Diablo 4 Season 10 (2.4.0 PTR Preview): Chaos Rifts, Infernal Hordes, Chaos Armor, Chaos Perks, Unique Items And More

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• Diablo 4 Season 10 Chaos Armor Preview: Why It Could Reshape Meta Builds?

  Although Diablo 4 Season 10 isn't set to arrive until mid-September, season 10 PTR Livestream about Diablo 4 offer a glimpse into what Season 10 will be like. Infernal Hordes, borne from Hell, once again tear apart the portals between Hell and Earth, bringing death and fire back to this land.

  Besides continued changes to Infernal Hordes in Season 10, one area many players will be interested in is Chaos Armor. It's clearly a new type of equipment, so how does it compare to unique items, ancestral unique items, and mythic items?

  

  What Is Chaos Armor?

  Chaos Armor is still essentially a unique item, but as its name suggests, this armor set is filled with chaos. In Season 10 demo picture, the developers used Banished Lord's Talisman as an example. It's a unique amulet, while its namesake Chaos Armor is a glove, though it can also be boots or a chest armor.

  If a unique item originally had gloves, Chaos Armor will not create gloves with the same name; it will only appear in a different slot.

  Banished Lord's Talisman increases your critical hit damage by up to 60%, while Chaos Armor increases it to 72%, and this means Chaos Armor provides a 20% higher damage bonus than the original unique Diablo 4 item.

  Chaos Armor only has the following components, not including weapon amulets or rings:

  • Helm
  • Chest
  • Gloves
  • Pants
  • Boots

  Why Does It Completely Change Builds?

  From what we've seen so far, Season 10 builds' damage will be taken to another level. Firstly, the nerfs in this patch are minimal, mostly buffs. Secondly, the boost Chaos Armor provides.

  You know some unique items are incredibly powerful, but they often share a slot with other items, which means you're forced to choose between two excellent unique items. Rogue players will undoubtedly have experienced the dilemma of choosing a helmet.

  Chaos Armor solves this problem to some extent. You can equip a unique helmet, and then your gloves' unique effects are derived from another unique helmet. This allows you to swap out less powerful parts for more powerful ones, resulting in a significant boost.

  Some clever players might try to maximize the multiplier by equipping two items with the same unique effect. Unfortunately, the developers anticipated this and prevented you from equipping two items with the same unique effect, or in other words, from equipping Diablo 4 items with the same name.

  Also, Chaos Armor only applies to a subset of unique item effects; their affixes are randomly rolled among the following equipment pools.

  

  General

  • Banished Lord's Talisman
  • Crown of Lucion
  • Endurant Faith
  • Fists of Fate
  • Flickerstep
  • Godslayer Crown
  • Locran's Talisman
  • Mother's Embrace
  • Paingorger's Gauntlets
  • X'Fal's Corroded Signet

  Barbarian

  • Sabre of Tsasgal (New Unique)
  • Battle Trance
  • Gohr's Devastating Grips
  • Hooves of the Mountain God
  • Mantle of Mountain's Fury
  • Overkill
  • Rage of Harrogath
  • Ring of Red Furor
  • Ring of the Ravenous
  • Tuskhelm of Joritz the Mighty
  • Ugly Bastard Helm
  • Unbroken Chain

  Druid

  • Kilt of Blackwing (New Unique)
  • Airidah's Inexorable Will
  • Earthbreaker
  • Fleshrender
  • Greatstaff of the Crone
  • Hunter's Zenith
  • Malefic Crescent
  • Mjölnic Ryng
  • Rotting Lightbringer
  • Tempest Roar
  • The Basilisk
  • Vasily's Prayer

  Necromancer

  • Gospel of the Devotee (New Unique)
  • Black River
  • Bloodless Scream
  • Deathless Visage
  • Deathspeaker's Pendant
  • Ebonpiercer
  • Lidless Wall
  • Ring of Mendeln
  • Ring of the Sacrilegious Soul
  • The Hand of Naz
  • The Mortacrux
  • The Unmaker

  Rogue

  • Orphan Maker (New Unique)
  • Beastfall Boots
  • Condemnation
  • Cowl of the Nameless
  • Deathmask of Nirmitruq
  • Grasp of Shadow
  • Pitfighter's Gull
  • Saboteur's Signet
  • Scoundrel's Leathers
  • Shroud of Khanduras
  • Skyhunter
  • Word of Hakan

  Sorcerer

  • Galvanic Azurite (New Unique)
  • Axial Conduit
  • Blue Rose
  • Esadora's Overflowing Cameo
  • Flamescar
  • Fractured Winterglass
  • Ophidian Iris
  • Raiment of the Infinite
  • Staff of Endless Rage
  • Staff of Lam Esen
  • Starfall Coronet
  • Vox Omnium

  Spiritborn

  • Hesha e Kesungi (New Unique)
  • Balazan's Maxtlatl
  • Band of First Breath
  • Harmony of Ebewaka
  • Jacinth Shell
  • Loyalty's Mantle
  • Peacemonger's Signet
  • Ring of the Midday Hunt
  • Rod of Kepeleke
  • Sunstained War-Crozier
  • Sepazontec
  • Wushe Nak Pa

  How To Get Chaos Armor?

  You have two ways to collect Chaos Armor.

  

  Chaos Rifts

  Chaos Rifts appear randomly throughout Sanctuary. Approaching these areas will unleash a burning horde from Hell. Sealing a Chaos Rift will reward you with Diablo 4 gold, materials, and other rewards. On Torment difficulty, successfully sealing a Chaos Rift has a chance to drop Chaos Armor.

  Boss Bartuc

  The Season 10 rework of Infernal Hordes also introduces a new boss, Bartuc. This boss requires Burning Aether to challenge and offers the best rewards, significantly more than those earned by participating in Infernal Hordes, including Chaos Armor.

  You can challenge this boss with friends, and everyone needs Burning Aether, and when you get the rewards, you don't need Burning Aether, which is similar to how Lair bosses worked before Season 8. This boss is clearly quite challenging, so be prepared well before you challenge it.

  That's some basic information about Chaos Armor. It's clearly going to completely change build strategies, but we'll have to wait until we get to test it on the PTR to see how it performs. If you're interested, the PTR for Season 10 will open on August 19th and end on the 26th, allowing you to download the latest content and experience it.

• Diablo 4 Season 10 PTR Sanctuary Sitdown Preview: Is This New Communication Format The Right Decision?

  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.

• Diablo 4 Season 9 Endgame Character Improvement Guide: How To Increase Your Damage?

  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.

• Diablo 4 Season 9 Earth Spike Druid Build: How To Fast-Teleport In The Pit?

  Season 9 finally sees the arrival of an insane Druid build. This build lets you blink like crazy in The Pit, destroying every enemy within. The clearing speed of this build is top-notch; if you can replicate it, your only concern will be whether your computer can handle the rapid blinking.

  This build has already destroyed 147 The Pit instances, and in the video, they dealt a staggering 2,957,400,000,000,000,000 damage to the boss—it'll take you a while just counting the zeros. This build relies on Horadric Spells in addition to Diablo 4 items, and let's take a look at the skills and items required for this build.

  

  Pros And Cons

  Earth Spike Druid build allows for unlimited teleportation and deals incredibly high damage, making it incredibly fast whether you're farming dungeons or Infernal Horde. This build has incredibly fast teleport speeds, much faster than Sorcerer or any other class build. If you're looking to have a good time before Season 10 arrives, you absolutely must try it.

  Secondly, this build has numerous protective abilities, making it incredibly tanky and difficult to kill in most situations, making it well-suited for Hardcore mode.

  This build does have some drawbacks, of course. First, its high damage is inherently unnatural; it exploits a bug, but this bug has been around for a long time and hasn't been fixed, so you can play for a while without worrying about it suddenly breaking.

  You can exploit this bug to achieve a one-hit kill on bosses (few bosses can withstand such high damage, after all), but triggering the bug takes time, and if you're not able to protect yourself in time, you'll be killed by the boss.

  Another drawback is its high gear requirements. Not only mythical items but also your other gear needs to upgrade by Temper and Masterworking system to get the affixes up to par, requiring a significant investment in Diablo 4 gold and affixes.

  Earth Spike Druid Gear

  • Helm: Vasily's Prayer (Bac and Xan)
  • Chest Armor: Shroud of False Death (Igni and Qax)
  • Gloves: Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast
  • Pants: Stormshifter's Aspect (Sapphire and Sapphire)
  • Boots: Hectic Aspect
  • Weapon: Shard of Verathiel (Emerald)
  • Amulet: Aspect of Adaptability
  • Ring 1: Ring of Starless Skies (Elemental Brand)
  • Ring 2: Aspect of the Rabid Bear (Luminate Eye)
  • Offhand: Aspect of the Moonrise (Emerald)

  This build only requires two unique items, but it's still quite difficult to obtain because you need to obtain two mythic items. Vasily's Prayer's main function is to convert your Earthquake skill into a Werebear skill, granting her the benefits of Grizzly Rage and Aspect of the Rabid Bear.

  As for affixes, since you rely primarily on Earth Spike for damage rather than regular attacks, you'll want affixes like cooldown reduction and increased Earth skill damage. The better your gear, the higher your cumulative damage.

  

  Earth Spike Druid Skills

  • Debilitating Roar (Rank 1): Enchanced Debilitating Roar and Innate Debilitating Roar
  • Blood Howl (Rank 1): Enchanted Blood Howl and Innate Blood Howl
  • Cyclone Armor (Rank 1): Enchanted Cyclone Armor and preserving Cyclone Armor
  • Grizzly Rage (Rank 5): Prime Grizzly Rage and Supreme Grizzly Rage
  • Hurricane (Rank 1): Enchanted Hurricane and Savage Hurricane
  • Earth Spike (Rank 5): Enchanted Earth Spike and Wild Earth Spike

  Spirit Boons

  • Deer: Wariness
  • Eagle: Swooping Attacks and Avian Wrath
  • Wolf: Energize
  • Snake: Obsidian Slam

  This build mainly relies on Earth Spike to trigger Catalyst skill for flash. Pulverize has higher damage, but since it requires a target to use, while Earth Spike doesn't need this, only Earth Spike allows you to frequently flash to other areas.

  When paired with Horadric Spells for quick flashing, Earth Spike's damage is sufficient to kill most normal monsters. The remaining skills are primarily used during boss fights, where their primary purpose is to deal with them. Most of these skills are used to enhance survivability, making this build highly survivable.

  

  Horadric Spells

  Catalyst (Earth Spike)

  • Cosmic Anomaly: Manifest up to 5 Anomalies, which emit particles that deal damage over 4 seconds. You can cluster Anomalies and implode, each explosion dealing damage. With 5 Anomalies, you become unstoppable.

  Infusion

  • Corrosive Vapor: Changes the damage dealt by your Cosmic Anomaly to poison damage and disables the life steal of monsters for 5 seconds.

  Arcana

  • Sapping Crux: Your Catalyst ability makes enemies vulnerable.
  • Floaty Bobble: You can flash to the explosion created by Cosmic Anomaly and remove the debuff.
  • Gleaming Conduit: Amplifies Catalyst abilities.

  Horadic Spells are the core of this build. Simply cast Earth Spike to trigger Cosmic Anomaly and Floaty Bobble, allowing you to quickly teleport around the map. You can switch between the other two Arcanas based on your farming goals.

  This is the most crazy Druid build that will make it easy to clear The Pit in Season 9. This build primarily exploits bugs, so some players might not like it. However, if you're looking to bid farewell to Season 9 and wait for Season 10, I recommend giving it a try before you leave, and it's a very enjoyable build.

• Diablo 4 Season 9 Best Infernal Horde Farming Strategies: How To Harvest Burning Aether Efficiently?

  While Diablo 4’s endgame isn’t as extensive as Path of Exile 2 and Last Epoch, it still offers a number of high-quality dungeons and activities for farming gear, materials, and leveling, such as Horadric Strongrooms, Kurast Undercity, and Infernal Horde in Season 9.

  In terms of material yields like Diablo 4 Obducite, Infernal Horde falls short of the previous two, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad endgame activity. Because the Infernal Horde spawns many monsters, and leveling in Diablo 4 is based on monster counts, the Infernal Horde is an excellent leveling activity for players just reaching the endgame.

  Leveling is only one aspect of Infernal Horde; don’t forget it also yields a significant amount of materials. To maximize your gains, you’ll need a good farming strategy.

  

  Infernal Horde Guide

  Infernal Horde is a wave-based survival mode where you face waves of monsters, culminating in a battle against three Corrupted Council bosses. Each wave begins with a 60-second timer. Unlike the timer in Kurast Undercity, you only need to survive for 60 seconds, not kill all the monsters within 60 seconds. Whether you survive or kill all the monsters, the wave ends.

  The player’s primary goal is to earn Burning Aether by killing monsters. These are exchanged for Spoils of Hell at the end of Infernal Horde, which contain items such as Diablo IV Obducite, gold, and elixirs.

  After completing each wave, players must choose one of three Infernal Offers, which affect the amount of Burning Aether earned each round, and the monsters encountered. Each Infernal Offer has both positive and negative effects. During each wave, you’ll also trigger Aether Events. Completing these events will earn you more Burning Aether.

  Unlocking Infernal Horde events requires Infernal Hordes Compass, which is no longer craftable in Season 9. However, you can get it from dungeons, Helltide, and Whisper Chests.

  

  Infernal Offers

  To effectively utilize Infernal Horde, you need to understand the various Infernal Offer mechanics. Different combinations of Infernal Offers can affect Burning Aether drops, and some poorly chosen Infernal Offers can even lead to failure!

  The types of Infernal Offers are as follows: 

  • The Aether Rush
  • The Burning Hellborne
  • The Burning Rain
  • The Bursting Fiends
  • The Bursting Masses
  • The Corrupting Spires
  • The Draining Spires
  • The Enfeebled Wanderer
  • The Exalted Council
  • The Exalted Elite
  • The Exalted Hellborne
  • The Exalted Hordes
  • The Exalted Masses
  • The Exhausted Wanderer
  • The Gorging Masses
  • The Insatiable Spires
  • The Invigorating Hellborne
  • The Stalking Devil
  • The Summoned Hellborne
  • The Summoned Lords
  • The Surging Elite
  • The Surging Hellborne
  • The Teeming Masses
  • The Unstoppable Elite
  • The Withered Wanderer

  Preparation And Strategy

  Since players have multiple arsenals, in addition to dealing with The Pit, Bosses, and Nightmare Dungeons, you’ll also need a build specifically for clearing Infernal Horde.

  

  Strategy 1: Hellborne

  Hellborne offers the most generous rewards, so to maximize your Burning Aether gains, you’ll want to choose Infernal Offers that are closely tied to Burning Aether. The Surging Hellborne is the best choice, but The Invigorating Hellborne doesn’t provide any Burning Aether benefits.

  You can choose from the following Infernal Offers:

  • The Summoned Hellborne
  • The Burning Hellborne
  • The Exalted Hellborne
  • The Surging Hellborne

  Strategy 2: Aether Fiends

  If you don’t encounter any Hellborne-related Infernal Offers, you still have other options. Aether Fiends offer quite good rewards, and if you choose The Surging Elite, your Burning Aether gains will be second only to The Surging Hellborne.

  The Infernal Offers you can choose from are as follows:

  • The Exalted Elite
  • The Surging Elite
  • The Unstoppable Elite
  • The Teeming Masses
  • The Summoned Lords

  Strategy 3: Fixed Rewards

  Sometimes you may not receive any of the above Infernal Offers. This isn’t the worst of it; you still have some options. While their rewards are average, they’re also not too difficult.

  The Infernal Offers you can choose from are as follows:

  • The Burning Rain
  • The Enfeebled Wanderer
  • The Exalted Council
  • The Withered Wanderer
  • The Stalking Devil

  Strategy 4: Optional

  If you don’t receive any of the above Infernal Offers, Infernal Offers you should choose are mainly to make the next wave less difficult.

  Infernal Offers you can choose from are as follows:

  • The Exalted Hordes
  • Invigorating Hellborne
  • The Bursting Masses
  • The Exalted Masses

  Strategy 5: Bad Choices

  Some choices will slow down your activity, add extra events, or even cause you to die mid-game. Avoid these.

  The Infernal Offers you shouldn’t choose are as follows:

  • The Gorged Masses
  • The Corrupting Spires
  • The Insatiable Spires
  • The Bursting Fiends

  Infernal Horde Rewards

  Infernal Horde’s main rewards are Obducite and Scroll of Restoration. Caches also contain materials and even unique weapons. However, Obducite and Scroll of Restoration come from different chests. Scroll of Restoration comes from Spoils of Greater Equipment, while Obducite comes from Spoils of Materials.

  The amount of loot varies across Torment levels. Below is the amount of Diablo 4 Obducite found in Obducite Caches at each Torment difficulty level.

  • Torment 1: 40 Obducite
  • Torment 2: 80 Obducite
  • Torment 3: 160 Obducite
  • Torment 4: 320 Obducite

  This concludes your Infernal Horde farming strategy. If you have extra Infernal Horde Compasses in your inventory, you can just use them all and farm for materials by Infernal Horde.

• Diablo 4 Season 9 Stormclaw Druid Build After Patch 2.3.1: Why Has It Become Stronger?

  Ever since Season 9 PTR, Druid has been considered one of the weakest classes of the season because of multiple nerfs. Even with the class mechanics adjustments introduced with the season’s official launch, this situation hasn’t changed.

  Clearly, this long-term trend would not only undermine Druid fans’ enthusiasm for the game but also hinder Diablo 4’s popularity and game balance. Fortunately, recent patch 2.3.1 has changed this situation.

  Perhaps due to the game’s recent frequent patching to better prepare for Season 10, Druid became a playable class mid-Season 9, making Stormclaw Druid builds more reliable.

  Below, we’ll explain the changes patch 2.3.1 brings to Druid and how to craft and utilize Stormclaw Druid builds.

  

  Druid Changes In Patch 2.3.1

  This patch was released on July 15th (the latest being Patch 2.3.2, released on July 29th). The main updates can be categorized as follows:

  • Vessel of Hatred Balance Update
  • Vessel of Hatred Bug Fixes
  • Base Game Balance Updates
  • General
  • Bug Fixes

  The changes related to Druid are included in the third section. While not only Druid, but the other five classes also received improvements, Druid has clearly received more attention due to its long-standing underdog status:

  • Pulverize: Damage increased from 150% to 175%.
  • Greatstaff of the Crone: Claw, a Storm skill, cast Storm Strike at 200-350% normal damage in the past, now casts Storm Strike and Claw at the same time, and Storm Strike with 100-250% increased damage.

  This change means you can now farm Diablo 4 gold faster as a Druid in combat by using two damage-boosting sources. And as base skills, Claw and Storm Strike require no resources to cast.

  On the other hand, the separation of the two damage sources and their multipliers means you can now deal more consistent damage with a higher cap when casting these abilities.

  While this requires you to constantly farm bosses to obtain the unique item Greatstaff of the Crone as a premise, the ultimate reward is well worth the effort. The following bosses can drop this item in Season 9:

  • Varshan
  • Lord Zir
  • Grigoire
  • Echo of Duriel
  • Urivar

  

  Stormclaw Druid Build

  This build’s key strengths include speed, ease of mastery, and tankiness. It features a melee playstyle, using the damage from Claw and Storm Strike provided by Greatstaff of the Crone to quickly dash into enemies and knock them down.

  Available Skills

  The following skills are primarily suitable for this build:

  • Grizzly Rage: Transforms you into a Dire Werebear for a short period of time, increasing your damage output and damage resistance. The longer you maintain this form, the greater the damage bonus.
  • Cyclone Armor: When an enemy in melee range attacks you, the wind has a 15% chance to knock them back, reducing damage taken by 15%.
  • Hurricane: Creates a destructive hurricane around you, damaging nearby enemies over 8 seconds.
  • Blood Howl: Transforms you into a Werewolf and lets out a furious howl, restoring a percentage of your maximum health.
  • Claw: Transforms into a Werewolf and attacks a single enemy.
  • Maul: Transforms into a Werebear and unleashes a devastating melee attack on the enemy in front of you.

  Best Gear

  While Greatstaff of the Crone is undoubtedly essential, a Stormclaw Druid build becomes even more powerful with the following additional gear:

  • Helm: Heir of Perdition / Tempest Roar
  • Chest: Shroud of False Death / Mad Wolf’s Glee
  • Gloves: Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast
  • Pants: Dire Wolf’s Aspect
  • Boots: Wildheart Hunger / Stormshifter’s Aspect
  • Amulet: Aspect of the Rabid Bear
  • Ring: Aspect of the Moonrise / Aspect of Adaptability

  

  Best Spirit Boons

  This mechanic allows you to unlock related passive skills by sacrificing them to animal spirits to gain their blessings. Once fully unlocked, you can also activate the final boon by Spirit Bonding with one of the four animal spirits.

  To this end, we recommend prioritizing the following boons:

  • Gift of the Stag - Deer: Gains 10 Spirit per second, up to a maximum of 30 Spirit.
  • Avian Wrath - Eagle: Increases critical damage by 40%.
  • Swooping Attacks - Eagle: Increases attack speed by 20%.
  • Calamity - Wolf: Increases Ultimate Duration by 35%.
  • Overload - Snake: When you utilize Storm Skills, Lightning Bolts, and Dancing Bolts to deal damage, they also deal an additional 20% poison damage over 5 seconds.

  Other Useful Season 9 Druid Builds

  Although Druid was unreliable before Patch 2.3.1, it’s still worth trying with the help of several other builds, including Pulverize Druid, Fleshrender Druid, and Companion Druid.

  With the new Druid unique item Rotting Lightbringer added in Season 9, Pulverize Druid and Fleshrender Druid builds can deal more poison splash damage in combat.

  As for Companion Druid, it can utilize many minions to help you clear Season 9 Escalating Nightmares and Horadric Strongrooms dungeons more quickly.

  Thus, while Stormclaw Druid build has become more powerful, you can still choose the best build based on your needs as a Druid player. On the other hand, these Druid buffs may also mean that it will become a popular class in the middle of Season 9.

  That’s all we have for this article. We hope you find it helpful and wish you the best of luck in your next Season 9 adventures!