Diablo 3 Season 23 (2.7.0 Patch) Coming This Week, New Season Starts April 2

Diablo 3's 2.7.0 patch is coming this week, and it will mark the start of Season 23 of content for the classic loot-driven RPG. The update is expected to go live on March 30, in preparation for the new season launch on April 2 at 5 PM PT / 2 PM ET. Many of the changes were first tested in the PTR, so if you opted into that you already have a pretty good idea of what's coming.

The biggest change is to the Follower system. Starting with Season 23 you can equip Followers with a total of 14 item slots. Those include the Relic item, Helm, Shoulders, Chest, Gloves, Bracers, Belt, 2 Rings, Neck, Pants, Boots, main-hand weapon, and off-hand. Followers will also have a new ability called Emanate, which lets you gain the effect of some Legendary Powers and Set Bonuses when equipped on your Follower.

Season 23 will also bring back cosmetic rewards from Season 11 like the Emerald Dragon, Conqueror Set pieces, and Treasure Goblins portrait. You can also earn some new cosmetics for End of Journey rewards, the Lacuni Cub pet and Chopping Block portrait.

Finally, you can earn new Season Journey rewards and new Haedrig's Gifts for completing your season journey. Those include special class rewards, seen below.

You can check the full patch notes below.

Diablo 3 2.7.0 Patch Notes

Seasons

Follower System Revamp: The Follower system for Diablo III has been revamped and will be made permanently available for Seasonal and Non-Seasonal play! Players can now equip Followers with a total of 14 different item slots which include the Follower Relic Item, Helm, Shoulders, Chest, Gloves, Bracers, Belt, 2 Rings, Neck, Pants, Boots, main-hand weapon, and off-hand. We're introducing a new Follower feature into Diablo III called Emanate, which allows the player to gain the intended effect of certain Legendary Powers and Set Bonuses when equipped on the hired Follower. The current list of items with Emanate capabilities are the following:

Broken Crown
Homing Pads
Spaulders of Zakara
Goldskin
Custerian Wristguards
Nemesis Bracers
Gladiator Gauntlets
Gloves of Worship
Dovu Energy Trap
Rakoff's Glass of Life
Avarice Band
Krede's Flame
The Flavor of Time
Sage's Journey (3-piece set bonus)
Cain's Destiny (3-piece set bonus)

Follower Skills Revamp: Follower skills have been reworked to showcase new and updated skills. Check out the full update on the Follower skills below:

Scoundrel

Crippling Shot
- Ranged attack that deals 140% weapon damage and slows enemies hit by 80% for 3 to 6 seconds based on the Scoundrel's Dexterity.
Powered Shot
- Ranged attack that explodes on impact, dealing 120% weapon damage as Arcane to enemies within 10 yards and has a 100% chance to Stun enemies for 3 to 6 seconds based on the Scoundrel's Dexterity.
Hysteria
- Whenever you or the Scoundrel land a Critical Hit, you both will go into hysterics, increasing all damage done by 3% for 3 to 6 seconds based on the Scoundrel's Dexterity.
Anatomy
- Increases Critical Hit Chance by 1.8% to 4% for you and the Scoundrel based on the Scoundrel's Dexterity.
Multishot Passive
- Passive: The Scoundrel's special attacks have a 50% to 70% chance to fire 3 bolts based on the Scoundrel's Dexterity.
*Skill Rework - Vanish
- When you take fatal damage, the Scoundrel conceals you from enemies for 3 to 7 seconds based on the Scoundrel's Dexterity,allowing you to escape your death.
*New Skill - Night's Veil
- The Scoundrel launches a cloud that covers a 20-yard area and lasts 5 to10 2 to 4 seconds based on the Scoundrel’s Dexterity. All attacks against enemies that are inside the cloud will be critical hits.
*New Skill - Piercing Shot
- Ranged attack that pierces and increases damage done to enemies by 10% for 3 to 6 seconds based on the Scoundrel's Dexterity.
*Removed Skills - Dirty Fighting and Poison Bolts

Templar

Heal and Loyalty
- These skills now scale based on the Templar’s Strength.
Intimidate
- Enemies that hit or are hit by the Templar are slowed by 80% for 3 to 6 seconds based on the Templar's Strength.
Charge
- Charges a target, dealing 280% weapon damage and stunning all enemies within 8 yards for 3 to 6 seconds based on the Templar's Strength.
Intervene
- Taunt enemies within 10 yards of you for 3 to 6 seconds based on Templar's strength when you are hit.
*Skill Rework - Onslaught
- Delivers a massive blow to an enemy for 800% weapon damage and causes the target and nearby enemies to take 10% increased damage for 3 to 6 seconds based on the Templar's Strength.
*Skill Rework - Guardian
- When you take fatal damage, the Templar will rush to your aid, knocking back enemies within 15 yards, healing you for 15% to 25% life based on the Templar's Strength, and shielding you from all damage for 5 seconds.

Enchantress

Erosion
- Conjures a pool of energy that deals 330% weapon damage as Arcane over 5 to 7 seconds based on the Enchantress's Intelligence. Affected enemies will also take 10% increased damage.
Focused Mind
- A 40-yard aura that increases attack speed for you and the Enchantress by 3% to 6% based on the Enchantress's Intelligence.
*Skill Rework (Renamed from Powered Armor) - Powered Shield
- Reduces damage by 6% from ranged attacks, increases Armor by 3%, and slows melee attackers by 60% for 3 to 6 seconds for you and the Enchantress based on the Enchantress's Intelligence.
*New Skill - Temporal Pulse
- The Enchantress casts a guided orb that deals 150% weapon damage and slows enemies by 80% for 3 to 6 seconds based on the Enchantress's Intelligence.
*New Skill - Amplification
- Increases your highest static elemental bonus by 5% to 10% based on the Enchantress's Intelligence.
*New Skill - Prophetic Harmony
- Reduce your skills’ Cooldowns by 5% to 10% based on the Enchantress's Intelligence.
*New Skill - Fate's Lapse
- When you take fatal damage, the Enchantress empowers you to speed up your movement through time for 3 to 7 seconds to avoid death based on the Enchantress's Intelligence.
*Removed Skills - Forceful Push, Mass Control, Disorient, and Missile Ward

Solo Leaderboards Update: Greater Rift solo leaderboards now contain additional filters to sort by. This update provides a total of 7 filters available per class.

Class Sets
No Class Set
Overall (default filter)

Items

General Updates

Teleport - Adjusted Wizard's Teleport animation speed.
Land of the Dead - Invigoration skill rune now removes all resource costs.
Rathma's Shield passive skill now has a 60-second cooldown

Item Changes

Bones of Rathma 2-Piece Set: Your permanent minions reduce the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 0.25 0.50 second each time they deal damage. Your skeletal warriors spawn faster, and your revived minions no longer expire.
Bones of Rathma 4-Piece Set: Your minions no longer take damage. You gain 1% damage reduction for 15 seconds each time one of your minions deal damage. Maximum of 75 stacks.
Bones of Rathma 6-Piece Set: Each permanent active minion increases the damage of Army of the Dead and Bone Spirit by 500%, up to 8500% 9000%.
Defiler Cuisses: Bone Spirit's damage is increased by 400% to 500% for every second it is active and will also freeze enemies on impact. Maximum of 5 seconds.
New item* Bonds of C'Lena:Bone Spirit deals 300% to 400% increased damage and deals an additional 2% increased damage for 10 seconds each time Army of the Dead hits an enemy. Maximum of 500 stacks. Army of the Dead deals 75% to 100% increased damage or double this bonus against an active target of Command Skeletons.
Firebird's Finery 2-Piece Set: Disintegrate Ignites enemies, causing them to take 7500% 3000% weapon damage per second until they die. When you die, a meteor falls from the sky and revives you. This effect has a 60-second cooldown.
Firebird's Finery 4-Piece Set: Casting Disintegrate adds Combustion stacks that reduce the cooldown of Teleport by 1% 2% per stack. Stacks up to 100 50 times. You gain 80% damage reduction while maintaining Combustion stacks.
Firebird's Finery 6-Piece Set: You gain 4000%2000% 5000% increased damage while Ignite is applied to a target. Hitting an Ignited enemy with a non-channeling fire spell deals Ignite damage multiplied by Combustion stacks.

Developer Note: With the bulk of patch 2.7.0's focus being on the single-player experience, we recognize that the set reworks and balance changes are some of the most impactful and important to the group play experience. We've heard the outpouring of feedback from the community and have decided to increase the Firebird's Finery 6-piece bonus.

We hope these changes will allow players to explore new strategies in high-end group play compositions for Season 23. We hope you enjoy Firebird's this season, but we will keep an eye on its power and adjust balance in the future.

Gears of Dreadlands 6-Piece Set: Your primary skills deal 15,000% increased damage.
The Ninth Cirri Satchel: Hungering Arrow is guaranteed to pierce and also deals 450% to 600% increased damage. Hungering Arrow can only pierce up to 3 4 times.
Gazing Demise: The damage of Spirit Barrage is increased by 100% to 150%. Spirit Barrage gains the Phantasm rune that lasts twice as long, and the attack rate from Manitou spectres is increased.
Blackthorne's Jousting Mail: Replaced one minor property with a random elemental damage affix.

Class Set Dungeon Update

To account for the Necromancer redesign of the Bones of Rathma set, we have updated the objective to "Revive 100 Corpses" from the current "Raise 100 Skeletal Mages".

Developer Note: In addition to the recent changes, we'll continue to analyze the performance of individual builds and rebalance them to allow for more variety in all categories of gameplay. We appreciate and value your feedback as we continue to analyze and fine-tune the performance of a variety of builds and address the high and low performers in this and future balance patches. Thank you all for your support and we look forward to seeing you this season!

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue with the legacy version of Etched Sigil buffing unintended effects.
Fixed an issue with the Follower's cheat death skills activating while the player had a Shield Pylon active.
Fixed an issue where the Templar would sometimes stop following the player.
Fixed Revive - Personal Army buff not persisting with Rathma's 4 piece bonus

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