Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred Patch Nerfs OP One-Button Spiritborn Build

A new patch is available for Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo 4 with some fixes and improvements for Vessel of Hatred. It most notably changes the Spiritborn’s Evade, which could be canceled mid-animation for rapid casts, feeding into an overpowered Thunderstrike build. The result requires only one button to zoom through and destroy everything in the game.

The patch normalizes the Evade cast rate for all scenarios. Don’t worry – the Spiritborn is still among the top classes in the game, so there are plenty of alternatives. Other changes with the patch include the Rune crafting notification showing what you crafted and the recipes for random Runes at the Jeweler specifying the required materials.

Runes and Runewords tooltips will also better convey what they do, while the Masterworking tooltip now specifies that you must Temper an item twice beforehand. Those who enjoy the Kurast Undercity also have reason to celebrate since it offers more random item drops, at least one guaranteed Legendary, and double the Gold.

Check out some of the patch notes below and full details here. You can also read our Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred review.

2.0.3 Build #58786 (All Platforms) – October 17, 2024

Game Updates

User Interface and User Experience

• The crafting notification for Runes now displays what’s being crafted instead of the Runes used.
• The recipes for crafting random Runes at the Jeweler now include what Runes are needed for each recipe.
• The tooltip for swapping Runes and Gems in sockets now says “swap” instead of “socket” when in that context.
• Tooltips for Runes and Runewords have been updated to better communicate their effects.
• The tooltip for Masterworking now indicates that the item must be Tempered twice before it can be Masterworked.
• Various tooltips and icons for crafting materials have been updated for improved readability.
• Infernal Hordes and Kurast Undercity will now be at the top level of activities in the Party Finder menu, alongside activities such as the Pit and Dark Citadel.
• The icon for Glyph Sockets has been adjusted to make it more visually distinct in Paragon Boards.
• The Non-Physical damage stat has been removed from the Character Stats window.

Developer’s Note: The Non-Physical Damage stat consists of separately listed stats of all included elements, such as Fire Damage. This stat was also incorrectly listed as a standalone entry and has been removed. Its impact on the individual elements has not changed.

• Combat text for damage numbers are now abbreviated. e.g. 10000 damage now displays as 10k damage.
• New Nahantu-themed loading screens will now appear in-game.

Kurast Undercity

Developer’s Note: These updates aim to improve the overall value of rewards in the Kurast Undercity while reducing unnecessary friction for leveling players.

• Rewards from successful Kurast Undercity runs have been improved.
• More random items will drop.
• Now at least 1 Legendary Item is guaranteed to drop.
• Gold drops have doubled.
• Minions with the Extra Health monster Affix will no longer spawn.
• The health pools for bosses and greater afflicted monsters have been reduced to achieve closer parity with similar dungeon content.
• The spawn frequency between afflicted super Elites and afflicted regular Elites has been slightly adjusted.
• The number of normal monster mobs spawned from the Spirit Beacon encounter has been slightly reduced to improve clarity for the objective.

Timer adjustments

• The starting time for a base run—with no Tribute applied—has been increased from 100 seconds to 120 seconds.
• Afflicted regular Elites now grant a 10 second time bonus, increased from 8 seconds.
• Afflicted super Elites now grant a 15 second time bonus, increased from 14 seconds.
• Tribute of Titans can now drop outside of defeating bosses.
• Increased the drop rate of Rare Tributes throughout the game, other rarities are unaffected.

Season of Hatred Rising

• The following changes have been implemented for the Realmwalker event:
• Realmwalker no longer reduces spawns if only one person is following it.
• Increased max spawns allowed at a time to 20, previously 15.
• Increased the base movement speed of the Realmwalker by around 15%.
• Every time you kill a wave of Bloodbound Guardians, the Realmwalker’s movespeed increases by 10%. For example: If you kill all 3 waves of Bloodbound Guardians, the Realmwalker will move 30% faster, in addition to the 15% base increase.
• The Realmwalker now has a low chance to summon a Treasure Goblin.
• Removed 1 Hatred Spire from the Ritual phase of the event in Nahantu. Three Hatred Spires will still spawn when the event occurs in Estuar, the continent home to the 5 Regions of Diablo IV’s base game.
• Removed the Hatred Rising icon from the map. Players will now find the Realmwalker via the event icon.
• Various miscellaneous changes to make the event progress quicker.