2.3 PTR First Thoughts
On May 22nd during the Campfire Chat, Blizzard announced the 2.3 PTR and Season 9! Discover Maxroll Team first thoughts about 2.3 PTR notes! Season 8: Belial's Return and the patch 2.2 have been released only a few weeks ago but it is already time to set our eyes on next season!
Barbarian
As was predicted going into Season 8, Earthquake builds still reigned supreme despite the heavy nerfs they received (twice). As we approach Season 9's PTR with the only targeted nerf to this playstyle being the Force of Nature paragon node, it seems the trend might continue, as this alone is not nearly enough to dethrone our top performing builds. The only real competitor, Mighty Throw, has been obliterated due to various bug fixes and Overpower damage nerfs; the latter also spells doom for much of the already underperforming cast, namely Hammer of the Ancients, Upheaval, and Double Swing - especially worrying since there aren't any meaningful buffs to these Core Skills in sight as of yet.
We will, however, see a rise in popularity of our various Basic Skills. Bash was already fairly well-known within this archetype, but it might have a bit of an identity crisis in the coming Season with the addition of Hooves of the Mountain God, a pair of shoes that gives Frenzy and Lunging Strike the ability to cleave. All of these builds play fairly similarly, but it remains to be seen which one will come out on top in terms of pure power. Our other Basic, Flay, is a bit of an oddball here, but it does show some promise with the addition of Tyrant Bane. Although it is unlikely that any of these will end up being "the best", they do add some much needed variety to the Barbarian's current arsenal.
— Snail
Druid
Down with Cataclysm! Honestly, despite a slew of nerfs that bring pure Cataclysm to less than 5% of its season 8 values, it should continue to stick around as one of the top contenders for Druid. But gone are the days of throwing Mjölnic Ryng and Cataclysm into any random build for an easy 100%x multiplier. Instead, we'll often leverage Grizzly Rage, which regains its permanent Unstoppable and now has a healthy cast of supporting Aspects, or Petrify, if your build is good at recovering its cooldown and can leverage Stormshifter's Aspect.
The changes to Toxic Claws and Rabid Bear, along with the introduction of Noxious Spine-Breaker, are intriguing for a Poison-based Werebear build. However, Druids have historically had a difficult time scaling DoTs, and it's going to take some extra love from Tryant Bane and other seasonal effects to see this come to fruition. The basic skill buffs aren't totally meaningless, but basic skill builds were so far behind that these buffs probably don't move the needle for them. Those buffs will probably be most felt while leveling.
— Boiler
Sorcerer
The upcoming patch comes with heavy nerfs to Combustion and Enlightenment Key Passives, which affects ... all the Sorcerer builds. That's right, no one is escaping unharmed. Depending on the build, this nerf amounts to somewhere between x4 and x50 less damage dealt or approximately 6 to 16 Pit tiers. On top of that Lightning Spear received some personal "love" in form of Splintering Energy nerf and Sidhe Bindings bugfix resulting in another 15x damage loss. The good news is that Lightning Spear was so far above the rest that even with these nerfs it will remain playable, even very good for speedfarming non-Pit content with a fully optimised build. Another positive side of these nerfs is that not every build is going to run Enlightenment, letting us move away from "wait for buff to deal damage" type of gameplay.
And finally, there's something to look forward to: the new Hydra build. Our initial expectation is that it will be strong, maybe even the strongest Sorcerer build!
— Northwar
Necromancer
The devs have decided to shake up the entirety of the Necromancer meta with this one simple change... Nerf Soulrift. Removing the Barrier generation and drastically reducing the damage multiplier makes your decision for a supporting ultimate skill a bit more interesting. We may see a return to the meta of Bone Storm and Shielding Storm aspect, to solve survivability in the endgame.
Blood Builds are looking to Indira's Memory and Blood Wave to regain damage and survival. Minion builds may become even more glass cannon and finally use Army of the Dead, while Darkness builds will rely on the Essence Generation of Soulrift, and look elsewhere for Barrier.
Add in the new Unique Minion gloves that seem like one of our first truly transformative items, on the class, and what we have is a very interesting PTR to uncover the meta.
Rogue
Basic Attack enjoyers, rejoice! The changes to Adaptability and increased base damage of Basic Attacks makes our Invigorating Strike and Heartseeker builds stronger than they were in Season 8! We plan on experimenting with the other Basic Attacks throughout the PTR, so stay tuned for that.
Although Death Trap was nerfed with changes to Overpower and Eyes in the Dark, it is still looking like one of our strongest builds as it was not dependent by the strength of our Key Passives. Other builds, such as Rain of Arrows, Twisting Blades, and more, are significantly impacted by this change and have as a result lost some power compared to their performance in Season 8. Builds that used Momentum and Exposure are not affected by this, so Poison Trap and Shadow Step are looking strong as ever with the addition of the Horadric Powers.
The new Flurry Helmet has interested our guide writers, but PTR will determine how strong it actually is. We have plenty of subtle changes to our existing guides, so make sure to read the updated guides as we get closer to Season 9 launch.
— Avarilyn
Spiritborn
Spiritborn may have a pretty decent season ahead of them. Compared to most other classes, they were nerfed the least, which means that some of the stronger builds like Quill Volley may end up among the best in the game. Rod of Kepeleke-based setups are going to feel the game-wide overpower nerfs, others get affected by the change to the Noxious Resonance key passive, but overall it's looking like there are plenty of solid builds to choose from for Season 9, including the oldschool fan-favorite Evade Spiritborn which was already good in Season 8 and is unaffected by any nerfs.
The new Balazan's Maxtlatl unique also looks very promising to either produce its own dedicated Thorns/Poison proc build or get included in existing Thorns setups like Rock Splitter. Depending on the exact mechanics, this may be a contender for a top tier setup. Only the "buff" to Razor Wings falls flat and that build is going to remain one of the weakest we currently cover across all classes, while the "nerf" to The Hunter cooldown resets won't have any noticeable impact at all for any endgame build.
— Wudijo
What's Up Recently?
What's Next?
We hope you enjoy the Season of Belial's Return with the aid of our Season 8 updates. Our focus for the rest of Season 8 is to make sure our Build Guides are solid with all the new Item updates, new features and mechanic changes. We're continuing to work on more updates for D4Planner!
With that said, head over to our Discord to stay up to date with our content development and to make the most of your Season 8 experience! Also don't forget to check out our Youtube channel!
Written by: Maxroll Team
