Diablo 4 Season 4 – PTR Changes Revealed in Patch Notes

After its PTR session in April, Blizzard has made several changes to Masterworking, Tempering, Helltides and much more for Season 4.

Diablo 4’s next season, Loot Reborn, kicks off next week and completely overhauls the game’s crafting and loot aspects. Blizzard Entertainment recently released the patch notes to highlight everything players should know. However, it also contains all of the changes from its PTR session in April.

For example, Masterworking can no longer fail, and the animations for non-milestone Ranks have been removed. The Tempering screen will also showcase the resulting affix, its roll and the range of the affix. There are also “multiple” tiers of Masterworking Material caches to allow for converting more materials, and an icon indicates which items have Greater Affixes.

When traversing the Pit of Artificers, the person in a party spending Runeshards to open it will get 100 percent of the resulting materials for Masterworking while everyone else gets half. The chance for Hellborne to spawn in Helltides has also increased. Check out the list of changes below and full patch notes here.

Diablo 4: Loot Reborn goes live on May 14th for all platforms.

1.4.0 Build #53129 (All Platforms) – May 14, 2024

Updates from the Public Test Realm

Developer’s Note: We appreciate all the feedback our players provided us during our Public Test Realm for Season 4: Loot Reborn. The following section highlights key bug fixes and feedback adjustments.

Feature Updates

There is no longer a chance for Masterworking to fail.
The Masterwork animation has been removed for non-milestone Ranks (1-3, 5-7, etc).
The Tempering Result screen now shows the result affix, its roll, and the affix range.
Various UI improvements for the Tempering and Masterworking experiences.
Added multiple tiers of Masterworking Material caches that transmute far more materials than were previously available.
A visual indication has been added to the imprint UI which indicates which Legendary affixes are currently equipped.
You can now search the term ‘equip’ or ‘equipped’ within the Codex of Power to list currently equipped affixes.
We’ve added an inventory icon to indicate items that have at least one Greater Affix.
– When items with Greater Affixes drop in-game, they will also have the same icon to indicate they possess a Greater Affix.

Helltide and The Pit

The Party member that spends the Runeshards to open the Pit gets 100% of the Masterworking materials, the rest of the party receives half the amount.
Artillery and Blast Wave shrines no longer spawn in the Pit.
Hellborne spawn chance in Helltide zones has been increased.
Baneful Heart drop rate has been adjusted to be more consistent.
– Overall loot quality from the Blood Maiden has been improved.
– Loot quality has also been improved for players that contribute materials to summon the Blood Maiden, as a contribution bonus reward.
Doomsayer variants, which used to drop a Chest of Doomsaying on defeat, will now drop the contents of a Doomsaying Chest on death with no additional Cinders cost.

Balance Adjustments

Many Tempering affixes that were either over-performing or under-performing have been adjusted to meet intended power levels.
The Tempering Affix for Maximum Size increase for various skills and effects, such as Dust Devils or Bone Spirit, is now capped at 100%.

Itemization Updates

Extracting an aspect now upgrades it in the Codex of Power. All Aspects now exist in the Codex of Power.
Various item affixes have been updated and the overall pool of affixes has been condensed.
Additionally, Greater Affixes have been introduced.
– Appearing only on Ancestral Legendary and Unique items, these are more powerful (1.5x) versions of normal affixes.
– Each item affix has a chance to be a Greater Affix in World Tier IV.
New Tempering and Masterworking Systems allow deeper customization of items and access to new affixes.
Legendary items dropped from enemy level 95+ are always 925 item power.
Unique Items can now drop earlier in the game:
– World Tier III Unique Items now drop as non-Sacred in World Tier I and II.
– World Tier IV Unique Items now drop as Sacred in World Tier III.
– Uber Unique Items can start dropping from monster level 55, drops at 925 item power.
The Minimum levels required to equip Sacred and Ancestral items has been reduced.
– Sacred: 35
– Ancestral: 55