The new Diablo 4 patch notes have been revealed, and players are upset since the current update has nerfed not only the most popular Barbarian build but also a slew of others. Diablo 4’s reception has been mainly positive, with the community recognizing its flaws, providing useful feedback to the developers, and hoping that Season of the Malignant would at the least give balance adjustments that some classes desperately needed.
The patch notes for Update 1.1, on the other hand, swayed public opinion. Sorcerers in Diablo 4 only have three barely viable builds at endgame, but they were nevertheless nerfed in the current update, and given an unimpressive Unique Wand packed with yet another disadvantage. The Disobedience Legendary Aspect was one of the patch’s primary victims, reducing overall survivability for most classes.
With nerfs to Hammer of the Ancients, Cooldown Reduction, Critical Strike, and Vulnerable Damage, several Barbarian endgame compositions have been rendered obsolete in the Eternal Realm. Though it remains to be seen whether Malignant Hearts will address the Barbarian class’s new shortcomings, this is undoubtedly a setback for Diablo 4 gamers seeking to play the franchise’s most iconic class.
The latest patch notes appear to have affected all five classes, as the issues that players have with Diablo 4’s itemization are only going to be exacerbated by the substantial reductions in the benefits they bring.
Aside from practically lowering the value of Diablo 4’s three most critical metrics, the new update adds Barrier Generation, Lucky Hit Chance While You Have Barrier, and Mastery Skill Damage for all classes. As a result, many Diablo 4 gamers have stated that obtaining usable gear will only get more difficult.
Diablo 4 Update 1.1 Patch Notes
Barbarian
- Fixed an issue where Iron Maelstrom could be cast more than 3 times rapidly casting War Cry.
- Fixed an issue where stacking the Berserk Ripping, Skullbreaker, and Anemia aspects would allow the player to deal extreme amounts of damage.
- Fixed an issue where the outer edge of the quakes granted to Hammer of the Ancients via The Aspect of Ancestral Echoes was dealing far more damage than intended.
Aspects
- Aspect of Disobedience maximum stacks reduced from 100 to 60, reducing maximum Bonus Armor % from 25%-50% to 15%-30%.
- The aspect of Retribution bonus damage to Stunned was reduced from 20-40% to 10-20%.
- Exploiter’s Aspect bonus damage to Unstoppable reduced from 20-50% to 20-40%.
- Starlight Aspect Resource restores increased from 10-20 to 20-40.
Monsters
- Increased monster HP scaling from 85% to 100% bonus per extra player in a party.
Miscellaneous
- Adjusted the scaling of the Greed Shrine to improve its effectiveness throughout the game.
- World bosses now drop potions more often.
- There is no longer a limit to how many materials you can refine into higher materials at once.
Item Affixes
- Control Impaired Duration Reduction: Can now appear on Pants.
- Barrier Generation: Can now appear for all Classes. It will also begin dropping later in the game.
- Lucky Hit Chance while You Have a Barrier: Can now appear for all Classes. Reduced by ~12% when on Helm and ~20% when on Amulet or Offhand.
- Mastery Skill Damage: Newly added; can appear on Sorcerer Weapons. Scales identically to Core Skill Damage.
- Resistance to All Elements: Can now appear on Shields.
- Strength: 50% Stronger when on Weapons → 25% Stronger when on Weapons.
- Dexterity: 50% Stronger when on Weapons → 25% Stronger when on Weapons.
- Intelligence: 50% Stronger when on Weapons → 25% Stronger when on Weapons.
- Willpower: 50% Stronger when on Weapons → 25% Stronger when on Weapons.
- Cooldown Reduction: Reduced by ~30%.
- Imbuement Skill Cooldown Reduction: Reduced by ~30%.
- Trap Skill Cooldown Reduction: Reduced by ~30%.
- Critical Strike Damage: Reduced by ~17%.
- Lightning Critical Strike Damage: Reduced by ~17%.
- Critical Strike Damage with Bone, Earth, Imbued, and Werewolf Skills: Reduced by ~17%.
- Vulnerable Damage: Reduced by ~40%.
- Cooldown Reduction (Inherent on Offhands): Reduced by ~35%.
- Critical Strike Damage (Inherent on Swords): Reduced by ~50%.
- Vulnerable Damage (Inherent on Crossbows): Reduced by ~65%.
Helltides
- Helltide monsters are now 3 Levels higher than the player instead of 2.
- The Tortured Gift of Mysteries chest has had its cost increased to 250 Aberrant Cinders from 175.
- All interactable objects in Helltide zones now have a small chance of dropping Aberrant Cinders.
Power leveling has been removed from Diablo 4, meaning the open world is being nerfed across the board. If a friend takes a new Level 1 player to World Tier 4 and places them at the entrance of a Level 100 dungeon, they will only gain Level 11 monster experience rather than Level 100 monster experience. Furthermore, in higher World Tiers, monsters will begin to out-level players, making the leveling process substantially slower.
Following the previous buffs that were greatly praised by the community, Helltide prizes in Diablo 4 have been nerfed in the latest version, with the cost of the Tortured Gift of Mysteries increasing from 175 to 250. The prevailing mood among supporters appears to be one of confusion and shock. It remains to be seen how the game will play with the new features introduced in Season of the Malignant, but the patch notes have left some feeling bereft.
Diablo 4 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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