What you need to know
- Diablo 4 Season 7 PTR begins December 3, allowing players to test the new patch and seasonal content early.
- Full patch notes will be available on November 27.
- The Season theme will be ‘Witchcraft’ and introduce 20 new powers to the game.
- There’s a bunch of class balancing including some nerfs to Spiritborn.
Diablo 4 is mid-way through Season 6 right now but it’s been a week buzzing with activity with the drop of patch 2.0.5 and some festive in-game events with the return of the red-cloaked horror and welcome back gifts for Eternal players. Today the developers sat down for yet another livestream to chat about Season 7, and with it the patch 2.1 Public Test Realm (PTR). We’re getting Witchcraft, finally an armory and some… erm Spiritborn nerfs. Here’s what we learned in today’s Campfire Chat.
PTR for Season 7 patch 2.1 will start December 3
Season 6 Season of Hatred is still underway and not due to end until January, but there will be changes coming for Season 7 that require testing and with that, a PTR. This will run from December 3 and let us not only test the new patch, but new seasonal content for the first time.
Historically, patches have kept season themes under wraps until launch day but that is all changing for this PTR. Full patch notes will be available on November 27
Diablo Season 7 will introduce Witchcraft
In Diablo 4 Season 2, we had Vampyric powers, for Season 7 ‘season powers’ will be returning, we’re getting Witchcraft!
In Season 7, we’ll need to collect a new currency, Restless Rot by defeating Headrotten. We’ll then travel to Altars and offer the Restless Rot in exchange for Witchcraft.
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Equipping Witchcraft will work in a similar manner to the Sanguine Circle from Season 2, but for those who didn’t experience it, it’s simply an extra tab on your character menu.
You’ll work towards a reputation board specifically for the Witchcraft season, and ‘Covens Favor’ for this will drop from Whispers. Most importantly, we’ll now be able to earn Resplendant Sparks again by completing the season reputation board. These are an important crafting material for making Mythic Uniques.
Whispers will also be intensified, as the Tree searches for Headrotten. Headhunts will spawn in a similar zone takeover manner as Helltides, and feature all new Whisper activities as well as familiar ones. Completing these Whispers has a chance of spawning a Headrotten Boss. Deliver the Boss’s Head to the Tree of Whispers for Occult Gems!
Occult Gems
Discover ‘Forgotten Altars’ in dungeons across Sanctuary to unlock ‘new powers’. There will be over 20 new powers added in Season 7.
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Class changes coming with Season 7 will address the inbalance of the overpowered Spiritborn
The Spiritborn is currently miles ahead of the other classes in terms of power, completed Pit levels well above the other classes which isn’t ideal. Blizzard have already stated that they wouldn’t tamper with this during a season and would simply let players have fun, though they did have to step in to nerf the OP Eagle Evade build that was affecting game performance.
For Season 7 though, expect some changes in Spiritborn to bring it back down to it’s intended scale, as well as balancing to other classes.
Spiritborn
Many Spiritborn’s favorite weapon, the Rod of Kepeleke, is getting a ‘nerf’ with 3% damage per Spirit nerfed down to 0.5% damage per Spirit. This is to fix a lot of bugged interactions causing trillions of damage.
The Ring of Writhing moon has also received some changes to make it less powerful.
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Barbarian
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Sorceress
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Druid
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Rogue
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Necromancer
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General gameplay updates
Ultimate updates
Ultimates for all classes will now have new bonuses that unlock at Rank 5, this will be supported by changes to the Skill tree and Paragon boards.
Additonal legendaries have also been added to gear towards these Ultimate changes.
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Runewords updates
Brand new Runewords being added…
Quality of life changes
- Paragon experience earned during the Season will transfer to the Eternal Realm after the Season ends.
- When an Ancestral Legendary item drops, its Legendary power will roll at the highest possible value (this should help with issues completing your Codex).
- The drop rate for Ancestral items has been increased.
- Extra Gem Fragments can now be used to craft random Legendary items.
- Players will no longer need to redo class quests they have already completed.
We are finally getting an armory
And the crowds rejoiced. Armory is finally coming to Diablo 4. Forgive my excitement, we had this in Diablo 3 and the lack of one in Diablo 4 has been perplexing to say the least. The armory enables you to save builds, encouraging further experimentation and less regret when changing to a build you dislike or have equipped specifically for solo or group play. I am stoked with this change.
- The Armory lets players save builds, equipment, and skills into customizable loadouts.
- Switching between loadouts will be completely free of charge.
How do I start the Diablo 4 PTR?
You’ll need to own Diablo 4 or have Xbox Game Pass and be using a PC to access the Diablo 4 PTR. It’s not currently available for console users.
- Open the Battle.net launcher.
- Navigate to Diablo 4.
- In the bottom left corner, select the dropdown and you’ll find Public Test Realm.
- Click Install.
- Click Play and select a test server.
- Create a test character (create a Seasonal one for anything related to the Seasonal themes)
- Skip Campaign if you started anew.
If you are an Xbox Game Pass player on PC, you can access the PTR through the Xbox app and follow the same steps above, all from December 3.
