Season 21 - Trials of Tempests Begins July 3
Blizzard have announced that Diablo III Season 21 will begin July 3, soon after their next patch. Here we give details of the brand-new Season buff, the new class sets, and a handful of item and skill adjustments coming in Patch 2.6.9!
Table of Contents
- Season 21 Theme
- Trials of Tempest Season Cosmetic Rewards
- Season 21 Journey Rewards
- Seasonal Conquests
- Season 21 Haedrig's Gifts
- Season 21 Patch Notes
Season 21 Theme
- Note that in Season 21, your character will sometimes (every minute and a half) channel an elemental power which unleashes into the environment for a finite time:
- Rain meteors from the skies on your enemies.
- Inale lightning.
- You can summon a wall of flame.
- You have the power to release twisters of pure energy.
- You can crush your foes under the weight of rolling snowballs.
Seasonal 21 Cosmetic Rewards
Starting with Season 21, Blizzard have reintroduced previous Seasonal Rewards to make them available to players who may have missed them the first time around. For Season 21, this means awards originally available from Season 9 are returning to the Season Journey.
Know though, Blizzard are continuing to provide new End of Journey rewards as introduced in Season 17, with two new cosmetic rewards for those who complete the entirety of the Season journey. You can show your worth in the Trial of Tempests to earn the Stupendous Contraption pet and the Industrial Portrait Frame.
As well as the Chest and Gloves slots of the exclusive Conqueror Set, you'll also be able to earn the Pandemonium portraits and the cute and craggly Rocky pet first introduced in Season 9.
Season 21 Journey Rewards
If you've been busy slaying demons for the past few Seasons and reached Conqueror in the Season Journey each time, you’ve probably 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 difficulty within 5 minutes.
- Gem of My Life: Level three Legendary Gems to level 55.
- All I Do is Win: Complete 2 Conquests this Season.
- Lose Yourself: Kill the Skeleton King at level 70 in under 30 seconds on Torment XIII difficulty.
- Money Ain’t a Thang: Slay Greed on Torment XIII difficulty. Treasure Goblins outside of Nephalem Rifts will sometimes open portals to Greed’s domain, The Vault.
- Take U There: Reach Greater Rift Level 60 Solo. Greater Rift keystones can be obtained from any Nephalem Rift guardian.
- 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 21 Conquests
Want to prepare your Conquest plan for Season 21? Here are the challenges you’ll face!
For Curses!/Stars Align, pick any Cursed Chest event that requires killing monsters and defeat over 350 or more at level 70 on Torment X or higher. Also returning for Season 21 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. We're also bringing Thrill/Superhuman, which requires completion of a Greater Rift level 45—solo and without any Set items equipped. And lastly we'll be bringing back Speed Demon/Need for Speed, meaning you'll need to beat a Torment X Nephalem Rift at level 70 in 2 minutes. Best of luck!
Season 21 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 21:
- Barbarian - Might of the Earth
- Crusader - Thorns of the Invoker
- Demon Hunter - The Shadow's Mantle
- Monk - Monkey King's Garb
- Witch Doctor - Raiment of the Jade Harvester
- Wizard - Firebird's Finery
- Necromancer - Grace of Inarius
Patch 2.6.9 Notes
Here you can find the final patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III, Patch 2.6.9. Changes specifically from the original PTR have been highlighted in RED.
Items
Demon Hunter
- New Demon Hunter Set: Gears of Dreadlands
- 2-Piece Bonus
- Gain 4 seconds of Momentum when attacking with a Primary skill, at a maximum of 20 seconds. Your Primary skills deal 10% increased damage per second of Momentum.
- 4-Piece Bonus
- Casting Strafe against enemies will automatically shoot your last used primary skill, and also give 60% damage reduction while strafing and for 5 seconds after. While Strafing, you gain 8% increased movement speed for each second of Momentum.
- 6-Piece Bonus
- Your primary skills deal 10000% more damage
- 2-Piece Bonus
- Leonine Bow of Hashir
- Bolas have a
30%100% chance on explosion to pull in all enemies within 24 yards, and also deal 100-150% increased damage.
- Bolas have a
- Emimei's Duffel
- Bolas now explode instantly and deal 150-175% increased damage.
- The Ninth Cirri Satchel
- Hungering Arrow
has 20-25%is guaranteed to pierce and also deals 450-600% increased damage.
- Hungering Arrow
- Odyssey's End
- Enemies snared by your Entangling Shots take
20-25%100-150% increased damage from all sources.
- Enemies snared by your Entangling Shots take
- Hunter's Wrath
- Your primary skills attack 30% faster and deal
45-60%150-200% increased damage.
- Your primary skills attack 30% faster and deal
- Holy Point Shot
- Impale throws 2 additional knives and deals 75-100% increased damage.
Necromancer
Developer's Note: With the adjustments coming in for a few past Necromancer sets and abilities, we will continue to evaluate the performance of the new set this season and may make additional adjustments in future seasons if we believe they are necessary.
- New Necromancer Set: Masquerade of the Burning Carnival
- 2-Piece Bonus
- Your Simulacrums no longer take damage, gains all runes, and its cooldown is refreshed when you die.
- 4-Piece Bonus
- While you have a Simulacrum, damage is reduced by 50%. Damage you take is split with your Simulacrums as well.
- 6-Piece Bonus
- Your Bone Spear deals 10,000% increased damage. Simulacrums gain triple this bonus.
- 2-Piece Bonus
- Grasps of Essence
- When an exploded corpse damages at least one enemy, Your Corpse Explosion deals
75-100%150-200% increased damage for 6 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
- When an exploded corpse damages at least one enemy, Your Corpse Explosion deals
- Haunted Visions
- Simulacrum now drains
5%1% of your maximum life every second and laststwice as longforever. They can now duplicate Grim Scythe instead of Skeletal Mage.
- Simulacrum now drains
- Razeth's Volition
- Skeletal Mage gains the effect of the Gift of Death and Singularity runes. You gain 35-50% damage reduction if your Essence is not full.
- Jesseth Arms
- 2-Piece Set Bonus: While your skeletons are commanded to attack a target, you deal 400% increased damage.
- Grace of Inarius
- 4-Piece Set Bonus: Bone Armor grants an additional
2%3% damage reduction per enemy hit.
- 4-Piece Set Bonus: Bone Armor grants an additional
- Pestilence Master's Shroud
- 6-Piece Set Bonus: Each corpse you consume grants you an Empowered Bone Spear charge that increases the damage of your next Bone Spear by 3300%. In addition, Corpse Lance and Corpse Explosion damage is increased by
1650%3300%.
- 6-Piece Set Bonus: Each corpse you consume grants you an Empowered Bone Spear charge that increases the damage of your next Bone Spear by 3300%. In addition, Corpse Lance and Corpse Explosion damage is increased by
Crusader
- Shield of Fury
- This effect may stack up to
2010 times.
- This effect may stack up to
General
- Stone of Jordan
- Added power: Each of your elemental's damage bonus is equal to your highest static elemental bonus to skill.
- Reaper's Wraps
- Added a 2-second internal cooldown to the Health globe effect.
- Mantle of Channeling
- Now works with the Necromancer's Siphon Blood.
- Convention of Elements
-
Added "non-static" to the wording of the legendary power's description. The functionality is unchanged
-
Skill Changes
- Necromancer
-
Simulacrum
-
These will now warp to the Necromancer if they begin to move too far away from the player. This only works if the Necromancer is wearing the Masquerade of the Burning Carnival set or Haunted Visions.
-
Simulacrums cannot use Grim Scythe (with Haunted Visions) or Skeletal Mage unless the Necromancer had either of those abilities while the Simulacrums were created.
-
-
Final Service
-
No longer consumes pets.
-
Final Service now activates before Simulacrum's Self Sacrifice.
-
- Bone Prison
- Simulacrums now benefit from this passive skill.
- Serration
- Simulacrums now benefit from this passive skill.
- Corpse Explosion
- Damage increased from 350% to 1050%.
-
- Witch Doctor
- Spirit Barrage
- The Spectres from the Phantasm rune no longer benefit from pet bonuses.
- Spirit Barrage
Bug Fixes
- Necromancer
- Fixed an issue where Skeletal Mages were not attacking certain creatures
- PTR Specific:
- Note: The following issues were only live on the PTR, but we’re including the fixes here for visibility to indicate intended functionality on live.
- Seasonal effects no longer deal area damage.
- Seasonal buff resets if player exits and reenters a rift.
- Seasonal theme should no longer work in Set Dungeons.
- Fixed Maltorius' Petrified Spike dealing additive bonus damage instead of multiplicative.
- Fixed seasonal buff that sometimes may drop off whenever the player enters an invulnerable state.
- Changed seasonal buff to base its damage on the amount of kills. (not really a bug, more of a change)
Diablo III Patch 2.6.9 PTR Begins 21st May
PTR 2.6.9 Notes
Blizzard have announced that they will be launching a 2-week PTR starting May 21st.
We have all the patch notes and details for you, so you can be ready to take part in a week's time. Blizzard are testing two new class sets, and loads of Legendary item changes in Patch 2.6.9 and we have the notes for you here.
PTR 2.6.9 Table of Contents
PTR Focus & Details
Blizzard will be running the Patch 2.6.9 PTR over two weeks, starting Thursday, May 21st. Blizzard are warning that there may be server outages for periodic maintenance, outages, hotfixes, or minor patches during this time.
There will be two PTR-unique buffs active to help you on your journey: increased Legendary drop rate and double Blood Shard drops. You can also buy new gear for testing from the special PTR vendor, Djank Mi'em, who will exchange Blood Shards for class-specific bags full of Legendary items that Blizzard are keen for us to test!
To ensure that the most significant changes receive an ample amount of attention, Blizzard has asked players to concentrate testing and feedback on the new Demon Hunter and Necromancer sets, Necromancer Skill changes, and new the Legendary item changes and to give feedback in the PTR bug report forum.
PTR 2.6.9 Testing Tips
As with previous PTRs, this testing period is just two weeks, so it's best to be prepared by reading these release notes thoroughly. Whether you’re a PTR newbie or veteran, here are a few tips to get you started.
- Because of the limited duration of this PTR, Blizzard asks that participants pick a particular portion of this update to focus on testing.
- For example, if you’re primarily a Wizard player, consider what changes impact the Wizard specifically. Think about what you like best, what you think may still need adjustment, and what you’d want to see in the future (even if that may be beyond the scope of this patch).
- Prior to the start of PTR, consider stocking up on items like Puzzle Rings and Bovine Bardiches. Having these available after you import your character can make any necessary PTR farming much faster!
- Try to test thoroughly and break things! Just tell us when you do so we can make sure that the patch launch is as smooth as possible.
- When providing feedback, focus less on a solution and more on your experience. How did the changes make you feel? Was there something “off” that you noticed? Did something seem wrong or insufficient? Blizzard always welcome suggestions but identifying the issues themselves is most important.
2.6.9 Patch Notes
Below you will find the patch notes for the upcoming update for Diablo III.
Table of Contents:
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.
Seasons
- The elements have deemed you worthy. With you as their champion, the burning hells will face the Trials of Tempests!
- Your character will occasionally (every 2 minutes) channel an elemental power which unleashes into the environment for a limited time:
- Meteors rain from the skies around you.
- Breathe lightning.
- A wall of flame engulfs everything.
- Release twisters of pure energy.
- Crush your foes under the weight of rolling snowballs.
- Your character will occasionally (every 2 minutes) channel an elemental power which unleashes into the environment for a limited time:
- Two unique new rewards, a portrait frame and a pet, will be granted to players who complete the Season 21 Journey.
Items
Demon Hunter
- New Demon Hunter Set: Gears of Dreadlands
- 2-Piece Bonus
- Gain a Momentum stack when attacking with a Primary skill. Each Momentum stack lasts 2 seconds at a maximum duration of 10 seconds. Your Primary skills deal 10% more damage per stack of Momentum.
- 4-Piece Bonus
- Casting Strafe against enemies will automatically shoot your last used primary skill, and also give 60% damage reduction while strafing and for 5 seconds after. While casting Strafe, you move faster per stack of Momentum.
- 6-Piece Bonus
- Your primary skills deal 10000% more damage
- 2-Piece Bonus
- Leonine Bow of Hashir
- Bolas have a
30%100% chance on explosion to pull in all enemies within 24 yards, and also deal 100-150% increased damage.
- Bolas have a
- Emimei's Duffel
- Bolas now explode instantly and deal 150-175% increased damage.
- The Ninth Cirri Satchel
- Hungering Arrow
has 20-25%is guaranteed to pierce and also deals 450-600% increased damage.
- Hungering Arrow
- Odyssey's End
- Enemies snared by your Entangling Shots take
20-25%100-150% increased damage from all sources.
- Enemies snared by your Entangling Shots take
- Hunter's Wrath
- Your primary skills attack 30% faster and deal
45-60%150-200% increased damage.
- Your primary skills attack 30% faster and deal
- Holy Point Shot
- Impale throws 2 additional knives and deals 75-100% increased damage.
Necromancer
- New Necromancer Set: Masquerade of Burning Carnival
- 2-Piece Bonus
- Your Simulacrums no longer take damage, gains all runes, and its cooldown is refreshed when you die.
- 4-Piece Bonus
- While you have a Simulacrum, damage is reduced by 50%. Damage you take is split with your Simulacrums as well.
- 6-Piece Bonus
- Your Bone Spear deals 10,000% increased damage. Simulacrums gain triple this bonus.
- 2-Piece Bonus
- Grasps of Essence
- When an exploded corpse damages at least one enemy, Your Corpse Explosion deals
75-100%150-200% increased damage for 6 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
- When an exploded corpse damages at least one enemy, Your Corpse Explosion deals
- Haunted Visions
- Simulacrum now drains
5%1% of your maximum life every second and laststwice as longforever. They can now duplicate Grim Scythe instead of Skeletal Mage.
- Simulacrum now drains
- Razeth's Volition
- Skeletal Mage gains the effect of the Gift of Death and Singularity runes. You gain 35-60% damage reduction if your Essence is not full.
- Jesseth Arms
- 2-Piece Set Bonus: While your skeletons are commanded to attack a target, you deal 400% increased damage.
- Grace of Inarius
- 4-Piece Set Bonus: Bone Armor grants an additional
2%3% damage reduction per enemy hit.
- 4-Piece Set Bonus: Bone Armor grants an additional
- Pestilence Master's Shroud
- 6-Piece Set Bonus: Each corpse you consume grants you an Empowered Bone Spear charge that increases the damage of your next Bone Spear by 3300%. In addition, Corpse Lance and Corpse Explosion damage is increased by
1650%3300%.
- 6-Piece Set Bonus: Each corpse you consume grants you an Empowered Bone Spear charge that increases the damage of your next Bone Spear by 3300%. In addition, Corpse Lance and Corpse Explosion damage is increased by
Crusader
- Shield of Fury
- This effect may stack up to
2010 times.
- This effect may stack up to
General
- Stone of Jordan
- Added power: Each of your elemental's damage bonus is equal to your highest static elemental bonus to skill.
- Reaper's Wraps
- Added a 2-second internal cooldown to the Health globe effect.
- Mantle of Channeling
- Now works with the Necromancer's Siphon Blood.
- Convention of Elements
-
Added "non-static" to the wording of the legendary power's description. The functionality is unchanged
-
Skill Changes
- Necromancer
-
Final Service
-
No longer consumes pets.
-
- Bone Prison
- Simulacrums now benefit from this passive skill.
- Serration
- Simulacrums now benefit from this passive skill.
- Corpse Explosion
- Damage increased from 350% to 1050%.
-
- Witch Doctor
- Spirit Barrage
- The Spectres from the Phantasm rune no longer benefit from pet bonuses.
- Spirit Barrage
PTR 2.6.9 Bug Fixes
- General
- Fixed a rare issue where players could enter a locked party and become unable to enter games or change game settings
- Necromancer
- Fixed an issue where Skeletal Mages were not attacking certain creatures
How to Participate in this PTR
To participate in the public test, you must have a Diablo III game license attached to a Battle.net account in good standing. In addition, you will also need to download and install the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app if you have not already done so.
Step 1: Restart the Battle.net desktop app.
Step 2: Navigate to the Diablo III tab on the left-hand menu.
Step 3: On the Diablo III screen, there is a drop-down menu right above the "Play" button (note that this may say "Install" if you do not have Diablo III currently installed). Select "PTR: Diablo III" from this drop-down menu before proceeding.
Step 4: Click Install to begin the installation process.
Your PTR account will be created automatically if you do not already have one. The PTR is available in all supported languages, and accounts from all regions are eligible to participate. For additional assistance with installing and launching the PTR visit the support page.
PTR Character Copy
The option to copy your existing Diablo III characters from your live account to the PTR will be available and can be done directly through the PTR client. However, only one region per account can be copied at a time. So, if you choose to copy characters from your account in a different region, any previously copied PTR characters will be lost.
Step 1: Log into the live game and then log out.
Step 2: Log into PTR client and create a level 1 character. After you're done, return to the main character screen.
Step 3: Click on the "PTR Copy" button located in the upper right-hand corner. (The PTR Copy button will not appear in-game until you have created a new level 1 character.)
Step 4: Select your region.
Step 5: Click "Copy." This will copy all characters on your account from the selected region.
Step 6: You will be disconnected from the PTR client.
Step 7: Log back in. Your copied characters will be available for play.
Please note that you can only copy characters from one gameplay region at a time. If you choose to copy characters from a different region, any previously copied PTR characters will be lost. In addition, you can only copy characters over to your PTR account once every 24 hours. Attempting to copy characters before this cooldown is up will result in an error.
Top eSports from Blizzard
The world of eSports grew rapidly and it continued this trend in recent years with more and more people interested in the phenomenon. Gamers, spectators and people that like to bet on the outcome of eSports matches are all contributing to the success of a very entertaining industry that enjoys a welcomed boost in recent times. With most of the sporting events canceled or postponed, more and more punters look at eSports as the alternative to keep having fun while backing up their favorite teams for a positive outcome. Even though it goes without saying that CS:GO is the most popular game among eSports, there are several other games out there that enjoy a lot of popularity. It’s no wonder that Blizzard has several titles in the race as well since they’re a huge developer and publisher. Today, we’re taking a look at the most popular eSports developed by Blizzard and what makes them appeal to gamers.
Starcraft II
Even though it was launched long before eSports became a thing, Starcraft Brood War was the first Blizzard game to generate a huge wave of online games, tournaments, and contests. It was no wonder that with the launch of Starcraft II in full eSports era, Blizzard was going to make some waves in an industry controlled by shooters. Released in 2010 with the first part of the series, Wings of Liberty, Starcraft II received incredible reviews from both critics and gamers and was quickly adopted by the big esports competitions. It all started in South Korea and slowly evolved all across the globe. Furthermore, Starcraft II is credited with making eSports popular across the globe, just like StarCraft Brood War brought this phenomenon in South Korea. The StarCraft II World Championship Series was the first big tournament built around the game and it kicked off in 2012. Other big events such as the Intel Extreme Masters and Dreamhack included StarCraft II in their schedule.
Overwatch
Another huge success in the world of eSports for Blizzard comes from Overwatch. This FPS is also described as a hero shooter since it allows the players to choose a hero out of over 30 characters. Each time is comprised of six players, and the goal is to eliminate the opposing team to win the game. It was obvious that just like CS:GO a shooter that also gives special abilities to each character is going to enjoy a lot of success. And Blizzard’s bet with Overwatch turned out to be a very inspired one because the game was rapidly included in all big eSports competitions. The variety in maps and characters allowed Blizzard to maintain the game relevant for a long time and even though it was launched in 2016, the game is still extremely popular nowadays despite the launch of Overwatch 2 has been teased by the publisher for quite some time.
HearthStone
Launched in 2014, HearthStone is another huge success for Blizzard. Even though it wasn’t developed with eSports in mind, this game that builds on the Warcraft series lore was transformed into one of the top eSports games by the users. So, it’s no wonder that the game has its own World Championship and is also part of big tournaments like the ones hosted by Major League Gaming and ESL. Besides the warcraft lore, HearthStone was welcomed as an eSport because of its fast-paced gameplay and accessibility.
World of Warcraft
Even though it was designed as an online game, World of Warcraft - just like many other Blizzard games that enjoyed a huge success as eSports - was not intended to become an eSport sensation. However, with the Arena World Championship, everything changed, and WoW players are more and more interested in enjoying their favorite game while competing with other teams out there. Recently, on top of the Arena World Championship, Blizzard also added the Mythic Dungeon Invitation which is one of the best player-vs-environment available at this point. It was introduced in 2017 and it enjoyed huge popularity right from the start. Another game mode that makes World of Warcraft fit for eSport success is Race to World First which is a mode that exists ever since WoW raiding started. However, with the launch of the Battle for Azeroth, the Race to World First started to change for good. Through a partnership between Red Bull and Method, a leading esports team and guild, the event started to be hosted at the Gaming Sphere in London.
Even if you were not into esports before but you loved to enjoy these Blizzard games online, perhaps it’s time to give them a chance. Especially during this period when good sports entertainment is quite hard to find. Is it boring to stay at home? Play at the best online casinos at CasinoProper and discover some good offers for eSports as well!
Season 20 - The Forbidden Archives in Review
Now that Season 20 has been running for a few weeks, we thought it was time for a review of what we've picked up so far. We welcome your feedback as well.
In Season 20, there are 3 brand-new class sets to try out and we review the new armour sets here.
Horde of the Ninety Savages Armor - Frenzy
In this armor set, there is a main Barbarian Skill known as "Frenzy". Frenzy is a single-hit attack that increases your attack speed each time you make a successful strike. If you get the Horde of the 90 Savages set bonus, Frenzy deals increasing more damage as you use it. What's more, each strike is spread out to all enemies located in a radius of 15 yards.
Blizzard have released Frenzy builds in previous Seasons, and the return of the Frenzy Barbarian Character is considered by many to be long overview.
If you enjoy thrashing and smashing around, then you'll love this set!
Season 20 Witch Doctor class set: Mundunugu's Regalia
The Mundunugu's Regalia set features another skill that is popular with Diablo fans.
The set is based around the Witch Doctor skill; Spirit Barrage. The Spirit Varage is a medium range missile attack that blitz's enemies with magical, spectral bolts.
There are many Witch Doctor builds but it's likely that Mundunugu's Regalia is likely to become one of the most popular builds ever.
Once of the major reasons for this is the fact that the Spirit Barrage is just one of the Witch Doctor's skills available in the set. There's also a new Diablo III game experience in parallel with Big Bad Voodoo.
Big Bad Voodoo normally only allows a buff within a confined area ie the Spirit Barage skill is only available in limited places in the game. In the Mundunugu's Regalia set, the buff can be used throughout the game.
Season 20 Wizard class set: The Typhon's Veil
The Typhon's Veil class set interacts with the Wizard's Hydra skill in a completely new way. Normally this skill spawns a single, elemental Hydra that attacks your enemies independently. In the Season 20 Wizard's class set, Hydras are modified so that they grow extra heads and inflict even more deadly damage. There is a trade-off though; each time you take damage, one of your Hydra heads dies. This will of course will reduce the damage reduction the Typhon's Veil set would otherwise provide.
During the Typhon's development, there were some intial concerns as to whether this tradeoff would make this set viable for players
After this feedback, Blizzard made some adjustments to the set on the Public Test Realm 2.6.8 (PTR). An important tweak prevents the Hydra heads from dying off too suddenly with a two second delay between the time between heads die. At the same time, the amount of additional damage each head deals was increased further to help address player concerns.
Those are the notes on Season 20 we've put together, but we'd love to hear your feedback as well!
Season 20 - Season of the Forbidden Archives Notes
Blizzard has launched Diablo III Season 20, naming it Season of the Forbidden Archives. Many adventurers have come to learn how to use the power within the ancient nephalem artifact known as Kanai's Cube. However, none understand this power better than the equally celebrated and reviled Horadrim, Zoltun Kulle. Kulle was able to unlock and harness the power of the Cube like none before, leveraging its power to siphon and archive the energies of powerful items. With Season 20, players are invited to explore the power Kulle might lend to your fingertips if his experiments went unchecked.
Table of Contents
Throughout Season 20, the slots in Kanai's Cube that allow you to equip three additional Legendary powers will not be restricted to their usual categories. Normally a player can equip one power each from the Weapon, Armor, and Jewelry categories but, in Season 20, players will be able to mix and match between all three! This might allow you to run two Weapon powers with one Armor power. Or perhaps you might choose to run three Amulet powers instead. The choice is yours, and we're as eager as you are to experiment with the new build opportunities this creates!
Season 20 Cosmetic Rewards
Blizzard began re-introducing previous Seasonal rewards in Season 17 to make them available to players who may have missed them the first time around. For Season 20, this means awards originally available from Season 8 are returning to the Season Journey.
That said though, Blizzard want to be sure that players have something new to aim for if you've participated in previous Seasons. With this philosphy if leaving no one behind, Blizzard aims to provide new End of Journey rewards as introduced in Season 17, with two new cosmetic rewards for those who complete the Season of the Forbidden Archives in its entirity. Check out this Teganze Warrior Portrait Frame and Bat pet!
As well as the Boots and Pants slots of the exclusive Conqueror Set, you'll also be able to win a series of portrait frames that smolder with demonic fires of the Burning Hells. The iconic "wings" of Andariel will also be available once more, allowing players to live in their inner Maiden of Anguish.
Season 20 Journey Rewards
If you've been diligently slaying demons for the past few Seasons and reached Conqueror in the Season Journey each time, you will almost certainly gained 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 difficulty within 5 minutes.
- Gem of My Life: Level three Legendary Gems to level 55.
- All I Do is Win: Complete 2 Conquests this Season.
- Warm Thoughts: Kill Izual at level 70 in under 15 seconds on Torment XIII difficulty.
- Money Ain't a Thang: Slay Greed on Torment XIII difficulty. Treasure Goblins outside of Nephalem Rifts will sometimes open portals to Greed's domain, The Vault.
- Take U There: Reach Greater Rift Level 60 Solo. Greater Rift keystones can be obtained from any Nephalem Rift guardian.
- 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 20 Conquests
Want to prepare your Conquest plan for Season 20? Here are the challenges you will have to overcome in Season 20.
For Curses!/Stars Align, pick any Cursed Chest event that requires killing monsters and defeat over 350 or more at level 70 on Torment X or higher. Push your way to Greater Rift level 75 to complete Divinity/Lionhearted. For the fiercest demon slayers, Boss Mode/Worlds Apart is a speed challenge where you'll need to eliminate the following bosses at level 70 and Torment X in under twenty minutes:
- The Skeleton King
- The Butcher
- Zoltun Kulle
- Ghom
- Cydaea
- Rakanoth
- Diablo
- Adria
- Queen Araneae
- Maghda
- Belial
- Siegebreaker Assault Beast
- Azmodan
- Izual
- Urzael
- Malthael
Finally, Years of War/Dynasty will be a great test for those who enjoy mastering various Class Sets, and if that's not enough, Masters of the Universe/Masters of Sets will challenge your tactical understanding of Set Dungeons.
Haedrig's Gift in Season 20
Finally, the Class Sets rewarded for completing certain chapters in the Season Journey courtesy of Haedrig's Gift have rotated once more. Here are 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 20:
- Barbarian – Immortal King's Call
- Crusader – Seeker of the Light
- Demon Hunter – Natalya's Vengeance
- Monk – Uliana's Stratagem
- Necromancer – Trag'Oul's Avatar
- Witch Doctor – Spirit of Arachyr
- Wizard – Vyr's Amazing Arcana
Patch Notes
You will find the final patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III here; Patch 2.6.8.