Diablo 4 Season 9 guts one of the most popular (and fun) build approaches

The Diablo 4 community is divided after news of a major Overpower nerf is on the way. Some feel like it’s going to be miserable, after other things have been nerfed on top of this in previous seasons, while others feel like Overpower needed to be nerfed, or perhaps simply removed from the game. No matter how you feel about it, the current word is that we can expect a gigantic nerf to the popular mechanic/stat in Sins of the Horadrim.

While not everything is being nerfed in the coming season, there are definitely classes that are going to feel this one. There are tons of Overpower-related builds in Diablo 4 right now, but that’s going to change in Season 9. Perhaps it will still be usable; but a roughly 80% nerf is about as major as it gets.

Diablo 4 Season 9 PTR majorly nerfs Overpower damage

According to the Campfire Chat for Diablo 4 Season 9, there’s a major Overpower nerf on the horizon. Unfortunately, we don’t have all of the total Overpower changes that will be coming, but the PTR patch notes were revealed, with a variety of changes. A prime example is the Necromancer Paragon Bloodbath, which goes from 100%[x] Overpower damage bonus, down to 40%[x].

If you were excited about Overpower in Season 9, maybe temper your expectations (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Quite a few other Paragon abilities were changed across the board for the upcoming Season, and Blizzard has said to expect around an 80% nerf to the overall ability. What’s interesting about Overpower, is while it has a 3% chance to trigger, there a variety of ways to guarantee an Overpower to pop off.

A good example is, once again, with Necromancers. Bone Duster’s Aspect, used in Bone Spear Necromancer, makes it so Bone Spear is guaranteed to Overpower enemies within Bone Prison, and also deals 30-50%[x] damage to those targets. Whoever is caught in that Bone Prison is getting shredded.

Aspect of Sundered Ground is another guaranteed Overpower for Barbarians. Every 20s, your Upheaval is guaranteed to Overpower, and deal 50-70%[x] extra damage. Then for every time you crit an enemy, that timer goes down by 1 second. With a high crit build, you can trigger Overpowers pretty much anytime you want. It’s used in at least one leveling build for Barbarians, in Season 8.

I'll miss you, Overpower damage. (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

So is this a good change, or a bad change? Well, it depends on who you talk to. I hate to be on the fence about this, but I’m frankly torn. I agree that Overpower is perhaps a bit too strong. It deals wild damage, and being able to trigger it almost on command is ridiculous.

However, when there have been so many other nerfs over the last few seasons, of course players will gravitate to the thing that’s powerful — Overpower! ARPG players want to feel overpowered, that’s part of the power fantasy. Diablo 4 Season 9 is promising quite a few nerfs, and that has to be disappointing.

But when you can guarantee Overpower hits, thanks to Unique’s like Banished Lord’s Talisman, or Legendary Aspects, players can easily meet the conditions, and go from a 3% chance to 100% chance. We will have to see how this plays out in Season 9 when it goes live, but if you were planning an Overpower build, I’d think of something else.

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About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

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Edited by Jason Parker