KST in Asia.
Originally Posted by Nevalistis (Official Post)
Season 19 begins November 22, alongside our next Diablo III patch. Read on to learn more about the brand-new Season of Eternal Conflict buff, two divinely inspired new class sets, and a handful of old and new item reworks coming in Patch 2.6.7!
New Season Theme
Season 19 is the Season of Eternal Conflict and with it come an awesome array of killstreak rewards! Inspired by the war waged between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, you‘ll earn increasingly powerful effects as you unleash destruction upon your foes. So rack up those kills and clear the battlefields in the name of Sanctuary!
All players will benefit from the Pandemonium buff during Season 19. For each stack of this buff, you’ll receive a small boost to movement speed and bonus damage, ultimately capping out at 50% movement speed and 100% damage at 1000 stacks. In addition, reaching certain killstreak goals will trigger a special effect and cause even more mayhem on the battlefield:
- 15 Kills: Exploding Chickens seek and destroy
- 30 Kills: A wide Frost Nova freezes enemies
- 50 Kills: Corpses rain from the sky
- 100 Kills: Five massive Energy Twisters are unleashed
- 150 Kills: Dark Geysers form beneath enemies
- 200 Kills: Treasure chests fall from the sky
- 300 Kills: A ring of fire engulfs everything
- 400 Kills: Meteors hail from above
- 500 Kills: Angels descend upon the battlefield to fight for your cause
- 1000 Kills: ?????
This Season, we’re taking action on the great feedback we received from the community about Season 18’s Triune buff. With the killstreak mechanic, we can make sure the benefit is always traveling with you and something you won’t have to constantly reposition for. There’s still more room for exploration and innovation in the future, and in the meantime, we challenge you to push these killstreaks to their limits and discover its ultimate reward! We think you’ll find it devilishly delightful.
Season 19 Cosmetic Rewards
Beginning with Season 17, we began re-introducing previous Seasonal rewards to make them available to players who may have missed them the first time around. For Season 19, this means awards originally available from Season 7 are returning to the Season Journey.
However, we know it’s nice to have something new to aim for if you’ve participated in previous Seasons. We’re bringing back End of Journey rewards as introduced in Season 17, with not one, but two new cosmetic rewards for those who complete the entirety of the Season journey. Feast your eyes upon the Valor Portrait Frame and Angelic Treasure Goblin pet!
In addition to the Helm and Shoulders slots of the exclusive Conqueror Set, you’ll be able to earn a series of portrait frames that embody the snowy, foreboding aura of the Eternal Woods. If you need a warm little pal to keep you cozy through your cold journeys, the Dream of Piers fiery nature should do the trick—when he’s not instilling night terrors in the local fauna.
Season Journey Rewards
If you’ve been diligently slaying demons for the past few Seasons and reached Conqueror in the Season Journey each time, you’ve surely accrued a few extra stash tabs. You’ll earn one additional tab each Season by finishing the Conqueror tier, up to a maximum of five:
- Guardian of Sanctuary: Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment XIII within five minutes
- Gem of My Life: Level three Legendary Gems to level 55
- All I Do IS Win: Complete two Conquests this Season
- Kill You: Kill Ghom at level 70 in under 30 seconds on Torment XIII difficulty
- Money Ain’t A Thang: Slay Greed on Torment XIII difficulty
- Take U There: Reach Greater Rift level 60 Solo
- Power Amplification: Use Kanai’s Cube to augment an Ancient Legendary item with a level 50+ gem
- Cubic Reconfiguration: Use Kanai’s Cube to reforge a Legendary item
Seasonal Conquests
Want to prepare your Conquest plan for Season 19? Here are the challenges you’ll face!
Returning for Season 19 is Sprinter/Speed Racer, where you’re challenged to complete the entire Diablo III campaign from Act I to Act V at level 70 in under 1 hour! Next is Avarice/Avaritia, where all that glitters is gold—that is, if you can complete a 50 million gold streak outside of The Vault or its Inner Sanctum. On a Good Day/I Can’t Stop encourages you to upgrade your Legendary Gems; level three Legendary Gems to 65 to complete this challenge! Push your way to Greater Rift level 75 to complete Divinity/Lionhearted. Lastly, a fan-favorite for those who enjoy unconventional builds, The Thrill/Superhuman requires completion of a Greater Rift level 45—solo and without any Set items equipped.
Haedrig’s Gift
Finally, the Class Sets rewarded for completing certain chapters in the Season Journey courtesy of Haedrig’s Gift have rotated once more. We’ve listed the available Sets below. For those new to Seasons, here’s how it works:
Completing Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of the Season Journey will reward you with three of Haedrig’s Gifts. Each Gift contains a few pieces from one of your Class Sets. Players can only unlock one Class Set in this manner per Season across Hardcore and Non-Hardcore, so choose wisely!
The set you receive depends on the class of the character you’re playing when you open each Haedrig’s Gift. To collect a full Class Set, you’ll need to open all three on the same character.
Here are the sets granted by Haedrig’s Gift in Season 19:
- Barbarian – Wrath of the Wastes
- Crusader – Roland’s Legacy
- Demon Hunter – Unhallowed Essence
- Monk – Raiment of a Thousand Storms
- Necromancer – Bones of Rathma
- Witch Doctor – Helltooth Harness
- Wizard – Tal Rasha’s Elements
Patch Notes
Below you will find the patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III, Patch 2.6.7. Changes from the PTR have been highlighted in RED.
Last updated November 12 @ 10:00 a.m. PST.
Note: All changes apply to all versions of Diablo III, including PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC unless otherwise indicated. Please note that PTR is only available for PC and Mac users.
- Greater Rift Keystones are now subject to vacuum pick-up
- A note regarding the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) has been added to the Options -> Privacy menu, clearly stating we do not sell account information. For more information regarding the CCPA, please see here (Console Only).
- Developer Note: One of the biggest pieces of feedback from Season 18's buff was that the Triune bonus didn't stick with your character while you adventured. With Season 19, we've altered course as well as upped the ante by experimenting with new mechanics to add an element of both chaos and power to the battlefield. It should feel a bit like Pandemonium, and it may be a consideration whether or not you want to reset your total kill streak for a particular killstreak bonus versus continuously maintain the overall effect (especially as the highest level killstreak rewards will be harder to leverage in situations like Greater Rifts). Killstreaks with higher kill count requirements are more powerful, and we're looking forward to seeing what players think of and do with them!
- The buff for Season 19, the Season of Eternal Conflict, has been added
- Pandemonium
- For the duration of the Season, all players will have a stacking buff that that persists as long as you have hit or killed a monster within the last 5 seconds
- Each stack gives .005 movement speed and .001% bonus damage. This bonus caps at 50% movement and 100% damage (1000 stacks)
- In addition, after reaching a certain number of kills in a row, a power is unleashed, dealing an amount of scaling damage based on player level and difficulty or Greater Rift level:
- 15 Kills: Exploding Chickens seek and destroy
- 30 Kills: A wide Frost Nova freezes enemies
- 50 Kills: Corpses rain from the sky
- 100 Kills: Five massive energy twisters are unleashed
- 150 Kills: Dark Geysers form beneath enemies
- 200 Kills: Treasure chests fall from the sky
- 300 Kills: A ring of fire engulfs everything
- 400 Kills: Meteors hail from above
- 500 Kills: Angels descend upon the battlefield to fight for your cause
- Angels should no longer one-shot Rift Guardians.
- 1000 Kills: ???
- Powers are tracked at a group level; this means only one power can be active in play at a time, regardless of the number of players in a group
- Two new Seasonal rewards are available for players who fully complete the Season 19 Journey: the Valor Portrait Frame and the Angelic Treasure Goblin pet
- Lilith's Embrace: This exclusive pair of cosmetic wings are now available for all players who purchased a Virtual Ticket. Hail Lilith. (PC Only)
- Developer Note: With Patch 2.6.7, we are beginning to roll out new class sets for every class in Diablo III. For the Season of Valor, we're focusing on the two classes that embody the Light and wield some form of Holy elemental damage: Crusader and Monk. You'll also find a handful of retuned or newly added Legendary powers intended to synergize with the new class sets. We did a lot of community research into which skills were most requested by players as well as most underrepresented in current builds, and we hope you're as excited as we are for these new gameplay options. The other class sets will be coming in later patches, so if your class isn't represented this time around, fret not—they're coming in a future patch!
- You'll also notice a significant number of Barbarian item changes in this patch. While the Barbarian class set will be coming at a later date, we have very much heard the War Cry from our dedicated Barbarian community and implemented a number of changes heavily inspired by extremely thorough feedback. While not every suggestion has been taken at a 1:1 parity, the thoughtful analysis helped guide us to changes we could implement in this patch. Thanks very much to the community members who expressed their concerns in a respectful, constructive manner. It's very helpful, and we greatly appreciate the thought and effort that went into making your voices heard!
- New Crusader Set: Aegis of Valor
- 2-Piece Bonus:
The charged bolts from Fist of the Heavens has a chance to cast another Fist of the HeavensAttacking with Fist of the Heavens empowers you, allowing Heaven's Fury to deal 100% increased damage for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times (multiplicative).- 4-Piece Bonus: Hitting with Fist of the Heavens generates 5 Wrath and reduces damage taken by 1% for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 50 times
- 6-Piece Bonus: Increase the damage of Fist of the Heavens and Heaven's Fury by
10,000%20,000%- Developer's Note: Thank you so much for your thorough feedback and testing on the 2.6.7 PTR! We decided to add Heaven's Fury to the mix based on popular request as well as because we agree that it matches the theme and adds more gameplay complexity. There is also still room for tweaks and additional iteration in the future, and we're glad we were able to introduce a set so many of you are excited to use!
- New Monk Set: Patterns of Justice
- 2-Piece Bonus: Sweeping Wind gains the effect of every rune and movement speed is increased by 5% for each stack of Sweeping Wind.
- 4-Piece Bonus:
Each enemy within Sweeping Wind increases your movement speed by 5%. Stacks up to 10 times.Attacking with Tempest Rush reduces your damage taken by 50% and increases Spirit Regeneration by 50.- 6-Piece Bonus: Hitting with Tempest Rush while Sweeping Wind is active will temporarily increase the size of Sweeping Wind after hitting over 30 times within a short period. Sweeping Wind damage is increased by
10,000%15,000%- Developer's Note: Thank you so much for your thorough feedback and testing on the 2.6.7 PTR! We heard Monk requests for additional damage reduction and to better integrate Tempest Rush as a skill. We hope the result makes for a more survivable and engaging build that still captures that rush of Holy Justice sweeping through crowds of dastardly demons.
- Darklight
- Fist of the Heavens has a
[45-60%]100% chance to be cast twice.- Additional Legendary Power: Increases the damage of Fist of the Heavens by
[200-250%][800-1000%].Eye of the Storm
New Legendary Power: When Sweeping Wind hits exactly 1 enemy, its damage is increased by 100%.- Developer's Note: With the redesign of Patterns of Justice, there was less need for this item's introduction. We've removed it for now and may consider adding it (or possibly a different Legendary power) at a later date.
- Vengeful Wind
- Increases the maximum stack count of Sweeping Wind by
[6-7]10- Additional Legendary Power: Increases the damage of Sweeping Wind by
[250-300%][600-800%].- Won Khim Lau
- New Legendary Power: Hitting with Tempest Rush will activate Cyclone Strike, and both skills deal [500-600%] increased damage.
- Chantodo's Resolve
- The scaled attack speed damage bonus to Wave of Destruction has been reduced
- Developer Note: This is a reactive adjustment from an earlier change to how Wave of Destruction receives a bonus from Attack Speed. The buff that resulted from that change was more than we expected, so we're reigning it in.
- Wrath of the Wastes
- 6-Piece Bonus: The damage bonus now also applies to Rend
Lamentation
Additional Legendary Power: Increases the damage of Rend by [150-200%]- Developer Note: While we were very happy with how much better Barbarians are performing, we are concerned we may have overshot it. By removing just one silo'd addition, we can observe how the class performance goes for Season 19 and consider re-adding this change in the future. Remember we still have a patch coming up where Barb will be one of the focused classes, so there will be plenty of time to revisit if necessary!
- Ambo's Pride
- New Legendary Power: Attacking with Whirlwind also applies Rend and the total damage of Rend is dealt over 1 second
- Remorseless
Hammer of the Ancients has a [25-30%] chance to summon an Ancient for 20 seconds- New Legendary Power: While both Wrath of the Berserker and Call of the Ancients are active, Hammer of the Ancients deals [200-250%] more damage.
- Fjord Cutter
You are surrounded by a Chilling Aura when attacking.- New Legendary Power: Seismic Slam attacks 50% faster and also deals 100-150% increased damage against Slowed or Chilled enemies
- Bracers of Destruction
- Seismic Slam deals [400-500%] increased damage to the first
510 enemies it hits.- Fury of the Ancients
- Call of the Ancients gains the effect of the Ancients' Fury rune and your Ancients attack 100% faster
- Bone Ringer
- Now has a cap of 60 stacks.
- Developer Note: We never intended for this item to be used in a way where you farm stacks for an egregious amount of time (5+ minutes) and then watch all their health disappear in less than a second. It's not an engaging style of gameplay, and we don't want that experience to be the best way to play the Necromancer.
- Legacy of Dreams
- This gem is now more likely to drop from a Greater Rift Guardian
- Blighter
- Blighter's Poison Tentacles' Area of Effect now hits less frequently, but at higher damage, when attacking players
- Wizard
- Archon
- Fixed an issue where certain item bonuses (such as from the item Deathwish) would persist between changing forms to/from Archon
- Developer's Note: A few patches ago, we stated we were going to continue to observe Bazooka Wizard to see its performance over time. Back then, we thought it would require a high level of skill to execute that would make it relatively less utilized as a hard, but rewarding, gameplay option. That hasn't been the case, as many feel it's too mandatory. In the context of this and other changes (like Bone Ringer and Chantodo's), we think it makes sense to make this change now.
- Spite
- Fixed an issue where casting Restless Giant would cause the 200% physical bonus damage to fail to apply when the Gargantuan enraged
- Squirt's Necklace
- Fixed an issue where some ground effects were causing the Squirt's Necklace buff to fall off despite being shielded
FAQ
Q: When does Season 19 start?
A: Season 19 begins Friday, November 22 at 5:00 p.m. PST in North America, 5:00 p.m. CET in Europe, and 5:00 p.m. KST in Asia. For time zone conversions, see this site.
Q: When do Seasons go live for players on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch?
A: Seasons go live for all console players globally Friday, November 22 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, regardless of which regional version of the game you may have. Please note that Seasonal Leaderboards for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch are still separate by hardware platform.
Q: When will Season 19 end?
A: We are no longer providing anticipated end dates for Seasons. However, we are committed to keeping Seasons roughly three months in length (give or take a few weeks based on development needs) and will continue to provide a minimum of two weeks advance notice for when the Season will be ending.
Q: When are the non-Seasonal Leaderboards being wiped?
A: Non-Seasonal Leaderboards are tied to what we call “Eras,” each of which lasts about 6–12 months. The most recent era began November 12. For more information on Eras, please see this post.
Q: What will happen to older Seasonal and Era records?
A: Starting with Season 10, we removed old personal bests from Season 1. When Season 19 arrives, we will remove old personal bests from Season 10, and so on. We will be doing the same for personal bests from the previous Era when the next one goes live.
Seasonal Leaderboard records are not being cleared and will remain archived both in game and on our website.
Themed Seasons are continuing to evolve as we venture into the future, and we’re quite excited to see where this one leads. Are you looking forward to the Season of Eternal Conflict? Are you going to try one of the two new Class Sets? Gear up and get ready; we’ll see you in Season 19!
Note: Beginning next week, comments on Diablo III blog entries will be disabled. This is part of our website migration for GDPR compliance. We apologize for the inconvenience; please continue your conversation over on our General Forum.
An official blog post from Luis Barriga (Diablo IV Game Director) has been posted as a response and follow up to BlizzCon 2019. Luis Barriga also mentions that they know there is a discussion surrounding items and stats, and reassures the Diablo community that their team is having the same conversations while reading everyone's feedback.
Originally Posted by Luis Barriga (Official Post)
Dear Diablo family,
Thank you all for a great BlizzCon. We unveiled Diablo IV with our announce cinematic, establishing the tone for our overall creative vision moving forward. We hope you all dug that.
We also showed you our gameplay trailer, showcasing our classes, monsters, and open world, and invited you to take the first step in this journey toward Diablo IV together. We can tell from all the questions and excitement we’ve seen online and in-person that you are eager to find out more.
The lines to our demo stations and Dark Gallery were packed all weekend long and we were floored by the overall reception—especially from long-time Diablo players. We were blown away by how often we met people who came back to play the demo again and again. The stories you shared with us about Diablo and what this series means to you moved us and inspire us to do our best.
We’ve been taking this week to assess and discuss our takeaways from BlizzCon, and we love all the deep discussions happening around the art, features, systems, and world of Diablo IV. We’re also excited about a cool update we’re planning for you in February of next year. It will be the first in a series of quarterly updates where we’ll share behind-the-scenes looks at our progress going forward.
We also know that one topic is burning hotter than the rest. We want you to know that we are having the same conversations about items and stats that you are having—whether on the official discussion threads or external sites, we read it all! Getting this right is at the top of our minds, and in the coming weeks our lead systems designer David Kim will provide a few clarifications, share some of his thoughts, and address some of your open questions. We hope you check it out and let us know what you think.
Once again, on behalf of the entire team, from the bottom of our hearts we want to thank you all for a fantastic and unforgettable BlizzCon 2019.
Hail Lilith and see you in Hell!
Luis Barriga,
Game Director, Diablo IV
