Diablo 2: Resurrected Ladder Season 3 Kicks Off February 16

Diablo II: Resurrected's next update is around the corner, and while it doesn't introduce any truly game-changing new features, it does add new rune words and make adjustments to last season's standout feature, Terror Zones.

The game's third Ladder season will begin on February 16, with patch 2.6 arriving a day earlier on February 15. The start of Ladder Season 3 will see characters from Ladder Season 2 transferred to their respective non-ladder groups. Any Ladder Season 1 items stored in shared stashes will be deleted come the arrival of Season 3, but players will still have access to any saved Season 2 items until the end of Season 3.

Eight new rune words for ladder play in Season 3 are the star of the show. These rune words are catered towards enhancing movement speed, specific Assassin and Druid builds, and providing more options for players looking to improve their resistance bonuses. Blizzard in the game's patch notes states the goal with the new rune words was to "sprinkle variety into the competitive meta" and to give players opportunities for new strategies over the course of the season.

A number of rune words and Horadric Cube recipes from earlier seasons will be available in online, non-ladder game modes with the arrival of Season 3. In addition, Sundering Charms, which made more builds viable by breaking enemy damage type immunities, will also become available on all non-classic game modes.

Terror Zones, introduced as part of patch 2.5 as a means of giving players another option when it came to grinding to max level, are also seeing some changes. For starters, Terror Zones will be playable in offline games for the first time. Additionally, adjustments are being made so that more zones are eligible to become terrorized, while other zones have been broadened. One unpopular zone, the Kurast Sewers, has been removed from the list of terror-eligible zones.

Despite a bumpy launch that was plagued by server issues, Blizzard has rolled out multiple substantial updates to Diablo II: Resurrected in the past year that have brought major balance changes and meta shifts to the over two decade-old game. In other Diablo news, Diablo III is set to receive a major new progression system as part of its next season, all while fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Diablo IV, which is set to release on June 6, 2023.