Diablo 4 Season 5: Players Are Not Allowed To Wield Unique Items That Caused Massive Experience Gains

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• Diablo 4 Season 11 Necromancer Build Tier List | Top Shadow Blight & Golem For The Pit And Tower

  Diablo 4 Season 11 made some adjustments to various classes, and Necromancer once again emerged as one of the best. The newly acquired unique item for Necromancer, Gravebloom, is particularly interesting; it allows you to summon three powerful golems.

  If you decide to play Necromancer in Season 11, you might want to know which builds are the strongest. Below is a ranking of the strongest Necromancer builds, which are focusing on their performance in The Pit and Tower.

  

  The Impact Of Season 11

  Season 11 made several permanent changes to the crafting and defense systems, which directly impacted many builds.

  Firstly, the cooldown reduction affix can now appear on jewelry. Ring of Mendeln was buffed, and Rathma's Vigor passive was changed, making some builds viable again.

  On the other hand, developers increased monster damage and generally weakened character survivability, making build tankiness extremely important.

  Tier D

  Blood Mist Necromancer

  Blood Mist Necromancer primarily relies on frequently triggering Blood Mist and Corpse Explosion, especially Blighted Corpse Explosion, to deal damage, and it's also known as Infinimist Necromancer.

  It performed poorly in the season. The main reason is its over-reliance on corpse resources, while there are currently more high-damage alternatives.

  C Tier

  Affliction Necromancer

  Affliction Necromancer is a new build in Season 11, and it involves curse skills like Iron Maiden. Some unique items allow Iron Maiden to deal shadow damage.

  Affliction Necromancer is very suitable for leveling. However, its damage output has a ceiling for pushing The Pit and Tower levels, preventing it from reaching top-tier levels and placing it primarily in the mid-tier of The Pit.

  Tier B

  Blood Surge And Blood Lance Necromancer

  Both Blood Surge and Blood Lance have received significant buffs, resulting in substantial damage increases. With the right Diablo 4 items, these builds might reach Tier A.

  Corpse Explosion Necromancer

  This build focuses entirely on corpse explosion damage, making it heavily reliant on Black River gear. Its survivability is decent, but its damage output may be insufficient at higher levels of The Pit.

  Sever Necromancer

  Sever Necromancer performs strongly in the early game, but suffers from slow movement speed and insufficient damage in the late game.

  Bone Storm Necromancer

  It was very strong in Season 10 due to the existence of Chaos Perks, but its ranking has dropped due to the removal of these mechanics in the new season and the nerf to Lidless Wall. It might not be as good as Blood Necromancer builds, but it's still Tier B.

  Tier A

  Blight Necromancer

  This build focuses on Blight skill, utilizing Ebonpiercer to make Blight effective. This build is very tanky and suitable for speed farming. In Season 11, due to the significant increase in monster damage and the decrease in overall player survivability, survivability becomes extremely important, which is the main advantage of this build.

  Bone Spirit Necromancer

  With Season 11 allowing players to gain cooldown reduction on rings and amulets, coupled with the fix to Rapid Ossification, Bone Spirit can finally be self-sufficient and become a viable option. Its damage and survivability are decent, and if Sanctification is utilized to obtain suitable affixes, this build has the potential to reach Tier S.

  Bone Spear Necromancer

  Bone Spear Necromancer has very strong single-target damage, making it very effective against bosses, but it lacks AoE capabilities. The buff to Ring of Mendeln also benefits it, resulting in a slight rise in its ranking.

  Skeletal Mage Necromancer

  The primary beneficiary of Ring of Mendeln damage buff is Skeletal Mages Necromancer, making Necromancer's summons very reliable again. It excels for leveling and early push of The Pit, but falls slightly below Tier S for higher levels.

  Blood Wave Necromancer

  Overpower variant of Shadow Blood Wave struggles somewhat with triggering Blood orbs, but the changes to Rathma's Vigor (Overpower timer 15s → 10s) might give it the potential to reach Tier S.

  Another DoT variant is viable; regardless of the variant, this build provides strong survivability, which is invaluable in the current season.

  Tier S

  Shadow Blight Necromancer

  Shadow Blight Necromancer boasts extremely high damage, possibly slightly higher than the buffed Golem Necromancer. It's also incredibly tanky, offering far greater survivability than Golem Necromancer.

  It relies on corpses, requiring corpse explosions, Soulrift, and Blight casts to trigger Shadow Blight effect. While the controls are somewhat cumbersome, the high damage makes survivability less of a concern in The Pit.

  Golem Necromancer

  Golem Necromancer received approximately a 60% damage buff compared to the PTR, and is expected to stack an additional 6 layers in The Pit. It doesn't rely on corpses, and Golem's casting provides an Unstoppable state, combining single-target and AoE damage for a more comfortable gameplay experience. However, its biggest drawback is survivability, so you'll need to be careful to dodge monster and bosses' skills.

  If you prioritize stability, high damage, and high survivability, choose Shadow Blight Necromancer. If you want to challenge yourself with extreme damage, try new playstyles, and accept a fragile build, choose Golem Necromancer. These two are likely the highest-ranked Necromancer builds on The Pit and Towers leaderboards.

  While classic Necromancer builds remain reliable, we highly recommend trying newer builds like Golem Necromancer and Affliction Necromancer. They're perfect for early-game leveling and endgame play, respectively, offering a fresh experience.

• Diablo 4 Season 11 VS. Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 | Who Is Likely To Win In This Competition?

  In the developer livestream that concluded last week, several key pieces of information regarding Diablo 4 Season 11 were announced, such as its official name, Season of Divine Intervention, several further changes based on existing content, and its release date.

  Originally, everyone predicted the season would launch on December 9th, as almost every previous season update had been on a Tuesday evening, but the final date was set for Thursday, December 11th at 8:30 PM PDT.

  This change might lead to many speculations, as it coincides with the timing of this year's TGA awards, and the day after is the release of a new patch 0.4.0 for Diablo 4's old rival, Path of Exile 2.

  Since the news that the second DLC will be released in 2026 is no longer a secret, everyone suspects that Diablo 4 might announce information about the seventh class at TGA.

  However, honestly, whatever groundbreaking news they announce, it won't be added to Season 11 immediately, so the more pressing concern is the impact from Path of Exile 2.

  Next, we will analyze this upcoming new competition between these two old rivals based on the different update content from both games.

  

  Diablo 4 Season 11 Highlights

  Overall, this season follows Diablo 4's consistent update pattern: seasonal powers + new bosses and content + multiple updates. The most prominent features are the return of leaderboards and a major overhaul of the gear upgrade system.

  Unfortunately, on last week's livestream, the developers stated that the leaderboards and the accompanying The Tower dungeon will be delayed until 2026, which is bad news for players who follow the leaderboards.

  But don't despair, the more stable Masterworking and Tempering systems will allow for more consistent gear and affix enhancements, and you can also earn loot and seasonal power Divine Gifts through new boss battles.

  Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0

  This patch, officially named The Last of the Druids, will be released on Friday, December 12th at 11:00 AM PDT, just before a free weekend! Although it still follows the same regular update pattern, this patch brings the new Druid class to POE 2.

  Druids in Path of Exile 2 boast two Ascendancy classes and three transformable forms, offering highly innovative features and re-playability.

  In addition, other existing classes and mechanics have received varying degrees of optimization, and the launch of the new Fate of the Vaal league means you can start from scratch, exploring the secrets of Vaal Ruins through new adventures.

  Which Game Has The Advantage In This Competition?

  Although the first Path of Exile game launched in 2013, earlier than Diablo 4 which was released in 2023, Diablo series as a whole predates Path of Exile, and Path of Exile 2 was released at the end of 2024, and is still in early access.

  Of course, release date isn't the core factor determining a game's quality; we're mentioning this simply to illustrate the long-standing competition between the two games.

  As ARPGs, Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2 have inherent differences in gameplay: the former focuses on simple and easy-to-understand combat, aiming for quick accessibility; the latter prefers to immerse you in complex mechanics for a more in-depth experience.

  If you pay attention to the art styles, you'll find they are also quite different. While both have a dark aesthetic, Diablo 4 emphasizes Gothic and mythological elements, while Path of Exile 2 features a medieval, retro aesthetic.

  Based on these significant differences, both games have their own loyal fan bases, but most players are more focused on the present: whichever game has more interesting new content is the one they'll play.

  Comparing Season 11 and Patch 0.4.0, POE 2 seems more appealing, mainly because of the introduction of Druid. Although D4 Season 11 also has new content, the overall re-playability hasn't improved much.

  More importantly, Path of Exile 2 will offer a 3-day free trial until December 15th, allowing anyone to try all content, including patch 0.4.0, regardless of whether they own the base game.

  Therefore, in the short term, at least throughout December, POE 2 is likely to be more attractive. However, since TGA awards haven't started yet, it's hard to say whether Diablo 4's next move will bring a reversal.

  Why Is This Competition Happening?

  When multiple games release new content simultaneously, players inevitably compare them, making it easier to expose the shortcomings of games with subpar content. After all, if you only have one option, you're more likely to tolerate its flaws.

  Furthermore, even if each game diligently develops new seasons or patches, simultaneous releases prevent players from focusing on a single game, leading to decreased engagement.

  Therefore, although Diablo 4 and Path of Exile are old rivals, they have mostly avoided direct confrontation in the past, especially Path of Exile, which usually avoids the hype surrounding Diablo 4's new seasons.

  However, whether D4S11 launches on December 9th as planned or is delayed to the 11th, it's only a few days apart from the release of POE 2 Patch 0.4.0, indicating that Path of Exile 2 is prepared to directly confront Diablo 4 this time.

  From the analysis in the previous section, we can see why POE 2 developers have such confidence: the new content, represented by Druid class, is indeed very attractive and breaks away from the conventional patterns of Druids in most ARPGs.

  So why did Path of Exile 2 choose to strike now? We believe it's because Diablo 4 hasn't had any truly groundbreaking innovations throughout 2025, and negative player feedback is increasing.

  Meanwhile, POE 2's patches 0.2.0 and 0.3.0, while not without flaws, generally showed good effort and innovation, building a solid foundation of popularity.

  Based on this, even though Diablo 4 likely has some tricks up its sleeve, Path of Exile 2 still chooses to engage in a direct confrontation as 2025 draws to a close. But for you, the player, all this competition simply means you can enjoy plenty of new game content!

  The Situation After The Start Of 2026

  Based on current information, POE 2 is unlikely to release any more explosive new information for the time being, but Diablo 4 has more possibilities, such as the return of leaderboards in update 2.5.2, and unknown new content to be announced at TGA.

  Speculations about possible new announcements include a major trailer for the future main storyline, pre-order bonuses, and a new class, possibly Paladin, which might be released in Season 11.

  To be honest, the idea of ​​a big announcement at TGA is just speculation; Diablo 4 hasn't given any clear information, but considering its rather lackluster performance this year, this timing is hard not to speculate about.

  If any of these speculations come true, Diablo 4 Season 11 will have more staying power than POE 2 and will show stronger performance in 2026.

  It's also worth mentioning that although most of the new content in Season 11 isn't particularly innovative, many fundamental mechanics changes have made the game better. These subtle changes are very important for the overall improvement of the game.

  Summary

  Neither of the new content updates has been officially released yet, so we can't easily conclude which will be better, but it's clear that Diablo 4 hasn't shown all its cards yet, and is working hard to keep you on the edge of your seat!

  ---

  There are only two days left until the launch of Season 11. If you want to get ahead of others in gear upgrades in the new season, it's best to buy cheap Diablo 4 gold at IGGM, because it's one of the upgrade materials that cannot be refunded, so you need to stock up enough!

• Diablo 4 Season 11 New World Boss Azmodan Guide | How To Defeat Him To Get Rewards?

  As an ARPG with a dark Gothic aesthetic and bloody visuals as its main art style, in addition to new playable content, the art design of new characters, scenes, and items is often a highlight of Diablo 4 updates.

  Unfortunately, in recent seasons, Diablo 4 hasn't introduced enough noteworthy changes in these areas, except for Belial's return in Season 8, and the new boss Azmodan, who will appear in Season 11.

  Both of these bosses appeared in Diablo 3 and have a close relationship. So, in what capacity does Azmodan return in Diablo 4 Season 11, and how should you defeat him? We will answer these questions for you.

  

  Azmodan Background Story Summary

  As the latest installment in Diablo series, Diablo 4 doesn't provide much explanation of many characters from previous games through the storyline, so you only know what you can gain from them, but not their origins.

  While this doesn't affect the gameplay itself, knowing more is always a good thing, so we will briefly introduce Azmodan based on Diablo 3 main story.

  Azmodan is one of the seven Lesser Evils, second only to Prime Evils. After collaborating with Belial to overthrow Prime Evils, they turned against each other, and Azmodan invaded Sanctuary to gain more power.

  In the story of Diablo 3, Azmodan was defeated by the protagonists and imprisoned in Black Soulstone. However, due to the presence of a traitor, Diablo was summoned again and eventually defeated and imprisoned in Black Soulstone.

  Afterward, Diablo and the souls of other Lesser Evils merged in Black Soulstone until Black Soulstone was destroyed, at which point they separated - these demons would escape and bring new disasters.

  What Are World Bosses?

  Azmodan joins Diablo 4 Season 11 as a new world boss and will be added to the game's spawn and rotation schedule along with the three existing world bosses.

  World bosses appear at their respective locations every 3.5 hours, and you have 15 minutes to fight them. If you exceed the time limit, the boss will escape, but if you win within the time limit, you have a chance to obtain rare items and other seasonal rewards.

  To help you find these bosses in a timely manner, the system will notify you when they are about to appear after you unlock World Tier 3 in Diablo 4.

  Here are other world bosses besides Azmodan and their locations:

  • Ashava, the Pestilent: May appear in The Crucible (Fractured Peaks), Scosglen (Caen Adar), and other arenas.
  • Avarice, the Gold Cursed: May appear in Seared Basin (Kehjistan), Saraan Caldera (Dry Steppes), and other arenas.
  • Wandering Death: May appear in Fields of Desecration (Hawezar), and other arenas.

  Azmodan In D4S11

  After Season 11 is officially released, from the perspective of the world boss mechanism, you may unlock Azmodan encounter in the following locations:

  • The Crucible (Fractured Peaks)
  • Scosglen (Caen Adar)
  • Saraan Caldera (Dry Steppes)
  • Fields of Desecration (Hawezar)
  • Seared Basin (Kehjistan)
  • The Cauldron (Nahantu)

  In addition, as one of Lesser Evils, Azmodan has three other "companions" in Sanctuary who will appear in different endgame events. Defeating these Lesser Evils will unlock Season 11 seasonal power, Divine Gifts.

  The other three Lesser Evils and their locations are as follows:

  • Duriel - Helltides
  • Belial - Pit of Artificers
  • Andariel - Kurast Undercity

  Azmodan And Divine Gifts

  Divine Gifts include Corrupted and Purified powers. After defeating each Lesser Evil, you will obtain the corresponding Corrupted Essences and immediately unlock their corrupted slot.

  Note that unlocking the purified slot requires you to reach a specific reputation level. The level corresponding to Azmodan is Rank VI, and the essences you can obtain are Essence of Sin and Essence of Hellfire.

  How To Defeat Azmodan?

  This boss is proficient in dealing fire and spell damage, so close combat is not recommended. Instead, with gear that increases movement speed and mobility, you should always attack from a medium to long distance behind the boss during the fight.

  The boss's skills that last throughout the entire battle mainly include constantly moving fire spikes and lava waves. The spikes move slowly but deal high damage, while the lava waves constantly expand, making them difficult to avoid.

  When you reduce the boss's health to 80% through attacks, he will periodically release a lava breath attack; you can avoid this damage by dodging in time. When Azmodan's health drops to 60%, he will summon a group of Balrogs to attack you.

  All the above skills are manageable, but the real challenge comes when Azmodan's health is reduced to about 5%, at which point he summons many meteors that move towards him. You need to constantly dodge while attacking the boss until he dies.

  After winning the battle, you can expect to receive items such as Exquisite Blood and Tribute of Radiance as rewards. Furthermore, the first time you defeat Azmodan each week, you'll receive exclusive loot and unlock even more rewards!

  

  Can This Boss Battle Be Completed Solo?

  Although world bosses aren't typically considered difficult, as a new boss, Azmodan will undoubtedly be challenging enough to highlight his uniqueness and importance.

  Also, as you know, the overall difficulty of Diablo 4 will be increased after Season 11's release, so completing this boss battle solo is very risky - but not impossible.

  To do this, you should first complete leveling and acquire several good unique items. Secondly, if you're playing Necromancer class, be sure to try Golem builds!

  After Season 11 begins, there may be some changes to the details of Azmodan boss battle. You just need to pay attention to these changes based on this guide to confidently handle the fight. Good luck!

• Diablo 4 Season 11 Evade Spiritborn Build Guide | Fast Leveling, Simple Gameplay & Strong Endgame Performance

  While Diablo 4 Season 11 made some adjustments to the early game difficulty, your leveling speed will still be quite fast if you kill monsters quickly enough.

  Evade Spiritborn build, after several seasons of testing, has proven to be excellent for both leveling and endgame performance, and may be one of the best Spiritborn builds.

  

  Evade Spiritborn Gameplay And Advantages

  The core mechanics of Evade Spiritborn build revolve around Eagle Hall ability. Your skill tree should primarily focus on enhancing various damage multipliers. Use Evade to trigger Accelerated Thunderspike effect, unleashing a barrage of feathers at monsters for massive damage.

  Evade Spiritborn build has been a Tier S leveling build for several consecutive seasons. It boasts extremely fast movement speed and monster-clearing efficiency, and its gameplay is very simple, and you just need to keep using Evade, and the flying feathers will automatically clear the monsters on the screen.

  Impact Of Season 11

  A bug in PTR 2.5.0 allowed gear like Loyalty's Mantle to provide double damage bonuses with Eagle Hall, resulting in excessively high damage. If this bug had been fixed, the reachable level in The Pit would have decreased by 10 levels (about level 100). This bug has been fixed in the official patch.

  However, the developers also announced a rebalancing of the difficulty of The Tower and The Pit, reducing it by approximately 5-10 levels. Therefore, the actual strength of Evade Spiritborn is not expected to change significantly compared to PTR 2.5.0.

  Additionally, the developers announced a 60% reduction in boss health, which will significantly speed up boss fights for this build.

  Evade Spiritborn Leveling Build

  Gear

  • Helm: Aspect of Might (Neo + Qax)
  • Chest Armor: Aspect of Layered Wards (Cem + Gar)
  • Gloves: Rebounding Aspect
  • Pants: Aspect of Disobedience (Emerald + Emerald)
  • Boots: Duelist's Aspect
  • Amulet: Aspect of Unyielding Hits (Skull)
  • Ring 1: Conceited Aspect (Skull)
  • Ring 2: Aspect of the Moonrise (Skull)

  In the early game, you can freely use your two-handed weapon slot, using any magic, rare, or legendary weapon, focusing primarily on its pure damage to avoid wasting resources on Aspect engravings due to frequent upgrades.

  Skils

  • Thunderspike: Enhanced Thunderspike and Accelerated Thunderspike
  • Crushing Hand: Enhanced Crushing Hand and Advantageous Crushing Hand
  • Toxic Skin: Enhanced Toxic Skin and Measured Toxic Skin
  • Soar: Enhanced Soar and Replenishing Soar
  • Ravager: Enhanced Ravager and Measured Ravager
  • Armored Hide: Enhanced Armored Hide and Reinforced Armored Hide
  • Primary Spirit: Eagle
  • Secondary Spirit: Eagle

  From level 1 to 14, you can use basic skills like Stinger, Quill Volley, or Crushing Hand to level up. However, when you reach level 15, you must reset your skills and switch to Evade Spiritborn build.

  Evade Spiritborn skill build is relatively flexible, and the overall strength is not significantly affected. Even if you don't have enough skill points, it won't affect your damage much, because skills like Thunderspike and Crushing Hand are mainly used to trigger effects.

  Starting with the seasonal quests, unlock the reputation board on Normal difficulty, then equip your pet. Once you reach level 15, switch to Hard difficulty and use Crushing Hand to farm Helltide. Then farm Helltide until the first hour ends, and your character should be around level 30-35.

  Then, run Vessel of Hatred Campaign on Normal difficulty until you unlock Kurast Undercity and obtain Runes Cache. Last, depending on your character's strength, continue farming Helltide on Expert or Penitent difficulty until you reach level 50. After that, clear Strongholds on Normal difficulty.

  Evade Spiritborn Endgame Build

  Gear

  • Helm: Loyalty's Mantle (Qax + Cem)
  • Chest Armor: Jacinth Shell (Emerald and Emerald)
  • Gloves: Fists of Fate
  • Pants: Temerity (Emerald and Emerald)
  • Boots: Duelist's Aspect
  • Weapon: Wushe Nak Pa (Ohm + Bac)
  • Amulet: Aspect of Redirected Force (Skull)
  • Ring 1: Conceited Aspect
  • Ring 2: Aspect of Unyielding Hits (Skull)

  In the mid-game, you can Temper your gear to gain damage affixes and reforge other attributes. Then, progress through The Pit to level 10 to unlock Torment I difficulty.

  This build doesn't require any specific Diablo 4 items for a smooth transition from early game to endgame content, and you only need 3 items to handle most of the endgame content. One is the core item Loyalty's Mantle obtained by defeating Gregor, and the other is the Wushe Nak Pa and Jacinth Shell obtained by defeating Lord Zir.

  Skills

  • Armored Hide: Enhanced Armored Hide and Reinforced Armored Hide
  • Concussive Stomp: Enhanced Concussive Stomp
  • Thunderspike: Enhanced Thunderspike and Accelerated Thunderspike
  • Counterattack: Enhanced Counterattack and Reinforced Counterattack
  • The Seeker: Harmonious Seeker and Exalted Seeker
  • Rock Splitter: no

  In endgame gameplay, you almost only need to frequently press the evade key, while other skills mostly provide buffs. For example, Armored Hide skill is only used to trigger Aspect of Unyielding Hits buff.

  Spiritborn is one of the strongest classes in Season 11, and Evade Spiritborn is the most stable and safest choice. It can be strong from the start of the season to the end, without worrying about acquiring specific Diablo 4 items, and is arguably the best leveling build in the entire game. If you're not aiming for The Pit rankings, then this can be your best starting build for Season 11.

• Diablo 4 Season 11 Delayed Release Speculation | What Exciting Surprises Will Be Revealed At TGA?

  Diablo 4 Campfire Chat not only announced the changes for Season 11, but also its release date. However, this date is unusual, being two days later than players had predicted.

  This is clearly unusual, leading players to speculate that Season 11 might have some surprises in store to counter the challenge from its biggest rival, Path of Exile 2 patch 0.4.0.

  

  Why Is The Release Date Unusual?

  Season 11 Release Date

  According to Diablo 4's usual practice, the end date of each season pass typically signifies the end of the season. Therefore, according to the original schedule, Season 10 would end on December 9th, which usually means that Season 11 would begin immediately afterward on the 9th.

  However, the latest official patch notes and blog indicate that Season 11 will begin at the following times:

  • 8:30 PM Pacific Standard Time (PT), Thursday, December 11th
  • 11:30 PM Eastern Time (EST), Thursday, December 11th
  • 4:30 AM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), Friday, December 12th
  • 5:30 AM Central European Time (CET), Friday, December 12th

  The Unusual Reason

  Official releases are rarely on Thursdays, and they typically release new seasons on Tuesdays. Furthermore, 8:30 PM EST is an unfavorable time for players worldwide, as it's close to midnight or nighttime in most regions.

  This time also means that Diablo IV development team and engineers will probably need to work through the night to ensure a smooth season launch, resulting in additional overtime costs.

  Furthermore, Diablo 4's official season updates deliberately avoid clashing with the seasons and leagues of other popular ARPGs.

  This timing puts Season 11 very close to the release of its main competitor, Path of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0. Patch 0.4.0 will be released on December 12th, bringing the new Druid class to Path of Exile series.

  The Impact Of The Game Awards

  The biggest reason for the two-day delay in Season 11's release is likely The Game Awards ceremony, also scheduled for December 11th, 2025. It's not just an awards ceremony, but also a platform for announcing major game news of the year.

  The Game Awards will begin at approximately 7:30 PM Eastern Time / 4:30 PM Pacific Time, and Season 11 will be released a few hours after the awards ceremony.

  The developers of Diablo IV have repeatedly hinted at revealing new content at The Game Awards, almost certainly the game's second expansion.

  However, expansion announcements shouldn't affect season release dates. Therefore, this deliberate arrangement might suggest that Season 11 itself will include a surprise release linked to the expansion announcement. This content could be revealed at The Game Awards and released a few hours later with the season.

  Speculation On The Surprise Release

  New Class Paladin

  Paladin is an extremely popular class in Diablo series, and its addition would greatly boost its popularity. Furthermore, some players have discovered that one of the cosmetic rewards for Season 11 Battle Pass closely resembles a flail, a classic Paladin weapon, and currently, there is no actual flail weapon type in the game. However, Season 11 already includes a major rework of core combat and stats systems, including elites, game difficulty, capstones, toughness, defense caps, and health potions.

  Adding a completely new class without prior community testing or feedback on the public test server is extremely risky and logically illogical. Therefore, while the possibility of a new class is there, it is very small.

  

  Expansion 2

  So, is it possible that the official announcement of DLC 2 will be made directly? Generally, expansions, as paid content, require several months of promotion to introduce their features and attract players. It's unlikely they will be released without prior notice, and the official announcement has already stated that the expansion will be delayed until 2026. Therefore, the probability of announcing DLC 2 directly at TGA is very small.

  However, Season 11 might release a brand new area connecting to the new expansion. After all, it's been over a year since the last DLC was released, and the official development of DLC 2 should be nearing completion, allowing them to promote it in-game beforehand.

  The new area could serve as a prelude to the expansion. For it to be meaningful, the area would need to include side quests, new Diablo 4 items, main story clues, or new exclusive activities—which in itself constitutes a significant update.

  While the specific content is unknown, Season 11 has a high probability of including unannounced surprise releases; otherwise, the seemingly illogical release timing of the season cannot be explained.

  Other Clues

  After the announcement of the first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, Diablo 4 added a free pet system. This proves that the developers have a history of adding free content alongside major announcements.

  Furthermore, renowned game journalist Jez Cordon revealed that Diablo IV's content at The Game Awards goes far beyond just one expansion, indicating that there are even more surprises to come.

  In any case, these hidden surprises have significantly increased the player community's anticipation for Season 11. What new content awaits us at 2025 TGA.

• Diablo 4 Season 11 Sanctification & Defense Reworks | Tempering & Masterworking Changes

  Diablo 4 Season 11, Season of Divine Intervention, has been postponed from the previously speculated December 9th to December 11th, specifically at 8:30 PM Pacific Standard Time, unlike the usual 10:00 AM start time.

  Season 11 differs significantly from PTR 2.5.0, including a large amount of new content, system rework, and balance adjustments. However, the core theme is a slower overall game pace, increased difficulty, and a general nerf to build strength compared to Season 10.

  In PTR, players were generally dissatisfied with changes to crafting aspects such as Sanctification system and Masterworking, and the official response was that these would be adjusted. These changes are now live in Season 11 release. Let's take a look at the specific changes.

  

  Sanctification System

  Sanctification is a new seasonal mechanic introduced in Diablo IV Season 11. The development team seemed to have considered making it a permanent system, but recent campfire chat hints that it might not be.

  Veteran ARPG players will recognize that this system's core concept originates from similar systems in other ARPGs, such as Vaal orbs in Path of Exile and Worldstone Shards in Diablo 2 mod.

  Essentially, it's a gambling mechanic with gear. Players can potentially gain powerful buffs to a piece of gear or brick it. Based on strong feedback from the player community, the development team made two key changes to Sanctification mechanic.

  Removing Negative Effects On Specific Gear

  In PTR, Sanctification could replace an affix on gear. While the new affix might be powerful, it could also brick the gear by replacing Greater Affix on Uniques and Mythic Unique items.

  The current official solution prevents the attributes of Unique and Mythic Unique gear from being replaced. This means that the risk of destruction for top-tier gear, which is of greatest concern to most players, is no longer present. This negative effect may only exist on Legendary gear, and its impact is significantly reduced.

  Changing No-effect Outcome Result

  In PTR, there was approximately a 20% chance that sanctification would result in no change, meaning the equipment neither improved nor damaged. In Season 11 live servers, this 20% probability has been replaced with an increase in equipment quality.

  This effect works in conjunction with Masterworking system, as Masterworking can increase equipment quality by up to 25%, with each 1% quality increase boosting all equipment stats by 1%. Sanctification now directly increases equipment quality by 5% to 25%, improving base stats such as armor, resistances, weapon damage, and the values ​​of all affixes, tempers, and mythic equipment stats.

  Sanctification Probabilities

  Based on official information and player testing results in PTR, the possible results and approximate probability distribution of sanctification are as follows:

  10% probability: Replace an affix

  • Approximately 15% probability: Add a new power.
  • Approximately 20% probability: Add a more powerful affix.
  • Approximately 30-35% chance: Adds a random powerful affix.
  • Approximately 10-15% chance: Improves equipment quality.

  According to Diablo 4 community manager, the new Might pool contains some incredibly powerful options, and the affixes added by Sanctification come from a specific pool of powerful affixes, which may include:

  • Cooldown reduction
  • Attack speed
  • +2 to all skills on jewelry
  • Doubling the strength of gems
  • Percentage core stats
  • Total resistance
  • Crit chance
  • Movement speed
  • Lucky chance
  • Resource cost reduction
  • Maximum resource
  • Maximum life

  Defense System Overhaul  

  Diablo 4 has made many changes to the defense system, including a rework of Fortify and Toughness system.

  Fortify Reworked

  Diablo 4 Season 11 introduced a new attribute, Fortify. It has also been reworked in the live servers of Season 11. It no longer directly provides damage reduction. The new mechanism is: when you take damage, Fortify points are converted into health regeneration, essentially a second health bar.

  Fortify can coexist with Barrier, but they function differently: Barrier adds a shield to health, while Fortify quickly regenerates health after it is depleted.

  New Defense System

  Season 11 introduced a completely new Resistance and Armor system, but the specific workings (such as the cap) are somewhat unclear.

  Additionally, UI displays a comprehensive Toughness value as a reference for survivability at each difficulty level, but you shouldn't blindly rely on this value. You must balance improving all resistances; otherwise, too low a single resistance can still lead to instant death.

  Intelligence class can equip Skulls gems. For non-Intelligence classes, if the primary attribute is Armor, socket Diamonds to increase all resistances.

  Affix Updates

  Rings and gloves will have new affixes such as life on hit and coldown reduction, and Life on hit will be a crucial survival affix.

  Crafting Changes

  Tempering System

  Tempering changes are consistent with PTR, and each item can now only be tempered once. As compensation, Diablo 4 items will drop with an additional base affix. While player control over affixes is reduced, the total number of affixes remains unchanged.

  Masterworking Upgrade Rework

  Masterworking has received some adjustments compared to PTR. Its maximum level has been increased from 12 to 25. While the increase per level is smaller, the cumulative increase may be greater, perhaps providing a 50% increase in base stats. Furthermore, there is now a chance to critically strike upon upgrading, resulting in an even greater boost.

  Potion System Changes

  Basic potions can no longer be upgraded, and players will only have four basic potions. As compensation, your character will automatically replenish one potion every 30 seconds to cope with prolonged battles.

  These are the main changes to crafting and items in Diablo 4 Season 11 live server. Compared to PTR, it restores the strength of builds, preventing players from struggling this season.