Patch 1.0.3 has gone live and it's a big one! Most of the changes should come as no surprise for those of you who have read Wyatt Cheng's 1.0.3 design preview. You can read the rather massive set of patch notes below.
Diablo III patch 1.0.3 is now live in the Americas. Check out the full patch notes below to learn about all the latest changes.
Important: Please note that you will not be prompted to download patch 1.0.3 until the patch is live in your home region. If you are logging in from a European or Asian client, you will need to wait for this patch to release in that region before it can be installed. Additionally, if your home region is the Americas, you will be unable to log into Europe or Asia using Global Play after patch 1.0.3 is live until those regions have also patched.
Diablo III Patch 1.0.3 - v.1.0.3.10057
The latest client patch notes can be found here.
Visit our Bug Report forum for a list of known issues.
Hotfixes made in addition to changes in patch 1.0.2c can be found here.
Table of Contents
If you are experiencing technical issues with the patching process, connecting to Battle.net after installing the patch, or errors while playing a newly-patched game, please visit our support site or post in the Technical Support forum for assistance.
Update: Bashiok has confirmed this IS the first hardcore inferno clear. A HUGE congratulations to Kripparrian and Krippi on meeting their goal prior to the 1.0.3 patch!
The first streamed hardcore inferno clear happened today at 1:44 am PDT by Kripparrian and Krippi. Whether or not this was the world first clear is unclear. Bashiok commented on his Twitter account regarding the subject.
When asked why no other hardcore inferno clears have been made known, Bashiok tweeted the following responses.
Well you have the data, why don't you tell us if someone had already killed d inferno hardcore then?
We don't publicly announce/recognize world firsts. I'm just surprised that was the first one that was publicized.
Could you at least give a date on the actual inferno HC first clean? Or how many people did it at this date?
I'll double check it when I get into work tomorrow. :)
Regardless of whether or not this was the world first, it is still very impressive. Congratulations to Kripparrian and Krippi!
Tomorrow brings Diablo 3's fist major Patch, 1.0.3. Along with it comes a rather large nerf to Attack Speed, I am just posting this in hopes people realize not to buy Attack Speed items from the auction house. Your items will be nerfed tomorrow!
As a reminder, we will be nerfing "Increases Attack Speed" (IAS) effects on all items except quivers with the 1.0.3 patch. This change does affect unidentified items as well, as item affixes and ranges are determined at the time of an item being dropped, and not when identified.
Characters with IAS on their items will see a drop in their character sheet damage, as character sheet damage takes into account attack speed among other factors.
This change should not be confused with the Legendary buffs coming in a future patch (not 1.0.3), and those buffs, as previously mentioned, will not be retroactive.
You can read more about these and other upcoming changes in the 1.0.3 Design Preview blog.
There is no cow level
Whimsyshire is a Diablo 3 secret level that provides a change of scenery from the usual areas you encounter in the game, here's a quick few things to know about the area before we begin the guide.
We need a Staff of Herding, which can be acquired by giving your Blacksmith 5 rare items along with the staff plans.
Plan: Staff of Herding
The plan is a rare drop from the boss Izual at "The Great Span" in Act 4. It is highly recommended that you fight this boss on Normal difficulty, although the plan can drop on any difficulty. After you have the plan it's time to search the world of Diablo 3 for the other 5 rare items we need.
Black Mushroom
The first item on our list is found in Act 1, on any floor of the Cathedral. It is recommended that you search only Cathedral Level 1 as it has the greatest chance for the Black Mushroom to spawn. The mushroom can spawn in any room. For an example of the Black Mushroom looks like, check the photo. Like all the other items, the Black Mushroom is not guaranteed to spawn in your game, meaning you will have to keep remaking games a few times until you find it.
Leoric's Shinbone
This item is a random spawn in Leoric's Manor in Act 1. The fastest route to getting this item is by starting a new game on the quest "The Imprisoned Angel" and then taking the waypoint to Leoric's Manor. Unlike the Black Mushroom, Leoric's Shinbone always spawns in the same room making it much easier to find. If the fireplace has burnt logs in it, simply click them and you will find the shinbone. If no logs are present, it's time to make a new game and try again.
Wirt's Bell
Wirt's Bell can be bought for the low price of 100,000 gold in Caldeum Bazaar in Act 2 from everyone's favorite vendor, Squirt the Peddler.
Liquid Rainbow
The Liquid Rainbow is found in Act 2 in a Mysterious Cave that can only be opened by a rare spawn merchant, who you must save from ghosts. After killing the ghosts and speaking to him, he will open the cave allowing you access. Once inside the cave you need to look for a Mysterious Chest that can only spawn on the first floor of the cave. Unfortunately even if the cave spawns in your game, there is a chance the Mysterious Chest will not. This is perhaps the hardest of all the items to get. The quickest way to find the merchant and his cave is to start a new game with any quest in Act 2 past the "Blood and Sand" and then take the waypoint, "Path to the Oasis". From there run to the right and follow the bottom edge of the map until you find a little path that leads to the cave.
Gibbering Gemstone
The final item drops from a rare spawn monster named Chiltara in the Caverns of Frost level 2, which is found in the Fields of Slaughter in Act 3. Both the Caverns of Frost and the monster Chiltara are rare spawns, making this a very time consuming item to find. Start a new game on the quest "Machines of War" at the second part of the quest - "Destroy Ballistae" and then take your waypoint to the Bridge of Korsikk and head northwest exploring the area until you find the cave.
Note: Two caves can spawn in this area, Icefall Caves is not the right one, Chiltara can only spawn in Caverns of the Frost, level 2.
Finding the entrance
Once you have collected all the pieces its just a matter of crafting the Staff at the Blacksmith. Then head to Old Tristram Road at the start of Act 1. As long as you have the staff in your inventory the cow king will appear and have a brief conversation before opening the level. Note when entering the secret level it may be full of monsters near the entrance so be careful, especially on hardcore.
Have fun!
Champions and Rares are monsters with blue or yellow names, any normal monster can spawn as one. They are much more powerful than regular monsters and travel in groups. They have the possibility of dropping the best items in the game. In addition they have abilities called affixes, which grant special them special properties such as being able to create walls out of thin air or even make clones of themselves. The affixes that can spawn on a monster are completely random.
At level 60 every Champion or Elite you kill will grant you a spell buff called "Nephalem Valor" but that is a topic for another guide.
Some combinations of Champions and Rares can be fairly easy, but don't let that fool you some combinations are absolutely deadly such as a Mortar, Fire chains and Molten pack. This guide goes over every possible affix.
This ability pulls the player to the monster that casted the spell, but causes no damage. A monster requires line of sight to see you, meaning they can not pull you from behind walls or around corners. By itself vortex is not particular dangerous for a melee as they are already up next to the monster, but combined with other affixes such as Arcane Enchanted, Molten, Desecrator - getting pulled into any of those can be certain death.
This affix is only possible on Champion monsters and only if more than one is alive. Health Link gives all the champions one large health pool, and the damage you deal to one applies to all of them as long as they are nearby.
Jailer gives monsters the ability to trap a player in a prison for a few seconds. Like Vortex, this is not dangerous by itself, but being jailed while a beam of arcane comes towards you is a heart pounding moment. Jailer is worst for any class or player that kills by kiting, being stopped dead in your tracks makes getting away tough. Luckily a few classes have skills to deal with Jailer, for example monks can use Dashing strike to move but it does not free Here is a quick list of all skills that can free you from Jailer
This affix gives a monster the ability to summon a deadly force of arcane magic, a small circle is placed on the ground and a few seconds later a beam shoots out of from it traveling in a random circular direction. Do not get caught in this! It is one of the most deadly affixes.
Any monster with this affix has extra health, making even weaker packs of Champions/Elites take a while to kill.
Only rare monsters can have this affix. It increases the amount of minions a monster has by 2-3x
Only Champion monsters can spawn with the Avenger affix. When a monster that belongs to a Champion group with the Avenger affix dies, the rest of the pack gains in size and strength. This can make an already difficulty pack even harder as each monster dies.
Desecrator is a targeted spell that creates an area of death on the ground. It takes 1 second for a newly formed Desecrator circle to begin doing damage, get out of these as quick as you can.
Lighting shoots out at every direction whenever the monster attacks, or is attacked.
Everytime you hit a Champion or Rare with the Reflect Damage affix you take a portion of the damage you dealt back at yourself.
Every thing the monster does is done much quicker.
While a molten monster moves it leaves behind a trail of lava that does considerable damage to anyone standing in it. When a molten monster dies it leaves behind a bomb that explodes after a few seconds dealing a large amount of damage to anyone nearby
Only champions can spawn with this Fire Chains affix, it creates a chain of fire between itself and the other champion monsters in its pack. If you happen to get caught between two monsters, expect to take a lot of damage. Monster AI is also changed to try and trap the player between the chains.
Allows a monster to teleport at will, away from battle or into battle.
Frozen monsters do cold damage with every attack, they also possess the ability to summon frozen balls that over a few seconds explode freezing any player caught in its radius.
Illusionist allows a monster to create clones of it self that are much weaker and have less total health, they do however spawn with the same percent of health as the monster they were cloned from.
Every hit from a Knockback monster has a chance to knock back the player and slow them for a few seconds
Waller allows monsters to create walls out of thin air, these walls can trap a player allowing them not to run away. A lot of spells can not pass through Waller either, providing the monster a moment of protection.
A faint circle in a large area appears around the monster, any projectile that enters the sphere is slowed considerable. It is very similar to the Wizard Spell, Slow Time.
Mortar allows a monster to hurl firebombs at the player, they only hit players out of melee range but if they do hit you, they do a considerable amount of damage.
Nightmare has a chance to be inflicted on a player everytime they are hit by a monster imbued with the Nightmarish ability, they will flee from battle for a seconds while they player is unable to control the character.
A percent of damage the monster causes to you, heals the monster.
Plagued monsters leave a large area of poison on the ground that deals damage to any player standing on it, unlike Desecrator and Molten, Plagued does not disappear until the monster that casted it dies.
The monster creates a shield around itself making itself invincible to all forms of damage for a few seconds.