Diablo 3 Patch Starts Season 19, Adds New Sets

Diablo IV might have been announced at BlizzCon 2019, but Blizzard is far from done with Diablo III. Seven and a half years after release, the latest patch for Diablo III has launched season 19, which will give returning players a new way to play. Major changes have also come in this update for the Crusader and Monk classes, as new class sets are now available for the game’s two holiest classes. These changes, which we’ve got the patch notes for, have arrived on the PC, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game.

The notes for Patch 2.6.7. explain the new season in full. As they point out, Season 18‘s buff displeased some players, as the Triune bonus didn’t stick with their adventuring characters. Blizzard is doing things a little differently for the 19th season with the new Pandemonium buff, which introduces “new mechanics to add an element of both chaos and power to the battlefield”. This buff focuses on kill streaks, giving you different rewards as your consecutive kill count rises higher and higher.

Here are the notes for Pandemonium:

• For the duration of the Season, all players will have a stacking buff that that persists as long as you have hit or killed a monster within the last 5 seconds
• Each stack gives .005 movement speed and .001% bonus damage. This bonus caps at 50% movement and 100% damage (1000 stacks)
• In addition, after reaching a certain number of kills in a row, a power is unleashed, dealing an amount of scaling damage based on player level and difficulty or Greater Rift level:
  • 15 Kills: Exploding Chickens seek and destroy
  • 30 Kills: A wide Frost Nova freezes enemies
  • 50 Kills: Corpses rain from the sky
  • 100 Kills: Five massive energy twisters are unleashed
  • 150 Kills: Dark Geysers form beneath enemies
  • 200 Kills: Treasure chests fall from the sky
  • 300 Kills: A ring of fire engulfs everything
  • 400 Kills: Meteors hail from above
  • 500 Kills: Angels descend upon the battlefield to fight for your cause (Angels should no longer one-shot Rift Guardians).
  • 1000 Kills: ?????

Because powers are being tracked at a group level, only one can be active at a time, regardless of how many players you’re rolling with, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens when a player manages to stack 1000 kills. Two new rewards are available to players who complete the season, too: the Valor Portrait Frame and the Angelic Treasure Goblin pet.

This patch also sees some new class sets roll out for the Crusader and Monk, including some new and returning Legendary powers. The new Crusader set, Aegis of Valor, brings in Heaven’s Fury as the development team believes that it “matches the theme and adds more gameplay complexity.” Here are the notes for the Crusader set:

• 2-Piece Bonus: Attacking with Fist of the Heavens empowers you, allowing Heaven’s Fury to deal 100% increased damage for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times (multiplicative).
• 4-Piece Bonus: Hitting with Fist of the Heavens generates 5 Wrath and reduces damage taken by 1% for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 50 times
• 6-Piece Bonus: Increase the damage of Fist of the Heavens and Heaven’s Fury by 20,000%

The new Monk Set, Patterns of Justice, seeks to incorporate extra damage reduction and better integration of the Temple Rush skill.

• 2-Piece Bonus: Sweeping Wind gains the effect of every rune and movement speed is increased by 5% for each stack of Sweeping Wind.
• 4-Piece Bonus: Attacking with Tempest Rush reduces your damage taken by 50% and increases Spirit Regeneration by 50.
• 6-Piece Bonus: Hitting with Tempest Rush while Sweeping Wind is active will temporarily increase the size of Sweeping Wind after hitting over 30 times within a short period. Sweeping Wind damage is increased by 15,000%

Further changes and bug fixes have been made in this patch, and they’re detailed in the full notes. It’s been promised that the other classes will receive similar treatment in future updates, with new sets being planned for all of them. Blizzard has also promised more themed seasons in the game’s future, and Diablo IV is still a long way away, so expect plenty more seasons and updates for Diablo III.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-patch-starts-season-19-adds-new-sets/1100-6471387/