The public test for Diablo 3 patch 2.6.8, which officially kicks off Season 20, will go live on February 6.
During the PTR, players will see an increased Legendary drop rate and double Blood Shard drops, while crafting plans from Bounty Caches will be guaranteed to drop (unless all plans have been learned).
Aside from those boosts, Season 20’s theme is the Season of the Forbidden Archives, and the goal is to vastly increase character power throughout the season. During the season, all slots in Kanai’s Cube will be able to select Legendary powers from Weapon, Armor, or Jewelry.
Apart from the changes, the Diablo 3 2.6.8 patch tests new class skillsets for Barbarians, Witch Doctors, and Wizards. Here’s what’s going to change:
Barbarian
- New Class Set: Horde of the Ninety Savages
- 2-Piece Bonus: Double the effectiveness of all Shouts. Feared Enemies take double damage.
- 4-Piece Bonus: Each stack of Frenzy reduces damage taken by 5%.
- 6-Piece Bonus: Frenzy deals 1000% increased damage per stack.
- Undisputed Champion: Frenzy gains the effect of every rune and deals 300-400% increased damage.
- Bastion’s Revered: Frenzy now stacks up to 10 times and hits an additional time per attack. Each additional hit will chain to enemies within 15 yards and damage is split between all enemies.
Witch Doctor
- New Class Set: Mundunugu’s Regalia
- 2-Piece Bonus: Big Bad Voodoo now follows you and lasts twice as long.
- 4-Piece Bonus: Gain 50% damage reduction for 30 seconds when you enter the Spirit Realm.
- 6-Piece Bonus: Spirit Barrage deals increased damage equal to 50 times your Mana Regeneration per Second.
- The Barber: Instead of dealing direct damage, your Spirit Barrage now accumulates on the target. When you stop casting, it explodes dealing 225-250% 400-500% of the accumulated damage to all enemies within 15 yards.
- Gazing Demise: Spirit Barrage gains the Phantasm rune. Each active Phantasm lasts twice as long, increases the damage of Spirit Barrage by 40-50% 100-150%, and also increases the attack rate from Manitou spectres. Now always rolls with Critical Hit Chance instead of Life Per Second.
Wizard
- New Class Set: The Typhon’s Veil
- 2-Piece Bonus: Double the duration of Hydras and increase the number of heads on multi-headed Hydras by two.
- 4-Piece Bonus: Damage taken is reduced by 8% for each Hydra head alive as long as there is one available. Each time you take damage, a Hydra heads dies.
- 6-Piece Bonus: Hydras deal 1000% increased damage for each Hydra head alive.
- Serpent’s Sparker: You may have one extra Hydra active at a time and they deal 450-600% increased damage.
- The Magistrate: Frost Hydra Your Hydras now periodically casts Frost Nova and deal 450-600% increased damage.
- Etched Sigil: The bonus granted by this item now occurs 1 second after channeling has begun.
- Deathwish: The bonus granted by this item now occurs 1 second after channeling has begun.
In other series news, Diablo 4 is currently in the works, although it’s not coming anytime in the near future. The developers have stated its not even set to arrive “Blizzard soon.”
