A new Diablo 4 hotfix on Friday December 8 nerfs Abattoir of Zir enemies in the new endgame mode, with a particular focus on its early ranks. Introduced on Tuesday December 5 with Diablo 4 patch 1.2.3, the Abattoir is designed as an ultimate challenge for those players already done with everything else in the ARPG’s Season of Blood, but Blizzard admits that the leap from tier 100 Nightmare Dungeons is too steep, while grinding out the new Tears of Blood glyph is far too laborious.
This Diablo 4 patch changes the glyph experience you’ll earn, giving you “significantly more [experience] as you progress through higher tiers of Abattoir of Zir.” With how core upgrading the new Tears of Blood glyph is to progressing through Abattoir tiers, that should make it a lot faster to work your way through the new endgame dungeons in the RPG game. It’ll also make it much quicker to max out your Diablo 4 Paragon board, if you have any other glyphs left to level up.
Perhaps even more significant than that buff to Diablo 4 Abattoir of Zir rewards, however, are changes to the core difficulty of the mode. Diablo 4 community manager Adam ‘PezRadar’ Fletcher explains, “We have seen players note that the difficulty ramp is pretty excessive even on the first tier for those who were able to complete level 100 Nightmare Dungeons before. These changes will allow for more opportunities for players to experience the earlier tiers and grow as they progress through them.”
These difficulty changes will affect the first handful of tiers, with tier ten and beyond expected to be unchanged in this regard. However, on top of that first change, Blizzard is also “reducing incoming damage by up to ~20% throughout all tiers of Abattoir of Zir.” The team previously stated that defeating enemies within the time limit should be the greater challenge at higher tiers than merely surviving, so this should help mitigate those frustrating one-shot deaths.
Finally, the deadly Bloodseekers you face during your runs are getting some key nerfs. They’ll no longer show up with either Vampiric or Suppressor affixes – both of which could dramatically increase the difficulty of killing them, by granting them hefty health regen or by halting a large chunk of your damage output respectively. Fletcher notes, “We understand the difficulty these were providing players while running through Abattoir of Zir.”
Diablo 4 patch 1.2.3 hotfix 2 launches today, Friday December 8. Fletcher adds, “We want to thank everyone for the feedback,” suggesting that this temporary mode is a good test bed “for what could be possible permanent additions in the future.” He closes by saying, “We wanted to get some changes out for this new endgame mode as quickly as possible and will be continuing to listen to feedback.”
It’s certainly a welcome change; while I’ve managed to make it through tier 100 Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons, I’ve not actually been playing the Abattoir of Zir much since it launched; instead, I’m desperately scouring for that perfect defensive chest piece that can replace my Raiment of the Infinite and give me enough tankiness to survive the Abattoir. Now, I feel like I can actually give it a bit of a fair shake and get started, at least.
If you’re planning to do the same, make sure you’re up to date on the best Diablo 4 builds to give yourself the best chance of success. Or, if you’re looking for something else to keep you busy, we’ve got all the details on the Path of Exile Affliction league that starts today, along with more of the best games like Diablo to play in 2023.
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