Blizzard ends Diablo 3 with biggest patch ever

Nephalem, we welcome you to our seven-day PTR for the 2.7.5 update. Beginning onJanuary 31st, we’ll need your help in testing theRites of Sanctuaryseasonal theme, Primordial Ashes feature, and changes to both Class Skills and items. Take time to acquaint yourself with these patch notes—we have some substantial new features in store.

SEASONAL JOURNEY

• PTR Focus and Details
• PTR Testing Tips
• Season 28: Rites of Sanctuary
• Primordial Ashes Feature
• Monk Skill Change
• Item Changes
• Bug Fixes
• How to Participate in PTR
• PTR Character Copy

Please note that this is a preview for PTR content, which is subject to change.

PTR FOCUS AND DETAILS

We’ll be conducting the Patch 2.7.5 PTR startingTuesday, January 31st. During this time there may be periodic maintenances, outages, hotfixes, or minor patches.

• There will bePTR-unique buffsactive to help you on your journey:increased experience gains, anddouble 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 we’d love for you to test! Read down below to learn more on the new vendor updates that have been implemented to assist in the PTR experience starting with PTR 2.7.5.
• Class Balance and Item Changes:To ensure that the most significant class changes receive an ample amount of attention, we’d love for you to focus testing and feedback on the skill changes to theMonkclass and item changes for theBarbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Necromancer, and Wizard classes.
• New Season Theme Testing:We’re looking to gather feedback on the seasonal content around Rites of Sanctuary.

So that we can efficiently review your posts,feedbackshould be provided in thePTR Feedback forumwhilebug reportsshould be provided in thePTR Bug Report forum.

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PTR TESTING TIPS

As with our previous PTRs, this testing period is short, so it’s best to hit the ground running. Whether you’re a PTR veteran or newcomer, we thought we’d pass along a few tips to get you started.

• Because of the limited duration of this PTR, we ask 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. 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) are all good questions to ask yourself.
• Try to break things! Just tell us when you do so we can make sure that the patch’s 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? Suggestions are always welcome but identifying the issues themselves is most important.

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SEASON 28: RITES OF SANCTUARY

For Season 28, Rites of Sanctuary, we’re travelling deep into the mysterious ruins of the Festering Woods. Amid a hunting expedition, citizens hailing from New Tristram stumbled across an ominous Altar carved from an archaic material bearing cryptic markings. Shaken to their core by the eldritch aroma of the monolith, they’ve enlisted the assistance of brave Nephalem willing to investigate this sinister discovery that was once left to time—theAltar of Rites.

Home to power thought to be extinct from Sanctuary, the Altar of Rites will bestow these mystic forces upon worthy Nephalem. . .after a sacrifice is offered.

Upon arrival at the Altar of Rites, players will see 26 icons calledSealsand threeLegendary Potion Powers. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the elements below.

Seal and Legendary Potion Powers

How Seals and Potions Work

As you can see, after unlocking the first Seal,the order in which you unlock additional Seals and obtain their powers is entirely up to youand which powers align with your character’s build the most. Once a Seal or Legendary Potion Power is unlocked, you’ll immediately receive that Seal or Potion’s power and will have the ability to unlock connected Seals or Potions once you have the required materials—unlocked powers apply to all your characters and last for the entirety of Season 28.

How to Unlock Seals and Potions

Unlocking Seals and Potions will be no easy feat, especially after multiple sacrifices—you’ll find yourself rummaging across Sanctuary slaying scores of demons hellbent on preventing you from acquiring the Altar of Rites’ full power.

Players must gather materials listed in the Altar of Rites menu and sacrifice them in order to gain a Seal or Potion’s power. In addition to receiving the power after unlocking, you’ll notice the generic text previously displayed has been swapped with a small story scrap about Sanctuary’s tumultuous past.

Regardless of the order in which you unlock Seals and Potions, the cost will increase as shown below.Study the cost of each sacrifice and theorize where within Sanctuary you can find some of these rare materials.

Costs to Unlock a Seal or Legendary Potion Power

Uncover an Ancient Legend—Unlock All Seals

After you’ve conquered the armies of Hell and acquired the needed materials to unlock all Seals and Potions, you’ll receive a reward truly fitting of an unstoppable force—theWings of TerrorCosmetic. We recommend you unlock all Seals and Potions within the Altar of Rites, not only to inspire terror within your foes, but also to piece together the fragments of Sanctuary’s past.

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PRIMORDIAL ASHES FEATURE

Acquiring enough Primordial Ashes to offer to the Altar of Rites is no small task. That’s why we are adding a newPrimordial Ashes featurewith this patch to aid in your quest.

At the Blacksmith, you can nowsalvage a Primal Item for 55 Primordial Ashes. We have alsoadded a Primal Item recipe to Kanai’s Cube—it will cost 100 Primordial Ashes and any non-crafted Legendary Item.

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MONK SKILL CHANGES

Monk

• Combination Strike Passive Skill:
  • Each different Spirit Generator you use increases your damage by 10% for three seconds.
  • Each Spirit Generator you use increases the damage of your other Spirit Generators by 100% for 10 seconds.
• Crippling Wave Skill:
  • Every third hit also dazes enemies within 11 yards, slowing their movement speed by 30% and attack speed by 20% for three seconds.
  • Every third hit also dazes enemies within 11 yards, slowing their movement speed by 30% and attack speed by 20% for 10 seconds.
    • Concussion Rune: Enemies hit by Crippling Wave deal 20% less damage forthree10 seconds.
    • Breaking Wave Rune: Enemies hit by Crippling Wave take 10% additional damage from all attacks forthree10 seconds.
• Deadly Reach Skill:
  • Foresight Rune: Every third hit also increases the damage of all your stacks by 15% for five seconds.
  • Foresight Rune:Every enemy hit with the third hit increases your damage by 15% for 10 seconds.
• Way of the Hundred Fists:
  • Assimilation Rune: Each enemy hit with the third hit increases your damage by 5% for five seconds.
  • Assimilation Rune:Each enemy hit with the third hit increases your damage by 5% for 10 seconds.

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ITEM CHANGES

Barbarian

• Horde of the Ninety Savages (6-piece bonus):
  • Frenzy deals 1,000% increased damage per stack.
  • Frenzy deals 2,000% increased damage per stack.

Demon Hunter

• Chanon Bolter:
  • Spike Traps lure enemies to them. Enemies may be taunted once every 12-16 seconds.
  • Your Spike Traps lure enemies to them and deal 150-200% increased damage. Enemies may be taunted once every 10 seconds.
• The Demon’s Demise:
  • The blast from Spike Trap will damage all enemies again after one second.
  • Each blast from Spike Trap will damage all enemies again after 1 second and deals 150-200% increased damage.
• Natalya’s Slayer:
  • Increases Rain of Vengeance Damage by 20-25%.
  • Increases Spike Trap Damage by 10 -15%.
• Natalya’s Vengeance (2-piece bonus):
  • Reduce the cooldown of Rain of Vengeance by 4 seconds when you hit with a Hatred-generating attack or Hatred-spending attack.
  • Hitting an enemy summons a Spike Trap if it is on your action bar. Each Spike Trap detonation restores 1 Discipline.
• Natalya’s Vengeance (4-piece bonus):
  • Rain of Vengeance deals 100% increased damage.
  • Laying a Spike Trap grants 60% damage reduction. The duration of this bonus is always equal to the number of already laid traps in seconds.
• Natalya’s Vengeance (6-piece bonus):
  • After casting Rain of Vengeance, deal 14,000% increased damage and take 60% reduced damage for 10 seconds.
  • Spike Traps deal 10,000% increased damage, and each consecutive blast from the detonation chain reaction will deal 10% more damage than the previous blast.
• Trag’oul Coils:
  • Spike Traps gain the Impaling Spines Rune and are deployed twice as fast.
  • Spike Traps gain the Scatter Rune, are deployed twice as fast, and deal 150-200% increased damage.
• Unhallowed Essence (6-piece bonus):
  • Hatred generators, Vengeance attacks, and Multishot deal 350% increased damage per point of Discipline the Demon Hunter currently has.
  • Hatred generators, Vengeance attacks, and Multishot deal 1700% increased damage per point of discipline the Demon Hunter currently has.

Monk

• Patterns of Justice (6-piece bonus):
  • Hitting with Tempest Rush while Sweeping Wind is active increases the size of Sweeping Wind as well and increases all damage delt by 15,000%.
  • Hitting with Tempest Rush while Sweeping Wind is active increases the size of Sweeping Wind as well and increases all damage dealt by 20,000.
• Raiment of Thousand Storms (4-piece bonus):
  • Dashing Strike spends 75 Spirit but refunds a Charge when it does.
  • Dashing Strike spends 25 Spirit but refunds a Charge when it does.

Necromancer

• Masquerade of the Burning Carnival (6-piece bonus):
  • Bone Spear deals 6,000% increased damage
  • Bone Spear deals 9,000% increased damage. Simulacrums gain triple this bonus.

Wizard

• The Typhon’s Veil (6-piece-bonus):
  • Hydras deal 2,000% increased damage for each Hydra head alive.
  • Hydras deal 4,000% increased damage for each Hydra head alive.

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HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PTR

To participate in the public test, you must have a Diablo III game license attached to a Battle.net account in good standing (i.e. one that hasn’t been suspended or banned). In addition,you will also need to download and install the Blizzard Battle.net desktop appif 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,click here.

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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.