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Diablo 4 Season 9 Public Test Realm (PTR) is now live. The entire Season 9 client and revealed a ton of undocumented changes that are already stirring up a lot of discussion in the community. From widespread tempering nerfs to a massive stat squish and the introduction of new elixirs and even pets—Season 9 is shaping up to be a major shakeup.

Let’s dive into all the changes, starting with the most impactful ones: the sweeping nerfs to additive damage, overpower mechanics, fortify scaling, and more.

Tempering Recipes Get Hit Hard

Tempering, which allows players to enhance gear with additional modifiers, is undergoing significant changes in Season 9. Almost across the board, the values for additive damage-based tempers are being nerfed. These changes are not just number tweaks—they represent a broad rebalancing of the game’s damage scaling.

Some of the most notable changes include:

· Basic Skill Temper: Reduced from 115% to 65%.

· Ultimate Damage Temper: Nerfed again, making ultimates less impactful from a damage scaling perspective.

· Overpower Damage: Once again severely reduced. The Overpower temper on a 200 power weapon, for example, drops from 400% down to just 130%.

· Fortify Damage Temper: Cut significantly, impacting tankier builds that rely on fortify bonuses for damage output.

Additive damage across the board—whether tied to specific conditions like “while Berserking” or “with War Cry active”—has been slashed. This shift indicates a soft stat squish on additive damage, especially in conjunction with nerfs to crit damage and other multipliers.

Unique Item Changes and Resistance Nerfs

In addition to tempering, many popular unique items are getting hit with nerfs. Several of these changes weren’t included in Blizzard’s official patch notes but were discovered through datamining. Here are a few examples:

· Ariat's Bearing: Resistance stat reduced from 35% to 20%.

· Banished Lord’s Talisman: Overpower damage nerfed again, making it less potent for overpower-focused builds.

· Yen’s Blessing: Received nerfs, likely tied to resistances or other scaling mechanics.

· Fractured Winterglass (Amulet Implicit): Elemental resistance implicit stats are being reduced.

With all these resistance nerfs, it’s going to be significantly harder to reach resistance caps. This has big implications for high-end content, especially in Pit runs and Uber boss fights where survivability is key.

Class-Specific Changes

Let’s take a closer look at each class and how Season 9 is affecting them.

Barbarian

Barbarians are seeing some of the largest nerfs in Season 9, especially to additive damage across various conditions. The most glaring changes include:

· War Cry Damage: Down from 100% to 65%.

· Wrath of the Berserker Damage: Reduced from 320% (masterworked) down to 160% on a 200 item, or just 80% on lower-level gear.

· Bash Temper Rework: The old “bash cleaves” temper is gone. It’s been replaced by a new version where Bash has a chance to hit twice. This is a weaker temper overall compared to others like Flay, which still scales more favorably due to duration stacking.

The core issue here is that Barb lost much of its multiplicative scaling, making all these additive damage nerfs hit especially hard. Nearly every temper related to “damage while [condition]” has been flattened or reduced—making the once versatile additive scaling system feel overly homogenized.

Druid

Druids are also taking a hit, especially those running Cataclysm-based or Overpower-focused builds:

· Lightning Storm Damage: Reduced from 200% to 100%.

· Overpower in Werebear Form: Cut in half, drastically reducing burst potential.

· Ursine Strength (New Temper): Provides some additional damage but is not enough to offset the nerfs elsewhere.

These changes mean that Druids will need to re-evaluate their build choices, especially if they’ve been relying on big Overpower hits.

Necromancer

Necromancers, like Druids, are also seeing their Overpower capabilities diminished. Blood builds especially will notice the difference:

· Overpower on Blood Skills: Cut by 50%, reducing the value of stacking blood-related modifiers.

· Summoning Buffs: Slight increases to summon damage may offer some relief, but the class will feel weaker overall in burst-heavy scenarios.

These changes steer Necromancers slightly more toward minion and sustain-based builds rather than crit/Overpower burst gameplay.

Rogue

Rogues come out of these changes relatively unscathed compared to other classes, though there are some adjustments:

· Stealth Buff Damage: Reduced from 300% to 100%—a pretty big drop, especially for Stealth-based burst setups.

· Small Buffs Elsewhere: Some minor additive damage increases balance things out slightly.

Overall, Rogues are still looking solid, especially for PvP and speed clearing. But stealth-centric builds will definitely feel this nerf.

Sorcerer

The Sorcerer class is also impacted, though not quite as harshly as Barb or Druid:

· Hydra Damage: Nerfed slightly.

· Lightning Spear Damage: Reduced by 40%.

· Lucky Hit: Minor improvement, which helps builds reliant on procs.

· Spiritborn Damage and Vulnerable Scaling: Vulnerable damage is getting nerfed, making “one-shot” vulnerable bursts a bit less reliable.

Still, Sorcs retain solid scaling and build flexibility, though some of their top-end DPS output will be dialed back.

Generic and System-Wide Nerfs

Perhaps the most controversial changes come from the generic temper and stat nerfs that impact every class.

· Crit Damage: Nerfed across the board.

· Core Skill Damage: Slight buffs, offering a bit more baseline consistency.

· Ultimate Damage: Nerfed again, reducing impact of cooldown-based nukes.

· Damage While Fortified: Cut from 100% to 60%.

· Overpower (Generic): Reduced from 140% to 80%.

These numbers reflect a broader effort by Blizzard to flatten the damage curve. Additive bonuses across various sources are being halved or significantly toned down. While this might improve long-term balance and scaling, it could also reduce the satisfaction of gearing and customizing powerful builds.

New Additions: Elixirs, Scrolls, Pets, and Horadric Systems

On a more positive note, Season 9 introduces a lot of new features aimed at making the game more fun and varied:

· New Elixirs: These grant increased reputation, which will be helpful for open-world grinding and seasonal progression.

· Optoside Elixir: Great for Pit farming, potentially providing XP or loot bonuses.

· Horadric Elixirs & Jewels: These haven’t been fully revealed yet, but datamined assets suggest a new layer of customization or power-up systems.

· Pets (Yes, really!): Dataminers have discovered files for a baby gold golem pet. It looks like Diablo 4 is getting cosmetic companions, starting with this cute but thematically fitting addition.

Final Thoughts: A Season of Rebalancing

Season 9 is shaping up to be a major rebalancing season. The sheer number of nerfs—particularly to additive damage and Overpower scaling—suggests Blizzard is trying to rein in power creep and prepare the game for future content or difficulty spikes.

While some players may be frustrated by how many builds are being nerfed, the PTR period gives us a valuable chance to give feedback. Whether you're a Barbarian main feeling the loss of Wrath of the Berserker scaling or a Sorcerer wondering what to replace your Lightning Spear with, now is the time to test out builds and let Blizzard know what works and what doesn’t.

With new elixirs, changes to the Horadric system, and even some cosmetic goodies like pets, there’s still plenty to look forward to. Hopefully, the PTR leads to adjustments that strike a better balance between challenge and fun.

We'll be sure to keep you posted with any updates as Blizzard continues to tune the PTR. Until then, keep experimenting, and let us know how your builds are holding up!