Diablo 4’s first patch since the start of Season 9 is set to release on July 15, with the opportunity to improve some of the biggest complaints surrounding the Sins of the Horadrim season. Thepatch notes forDiablo 42.3.1that Blizzard recently released point toward some quality-of-life improvements coming down the pipe, along with a series of buffs for every class. While these are welcome additions to be sure, the buffs may not be enough to help classes like Barbarian and Rogue overcome their slump in the meta.
TheDiablo 4Season 9 meta has seen some of the usual top-tier builds for Barbarians and Rogues slide down in viability, with classes like Spiritborn and Sorcerer taking the top spot. It’s nearly always a good sign whenDiablo 4buffs its classes in a new update, but these buffs don’t get to the heart of why some classes have struggled in Season 9. Without a significant adjustment to Overpower Damage, the improvements to the Barbarian’s skills will only be a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed to make them viable again.
Diablo 4 Update 2.3.1 Doesn’t Do Enough to Buff Season 9’s Weakest Class
Barbarians Get Some Love in Update 2.3.1, But Not in the Way They Need It Most
With the release ofDiablo 4update 2.3.1, several of the Barbarian’s skills are getting small buffs in an attempt to help the ailing class. Many of the skills receiving these improvements comprise the lower-tierBarbarian builds inDiablo 4Season 9, including:
Most of the buffs in this update grant damage increases of roughly 20 percentage points, with the biggest buffs going to Upheaval and Hammer of the Ancients, two ofDiablo 4’s best Barbarian skillsin past seasons. Barbarian fans looking to play Hammer of the Ancients or Upheaval builds are likely to find more success than before this update, but may not be able to stand among the top classes of Season 9. The culprit at large is still Overpower Damage, which saw a significant nerf at the start of the season and remains the difference between a good Barbarian build and an S-tier one.
There are still some decent Barbarian build options forDiablo 4Season 9, such as Bash Cleave Barbarian, which can take advantage of thenew Hooves of the Mountain God unique.
Overpower Damage Ironically Remains Underpowered in Diablo 4 Season 9
Unfortunately for Barbarian fans, this new update doesn’t seem to touchDiablo 4’s Overpower Damage typeat all. The initial Season 9 patch deployed at the start of the Sins of the Horadrim season removed the inherent additive portion of Overpowered damage that included Life and Fortify stats in its calculations. Instead, Overpower functions more like Critical Hits and deals up to 50%[x] damage when triggered.
An important part of Barbarian builds inDiablo 4comes from the Barbarian’s ability to scale Overpower Damage with their Shouts that increase Life and Fortify, which previously contributed additive damage bonuses to Overpower hits. Now that Barbarians can no longer achieve the same level of damage from Overpower, their builds essentially rely on the power of their Core Skills to be the primary damage dealers. With skills like Hammer of the Ancients and Upheaval getting significant buffs, Barbarians could become more viable inDiablo 4Season 9 than they were previously, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to compete withpowerhouses like Spiritborn and Sorcerersuntil Overpower Damage gets rebalanced.
