Diablo 3: Season 30 starts today! – and turns everything upside down!

Season 30 for Diablo 3 will be the first season with the new rotation and brings a few permanent features to the game

Although Diablo 4 now fires its own seasons regularly, Diablo 3 will continue to be supported. Although in a somewhat slimmed-down form, there is still something happening in the action role-playing game. Season 30 even brings a few new permanent features to the game, which are now always available and originate from the seasons of 2023.

In this article you will get the most important information about the new season of Diablo 3.

Start times: When does it start?

• Start: On January 12, 2024 at 5 pm
• End: An end date is not yet known, but normally a Diablo 3 season always lasts around five to six months.

What is the season theme?

Season 29 was the last season for Diablo 3 in which a completely new seasonal theme was introduced. From Season 30 onwards, the previous themes will rotate again and again. It starts with the rulers of hell from Season 25

This theme is about seven evil soul shards that have been contaminated by the essence of the great and lesser evils. You can acquire them and then benefit from the power of the respective evil. A shard of the three great evils can be placed in your helmet, one of the lesser evils in a weapon and you can upgrade them at the infernal forge. These are the seven shards:

Great Evils

• Shards of Terror: Decaying abilities increase your damage and resistance, but take longer to become available again.
• Splinter of Hatred: You do less damage to a few enemies and more damage to many enemies.
• Fragment of Destruction: You can run through enemies and mark them. If a marked enemy dies, the cooldown of your abilities decreases – if they do not die before your mark expires, you take damage.

Lesser Evils

• Mal of Sin: You do less damage, but killing 50 enemies creates a pool where elite enemies are much more susceptible to damage.
• Sediment of Lies: You and your companions take 25 percent less damage, but you gain powerful additional abilities such as summoning a shadow instead of dying.
• Rudiment of Pain: You rarely critically hit, but attacks against incapacitated enemies are always critical.
• Essence of Agony: When you deal poison damage, your cooldown reduction, damage and movement speed are increased.

Durable features

Along with the season theme of Season 25, two features from other seasons are also returning – for good. These are the Rites of Sanctuary from Season 28 and the Visions of Hostility from Season 29. In the case of the Rites of Sanctuary, however, the team has intervened and toned down some of the abilities so that they don’t upset the balance of the game too much.

• Rites of Sanctuary: In exchange for materials, you can unlock special abilities at an altar that will strengthen your character.
• Visions of Hostility: Occasionally, portals open up to an evil dimension where you can fight monsters and collect special treasures.

Which sets are given away?

Once again, you can receive gifts from Haedrig by completing the seasonal journey, and these are complete sets for each class:

• Barbarian: The Legacy of Raekor
• Crusader: Akkhan’s Armor
• Daemon Hunter: Equipment of the Marauder
• Monk: Inna’s Influence
• Summoner: Garb of the Plague Realm
• Witch Doctor: Zunimassa’s Lair
• Wizard: Delsere’s Opus Magnum

What cosmetic rewards are available?

Finally, there are also seasonal rewards in the form of cosmetic items that you can unlock. This time these are:

• Conqueror’s gloves and chest protector
• Portrait frame with blood splinters
• A gloomy All Saints’ flag

In addition to all these changes, there are also some content adjustments and balance optimizations. On the second page of this article you can find the complete patch notes for Season 30 of Diablo 3.

PATCHNOTES

The following are patch notes for the upcoming update to Diablo III: Patch 2.7.7, which will be released on January  9. 

Note: All changes apply to all versions of Diablo III, including PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC, unless otherwise noted.

Changes to features

• The chance of Chilltara dropping the gibbering gem is now 20%.
• Whispers of the Busts can now be recycled by 1-3 forgotten souls.
• Chance of Orek’s Dream increased from 1 to 4%.
• Goblins of the Count of Gallert no longer appear from the Goblin Shrine in the Reverberating Nightmares.

Class balance changes

When it comes to classes, a healthy balance between fun and balance is our main goal. As we mentioned in our Season 29 article, some classic seasonal themes from the past will be reintroduced roughly every 3 months going forward. The class balance changes below have been implemented to ensure that all classes remain fun and balanced when the powerful seasonal themes return to Diablo III

Changes to the below and additions between PTR and now have been highlighted in red 

Barbar

• Power of the Earth
  • The damage of Earthquake, Landslide, Leap, Stomp, Ancestral Spear, and Seismic Smash has been increased from 20,000% to 37,500%.
• The Legacy of Raekor
  • After hitting enemies with Furious Charge or Weapon Throw, your next use of Ancestral Spear deals 2,500% more damage and splits into multiple spears at the target. The effect stacks and each spear throw consumes up to 5 stacks.

Crusader

• Roland’s Legacy
  • The damage of Shield Slam and Sweeping Attack has been increased from 17,500% to 40,000%.
• Aegis of Valor
  • Celestial Fist and Celestial Fury damage increased from 15,000% to 20,000%.
• Akkhan’s Bracers
  • ‘Blessed Shield’ deals 400-500% more damage to the first enemy hit. This bonus also lasts and is reduced by 50% with each subsequent target that is not attacked with Shattering Throw.
• Blade of Promise
  • Enemies affected by Verdict also cause an explosion and the damage of Verdict is increased by 600-800%.
• Faithful Memory
  • Each enemy hit by Celestial Execution increases the damage of Blessed Hammer by 60-80% for 10 sec. Stacks up to 10 times. Each stack of this buff can now be stacked between multiple uses.
• The denial
  • Each enemy hit by your Sweeping Attack increases the damage of your next Sweeping Attack by 100-125%, stacking up to 5 times between uses. Each stack lasts up to 5 sec

Demon Hunter

• The Shadow’s Cloak
  • The additional damage of Impale has been increased from 75,000% to 120,000% for the first enemy hit, and from 25,000% to 40,000% weapon damage for subsequent enemies.
• Equipment of the Marauder
  • Your primary skills and companions, as well as Elemental Arrow, Chakram, Impale, Multishot, Shatter Arrow, Vengeance, and Turrets now deal 9,500% (was 12,000%) more damage for each active turret.

Monk

• cloak of a thousand storms
  • Your Spirit Power generators increase the weapon damage of Frenzied Attack to 60,000% for 6 sec, and Frenzied Attack increases the damage of your Spirit Power generators by 14,000% for 6 sec instead of 6,000%.
• Uliana’s List
  • Exploding Hand’s damage increased from 9,000% to 12,500% and Seven Fists’ Strike triggers the effect of Exploding Hand.
• Kyoshiro’s Blade
  • Increases damage by 200-250% when the surge hits 5 or fewer enemies on the first hit (up from 3).

Summoner

• Pestilence
  • Per corpse consumed, you gain a charge of Mighty Bone Spear, increasing the damage of the next use of Bone Spear from 3,300% to 6,000%. Cadaver Lance and Corpse Blast also deal 6,000% more damage (up from 3,300%).
  • Each enemy you hit with Bone Spear, Cadaver Lance, and Corpse Blast reduces your damage taken by 3% (up to a maximum of 75%). Lasts for 15 sec.
• Inarius
  • ‘Bone Armor’ also creates a whirlwind of bones that deals 1000% weapon damage to nearby enemies and increases the damage they take from the necromancer from 10,000% to 19,000%.
• Trag’Oul’s Avatar
  • Your life consuming skills deal 6,250% more damage (up from 10,000%) and your healing from skills is increased by 100%.
• Masquerade of the Burning Carnival
  • Your Simulacrums and you deal 5,500% more damage with Bone Spear (up from 9,000%). Simulacrums receive this bonus three times.
• Bloodstream Blade
  • ‘Death Nova’ deals 300-400% more damage per enemy within a radius of 25 meters, up to a maximum of 10 enemies (previously 25 enemies).
• Grasps of Essence
  • When an exploded corpse deals damage to at least one enemy, Corpse Explosion deals 150-200% more damage for 6 sec. Stacks up to 4 times (previously 5 times).
• Corpse Whisperer’s Shoulder Armor
  • Increases the damage of Corpse Lance from 20-30% to 50-75% for 3 seconds after consuming a corpse. Stacks up to 20 times.

Witch doctor

• Garment of the Jade Harvester
  • ‘Soul Harvest’ reduces damage taken by 50% for 12 sec and consumes all your effects that deal damage over time to enemies. The skill also immediately deals damage equal to 26,000 seconds of regular damage yet to be dealt (up from 10,000).
• Helltooth Armor
  • After casting Death Wall, your primary skills and the skills listed below deal 37,500% more damage for 15 seconds (up from 17,500%): Acid Cloud, Firebats, Zombie Attacker, Summon Zombie Dogs, Colossus, Clutch of the Dead, Piranhas, and Death Wall.
• Mundunugus regalia
  • Increases the damage of Spirit Barrage by 17,500% (previously 20,000%) and by an additional % equal to your 5x mana regeneration per second
• Ghost of Arachyr
  • Increases the damage of your creature skills by 11,500% (previously 25,000%) Creature skills are: ‘Corpse Spiders’, ‘Plague of Toads’, ‘Firebats’, ‘Plague of Locusts’, ‘Hex’ and ‘Piranhas’.
• Zunimassa’s lair
  • Enemies hit by one of your Mana Consumers take 13,000% increased damage (up from 15,000%) from your Companions and Minions for 8 sec.

Wizard

• Delsere’s Opus Magnum
  • Enemies in the area affected by Slow Time and 5 seconds after leaving the area take 20,000% (up from 12,500%) more damage from Arcane Orb, Energy Vortex, Magic Bolt, Shock Pulse, Spectral Blade, Electrocute, and Arcane Flood.
• Tal Rasha’s Elements
  • Attacks increase your damage by 1,000% for 8 seconds (was 2,000%). Arcane, Cold, Fire and Lightning attacks each add one stack. From 4 stacks, each elemental attack increases the duration by 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 8 seconds
• The Smoldering Core
  • Lower enemies are now lured to the impact location of your meteor. Meteors deal 40-50% increased damage on multiple hits against the same target. Stacks 3 times (was 10).
• The Corrupted Sword
  • Increases the damage of Energy Vortex by 125-150% for each existing Energy Vortex. Stacks up to 3 times (was 5). Energy Vortex automatically gains the effect of the Raging Storm rune and the tornado can merge with 3 additional Energy Vortexes.