Diablo 4 patch notes are here for the next update, set to hit the Blizzard RPG on Tuesday November 7. Diablo 4 patch 1.2.2 marks the arrival of the new Malignant Rings announced during Blizzard’s big stage reveal at Blizzcon 2023, where we also got news of the first Diablo IV expansion, Vessel of Hatred. Now we know exactly what those new rings, which bring back some of the first season’s strongest powers, look like, and it’s particularly great news for Druids, Necromancers, and Sorcerers.
The new Diablo 4 Malignant Rings were revealed alongside the new expansion, which is coming in late 2024. We’ll be getting the new rings much sooner, however, as they’re arriving in the RPG game as part of the next D4 update. Along with these powerful new pieces of gear, this Diablo 4 patch changes the seasonal Sanguine Battery event, slightly increasing pillar health and repair time.
Each of the new Malignant Rings incorporates a power from the list of Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts that were the centerpiece of season one. There’s one for each of the Diablo 4 classes, and while they’re all solid picks, there’s definitely some big winners. We already knew what to expect for the Necromancer – the Caged Heart of the Sacrilegious is back, causing your equipped corpse skills to automatically activate as you walk near bodies.
The skills appear to have been toned down a touch from their season one forms, which is understandable given their sheer power, but they’re still going to be incredibly welcome additions. One I’m very glad to see return is the Druid’s Caged Heart of Inexorable Force, which now appears in a form where casting your ultimate skill will cause all enemies to be pulled in and dealt damage – it’ll only happen two times in its new form, but that’s still a very potent group-gathering tool.
Sorcerers are your final big winners, seeing the return of the Caged Heart of Tal’Rasha, which will grant you increased damage multiplicatively based on the number of elemental damage types you’ve dealt. This appears to have made it across to the Season of Blood in a fairly sturdy form – I might argue that it looks even a little better than before.
The news is perhaps slightly less exciting for Barbarians, who get the damage-boosting Caged Heart of Focused Rage back that applies after spending enough Fury in a short time, and Rogues, who gain the exploding decoy of the Caged Heart of Trickery. Still, they’re both quite handy options to have. And of course we’re not getting the most notorious season one power, the ‘explosions everywhere’ Caged Heart of the Barber, but that might have been too much of a power boost to keep around forever.
You can take a look at the individual rings in their new form in the full Diablo 4 patch 1.2.2 notes just down below. Fresh from the campfire chat where these were detailed, we’ve also got the full explanation of how the new Diablo 4 Abattoir of Zir will work, bringing an all-new endgame challenge mode to the game on Tuesday December 5, ahead of the seasonal Midwinter Blight holiday event beginning on Tuesday December 12.
Diablo 4 patch notes – update 1.2.2 – November 7, 2023
Here are the full Diablo 4 patch 1.2.2 notes for Tuesday November 7:
Malignant Rings
Ring of Red Furor (Barbarian unique ring)
- After spending 100 Fury within 3 seconds, your next cast of Hammer of the Ancients, Upheaval, or Death Blow is a guaranteed Critical Strike and deals 10-30% (multiplicative damage) [x] bonus Critical Strike Damage.
Airidah’s Inexorable Will (Druid unique ring)
- When casting an Ultimate Skill and again 5 seconds after, Pull in Distant enemies and deal 0.5-1.0 Physical damage to them. This damage is increased by 1%[x] per 1 point of Willpower you have.
Ring of the Sacrilegious Soul (Necromancer unique ring)
- Automatically activate the following equipped Skills on Corpses around you:
- Raise Skeleton every 1-2 seconds.
- Corpse Explosion every 1-2 seconds.
- Corpse Tendrils every 8-16 seconds.
Writhing Band of Trickery (Rogue unique ring)
- Casting a Subterfuge Skill leaves behind a Decoy Trap that continuously Taunts and lures enemies. The Decoy Trap explodes after 3 seconds dealing 2.0-3.0 Shadow damage. Can occur every 12 seconds.
Tal Rasha’s Iridescent Loop (Sorcerer unique ring)
- For each type of Elemental damage you deal, gain 10-15%[x] increased damage for 4 seconds. Dealing Elemental damage refreshes all bonuses.
Sanguine Battery Event
- Pillar health has been increased from 75% to 85%.
- Pillar repair time has been decreased from 3 seconds to 1 second.
That’s all for the 1.2.2 patch notes, but you can check out the extended details including all individual bug fixes on the Blizzard website.
The Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred release date for its first full expansion, where we’ll also see the addition of a “completely new” class, is still some way off. Until then, get up to speed on where to find all Diablo 4 world bosses and how to take them down.