Diablo 4 Blood Wave Necromancer build

Wanderers, have you finished your Season 9 campaign? Are you looking for news about the next season? Here comes the good news!

Sanctuary Sitdown Replaces Campfire Chat

Recently, the developers announced that they will host a Sanctuary Sitdown event on August 14th at 11:00 AM PDT to share information about the new season with Diablo 4 players and prepare for the upcoming releases of 2.4.0 and Season 10 PTR.

However, if you're a longtime Diablo player, you'll have noticed this change. Since Diablo 4's initial release in 2023, players have been eagerly waiting to learn about the new content before each new season by visiting Campfire Chat streams.

This isn't just a simple name change; I believe it's a way for the developers to adjust their communication strategy with Diablo 4 players. Instead of the usual Twitch streams, they'll be holding discussions and Q&A sessions on Discord. Players have two days to submit questions to the developers, but not all questions will be selected and answered.

Sanctuary Sitdown is a new form of communication. PTR updates will be discussed via voice chat in Diablo 4 Discord. Players can join the voice channel and listen to developers like Aislyn Hall, Charles Dunn, and Ben Fletcher discuss Season 10 and the PTR. This marks a significant shift in D4's news release method, moving away from live broadcasts and toward more direct, live chat-based community interaction.

Imagine if this change in communication method will rekindle player excitement and anticipation.

Is Releasing During Such A Busy September The Right Decision?

While the developers haven't revealed the specifics of the event, it's expected that Sanctuary Sitdown's Q&A will not be limited to the 2.4.0 PTR and Season 10: Infernal Chaos.

Season 10 is scheduled to launch on September 23rd, coinciding with one of the busiest months for game releases in recent years. This has sparked debate over whether the timing of the new season's release is more strategic or more risky.

As we all know, the September 23rd launch date comes just 11 days after Borderlands 4, which launched on September 12th. Borderlands 4 is one of the biggest action-RPG releases in recent years and shares some of the same player base.

But the competition goes far beyond that. September also features a host of major releases, including:

• September 4: Hell is Us and the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle DLC
• September 5: Cronos: The New Dawn
• September 19: Dying Light: The Beast
• September 25: Silent Hill

Adding to the pressure, direct competitors are also taking action.

Among them, the action-RPG Titan Quest 2 launched in Early Access on August 1st, receiving positive feedback from players. Path of Exile 2's 0.3.0 patch also went live on August 29th, featuring combat and loot hunting more familiar to Diablo fans. All of these new dynamics are making the genre even more competitive.

Is The Release Of Season 10 A Helpless Decision?

Two years after its release, Diablo 4's seasonal mode is competing for attention not only with new games but also with the ever-evolving RPG genre.

However, with Diablo 4's next DLC not expected until 2026, Diablo 4 will need seasonal updates like Infernal Chaos to keep players engaged.

The arrival of Season 10 PTR follows a period without major updates for Diablo 4. Just last month, the developers announced that no major content updates would be released before the start of the new season, a decision that disappointed some players but made sense given the timing.

Typically, the PTR gives players the opportunity to experience new content before the official season begins, exploring how the new season will play out, including end-game content, new ways to farm Diablo 4 gold, class adjustments, and more. However, the Sanctuary Sitdown event will offer players a deeper look at balance and feature changes, which are often overlooked.

Rod Fergusson's Departure May Have Been The Catalyst For This Sanctuary Sitdown

In fact, 2025 has already brought significant changes to the series. Rod Fergusson, who led the Diablo series for approximately five years, left the team earlier this month. During his tenure, he oversaw the releases of Diablo 4 and its first DLC, Vessel of Hatred, Diablo Immortal, and D2R.

It's unclear how Rod Fergusson's departure will affect future development, but it appears to be a significant factor in the Diablo 4 team's strategy adjustments this year.

With this in mind, Infernal Chaos will need to deliver some memorable highlights to stand out and prove the capabilities of the new development team.

If they can effectively leverage PTR player feedback and clearly address player questions during Sanctuary Sitdown, Season 10 still has a chance to stand out in this competitive launch window.

Regardless, August 14th's Sanctuary Sitdown will be a significant moment for the Diablo 4 community, marking the first time the developers have used this new format for news releases. With so many major releases coming in September, it will be closely watched whether the Infernal Chaos Season lives up to its name and is enough to keep Diablo 4 players engaged in the competitive landscape.

When players reach the endgame, their skill points and glyphs are nearly perfect. But when you face monsters, you'll find they're much tougher than in the campaign. If you're a Necromancer, you'll find your summoned armies of skeletons reduced to shattering skeletons.

So what's going wrong? Why isn't your build as damaging as other players'? How can you improve your damage? This requires analyzing Diablo 4's gameplay and mechanics.

1. Don't Focus On Attack

When you first enter the game, attack damage can provide a significant boost. However, once you reach Torment I, even with 60,000 attack damage, you still won't be able to destroy monsters. This is because attack damage becomes less important in the later stages.

What factors play a role in your combat? Attack speed, critical hit chance, lucky hits, and so on, and all of which are related to attack damage. If you focus solely on increasing your attack power, your damage will indeed increase, but the boost will be limited.

Suppose you have two amulets: one that increases attack power by 20% and critical hit chance and critical hit damage by 30%, and one that increases attack power by 50%. After damage testing, the first amulet will generally have higher damage. So if you constantly recharge your gear to stack attack power in the endgame, you're simply wasting your Diablo 4 gold.

Simply put, attack power is like the water in a pool. You can spray monsters for a whole day with a toy pistol, or you can just use a high-pressure water gun to cut them in half in a second.

2. Multiplicative And Additive

This brings us to Diablo IV's damage formula. In Diablo IV, addition and multiplication are the two primary ways character attributes and damage calculations are affected. Addition simply adds values together, while multiplication multiplies the base value.

Additive is typically used to stack attributes of the same type, such as multiple affixes that increase maximum health or multiple affixes that increase skill damage. The calculation method is to add the values of all additive attributes simply and then apply them to the base attribute. For example, if your character has two affixes that increase maximum health by 10%, the total maximum health increase is 20%.

Multiplicative is typically used to stack attributes of different types, such as increasing attack damage, critical strike chance, and critical strike damage. The calculation method is usually to multiply multiple multiplicative factors together and then apply them to the base attribute. For example, if a character has an affix that increases attack damage by 1.2 times and an affix that increases critical strike damage by 1.5 times, the total attack damage increase is 1.2 * 1.5 = 1.8 times.

On equipment, whether the affix is additive or multiplicative is marked with a symbol in front of the affix, making it easy to identify which affix is more effective. If you want to increase your damage, the most effective way is to focus on multiplicative affixes and maximize your specific abilities.

3. Equipment

Diablo 4 equipment is a major headache for every player. Besides equipment quality, you also need to consider its affixes. For players striving for maximum damage, the most worrying aspect is Greater Affix Gear (GA Gear). This gear tends to drop more frequently in Torment 4, and its affixes represent improved stats, allowing for higher damage. However, in most cases, a single piece of GA gear will suffice.

Horadric Knowledge

Let's first discuss how to get equipment. Your first choice in Season 9 is naturally Horadric Knowledge, which translates to Season 9 reputation. Mystery Archetype Cache provides Diablo 4 items relevant to your class, meaning everything in it is useful, even GA gear. The final Resplendent Cache provides items that allow you to craft Mythic items.

Infernal Hordes

In Infernal Hordes, besides exchanging Burning Aether for caches and obtaining Ancestral Legendary items, you can also obtain Scrolls of Restoration, which grant a chance to re-temper items that can no longer be tempered, preventing your gear from becoming bricked.

Nightmare Dungeons

Season 9's major change is Nightmare Dungeons. By completing both standard and upgraded Nightmare Dungeons, you can earn a considerable amount of Diablo 4 gold, materials, and gear. However, there's no guarantee of receiving Ancestral Unique items.

4. Build Guide

Many people prefer to experiment with their own builds rather than follow others' guides, which is certainly more fun. However, if you're looking for higher damage, referencing each season's meta builds may help you solve your problems.

The builds shared have been tested for damage and are guaranteed to deliver the desired damage. Ignore any builds that don't interest you and choose those that are close to your own builds as a reference.

5. Masterworking and Tempering

Masterworking and tempering are the final steps in upgrading your gear, each offering significant improvements. Masterworking and tempering are two separate equipment enhancement systems, independent of each other, but both significantly impact the stats and power of your gear. Masterworking primarily improves a gear's raw stats and adds additional attributes, while tempering modifies existing attributes to better suit your needs.

Masterworking requires materials such as Diablo 4 Obducite and gold, while tempering requires collecting Tempering Manuals. Collecting all the manuals is a bit tedious, and collecting and opening Whispering Tree caches to collect tempering manuals is a quicker method.

In short, to increase your character's damage, you need to understand Diablo IV damage multipliers and adjust your gear affixes and build accordingly.