Diablo 4 receives major updates ahead of launch including massive nerf to Necromancer

A Diablo 4 update has been provided by Blizzard ahead of the game’s launch and the list of changes contains several significant tweaks that will make it drastically different from the open beta period. One of the most prominent adjustments that the developers made in their recent is the massive nerf to the Necromancer.

If you used the powerful corpse reanimating class during the early access phase, then you probably already know just how easy it was to finish dungeons and quests with their specific set of skills. In fact, it may have become so effortless that you likely didn’t need any help in learning how to beat the Den Mother or figuring out how to solve the Secret of the Spring quest.

But now that these changes have been introduced, it will surely make things slightly more difficult for you if you were planning on using the Necromancer for your first playthrough. So with that said, here are the updates that have been made to the highly favored dark sorcery class.

Diablo 4 Necromancer pre-release changes

The main change that was made as part of the Diablo 4 update was to the Necromancer’s Summoned Minions skill, which is this class’s most powerful tool. This is because it received a notable duration reduction that will force you to raise corpses more often.

It’s currently unclear, though, how long your undead companions are now going to last as the developers are yet to specify an exact amount of time. That said, this will become an especially important element in boss battles since most of them don’t have any minions that you can kill and reanimate to begin with.

The developers also reduced the damage that Corpse Explosion dealt due to the ease in which it could clear hordes of enemies. Fortunately, several bonuses in the Book of the Dead have apparently “had their stats increased,” which could make for some interesting builds using different selections. The brightness of Skeletal Warriors and Mages has also been reduced, meaning you’ll be able to see them even better as they do the dirty work for you.

Diablo 4 pre-release update notes

Aside from the drastic power reduction to the Necromancer, several other updates were made by Blizzard. Most of the other classes received improvements in stats, skills, and damage, while other elements of the game, such as its dungeons, were made to be less of a chore.

If you’d like to learn more about the entire list of Diablo 4 pre-release updates, then you can read about them below:

Dungeon Layouts

• One of the most common pieces of feedback Blizzard received is that players felt they were doing a lot of backtracking within certain dungeons. They’ve optimized multiple dungeons across all zones to minimize the need for backtracking. Here is a list of dungeons specifically in the Fractured Peaks zone which received layout updates:
  • Caldera Gate
  • Defiled Catacombs
  • Derelict Lodge
  • Forbidden City
  • Hoarfrost Demise
  • Immortal Emanation
  • Kor Dragan Barracks
  • Maulwood
  • Rimescar Caverns
  • Dungeon Events

Developer’s Note: Our primary goal with the Layout changes was to reduce certain kinds of backtracking which detract from a player’s experience. An example of this change is that players previously needed to enter side rooms to interact with Structure Objectives, causing them to retread the same path. Now, many of our Structure Objectives have been repositioned along main dungeon pathways, making them easier for players to reach and allowing them to readily explore the dungeon after defeating the Structure.

Dungeon Events

• The chance for an Event to spawn inside of a dungeon has increased from 10% to 60%.

Dungeon Gameplay

• To reduce the need to backtrack, small numbers of straggling monsters will seek out the player to help complete the Kill All Monsters objective.

• When Animus is gathered, the player and nearby allies will:
  • Gain 10 Resource.
  • Reduce all active Cooldowns by 1 second.
• Depositing Animus channel time was reduced from 3 to 0 seconds.
• The time to Rescue was reduced from 3 to 1.5 seconds.
• All Rescue objectives now drop a Health Potion upon completion.
• While carrying the Ancient’s Statue, Bloodstone, Mechanical Box, or Stone Carving, you will receive a Momentum bonus granting a 25% move speed increase to you and nearby allies.
• Pedestals have had their channel time reduced from 2 to 0 seconds.
• Returning a Portable Object to its Pedestal now fully restores Health, Resource, Potions, and resets cooldowns for all nearby players.
• All doors will now generate a minimap ping when they are opened.
• All Structure Objectives in dungeons now have additional combat mechanics players must overcome.

Developer’s Note: While our dungeons offer a variety of Objectives to complete, player feedback stated that the action of completing each Objective felt tedious. We hope that providing bonuses, such as the increase to mobility while carrying certain Objective items, will streamline and vary the experience of completing Objectives. This adjustment is merely a starting point, and we intend to extend this philosophy to keys in a future update.

General

• Effects like Stun and Freeze can be applied to Elite Monsters twice as long before they become Unstoppable.
• Reviewed class skills to confirm that all classes have access to sufficient skills that remove control impairing effects.
• Many Legendary Powers have had updates to their effectiveness.

Barbarian

• A flat 10% passive damage reduction has been added for the Barbarian Class. Some Skill Tree passives had their damage reduction effects reduced to compensate.
• The Whirlwind Skill now deals more damage and consumes more Fury.
• The Double Swing Skill Enhancement refunds its full Fury cost when used on Stunned or Knocked Down enemies.

Druid

• Companion Skills will now deal heavily increased damage.
• All Ultimate Skills have had their cooldowns reduced.
• Usability improvements have been made to Maul and Pulverize.
• Using a non-Shapeshifting Skill will transform a Druid back into their human form.

Necromancer

• Summoned Minions will die more often, requiring players to utilize Corpses more often.
• Many bonuses in the Book of the Dead have had their stats increased.
• The damage dealt by the Corpse Explosion skill has been reduced.
• The brightness of the Skeletal Warriors and Mages has been reduced.

Rogue

• Upgrades for Subterfuge Skills have had their bonuses increased.
• Multiple passive Skills have had their bonuses increased.
• All Imbuement Skills have had their cooldowns increased.

Sorcerer

• Charged Bolt’s damage was increased and the Mana cost to cast has decreased.
• Decreased the damage of Chain Lightning and reduced its effectiveness against Bosses.
• Decreased the cooldown for the Incinerate Skill’s Enchantment bonus.
• Firewalls will now spawn underneath enemies more frequently when using its Enchantment bonus.
• Increased the Lucky Hit chance for the Meteor Skill’s Enchantment bonus.

Developer’s Note: Whenever we introduce changes to our Classes, it is with the goal of making both them and their Skills feel impactful and powerful—your feedback has helped us uphold this ideal. Some players have adeptly noticed that certain Skills were too powerful. One of our goals for Skills is to have them be interesting to wield and interactive in terms of itemization and combat feel. We’ve made some changes to help in this regard, with one example being the Necromancer’s Minions. We’ve made a change that makes them more vulnerable in combat, which will make raising the dead a more active component of the Necromancer’s gameplay. Launch is just the first step of our Class balance journey, and you can expect further updates that iterate on this pillar of Diablo IV.

UI

• Fixed an issue where the built-in Screen Reader was not reading key prompts, game options details, and other UI text.
• Fixed an issue where actions could not be bound to the mouse wheel.
• Fixed an issue where Evade couldn’t be bound to the right Analog Stick on controller.
• Chat will now display on the left side of the screen when using the centered action bar configuration.
• A character’s stats will be displayed by default when players click the Materials & Stats button within their Inventory.
• The Move and Interact inputs can now be mapped to one button while the Primary Attack input is mapped to a secondary button.
• The sans serif font used in-game has been replaced with a new serif font.

Encounters

• Fixed multiple issues that allowed bosses, like the Butcher, to become unresponsive.
• The Butcher has been re-evaluated for difficulty and will present a greater challenge in World Tiers III and IV.
• Bosses such as T’chort, Malnok, Vhenard, and others were reevaluated for melee character difficulty, resulting in changes to attacks and fight mechanics.
• Fixed an issue where Vampire Brutes using the Shadow Enchant affix would chain-cast Impale.

Cellars

• Increased the chance for a dungeon Event to occur in Cellars.
• Cellars will now consistently reward a chest upon completion.
• Fixed an issue where Cellars would prematurely be marked as complete.
• Fixed an issue where the guaranteed elite monster would be absent from a Cellar.

General quality of life

• Fixed an issue where players could increase attack speed by move-cancelling attacks early.
• Fixed an issue where characters weren’t immune and untargetable after loading into an area.
• The Reset Dungeon button has been disabled.
• Fixed an issue that caused Gale Valley and Serac Rapture to have less monsters than intended until the campaign quests in those territories were completed.

As always, you can also check out the list of updates through the Diablo 4 official website.

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