Blizzard Entertainment rolled out a small holiday surprise for Diablo 4 players this week. The December 20 hotfix patch focuses on boosting loot drops and tweaking the Vampire class ahead of the new year.
Diablo 4 Hotfix 5 Update Patch Notes: Adjusting Echo Of Duriel Drop Rates And Vampire Skills
Double Rewards Until January 8th
Echoes of Duriel are valuable crafting components tied to Diablo 4’s Uber Unique monsters. With the latest hotfix, Blizzard has doubled the drop rates for these echoes to celebrate the winter season. All platforms can take advantage of the improved odds until January 8th. This limited-time event gives players extra incentives to hunt down tricky uber bosses.
Vampire Skills Get Balancing Pass
Metamorphosis, a core Vampire ability, has undergone balancing changes in the December 20 update. Its crowd control effect now has a flat 2.5 second duration instead of increasing with ability level. However, this comes with a substantial damage boost across all three metamorph forms. Early reports suggest vampires now pack more of an offensive punch.
Minor Technical Fixes
The patch also addresses technical issues surrounding the Sorceress’ Charged Bolt skill. Specific ability interactions could cause stability and performance trouble before. These extreme cases should now behave normally after the hotfix tweaks.
No Further Updates Expected Soon
Aside from today’s balance changes and bug fixes, Blizzard currently has no major Diablo 4 updates planned for the near future. The developer aims to roll out larger patches on a seasonal basis instead. So players likely won’t see the next wave of new content until 2024. But fans can dive into the adjusted vampire skills and holiday drop event for now.
Here are the complete patch notes for the game updates:
HOTFIX 5 – December 20, 2023 – 1.2.3a
Game Updates
- Echo of Duriel drop rates for Uber Uniques will now be doubled until January 8th.
Developer Note: We’re boosting Duriel Uber Unique drop rates until January 8th to help all those looking for that special piece of gear. Happy Holidays!
- Vampire Power Update:
- Metamorphosis: Unstoppable duration changed to a flat rate instead of scaling with Vampiric power level.
- Unstoppable duration changed to 2.5 seconds at all levels. No longer increases per level.
- Damage increased from 80%/120%/160% to 110%/180%/250%
- Note: Metamorphosis in-game tooltip will not reflect these new values, and will be updated at a later date through a client update.
- Metamorphosis: Unstoppable duration changed to a flat rate instead of scaling with Vampiric power level.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where in extreme cases, Charged Bolts would result in stability and performance issues.
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