The reign of Sorcerers and Barbarians is about to come to an end in Diablo 4 as Blizzard reveals nerfs coming to the most powerful classes in the game. The balance changes will arrive alongside the start of Season of the Construct on January 23.
For Barbarians, the nerf will mostly revolve around its admittedly overpowered Hammer of the Ancients. It’s considered to be the most powerful skill in the game and has allowed many Barbarian users to defeat bosses with a single blow of their hammers. It’s also no coincidence that the first, and as far as I know, the only player to have successfully completed all 25 levels of Season 2’s extremely challenging Abattoir of Zir pinnacle dungeon did so with a Barbarian.
Sorcerers, on the other hand, have apparently benefitted from an attack speed bug related to its Enhanced Ball of Lightning skill. Come Season 3, the Sorcerer’s glowing lightning balls will be slowed down and will no longer deal as much damage as they currently do.
After the massive sweeping nerfs of Patch 1.1, the upcoming Sorcerer and Barbarian changes are rather tame by comparison. Senior class designer Adam Jackson also reiterated that nerfs will always be coupled with significantly more buffs which will be announced well ahead of time so that players can offer their feedback.
“Our strategy with players is to communicate early and communicate often,” Jackson said. “We want to let you know particularly when it comes to nerfs what’s coming and really what we’re thinking.” He also assured the community that bug fixes will be their priority going forward and that they won’t be nerfing or changing anything unless it’s absolutely necessary for the health of the game.
The Season of the Construct patch notes are expected to come out today, to give players time to review it ahead of the start of the new season next week. You can also check out the latest developer livestream below to learn more about the team’s plans for the new season.