Blizzard Entertainment announced that Diablo III Season 16 will begin on January 18th, allowing Season characters to equip a full set bonus with one less set item requirement, plus the legendary power of the Ring of Royal Grandeur is applied to your character by default. That means you can equip an extra Legendary item to replace one set item, and use a different legendary power as Ring of Royal Grandeur doesn’t stack with the Season of Grandeur bonus.

One thing to note is that Nevalistis told Rhykker at BlizzCon “We are not done with Diablo III” and that she had still to post multiple blogs.

So far she has posted two blogs: the PTR 2.6.4 blog and now the Season of Grandeur blog. That’s a couple. Multiple stands for 3 or more. December has 12 more days before the month ends — which makes me wonder… what else is coming?

Read the Season 16 patch notes below:

SEASON 16: SEASON OF GRANDEUR

Season 16 begins January 18 and accompanies our latest Diablo III patch. Read on to learn more about upcoming class set tweaks, quality of life changes, and a brand-new Seasonal buff that’s sure to make Season 16 grand!

New Season Theme

Season 16 introduces a brand-new buff to the mix that will change up the way you play. For the duration of Season 16, all Seasonal players will benefit from the legendary power of the Ring of Royal Grandeur. This means you do not need to hunt down or equip the item to benefit from its Set bonus-enabling ability! Bear in mind that this buff does not stack with additional Rings of Royal Grandeur, whether they be equipped directly on your character or via the Jewelry slot in Kanai’s Cube.

For the uninitiated, this means many classes may be able to combine different Class Set bonuses in new ways—or squeeze yet another Legendary power into their favorite builds. Theorycrafters unite!—this is the season to strut your stuff, experiment to your heart’s content, and push the limits of your most perfectly crafted build. While we’ve done our own experimenting, we can’t wait to see what the community comes up with in Season 16!

New Cosmetic Rewards

Season 16 will also introduce new cosmetic rewards, obtainable by progressing through the Season Journey.

In addition to the Helm and Shoulder slots of the exclusive Conqueror Set, players can earn a brand-new series of portrait frames themed around the clarion call of adventure.. For the most devoted cosmetic collectors, we have a pair of wings fit for a monarch. The Wings of Lempo draw inspiration from some of the noblest creatures in Sanctuary, and aside from a cosmically rare drop, few other wings are quite as lovely.

Season Journey Rewards

If you’ve been diligently slaying demons for the past few Seasons and reached Conqueror in the Season Journey each time, you’ve surely accrued a few extra stash tabs by now. But players who have not yet earned a total of four stash tabs via the Season Journey can still unlock an additional one by completing the following tasks at the Conqueror tier:

  • Guardian of Sanctuary: Finish a level 70 Nephalem Rift on Torment XIII within five minutes
  • Gem of My Life: Level three Legendary Gems to level 55
  • All I Do IS Win: Complete two Conquests this Season
  • In for The Kill: Kill Azmodan at level 70 in under 30 seconds on Torment XIII difficulty
  • Money Ain’t a Thang: Slay Greed on Torment XIII difficulty
  • Take U There: Reach Greater Rift level 60 Solo
  • Power Amplification: Use Kanai’s Cube to augment an Ancient Legendary item with a level 50+ gem
  • Cubic Reconfiguration: Use Kanai’s Cube to reforge a Legendary item

Seasonal Conquests

The Seasonal Conquest rotation continues! For the speedy, Speed Demon/Need for Speed requires the fastest nephalem to complete a Nephalem Rift at level 70 on Torment X or higher in under two minutes. On a Good Day/I Can’t Stop guides you to get your Legendary Gem grind on; level three Legendary Gems to 65 to complete this challenge! For the fiercest demon slayers, Boss Mode/World’s Apart is a speed challenge where you’ll need to eliminate the following bosses at level 70 and Torment X in under twenty minutes:

  • The Skeleton King
  • The Butcher
  • Zoltun Kulle
  • Ghom
  • Cydaea
  • Rakanoth
  • Diablo
  • Adria
  • Queen Araneae
  • Maghda
  • Belial
  • Siegebreaker Assault Beast
  • Azmodan
  • Izual
  • Urzael
  • Malthael

Talk about a mouthful! For Curses!/Stars Align, pick any Cursed Chest event that requires killing monsters and defeat over 350 or more at level 70 on Torment X or higher. Finally, Years of War/Dynasty demonstrates your mastery of multiple classes by clearing a Greater Rift level 55 solo with the full bonuses of any six full Class sets.

Haedrig’s Gift

Finally, the Class Sets available for completing certain chapters in the Season Journey courtesy of Haedrig’s Gift have rotated once more. We’ve listed the available Sets below. For those new to Seasons, here’s how it works:

Completing Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of the Season Journey will reward you with three of Haedrig’s Gifts. Each Gift contains a few pieces from one of your Class Sets. Players can only unlock one Class Set in this manner per Season across Hardcore and Non-Hardcore, so choose wisely!

The set you will receive depends on the Class of the character you’re playing when you open each Haedrig’s Gift. To collect a full Class Set, you’ll need to open all three on the same character.

Here are the sets granted by Haedrig’s Gift in Season 16:

  • Barbarian – Immortal King’s Call
  • Crusader – Seeker of the Light
  • Demon Hunter – Natalya’s Vengeance
  • Monk – Uliana’s Stratagem
  • Necromancer – Trag’Oul’s Avatar
  • Witch Doctor – Spirit of Arachyr
  • Wizard – Vyr’s Amazing Arcana

Quality of Life Changes

Thanks to player feedback, we’ve focused on a couple of frequently requested changes to improve the overall Diablo experience. This includes minor changes, such as removing Legendary potions from player inventories so that they no longer take up space, but also more significant changes to celebrating end-game loot in Primal Legendaries.

Primal Legendaries were, from the start, a goal largely intended for the segment of our audience pushing themselves to take on the game’s most challenging experiences. As power has increased over time, Primals have become more accessible across the board and we realized they were not celebrated or even as obvious as they should be, considering how ultimate they feel in a build. To this end, we’ve added specially colored beams and a unique mini-map icon to highlight when they drop, as well as shined up their tooltip and border colorations to be more discernible.

Finally, we want to make sure everyone is clear when they can start collecting Primal Legendaries; upon completing your first Greater Rift 70 or higher Solo, you’ll receive an achievement indicating your accomplishment and the Greater Rift boss will be guaranteed to drop a Primal Legendary. This drop is subject to all other loot rules—meaning while there’s a large chance it will be suited for your class, randomness does play a factor.

Class Set Updates

The balance changes from Patch 2.6.1 have had a few seasons to percolate, allowing most classes and builds to settle in and reach for their best performance. With Patch 2.6.4, we’ve identified some of the best performing builds, like Condemn Crusader and Rathma’s Necromancer, and we’re looking to bring many of the other class set builds up to par.

This is largely a numbers pass, and we haven’t just focused on class sets—the “no set Set” Legacy of Nightmares will be receiving a sizeable buff as well. We know many of you are curious as to what changes may have occurred as a result of your testing on the PTR. The updated Patch Notes are below for your viewing pleasure, so you can begin plotting out your ideal build before Season 16 begins!

PATCH 2.6.4 – v2.6.4.54724

Table of Contents:

  • General
  • Greater Rifts
  • Seasons
  • Class Set Changes
    • General
      • Quality of Life
        • Philosophy
          • For this patch, we wanted to include a few frequently requested Quality of Life changes and focused on better celebrating and indicating Primal Legendary drops.
        • Five (5) additional Armory tabs have been added for all characters, bringing the total to 10
        • Legendary Potions are no longer stored in player inventory and can be accessed or changed by right-clicking on the potion icon in the action bar
        • Greater Rift Keystones are now stored in the Materials tab
          • Any existing Greater Rift Keystones in both inventory and stash have been automatically moved
        • Primal Legendaries are now marked by a red beam when they drop
        • Primal Legendaries on the ground are now indicated by a red pentagram icon on the mini-map
        • Primal Legendaries now have a red border and updated background on their icons
      • Return to top
    • Greater Rifts
      • Philosophy
        • The gameplay of micro-managing Paragon points during the course of a Greater Rift doesn’t feel like especially engaging gameplay, nor was it consistent with the other existing rules of entering a Greater Rift. In addition, the below change to matchmaking is to make it much easier for all players to find groups for Greater Rifts, as the previous window (only between Greater Rifts) is typically very small.
      • Paragon points can no longer be swapped while a Greater Rift is open
      • Players can now be matched into public games where a Greater Rift is open
        • Players who join in this manner will not be able to enter the active Rift, and players inside the Rift will be able to continue with no additional difficulty scaling until the run has been completed
      • Return to top
    • Seasons
      • Season 16: Season of Grandeur
        • The buff for Season of Grandeur has been implemented
          • This buff gives all Seasonal players the legendary power from Ring of Royal Grandeur
          • This buff does not stack with additional Ring of Royal Grandeur (either equipped or in Kanai’s Cube)
          • Unlike previous Seasonal buffs, this buff will not apply to Non-Seasonal players
        • When completing a Greater Rift level 70 solo for the first time in a Season, a Primal Legendary is guaranteed to drop from the Rift Guardian
      • Return to top
    • Class Set Changes

    We can’t wait to see what combinations players come up with throughout the course of Season 16 . . . especially when considering the new Seasonal buff!

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