The new Diablo 4 season is here with its latest patch, 1.3.0, which includes long-promised unique item additions as well as a number of key balance changes. Compounding on top of the new uniques, the buffs and nerfs to various abilities and aspects will surely shake up the meta. Furthermore, the developers have also streamlined end-game grind and gear progression with changes to Helltides and world boss drops.While the usual suspects of season two meta, such as Ball Lightning and button-mashing Rogue builds, have been nerfed, a few buffs compound on top of the new unique to guarantee that new meta-dominating builds like Charge Barbarian will take their place.This patch also continues last season's goals to streamline Diablo 4 hardcore mode further. The most important change for hardcore players in patch 1.3.0 comes with quality-of-life improvements in Scrolls of Escape, which now stack up to 99 in the same inventory lot.New aspect and unique items in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0The following aspect and items will debut in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0:Juggernaut's Aspect – DefensiveGain 0.75 –1.25 Armor, but your Evade has 100% increased Cooldown.Paingorger's Gauntlets – Unique GlovesDamaging enemies with a cast Non–Basic Skill marks them for 3 seconds. When a Basic Skill first hits a marked enemy, the Basic Skill's damage is echoed to all marked enemies, dealing 100–200%[x] increased damage.Aspect of Adaptability – UtilityWhen cast below 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills generate 3 of your Primary Resource, once per cast.When cast at or above 50% Maximum Resource, Basic Skills deal 40–80% increased damage.Ring of the RavenousRend’s duration is increased by 2.0–4.0 seconds. Damaging enemies with Brawling Skills applies 2 stacks of Rend's Bleed. This effect can only occur once every 4 seconds per enemy.Aspect of Sundered Ground – OffensiveEvery 25 seconds, Upheaval is guaranteed to Overpower and deals 10–20% increased damage. This timer is reduced by 4 seconds when Upheaval Overpowers a Boss or an Elite enemy.Unsung Ascetic's WrapsLightning Storm gains 1 additional strike each time it grows. Lightning Storm Critical Strikes cause lightning to strike twice, dealing 10–20% increased damage.Virulent Aspect – UtilityWhen Rabies infects an enemy, reduce its cooldown by 0.3–0.6 seconds. This cooldown reduction is tripled when infecting Elites.Mutilator PlateYou are Blood Lanced, and when Blood Lance would deal damage to you it instead Fortifies you for 1–2% of your Maximum Life and has a 5% chance to form a Blood Orb. Blood Lance deals 10–20%[x] increased damage.Shattered Spirit's Aspect – OffensiveCasting Bone Spirit also launches 18 Bone Splinters in all directions, dealing 200–400%[x] increased damage and generating 6 Essence per enemy hit.Beastfall BootsWhen you cast an Ultimate skill, your next Core skill consumes all of your energy and deals 0.5–1.5% increased damage per Energy consumed. Using a Cooldown restores 5 energy.Resistant Assailant's Aspect – DefensiveBreaking Concealment grants +10% Resistance and Maximum Resist to all elements for 4 seconds. Killing an Elite enemy reduces Concealment's cooldown by 6–10 seconds.Starfall CoronetMeteor now has 2 charges and a 11–6 second Charge Cooldown instead of a Mana cost and drops 3 additional meteors around the target. Meteor's Enchantment effect and Enhanced Meteor drop 1 additional meteor.Aspect of Shredding Blades – OffensiveIce Blades' chance to apply Vulnerable is increased by 20%[+] and the Vulnerable duration is increased by 4 seconds. You gain 15–25%[x] Vulnerable Damage.All class balance changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0The following are all the official balance changes to classes, aspects, and skills per official patch 1.3.0 notes listed by Blizzard:Class-independent item changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Pre-1.3.0 ring of the Starless Skies in Diablo 4 (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Ring of Starless Skies:The unique power has been changed.Previous: Casting a Core Skill reduces Resource cost of your Core Skills by 12%, up to a maximum of 40%. Resets upon using a non–Core Skill.New: Spending resources reduces your resource costs and increases your damage by x10% for 3 seconds, up to 40%.Offensive Aspect of the ExpectantDamage bonus now has a 5-second duration to be used.Melted Heart of Selig:All Stats increased to 2x normal value.Core Skill Damage changed to Movement Speed.Damage While Healthy increased to 3x normal value.Unique Power ChangedPrevious: Gain 30 Maximum Resource. In addition, when you take damage, drain 3 resources for every 1% of life you would have lost instead.New: Gain 60 maximum Resource. 75% of incoming damage drains 2 Resource for every 1% of Life you would have lost instead.All Barbarian Changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Barbarian is one of the most buffed classes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0 (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Skills:ChargeBase damage increased by 900%, from 0.25 to 2.50.Enhanced Charge terrain impact damage increased by 150%, from 0.6 to 1.5.Power Charge no longer requires a terrain impact to reduce the cooldown of Charge, and now charging a boss will reduce the cooldown by 6 seconds.LeapBase damage increased by 30%.Passives:Brute ForceOverpower damage decreased from 15% to 8% per rank.Walking ArsenalDuration of each weapon bonus increased from 8 to 10 seconds.Additional damage from having all bonuses increased from 15% to 20%.Having all bonuses now also increases attack speed by 20%.UnconstrainedBerserking damage bonus increased from 60% to 100%.Gushing WoundsBonus bleed amount increased from 115% to 140%.Overpower explosion damage increased from 70% to 85%.Weapon ExpertiseExpertise leveling has been cut by 50%.Paragon:Marshal GlyphNow reduces the cooldown of every non-Shout skill by 4 seconds, instead of every other Shout skill by 1.2 seconds.Item Updates:Resource Aspect of Echoing FuryYou now generate 6–10 Fury per second while any Shout skill is active, instead of 2–4 Fury per second for each Shout skill active.Offensive Aspect of Limitless RageDamage bonus now has a 5-second duration to be used.Veteran Brawler’s Offensive AspectReduced bonus damage per stack from 15%–20% to 6%–8%, up to a reduced maximum bonus of 225%–300% to 30%–40%.Offensive Aspect of Ancestral ChargeReduced bonus damage from 75%–125% to 20%–30%.Offensive Aspect of Encroaching WrathReduced bonus Weapon Mastery damage from 82–100% to 40–60%.Damage bonus now has a 5-second duration to be used.Ring of Red FurorDamage bonus now has a 5-second duration to be used.All Druid changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Druids' Rabies got buffed in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0 (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Skills:Enhanced RabiesMaximum damage bonus increased from 30% to 60%.LacerateCooldown reduced from 45 to 35 seconds.Prime LacerateChanged functionality: Lacerate hits Heal for 3% Maximum Life, increased to 6% on Critical Strikes.CataclysmTwister damage increased from 23% to 46%.Lightning damage increased from 77% to 95%.Supreme CataclysmVulnerable duration increased from 3 to 6 seconds.Passives:MendingAdditional Healing received increased from 5% to 6% per rank.Thick HideFortify gained increased from 6.4% to 10% per rank.UnrestrainedControl Impairing Effects duration reduction increased from 3% to 5% per rank.Increased benefit while over 50% Fortify reduced from tripled to doubled.Natural FortitudeFortify gained on Shapeshifting increased from 1.4% to 2% per rank.Bestial RampageRequired Shapeshift duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds.Attack Speed bonus increased from 25% to 30%.Spirt Boons:PrickleskinThorns increased from .15 to .6. (from 1,194 to 4776)Gift of the StagMaximum Spirit increased from 10 to 20.Avian WrathCritical Strike Damage bonus is now Multiplicative instead of Additive.Paragon:TectonicBonus Lucky Hit Chance increased from 15% to 20%.PoiseBarrier increased from 5% of Maximum Health to 15%.Duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds.WildsPassive Companion damage bonus increased from 80% to 120%.Item Updates:Aspect of the Blurred BeastPrevious: While dashing, Shred seeks out Nearby Poisoned enemies instantly dealing 70–100% of the Poisoning damage to them.New: While dashing, Shred seeks out Nearby Poisoned enemies and deals 20–40%[x] increased damage to them.Aspect of Metamorphic StoneBoulder Spirit Cost reduced from 50 to 40.Aspect of the UnsatiatedSpirit Generation and bonus damage increased from 20–30% to 30–40%.Aspect of RetaliationBonus damage reduced from 20–40% to 20–30%.All Necromancer changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Necromancers are a much better class than last season in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0 (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Skills:Iron MaidenDamage increased from 0.2 to 0.3.Horrid Iron MaidenBonus damage increased from 20% to 30%.Corpse ExplosionLucky Hit Chance reduced from 40% to 25%.Base damage increased from 50% to 70%.Blighted Corpse Explosion damage decreased from 110% to 95%.BlightDamage over time increased from 80% to 95%.SeverInitial damage increased from 66% to 75%.Return damage increased from 21% to 25%.Bone SpiritDamage is increased by 4% per Essence spent casting Bone Spirit, up from 3%.Dreadful Bone SpiritNow restores 30% of your Maximum Essence, instead of a flat 30 Essence.Acolyte's DecomposePrevious: You and your Minions deal 10%[x] increased damage to enemies being Decomposed.New: Every 1.5 seconds, Decompose makes enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds.Initiate's DecomposePrevious: Decompose Slows enemies by 50%.New: Decompose Slows enemies by 50%, and if you channel Decompose for at least 1.5 seconds, you gain 30%[+] Movement Speed for 5 second after ending the channel.Dreadful Blood MistPrevious: Blood Mist Fortifies you for 0.5% of your Maximum Life each time it hits an enemy.New: You gain +10% Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds after Blood Mist ends.Bone PrisonFriendly players and Minions can now freely pass through Bone Prison walls.The functionality of Enhanced Bone Prison and Ghastly Bone Prison have been swapped.Enhanced Bone PrisonEnemies inside of Bone Prison are Vulnerable.Ghastly Bone PrisonIf an enemy is trapped by Bone Prison, gain 25 Essence, plus an additional 5 per enemy trapped.Dreadful Bone PrisonPrevious: Fortify for 8% of your Maximum Life for each enemy trapped by Bone Prison.New: Reduce your active cooldowns by 0.5 seconds for each enemy trapped by Bone Prison, up to 3 seconds.Passives:Ossified EssenceNow displays the current bonus on the tooltip.Book of the Dead:GolemWhen Golems finish casting their active ability, they will first try to target a new close enemy before reverting to their previous target.Blood Golem and Iron GolemBasic Attacks now hit enemies in an area around the main target.Bone GolemActive ability now grants the Golem Thorns equal to 70% of your Armor for the duration of the Taunt.Bone MageUpgrade now Fortifies based on your Maximum Life instead of Base Life.Skeleton PriestHealing increased from 25% to 40% over the 8 second duration.Paragon:Cult Leader Legendary Paragon NodePrevious: Your Minions deal 15%[x] increased damage for each Minion type you have active.New: Your Minions deal 10%[x] increased damage for each 20%[+] of Attack Speed Bonus they have.GolemAdditional Bonus changed from 25% Health to 25% Damage.Item Updates:Aspect of Swelling CursePrevious: Bone Spirit deals increased damage based on distance traveled, up to 15-25%[x].New: Bone Spirit’s Critical Strike Chance is increased by 15–25%[+]. Your Maximum Essence is increased by 2 for each enemy hit for 15 seconds.Torturous AspectPrevious: Enemies afflicted by your Iron Maiden have a [15–25]% chance to be Stunned for 1 Second when they deal direct damage.New: Iron Maiden is now also a Darkness skill and deals Shadow damage. Enemies afflicted by your Iron Maiden have a [15–25]% chance to be Stunned for 1 second when they deal direct damage.Rotting AspectChance to spawn additional corpses increased from 30–60% to 50–100%.Hulking AspectChance to reduce Golem's active cooldown increased from 2–5% to 4–10%.Chance to spawn a Corpse increased from 1.0–2.5% to 2%–5%.All Rogue Changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Rogues have been significantly nerfed in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0 (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Skills:Blade ShiftDamage increased from 16% to 20%.Duration increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.Fundamental Invigorating StrikeVulnerable now applies while you are below 85% Energy, up from 75% Energy.Enhanced CaltropsPrevious: Enemies takes 5%[x] increased damage from you each second they are in Caltrops.New: Enemies in Caltrops take 10%[x] increased damage from you, increased by 5%[x] each second.Rain of ArrowsCast time reduced by 15%.The first wave of arrows now hits closer to the player.Cold ImbuementChill amount now increases by 5% per skill rank, up from 2.5%.Blended Cold ImbuementRemoved the Critical Strike requirement, and increased the Lucky Hit chance from 20% to 35%.Mixed Poison ImbuementPrevious: Lucky Hit: Poison Imbued skills have up to a 30% chance to apply double the amount of Poisoning damage over time.New: Lucky Hit: Poison Imbued skills have up to a 30% chance to reduce Poison Imbuement's cooldown by 2 seconds.Forceful ArrowVulnerable duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.Enhanced Penetrating ShotPrevious: Penetrating Shot deals 10%[x] increased damage per enemy it pierces.Now: Penetrating Shot has a 10%[+] increased Critical Strike Chance. If Penetrating Shot damages at least 3 enemies, gain 10%[+] Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds.Improved Penetrating ShotPrevious: If Penetrating Shot damage at least 3 enemies, your next Penetrating Shot has 20%[+] increased Critical Strike Chance.New: Penetrating Shot deals an additional 10%[x] increased damage per enemy it hits.Passives:Close Quarters CombatAmount of Damage vs Crowd Controlled bonus conversion percent reduced from 40% to 10%.Attack Speed per stack increased from 10% to 15%.PrecisionPrevious: Critical Strike with Marksman Skills grant you Precision. You gain 4%[x] Critical Strike Damage per stack of Precision, up to a maximum of 20%[x]. When you reach maximum Precision, your next Marksman Skill is guaranteed to Critically Strike, and deals 40%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage, then consumes all stacks of Precision.New: Each Marksman skill cast grants 1 stack of Precision, or 2 if it has Critically Struck. When you reach 6 stacks, your next Marksman Core or Ultimate Skill is a guaranteed Critical Strike that deals x50% increased Critical Strike Damage, consuming all stacks of Precision. This damage is further increased by an amount equal to x15% of your Critical Strike Damage bonus.Chilling WeightPrevious: Chilled enemies have their Movement speed further reduced by 10/20/30%.New: Chilled enemies have their movement speed further reduced by up to 10/20/30%, and you gain 5/10/15%[x] increased Chill effect.ConcussivePrevious: After Knocking Back or Knocking Down an enemy, you gain 4% increased Critical Strike Chance against them for 4 seconds.New: After Knocking Back or Knocking Down an enemy, you gain 4% increased Critical Strike Chance for 4 seconds.Paragon:Leyrana's InstinctPrevious: When Inner Sight's gauge becomes full, you gain 100%[+] Dodge Chance for 1.5 seconds.New: When Inner Sight's gauge becomes full, you gain 100%[+] Dodge Chance for 2 seconds. Your next 3 Core skills deal additional damage equal to 20%[x] of your Core Skill Damage bonus.Item Updates:Bladedancer's AspectThe orbiting blades can now hit each enemy 2 times, reduced from 3.Previous: Twisting Blades orbit for a short time after they return to you, dealing 10–15% of Twisting Blade's return damage per hit. Based on the distance the blades returning, the orbit damage increases up to 20–30% of the return damage.New: Twisting Blades orbit for a short time after they return to you, dealing 20–30% of Twisting Blade's return damage per hit.Aspect of Stolen VigorPrevious: Each stack of Momentum Key Passive Heals you for 0.04–0.08 Life per second.New: Each stack of Momentum Key Passive Heals you for 0.04–0.08 Life per second and grants you 5% Damage Reduction.Icy AlchemistPrevious: Lucky Hit: Damaging a Chilled or Frozen enemy with a Shadow Imbued Skill has up to a 75% chance to release an explosion that deals 0.3–0.48 Cold damage to the target and surrounding enemies, Chilling them for 25%.New: Lucky Hit: Shadow Imbued Skill have up to a 75% chance to release an explosion that deals 0.3–0.48 Cold damage to the target and surrounding enemies, Chilling them for 25%. If they were already Chilled or Frozen, increase this damage by 100%[x].Toxic AlchemistPrevious: Lucky Hit: Damaging a Poisoned enemy with a Shadow Imbued Skill has up to a 75% chance to create a toxic explosion that applies 0.15–0.2 Poisoning damage over 5 seconds to the target and surrounding enemies.New: Lucky Hit: Shadow Imbued Skills have up to a 75% chance to create a toxic explosion that applies 0.2–0.3 Poisoning damage over 5 seconds to the target and surrounding enemies. If the enemy was already Poisoned, increase this damage by 100%[x].WindforceLucky Hit Chance increased from 20%–30% to 30%–40%.SkyhunterInherent affix changed from Damage to Distant Enemies to Critical Strike Damage.Critical Strike Damage affix value increased by ~100%. This does not apply to the inherent Critical Strike Damage Affix.Effect updated to reflect changes to the Precision Key Passive.Previous: The first direct damage you deal to an enemy is a guaranteed Critical Strike. If you had maximum stacks of the Precision Key Passive when you cast the Skill, gain 20–30 energy, this can only happen once per cast.New: The first direct damage you deal to an enemy is a guaranteed Critical Strike. When you consume Precision casting a Skill, that Skill gains x10–30% increased Critical Strike Damage and you gain 20–40 Energy.EaglehornPrevious: Penetrating Shot has a 30–80% chance to fire an arrow that bounced off walls and scenery. Damaging 5 enemies with Penetrating Shot will cause your next cast to make enemies hit Vulnerable for 3 seconds.New: Penetrating Shot makes enemies Vulnerable for 3 seconds. Every 4th cast bounces off walls and scenery and deals 20%–40%[x] bonus damage.All Sorcerer changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Sorcerer's Ball Lightning got heavily nerfed in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0 (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)Skills:Ball LightningEnhanced Ball Lightning changed to have its attack rate increase with attack speed, up to 25%.BlizzardMage’s Blizzard condition to be cast while over 50 mana has been removed.Lightning SpearCritical Strikes now apply Vulnerable for 3 seconds.Paragon:Searing HeatFixed an issue where the Critical Strike Chance bonus was not properly applying.Critical Strike Chance bonus increased from +10% to 12%.Elemental SummonerConjuration damage bonus increased from x3% to x5% of the total amount of your Bonus Damage with Fire, Lightning, and Cold.Burning InstinctAmount of Intelligence required to gain x1% bonus Burning Damage reduced from 75 to 25.Item Updates:Offensive Aspect of Shattered StarsMeteorite damage has been changed to be 20–30% of the casted Meteor’s damage.Staff of Lam EsenIncreased Charged Bolt chance to be attracted to enemies from 30–50% to 40–60%.Iceheart BraisChance to unleash a Frost Nova when enemies die increased from 11–20% to 21–30%.Helltide and Nightmare Dungeon changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Helltide will now be active every hour on the hour, with a 5-minute gap in between. Helltide will be active 55 minutes of every hour.So players can more consistently acquire Distilled Fear, we've reworked how Distilled Fear is collected from Nightmare Dungeons.Players will always gain a Distilled Fear after completing a Nightmare Dungeon of at least Tier 30.Every 10 Tiers after Tier 30 there's an increasing chance for additional Distilled Fears to be rewarded.Completing Tier 90 Nightmare Dungeons and beyond will always grant 3 Distilled Fears.The Purified Sigil reward for completing a Nightmare Dungeon will now always grant a Sigil 1 Tier greater than the Nightmare Dungeon just completed.General item changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Scrolls of Escape:Scrolls of Escape in Diablo 4 will now populate in the lost items stash if the player missed one that was dropped.Stack limit increased from 20 to 99.Appear as Legendary so that they are harder to miss when dropped on the ground.Scattered Prisms:The chance for Scattered Prisms to drop when defeating an Elite Monster has been reduced.Scattered Prisms can now be acquired from Legion Event Chests.Other miscellaneous items and materials:The Material cap in Diablo 4 has been increased from 99,999 to 999,999.Treasure Goblins spawned while fighting Avarice now have the same loot potential as normally encountered treasure goblins.Potion count will no longer be reset after dying and being revived by another player.The Hatred's Chosen syphon effect is no longer based on Lucky Hit.The Greed Shrine effect also now will drop additional Gold after the effect expires. The amount of Gold dropped is determined by how many enemies were killed while the Shrine buff was active.Uber-Unique Items can now be unlocked as transmogs.Item level progression and other loot changes in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0World Bosses like Grigoire are much more rewarding to do in Diablo 4 patch 1.3.0Diablo 4 World Tier III and IV World Boss weekly caches can now drop Unique Items.The increased cap for Item Power on drops from World Bosses has been adjusted.Previous: +100 to min, +100 to maxNew: +65 to min, +25 to maxThe Item Power ranges for items dropped by end-game bosses, such as Varshan and Zir, have been decreased for Rare and Legendary Items. Unique Item Power has not been changed. Examples (note that the current range for Unique Items was previously the range for all items):Varshan in WT3 (Level 55)Unique Item Power Range: 675-750Rare/Legendary Range: 650-725Grigoire in WT4 (Level 75)Unique Item Power Range: 850-925Rare/Legendary Range: 800-875Beast in the Ice (Level 85)Unique Item Power Range: 900-925Rare/Legendary Range: 850-925Duriel remains unchanged (always drops 925)Nightmare Dungeon Item Power scaling has been adjusted to more consistently drop high Item Power loot in high Tier Nightmare Dungeons. Examples:Monsters at level 100:Legendary Item Power RangePrevious: 820-925New: 845-925Rare Item Power RangePrevious: 785-925New: 810-925Monsters at level 125:Legendary Item Power RangePrevious: 845-925New: 910-925Rare Item Power RangePrevious: 810-925New: 885-925All monsters above Level 144 (Nightmare Dungeon Tier 90+) are now guaranteed to drop 925 Item Power gear.Check out our other Diablo 4 guides:Best Druid builds in Diablo 4 || Best Barbarian builds in Diablo 4 || Best Necromancer builds || Best Sorcerer builds || Best Rogue builds