Diablo 3 season 27 - start date, details, and more

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August 6, 2022: We're a little closer to learning the Diablo 3 season 27 start date.

It's that time again, another Diablo 3 season is about to kick off. In typical Blizzard fashion, we have a Public Test Realm going up to allow players to test the new patch. In this PTR, players will be able to test Diablo 3 Season 27 and its season theme.

This PTR also brings balance changes to classes and items. While we'll talk about the PTR Patch notes, things are subject to change for the full release of the season.

If you're looking for some more Diablo content, check out our Diablo Immortal patch notes for its first major content update.

When Is the Diablo 3 season 27 start date?

At the moment we don't have an exact release date for Diablo 3 Season 27. We can speculate though based on previous seasons and this season's PTR dates.

PTR 2.7.4 starts on July 12, 2022, and will run 16 days to July 28, 2022.

We expected to see a Season 26 end date announcement around August 1, with a potential end date of August 14, but it's now looking like season 27 will start a few days or weeks after August 21 - when season 26 ends.

In the past, we've seen new seasons start about 5 days after the previous season ends, so if this holds true, we could see Season 27 start on August 19. We'll be sure to keep you up to date for when these dates are officially announced.

What changes are coming in Diablo 3 Season 27

There are a lot of things coming in this PTR and season. We'll have quite a few class changes, focusing on Crusader, Necromancer, Wizard and Monk, though Barbarian and Demon Hunter will get something new. First let's take a look at the Season 27 theme, Angelic Crucibles.

Angelic Cruicbles

Season 27: Angelic Cruicbles

  • Angelic Crucibles and Sanctified Items can only be acquired in Seasonal play and will not transfer to your non-seasonal character when the season ends.
  • Angelic Crucibles can drop anywhere in Sanctuary at level 70.
  • Players can obtain as many Sanctified items as they would like, however, only one Sanctified item can be equipped at a time.
  • Sanctified items can be Sanctified again using another Angelic Crucible.
  • No stats are preserved when Sanctifying an item.
  • Only level 70 equippable items can be Sanctified—crafted items cannot be Sanctified.
  • Followers cannot equip Sanctified items.

The Angelic Crucible is a new farmable consumable item. When it's used on an equipable legendary item, the item gets reforged. This rerolls the affixes on the item, but what comes up will have perfect stat rolls. This is essentially build your own Primal Ancient item. Additionally, the item will gain one of three new "Sanctified Powers". Here are all the Sanctified Powers by class.

Sanctified Powers

Barbarian

  • Whirlwind pulls in and holds all enemies within 25 yards.
  • Hammer of the Ancients hits in all directions around the Barbarian. Every seventh cast of Hammer of the Ancients unleashes a powerful shockwave.
  • Hitting enemies generates stacks of Tempest Rhythm. Activating Wrath of the Berserker consumes 50 stacks of Tempest Rhythm and startles enemies within 16 yards, causing them to take 0.5% increased damage per stack for 10 seconds. Max 100 stacks.

Crusader

  • Blessed Hammer now crackles with energy damaging enemies within 15 yards of its path. All runes but Dominion now throw the hammer in a direct path in front of the Crusader.
  • Every two seconds, call down Fist of the Heavens on a random nearby enemy.
  • After casting Falling Sword, you descend from the sky with two Archangels that wield immense holy skills and benefit from your holy damage skill modifiers.

Demon Hunter

  • Strafe now casts the last non-channeled Hatred spending ability casted.
  • Casting Vengeance unleashes a barrage of rockets that deal damage equal to a percentage of an enemy’s current hit points. The percentage per rocket is reduced if the enemy is an Elite or Boss. This effect cannot occur more than once every 60 seconds.
  • Firing Cluster Arrow concentrates its explosive force into a piercing ray of light.

Monk

  • Casting Wave of Light now summons a bell at the target location that deals damage when the caster attacks the bell. Up to seven bells can be active at one time.
  • All Way of the Hundred Fists combo punches use the second stage combo punch.
  • The target of your Seven-Sided Strike is barraged with spiritual punches for 15 seconds. This can only affect one enemy at a time.

Necromancer

  • Your Golem now picks up corpses within 20 yards. Each corpse it stores allows you to cast any corpse spending ability with the max number of corpses consumed per cast. Up to 30 corpses can be stored.
  • Enemies within 50 yards are constantly assaulted by the Army of the Dead - Unconventional Warfare while this item is equipped.
  • Hitting enemies with Death Nova five consecutive times adds a spirit that afflicts an enemy every fifth cast of Death Nova. Up to three spirits can be sent at a time.

Witch Doctor

  • Five seconds after casting Haunt, all Haunted enemies within 50 yards are pulled to the Witch Doctor.
  • Horrify becomes an aura that causes enemies to receive 15% more damage and deal 15% less damage in addition to its other effects.
  • Your Gargantuan spreads Locusts Swarm to any enemy within 16 yards and summons Zombie Dogs periodically. Zombie Dogs now gain every rune when summoned.

Wizard

  • Casting Storm Armor sends a power thunderbolt from the skies that instantly kills a random enemy within 30 yards. Bosses are not killed but take significant damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 60 seconds.
  • Arcane Orb now periodically spawns up to four orbiting charges that will generate an additional orb when cast. All charges from the Arcane Orbit rune now detonate at the same time.
  • Magic Missile fires 20 missiles and gains the effect of the Seeker rune.

Item Changes

There's a plethora of item changes coming, again focused on Crusader, Necromancer, Wizard, and Monk. There's also a new craftable 3-piece set coming as well!

Item Changes

General

  • Guardian's Jeopardy (2-piece bonus): Your base Vitality attribute from equipped items is increased by 50%.
  • Guardian's Jeopardy (3-piece bonus): Your base Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence attributes from equipped items are increased by 50%.

Crusader

  • Armor of Akkhan (2-piece bonus): Judgment has no cooldown and gains the effect of every rune.
  • Armor of Akkhan (4-piece bonus): Attacks from Phalanx Avatars reduce the cooldown of Akarat's Champion by 0.5 seconds, and also apply Condemn when attacking enemies that is affected by Judgment.
  • Eternal Union: Increases the duration of summoned Phalanx Bowmen and Bodyguard indefinitely.

Necromancer

  • Trag'Oul's Avatar (2-piece bonus): Blood Rush and Siphon Blood gains the effect of every rune. Your Life-spending abilities no longer cost Essence.
  • Trag'Oul's Avatar (4-piece bonus): While at full Life, your healing from skills is added to your maximum Life for 45 seconds, up to 300% more.
  • Trag'Oul's Avatar (6-piece bonus): Your Life-spending abilities deal 10,000% increased damage and your healing from skills is increased by 100%.
  • Iron Rose: Attacking with Siphon Blood has a 100% chance to cast a free Blood Nova. After cumulatively losing 10% of your maximum Life, your Death Nova deals 40% increased damage for 60 seconds. This effect stacks up to 10 times.
  • Funerary Pick: Siphon Blood from 2 additional targets. Each target takes 300% increased damage from you. The bonus from Siphon Blood - Power Shift is now 20% per stack and benefits all skills.

Wizard

  • Delsere's Magnum Opus (2-piece bonus): Casting Arcane Orb, Energy Twister, Magic Missile, Shock Pulse, Spectral Blade, Electrocute, Meteor, or Arcane Torrent also casts Slow Time at a target. This effect will not trigger if the target is already inside a Slow Time bubble. The cooldown of Teleport will reset while you're inside bubbles generated from this set or cast by you.
  • Delsere's Magnum Opus (4-piece bonus): You take 75% reduced damage while you have a Slow Time active. Allies inside your Slow Time gain half benefit.
  • Crown of the Primus: Slow Time gains the effect of every rune and permanently follows you.
  • Tal Rasha's Elements (2-piece bonus): Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire or Lightning will grant immunity to that element and cause a Meteor of the same damage type to fall from the sky. The same meteor cannot happen twice in a row.
  • Tal Rasha's Elements (4-piece bonus): Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each increase all of your resistances by 50% for 8 seconds.
  • The Smoldering Core: Lesser enemies are now lured to your Meteor impact areas. Meteors deals 40-50% increased damage on consecutive hits to the same target. This stacks up to 10 times.

Monk

  • Inna's Mantra (6-piece bonus): Gain the passive abilities of the five runed Mystic Allies at all times. Attacking enemies creates your chosen Mystic Ally that lasts 15 seconds, up to 10 Mystic Allys. The damage of your Mystic Allies is increased by 900% for each Mystic Ally you have out.

It seems that from what we're seeing Crusader's Akkhan set get a buff, including a buff to Phalnax. Necromancers are getting their Blood set, Trag'Ouls buffed as wellas some of the supporting Legendaries. Wizard is getting some serious love with Delsere's and Tal Rasha's sets getting buffed and focused around their core fantasies for each set.

Monk has been a dominating force in seasons past, with the Inna's set being the leading set. It's getting a significant damage nerf. On live the damage buff is 3000%, and it's going down to 900%. This is probably going to mean that this set will no longer be meta.

General Updates and Bug Fixes

In addition to all these changes, there will be some general changes coming as well as bug fixes.

General Changes

  • Adventure Mode is now unlocked for all accounts by default. Players are no longer required to complete the Campaign to access Adventure mode.
  • Default difficulty selection has been updated to be consistent for all players and platforms. All players now have access to Normal-Torment 6 difficulties by default, and upon reaching level 70 with a character, players gain access to Torment 7–Torment 16.
  • Uber Boss Realms now automatically close 60 seconds after the Uber Bosses have been defeated. Additional portals to the same Uber Boss Realm can now be opened in a single game session.
  • The Experience rewarded upon completion of an Echoing Nightmare has been reduced by 83%.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug that prevented the Legendary Spear Empyrean Messenger from dropping.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings: Fixed a bug that caused the 3-piece set bonus to occasionally drop off.
  • Updated Bone Spike and Siphon Blood tooltips to reflect the appropriate damage values.

How to Participate in the Diablo PTR

If you're interested in trying out the PTR when it launches, it's a pretty easy process. You'll need to have a Diablo 3 licence attached to your Battle.net account that's in good standing. You'll also need the Battle.net Desktop app.

  • Start Battle.net
  • Navigate to Diablo 3
  • Click the drop down above the "Play" button, and select "PTR: Diablo III".
  • Click Install

You can also copy a Live character to PTR so you don't have to level up. Here are the steps to do this.

  • Log into the Live game and then log out
  • Log into the PTR, and create a Level 1 character. Then return to the main character select screen.
  • Select "PTR Copy"
  • Select your Region
  • Click Copy, which will copy all characters on your account from that region.
  • You'll be disconnected from the PTR.
  • Log back in and you'll have your characters to play.

And there we have it. There's a lot coming for the new Diablo season to be excited about! We'll have to see how these changes play when the PTR comes out! If you're looking for some more Diablo guides, check out our leveling guides for Diablo Immortal. We have a Wizard build and a Monk build right now.