Diablo 4's first patch since the start of Season 9 is set to release on July 15, with the opportunity to improve some of the biggest complaints surrounding the Sins of the Horadrim season. The patch notes for Diablo 4 2.3.1 that Blizzard recently released point toward some quality-of-life improvements coming down the pipe, along with a series of buffs for every class. While these are welcome additions to be sure, the buffs may not be enough to help classes like Barbarian and Rogue overcome their slump in the meta.

The Diablo 4 Season 9 meta has seen some of the usual top-tier builds for Barbarians and Rogues slide down in viability, with classes like Spiritborn and Sorcerer taking the top spot. It's nearly always a good sign when Diablo 4 buffs its classes in a new update, but these buffs don't get to the heart of why some classes have struggled in Season 9. Without a significant adjustment to Overpower Damage, the improvements to the Barbarian's skills will only be a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed to make them viable again.

diablo-4-season-9-mythics-duriel-boss
Diablo 4 Season 9 Players Will Want One Piece of Mythic Gear Handy, Regardless of Build

While mythics are hard to come by in Diablo 4, it might be worth players' time to farm for one piece of gear with near-universal utility in Season 9.

By 

Diablo 4 Update 2.3.1 Doesn't Do Enough to Buff Season 9's Weakest Class

Barbarians Get Some Love in Update 2.3.1, But Not in the Way They Need It Most

With the release of Diablo 4 update 2.3.1, several of the Barbarian's skills are getting small buffs in an attempt to help the ailing class. Many of the skills receiving these improvements comprise the lower-tier Barbarian builds in Diablo 4 Season 9, including:

  • Battle Trance
    • Lucky Hit Chance increased from 10% to 20%.
    • Damage bonus increased from 15%-30% to 30%-60%.

  • Double Swing
    • Damage increased from 66% to 85%.

  • Hammer of the Ancients
    • Damage increased from 110% to 175%.

  • Rend
    • Bleeding damage increased from 120% to 135%.

  • Upheaval
    • Damage increased from 132% to 200%.

  • Whirlwind
    • Damage increased from 52% to 76%.

  • Barbed Carapace
    • Thorns damage increased from 100% to 120%.

Most of the buffs in this update grant damage increases of roughly 20 percentage points, with the biggest buffs going to Upheaval and Hammer of the Ancients, two of Diablo 4's best Barbarian skills in past seasons. Barbarian fans looking to play Hammer of the Ancients or Upheaval builds are likely to find more success than before this update, but may not be able to stand among the top classes of Season 9. The culprit at large is still Overpower Damage, which saw a significant nerf at the start of the season and remains the difference between a good Barbarian build and an S-tier one.

There are still some decent Barbarian build options for Diablo 4 Season 9, such as Bash Cleave Barbarian, which can take advantage of the new Hooves of the Mountain God unique.

Overpower Damage Ironically Remains Underpowered in Diablo 4 Season 9

Unfortunately for Barbarian fans, this new update doesn't seem to touch Diablo 4's Overpower Damage type at all. The initial Season 9 patch deployed at the start of the Sins of the Horadrim season removed the inherent additive portion of Overpowered damage that included Life and Fortify stats in its calculations. Instead, Overpower functions more like Critical Hits and deals up to 50%[x] damage when triggered.

An important part of Barbarian builds in Diablo 4 comes from the Barbarian's ability to scale Overpower Damage with their Shouts that increase Life and Fortify, which previously contributed additive damage bonuses to Overpower hits. Now that Barbarians can no longer achieve the same level of damage from Overpower, their builds essentially rely on the power of their Core Skills to be the primary damage dealers. With skills like Hammer of the Ancients and Upheaval getting significant buffs, Barbarians could become more viable in Diablo 4 Season 9 than they were previously, but it's unlikely that they'll be able to compete with powerhouses like Spiritborn and Sorcerers until Overpower Damage gets rebalanced.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image
Diablo 4 Tag Page Cover Art
9 /10

Diablo 4
Display card tags widget
Action RPG
Hack and Slash
Display card system widget
Systems
PlayStation-1 Xbox-1 PC-1
Display card community and brand rating widget Display card open critics widget
Top Critic Avg: 88 /100 Critics Rec: 93%
Display card main info widget
Released
June 5, 2023
ESRB
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
Developer(s)
Blizzard
Publisher(s)
Blizzard
Display card main info widget end Display card media widget start
Diablo 4 Press Image 1
5 Images
Diablo 4 Press Image 1
Diablo 4 Press Image 2
Diablo 4 Press Image 3
Diablo 4 Press Image 4
Diablo 4 Press Image 5
Display card media widget end

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

Engine
Proprietary Engine
Genre(s)
Action RPG, Hack and Slash