Diablo 4’s Season 7 Campfire Chat recap: Armory, Witchcraft & Spiritborn nerf

In the latest Campfire Chat, Blizzard revealed some exciting updates coming to Diablo 4 in Season 7 – but hey, no one’s judging you for not spending almost two hours watching the livestream.

Some of these announced changes will undergo finetuning when the PTR begins this December, but they will inevitably be in our hands when Season 7 drops to the general public.

From class tweaks and a brand-new seasonal mechanic to quality-of-life enhancements, here’s a quick breakdown of what’s coming your way.

Class changes coming to Season 7

Barbarian

Blizzard

The Barbarian is set to get some much-needed love.

• Core skills like Walking Arsenal and Hammer of the Ancients are getting boosts.
• Additionally, Earthquake is getting a power-up, likely shaking things up in both solo and group play.

Blizzard’s philosophy with these changes is all about making skill points feel like they matter. As one developer put it, “We want to make sure that investment in those skill ranks feels meaningful, and we think these rank five bonuses on ultimates in particular are going to be a really good way to pay off those ultimate builds.”

Sorcerer

Blizzard

For Sorcerers, fire and lightning seem to be at the forefront.

• Abilities like Firebolt, Devouring Blaze, and Ball Lightning are receiving updates.
• Unique items tied to Ball Lightning are undergoing a significant rework, which should open up new playstyles for lightning lovers.

These changes align with the team’s focus on rewarding commitment to a skill. “If you really want to build a dedicated Lacerate build as kind of your core damaging effect,” the developers noted, “this is going to be a great way to build around it and a good reward for investing all those extra skill points into it.”

Druid

Blizzard

Druids are getting a few exciting changes, particularly for those who favor the Werewolf form – buffs are on the way.

• Boulder and Wolf Companions are also being improved, providing more damage and utility for nature’s fury enthusiasts.
• Druids and Necromancers will also benefit from buffs to their respective companions and summons, making them more viable in the endgame.

Rogues

Blizzard

Rogues are getting a hefty set of updates, particularly for those who rely on Shadow Clones.

• Expect your clones to be more effective than ever, with damage buffs and overall improvements.
• Rogues will be getting a brand-new Unique item, which will imbue all Mobility Skills with Shadow Imbuement – perfect for players who love to dance around the battlefield.
• Plus, Caltrops is being reworked to be more user-friendly, dropping the backward jump.

Blizzard is also introducing new generic legendary aspects to support a range of playstyles. For example, they unveiled the Brawler’s Aspect, which “causes casting an ultimate skill to increase all of your damage output by 10 to 30% for eight seconds, and you also gain additional skill ranks in your ultimate.”

Necromancer

Blizzard

Blood-focused Necromancers are in for a treat with one or two buffs coming their way.

Two new Uniques are being introduced, both enhancing the Blood Wave ability. With these changes, Blood Necromancers should feel stronger and more fluid in their playstyle.

Spiritborn

Finally, the Spiritborn class is getting some attention, mainly through bug fixes that bring it down to a balanced state. A new Aspect will also enhance Razor Wings, adding more options for customization.

Gameplay updates

Blizzard

Blizzard is introducing some exciting changes to overall gameplay.

Ultimate Skills will now have additional bonuses at Rank 5, giving players more incentive to max them out.

These bonuses are designed to make full investment in an ultimate ability more rewarding, as highlighted in the developer discussion: “We want to incentivize you to actually put some points into skills.”

Plus, a fresh batch of Aspects and Paragon options will enhance these Ultimate Skills.

Rune updates and new Words

Blizzard is also giving Runewords some love in this update.

As one developer put it, the addition of the Vessel of Hatred feature “has been really well received,” as it’s added some much-needed variety to builds.

Changes to runes

This feature will continue to expand, with older Runes being updated and new ones introduced.

Invocation Runes now have the overflow mechanic.

This means that the cost of many of these runes has been adjusted, allowing players to trigger the overflow effect more frequently when generating more offering than needed.

For example, the Seer Rune has received a redesign, and now generates a huge amount of offering (300 offering at once) after casting five skills.

However, to prevent this from being too easy to spam, there’s now a 3-second “exhausted” period, adding a nice cooldown between these powerful surges of offering.

New runes

Alongside the overflow mechanics, there are new Rune Words to check out:

• The Nogu Rune, a legendary addition, grants 100 offering as long as you’re maintaining a summon. This applies to a variety of summons, including Necromancer minions, Druid companions, Sorcerer conjurations, Rogue shadow clones, and even Barbarian ancients. This new Rune opens up new synergy with summon-based builds across classes.
• The Igne Rune generates 25 offering but stores offering every 0.3 seconds, resulting in a total of 75 offering per second. You can cash in this stored offering by casting a non-basic skill, triggering a large overflow and creating a big moment of power when you need it most.
• Lastly, the Chalk Rune generates 20 offering, allowing players to invoke the Druid’s Lightning Bolt. While not a core skill, this Rune enhances certain builds, providing more options for those wanting to dive deeper into the Druid’s unique abilities.

Season 7: Witchcraft and the headrotten

Diablo 4’s Season 7 brings a dark, magical twist with the introduction of Witchcraft:

• The Headrotten: They are powerful enemies that drop Restless Rot – the key currency of the season. This will play a big role in powering up your Witchcraft abilities.
• Witchcraft Powers: Over 20 new Witchcraft powers will be available. Powers like the Poison Frog, which summons a servant to fight by your side, and the Doom Orb, a swirling eldritch energy orb, will offer fresh combat strategies. There’s also a Paranedo power that triggers when casting certain hexes, dealing massive area damage with swirling destruction.
• Coven’s Favor: The new seasonal reputation system allows you to rank up by completing seasonal tasks and Whispers. These will earn you rewards like items, materials, and powerful Witchcraft abilities.
• Occult Gems: Unique socketable gems that boost your power are also coming. These will enhance your gear and offer additional bonuses depending on the gem’s properties.
• Forgotten Altars: Hidden throughout the world, these altars will let you discover “Lost” Witchcraft powers, offering even more variety and depth.

Quality-of-life enhancements

Blizzard

Blizzard is rolling out some welcome improvements to make your Diablo 4 experience more enjoyable:

• Paragon experience: Now carries over from the Seasonal to the Eternal realm at the end of each season.
• Ancestral items: These will now roll at the higher end of their power range, with an increased drop rate.
• Extra gem fragments: These can now be used to craft random Legendary items.
• Class quest completion: Once you’ve completed a Class Quest, you won’t have to do it again for that class.

Armory

Blizzard

Blizzard is (finally) introducing an Armory feature that will allow players to save complete loadouts of Builds, Equipment, and Skills.

Swapping between saved loadouts will be free of charge, making it easier to experiment with different playstyles without the hassle.

On December 3rd, all these changes will hit the Public Test Realm (PTR), where players will be able to copy over their live characters to test out the new features, including the Witchcraft powers and progression items.

Overall, it’s an exciting time to be a Diablo 4 fan, with long-requested features coming to the game and the possibility of living out your fantasies of being a swamp witch (don’t fight it).