Blizzard Entertainment has revealed the upcoming Patch 2.1.3 for Diablo IV, scheduled to roll out on March 4, 2025, bringing substantial balance changes and fixes across all character classes and game systems.
The patch, detailed in extensive notes published by Blizzard, addresses community feedback with significant adjustments to the Spiritborn class introduced in the Vessel of Hatred expansion, as well as tweaks to Season of Witchcraft powers and mechanics for all base game classes.
Spiritborn and Vessel of Hatred Changes
Players of the newest class will see significant buffs to specific items, with the Sunstained War-Crozier's Potency Skill damage increased from 10-20% per stack to 15-25%, and its maximum boosted from 100-200% to 150-250%. The Wushe Nak Pa unique weapon is also receiving a substantial buff, with its Primary Spirit Hall Potency increased from 100-200% to 200-300%.
Additionally, bug fixes address issues with the Ancient Nexus encounter and Kurast Undercity mechanics, ensuring smoother gameplay experiences in these expansion areas.
Season of Witchcraft Power Boosts
The current season's witch powers are receiving significant damage boosts across the board:
- Grow: Damage per rank increased from 1% to 2.5%, with maximum increased from 45% to 75%
- Doom Orb: Damage bonus on kills and boss damage boosted from 5% to 8%, maximum damage increased from 100% to 160%
- Firebat Servants: Damage doubled from 20% to 40% per hit
- Wave of Woe: Bounce damage increased from 15% to 25%
- Hex of Flames: Damage increased from 40% to 60%
- Poison Frog: Both poison damage and explosion damage more than doubled
Class-Specific Improvements
All five base classes are receiving balance adjustments in this patch:
Druid sees a rework to Waxing Gibbous, replacing its inherent additive Critical Strike damage with a +50% chance for Shred to deal double damage. Wolf's Rain has been improved with Hurricane damage per Wolf increased from 5-15% to 15-25%.
Rogue players will benefit from an enhanced Assassin's Stride, with Shadow Imbued potency increased from 40-80% to 60-120%.
Sorcerer receives numerous buffs, including increased damage for Ball Lightning (from 24% to 30%) and Glass Cannon (from 6/12/18% to 8/16/24%). Vyr's Mastery and Esu's Ferocity have been significantly improved, with Fire Critical Strike Damage increased from 50% to 75% and Fire Critical Strike Chance jumping from 10% to 40%.
Several Sorcerer unique items have also been adjusted, with Axial Conduit now scaling with Chain Lightning ranks, and both Okun's Catalyst and Strike of Stormhorn receiving clarity improvements and damage buffs.
Party Finder and Quality of Life Improvements
The default search parameters for Party Finder have been updated to include and prioritize the player's current difficulty level and one difficulty level lower, making it easier to find appropriate groups.
Conduit Shrines have also been adjusted to "aggressively scale" with player level and Paragon level, with Blizzard noting that the average increase in damage from these shrines has increased by approximately 37 times in Torment III.
Bug Fixes and Accessibility Improvements
Numerous bug fixes address issues across all aspects of the game, with particular attention to accessibility features. Improvements to the Screen Reader functionality include better support for Paragon nodes, Aspect tooltips, and the Stats and Materials window.
Season of Witchcraft-specific fixes address problems with Seeker Bounties, visual effects for Firebat Servants, and boss behaviors in Rootholds. The patch also fixes several gameplay issues, including problems with various aspects not correctly increasing damage for skills like Ring of Mendeln and Barrier functionality for Sorcerers.
Several user interface issues have been resolved, including problems with marking items as favorites when they're part of Armory loadouts, camera zoom during World Boss fights, and crafted caches occasionally failing to grant items.
Previous Patches
The notes also include details on previous patches (2.1.2, 2.1.1b, 2.1.1a, and 2.1.0) that fixed various stability issues, adjusted Headhunt zones for Season of Witchcraft, improved the Armory system, and addressed numerous class-specific bugs.
Diablo IV Patch 2.1.3 continues Blizzard's ongoing effort to respond to player feedback while refining the balance and performance of the game across all its systems. The comprehensive nature of these changes demonstrates the studio's commitment to improving the player experience for both newcomers and veterans alike.