Diablo 4 Season 7 PTR Build
06.12.2024 - 05:20:21
Diablo 4 , Game Guides
A new Diablo 4 PTR (public test realm) is currently available, and there’s a lot to dig into in the upcoming season. Players are currently divided about what the developers have in store for the next season, but the good news is that now, you’ll have time to prepare before the new one arrives.
One of the ways you can prepare is by setting yourself up with some cheap D4 Items and Gold from our D4 store at RPGStash. You can make progression much easier with our affordable and safe D4 services.
Before we get into the content of the next season, let’s first talk about the PTR and how long it will last.
Diablo 4 PTR End Date
Diablo 4 PTR 2.1 launched last Dec. 3 and will last until Dec. 11. As with previous PTRs, this one is just a glimpse of what’s to come in the next season of the game.
Any progress you make with your characters on the PTR is going to be deleted once the PTR ends. The main purpose is for you to test out the new features before they arrive next season.
Balance Changes
Balance Changes Overview
First up, we’re diving into balance changes. Every class is getting updates, so let’s start with the Barbarian. Barbarians are receiving buffs to various skills and passives, though these changes seem relatively small—about 15% increases in most cases.
Earthquake builds are getting some love with more damage and better usability. They also hinted at a synergy between Hammer of the Ancients and Earthquakes, suggesting a potential new build emerging from this combo in the PTR.
For Sorcerers, the devs addressed a long-standing issue where every build felt obligated to use the Firebolt enchantment to apply burning damage. This meta was dull, so they’ve reworked Firebolt: it no longer applies burning.
This initially feels like a nerf since several buffs tied to burning enemies have also been removed. However, new damage buffs with different trigger conditions aim to compensate, hopefully offering flexibility beyond burning builds.
Ball Lightning builds, in particular, are seeing positive changes. Buff conditions have been simplified, and Sorcerers are getting two new uniques—unique focuses, specifically—that completely change Ball Lightning’s behavior.
One unique allows Ball Lightning to orbit you and lets you cast it while moving, making for a high-mobility playstyle. The other unique transforms Ball Lightning into something akin to a bowling ball, completely altering its functionality.
Druids are seeing a focus on Werewolves and poison builds. Pure Werewolf builds weren’t viable before, but updates to Shred, supporting aspects, and skills like Blood Howl aim to change that. Blood Howl now buffs Werewolf damage by 25% as long as you stay in that form.
The new Aspect of the Wolf’s Rain enhances hurricane builds by spawning mini hurricanes around your wolves, making for a hilarious and highly companion-focused build.
Poison builds also got a tweak with Savage Boulder now dealing poison damage—an interesting shift that we’ll have to see in action.
Rogues are getting significant changes to Shadow Clone, which now acts as a true duplicate of your character. It triggers all your lucky hit effects and legendary aspects, fixing its previous underperformance.
A new unique pair of boots makes all mobility skills always apply Shadow Imbuement, perfect for shadow step builds. Caltrops has been reworked, removing the backward leap mechanic. While this improves usability for most players, those who mastered it as a positional skill might miss it.
Necromancers are receiving itemization improvements, particularly for overpower builds. Rathma’s Vigor has been reworked to boost overpower damage significantly.
Two new unique pants cater to Blood Wave builds: one creates converging blood waves, while the other traps enemies in a Bone Prison and introduces a new Blood Spear mechanic inspired by Diablo 3.
These changes force players to choose between unique effects, adding strategic depth to item selection.
Spiritborn is seeing bug fixes that should bring its power level in line with other classes. Razor Wings and Centipede are getting buffs, while the Rod of Kppi has been heavily nerfed—its legendary power now caps at 0.5% instead of 3%.
The devs emphasized that their goal isn’t for every class to speed-clear Greater Rift 150. Instead, they’re aiming for power levels akin to where classes are now in Season 6, allowing for gradual power creep over time.
Season 7 Theme
Alright, let's dive into the big reveal for Diablo 4's Season 7—Witch Doctor Season! Borrowed powers are making a return after a bit of a hiatus. Seasons 4 and 5 were light on themes, but we're back to what made Seasons 1 through 3 special. Here's a quick recap:
Season 1 had the Malignant Powers, introducing those unique Malignant Hearts you socketed into rings.
Season 2 brought Blood Powers with another borrowed power mechanic.
Season 3 offered the Sen'Shar mechanic—though it wasn't directly tied to the player but a pet. Mixed opinions there, but we liked it.
Now, Season 7 looks like it’s drawing inspiration from Seasons 1 and 2. It builds on the template of Season of Blood while introducing witch-themed powers.
All New Additions Next Season
Witch Powers and the Head Rotten
In Season 7, you'll encounter a new type of enemy called Head Rotten. Killing them rewards you with a seasonal resource that upgrades your Witch Powers. The Tree of Whispers becomes central to this process, with a completely revamped hub featuring new vendors and ergonomic layouts.
Key mechanics include:
Altars: You’ll offer resources at three altars near the Tree of Whispers to unlock and upgrade your Witch Powers.
Witchcrafts: Equip up to five normal Witchcrafts and one unique Witchcraft. These powers are heavily inspired by Witch Doctor abilities like Poison Frogs, Fire Bats, and Piranado.
Reputation Track Returns
The reputation track is back, as seen in recent seasons. Advancing through it unlocks new Witchcrafts and other rewards, including the Resplendent Spark at the end of the track—a crowd favorite!
You’ll earn reputation by completing Whispers, which ties into the overall witchy and swampy vibe of the season. Some Witchcraft powers will be hidden throughout Sanctuary, so get ready to explore dungeons and other corners of the world.
Blood Tide’s New Sibling: Head Hunts
A new subzone event, Head Hunts, functions like Hell Tides. When active, these zones are filled with fresh Whispers, including some old ones. Killing a Head Rotten boss during a Head Hunt rewards you with Occult Gems.
Occult Gems: A Unique Seasonal Mechanic
These gems are exclusively for jewelry sockets and offer bonuses like armor and all resist, ensuring they outclass regular gems for the season. However, like past seasonal mechanics, these won’t carry over to the Eternal Realm.
Quality of Life Updates
The devs are addressing a common annoyance: turning in Whispers. If your Whisper track is full, you no longer have to return to the Tree of Whispers. Instead, the Raven of the Tree spawns in Head Hunt zones, letting you turn in Whispers on the go.
Another quality-of-life addition is the Ancestral Cache, which may drop as a Whisper Cache reward and guarantees an Ancestral item.
Paragon Migration
When Season 6 ends, all Paragon XP earned transfers to the Eternal Realm—a feature designed to help characters hit Paragon 300 over multiple seasons.
Unique and Legendary Item Improvements
Unique items now roll better when they include Greater Affixes. The more Greater Affixes an item has, the higher its minimum unique power roll. Similarly, Ancestral Legendaries will only roll within their higher range, ensuring better quality overall.
Gem Fragment Sink
Finally, there's a long-requested sink for Gem Fragments. You can now use them to craft Legendary Jewelry.
Armory and Build Management
The biggest news? The Armory is here! Each character gets up to five loadouts for Paragon boards, skills, and equipment. Switching between builds won’t cost gold, and items saved to a build are marked with a special icon, so you don’t accidentally delete or dismantle them.
New Dungeon
The dungeon experience begins with an interesting mechanic: you select a boon (a positive effect) and a bane (a challenge). Choosing harder banes increases your rewards, making this a trade-off system. For example, you might select increased potion cooldowns for better loot.
Our build is strong enough that the hardest difficulty, Penitent, feels like a breeze. Note that this is currently the toughest setting available, as Torment difficulty is locked.
Once inside, you’ll encounter a layout where you must interact with exposed roots to progress through the rooms. On the right-hand side of your screen, you’ll see a tracker (e.g., "2 out of 3"), indicating how many roots you need to activate before advancing.
Each dungeon ends with a boss fight, but there are a few quirks worth mentioning:
- Rewards can feel delayed when interacting with the roots.
- Roots vary in quality (white, yellow, and orange), which seems to affect the rewards. Higher-quality roots generally yield better loot, like legendaries.
- Some roots spawn in odd locations, occasionally hidden under terrain, which feels like a bug.
Boss 1: Wicked Headless Husk
The first boss showcases some basic mechanics but overall lacks challenge, even at the highest difficulty. It’s worth noting that the layout resembles Nightmare Dungeons, complete with a healing well before the boss room.
Despite activating all possible abilities to test the mechanics, the boss was quickly defeated. The fight felt underwhelming, especially given its build-up.
We ran a second dungeon to see if anything changed:
- The layout was nearly identical, with a narrow two-room structure leading to a larger boss room.
- Similar options for boons and banes appeared, with choices like "Flames Rain Upon You" in exchange for a major reward.
In this run, we encountered a Suspended Chest, which felt like a nice surprise. The dungeon did spawn more monsters and had slightly different environmental hazards, but the overall challenge remained low.
The second boss followed the same pattern as the first, with minimal challenge and quick defeat. While there were minor changes to abilities, nothing stood out.
After two full runs, here’s what we observed:
- Each run granted roughly 50 Restless Rot currency. This is essential for upgrading Witchcraft Powers, similar to Vampiric Powers from a previous season. Upgrades become increasingly expensive at higher ranks.
- Inventory was full of legendaries after just 10 minutes. However, blue, yellow, and white items still drop frequently, diluting the excitement of loot.
The Silent Rot Holds dungeon is a new feature, but it feels like a recycled Nightmare Dungeon with a few added mechanics.
While the idea of boons and banes is intriguing, the lack of meaningful rewards and low difficulty make it hard to recommend farming these dungeons extensively.
Pros:
- Quick runs.
- Guaranteed legendaries.
- Fun for players trying it out for the first time.
Cons:
- Bosses are too easy and lack impactful mechanics.
- Loot doesn’t feel worth the effort compared to other activities like Helltides.
- Rewards need more variety to keep players engaged.
What Went Wrong With The Diablo 4 PTR?
Right out of the gate, the PTR hit a major snag. The Boost Vendor, crucial for testing high-level seasonal mechanics, started crashing servers repeatedly. As a temporary fix, the developers disabled the vendor entirely, leaving testers unable to boost characters for almost an entire day.
This is a significant issue because without boosted characters, you’re stuck either:
- Transferring main account characters (which doesn’t allow for seasonal testing), or
- Starting fresh at Level 1 with seasonal characters, making it impossible to test high-level features.
Even for those who managed to use the Boost Vendor before it was disabled, another problem emerged—the caches provided by the vendor don’t include ancestral items, a vital component for endgame builds.
This oversight forces testers to repeatedly boost new characters in hopes of obtaining usable gear, which is frustrating and time-consuming.
The PTR exists to identify bugs, balance issues, and other pain points before the season’s release. However, these Boost Vendor issues have already consumed a large chunk of the limited testing window.
Additionally, the PTR for Season 7 is shorter than usual, and its timing overlaps with the early access release of Path of Exile 2, which may pull away a significant portion of potential testers.
For more effective testing in future PTRs, the Boost Vendor should include ancestral items in its caches. This would streamline the process and allow players to focus on meaningful feedback rather than grinding for adequate gear.
Diablo 4 Season 7 Is Looking Good
There are still a few weeks to wait before Diablo 4 Season 7. When it arrives and you need to get ahead of the competition fast, then you should check out our D4 store for everything you need for the game. We’ve got gold, and other services for a little boost to your account!