What you need to know
- The Diablo 4 team have been fielding complaints on social media and the Blizzard forums about the changes to Necromancer Summon Skeletons as experienced in the Server Slam.
- The skeletons have been dying too early making summoner necromancers less viable as a build.
- Blizzard has already rolled out a hotfix to address the issue.
The Diablo 4 Server Slam is taking place right now and giving Blizzard the opportunity to test the strength of its servers under strain before the launch of Diablo 4 on June 6. Whilst players have been enjoying a third round of beta action, there's been a noticeable outcry against the Necromancer nerfs, particularly the survivability of its skeleton summons. Still, you needn't worry as Blizzard has already rolled out a hotfix this morning to increase the health and damage reduction of Necro minions.
Just a heads up:We have pushed out a server side hotfix for #DiabloIV Server Slam to address feedback regarding Necromancer minion survivability. This will take a few hours to propagate on all servers globally. This is a backend update. More here:https://t.co/n5Dv2L1OzGMay 14, 2023
In the previous open beta, the Necromancer was above and beyond the power and strength of the other available classes (Sorcerer, Rogue, Barbarian and Druid). Balance changes were desperately needed and in fact were implemented before the Server Slam, but some have said the changes are overzealous and have made the Necromancer almost unplayable. Or in Asmongold's words "Blizzard's decision to try make minions harder to keep alive just straight up makes the game less fun."
The original intent of the Necromancer changes was to make controlling the skeleton summons more interactive, and keeping them alive more of a conscious effort for the player, these changes and more were addressed in their Develeper endgame livestream in April.
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Necromancer Skeletons were pretty much immortal in the first Open Beta and this needed tweaking, but they seem to have dialled down the survivability a little too much in the update. Whilst managing minions should be an integral part of the necromancer fantasy, it shouldn't be an overwhelming part of your gameplay to the extreme that they can't survive a bite from a demonic mosquito.
The fix rolled out in the background this morning should address the issues with the Necromancer skeletons and summons. The overall health and damage reduction of the minions has been reduced, and the cooldown of the summon skills has been tweaked.
Blizzard has asked for more feedback from the community following the update and has said they will continue to monitor the situation. Players are already reporting positive experiences with the hotfix and have said there is a noticeable difference in gameplay and their enjoyment of the Necromancer class.
Are you enjoying the Server Slam so far? Let us know what class you are planning to play in Diablo 4 in the comments below!
