Hard to believe, but the patch notes for Season 16’s PTR are out, so we have a good idea whats coming, and while im here, I’ll tell ya where Season 15 has taken me! Below is a Season 15 recap/catchup, then below is getting into the new Season 16 info!
Season 15 Stuff!
Rogue : I’ve gotten to the point that even though sucessful, I think I just accept Rogue isnt super enjoyable for me, for whatever reason. The class is VERY good, but I dont love the way it plays at high level. Ive taken Barrage Rogue to Pit ~130 or so, and it slams content, but I ended up moving on to my beloved Druid (and I know the whole internet probably stroked out when I said I dont like how Rogue plays, but like Druid lol.)
Druid : I leveled all the way with Stone Burst, bc mostly the build is non existent on the interent on build sites, so naturally I chose it, and it was fine. The only reason I swapped to Pulverize was bc I got a VERY good roll Mythic Basilisk, and with Pulverize Ive (literally) smashed my way through all content, and have hit for 20T with a crit, which my support builds have hit hire funny enough, but likely a visual bug in their case I believe. Speaking of Support, thats where I’ve spent most of my time this season, and check out below for a rundown on all of that, plus a link to a build I personally wrote on Maxroll. Thanks!
Paladin : I leveled a shield of retribution build paladin with the SOLE purpose to get a chance to run Roxy’s “zDpS” Paladin Support Build - which I have done, and will speak more on below in the support section, but needless to say, SoR pally is incredible and S ranked on all build guides, and one of the few builds that can be run from Lvl 1 → Endgame, which is nice!
Sorc : I leveled a Hydra Sorc, tbh its not very good, but leveling alts in D4 is easy bc you get 15 levels off the jump, and usually at 70 you snap to your paragon level and can power through a lot of content you normally wouldnt be able to. Again, i leveled this sorc just to try a VERY hypothetical Sorc Summons/Conjuration based Support build I’m still cooking up…
Necro : Just to revisit Necro since I havent played since Season 2, I leveled a Necro with a Minion build, and it was BY FAR the easiest leveling experience I’ve ever had…havent spent too much time with it since, but looking to have some time on it later, and will update you all!
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Support :
OK…..the BIG reason I’ve been so stuck into this season….Experimenting with Support Builds because I’m a SUPER nerd….I wont bore you here but quick run down on all Support or “zDpS” (Zero DPS/Damage builds i.e. Support) I’ve run this season:
Paladin (Roxy’s Build)
This build is ABSOLUTELY unbelieveable, and if you have someone in your party willing to gear and run this, all of your party will have an INCREDIBLY easy time getting to pinnacle content. Its almost boring with how good it is, and basiclaly you walk into Pit 150s and pop all CDs and just crush anything with room filling auras that melt enemy defenses, and empower your teammates. Its truly remarkable. If youre looking for THE meta support, this is the one, and thanks to Roxy for putting in the time to get this one out. I have it mostly min maxed outside of some mythics, and its truly something to pilot. Ive helped my team beat all pinnacle content including T12 Mephisto, Pit 150s, you name it.
Druid (My Homebrew build)
This one is FAR AND AWAY not Meta, and not as good as Roxys build….BUT Im having A TON of fun. When I had felt that I had a good understanding of the Pally support, I wanted to make something reminicent of the Druid builds of old (S12 and prior), but literally ALL of the aspects that made that build relevant are gone lol. Boiler at Maxroll had a super nice build, and I had one similar, but not nearly as min maxed, and that build was REALLY something - dont think it was what Roxys Pally is (Pally just by design is so so strong), but it was very good. I decdied to tackle making one, and its far from min maxed and prob could use an overhaul from someone MUCH smarter than me, but its super fast, and capable of helping a party of randoms get through a Pit 150, and not just that, but basically being as indestructible someone can be in a Pit 150, as in I can just stand in a pack of elites and take no damage. It also provides a TON of CC, DoTs, and provides some nice buffs to the party, if you wanna take a deeper dive into mechanics and things this build grants the team, and have fun jumping into the theorehtical, this build is super fun, and maybe I’m bias, but definitely the most fun I’ve had this season. SPEEDY boi.
Sorc (Still Cooking)
This one is still in the oven, BUT it revolves around 2 things, teamwide Ice Armor with the Blast Chill modifier, and TONS of CC utiliziing the Conjuration skills - Familiars, Ice Blades, Lightning Spears, and Hyrdras. Im testing the Shivering aspect, which in the tool tip of the aspect bascially just says Enemies take x%[x] more damage depedning on how chilled or staggered they are. The info on the aspect does NOT mention the damage has to be done by you or your summons. Now, Diablo 4 is VERY vague in its skills/tool tips, so its hard to say if this DPS is granted to your allies too, if so, this will EASILY be the highest DPS addition by a support class in the game, everything online says it wont work, but theres like no sources cited in those, so I’d like to personally test. This build would basically leverage all summons and the deep freeze ult with charges/long range casting to grant vuln and weaken to freeze whole rooms, to proc shivering, and then stacking Barrier gen to give your team GIANT Ice Armor barriers. More to come on this one!
Based on the current Season 16 PTR (Patch 3.3.0) information released for testing, Season 16 looks less like a giant system overhaul and more like Blizzard's continued push to improve endgame customization, targeted farming, and build diversity. As always, thanks to Wudijo over at Maxroll, and Rob over at d4guides.gg for all the awesome info!
Season 16 New Additions!
War Plans Tactics overhaul
Tyrael's Boons seasonal progression tree
New Horadric Items seasonal power system
Infernal Hordes, Pit, and Lair Boss reworks
New dual-boss pinnacle encounter
Class balance changes for all 8 classes
Improved targeted farming and reward control
Mount speed improvements
Permanent Helltide uptime changes
War Plans Are Getting Much Better
This is probably the most impactful system change.
Players will be able to invest points into a new War Plans Tactics tree that lets you influence:
Which endgame activities appear more often
What rewards show up more frequently
Preferred loot types
Preferred farming routes
Instead of hoping the game gives you the content you want, you'll be able to bias your War Plans toward:
Helltides
Pit
Infernal Hordes
Boss farming
Specific reward types
Tyrael's Boons & other QoL:
Season 16's seasonal progression system appears to be Tyrael's Boons.
It functions as a multi-path progression tree with several specializations that focus on different rewards. Examples shown in the PTR include:
Merchant of Mystery
Better caches
More ancestral opportunities
Rune/Gem rewards
Scent of Gold
More XP
More gold
Better material acquisition
Curious Addition
Better Purveyor gambling outcomes
Trash for Treasure
Enhanced crafting and tempering support
More Obducite
More Scrolls of Restoration
Horadric Items
This may end up being the defining mechanic of Season 16.
The PTR introduces Horadric Items, special legendary items tied to Talisman set mechanics.
Examples include:
Jewelry
Can count as additional Talisman set pieces
Weapons and Armor
Can unlock extra powers once a set bonus is active
If these numbers are strong, they could completely reshape buildcrafting by allowing:
Easier set completion
Hybrid setups
New endgame combinations previously unavailable
As someone who enjoys off-meta + support and utility builds, this is probably the feature I personally am watching closely…
New Dual Boss Fight
Instead of introducing a traditional new uber boss, Blizzard appears to be adding a dual-boss encounter.
The Fractured Reaper and Corrupted Reaper fight together as a combined Lair Boss challenge.
That means:
More mechanics overlap
Higher movement requirements
Greater emphasis on survivability and positioning
Potentially a much harder fight than the current single-bosses weve been fighting forever, is interesting to see but more so interesting to see where this trend goes…
Endgame Improvements
Several endgame activities are receiving updates:
Infernal Hordes
Reworked rewards and gameplay flow.
The Pit
Additional tuning and improvements.
Lair Bosses
Balance adjustments and encounter improvements.
Blizzard's overall direction continues to be:
Less seasonal gimmick content
More permanent improvements to the core game loop
which I think has been one of the better changes since Season 14.
New Crafting Upgrade
A PTR recipe called Greater Temper has been discovered.
It allows a tempered affix to be upgraded into a Greater Affix using:
Scrolls of Restoration
Obducite
If this goes live unchanged, it could significantly reduce RNG pain when finishing endgame gear.
Helltide Changes
A nice quality-of-life update:
Helltides effectively become continuous
Base-game zones start on the hour
Expansion zones start on the half hour
One Helltide should always be active
Additionally:
Aberrant Cinders no longer reset the way they currently do
This should make Helltide farming much smoother.
Mount Improvements
Small but welcome:
Faster base mount speed
Less dependence on spurring
Travel should feel better overall.
Class Changes
The PTR notes indicate:
Balance passes for all eight classes
Skill tuning
Item tuning
Bug fixes
Specific numbers are still being tested and could change before launch.