Diablo 3 update 2.6.8 patch notes - Season of the Forbidden Archives
Published , by Sam Chandler
Diablo 3’s 2.6.8 update is now available and players can dive into the patch notes to see what’s new. Of the top-billing additions, players can look forward to experiencing Season 20, the Season of the Forbidden Archives. There are also a host of improvements, tweaks, and changes to a few classes. Please see the notes below!
Update 2.6.8 is now out for Diablo 3!
Diablo 3 update 2.6.8 patch notes
General
Infernal Machines and Organs are now subject to vacuum pick-up
Crafting plans from Bounty Caches are now guaranteed to drop unless all plans have been learned
Seasons
A new Season Theme has been added for Season 20, the Season of the Forbidden Archives:
For the duration of Season 20, all slots in Kanai's Cube will be able to select Legendary powers from Weapon, Armor, or Jewelery
This means you could select three Armor powers, three Weapon powers, three Jewelery powers, or any other combination thereof across all categories
Items are not self-additive or multiplicative (meaning, you cannot stack multiples of the same item's power)
Once the Season has ended and characters roll over to Non-Season, players will have all currently active powers in their Kanai's Cube reset
Developer's Note: As we outlined in our Developer Insight blog, we want to continue to get creative (and maybe a little crazy) with the Season Themes and powers we add to the game. We heard from some players that they preferred themes that made your character directly feel more powerful rather than needing to focus on the environment around you. If that describes you, then the Season of Forbidden Archives should be right up your alley, and we're really interested to see how this changes the game for Season 20.
Two new Seasonal rewards are available for players who fully complete the Season 20 Journey, including a new portrait frame and pet
Classes
Crusader
Developer's Note: We're not convinced that this change has fully reigned in Crusader performance to be more in line with other classes. We'll be continuing to keep an eye on overall Crusader performance (as well as performance among the other classes) in 2.6.8 and beyond.
Heaven's Fury
The animation for the Fires of Heaven rune can no longer be cancelled early.
Witch Doctor
Spirit Barrage (Phantasm)
The periodic attacks from Spirit Barrage (Phantasm) are now twice as slow, but twice as powerful
Developer's Note: We rolled this change back between PTR and Live as it was creating additional bugs. We may consider re-exploring this option in the future if we find this adjustment is still needed.
Items
Developer's Note: With Patch 2.6.8, we're adding three(!) new class sets with similar goals to those we included in the previous patch. Each set was designed primarily with boosting long-requested skills and play styles we lifted directly from community feedback. Frenzy, Spirit Barrage, and Hydra were requests that offered a lot of opportunity for gameplay exploration, and we're looking forward to seeing what players do with these new tools at their disposal. Additional changes to associated supplemental Legendaries have been included to round out these builds.
Mantle of Channeling
The bonus granted by this item now occurs 1 second after channeling has begun
Barbarian
New Class Set: Horde of the Ninety Savages
2-Piece Bonus: Double the effectiveness of all Shouts. Feared, Frozen, or Stunned Enemies take double damage.
Developer's Note: The callout that Stun may be the best fit for this set bonus was definitely heard, but we didn't want to take away other potential builds enabled by experimenting with Fear or Frozen. We hope this opens up a variety of options for Barbarians to explore!
4-Piece Bonus: Each stack of Frenzy reduces damage taken by 6%. Frenzy lasts twice as long.
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 stack. Each additional hit will chain to any enemies within 15 yards and the damage is split between all affected 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 60% damage reduction for 30 seconds when you enter the Spirit Realm.
6-Piece Bonus: Spirit Barrage deals 20000% increased damage plus an additional % equal to 5 times your Mana Regeneration/Second.
Developer's Note: We found this set was overperforming at the highest end, but we also wanted to maintain its capabilities at early gearing stages. The addition of a base multiplier and reducing the effectiveness of the Mana Regeneration bonus should accomplish this goal.
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.
Is now classified as a Ceremonial Knife, with a base 1.4 attack speed
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.
Ring of Emptiness
You deal 250-300% increased damage to enemies affected by both either your Haunt and or Locust Swarm.
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. Heads cannot die more than once every 2 seconds
6-Piece Bonus: Hydras deal 1200% 1300% increased damage for each Hydra head alive.
Developer's Note: We've continued to tilt more of the power for Hydra in favor of the 6-piece set bonus and away from the supplemental Legendary items.
Serpent's Sparker
You may have one extra Hydra active at a time and they deal 450-600% 250-300% increased damage.
The Magistrate
Frost Hydra Your Hydras now periodically cast Frost Nova and deal 450-600% 250-300% 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.
Bugs
Several issues with adding/removing players to group and starting new games as a group have been resolved
Captain Crimson's Trimmings
Fixed an issue where the set bonus did not increase damage reduction when using Devour – Voracious
Barbarian
Fixed a bug where Threatening Shout (Grim Harvest) would not activate when enhanced by the Horde of the Ninety Savages set bonus
Crusader
Corrected the spelling of “Imperius” on the flavor text for several pieces of the Aegis of Valor set
Fixed an issue where the bolts cast by Fist of the Heavens - Divine Well failed to zap enemies
Demon Hunter
Fixed an issue where In-geom was not properly dropping for Demon Hunters
Wizard
Fixed a bug where Arcane Torrent would get an extra damage multiplier from Etched Sigil and Deathwish
Fixed a bug where Hydra (Frost Hydra) was getting a damage bonus instead of Attack Speed bonus from its owner's Attack Speed; this rune now benefits from Attack Speed in the same manner as other Hydra runes
PTR Specific
Note: The following issues were only live on the PTR, but we're including the fixes here for visibility and to indicate intended functionality on live.
Fixed a bug with Bastion's Revered where it would not properly benefit from Convention of Elements
Fixed a bug where Big Bad Voodoo would not properly follow its owner through zones when utilizing the new 2-Piece set bonus
Fixed a bug where Hydras would have a short delay after being summoned
Update 2.6.8 for Diablo 3 is now live. After updating, players should be able to see the above changes reflected in-game. Be sure to check out the Shacknews Diablo 3 page for our on-going coverage and support of Blizzard’s excellent hack’n’slash RPG.