On this page you’ll find a detailed breakdown and overview for all major changes implemented with Patch 2.4 for Diablo 2 Resurrected, including information about new runewords, ladder play, buffs, nerfs and bug fixes, among other details.

Ladder Mode¶

The long-awaited Ladder Mode for Diablo 2 Resurrected will arrive on April 28th, 2022, with Patch 2.4 paving the way a few days beforehand. In Ladder Mode, players will run new characters through the game in a race to be the first to hit level 99, with the top players being ranked by character level. Ladders are segregated into Class/Expansion and Hardcore/Softcore categories.

For more information, check out the [What is Ladder Mode in Diablo 2 Resurrected?] page.

Class Balance Changes¶

Numerous classes had their skills rebalanced in Diablo 2 Resurrected. For the most part there are lateral changes (swapping synergies in one skill for another) or buffs, with very few nerfs.

Generally this patch aimed to improve some neglected skills without breaking builds everybody already loved - which is the correct way to balance games. Universal improvements include segregating cooldown timers between skills - you no longer have to wait to cast Meteor after launching a Frozen Orb, for example. This allows skills with cooldowns to have more inherent synergy with each other, since you’re no longer stuck waiting after using one.

For more details and commentary on the specific changes made to skills, check out the following pages:

• Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 Amazon Skill Changes
• [Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 Assassin Skill Changes]
• [Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 Barbarian Skill Changes]
• [Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 Druid Skill Changes]
• [Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 Paladin Skill Changes]
• [Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 Necromancer Skill Changes]
• [Diablo 2 Resurrected Patch 2.4 Sorceress Skill Changes]

Item Tooltip Changes¶

Not the most exciting category for players, these changes mostly serve to convey the fact that properties like Open Wounds, Damage Taken Goes to Mana, Crushing Blow, Fire/Cold/Lightning/Magic Absorb and Deadly Strike are all cumulative. Also the rather cryptic “Piercing Attack” on items like Buriza-Do Kyanon and Razortail were given proper piercing percentages.

Uber Diablo Changes¶

You still summon [Uber Diablo] by profligately selling Stones of Jordan to merchants, but now he’ll spawn for everybody in the region when enough rings are sold, instead of only spawning for those on the same server instance. The progress towards spawning Uber Diablo is segregated by game mode/type (Ladder, Classic, Hardcore, etc.)

Mercenary Changes¶

In a vain attempt to make the other Act Mercenaries have parity with the Act 2 Mercenary and his auras, some changes were made:

Rogue Archer (Act 1 Mercenary) Changes¶

Big, huge, great bonuses here. The Rogue now basically functions like an Amazon in terms of gear selection. No longer do you need to worry about what base to create bow runewords in - everything can go in a Grand Matron Bow (ideally one with +3 Skills) and the Rogue can not only equip it, but benefit from the +Amazon Skills said bow gives.

• Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary
• Can now use Amazon Bows
• Can now gain + Amazon skill bonuses from gear
• Cold Arrow Mercenaries can also use Freezing Arrow
• Fire Arrow Mercenaries can also use Explosion Arrow

Desert Mercenary (Act 2 Mercenary) Changes¶

Minor changes here, mostly making it easier to hire the mercenary with the aura you want regardless of difficulty. The best didn’t really need to get much better.

• Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary
• Nightmare and Hell difficulty now have all 6 different aura types available from the Hire menu, instead of separating them out by 3 per difficulty. Normal is unchanged
• Thorns aura level scaling increased and will now continue scaling up beyond the highest-level threshold up to max level

Iron Wolf (Act 3 Mercenary) Changes¶

One of the weaker mercenaries in previous patches, the Iron Wolf gains a much needed buff. They’re now made out of construction paper instead of tissue paper (better, but still fragile), and they’ll generally cast better spells more often. Also got rid of Inferno, which was basically suicidal for the mercenary.

• Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary
• Life baseline and scaling increased by about 25% (Now has Life similar to the Rogue Archer)
• Defense baseline and scaling increased by about 40% (Now has defense closer to the Rogue Archer)
• Resistances baseline and scaling increased by about 20% (Now has the highest resistances baseline compared to other mercenaries)
• Cold Mercenaries will now cast Glacial Spike more often, Glacial Spike has higher level scaling, and they will use Frozen Armor instead of Chilling Armor.
• Fire Mercenaries will no longer use Inferno, instead gaining Fire Bolt and having an increased chance of using Fire Ball. Can now also use Enchant on themselves, the player, and nearby allies.
• Lightning Mercenaries can now use Static Field, Charged Bolt level scaling has been increaed, and they will more frequently use Lightning Bolt.

Barbarian (Act 5 Mercenary) Changes¶

Already a fairly solid mercenary, they now properly gain +skill bonuses from gear with +Barbarian Skills on them, and got a teensy bit more durable to match their beefy appearance. Dual-wielding variants now available, if you’d rather put two one-handed weapons on them instead of one two-handed weapon.

• Can now gain + Barbarian skill bonuses from gear
• Updated each stat/skill gains in each difficulty to match so that there is no disadvantage of leveling up a Hell difficulty mercenary versus a Normal difficulty mercenary
• Life baseline scaling increased (Now has the most life compared to other mercenaries)
• Defense baseline and scaling increased and the scaling at higher levels was reduced (Now has the highest defense baseline compared to other mercenaries)
• Can now hire Mercenaries who dual-wield one-handed weapons.
• Two-handed Mercenaries will no longer have their Bash and Stun scaling capped at L80 and gain Battle Cry.

Patch 2.4 New Runewords¶

Seven new runewords were added, from the low level [Pattern] runeword to the expensive [Plague], [Obsession] and [Mist]. One of the key design goals of these new runewords frankly seems to have been to find a use for Cham runes, which previously were not highly sought-after due to the relative weakness of their constituent runewords. Another seems to have been to improve runeword options for martial arts-focused Assassins.

All of these new runewords can only be created in Ladder Mode (expansion only).

For more details on these runewords, check out the [New Patch 2.4 Runewords] page.

Runeword Changes¶

Not only did Patch 2.4 see the addition of new (albeit Ladder-only) runewords, but a few old runewords were changed, typically by allowing them to be created in more weapon types:

• Insight can now be created in Bows and Crossbows, allowing you to bring along a ranged mercenary while fueling your mana regeneration.

• [Infinity] can now be created in Spears and Amazon Spears… presumably so the Amazon’s now-enhanced melee lightning skills can benefit from its Conviction aura. That’s assuming you were one of the relative handful to possess such an expensive weapon.

• [Obedience] can now be created in Spears and Amazon Spears.

• [Pride] can now be created in Spears and Amazon Spears.

Alas, you still cannot creat Heart of the Oak in hammers, nor can you create Insight in a spear. An oversight we hope one day will be corrected.

New Horadric Cube Recipes¶

Added four new Horadric Cube recipes. All of these are Ladder-only, and allow you to upgrade the quality of a set’s base item. For example, you could upgrade the [Death’s Guard] from a Sash to a Demonhide Sash. This is mostly useful for getting more potion slots out of best (higher tier belts = more potion slots) and for upgrading the base item type of weapons, which can drastically improve their damage.

The receipes are as follows: