Blizzard has kept its promise to reveal all the remaining details about what’s coming to Diablo 4 in Season 5: Season of the Infernal Hordes. The upcoming season was actually revealed earlier this week, but we didn’t get details on the core design changes until the developer update livestream.
In addition to publishing huge, full changelog in update 1.5.0 — the one that will kick off the novel season next week — the developers also delved into class changes, massive buffs to unique characters, changes to the Hell Hordes, and more.
Manage your cookie settings
To start, Blizzard has turned its attention to the game’s Unique and Mythic unique items. Season 5 will introduce 50 novel Legendary and Unique items, and considering all the buffs Diablo 4 loot received elsewhere with Season 4: Loot Reborn, it made sense to adjust the power of Uniques to Legendary items.
More specifically, Uniques became less captivating as practically every other piece of gear became more powerful. New systems like Tempering and Masterworking gave players more freedom in crafting the perfect item, further reducing the thrill of chasing Uniques.
In version 1.5.0, Blizzard is adding some of these powerful stats to Uniques, which not only increases their already staggering power but also creates a place for them in the loot grind meta. The developer hopes that players will once again build around Uniques’ carefully curated stats, hopefully making them a worthwhile pursuit again.
Of course, Infernal Hordes, being the main novel endgame activity in Season 5, has gotten a lot of love since the PTR. Access to the wave-based mode has been greatly improved by increasing the drop rates of the Compass used to enter the mode.
In the Infernal Hordes rounds themselves, bosses are less robust and experience mini-events more often. Monster spawn rates have also been increased, so you’ll feel overwhelmed at the start of each wave.
Likewise, rewards in Hell Hordes have been increased, especially when it comes to Burning Aether currency.
The update also introduces a number of buffs for various classes, regardless of the gear changes. Interestingly, the base stats for all classes are being modified to gain more damage by reaching lower base stats. For example, Rogues will take 1% more damage for every 9 Dexterity, instead of 10.
You’ll be able to experience it all when Diablo 4 Season 5 launches on Tuesday, August 6 at 8 p.m. EST. 10:00 AM PST, 1:00 PM EST, 6:00 PM UK timePatch 1.5.0 will also be released at that time.
