Highlights
- Patch 1.1.1 in Diablo 4 aims to address the balance issues that Barbarians and Sorcerers have been facing, with significant buffs to their skills, passives, and legendaries.
- Sorcerers will see improvements in their survivability, damage output, and build variety, with buffs to Lightning and Fire-based skills, such as Fireball and Chain Lightning.
- Barbarians will experience major damage buffs, particularly in abilities like Charge, Upheaval, and Rupture, as well as Bleed passives. The update will also include increased mob density in Nightmare Dungeons, a highly requested feature.
It’s no secret that Barbarians and Sorcerers in Diablo 4 have felt the full brunt of the nerfs introduced in Season of the Malignant, but the recent Campfire Chat has outlined the extensive changes coming in Patch 1.1.1 that will tip the balance in their favor. Though all five classes were nerfed in Diablo 4 with the release of the latest update, Sorcerers were already in a dire state, while the Barbarian saw its entire survivability mechanic evaporate.
As a result, the reception to Season of the Malignant was very conflicted, as disgruntled Diablo 4 players review bombed the game on Metacritic, took out their frustrations on the official forums, or wrote up extensive feedback for the developers on Reddit. The message was heard loud and clear on the accompanying Campfire Chat, and further balance changes were announced by the developers, promising that the Diablo 4 team would never again do an update like the now-infamous Patch 1.1.
The public outcry and developer response have culminated in the announcement of Patch 1.1.1 for Diablo 4, and Blizzard has revealed precisely what the new update will entail. In contrast to Patch 1.1, Diablo 4 players can expect to see plenty of buffs to their favorite class, even to popular Diablo 4 endgame builds such as Bone Spear Necromancer. However, the shining stars of the upcoming patch seem to be the Sorcerer and Barbarian by far.
Sorcerers had major issues in Diablo 4, and the chief among them has been its lack of survivability, lack of damage, and lack of build variety. Patch 1.1.1 provides Sorcerer players with significant buffs to Lightning and Fire-based skills, such as Fireball, Chain Lightning, and even key passives such as Vyr’s Mastery (both on the skill tree itself and through the Paragon Board). As pointed out by fans across social media, these are precisely the changes that Diablo 4 players were hoping for in Season 1.
Meanwhile, Barbarians in Diablo 4 have experienced major damage buffs across the board, with a focus on abilities such as Charge, Upheaval, Rupture, as well as Bleed passives. Full patch notes are slated to arrive on August 2, with the update itself releasing on August 8. An exciting addition in Patch 1.1.1 that affects all classes is increased mob density in Diablo 4‘s Nightmare Dungeons, as it was one of the most demanded features since launch. While Diablo 4 certainly has its shortcomings, these changes feel like a step in the right direction.
Sorcerer
Skills
- Flickering Fire Bolt: Fire Bolt generates 2 Mana when hitting an enemy.
- Enhanced Fireball: Casting Fireball increases its radius by 50%.
- Destructive Fireball: Fireball’s Critical Strike Damage is increased by 20%. This bonus is increased to 30% if Fireball hits 3 or more enemies.
- Greater Chain Lightning: Each time Chain Lightning bounces, its next hit deals 5% increased damage.
- Destructive Chain Lightning: Crackling Energy increased from 25% to 30%.
Passives
- Vyr’s Mastery: Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
- Esu’s Ferocity: Both bonuses are also granted for 3 seconds when hitting a Boss with a Critical Strike.
- Combustion: Your Burning effects deal 20% increased damage, plus an additional 2% increased damage per unique source of Burning you have applied to the enemy.
Paragon Board
- Searing Heat Legendary Node: Casting Fireball or Meteor increases your Critical Strike Chance by 5% for 5 seconds, up to 15%.
- Ceaseless Conduit Legendary Node: Increase Crackling Energy’s damage from 2% to 3% per 20 intelligence the player has.
- Reinforce Rare Glyph: Damage reduction increased from 10% to 15%.
- Territorial Rare Glyph: Damage reduction increased from 10% to 15%.
- Warding Rare Glyph: Damage reduction increased from 13% to 25%.
- Keeper of Flames Rare Node: Damage reduction increased from 4% to 5%. Bonus damage reduction increased from 4% to 5%.
- Smoldering Embers Rare Node: Damage reduction from burning enemies increased from 4% to 5%. Bonus damage reduction from burning enemies increased from 4% to 5%
- Guarded Rare Node: Damage reduction from Vulnerable enemies increased from 4% to 5%. Bonus damage reduction from Vulnerable enemies increased from 4% to 5%.
- Oppressive Rare Node: Damage reduction from Vulnerable enemies increased from 4% to 5%.
- Oppressive Rare Node: Damage reduction from Vulnerable enemies increased from 4% to 5%.
- Lightning Resilience Rare Node: Maximum Life bonus increased from 4% to 6%.
- Restorative Rare Node: Maximum Life bonus increased from 4% to 6%.
Legendaries
- Serpentine Aspect: You may have 1 additional Hydra active, and Hydra’s duration is increased by 14-24%. This now also affects Hydra’s Enchantment Effect.
- Aspect of Conflagration: Bonus Burning damage increased from 20-30% to 20-40%.
- Aspect of Three Curses: Increase the Critical Strike Damage of Meteor and Fireball by 20%-40%. Double this bonus against Healthy enemies.
- Flamewalker’s Aspect: Bonus Movement Speed duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds.
- Gravitational Aspect: Ball Lightning orbits around you and deals 15-25% increased damage.
- Recharging Aspect: Each time Chain Lightning bounces, you gain 2-3 Mana.
- Aspect of Unbroken Tether: Bonus Chain Lightning bounces increased from 2 to 4.
- Charged Aspect: Bonus Movement Speed duration increased from 4 to 8 seconds.
- Aspect of the Bounding Conduit: Bonus Movement Speed increased from 20-25% to 25-30%.
- Mage-Lord’s Aspect: The Vyr’s Mastery Key Passive’s Damage Reduction is increased by 20-30% for each Close enemy, up to 60-90%.
- Aspect of Frozen Orbit: Damage increased from 20-30% to 30-40%.
- Storm Swell Aspect: Bonus damage increased from 11-20% to 21-30%.
- Snowveiled Aspect: Unstoppable duration increased from 2-3 seconds to 3-5 seconds. Also grants 10% bonus Armor for 3-5 seconds.
- Incendiary Aspect: Lucky Hit: Damage from your Pyromancy skills has up to a 12-17% chance to restore 10 Mana.
- Snowguard’s Aspect: While within your own Blizzard and for 2 seconds after leaving it, you take 20-25% less damage.
- Aspect of Concentration: Mana Regeneration increased from 20-30% to 40-50%. Duration requirement to gain its benefit reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
Uniques
- Gloves of the Illuminator: Damage penalty reduced from 65-55% to 45-35%. Damage to Stunned affix replaced with Lucky Hit: Change to Restore Resource. Reduced the distance offset per bounce range from 3 to 2.5. This should make it easier to hit close enemies with Fireball.
Barbarian
Skills
- Bash: Fury gained increased from 11 to 13.
- Flay: Fury gained increased from 10 to 13.
- Enhanced Frenzy: Fury gained increased from 2 to 3.
- Lunging Strike: Fury gained increased from 10 to 12.
- Double Swing: Damage increased from 40% to 50%.
- Enhanced Rupture: Damage increased from 45% to 70%.
- Enhanced Charge: Damage increased from 30% to 60%.
- Mighty Charge: Vulnerable duration increased from 2 to 4 seconds.
- Violent Upheaval: If Upheaval damages at least 2 enemies or a Boss, you gain Berserking for 2 seconds, increased to 3 seconds if it damages at least 4 enemies
Passives
- Aggressive Resistance: Damage reduction increased from 3% to 4%.
- Gushing Wounds: Bleed damage dealt based on Critical Damage bonus increased from 100% to 115%. Bleed damage when Overpowering increased from 11% to 70%.
- Unconstrained: Berserking damage bonus increased from 25% to 35%. Updated the tooltip to more clearly reflect this Key Passive’s value.
- Walking Arsenal: Bonus damage duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
Legendaries
- Aspect of Ancestral Force: Damage increased from 32-50% to 40-58%.
- Death Wish Aspect: Thorns increased from 0.5-0.75 to 0.65-0.85.
- Aspect of Unrelenting Fury: Core Skill cost to refund increased from 10-20% to 20-30%. Cost refund also granted when hitting Bosses.
- Aspect of Ancestral Charge: Damage increased from 50-100% to 75-125%.
- Aspect of Burning Rage: Damage increased from 0.22-0.28 to 0.3-0.38.
- Aspect of Bul-Kathos: Damage reduction while in Earthquakes increased from 5-15% to 15-25%. Earthquake Aspect Damage bonus in Earthquakes increased from 5-15% to 15-25%.
Uniques
- Fields of Crimson: Damage increased from 0.18-0.34 to 0.22-0.38. Damage that enemies take standing in pools increased from 15% to 20% Rupture. Cooldown Reduction affix replaced with Bonus Critical Strike Damage.
- Hellhammer: Damage increased from 0.6-0.8 to 0.85-1.1. Burning duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds. Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies affix replaced with Bonus Critical Strike Damage.
- Ramaladni’s Magnum Opus: Physical Damage affix replaced with Vulnerable Damage.
- 100,000 Steps: Attacks reduce Evade’s cooldown affix replace with bonus Evade charges. Damage against Stunned affix replace with bonus Movement Speed.
- Battle Trance: Basic Skill Damage affix replaced with Cooldown Reduction. Bonus Attack Speed to other skills increased from 10-20% to 35-45%.
Diablo 4 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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