Today’s topic will be Diablo 4 mechanics. We will be talking about damage buckets, damage, how to calculate damage increases and defenses.

Additive VS Multi

Starting off, we’re just going to quickly go over additive and multiplicative stats. You’ll see stat lines aspects things in your skill tree and your Paragon Board that either have a ‘+’ or an ‘X’ by them.

‘X’ will be better at 99% of the time. There are some instances where it’s not. But it’s safe to think that stats with an ‘X’ will be better than with a ‘+’.

Damage Buckets

This is where people seem to get confused, Damage Buckets.

We have four main damage buckets in Diablo 4:

• Main Stat
• Crit Damage
• Vulnerable Damage
• Additive Damage

Each of these buckets multiplies with each other to get your final damage output. The most confusing bucket is the Additive Damage bucket. If it’s not Crit, Vul, or Main Stat 99 of the time, it goes into this bucket. So, things like core, close, healthy, injured, damage, and so on all go into this bucket.

This is because you have 0% close damage and you get 100% close damage somewhere does not mean you’re now going to double your damage against close targets. It gets put into the added a bucket with the other Additive Stats.

Keep in mind there are hidden stats that go into these buckets that will not show up on your stat screen. For example, Critical Damage against Crowd Control targets gets put into the Critical Damage bucket, but it does not show up as Critical Damage in my character screen.

It’s important that you balance out your damage buckets. If you have 600% Critical Damage but only 200% in your additive bucket, a 25% additive roll would be better than getting a 50% critical damage roll.

Also Read: Diablo 4 Shadowmancer Necromancer Build: Season 1 Endgame Guide

How To Calculate Damage?

How do we calculate our damage increases? I’ll be using my character stats in these examples.

So, we have 285% Critical Damage, 275% Vulnerable Damage, 800% in the Additive Damage, and 900 Dex in this current setup. You can calculate each of these buckets the same. When we’re representing these stats, we start from one for Critical Damage. The 285% would be represented as 3.85 when we’re doing our calculations.

Let’s say we get another 50% Critical Damage somewhere. We would now have the 335% Critical Damage versus the 285% we had before. We then take 4.35 divide that by 3.85. That would give us 1.129. That would mean that we get roughly a 13% damage increase. For our main stat, calculations 100 Main Stat equals 10% damage increase. So, when you’re calculating your Main Stat, make sure to convert it into the damage increase percentage and not the total amount of dexterity, strength, willpower, or whatever stat it may be.

So, say we have a crossbow with Crit Damage, Bone Damage, and Dex. And we’re trying to decide on what roll to get next. We can either go for a 70 all-stat damage roll or a 40% core damage roll. So, our Dex before is 900 and after it’ll be 970. So, we would take the after being a 1.97 and divide it by 1.9 to get a 1.036 or roughly a three and a half percent damage increase. For the additive, we would take the 800% before and the 840% after.

So, 9.4 divided by 9 gives us 1.044 or roughly a 4.4% damage increase. So, we have 3.5% versus 4.4%. If you are needing to get the all-stat roll to hit some Paragon node bonuses, it’s not going to be a huge damage loss.

To sum it up, you take what your stat will be after and divided it by what it was before. So, ‘X’ divided by ‘Y’ equals your damage increase.

Item Power

On to Diablo 4 Item power, how do we calculate our item power damage increases? Suppose you have an 818 sword and an 810 sword. Assuming both stat rolls are the same, you take the average of the damage per hit of both those weapons and divide the larger number by the smaller number, like we did with the damage buckets.

So, our 818 damage range is 989 to 1483. Add those numbers together. Divide them by two to get your average. Do the same with the other weapon. And then, we’ll take the average of both being 1236 for the 818 and 1198 for the 810. Divide 1236 by 1198 to get 1.0317 or roughly at three percent damage increase.

Armor

And lastly, are defenses. For our defenses, we have armor and resistances as well as damage reduction rolls.

Starting off with armor, this reduces physical damage taken from monsters on your level. What this means is that as a level gap between you and monsters increases, the amount of damage reduction you get from your armor is reduced.

In this chart, you can see how much armor you need in order to get the maximum damage reduction against X level of mobs.

The maximum damage reduction you can receive from armor is 85%. So, if you are fighting mobs that are level 154, don’t go over 1300 armor as you’ll be overcapping.

Resistances

Resistances are non-physical resistances damage reduction. So, for every two percent of a resistance stat, you get one percent damage reduction for that element.

If you get hit by a fire attack and you have 20% fire resistance, you have another 10% damage reduction against that attack. This additional 10% is then multiplied with all your other damage reduction rolls that apply to that attack if they were close distant poison, etc.

However, resistances don’t seem to be near is important in Diablo 4 as they are to a game like Path of Exile. I have pretty much completely ignored resistances, and it hasn’t seemed to affect me at all. Maybe down the road with seasons, resistances will become far more important. But for now, don’t stress and worry about how much resistance you have.

Damage Reduction

Finally, we’ll talk about damage reduction.

It’s important to note that damage reduction in Diablo 4 is multiplicative and not additive. So, you can never have a hundred percent damage reduction and be invincible.

If you have two sources of damage reduction, giving 50% damage reduction each your final damage reduction would be 75%. Suppose you get hit by an attack doing a hundred damage you would reduce that 100 to 50 and then you would further reduce the leftover 50 by another 50%, meaning you only take 25 damages. And if you had another 50% damage reduction roll somewhere, it would take the leftover 25 damage and put it to 12.5 and so on.

Recently, we saw many videos talking about why people quit playing Lost Ark. We heard many complaints about Lost Ark users since it was released. But nowadays, they’re a lot more serious than we think.

Population is massively reduced in global and there are not enough users inside the game. There was a region emerge with various updates, but still Lost Ark does not seem to improve in ways players want. That’s why we thought of some solutions.

1. One Chaos Dungeon & One Guardian Raid Per Character

Normally, we run two Chaos Dungeons and two Guardian Raids per character. It takes almost 30 minutes to finish it. If you only have one or two characters, there is no problem.

However, Lost Ark users are recommended to raise 5 more alts instead of the main. It means that three hours are needed for daily homework. That’s a lot for dailies. So, it must be reduced at least half.

Plus, it’s better if players can choose between Chaos Dungeon and Guardian Raid. Chaos Dungeon is a solo content and Guardian Raid is a co-op. Solo content is fine, but new players can easily get rejected finding a party for the Guardian Raid. If it’s allowed to earn all rewards only by running Chaos Dungeon, it will be less stress-consuming for new players who need to spend time finding a party.

2. Adding Roster Bound Rest Gauge

Roster Bound Rest Gauge is a same concept of Rest Gauge that can be shared between characters.

Let’s pretend that you only do dailies for your main character and have several alts. Then, you can get additional bound rest gauge for not playing your alts.

When you have enough roster bound rest gauge, you can decide to apply all at one character. As a result? Plenty of honing materials for your main. This is important because adding a roster bound rest gauge can provide players a chance to focus on their main.

3. Light Of Salvation Rental Service (18 Awakening)

What is the most problematic component for gatekeeping in Lost Ark? Absolutely, cards.

DPS classes need a lot of Light of Salvation to enter higher end contents, but new players need to spend a lot of time to get them. If they don’t want to spend their time, they need to spend lots of money. But that’s pay to win.

Some can say there are new player’s cards, but nobody wants new player’s cards. Players want Light of Salvation, so why not rent them?

Let’s make players spend Lost Ark Gold and rent Light of Salvation (18 awakening) weekly. Then, new players can buy their time until they collect Light of Salvation for themselves.

4. Selectable Legendary Card Packs For Clearing End Contents

This one is also for lowering the difficulty of collecting cards. Lost Ark legion raids are really well made, but rewards are not satisfying.

To make players challenge more, motivation is a must. When they clear the raid for the first time, why not give them selectable legendary card packs? In this way, players can be motivated as they can get legendary cards they need.

5. Change Of Pheons

Pheon system is very complicated because it’s related to monetization of Lost Ark.

So, I want to compare the needs of users and corporations to find an adjustment. In the aspect of Lost Ark users, Pheons are nothing but a taxation of the company. The best way is to get rid of Pheons.

However, in the aspect of Smilegate, Pheons are their monetization model. Players can exchange gold to blue crystals, but it’s more efficient to just buy the blue crystal package they sell. It’s also important for them to make a profit.

As an adjustment, I suggest one solution. Pheons should not be applied on stones and tripods. Unlike accessories, Pheons that can be spent are Limitless. We only need to buy five accessories for our setting, but we don’t know how many Pheons will be spent on stones and tripods.

6. Adding Mechanics That Can Recovery Mistakes

In Lost Ark legion raid, one player’s mistake can kill everyone, and the raid becomes more difficult as they move on to the next legion commanders.

However, we think that’s not a great solution. We don’t want to spend 20 minutes per gate again and again until no one makes a mistake. We think it’s better to add some mechanics that can recover mistakes.

For example, let’s pretend that we are in Brelshaza gate 6. Players get killed when over four floors are destroyed. When someone made a mistake and accidentally destroyed one more floor than it should be, the stagger bar appears below the boss for once. Then, they should stagger the boss and the floor resurrects as soon as the boss gets staggered.

In this way, every try will be more meaningful.

7. No More Meaningless Grinding

In Lost Ark, there are lots of collectibles we need to farm: Island Souls, Mokoko Seeds, Masterpieces, Giant Hearts, Skill Points and more.

We personally think collectibles in Lost Ark are very well designed compared to other games. However, there is a worthless grinding content in Lost Ark. It is the Tower.

Tower is a grinding content, which you need to clear every single floor until you reach the top. It’s not fun at all. Survival mission gives so much stress to players. Then, do rewards worth it?

No. Rewards are not enough to replace our time. And can we ignore them? Of course, no. There are skill points are runes we need as a reward. To sum up, Tower is not enough meaningful content we must do.

Fortunately, Smilegate changed the number of floors of towers. Now, the Tower of Shadow and Tower of Fate (tier 1&2) only have 20 floors. It is a great change.

However, the Tower of Destiny, which is tier 3, still has 50 floors. Some of the floors in the tier-3 tower have difficult missions to solve. But they are not rewarding enough.

Therefore, we believe the tier-3 tower must be changed to 20 floors, giving all previous rewards.

Also Read: Lost Ark: Fastest Way To Get 20 Island Souls In 2023

8. Livestream Communication

Since we played Lost Ark in both KR and Global, we noticed that Lost Ark Global does not communicate with users often.

For better communication, Amazon should create a team, which can deliver important notices or discussions they had with Smilegates. Then, Global users can know what’s going on between Amazon and Smilegate.

9. Additional Honing Support For Global Server

Between Lost Ark KR & Global, content gab is one of the big complaints.

To solve the problem, Amazon released so many main contents in less than a year. And we all know, when there’s a new legion raid, we need time to progress our gear to reach the given item level.

However, the time was too short. People had to do dailies again and again and create several alts to catch up. In other words, there was no support of Amazon to provide additional ways to help them catch up main contents in a short period.

We think there should be an increase of honing chance and more horizontal contents, such as islands and summer events for extra hunting materials. Maybe secret merchants can sell honing materials, too. There are plenty of ways that can back up the speed of content release. Don’t make Chaos Dungeon and Guardian Raid the only method to obtain honing materials.

That’s all we wanted to talk about Lost Ark Global. We just want to see the game changing positive ways so that more gamers can jump in.

Genshin Impact has been out for a few years now. There’s a ton of characters to choose from and some are more popular than others. But here, I want to talk about characters that are underrated, although in my opinion still relevant and strong in 2023.

1. Noelle

The first one I wanna talk about is Noelle.

She definitely has gotten the short end of the stick over the years. Because just to start with, Geo doesn’t have that many characters or team comps and no new Geo support units have been released during Sumeru’s cycle. And what’s even worse, when Itto showed up, she basically got overshadowed by him due to how similar both are.

And if that’s not enough, one of her biggest problems is that she doesn’t generate energy from her skill. But it’s 2023 right now and we’ve honestly seen worse energy problems. The thing is Noelle is like a puzzle you need to solve. But once it’s done, you can sit there and admire the result. In her case, you will need to use Favonius weapons on at least 2 team mates if not all 3 of them. By the way, some 5-star weapons are very difficult to obtain. At this time, directly buying a Genshin Impact Account is a good choice!

Gorou is also amazing for her, not just because he boosts Geo damage, but also he can generate a good amount of Geo and Favonius particles for her, which you can catch by swapping to her.

But the saving grace here is that her burst costs 60, which is not the worst thing in the world to have. And also, if you didn’t know, by doing normal attacks, there’s an increasing probability that will let that character generate 1 energy and it just so happens claymore and catalyst users have the best probability chance. So, doing some slashing with Noelle gets that energy restored.

But honestly, the thing I love most about her is that when there are multiple enemies, especially if they hit hard, her team wide healing by using the skill is kinda amazing and gives you a nice amount of team options you can go for when she’s taking care of the survivability.

And truthfully, it’s not the energy problems that’s holding her back, but her final constellation. If you don’t have it, a good chunk of damage will be missing.

However, this is also a bit of an outdated statement because it’s been around since Genshin’s launch. And these days we have her dedicated artifact set. We know how valuable Benny boy is, and Gorou is also there to help her out.

All in all, Noelle’s mono geo teams still hold up really well these days. Sure, she has her some problems. But as time went on, in my opinion, she is still relevant even till this day.

2. Heizou

It’s no secret that Heizou has been often compared to Sucrose or even Kazuha. And things like his underwhelming crowd control or short range normal attacks make him inferior.

But honestly, if you can get behind his playstyle, he is an extremely fun to use character. One punching enemies with his skill that scales extremely well or kicking enemies with a burst that has a low 40 energy cost is one of few things that makes him a great unit.

And the thing is because of how fast and fluid his animations are, he is a superb quickswap unit for teams like Freeze or Vape. At the same time, he is also a great driver for comps like Electro-charged due to the low charged attack stamina cost. And as you know it, charged attacks have no ICD, so you can always create reactions with his sweeping kick.

And after making guides on complex characters for a few years now, you gotta appreciate his simple yet strong passive. punch an enemy with his skill and everyone besides him gets 80 Elemental Mastery boost.

Also, if you are invested into Wanderer or Xiao and have obtained a C6 Faruzan, she is honestly amazing with him and only turns him into an even stronger damage dealer. And don’t forget, he is an Anemo catalyst, which means you can just slap on him Viridescent and Thrilling Tales and he can still land some quick punches before swapping out and buffing the main damage dealer, which works out super well in quick swap teams.

Now, I do have to be honest with you here because my Heizou is C6. However, when he first got released, I had him at C0 for a pretty long time. But I will admit, his constellations, especially C4 and C6, are amazing. But without them, he still works as a great unit for many team comps.

Also Read: Genshin Impact: How To Create The Best Yelan Build? - Artifacts, Weapons & Teams

3. Yae Miko

In the past, I really didn’t know how good Yae Miko was. That was me before Sumeru update. And now that we have Dendro reactions, she’s actually really good.

I think Hoyoverse should honestly stop with releasing characters whose potential is not yet unlocked. Because Yae Miko and Kuki Shinobu are the perfect examples here. Not sure about Thoma, though, they probably didn’t plan him to be a pretty good Burgeon enabler.

Still, the reason why I mention this is that a lot of people think Yae Miko is not that great. She looks amazing and has some of the best voicelines. But when it came to her damage, it just didn’t feel satisfying, especially when Hoyo went back and forth trying to quote unquote fix her and afterwards rolling back the changes.

However, the change that she did need the most was the Dendro element. Here is a funny fact: Aggravate and Spread reaction damage works better when characters can do many little hits which can cause reactions. And because of this, Yae Miko’s totem damage has completely changed after putting her into Dendro teams.

And what’s also great is that her burst isn’t that super mandatory. You could skip the burst in one of the rotations if she didn’t have enough energy for it. What’s most important here is to maintain the totems on the field at all times, so that they can relentlessly attack enemies.

Overall, I think Yae Miko has been underrated for a while now, even after the Dendro element, and I gotta confess. I also didn’t think much of it before I tried her out in Dendro teams. She’s kinda like Keqing to me. Because of Dendro reactions, both of them are now my go-to characters I like to use everywhere.

4. Kaeya

Going back to the classics again, I feel like Kaeya doesn’t get enough attention when it comes to the new Dendro team comps.

First of all, he is a great option when you’re playing a Freeze team. I especially love the fact that even after game’s launch: his damage numbers are pretty respectable, especially when you build him with a Blizzard Strayer set and slap on him one of the premium 5-star swords.

And of course, who could forget the Reverse Melt teams that you can run with him? But what really has set him apart after the Dendro changes were the Fridge team variations. The most prominent one is Hyperfridge. And it’s pretty simple. You build him as a damage dealer. You use either Kuki or Raiden to trigger Hyperblooms and then someone like Alhaitham or Nahida can act as the driver so that there’s enough Dendro application.

You will then choose between several Hydro options so that there are Freeze reactions happening because hitting enemies with Hyperblooms while they are frozen is really a one-of-a-kind satisfaction you’ll get.

Honestly, I am just happy to see Kaeya doing so well after all this time. I know some content creators love to showcase him and that makes me happy. But at the same time, I can see a lot of times people forget he exists and always focusing on the next shiny character. When in reality, you’ve got a cool starter character that you can build and use in many teams, including the new Fridge comp.

5. Collei

I probably haven’t seen this much injustice when it comes to a character getting overshadowed. And it was Dendro Traveler out of all people who did this to our Collei, who we must protect from the world’s harm.

No, but seriously, she obviously has some problems like her skill collision with enemies acting weird or the fact Hoyo decided to put a special limiter on her Burst’s ICD.

But with these problems out of the way, I actually love using her in various Dendro teams, especially when she is equipped with the Sacrificial Bow. This allows her to do her skill twice and if you have at least a few of her constellations unlocked, there’s some good synergy you’ll get out of those.

But even then, she is massively underrated when it comes to Nilou bloom teams. I am honestly still trying to wrap my head around her playstyle in this team. But I am having a blast using her with Nilou. Because after playing this game for so long, getting to experience a pretty unique playstyle is something else.

She’s one of the best choices to go for if you want to have a strong Nilou bloom team. Otherwise, you can still use Collei in Quicken teams or even Burgeon. She’s obviously going to require more focus than when you play DMC, who just drops his flower and switches out.

There’s a couple of important things that need to be addressed when it comes to summon in 1.2 update. These are the 5 considerations you don’t want to miss out on.

Consideration 1: Blade’s Damage

It’s probably safe to say that Blade is definitely one of the more interesting damage dealers, although the fact that he sacrifices his own health to deal better damage is not that ground-breaking. Because Arlan can do it as well. Still, there are a couple of things about Blade that really stand out and we need to talk about.

First of all, we know that the skill consumes Blade’s HP and increases his damage output. It’s not an attack, but more like taking a turn to buff him up. However, he does gain a new turn, although I am not sure how that will work out with supports like Yukong or Bronya. Hopefully, this skill won’t waste their buffs.

Also, unlike Arlan, who doesn’t consume a skill point, Blade unfortunately does use it up. So, if you’re using him in your team, you will need to be aware about the skill point economy, which was one of the best-selling points about Arlan when you didn’t have to care about it so much.

But the biggest thing about him has to be the ultimate. No matter how much HP Blade has, he will set his own health to 50% and deal massive damage. We still don’t know officially how good his damage multipliers are.

Still, what’s exciting here is a strong synergy with Luocha. It just so happens that Luocha triggers his skill’s auto-heal when an ally drops below or to 50%, which is just perfect for Blade’s ultimate.

What’s even better, since Blade also consumes his health with the skill and then attacks afterwards, Luocha’s healing from the field will be amazing for this. Basically, the coffin courier is best buddies with this immortal Stellaron hunter.

Honestly, I could go on and keep delving deeper into Blade’s kit. But it’s pretty much clear that he will excel best when his health is constantly getting reduced. And Hoyo made sure to include a new relic set with the 1.2 update, which is basically tailor made for him. I am not sure how big the Critical Boost is going to be from the 4-set bonus. But hopefully, it’s enough that you can put on Crit DMG body on him and fish for the Critical Rate substats instead.

But what I care about the most right now is how useful Health stat is going to be to Blade. There were some hints that he might scale with it in some way. I am a bit worried when it comes to split scaling characters. It doesn’t always work out for the best, although I am basing this on my Genshin experience. But it will be interesting to see how important HP is going to be when it comes to building Blade.

Otherwise, he seems like a unique damage dealer you could go for, if you’re still in the process of building teams for Memory of Chaos.

Consideration 2: Kafka’s Team

With Kafka, a new team is going to be rising to the top if everything goes well.

Her entire kit is based around Shock damage over time. And there’s quite a few synergies you could pull off with a team like Sampo, Kafka, a healer and another flexible character, who could be Serval as well.

Now, Sampo is probably going to be one of the key team mates for Kafka because this guy’s ultimate boosts DoT damage by up to 30% if it’s raised as a level 10 ultimate.

This is pretty huge. Because both Sampo and Kafka specialize in unloading lots of DoT damage and this debuff on enemies is going to be amazing. I mean, it’s no secret that Sampo has been talked about a lot in the community as one of the best team mates for Kafka. Although even if things sound good in theory, it’s always the damage numbers that bring the clearest results.

And the thing is, from what I understand, Kafka applies Shock DoTs in an interesting way. I am specifically talking about her talent, which will trigger a follow-up attack from her when any other ally in the team attacks an enemy. That same enemy will then get attacked by Kafka and, at the same time, Kafka will also apply Shock DoT.

First of all, in order for Kafka to utilize her kit efficiently, you will need to adjust her speed so that somebody else can attack an enemy before her. And once that is done, when you use her skill, if the enemy is already afflicted by DoTs, they will receive additional damage.

For example, Sampo would need to go before Kafka, apply his Wind Shear on the enemy. Then, if you also have Serval, she would need to go next and then afterwards Kafka could benefit from all those DoTs placed on the enemy.

Obviously, there’s also Ultimates we need to keep in mind. Honestly, I really like a team that’s focused on dishing out tons of damage over time and Sampo is already a beast by himself in Simulated Universe. So, imagine how easy the runs are going to be with Kafka and Sampo together. I mean, I know Simulated Universe isn’t that challenging compared to Memory of Chaos. But even then, this new team is going to be definitely interesting when Kafka comes out.

And the funny thing is, all the DoT characters are going to be available on Kafka’s banner. So, it’s going to be extremely easy to assemble this new team if you’re going for Kafka. And what’s even better, snagging a couple of Eidolons for someone like Sampo is going to be amazing if you can get his 1st, 4th and last Eidolons.

Consideration 3: Luka’s Bleed

Speaking of Kafka’s banner and damage over time, Luka is the new 4-star Physical Nihility character who specializes in Bleeding his enemies.

His whole schtick is playing around the Fighting Will stacks. He will gain after using attacks or when entering the battle by using his technique. And just like Fire Trailblazer, he will consume his stacks and deliver an enhanced Basic Attack, which will deal increased damage against an enemy who has Bleed DoT.

But unlike the Fire Trailblazer, we can see Luka only consumes 2 stacks to deliver the Enhanced Basic Attack, which is great. Because that means he can use this attack more often and unload a lot more damage.

Still, the biggest thing about him has to be the ultimate. First of all, he will gain Fighting Will stacks. But more importantly, the enemy will receive a debuff that increases their damage taken, similar to Welt’s ultimate. And then, of course, he will do some damage.

I am not sure how good he is going to be with Kafka compared to Sampo. We still don’t know officially what his Traces or Eidolons will do. But if his damage multipliers are solid, he could be a great replacement for Serval. Because he does increase the damage the enemy takes, which hopefully also means that he helps increase the DoT damage.

Luka, Sampo, Kafka and a healer could be an interesting team to try out when the banner drops and it’s going to be exciting to see how that works out.

Consideration 4: Banner Value

Now, when trying to evaluate the banners, Blade’s featured banner is pretty decent. Although if you’re thinking of building a team with him, then it’s mostly Natasha that matters here.

However, if you do have Luocha, then you will want to pair him with Blade. So, Natasha would be used in another Memory of Chaos team.

But as for Arlan and Sushang, they don’t really have any synergy with Blade. Arlan has been notoriously nerfed before the launch. So, even if he has a similar kit to Blade, he would be better off in a team that’s built around him. Sushang is a pretty strong physical hunt unit. But all in all, this banner isn’t really that great if you’re pulling just for Blade specifically, unless you still need one of these 4-stars for your 2nd Memory of Chaos team.

Still, Natasha’s Eidolons are pretty good, especially the 2nd and 4th Eidolons. Providing some decent healing for badly damaged allies and gaining energy on hit allows her to maintain everyone’s health easily, especially since her Ultimate only costs 90. It’s the cheapest ultimate in the entire game.

And as for Kafka’s banner, as I already said it, it’s an extremely valuable banner for anyone who wants to build a DoT focused team with Kafka. Sampo’s 4th, 5th and 6th Eidolons are all really good. The 5th one allows him to raise his ultimate beyond level 10, which means more DoT damage boosting on enemies. While Serval’s 2nd and 6th Eidolons are incredibly good for improving her energy and damage output, especially the 6th one. If you’re going to be using her with Kafka, this means it’s going to be extremely easy to maintain Shocked debuff on enemies and enable extra 30% damage for her.

Also Read: Honkai Star Rail 1.2: Why Kafka Is The Next Character Worth Pulling?

Consideration 5: Future Warps

When it comes to picking which banner to wish on, honestly it really depends on you, although Kafka’s banner definitely has more synergetic 4-star units that she can utilize.

But we still don’t know much about Luka’s performance and, more importantly, we don’t know how good Blade or Kafka is going to be, despite the rumors about them.

Also, let’s not forget that 1.3 characters have been teased as well. Dan Heng’s new powerful form is going to be a 5-star Destruction Imaginary unit, so I can imagine this guy is going to be a damage dealer. If you don’t have this character in your Honkai Star Rail Account, you have to find a way to get him as soon as possible. And that’s pretty interesting since we’re finally going to be getting a dedicated damage dealer from the Imaginary element.

Fu Xuan is another unique unit we’ll be getting in version 1.3. She’s a 5-star Quantum Preservation unit, which means a new tank is joining the ranks of Gepard, Fire Trailblazer, and March 7th. To me, this is very exciting if you have Silver Wolf, because we can get one step closer to a true Mono Quantum team.

In fact, we will be able to build a Mono Quantum team thanks to Lynx, who is a 4-star Quantum Abundance unit. So, Lynx, Silver Wolf, Seele and Fu Xuan is probably going to be the ultimate Mono Quantum team, you can play in places like Memory of Chaos.

All in all, I would say that Blade’s banner is for those who want to use a cool damage dealer but are fine with 4-stars that have very little to do with him on his banner, while Kafka’s banner is for those who want to build a DoT team.

Finally, 1.3 characters I just talked about will probably have their own 2 separate banners. Hopefully, Fu Xuan and Lynx are going to be on the same banner, so those who already have Seele or QQ and Silver Wolf can build their dream team of Mono Quantum.

Here, we’ll be talking about seasons.

What Are Seasons?

It’s basically an update mode on top of the base game that brings about new and exciting ways to play the game. Seasons will last for approximately three months.

For those unfamiliar with the way action RPGs typically do seasons, think of it like new content based around a theme, similar to expansions, but on a smaller scale, that sticks around for a few months.

After a season ends, a new season starts after a short break to replace the previous one, creating long-term replayability.

Diablo 4 Season 1 - Season Of The Malignant

The first Diablo IV season, Season of the Malignant, begins on July 20th.

You’re going to want to make sure you complete the Campaign with at least one character before Season of the Malignant begins. Then, you can create a new character in the Seasonal Realm and skip the Campaign to access the new questline and more.

Here are a few things you can expect to see in seasons.

Seasonal Questlines

These are storylines separate from the Campaign that guide you through the new seasonal theme, introducing new characters and quests as you are adventuring.

Fresh Gameplay

Each season introduces new gameplay mechanics that go beyond just balance changes, that will change the way you approach your abilities.

Much like the Season Journey from Diablo III, Diablo IV brings back the Season Journey where you can complete a variety of objectives as you progress, split into different chapters to earn rewards, which can help the leveling process or further boost your character.

You can even earn new Aspects, separate from the ones you’d find in the Codex of Power, that can spice up your builds, as well as earn Favor, which is used to progress your Seasonal Battle Pass, offer boosts to speed up your leveling experience, and additional character-customization options.

Quality Of Life Changes

In addition to balance changes, each season will bring about quality-of-life changes that will give you a better Diablo experience.

Also, expect new transmogs from items, as well as the new cosmetics in the shop, to really give your character a look to set yourself apart from the rest of the adventurers.

Also Read: How To Fully Prepare For Diablo 4 Season 1? - Season Of The Malignant Details

Battle Pass

One of the biggest things you will come across in seasons is the new Battle Pass.

As you play and progress in Diablo 4 Season 1, you’ll gradually receive rewards from the Battle Pass, such as cosmetics and premium currency. It’s important to note that these cosmetics do not affect your character stats in any way, meaning you will not miss out on any armor or weapons.

Completing objectives in the Season Journey allows you to earn Favor, which progresses you through the Free Battle Pass.

As you progress, you collect Smoldering Ashes, which can be used to boost the rate at which you gain experience, Diablo 4 Gold, resources, and more in game.

As for the Battle Pass itself, there are three versions: Free, Premium and Accelerated.

The Free version has 27 tiers and rewards players with cosmetic items and Smoldering Ashes, a resource that can be spent on experience, Gold boost, and other bonuses for your seasonal character. However, you should note that you can only get these boosts through the Free Battle Pass, and you must first meet certain level requirements.

The Premium Battle Pass has 63 more tiers, which reward you with cosmetics unique to that season, and Platinum currency that can be spent at the game shop.

The Accelerated Pass is the same, but allows you to skip through 22 tiers and comes with a special cosmetic. While the Accelerated Battle Pass allows for tier skips, you still have to meet the required character level to access Smoldering Ashes for bonuses towards your seasonal character. In short, you cannot simply pay for a boost.

These seasonal offerings are great and do a good job of spicing up the base game. But to partake in the full experience of each season, you'll need to create a seasonal character.

What Will Characters Look Like In Diablo 4 Season 1?

Some players new to action RPGs and Diablo may be asking: "Why do I have to make a new character? And what about the work I just put into this character?" I also had these questions when I first started playing Diablo III and made a lot of mistakes because of it.

And honestly, I regret being so stubborn and missing out on some amazing Diablo III seasons. Creating a new seasonal character allows for the game to feel new and exciting more often, with everybody starting fresh to experience the new features at the same time.

I forgot what it was like to find upgrades on a regular basis, as my Eternal character was already fully geared and upgrades came once in a blue moon. It was fun to use skills that I never thought I'd use again simply because they didn't scale well in a previous build, and it was a blast to use throughout the leveling as I found Legendaries to complement their power.

Additionally, it will be easier to level and acquire loot this time around, because now you have the experience that you did not have before when you were first leveling up.

In addition to the boost provided through Smoldering Ashes and the new powers you will unlock, map discovery and Altars will not need to be collected again if you've already done so. This is as easy as it gets when it comes to starting a new character for a Seasonal Journey.

"What about my Eternal character?"

Any characters you've created will never be lost. Each character you've created, including your current characters, will always be playable in the Eternal Realm after a season ends. You can play at any time you please, you just won't be able to interact with the seasonal content. Eternal Realm characters will still benefit from all the game's balance changes and quality-of-life updates, just like the seasonal characters.

We are taking a look at WoW Dragonflight patch 10.1.5, which we’ll be launching on the 11th of July for NA servers and the 12th of July for EU. The new patch is bringing with it lots of new endgame content, new features, additional systems, and quality of life updates.

New Spec: Augmentation Evoker

Let’s dive straight in with probably the most highly anticipated new arrival Augmentation Evoker.

In Patch 10.1.5, Evokers will gain access to a third spec called Augmentation, which is an entirely new style of spec that focuses more on support.

Augmentation Evokers still count as DPS. But a lot of their damage will come indirectly from buffing the damage of other players. Addons like details that can track DPS will soon have new hooks integrated into them to allow for more accurate recordings of augmentation of Okra damage based on this unique play style.

The new spec makes use of mostly black and bronze magic. But they still share a few similarities with the other two Evoker specs. In that, they also use Mana and Essences as resources. They have empowered abilities and they have strong mobility, too.

A couple of their new abilities that make up part of their core rotation are Ebon Might, which buffs up to four players to increase their primary stat by a percentage of their own and buffing their damage for a short time.

There are also then a handful of abilities that can be used to extend the duration of Ebon Might without the need to recast it:

• Eruption is the only new Essence spender augmentation will see, which deals volcanic damage to enemies within its radius and extends the duration of Ebon Might.
• Upheaval. This is an empowered ability that also deals AOE damage and extends Ebon Might.
• Fire Breath. This is the regular Evoker Fire Breath. But it will also extend Ebon Might’s duration when used in augmentation spec.
• Shifting Sands. In terms of buffs, Augmentation of Evokers can make use of Shifting Sands to grant a strong versatility buff to a player, preferring damage dealers whenever they use an empowered ability.
• Prescience. They can also grant Prescience to multiple allies at once, which gives them a quick buff for a short time.

New Mega-Dungeon: Dawn of the Infinite

The next addition to patch 10.1.5 is the new eight-boss Mega-Dungeon called Dawn of the Infinite.

Players will work with the Bronze Dragonflight to fight an array of bosses, including a Iridikon, Mochi, the Infinite, or evil version of Chromie and Chrono-Lord Deios who players also fight in Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr. Each boss is very unique in design and the environment and art of the dungeon are visually stunning, too.

Blizzard have said that there won’t be a hard mode version of this dungeon. Unlike Mechagon from BFA or Tazavesh from Shadowlands as they have tuned it to be in line with hard mode on Mythic difficulty, anyway. And for an easier time, the heroic version of the dungeon will be released in patch 10.1.7. They have also confirmed that the Dawn of the Infinite will inevitably be split into two halves for the sake of entering them into the Mythic + Dungeon pool.

Reins Of The Quantum Courser

Players will also have a chance to loot a new item called the Reins of the Quantum Courser from the new Mega-Dungeon, which when used will give the user a random mount from the game.

As of the time, we don't yet have a confirmed list of all the mounts that could drop from the Quantum Courser. But recent data mining has suggested a list of possible mounts, which include both dungeon and raid mounts from previous expansions.

• Deathchargers's Reins
• Reins of the Raven Lord
• Swift White Hawstrider
• Reins of the Blue Proto-Drake
• Reins of the Drake of the North Wind
• Reins of the Vitreous Stone Drake
• Armored Razzashi Raptor
• Swift Zulian Panther
• Reins of the Infinite Timereaver
• Midnight's Eternal Reins
• Sharkbait's Favorite Crackers
• Mummified Raptor Skull
• Underrot Crawg Harness
• Mechagon Peacekeeper
• Marrowfang's Reins
• Cartel Master Gearglider
• Mimiron's Head
• Flametalon of Alysrazor
• Experiment 12-B
• Reins of the Blazing Drake
• Life Binder's Handmaiden

Note that this list is completely speculative and nothing is confirmed just yet. We also don't know yet what the drop chance is of the Quantum Courser or if it is possible to give you a mount that you already have on your account. But nonetheless, it's a nice addition for mount collectors and may potentially eliminate the need for mount farming in old content in some rare cases.

Infinite Dragonflight Drake Customisation Manuscripts

Speaking of mounts, the Dawn of the Infinite will also allow players a chance to loot new customization manuscripts for their dragon riding mounts, adding a new Infinite Dragonflight skin color to each of the dragons, including the Winding Slitherdrake from patch 10.1.

Quantum Gear

The last cool thing you can get from the Mega-Dungeon are Quantum Gear items that are similar to the Quantum Courser will give the user a random appearance in that slot from a previous expansion.

Much like the mount version, we don't yet know about which items will be eligible in the loot table and which ones won't. But we can confidently assume the transmog items will drop much more often than the Quantum Courser. So, it's a good day to be a transmog collecto.r

New World Event: Time Rifts

Another new addition to patch 10.1.5 are the Time Rift world events. These events spawn at the top of every hour and they can be accessed by heading to the Tyrhold Reservoir in Thal dresses.

Once there, report to Soridormi to get started. You'll be given objectives to complete within a time limit. And the more you complete, the better your reward will be, similar to how the Researchers Under Fire weekly event works in the Zaralek Cavern.

Once the timer is up, a portal will spawn in the Tyrhold Reservoir that will take you to the final boss of the event. I tested a couple of these Time Rifts on the PTR and each one is dedicated to a specific expansion and some bosses are currently much more difficult than others.

For example, I managed to solo Freya in my first Time Rift but during the second, I had to fight the Lich King and I barely lasted 10 seconds. These events are designed for large groups to work on together, again much like the Zaralek Cavern weekly or the Primal Storms from patch 10.0.5.

Completing a Time Rift will grant you a bunch of rewards, including:

• A rep token for reputation with Sorodormi (which is new to the game).
• A Dilated Time Capsule and 1,000 Paracausal Flakes (which are two new currencies and can be exchanged at the vendors in the Tyrhold Reservoir for item level 402 catch-up gear and a ton of cosmetic rewards, including mounts, pets, and transmog)
• You can also loot an item called Encapsulated Destiny (which guarantees loot from completing a Time Rift independently of the reward cash you earn).

Once I had the Encapsulated Destiny active and completed a Time Rift I was given the Reins of the Scourgebound Vanquisher, a new mount that is otherwise available for Paracausal Flakes.

If you want more of these guaranteed loot tokens, you can complete a daily quest with Chromie in Temporal Conflux. Her daily is super simple to complete and rewards another Encapsulated Destiny along with Sorodomi rep and some more Paracausal Flakes.

New Gear Upgrade Track: Myth

Patch 10.1.5 is also introducing another track for the gear upgrade system we were introduced to in patch 10.1, allowing players to now increase the item level of gear pieces up to 447 as long as the gear piece falls in the Myth level upgrade track.

You can get Myth level gear from Mythic raid, Mythic + dungeons at a level 16 or higher. And the very rare loot drops from the raid on Heroic Difficulty will also fall into the new Myth track, allowing you to fully upgrade these items to 447. The Myth track upgrades will cost you Flightstones and Aspect's Shadowflame Crests, which are the highest quality crests you can get from higher-level endgame content.

Also Read: Things Blizzard Can Do to Make WOW Dragonflight Better

Warlocks for All Races

Moving on, Warlocks are getting a lot of love in patch 10.1.5, starting with the class itself becoming available to every race in the game. This means that Night Elves, Draenei, Lightforce Draenei, Pandaren, Kul Tiran, Tauren, Highmountain Tauren, Mag'har Orc and Zandalari trolls will all be able to be Warlocks when patch 10.1.5 launches.

In terms of law, there is some controversy among the player base about certain races becoming Warlocks, namely, Lightforge Draenei and Mag'har Orc. But at least in terms of gameplay, Warlock mains will now have full reign over which racials they prefer for a given spec and the content they like to play.

Warlock Demon Customisation Options

Warlocks are also going to be able to customize the various demons they can summon after completing a new Warlock specific questline in patch 10.1.5.

You can gather more customization options for each of your minions by collecting Grimoires from various types of content. Some Grimoires are simply replacing the old glyph versions and offer the same skin for their corresponding demons. But others may come from a drop from a vendor, from time walking, from an event, or from a quest. And there's lots to choose from.

Kalimdor Dragonriding

The rest of the new features in patch 10.1.5 are mostly quality of life improvements. But I did want to give an honorable mention to the Kalimdor Grand Prix, which will unlock dragonriding races throughout Kalimdor zones.

These will only be available during the Grand Prix event and players can earn exclusive rewards by farming the Grand Prix for the new currency called Riders of Azeroth Badges.

UI Changes & Quality Of Life Updates

Finally, patch 10.1.5 is introducing a whole host of UI changes and quality of life updates, starting off with the new in-game micro menu now being in color rather than the previously grayscale menu.

There's also an updated graphic for the Rested buff. Players get when inside a Rest area shown in the corner of their unit frame.

During combat your abilities on your action bar show new graphics for cast time and will also glow differently when the game is prompting you to press them, such as when you get a proc.

Personally, I found this feature a little distracting. But hopefully it's helpful for new players or players learning a new spec.

We will also be getting a "sell all junk" button in the default vendor window. This feature will automatically sell any poor quality items in your inventory, which are the gray items. You'll earn a sum of WoW Dragonflight Gold for it. But anything that is uncommon or higher will be kept.

Hopefully, this feature will eventually have some player-based configuration involved to let each player specify what constitutes junk and what doesn't.

The core of Path of Exile is character customization. Most expansions introduce new ways to play the game, sometimes including brand new skill gems. Path of Exile 2 will be no different.

What’s Definitely Coming In POE 2?

In fact, it will be the single largest drop of new skills into Path of Exile in the game’s history. Between introduced skill gems, the concept of skills attached to ascendancy classes, and weapon implicits granting skills as well, once POE 2 hits will be inspired to craft a plethora of brand new builds with a batch of visually pleasing new skills.

We are less than a month out from ExileCon 2023 and the total reveal of everything related to Path of Exile 2. Let’s hop on the hype boat and explore what we do know about all the new skills arriving in this big content drop.

Defined New POE 2 Skills

The long-awaited shapeshifter archetype finally enters Path of Exile with Path of Exile 2. Presently, we’re aware of at least three different shapeshifting forms: the Werewolf, the Werebear, and the Werecat.

The Werewolf will be accessible via a skill gem and function much like an aura. This is probably the case for the other two forms, too. Werewolf users focus on speed, attacking fast and moving fast. The form can be transitioned to and from seamlessly. Inside the form, you will be able to use any skill that makes sense.

The two examples GGG used were Leap Slam and Cleave, although I’m sure many other melee skills will be usable, too. And spell skills are probably not usable in the Werewolf form, although we could be surprised. Similar to the Werewolf gem, the Werebear is also stored within a skill gem, although we never saw it in action. While a Werebear will probably focus on tankiness, its functionality should be the same as the Werewolf.

Personally, I think this will be a form we can briefly swap to and gain major defenses inside. Think of an emergency Vaal Molten Shell or something similar. A huge boss strike is incoming. So, we quickly swap to Werebear form before dancing back to Werewolf or Werecat form.

Unlike the other two former shapeshifting forms, the Werecat form can only be accessed through the Beastmaster ascendancy class, one of three new ascendancies. Due to this, there will probably be more power packed inside this form than the latter two. Plus, it’ll have a specialization in Critical Strikes.

Don’t worry about scaling, either. In POE 2, skills granted by ascendancy classes will scale with the character’s level and not remain static. I’m hoping for a variety of new play styles enabled due to shapeshifting. In addition to adding this entirely new archetype, I really hope it’ll introduce a shift dancing playstyle, incentivizing players to swap between multiple forms and prolonged fights.

The new crossbow weapon class will add a variety of new skills to the game in the form of weapon, implicits, and actual skill gems. Power Shot is a high damage single target attack skill granted by a crossbow implicit, which can be modified by bolt skill gems. In order to have a better gaming experience, I recommend that you prepare enough POE Currency. In this way, you can buy the skill gems you need at any time.

We know of three bolt types: Permafrost Bolt, Armor Piercing Bolt, and Incendiary Bolt. Permafrost deals cold damage and conjures a big field of ice and can freeze enemies. Armor Piercing deals extreme damage, breaking through the armor of enemies. Incendiary sparks a field of fire and can leave corpses burning.

Again, these bolt skills are like auras and can be swapped between to change how your crossbow attack skill of choice functions. They don’t seem to reserve mana, and swapping between them doesn’t have any associated cost.

The Siege Cascade Skill is granted by the Siege Crossbow and essentially acts like the current day's Rain of Arrows skill. You shoot a bolt into the air and it slams down on enemies. Again, your various bolt skills modify how Siege Cascade works.

The second new weapon class coming with POE 2 is spear. Spears boast a host of brand new skills found both on skill gems and on the weapons themselves as implicit modifiers. Every single spear in the game will grant Exiles at least one mobility skill with some granting, too.

One of the spears we’ve seen came with both an engage and disengage skill. The former skill grants increase damage for a short time once used, while the latter unleashes a flurry of projectiles upon use.

Another new skill is Whirling Slash, which creates a sandstorm, which grows each time you use it then explodes when you leave it, dealing huge damage to monsters.

Yet another spear skill gem is Rapid Assault, which does three rapid stabs, then a fourth that does more damage and can possibly stun, rewarding those who position themselves well.

Spearfield creates an area of spears on the ground, which deals bleeding damage to monsters who walk through it. It’s basically a damaging area control skill gem.

Storm Spear fires a lightning projectile, which splits on contact. It is kind of like Lightning Strike.

Related: Will There Be Three New Weapon Types In Path Of Exile 2?

Finally, we have Blazing Lance. Blazing Lance creates a trail of fire on the ground, which can be hit again to Fan the Flames for a burst of damage. All in all, these seven new skills introduced from Spears are absolutely wild.

Path of Exile 2 shall bring a new gem type into the game - Meta Gems. These gems accomplish a niche purpose or enact an odd design pillar, functioning differently from other gems.

Renowned examples are the proficiency, cast on crit, and spell totem support gems. The former can hold all your auras inside it, allowing them to be activated with the click of a button. The latter completely revamps the current spell totem support gem, allowing you to socket multiple intelligent gems into the meta gem itself. For example, you can socket an elemental curse and an elemental skill into the gem and it will know to use the curse first and the spell skill second.

Even though the developers have been steadily revamping and sometimes merely updating the visual effects of existing skills, it’s evident more drastic changes shall arrive at the momentous release of Path of Exile 2.

Some of the speculation we’re about to undergo might be revamped to existing scales or these might be new skills entirely. We’ll have to wait for the end product to see. But there’s sure to be an absolute ton of other visual and animation updates on release, especially with the updated Exile models and bar advanced rigging technology GGG has developed.

Speculated New PoE 2 Skills

Both the Ngamakanui and Aggorat teasers showcased a rapid fire barrage of potentially new Elemental Skills. The Exile in the jungle ruin seems to use a revamped spark skill, curving her hand toward the floor and conjuring a small lightning projectile that randomly zips along the ground.

Afterwards, she either uses a new cold damage skill or gets another revamp skill gem Ice Nova. Finally, the Exile finishes off a group of the infected creatures with a brand new cold damage skill - a meteor of ice. If I were to guess, its name is probably an ice meteor.

Then in the Aggorat teaser, we see the monk Exile use his staff to twirl around another new skill, create a ground targeted arc of lightning and a cone of ice. Both look like completely new scales. Unlike anything else we’ve seen in the melee right now, the monk is also using lots of skills, which could mean a few things.

GGG might have just wanted to show off all these skills and animations. Because they look cool or they could be hinting toward a combo system of sorts with this class.

What if there are new abilities or support gems that incentivize using a variety of skills or damage types to build up for a huge payoff? A combo system of sorts. It’s definitely a possibility, especially for the monk, an archetype known for their wild combo potential.

We’ve seen a dodge roll in the two most recent snapshots of Path of Exile 2. So, how will a tumble like ability enter POE? I’d gander it’s a new skill gem or a basic movement skill, like our basic attack skill. If it’s a new skill gem, we would likely get it very early as a way to introduce new players to Path of Exile’s method of dodging big boss attacks. Roll would be a precursor to Flame Dash and Frostblink, maybe.

Option 2 roll is our new basic movement skill and one of our only movement skills. There is a small possibility we’re about to see a major shift in the way movement skills function in Path of Exile.

Imagine this: we get Roll as a basic movement skill or one of a few movement skill jumps. Instead of having individual hyper focus skill gems, GGG adds the ability for a variety of support gems to modify these new basic movement skills.

Thusly, we could form our own movement skills and save a fair wealth of Flame Dash. But with Flame Trail support and Insta Phase support mixed with the Dash skill gem, you’d have your own with three more supports to use and modify it with. I could see four based move skills possible: Roll, Dash, Charge, and Blink.

Since Diablo 4 is out, the Diablo 2 Resurrected’s servers are much emptier. And I found that the update frequency of many Diablo 2 Resurrected content creators is also significantly reduced.

Given the status quo, some people are wondering how things will continue and if Diablo 4 will even replace Diablo 2 Resurrected. I can clearly answer this question with a no.

Of course, Diablo 4 is just new. Not even a month has gone past since release, so there is much new content. But in this article, I have 7 points for you why Diablo 4 will not be a replacement for many Diablo 2 Resurrected players in the long term.

1. Items

Number one, the item system in Diablo 2 Resurrected is a class for its own.

There are many different affixes and host mechanics you have to understand, such as Open Wounds, Crushing Blow, or Deadly Strike. Also, the player must pay attention to certain breakpoints and there are the various popular Runewords.

In Diablo 4, the complexity develops on a completely different level. The legendary and unique aspects make a lot of difference and there are many different types of damage to understand.

2. Trading

Point number two is related to the first point - trading.

In Diablo 2 Resurrected, a gigantic market has developed. It’s hard to find the comparison for this. I can’t think of any other game where trading with other players is such a factor.

In Diablo 4, the trades are currently limited to very few goods, such as rares and Diablo 4 Gold. And even if something changes, I think items that are bound to your account will remain an integral part of the Diablo 4 mechanics.

3. Speed

Under point number three, I list the game resume and speed.

In Diablo 2 Resurrected, you teleport through the maps in no time and make high frequency runs or farm many different spots one after the other.

In Diablo 4, everything takes much longer. If you want to run a dungeon, you have to ride there first and, in the worst case, you get involved into fights on the way.

4. Skill Trees

Point number four is the Skill Trees.

The skill system is very good in both games but also completely different. Both offer the base for a great variety of characters. And even though I can’t assess the whole potential in Diablo 4 yet, I dare to say that the variants in D2R are a bit greater. I can certainly think of over 20 different builds just for the Paladin.

In any case, the build possibilities in Diablo 2 Resurrected are unique in some respects.

In Diablo 4, it will probably be difficult to build an efficient build where the Sorcerer strikes with a sword.

5. Optic

As point number five, I would like to mention the beautiful graphics of Diablo 2 Resurrected.

Diablo 4 doesn’t look bad either, but the engine is completely different. In Diablo 2 Resurrected, however, the new detailed implementation of the classic look has become so ingenious and makes the heart of an old Diablo 2 Resurrected player beat faster.

6. PVP & Speedruns

Point number six in Diablo 2 Resurrected various disciplines have been established that have kept many players happy for years, such as Speedrunning or PVP. Even though there may be both in the far as well, it will be completely different.

In Diablo 2 Resurrected Speedrunning, I loved the mechanics of how the game generates the maps and how you can read the maps to progress faster.

In Diablo 4, on the other hand, the entire outside world, as well as the specific dungeons in the main storyline, are always exactly the same. PVP is also something completely different in Diablo 2 Resurrected.

This, of course, already results from the engines and game mechanics we have already discussed. Every enthusiastic Diablo 2 Resurrected PVP player will definitely understand what I mean.

7. Offline

Last but not least, we have point number seven and that is the fact that there is an offline mode.

Diablo 2 is a game that has been modded a lot in the past and there are already some mods for Diablo 2 Resurrected, too. In addition, there is also a group of players who like to play the Solo Self Found.

In addition, it should also be mentioned that Diablo 2 has survived for so many years, although there was a long break. Without new content with Diablo 2 Resurrected, cool new content was added, and the graphics were brought to a good new standard. So, it would surprise me if there would be a sudden finish soon.

A certain car of players to which I also count myself will certainly still play the game for a long time. I also have a lot to do, so, for example, only two of my PVP charts are level 99 yet and the equipment I also have to optimize.

Diablo 4 is also pretty cool. But it’s a different grind. You have the open world and the complexity develops in a completely different direction, which also has its charm but is just no replacement. It is rather an additional offer variety. I could imagine that Diablo 4 will replace the third part, but for judging, I have played too little Diablo 3.

In any case, I'm looking forward to many more D2R content since the hype of Diablo 4 will not be forever.

As the lots of players were curious about the KR server status, so I thought it’ll be great to share some of those updates & notices for your Lost Ark journey.

Please note: This news is only containing about the improvements and updates on KR server. It does not contain the roadmap of the whole global server.

Raid Updates

Just like the before gold adjustment on Valtan and Vykas, some of the gold reward got adjusted in this update.

Some of the raid was way too easy, but gives too much Lost Ark Gold as a reward. And those higher-tier raids, which need more efforts and times, like Akkan and Ivory Tower, were given too low rewards than the low-tier raid.

Of course, the high-tier raid is also consuming such quantity of gold to beat the raid due to a need of expensive potions and other battle item stuff.

So, now Kakul-Saydon, and Brelshaza Normal drops less gold than the previous version. Also, the high-tier raid and dungeon, like Akkan and Ivory Tower, will give you better rewards than the previous raid rewards.

Also Read: Lost Ark: When & How To Use Esther In Valtan Legion Raid?

The Vykas raid has a really hard mechanic called Medusa mechanic in the Gate 3. And this mechanic will also got patched and removed. So, now you longer need to solve the intricate mechanic during the Vykas raid.

For Brelshaza Normal mode, it’ll drop the ancient material for making or crafting the ancient gear. So, you are no longer to go Brelshaza Normal and hard again to simply upgrade your gear to an ancient level. At the same time, chest opening efficiency was boosted, too. You could make and set your character more fast than the previous version of the Lost Ark.

Besides, the Integrated Dungeon UI can be changed after this update. You can keep use the previous version, but also you can use the newer version, too. It looks simpler and cleaner than the previous version UI.

Additionally, in the token exchange, you can additionally exchange the tripod amulet. Lv.4 and Lv.5 tripod amulet can be exchanged per character. Previous version was a per roster. And this tripod will snap 100 %.

Summer Season Patches

As the summer is here, the new Summer Season event will also begin.

Maharaka Festival Island is opened to start a new event. It’s called Mokoko Pirate Festival. Do you still remember the past event, which looks like Fall Guys?

Not much thing was changed in this update. Mokoko got changes its costume and add one more course during the race. Actually, it’s not bad to play, so try it out if you are playing the game in KR.

Mokoko Pirate Festival opens at every even hour like 2, 4, 6. If you played the Lost ark in this season, in every single content you play, it’ll drop the Event Token, which can be exchanged on the separate event window.

And of course, it contains lots of useful stuff for your Lost Ark journey, like material for honing and legendary card pack and some footstep skins.

At the same time, new Express Season has begun and it’ll give you 1540 support and an engraving setting, which is based on the players’ gameplay data.

But unfortunately, in my personal experience, it won’t provide you enough material for your gear honing. So right now, my Express character got stuck in the dead end and waiting for the next week reset.

But what is really good right now is that it won’t cost any gold for honing to 1490. And as you expect, achieving each section of the item level will give you a lot of useful stuff for honing and other setting. Even the legendary selection card pack is obtainable when you reach 1540.

Ark Pass is also has begun on the KR, too. Just like the other region, Ark Pass is containing lots of useful stuff for honing, cards and some new mounts and pets for your Lost ark journey. And within the pass package, it contains a cool-looking summer background wallpaper on the lobby.

Other Updates

Some of the user convenience patch was also done on this update.

From now on, you can hand over the item to your alt without costing Pheon. It’ll decrease the trading counts, but as I mentioned, it won’t cost the pheons.

Sailing coins and keys were integrated into two types. It is more like shrinking the variation of the sailing item. So, you and I no longer to carry a such many types of coins for exchange in the trading ship.

Also, the ship skin can be changed once more, which is more like a separation of the ship’s function and the appearance. So, you can manage the function and the skin in the separate window.

Engraving function got updated, too. From now on, you don’t have to open the certain engraving by reading an uncommon Engraving Books. All the engraving will be started at level 1. In other words, it’ll opened the whole engraving in level 1 if you already opened the engraving function on your characters.

Warrior class or Shushire character’s body type was adjusted in this update. And one more customizable appearance was also added to the Shushire class - beard. So, now you could customize your Warrior class character with more variation to choose from.

Floors of the tower or spire were also adjusted to 20. Previous version of the tower was consisted to 50, right? But from now on, you don’t have to climb that many floors.

Gear Adjustments

Gear section or tier was updated on this update.

Lot of things happened in the tier 2 and 1, but let us just skip these 2 and move on to the tier 3 right away. The tier 3 section got adjusted. And the change content is more like the compression of the honing session. From now on, you don’t have to make 20 for your gear to reach the 1490 level.

In this update, you only need to hone your gear to 15 to reach 1490 right away. Also, the cap of the max honing level was decreased to 20. And as I mentioned in the raid chapter, you don’t have to go Brelshaza hard mode to make an ancient level gear.

Ancient material also dropped on the Brelshaza Normal, too. So, if you reach the 1490, go to Brelshaza Normal and then you can make an ancient level gear and hone again with more eased honing session.

Besides, the gear effect change conditions are gone. Once you craft your relic gear, you can change your gear set effect right away.

If you used an Express Pass on your characters, you could start right away with your relic gear.

Also, a lot of support for the new player is ongoing right now on KR server in the raid or in many other stuffs. So, if you are playing the Lost Ark in the KR region, it is a nice time to raise another alt or new character.

Emoji Penal

Emojis UI also updated in this update. Emoji panel was added.

More Other Updates

Delain Armen and Balthorr are now can obtainable from the wandering merchant like Wei.

Also, you need to react to the quest sometimes. This express or emotion can be directly accessed through the quest penal on your right.

Seasons is of course the next big thing on the horizon for Diablo 4. And we previously knew that Season 1 is coming in mid to late July. That was announced in a recent Developer Campfire Livestream.

However, we now have more specifics, including when Season 1 will be starting, which was revealed by Rod Fergusson on Twitter. A user asked when the announcement will be so that they can start planning their vacation leave. And Rod Fergusson, the Franchise General Manager of Diablo, replied announcing next week.

This is further backed up by Adam Fletcher, the Global Community Developer Director, replying to another user on Twitter, asking them when they can expect the next Dev update or Camp livestream. And Adam replied more news on that later this week.

New Dev Update - Next Week

So, it’s really looking like another Campfire Livestream will probably be happening next week, which will offer us the release date for Season 1.

We also have a bunch of details on the changes and tweaks and new things coming in the next big patch and the seasons as well as some juicy behind-the-scenes details.

That will give us a better understanding of how things work in the game, where different quality of loot and gear comes from, and just general things that you’ll want to know if you plan to play Diablo 4 Seasons.

Season 1 Details

So, if you want to know these juicy details, then let’s get started with what will be included in Season 1 in Diablo 4. Here’s a rundown of what you can expect.

Each Season Makes New Characters Starting Level 1

In Seasons, you’re going to create a new character starting from level 1. So, your Eternal Realm characters will not go into the season servers.

That’s because a seasonal character will basically be on a standalone version of the game with other seasonal characters with their own standalone bank stash, which is separate from eternal.

Seasonal Theme & Loot

There will be a season-specific theme that will be announced probably in this next update and within the season, we can expect to get new loot that will be powerful and probably build defining.

Hopefully, this will give us some good variety and freshness to the gameplay and our classes.

Season Duration - 3 Months

Seasons are expected to last roughly three months long. So, that’s how long you have to level up and get the gear.

Once this period ends, the seasonal characters will become Eternal Realm characters. So, you’re not going to lose your characters that you already have and you’re not going to lose the characters you make in Seasons.

But you might be wondering what exactly carries over in case you haven’t been keeping up to speed.

Also Read: Diablo 4 Tornado Druid Build: Fastest Druid Leveling Build (Level 1-50)

What Carries Over?

If you’ve already finished the campaign, then you will be able to skip the campaign on your seasonal characters.

In terms of your Renown, the maps Fog of War and your Shrines of Lilith will carry over. That means you will get the stats from those Shrines of Lilith. So, that’ll be a good early game boost.

If you’ve completed all the map Fog of War and got every Shrine of Lilith, you can expect to have around the first two renowned reward levels per zone.

Other tasks like side quests, strongholds, and dungeons will need to be redone, and that’s where you’ll make up the rest of the renowned levels.

Season Journey

Along with Seasons, the Season Journey, which has chapters in it, will also come. That will basically act as our guide to track seasonal objectives that give us various rewards, including legendary aspects and caches.

So, think of this like a journal with different quests and tasks that you’re going to want to complete in the season.

Battle Pass

On top of this, the Battle Pass will come with seasons. It’s estimated that it will take around 80 hours to complete and this is actually more than other games, such as Warzone and Overwatch, which take around 50 hours.

The good news is there’s meant to be no pay to win aspects on the Battle Pass and there is a free version. This will be leveled up by gaining favor, which you get by completing various objectives. That apparently includes things like strongholds, dungeons, and side quests.

Smoldering Ashes System

But along with this will come the Smoldering Ashes system that’s tied to the Battle Pass. This system is a new currency that we will gain by completing levels in the free part of the Battle Pass.

This currency of Smoldering Ashes can then be used to trade for Blessings that will boost our XP gain from monster kills, our gold earned from vendor sale amount, get more materials when salvaging gear, and increase the duration of our Elixirs.

Overall, this is meant to be a system that will ease the grind relating to getting more XP, materials, and Diablo 4 Gold.

If you’ve already leveled up a few characters, the idea of leveling up another one from Level 1 in Seasons might be a bit overwhelming. But systems like this are here to basically smooth that over for us.

Increased Mob Density

Outside of this, we also know from the last patch that the next one will come with an increased amount of mob density and Elite mob density. This is what a lot of players have been wanting since experiencing those dungeons that had tons of Elite groups in them, which gave loads of drops on XP.

Of course, they have since been hot fixed. But having enemies spread out in a dungeon just isn’t as fun as wiping out waves of dense mobs. And the XP and loot are more efficient in that as well.

So, we can expect this change to come in early Season 1 and that’s something to look out for and that they’re aware of.

Balance Changes

Also, after the recent class buffs, many people have been feeling a little lackluster. Because these buffs didn’t really make meaningful big changes for our classes and the issues that people have with them. It’s good to know that the developers are aware of these issues, such as build parity. And in their own words, they’re heavily monitoring discussion based on this topic.

So, hopefully, the next set of balance changes will address these issues with certain classes and their build diversity being very limited in higher-level content.

World Tier 4 Loot

Another upcoming interesting change is the type of loot you get in World Tier 4.

As you may know, upgrading to World Tier 4 allows ancestrals to start dropping that offer a big bump in item power, which levels up your sub stats quite a bit.

In World Tier 4, Sacreds are still dropping abundantly while Ancestrals are more uncommon or rare in comparison.

A user asked Adam Fletcher about this on Twitter and now basically we have confirmation that they are going to adjust this by Season 1. So, it’s not too long to wait. And if you’re yet to get to World Tier 4 to farm ancestrals, this will make your life so much easier as being fully kitted out in ancestrals is a big power bump.

Good Insights Into Farming Cellars

On a slightly different note, I just wanted to highlight a really awesome Reddit post that offers some really good insights into farming cellars in the game.

User MrFrodoBeggins tested 1270 cellars over a three-day period and recorded all of their findings and what’s an absolute MVP.

From their testing, which included between 230 to 290 cellars across the Fractured Peaks, the Dry Steppes, Scosglen, Keanjistan and Howezar, they counted their Obols, XP, gold, legendaries, uniques, and even Treasure Goblins and Butcher encounters. And it’s actually quite interesting seeing all of the stats.

But the overall conclusion is that cellars just kind of suck to farm specifically. They don’t yield as much XP or loot as more efficient activities compared to the time spent doing the cellars. But he does say they are good for getting materials since you are running from cellar to cellar, anyway.

However, I would be very interested to see the results of doing cellars by resetting instances instead of running from one to another. In the early game, farming cellars next to World Events was a very efficient farm to run between the two back to back. But it seems safe to say that at high levels, it’s not worth targeting cellars specifically.