Blizzard released a new patch for their acclaimed hack n slash action RPG, Diablo 2. Yeap, you read that right. Blizzard is still supporting this bad boy and this latest patch fixes numerous bugs. The Diablo II patch 1.12 was released today at 1:30pm EST (-5GMT). You can download it by login into the realm. This patch marks the new ladder reset and a no-cd patch. Diablo II Lord of Destruction Cover Art (Blizzard Entertainment®) This quick “how to” assumes that you have already installed and patched the latest version of Diablo II LOD on your system. If you need patch information you can obtain it through Blizzard’s official patch site.

Blizzard released Diablo II way, way back in 2000. The Lord of Destruction expansion pack came out a year later. Blizzard kept up with the patches for a surprisingly long time. Then, there was nothing for several years. Late last week, Blizzard finally got around to patching Diablo II again nearly 16 years after it was released.

Before this latest patch (v1.14a), the most recent version of the game was 1.13d. That patch was released in 2011 and was mostly aimed at getting modern Battle.net features working in Diablo II. The new patch makes much more substantial improvements to the core game.

Players will no longer have to run the game in Windows XP compatibility mode. It natively supports Windows 7, 8, and 10. The new installer for Macs finally understands the Intel architecture, so PowerPC and older versions of the OS (10.9 and earlier) are no longer supported. It will run fine on Intel-based Macs on OS X 10.10 or 10.11.

There are still a lot of people around the world playing Diablo II, and that means plenty of cheaters. This patch also improves cheat detection and anti-hacking measures. The announcement notes that this is an ongoing effort. Does that actually mean people are still actively working on Diablo II? It would be wild if this game started getting regular patches rather than a one-off.

This isn’t the first time an old game got a surprise patch — Knights of the Old Republic 2got an update last year after years of neglect. What’s next? Some new Max Payne levels? An Age of Mythology expansion? Actually, it’s another Blizzard game, as Warcraft III is also set to receive a fresh patch this week.

Diablo 2 Patch Download

• Recently Browsing 0 members

• Similar Content

  • By Stan
    

    Patch 2.6.6 has been released ahead of Season 18 which launches this Friday and here are the official patch notes.
    Patch Highlights
    13 new legendary powers have been added to the game in Patch 2.6.6. You can find more details in the patch notes below. There's a new legendary gem called Legacy of Dreams that was introduced to make the Legacy of Nightmares (Season 17) buff more permanent. If you pre-purchased Spoils of War, Patch 2.6.6 includes a Mal'Ganis pet reward. You can read up on Season 18 here . Blizzard (Source)
    Patch Notes
    Below you will find the patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III, Patch 2.6.6. Changes from the PTR have been highlighted in RED.
    PATCH 2.6.6
    Note: All changes apply to all versions of Diablo III, including PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC unless otherwise indicated.
    General
    A pet has been added that will be available for players who pre-purchase Warcraft III: Reforged Spoils of War Edition (PC Only) Seasons
    The buff for Season 18, the Season of the Triune, has been added Triune's Will: All abilities have a chance when hitting an enemy to spawn a circle that gives a power. Only one circle can be active at a time. Triune of Love (Power): Players in the circle receive a 100% damage bonus while active Triune of Determination (Resource Reduction): Players in the circle receive a 50% discount on resources spent while active Triune of Creation (Cooldown Reduction): While standing in an active circle, any skills currently on cooldown come off of cooldown more quickly Developer Comment: The last couple of Seasonal buffs have been focused primarily on end-game content. We wanted to try something different this Season with a buff that was more beneficial to players regardless of where they might be in their Season Journey. Triune's Will can come into play as early as level 1 and continue to make an impact on your game experience from the beginning to the end of the Season, and we're looking forward to seeing how players leverage this ever-changing boost throughout their adventures! Developer Comment: In addition, we received feedback from players during the PTR about colorblind accessibility. We've changed one of the blue-tinted circles to a darker, green earth tone that should stand out a lot more for affected players. We greatly appreciate your feedback! Items
    Developer Note: There are additional specific notes below, but broadly for 2.6.6, we wanted to introduce a handful of new item powers targeted at two audiences: (1) certain classes with long-standing requests for balance/quality of life adjustments and (2) the broader player base for experimenting with Kanai's Cube. This means fewer class-specific new additions, but more additions that everyone has an opportunity to play with. We also experimented with making some of the craftable sets from Haedrig more appealing for fresh level 70's or players looking to maximize their farming runs. We hope to see some interesting new theorycrafting and tactics out of 2.6.6 and can't wait to see what the community does with this new loot! Updated Item Notes: There are a number of notes below clarifying the intention of certain item functionalities. In a couple cases, such as with Flavor of Time, the item wasn't behaving properly during PTR per our intentions (which has been fixed). For others, we just wanted to provide more clarity about exactly how these items behave. The Flavor of Time New Legendary Power: Pylon effects last twice as long. Note: Only wearers of this item gain this effect. This is intended. The Executioner New Legendary Power: Attacks will slay enemies with less than (5-10%) health. Note: This item's power does not work on followers. This is intended. Stone Gauntlets New Legendary Power: Getting attacked will slowly turn you to stone... (You gain 50% more armor, but your movement speed is reduced by 15% and attack speed is reduced by 20%. This effect stacks up to 5 times) PTR Update: This item now displays a buff icon and has a clearer in-game description. Thank you for the feedback! Note: Immunity to control-impairing effects can work against the reduced attack and movement speed penalties. This is intended. Echoing Fury New Legendary Power: Slaying enemies engulfs the wielder into a Frenzy. (Killing enemies increases your attack speed by 15% and movement speed by 5%. This effect stacks up to 5 times) PTR Update: This item's power now works on kill assists and pet kills. Thank you for the feedback! Squirt's Necklace New Legendary Power: While not taking damage, your damage is increased by up to 100% and damage taken is increased by up to 50%. PTR Update: This item now displays a buff icon. Thank you for the feedback! Messerschmidt's Reaver New Legendary Power: Reduce the remaining cooldown of one of your skills by 1 second when you slay an enemy. PTR Update: This item's power now works on kill assists and pet kills. Thank you for the feedback! Mortick's Brace New Legendary Item: Wrath of the Berserker gains the effect of every rune. Developer's Note: If you played during the Patch 2.2.0 PTR, you'll recognize this as an item that was later removed from the game before it went to live servers. At the time, Mortick's Brace gave too much power for a single item slot. However, the power curve of Diablo III has changed significantly since then and we're comfortable with bringing it back. Developer's Note: We're not done with Barbarians, either. However, this is a change that required less testing and could be easily added to 2.6.6, so rather than waiting for a larger batch of changes, we saw no reason to hold this one back. Spite Note: This item can be crafted from the Blacksmith and is not a normal loot drop New Legendary Power: Non-cleaving Gargantuans gain the cleave and chilling effects of the Humongoid rune. Legacy of Dreams New Legendary Gem: While you have no set bonuses equipped, every Legendary item you have equipped increases your damage dealt by 3.75% and reduces your damage taken by 2%. (Max level 99) Rank 25: This bonus is doubled for Ancient items. Developer's Note: The end game opened up significantly with Season 17's Legacy of Nightmare's buff (and the community was clear about how much these new options were appreciated), but wanted to make this addition a more permanent fixture in a more streamlined way than simply making it baseline. This Legendary Gem should open that path up even further and at more opportunities than just late game Greater Rift pushing. Crafted Sets Note: The following sets have been significantly revised from their existing level 70 counterparts. Items crafted prior to 2.6.6 will continue to exist in their old forms but will not be updated after the patch. In addition, after the patch, the old recipes will no longer be available to craft and all players will need to re-acquire these recipes by finding the plans again through Horadric Caches or by killing Odious Collectors. Sage's Journey A Belt has been added to this set. Haedrig the Blacksmith now automatically learns how to forge this set at Rank 12. Captain Crimson's Trimmings (2) Set Bonus Regenerates 6000 Life per Second Reduces cooldown of all skills by10% 20%. Now also reduces Resource Costs by 20% (3) Set Bonus Set bonuses have been replaced Damage dealt is increased by your total percentage of Cooldown Reduction Damage taken is reduced by your total percentage of Resource Cost Reduction Aughild's Authority (2) Set Bonus Set bonuses have been replaced Reduces damage taken by 15% Increases damage dealt by 30% (3) Set Bonus Reduces damage from elites by 15% 30% Increases damage against elites by 15% 30% Cain's Destiny (2) Set Bonus Attack Speed increased by 8% +50% Experience. (5.0% at level 70) (Moved from (3) Set Bonus) (3) Set Bonus When a Greater Rift Keystone drops, there is a 25% chance for an extra one to drop. Bug Fixes
    Fixed an error that occurred when reporting a player via a friend request Fixed an error that occurred when saving an existing Friend Note without making changes PTR-Specific Bug Fixes
    Squirt's Necklace Fixed an issue where the damage taken increase was not reaching the 50% cap Captain Crimson's Trimmings Fixed an issue where the bonus provided by this class set was subject to snapshotting
  • By Stan
    

    We have Demon Hunters in this week's rift, and this time around, things are easier in EU as opposed to last week. DO NOT COMPLETE THIS CHALLENGE RIFT UNTIL SEASON 18 STARTS ON FRIDAY.
    Challenge Rift 113 EU Guide
    Gear
    Natalya's Vengeance Set (6/7) The Traveler's Pledge Marauder's Spines Marauder's Encasement Promise of Glory Thundergod's Vigor The Compass Rose Natalya's Reflection + Wreath of Lightning (Rank 70) Balefire Caster Kanai's Cube Powers
    Dawn Cindercoat Convention of Elements Skills
    VengeanceFrom the Shadows Companion VaultTrail of Cinders Rain of VengeanceShade Hungering ArrowSpray of Teeth StrafeDemolition Passives
    Steady Aim Thrill of the Hunt Ballistics Cull the Weak Use Strafe on the move, it's your main spender. Hungering Arrow deals a fair amount of damage and the spell will be your generator. Your main damage-dealing ability is Rain of Vengeance and you must use it every 10 seconds to make use of the damage and toughness bonuses of your 6-piece. Vault should be used to move around the rift. You will take 50% less damage on the go and deal 100% increased damage when standing still. Check out Mnemonic's video of the clear.
    Challenge Rift 113 US Guide
    Gear
    Natalya's Vengeance Set (6/7) Spaulders of Zakara The Traveler's Pledge + Bane of the Trapped (Rank 70) The Cloak of the Garwulf Pinto's Pride Natalya's Reflection + Bane of the Powerful (Rank 30) The Compass Rose + Bane of the Stricken (Rank 28) Helltrapper + Natalya's Slayer Kanai's Cube Powers
    Envious Blade Frostburn Moonlight Ward Skills
    VaultTumble SentryPolar Station CompanionWolf Companion Rain of VengeanceFlying Strike Evasive FireFocus Cluster ArrowMaelstrom Passives
    Ballistics Cull the Weak Custom Engineering Steady Aim Vault is going to help you move around the map. Place Sentries under your enemies to proc Bane of the Trapped, followed by Rain of Vengeance. As you shoot Evasive Fire and Cluster Arrow on enemies, it brings up your Rain of Vengeance, allowing you to cast it again. Use CompanionWolf Companion on cooldown. If you're in for a long fight, stay far away and stand still to deal 100% increased damage (Endless Walk Set Bonus). Check out Raxx's clear for layout and more information!
    
  • By Stan
    

    The Season of the Triune will launch next week alongside Patch 2.6.6 on August 23.
    Highlights
    Season 18 starts on August 23. In Season 18, players will benefit from the Power of the Triune buff, which gives all your abilities a chance when hitting enemies to spawn a circle that provides one of three random buffs. Note that only one circle can be active at a time. Triune of Love (Power): Players in the circle receive a 100% damage bonus while active. Triune of Determination (Resource Reduction): Players in the circle receive a 50% discount on resources spent while active. Triune of Creation (Cooldown Reduction): While standing in an active circle, any skills currently on cooldown come off of cooldown more quickly. 13 new legendary powers are coming in Patch 2.6.6. You can find more details in the patch notes below. There's a new legendary gem called Legacy of Dreams to make the Legacy of Nightmares (Season 17) buff more permanent. Beginning with Season 17, Blizzard began re-introducing previous Seasonal rewards and for Season 18, they decided to make Season 6 rewards return to the Season Journey. If you pre-purchased Spoils of War, Patch 2.6.6 includes a Mal'Ganis pet reward. Blizzard (Source )
    Season 18 begins August 23, alongside the latest Diablo III patch. Read on to learn more about the all-new Season of the Triune buff, the heap of brand-new Legendary powers, and a handful of crafted item reworks in store for Patch 2.6.6!
    New Season Theme
    Season 18 introduced the Season of the Triune, a call-back to an ancient cult forged over three millennia ago by the Prime Evils of the Burning Hells. Masquerading as three benevolent deities dedicated to Determination, Creation, and Love, the Prime Evils sought to infiltrate the hearts of men in a bid to tilt the odds in their favor in the ongoing Eternal Conflict. Ultimately defeated by Uldyssian during the Sin War, the remnants of the Cult of the Triune still operate today as the more well-known Coven, whom continue the work of Adria and Maghda even after their deaths.
    For the duration of Season 18, all players will benefit from the Power of the Triune buff, which will periodically summon circles around the battlefield that provide one of three random buffs:
    Triune of Love (Power): Players in the circle receive a 100% damage bonus while active Triune of Determination (Resource Reduction): Players in the circle receive a 50% discount on resources spent while active Triune of Creation (Cooldown Reduction): While standing in an active circle, any skills currently on cooldown come off of cooldown more quickly We wanted to try something different this Season, and especially wanted to provide a change to your gameplay from the very first moment you begin your journey. This buff alters gameplay from level 1 to level 70 and beyond, providing an enticing reason to move around the battlefield to leverage these powerful boosts. We’re looking forward to seeing how players utilize these ancient powers from their first level to their final Greater Rift push!
    Season 18 Cosmetic Rewards
    Beginning with Season 17, we began re-introducing previous Seasonal rewards to make them available to players who may have missed them the first time around. For Season 18, this means awards that were originally available from Season 6 are returning to the Season Journey.
    In addition to the Chest and Gloves slots of the exclusive Conqueror Set, players will be able to earn a series of portrait frames bedecked with the mysterious beauty of Blood Shards. A ghastly All Hallow’s pennant will also be available, allowing you to proudly proclaim your love for all things grim and creepy.
    Season Journey Rewards
    If you’ve been diligently slaying demons for the past few Seasons and reached Conqueror in the Season Journey each time, you’ve surely acc rued a few extra stash tabs. You’ll earn one additional tab each Season by finising the Conqueror tier, up to a maximum of five:
    Guardian of Sanctuary: Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment XIII within five minutes Gem of My Life: Level three Legendary Gems to level 55 All I Do IS Win: Complete two Conquests this Season Disarm You: Kill Rakanoth at level 70 in under 15 seconds on Torment XIII difficulty Money Ain’t A Thang: Slay Greed on Torment XIII difficulty Take U There: Reach Greater Rift level 60 Solo Power Amplification: Use Kanai’s Cube to augment an Ancient Legendary item with a level 50+ gem Cubic Reconfiguration: Use Kanai’s Cube to reforge a Legendary item Seasonal Conquests
    Want to prepare your Conquest plan for Season 18? Here are the challenges you’ll face!
    Push your way to Greater Rift level 75 to complete Divinity/Lionhearted. On a Good Day/I Can’t Stop guides you to get your Legendary Gem grind on; level three Legendary Gems to 65 to complete this challenge! For the speedy, Speed Demon/Need for Speed requires the fastest nephalem to complete a Nephalem Rift at level 70 on Torment X or higher in under two minutes. For Curses!/Stars Align, pick any Cursed Chest event that requires killing monsters and defeat over 350 or more at level 70 on Torment X or higher. For the fiercest demon slayers, Boss Mode/World’s Apart is a speed challenge where you’ll need to eliminate the following bosses at level 70 and Torment X in under twenty minutes:
    The Skeleton King The Butcher Zoltun Kulle Ghom Cydaea Rakanoth Diablo Adria Queen Araneae Maghda Belial Siegebreaker Assault Beast Azmodan Izual Urzael Malthael Haedrig’s Gift
    Finally, the Class Sets rewarded for completing certain chapters in the Season Journey courtesy of Haedrig’s Gift have rotated once more. We’ve listed the available Sets below. For those new to Seasons, here’s how it works:
    Completing Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of the Season Journey will reward you with three of Haedrig’s Gifts. Each Gift contains a few pieces from one of your Class Sets. Players can only unlock one Class Set in this manner per Season across Hardcore and Non-Hardcore, so choose wisely!
    The set you will receive depends on the class of the character you’re playing when you open each Haedrig’s Gift. To collect a full Class Set, you’ll need to open all three on the same character.
    Here are the sets granted by Haedrig’s Gift in Season 18:
    Barbarian – The Legacy of Raekor Crusader – Armor of Akkhan Demon Hunter – Embodiment of the Marauder Monk – Inna’s Reach Necromancer – Pestilence Master’s Shroud Witch Doctor – Zunimassa’s Haunt Wizard – Delsere’s Magnum Opus
    Patch Notes
    Below you will find the patch notes for the most recent update for Diablo III, Patch 2.6.6. Changes from the PTR have been highlighted in RED.
    PATCH 2.6.6
    Note: All changes apply to all versions of Diablo III, including PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC unless otherwise indicated.
    General
    A pet has been added that will be available for players who pre-purchase Warcraft III: Reforged Spoils of War Edition (PC Only) Seasons
    The buff for Season 18, the Season of the Triune, has been added Triune's Will: All abilities have a chance when hitting an enemy to spawn a circle that gives a power. Only one circle can be active at a time. Triune of Love (Power): Players in the circle receive a 100% damage bonus while active Triune of Determination (Resource Reduction): Players in the circle receive a 50% discount on resources spent while active Triune of Creation (Cooldown Reduction): While standing in an active circle, any skills currently on cooldown come off of cooldown more quickly Developer Comment: The last couple of Seasonal buffs have been focused primarily on end-game content. We wanted to try something different this Season with a buff that was more beneficial to players regardless of where they might be in their Season Journey. Triune's Will can come into play as early as level 1 and continue to make an impact on your game experience from the beginning to the end of the Season, and we're looking forward to seeing how players leverage this ever-changing boost throughout their adventures! Developer Comment: In addition, we received feedback from players during the PTR about colorblind accessibility. We've changed one of the blue-tinted circles to a darker, green earth tone that should stand out a lot more for affected players. We greatly appreciate your feedback! Items
    Developer Note: There are additional specific notes below, but broadly for 2.6.6, we wanted to introduce a handful of new item powers targeted at two audiences: (1) certain classes with long-standing requests for balance/quality of life adjustments and (2) the broader player base for experimenting with Kanai's Cube. This means fewer class-specific new additions, but more additions that everyone has an opportunity to play with. We also experimented with making some of the craftable sets from Haedrig more appealing for fresh level 70's or players looking to maximize their farming runs. We hope to see some interesting new theorycrafting and tactics out of 2.6.6 and can't wait to see what the community does with this new loot! Updated Item Notes: There are a number of notes below clarifying the intention of certain item functionalities. In a couple cases, such as with Flavor of Time, the item wasn't behaving properly during PTR per our intentions (which has been fixed). For others, we just wanted to provide more clarity about exactly how these items behave. The Flavor of Time New Legendary Power: Pylon effects last twice as long. Note: Only wearers of this item gain this effect. This is intended. The Executioner New Legendary Power: Attacks will slay enemies with less than (5-10%) health. Note: This item's power does not work on followers. This is intended. Stone Gauntlets New Legendary Power: Getting attacked will slowly turn you to stone... (You gain 50% more armor, but your movement speed is reduced by 15% and attack speed is reduced by 20%. This effect stacks up to 5 times) PTR Update: This item now displays a buff icon and has a clearer in-game description. Thank you for the feedback! Note: Immunity to control-impairing effects can work against the reduced attack and movement speed penalties. This is intended. Echoing Fury New Legendary Power: Slaying enemies engulfs the wielder into a Frenzy. (Killing enemies increases your attack speed by 15% and movement speed by 5%. This effect stacks up to 5 times) PTR Update: This item's power now works on kill assists and pet kills. Thank you for the feedback! Squirt's Necklace New Legendary Power: While not taking damage, your damage is increased by up to 100% and damage taken is increased by up to 50%. PTR Update: This item now displays a buff icon. Thank you for the feedback! Messerschmidt's Reaver New Legendary Power: Reduce the remaining cooldown of one of your skills by 1 second when you slay an enemy. PTR Update: This item's power now works on kill assists and pet kills. Thank you for the feedback! Mortick's Brace New Legendary Item: Wrath of the Berserker gains the effect of every rune. Developer's Note: If you played during the Patch 2.2.0 PTR, you'll recognize this as an item that was later removed from the game before it went to live servers. At the time, Mortick's Brace gave too much power for a single item slot. However, the power curve of Diablo III has changed significantly since then and we're comfortable with bringing it back. Developer's Note: We're not done with Barbarians, either. However, this is a change that required less testing and could be easily added to 2.6.6, so rather than waiting for a larger batch of changes, we saw no reason to hold this one back. Spite Note: This item can be crafted from the Blacksmith and is not a normal loot drop New Legendary Power: Non-cleaving Gargantuans gain the cleave and chilling effects of the Humongoid rune. Legacy of Dreams New Legendary Gem: While you have no set bonuses equipped, every Legendary item you have equipped increases your damage dealt by 3.75% and reduces your damage taken by 2%. (Max level 99) Rank 25: This bonus is doubled for Ancient items. Developer's Note: The end game opened up significantly with Season 17's Legacy of Nightmare's buff (and the community was clear about how much these new options were appreciated), but wanted to make this addition a more permanent fixture in a more streamlined way than simply making it baseline. This Legendary Gem should open that path up even further and at more opportunities than just late game Greater Rift pushing. Crafted Sets Note: The following sets have been significantly revised from their existing level 70 counterparts. Items crafted prior to 2.6.6 will continue to exist in their old forms but will not be updated after the patch. In addition, after the patch, the old recipes will no longer be available to craft and all players will need to re-acquire these recipes by finding the plans again through Horadric Caches or by killing Odious Collectors. Sage's Journey A Belt has been added to this set. Haedrig the Blacksmith now automatically learns how to forge this set at Rank 12. Captain Crimson's Trimmings (2) Set Bonus Regenerates 6000 Life per Second Reduces cooldown of all skills by10% 20%. Now also reduces Resource Costs by 20% (3) Set Bonus Set bonuses have been replaced Damage dealt is increased by your total percentage of Cooldown Reduction Damage taken is reduced by your total percentage of Resource Cost Reduction Aughild's Authority (2) Set Bonus Set bonuses have been replaced Reduces damage taken by 15% Increases damage dealt by 30% (3) Set Bonus Reduces damage from elites by 15% 30% Increases damage against elites by 15% 30% Cain's Destiny (2) Set Bonus Attack Speed increased by 8% +50% Experience. (5.0% at level 70) (Moved from (3) Set Bonus) (3) Set Bonus When a Greater Rift Keystone drops, there is a 25% chance for an extra one to drop. Bug Fixes
    Fixed an error that occurred when reporting a player via a friend request Fixed an error that occurred when saving an existing Friend Note without making changes PTR-Specific Bug Fixes
    Squirt's Necklace Fixed an issue where the damage taken increase was not reaching the 50% cap Captain Crimson's Trimmings Fixed an issue where the bonus provided by this class set was subject to snapshotting FAQ
    Q: When does Season 18 start?
    A: Season 18 begins Friday, August 23 at 5:00 p.m. PDT in North America, 5:00 p.m. CEST in Europe, and 5:00 p.m. KST in Asia. For time zone conversion, see this site.
    Q: When do Seasons go live for players on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch?
    A: Seasons go live for all console players globally Friday, August 23 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, regardless of which regional version of the game you may have. Please note that Seasonal Leaderboards for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch are still separate by hardware platform.
    Q: When will Season 18 end?
    A: We are no longer providing anticipated end dates for Seasons. However, we are committed to keeping Seasons roughly three months in length (give or take a few weeks based on development needs) and will continue to provide a minimum of two weeks advance notice for when the Season will be ending.
    Q: When are the non-Seasonal Leaderboards being wiped?
    A: Non-Seasonal Leaderboards are tied to what we call “Eras,” each of which lasts about 6–12 months. The most recent era began January 8. For more information on Eras, please see this post.
    Q: What will happen to older Seasonal and Era records?
    A: Starting with Season 10, we removed old personal bests from Season 1. When Season 18 arrives, we will remove old personal bests from Season 9, and so on. We will be doing the same for personal bests from the previous Era when the next one goes live.
    Seasonal Leaderboard records are not being cleared and will remain archived both in game and on our website.
    Themed Seasons are continuing to evolve as we venture into the future, and we’re quite excited to see where this one leads. Are you looking forward to the Season of the Triune? How do you think you’ll utilize the powers the Triune will bestow upon you? Share your thoughts below and we’ll see you in Season 18!
    The Season of the Triune begins next week and here are the official Patch 2.6.6 notes.
    
  • By Stan
    

    This week's Challenge Rift is easy to clear and we are dealing with Crusaders.
    Challenge Rift 112 EU Guides
    Gear
    Seeker of the Light Set (6/6) The Traveler's Pledge Sacred Harness Convention of Elements + Gogok of Swiftness (Rank 32) The Compass Rose + Bane of the Trapped (Rank 32) Gabriel's Vambraces Johanna's Argument + Frydehr's Wrath Kanai's Cube Powers
    Faithful Memory Hammer Jammers Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac Skills
    Blessed HammerLimitless ProvokeToo Scared to Run Laws of ValorCritical Iron SkinFlash Falling SwordRapid Descent Akarat's ChampionProphet Passives
    Fervor Indestructible Holy Cause Finery Blessed Hammer will be your highest-hitting ability. When you're out of Wrath and there's high mob density, you can get it back with Provoke. Laws of Valor gives you Attack Power, so use it on Elites and the Rift Guardian. Activate Iron Skin on cooldown to increase Movement Speed. You can get value out of Falling Sword on the second floor. Try to have Akarat's Champion up against the Rift Guardian. Here's Mnemonic's weekly clear of the EU Challenge Rift.
    Challenge Rift 112 US Guides
    Gear
    Roland's Legacy Set (6/6) Rakoff's Glass of Life + Pain Enhancer (Rank 66) Strongarm Bracers Thundergod's Vigor Focus + Bane of the Powerful (Rank 61) Restraint + Bane of the Trapped (Rank 34) Golden Flense + Denial Kanai's Cube Powers
    NA Skills
    Steed ChargeEndurance Iron SkinFlash Laws of ValorUnstoppable Force Akarat's ChampionProphet Sweep AttackGathering Sweep CondemnVacuum Passives
    Heavenly Strength Long Arm of the Law Indestructible Finery This week's build is strong and you're going to melt everything. Spam Laws of Valor, Iron Skin, Condemn, and Akarat's Champion when they are up. Sweep Attack is your main damage-dealing ability. Use your Steed Charge to move around. Here we have Raxx's clear.
    
  • By Stan
    

    Even though Diablo III is almost seven years old, the team continues to explore new avenues of gameplay with the introduction of Themed Seasons that substantially alter how you play your character. The dev team will continue with this trend going forward until Diablo IV is ready for preview.
    Blizzard (Source)
    Whether your personal journey with Diablo III began today or nearly seven years ago upon our launch, we want to give you an update on our ongoing development efforts with the game. Here’s what you can expect going forward from Seasons and patches.
    Ongoing Content & Seasons
    Beginning with Season 14, we introduced Themed Seasons. The goal was simple: change the expected gameplay loop and create unique experiences from Season to Season. Whether mixing up where the most rewarding gameplay lives or altering the source of your character’s most potent legendary powers, we want to continue to explore new and exciting ways to change how you play Diablo III.
    Since the addition of themed Seasons, Season 16 was one of the most popular Seasons overall, with Season 17 showing similar participation. On PC alone, we saw nearly as many people return for Season 16 as Season 11, the first Season in which the Necromancer was available. We've heard your feedback about wanting new ways to play and to change up your gameplay experience. Based on your positive feedback and increased participation in Themed Seasons, we think we are moving in the right direction. Continue to let us know how we can make your adventures even better!
    Our crew is hard at work crafting additional Themed Seasons, a new set for each class, dozens of Legendary powers, and some class balance changes. Quality of life and the occasional gameplay system updates are also within scope, as we evaluate how we can keep bringing new magic to the world of Sanctuary. These updates won’t arrive all at once, so if you don’t see something for your class right away, don’t worry; there’s something coming for everyone.
    PTR and Feedback
    For Season 16, we tried a new approach to launching and executing a PTR. With only one week of public testing, patch notes were provided in advance and a follow-up preview into the final changes was posted before the patch went live.
    This approach was highly successful. In the past, we would lose a lot of development potential to deploying additional PTR builds for incremental changes and, consequently, increase the amount of time it would take to deploy on our various supported platforms. PTR participation drops extremely rapidly after the first week, as does the amount of data and feedback, so we plan to continue to use this condensed PTR format going forward.
    We also want to better highlight the changes made as a direct result of feedback. Not all changes happen because of PTR testing. Occasionally it’s from an amazing forum thread we read mid-season and have worked on (and tested internally) for several weeks in advance. Sometimes that “simple” quality of life request winds up being more complex than anticipated and gets punted to a future patch or cannot be implemented at all without unforeseen consequences. Other times someone swung by a designer’s desk at work and a brainstorm happened while they swapped tales about their Season Journey.
    While one source isn’t always the reason behind a change we’ve made, we’re going to do our best to call out great feedback when it’s given, as well as further emphasize design intent and inspiration (when applicable) to changes in future patch notes. One thing is certain: we greatly appreciate the feedback and ask that you keep it coming, because inspiration comes from all places.
    Being Clear, Being Communicative
    One thing we’ve been asked for is to clarify what our plans are, what (exactly) we’re working on, and where the future will take us. This blog is one of our first steps. More frequent presence and interaction from our community team on our new forums, especially around patches and PTR cycles, is another. We want to be able to talk and interact with members of our community around the world on a regular basis about the thing we love that brings us together: Diablo.
    We hope we’ve provided you a better idea of where we’re at with Diablo III. In the meantime, we want Sanctuary to feel like home to all heroes, so you can return whenever you have the itch to slay monsters, don powerful Legendaries, and always find something a little new.