Diablo 4 2.2.0 PTR patch notes: Everything new in Season 8

The PTR (Public Test Realm) for Diablo 4 Season 8, Belial’s Return, will take place from March 11 to March 18, 2025. Between lair boss rework, all-new boss powers, and as usual, a laundry list of class balance changes, this is a great opportunity to sample the new content before the now-delayed Season 8 goes live. For those who indeed want to dip their toe into the new changes in this PTR, all of the notable changes are already documented in the release notes that went live today.

Here are the full patch notes for Diablo 4 2.2.0 PTR, detailing all the changes in Season 8 — Major and Minor.

What's new in Diablo 4 Season 8: Belial's Return?

The new Incursion Event (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Before we proceed to the balance changes and patch notes for Diablo 4 PTR 2.2.0, here's a quick summary of new content in Season 8:

As the title of the Season gives away, a familiar face from Diablo 3 returns. Belial, Lord of Lies, will be a new pinnacle boss to combat in Season 8 and will be a permanent addition to the rogues gallery.
A Boss Power mechanic is the main big gimmick of Season 8. Here's all the boss powers coming to Diablo 4, and how to get them.
Apparition Incursion Events, the Seasonal event where you combat Belial's illusory spawns.
New Unique items and New Legendary Aspects

Full patch notes for Diablo 4 PTR 2.2.0: All changes in Season 8

Familiar face, new coating (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Before we proceed to class and gear balance changes, here's the big rework all eyes are set on: the Lair Boss balance pass and Lair Key system implementation.

Bosses formerly known as Endgame or Ladder Bosses have been broken out into 3 tiers: Initiate, Greater, and Exalted Lair Bosses to convey their varying difficulty and rewards.
Initiate Lair Bosses: Beast in the Ice, Grigoire, Lord Zir, Varshan, and Urivar (available for Vessel of Hatred owners only).
Greater Lair Bosses: Andariel, Duriel, and Harbringer of Hatred (available for Vessel of Hatred owners only).
Exalted Lair Bosses: Belial, Lord of Lies.
You must be on Torment Difficulty I or higher to fight any Lair Boss.

Lair Boss Loot

Lair Bosses no longer require boss materials to summon and provide a vastly reduced reward upon death. Instead, when a Lair boss dies, a chest called a Hoard will spawn containing its loot. Each player must individually spend boss materials to open their Hoard.
The first Unique item dropped by a Lair Boss will be from their unique pool. Further Unique Items will have a 50% chance to be from the general Unique pool.
When playing in a party, Lair Bosses have a 33% chance per additional party member to drop an extra Unique Item from their unique pool.
Lair Bosses now drop 5 Unique Items in Torment IV, instead of 6.

Lair Boss Keys

Each boss requires a Lair Boss Key to unlock their Hoard. This is one specific item for each boss, such as: Malignant Heart (Varshan), Living Steel (Grigorie), Distilled Fear (Beast in the Ice), Exquisite Blood (Lord Zir), Judicator’s Mask (Urivar), Shard of Agony (Duriel), Pin-Cushioned Doll (Andariel), Hatred Hearts (Harbringer of Hatred, Betrayer’s Husk (Belial, Lord of Lies).
All Initiate Lair Bosses have the chance to drop a Stygian Stone, which can be converted into any Greater Lair Boss Key of your choice.
Lair Boss Keys can stack up to 99.

Unique items and Legendary Aspects

Fist of Fate

Lucky Hit: Chance to Apply a Random Crowd Control affix, has been replaced with Lucky Hit: Chance to Make Enemies Vulnerable for 3 Seconds.

Azurewrath

Lucky Hit Chance to Deal Cold Damage affix damage increased, exact amount depends on item power. The highest damage increased by approximately 150%.
Previous: Lucky Hit: Up to a 20% chance to Freeze enemies for 2 seconds and deal Cold damage to them.
Now: Your Casts with this weapon apply Vulnerable for 3 seconds and Chill enemies for 10-30%.

Frostburn

Previous: Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-60% chance to Freeze enemies for 3 seconds.
Now: You deal 15-35%[x] increased Fire Damage to Chilled enemies and 15-35%[x] increased Cold Damage to Burning enemies.

Aspect of Concussive Strikes

Previous: Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 20% chance to Daze them for 2 seconds. You deal 5-25% increased damage to Dazed enemies.
Now: Your Daze effects last 20-40% longer. Dazing an enemy increases your Movement Speed by 20-40% for 3 seconds.

Paragon

Dominate Glyph (Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer)

Legendary max bonus reduced from 20% to 12%.

Tempering

Worldly Fortune Tempering Recipe

Lucky Hit: Chance to Apply Crowd Control affixes have been removed.
New Affixes: Lucky Hit Chance, Impairment Reduction, Crowd Control Duration.

Natural Schemes Tempering Recipe

Crowd Control Duration affix replaced with Fortify Generation affix.

Class-Specific Changes

Barbarian

Skills

Enhanced Mighty Throw

Previous: While a thrown weapon is out, gain 25% increased Attack Speed.
Now: Mighty Throw grants 25% increased Attack Speed for 6 seconds.

Fighter's Mighty Throw

Previous: Swapping weapons near any of your thrown weapons creates an additional pulse. Each extra pulse generates 5% of your Maximum Life as a Barrier for 5 seconds.
Now: Swapping weapons near any of your thrown weapons creates an additional pulse. Mighty Throw generates 20% of your Maximum Life as a Barrier for 5 seconds.

Whirlwind

Base damage increased from 24% to 32%.

Developer’s Note: Whirlwind's base damage is determined by the attack speed of your weapon. These values are based on an attack speed of 1.0.

Violent Whirlwind

Previous: After using Whirlwind for 2 seconds, Whirlwind deals 35% increased damage until it's canceled.
Now: Channeling Whirlwind for 2 seconds increases the damage of your next Weapon Mastery Skill by 35% if used immediately after Whirlwind ends.

Fighter's Steel Grasp

Previous: If Steel Grasp damages an enemy, gain Berserking for 2 seconds.
Now: Steel Grasp's damage is increased by 400% and if it damages an enemy you gain Berserking for 2 seconds.

Power Charge

Charge cooldown reduction vs bosses increased from 4 to 6.

Double Swing Enhancement

Moved to Violent Double Swing.

Violent Double Swing

Moved to Enhanced Double Swing.

Ground Stomp

Base damage increased from 80% to 140%.

Tactical Ground Stomp

Damage bonus reduced from 900% to 100%.

Developer’s Note: The damage from this upgrade trivialized the leveling process, leading to players skipping elite packs, even when playing in higher Difficulties.

Iron Maelstrom

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

Wrath of the Berserker

Rank 5 Bonus now always deals 500% damage rather than scaling with Skill Ranks.

Passives

Concussion

Previous: Lucky Hit: Skills using Bludgeoning Weapons have up to a 10/20/30% chance to Stun enemies for 2 seconds, or up to a 15/30/45% chance when using a Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon.
Now: Lucky Hit: Skills using Bludgeoning Weapons have up to a 20% chance to Stun enemies for 2 seconds, or up to a 30% chance when using a Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapon. This also deals 30/60/90% Physical damage to them.

Hamstring

Previous: Your Bleeding effects have a 15/30/45% chance to Slow Healthy and Injured enemies by 70% each time they deal damage.
Now: The first time you apply a Bleeding effect to an enemy, Slow them by 70% for 2/3/4 seconds.

Expertise

One Handed Mace

Berserk duration doubled from 1.5 to 3 seconds.

Legendary Aspects

Of the Dire Whirlwind

Number of seconds needed to cap increased from 3 to 5.
Updated the formula to be more generous. This means whirlwind crit chance is increased from 3-8% up to 9-36%, to 6-10% up to 28-50%.

Of Grasping Whirlwind

Previous: Whirlwind periodically Pulls enemies to you.
Now: Whirlwind Pulls enemies to you every 6-3 seconds.

Dust Devil's

Previous: Whirlwind leaves behind Dust Devils that deal X damage to enemies in their path.
Now: Whirlwind leaves behind Dust Devils that deal X damage to enemies in their path. Hitting enemies with Dust Devils increases damage from all other sources by 25%[x] for 3 seconds.

Bul Kathos Aspect

Damage with Earthquakes removed.

Unique Items

The Third Blade

Previous: Your Weapon Mastery Skills are now also Core Skills that have no Cooldowns but cost Fury, dealing 50 - 70% of normal damage. Their Fury costs are reduced by 5 for any additional Charges the Skill would have had.
Now: Your Weapon Mastery Skills are now also Core Skills that have 100% Cooldown Reduction but cost Fury, dealing 50 - 70% of normal damage.
Fury Costs for all Weapon Mastery Skills reduced by 5 baseline.

Developer’s Note: This Cooldown Reduction breaks the cap of 75% and will provide the maximum bonus of 75% that Cooldown Reduction would normally grant on the Aspect of Delayed Extinction.

Ring of Red Furor

Previous: After spending 100 Fury within 3 seconds, your next cast of Hammer of the Ancients, Upheaval, or Death Blow within 5 seconds is a guaranteed Critical Strike and deals x% bonus Critical Strike Damage.
Now: After spending 100 Fury within 5 seconds, your next non-Channeled Core or Weapon Mastery Skill Cast within 5 seconds is a guaranteed Critical Strike and deals x% bonus Critical Strike Damage.

Battle Trance

New Inherent: Lucky Hit: Up to a 10% chance to gain a stack of Frenzy.

Gohr's Devastating Grips

Damage now deals and scales with Whirlwind damage.
Previous: Whirlwind explodes every 2 seconds and after it ends, dealing 50-80% of the Base damage dealt to surrounding enemies as Fire damage.
Now: Whirlwind explodes every 3 seconds as Fire damage dealing 300-600% increased damage. Critical Strikes with Whirlwind reduce the time until the next explosion by 0.2 seconds down to 1 second.

Tuskhelm of Joritz the Mighty

Damage bonus increased from 25% to 35%.
Fury gained per second increased from 2 to 6.

Twin Strikes

Previous: After casting Double Swing 4 times, your next Double Swing will hit 2 additional times, each dealing 50-80% increased damage and Stunning for 1 second.
Now: After casting Double Swing 4 times, your Double Swing will continue to hit 2 additional times, each dealing 70-100% increased damage for 3 seconds.

Paragon

Rumble Glyph

Now stacks additively with itself rather than multiplicatively per stack.
Damage to Bosses and Crowd Controlled enemies reduced from 10% per stack (50% max) to 3% per stack (15% max).

Dominate Glyph (For Barbarian only)

Timer between free Overpowers reduced from 15 to 12 seconds.

Druid

Skills

Fierce Storm Strike

Previous: Storm Strike has a 50% chance to make enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Now: Storm Strike makes enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds.

Enhanced Cyclone Armor

Previous: Enemies who are Knocked Back by Cyclone Armor are also slowed by 70% for 2 seconds.
Now: Enemies Knocked Back by Cyclone Armor become Vulnerable for 5 seconds.

Preserving Cyclone Armor

Previous: Every 10 seconds, Cyclone Armor intensifies, causing incoming damage to grant you 30% Damage Reduction for 2 seconds.
Now: Cyclone Armor now Pulls In enemies rather than Knocking Back and grants 10% Damage Reduction for 4 seconds.

Innate Cyclone Armor

Previous: Enemies Knocked Back by Cyclone Armor become Vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Now: Enemies who are hit by Cyclone Armor are slowed by 70% and take 15%[x] increased damage for 6 seconds.

Enhanced Blood Howl

Previous: Kills reduce the cooldown of Blood Howl by 1 second.
Now: Killing enemies reduce the Cooldown of Blood Howl by 1 second and hitting a Boss reduces its Cooldown by 0.3 seconds.

Grizzly Rage

Rank 5: Casting Cataclysm Slows surrounding enemies by 70% for 8 seconds.

Petrify

Rank 5 Bonus:
Previous: Casting Grizzly Rage Knocks Down surrounding enemies for 5 seconds and deals 500% damage to them.
Now: Companion Skills can be Cast while in Grizzly Rage.

Cataclysm

No longer snapshots its damage bonuses between successive casts.

Lacerate

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

Passives

Charged Atmosphere

Previously: Every 14/11/8 seconds, a Lightning Bolt hits a Nearby enemy dealing [45%] damage. Your Lightning Bolts deal 10/20/30% increased damage.
Now: Every 3 seconds, a Lightning Bolt hits a Nearby enemy dealing [30/60/90%] damage. Your Lightning Bolts deal 10/20/30% increased damage.

Spirit Boons

Overload

Chance for lightning bolts increased from 1% to 35%.

Legendary Aspects

Lightning Dancer's

Previous: Lightning Storm Critical Strikes spawn 3 Dancing Bolts that seek enemies in the area dealing [110-155%] Lightning Damage.
Now: Lightning Storm and Lightning Bolt Critical Strikes have a 50% chance to spawn 3 Dancing Bolts that seek enemies in the area dealing [155-200%] Lightning Damage. Your Dancing Bolts deal 30% increased damage.

Of Anticline Burst

Previous: Stone Burst deals 10-30% increased damage and when Cast at or above 75 Spirit, it is immediately at its Maximum size.
Now: Stone Burst deals 10-30% increased damage is guaranteed to Overpower when it detonates at Maximum size.

Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast

Critical Strike Damage per stack changed from 10% (200% max) to 3% (60% max) but it now grants Multiplicative Critical Damage rather than Additive.

Developer’s Note: This change will result in a much higher damage bonus than previously.

Paragon

Sinister Tendrils (Previously Constricting Tendrils) Legendary Node

Previous: Lucky Hit: Nature Magic Skills have up to a 40% chance to entangle the enemy with vines, Immobilizing them for 2 seconds and Poisoning them for 300%[x] of the Base damage dealt over 4 seconds.
Now: Nature Magic Skills do 35% increased damage against Poisoned enemies.
Lucky Hit: Nature Magic Skills have up to a 40% chance to deal [800% weapon damage] Poisoning damage over 4 seconds.

Necromancer

Skills

Blood Lance

Previous: Throw a blood lance that lingers in enemies for 3 seconds, dealing 80% damage to the enemy and all other lanced enemies. Blood Lance pierces through enemies who are currently lanced, dealing 10% reduced damage to subsequent enemies after the first.
Now: Throw a blood lance that lingers in enemies for 3 seconds, dealing 80% damage to the enemy and all other lanced targets. If Blood Lance hits a lanced enemy, it deals 100%[x] increased damage and applies the lanced effect to another surrounding enemy.

Iron Maiden

Now has a Lucky Hit Chance of 5% and its damage can Critically Strike.

Blood Wave

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

Supreme Blood Wave

Blood Orbs reduced from 6 to 3.

Bone Storm

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

Army of the Dead

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

Passives

Kalan's Edict

Previous: Your Minions gain 3%[+] Attack Speed and 3%[x] increased damage for each active Minion.
Now: Your Minions gain 3%[+] Attack Speed and 3%[x] increased damage for each active Minion. When one of your Minions die, your other Minions enrage, dealing 20%[x] increased damage for 3 seconds.

Legendary Aspects

Tidal Aspect

Extra Blood Waves bonus damage reduced from 200-240% to 40-100% of normal damage.

Unique Items

Kessime's Legacy

Blood Wave Fortifies Inherent Affix reduced from 85% to 30%.
Blood Wave damage increase per hit portion of the Unique power has been removed.
Blood Wave Explosion damage increased from 100-200% to 200-300% damage.

Rogue

Skills

Poison Trap

Lucky Hit Chance increased from 20% to 25%.
Subverting Poison Trap
Before: You deal 15% increased Poison damage to enemies standing inside your Poison Trap.
Now:You deal 20% increased Non-Physical damage to enemies standing inside your Poison Trap.

Caltrops

Slow increased from 50% to 65%.
Damage increased from 45% to 60%.

Death Trap

Lucky Hit Chance increased from 8% to 15%.
Death Trap's Pull In effects will always happen around the area the trap is thrown or placed.
Previous If Death Trap kills an enemy, its Cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds.
Now: If Death Trap kills or Overpowers an enemy, its Cooldown is reduced by 10 seconds.

Prime Death Trap

Previous: Death Trap Slows all surrounding enemies by 85% for 5 seconds when it activates.
Now: Enemies hit by Death Trap take 50% increased damage from your Trap Skills for 8 seconds.

Shadow Clone

Rank 5 Bonus now always deals 500% damage rather than scaling with Skill Ranks.

Rain of Arrows

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

Passives

Trick Attacks

Previous: Dazing or Stunning an enemy increases your Critical Strike Chance by 2/4/6% and Critical Strike Damage by 2/4/6% for 5 seconds, up to 12/24/36%.
Now: Attempting to Daze or Stun an enemy increases your Critical Strike Chance by 1/2/3% and Critical Strike Damage by 1/2/3% for 8 seconds, up to 5/10/15%.

Developer’s Note: This Passive will now operate on single-target Boss fights. Its overall power has been significantly reduced to account for this and make its place in the Skill Tree less oppressive. Additional bonus stacks are no longer multiplicative with each other.

Trap Mastery

Previous: When Poison Trap or Death Trap activates, you gain 3% Critical Strike Chance against Vulnerable and Crowd Controlled enemies for 4 seconds.
Now: After a Trap Skill activates, gain 4% Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds.

Exposure

Previous: Lucky Hit: Dealing damage to an enemy affected by a Trap skill has up to a 40% chance to:
Reduce the active Cooldown of your Trap Skills by 30%.
Drop a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal 80% total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 1.0 seconds.
Now: Lucky Hit: Damaging a Trapped enemy has up to a 40% chance to:
Reduce the active Cooldown of your Trap Skills by 30%.
Increase your Trap Skill damage by 10%[x] for 10 seconds, stacking up to 100%[x].

Legendary Aspects

Of Nebulous Brews

Previous: Using a Healing Potion grants 35-55% Movement Speed for 3 seconds, and you may now drink them while at full Life. Every 20 meters you travel, you spawn a Healing Potion.
Now: Healing Potions can be used at full Life and grant 35-55% Movement Speed for 3 seconds. Every 20 meters you travel refills a Healing Potion.

Developer’s Note: Healing Potions are now automatically added to your total amount instead of being dropped on the ground.

Of Iron Rain

The chance for Smoke Grenade to create Arrow Storms is now always 100%.

Unique Items

Writhing Band of Trickery

Previous: Casting a Subterfuge Skill leaves behind a Decoy Trap that continuously Taunts and lures enemies. After 2 seconds, it explodes, dealing Shadow damage. This effect is treated as a Trap Skill and can only spawn one Decoy Trap every 6 seconds.
Now: Your Subterfuge Skills create a Decoy Trap that Taunts and lures enemies, dealing Shadow damage over 6 seconds. This counts as a Trap Skill and only one Decoy Trap can be active at a time.

Developer’s Note: Decoy Traps deal damage-over-time now and can be respawned and reoriented repeatedly. When used with thrown Trap Skills, it will be placed where that Skill is aimed.

Scoundrel's Leathers

New Affixes:
16-25% Movement Speed
21-35% Damage to Trapped Enemies
171-225% Trap Damage
10.5-15% Damage Reduction from Enemies Affected by Trap Skills
Previous: While you have unlimited Energy from Inner Sight, casting a Core Skill has a 60-80% chance to spawn Caltrops, Poison Trap, or Death Trap. Gain 10-20% Core Skill damage.
Now: Your Trap Skills can be thrown and will spawn a Death Trap every 10 seconds when Cast. You step through the shadows to your Death Trap when Cast, gaining 10-30% increased damage for 5 seconds.

Paragon

Deadly Ambush – Legendary Node

Critical Strike Damage bonus to enemies by your Trap Skills increased from 23% to 30%.

Sorcerer

Skills

Greater Fireball

Previous: Fireball deals 10% of the Burning damage you've applied to enemies as additional damage.
Now: Fireball deals 10%[x] increased damage to Burning enemies. When a non-Boss enemy takes this damage while below 25% life, they are instantly killed.

Blizzard

Adding new terms Frostbiting / Frostbitten for Cold Damage over time.
New Description: Call forth a frigid blizzard that deals 210% Frostbite damage and continually Chills enemies for 18% over 8 seconds.

Deep Freeze

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

Passives

Convulsions

Previous: Shock Skills have up to a 7% chance to Stun enemies for 3 seconds.
Now: You deal 5/10/15%[x] increased damage while you have Crackling Energy. You periodically pick up nearby Crackling Energy.

Crackling Energy

Added Shock skill tag.

Shocking Impact

Added Shock skill tag.

Combustion

Added Damage to Burning as part of the calculation.

Developer’s Note: This now functions the same as the Flamefeeder Glyph.

Unique Items

Fractured Winterglass

Now only spawns equipped Conjurations on your Action Bar.

Starfall Coronet

Meteor’s Cooldown changed from 10-3 to 5-2.5.

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Piercing Cold

Previous: Ice Shards pierce 10 times, dealing 4-10%[x] more damage per subsequent enemy hit.
Now: Ice Shards pierce 5 times and deals 35-50%[x] increased damage, and an additional 10%[x] more damage per subsequent enemy hit.

Aspect of Shatter Stars

Meteorites now do their own damage.
The bonus damage from Meteor now applies to all Meteorites while this is equipped.

Aspect of Frozen Wake

Previous: While Ice Armor is active, you leave behind exploding Ice Spikes that deal X damage. Your Ice Spikes deal 15%[x] increased damage to Frozen enemies.
Now: While Ice Armor is active, you leave behind exploding Ice Spikes that deal X damage. Spawning an Ice Spike increases your Ice Spike damage by 3%[x] for 2 seconds, up to 30 times.

Paragon

Static Surge

Previous: Hitting enemies at least 8 times in a second with Shock Skills restores 30% of your Maximum Mana and increases your damage by 50%[x] for 8 seconds. This cannot be refreshed while active.
Now: Hitting enemies at least 8 times in a second with Shock Skills restores 30% of your Maximum Mana and increases your damage by 50%[x] for 8 seconds. This can only be reapplied every 1 second.

Enchantment Master

Previous: Your Enchantments are 30% stronger.
Now: Your Enchantments are 30% stronger, and each equipped Enchantment grants 30%[x] increased damage with their main element.

Frostbite Glyph

Renamed Cryopathy Glyph.

Miscellaneous

The damage of Ice Spikes has been standardized across Blue Rose, Frozen Tundra, Frozen Wake, and Glacial aspects.

Party Finder

The Party Finder menu will now automatically close after successfully joining a party.
Listing will now automatically re-list if the Party Leader changes or the Difficulty Level is changed.

Loot and Activity Rewards

Whisper Caches
Nightmare Dungeon Sigils no longer drop from Caches. Instead, Caches now have a high chance to include Sigil Powder.
Unique Items:
Removed the bonus Ancestral rate from Unique Items. Unique Items now have the same ancestral rate as Legendary Items.
Bosses formerly known as Endgame Bosses have been broken out into 3 tiers: Initiate, Greater, and Exalted Lair Bosses to convey their varying difficulty and rewards.
Initiate Lair Bosses: Beast in the Ice, Grigoire, Lord Zir, Varshan, and Urivar (available for Vessel of Hatred owners only).
Greater Lair Bosses: Andariel, Duriel, and Harbringer of Hatred (available for Vessel of Hatred owners only).
Exalted Lair Bosses: Belial, Lord of Lies.
Initiate and Greater Lair Bosses
Lair Bosses no longer require boss materials to summon and no longer drop loot upon death.
Instead, when a Lair boss dies, a chest called a Hoard will spawn containing its loot. Each player must individually spend boss materials to open their Hoard.
The first Unique item dropped by a Lair Boss will be from their unique pool. Further Unique Items will have a 50% chance to be from the general Unique pool.
When playing in a party, Lair Bosses have a 33% chance per additional party member to drop an extra Unique Item from their unique pool.
Lair Bosses now drop 5 Unique Items on Torment IV, instead of 6.
Rewards from the Purveyor of Curiosities in Torment Difficulties have significantly increased in quality. There are now increased chances to acquire Legendary, Unique, and Ancestral items.

Developer’s Note: This season, we’re focusing on Lair Bosses and their role in the player journey. Unique items find themselves pulled in two directions. On one side, they are must-find, build-enabling, pieces of gear with one-of-a-kind powers. On the other, they are super rare items to strive for that create moments of celebration once acquired. In previous seasons, Lair Bosses leaned heavily towards supporting the former. In our next season, we want to push more towards a middle-ground, where standard Unique items are readily attainable through Initiate and Greater Lair Bosses, but the path Ancestral Unique items lie directly through defeating the Exalted Lair Boss, Belial, Lord of Lies. Because Belial can reward Ancestral Uniques, we want to give players more freedom on how they get to him. By allowing Initiate and Greater Lair Bosses to have a chance at dropping any Unique item, these bosses should always feel more relevant to fight. Finally, while we like the social element of bossing, the efficiency gained from doing so in a full party is too high. Adjusting the boss summoning flow aims to make the experience more equitable regardless of party size while retaining a small bonus for social play.

User Interface and User Experience

Adjusted the capitalization of the words Element and Elemental when referring to a damage type to properly match other tooltips.
We’ve named 3 damage types that were previously unnamed:
Shadow Damage over time has been renamed to Corruption Damage.
Cold Damage Over Time has been renamed to Frostbite Damage.
Lightning Damage Over Time has been renamed to Sparking Damage.
Tooltips for socketable items have been adjusted to improve clarity on what items can be socketed into what.
Automatic sorting in the Inventory and Stash has been updated to be more intuitive. Now, auto-sort will push the most relevant items to the front. This includes better sorting by rarity and presence of Greater Affixes.
The pip on the Map tab in the game menu will no longer appear if the only new item is a Cosmetic.

Miscellaneous

Experience received from monster kills until Level 25 has been reduced.

Developer’s Note: Player power has grown considerably with the re-introduction of Seasonal Power systems. This creates a disjointed early game experience, where the pace of leveling vs. other elements of progression are not aligned. This change reduces the need to constantly upgrade early game items, increases the relative value of activity and seasonal rewards, and creates a more seamless early game journey.

Players in a party can now instantly teleport to other members of the party through the Social menu.
Cosmetic items can now be consumed and unlocked while playing any Class.

All changes to Vessel of Hatred in Diablo 4 PTR 2.2.0 patch

Here are all the changes to the Spiritborn class in Diablo 4 (Vessel of Hatred):

Rushing Claw

Base Damage increased from 50% to 60%.

Poised Rushing Claw

Previous: When Rushing Claw hits an Elite enemy you gain 10% increased Dodge chance for 6 seconds.
Now: Rushing Claw now has 20 Maximum Charges. Casting it consumes all of its Charges to increase its damage by 25%[x] per Charge and it hits a larger area.

The Seeker

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

The Devourer

Rank 5 Bonus capped at 200%[x] damage increase.

Passives

Legendary Aspects

Aspect of Recalling Feathers

Legendary ranks increased from 8 to 21.
Damage increased from 50-64% to 75-150% of weapon damage.

Aspect of Falling Feathers

Legendary ranks increased from 8 to 21.
Damage increased from 50-64% to 75-150% of weapon damage.

Aspect of Wild Claws

Damage increased from 45-65% to 65-85% of Rake's Base damage.

Aspect of Plains Power

Legendary ranks increased from 8 to 21.
Damage increase per stack of Ferocity increased from 2.0-4.1% to 2.0-5.0%.

Rune Words

Xan

Previous: Your next skill critically overpowers. Overflow: 1% damage per 10 Offering.
Now: Your next attack will cause your hits to be a guaranteed Critical Strike and Overpower for 0.25 seconds. Overflow: 0.35% damage per Offering.
Offering required reduced from 700 to 300.

Qax

Previous: Your next non-Basic skill spends all your Primary Resource to deal up to 100% increased damage based on the percentage of Resource spent.
Now: Casting a Skill other than a Basic or Defensive spends all your Primary Resource to increase your damage up to 100% for 1 second.

Vex (+1 to all skills for 10s. Overflow: More ranks up to 3)

Offering cost reduced from 150 to 100.

Lum (Gain max resource)

Offering gained increased from 2.5% to 3.5%.

Ahu

Previous: Lucky hit: 100% when hitting an Injured enemy.
Now: Lucky hit: 100% when hitting a non-Healthy enemy.
Offering gained reduced from 25 to 15.

Tec

Damage reduced from 1,400% to 1,000%.

How to join the Diablo 4 Season 8 PTR?

Here's how players who own a copy of Diablo 4 on Battle.net can join the Season 8 PTR (2.2.0):

Open the Blizzard Battle.net App and select Diablo IV from your Games list. In the selector above the Play button, there is a game version drop-down menu.
Select the Public Test Realm option
Click Install to install the PTR client. This becomes a Play button when ready.
Click Play to log in to the PTR, and select any of the available Test Servers.
Create a new test character.
Note: Create a Seasonal Mechanic for any testing related to the Seasonal themes.
Enter the game and test the 2.2.0 PTR

Check out more guides and news on Diablo 4:

Edited by Sambit Pal