O_Bruce
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Just gonna drop it there
Release date revealed in a tweet, rather than trailer (6.6.23)
Release date revealed in a tweet, rather than trailer (6.6.23)
The Core of Diablo
- Thread starter Telumatan
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Yeah, they announced the 6.6 release date during the Game Awards (when it was nighttime in Europe).
Halsey performed Lilith from Diablo IV before the trailer showcase:
Halsey performed Lilith from Diablo IV before the trailer showcase:
alice_ashpool
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Ran a Holy Fire -> Holy Shock Zeal Paladin through Offline 1.14d Normal HC over a couple of days last week to chill out from work. Went as far as Act 2 nightmare before re-specing into Holy Shock and then feeling bored. Was still running Stealth by that point, with a Lore, some junk FRW boots and some random rings + ammy. Found the General's Tan Do Li Ga act 3 which saw me ditch Steel and run with it through to the end of normal and beyond.
I still don't know the game all that well (despite hundreds of hours as a child) so made some silly mistakes.
I still don't know the game all that well (despite hundreds of hours as a child) so made some silly mistakes.
O_Bruce
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Apparently a PTR for the next patch for Diablo 2 Ressurected wil launch next week
O_Bruce
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The focus of incoming PTR will be focused on new runewords:
news.blizzard.com
So, my initial expressions:
We have multiple runewords focused on defense against certain attack type each, which could be helpful for characters using sundering charms, but before build using said charms are optimized. Each of these could also help prepare characters for hell difficulty, seeing that they can be made from runes dropping from nightmare difficulty Countess.
Hustle runeword can be used both in weapons and in armors to different effect. While the armor is just a movement option and little more, the weapon is interesting as it even late game it could have its use as a pre-buff for Ubers, for example. Speedruners will have something to play with, I assume.
Mosaic runeword is interesting, as its main novelty is a 25% chance of not spending a charge upon using a finishing move. As in - you still get an effect from a charge level, but you keep the charge after the attack. This is effectively a DPS and additional effects buff for martial-arts focused assasin. Aside from that, the runeword is not that awesome, but the player can equip 2 claw weapons as once. Be it Bartuc's Claw, Plague, Chaos, Jade Talon etc. The runeword requires Gul rune but I think this 25% chance can be worh it.
And finally, my favourite, Metamorphosis! It seems to be a viable alternative for Jalal's Mane and it has some cool properties too. Basically, striking while in a Werebear form gives bonuses to damage reduction, crushing blow, and attack speed, while striking in Werewolf form gives an additional bonus to attack rating and maximum life. The buffs lasts 180 seconds. If these buffs persist outside of the forms, thus allowing to have buffs from two different forms at the same time, then it creates new gameplay dynamics, shifting from form to form to maintain buffs. It also grants huge bonus to shapeshifting skills (+5), dexterity and strength, protection from being frozen and all resistances (+10). In some ways, it is better than Jalal's Mane and in some ways it is better, which is cool.
That aside, two points:
- The PTR note says there will be more features to this patch than just new runewords
- Judging from above and considering that the new helmets runewords are coming to both online play and single player, I do really hope for Terror Zones to be included in single player for the next patch. Otherwise, the new helmets wouldn't have use in their full potential.
Diablo II: Resurrected PTR 2.6 | Has Ended
The PTR 2.6 test introduces eight new Rune Words for you to take into the fight against Hell’s armies. Jump into the PTR to experience their might firsthand on January 24 at 10:00 a.m. PST!
news.blizzard.com
So, my initial expressions:
We have multiple runewords focused on defense against certain attack type each, which could be helpful for characters using sundering charms, but before build using said charms are optimized. Each of these could also help prepare characters for hell difficulty, seeing that they can be made from runes dropping from nightmare difficulty Countess.
Hustle runeword can be used both in weapons and in armors to different effect. While the armor is just a movement option and little more, the weapon is interesting as it even late game it could have its use as a pre-buff for Ubers, for example. Speedruners will have something to play with, I assume.
Mosaic runeword is interesting, as its main novelty is a 25% chance of not spending a charge upon using a finishing move. As in - you still get an effect from a charge level, but you keep the charge after the attack. This is effectively a DPS and additional effects buff for martial-arts focused assasin. Aside from that, the runeword is not that awesome, but the player can equip 2 claw weapons as once. Be it Bartuc's Claw, Plague, Chaos, Jade Talon etc. The runeword requires Gul rune but I think this 25% chance can be worh it.
And finally, my favourite, Metamorphosis! It seems to be a viable alternative for Jalal's Mane and it has some cool properties too. Basically, striking while in a Werebear form gives bonuses to damage reduction, crushing blow, and attack speed, while striking in Werewolf form gives an additional bonus to attack rating and maximum life. The buffs lasts 180 seconds. If these buffs persist outside of the forms, thus allowing to have buffs from two different forms at the same time, then it creates new gameplay dynamics, shifting from form to form to maintain buffs. It also grants huge bonus to shapeshifting skills (+5), dexterity and strength, protection from being frozen and all resistances (+10). In some ways, it is better than Jalal's Mane and in some ways it is better, which is cool.
That aside, two points:
- The PTR note says there will be more features to this patch than just new runewords
- Judging from above and considering that the new helmets runewords are coming to both online play and single player, I do really hope for Terror Zones to be included in single player for the next patch. Otherwise, the new helmets wouldn't have use in their full potential.
O_Bruce
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Yay
news.blizzard.com
Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season Three Has Concluded
Eight new Rune Words and updates to Terror Zones, Sundering Charms, and more are coming with Patch 2.6 and Ladder Season Three.
news.blizzard.com
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Offline Terror Zones and Sundering Charms as a drop for SP games is a welcome change to spice the game up.
alice_ashpool
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Finally ran a singleplayer HC character through Nightmare to Hell.
Cold Bowazon. Absolutely vile until getting Freezing Arrow at level 30 (turns out exploding arrow then re-spec is the only sane option).
Act 2 normal merc for Blessed Aim aura because we cannot hit anything. Combined with Ultra-over-levelling meant we could get through, Baal was dire though. Mana is a perma-pain in my ass, I could cast 5 Freezing arrows from full mana so poor Bowazon has a mana potion addiction so serious it is costing her tens of thousands a day.
All points in Freezing Arrow and Cold Arrow; + Valkyrie and 1 in each passive; then boosting Ice Arrow for duration synergies. Need some way to boost AR though so might drop points in Penetrate until I find some better gear and can re-spec.
Gear is trash: Lore, Peace, a very nice early Sanders which I swapped out for Infernostride for fire res in act 4NM (missed the +100 AR and higher FRW), a very nice 4 res rare amulet (with +2 curses lol), +1 passives gloves, Terrible rings and belts just trying to stack some res, and a dire +1 Bow skills bow that was so trash by the end I was feeling awful. Charms were ok: life, res and frw all dropped.
I think the worst thing is since offhand has to be arrows you get no shield so you essentially give up and entire Gear slot for this character, gross.
A2 normal Blessed Aim Merc has a Blood Helm, Hwaains which provides some nice +100 life and a huge lance. I think the thing to do here is to make Treachery for him but I don't know.
Also I forgot that Insight is ladder only so
I naturally found lots of nice gear for other characters - Blade of Ali baba dropped off pindle
Boo:
I am probably not going to go further in hell without grinding up some decent res gear and a bow that is not 0/10.
Cold Bowazon. Absolutely vile until getting Freezing Arrow at level 30 (turns out exploding arrow then re-spec is the only sane option).
Act 2 normal merc for Blessed Aim aura because we cannot hit anything. Combined with Ultra-over-levelling meant we could get through, Baal was dire though. Mana is a perma-pain in my ass, I could cast 5 Freezing arrows from full mana so poor Bowazon has a mana potion addiction so serious it is costing her tens of thousands a day.
All points in Freezing Arrow and Cold Arrow; + Valkyrie and 1 in each passive; then boosting Ice Arrow for duration synergies. Need some way to boost AR though so might drop points in Penetrate until I find some better gear and can re-spec.
Gear is trash: Lore, Peace, a very nice early Sanders which I swapped out for Infernostride for fire res in act 4NM (missed the +100 AR and higher FRW), a very nice 4 res rare amulet (with +2 curses lol), +1 passives gloves, Terrible rings and belts just trying to stack some res, and a dire +1 Bow skills bow that was so trash by the end I was feeling awful. Charms were ok: life, res and frw all dropped.
I think the worst thing is since offhand has to be arrows you get no shield so you essentially give up and entire Gear slot for this character, gross.
A2 normal Blessed Aim Merc has a Blood Helm, Hwaains which provides some nice +100 life and a huge lance. I think the thing to do here is to make Treachery for him but I don't know.
Also I forgot that Insight is ladder only so
I naturally found lots of nice gear for other characters - Blade of Ali baba dropped off pindle
Boo:
I am probably not going to go further in hell without grinding up some decent res gear and a bow that is not 0/10.
m7600
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Great to see you again @alice_ashpool !
O_Bruce
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@alcie_ashpool you might have a problem equipping some better bow, considering Valeria's strength and dexterity. I think respec might be necessary if you manage to find one. Also, I do recommend getting back to nightmare difficulty and farming items there. As you said, Treachery would work well on your merc, for Valeria I recommend Smoke (Nef + Lum) runeword for armor. For weapon for your character, unfortunately, my go-to suggestion was ladder-only in original D2:LOD, so I'm afraid you'll need some luck with good rare/unique one. I also think farming nightmare cow level could give you some nice charms and other magic items such as jewelry.
jmerry
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I'm currently running a Freezing Arrow archer myself as the next step in my HC project. As the sixth character of it, she has a lot of good stuff stockpiled. Plus a bit of mod support to enable the ladder runewords, so she was running Skystrike and an Insight on the mercenary before she even got past act 2. Longer-term, Lycander's Aim will be her bow. Hit level 42, put it on (already socketed), personalize it, upgrade it to elite when I hit level 65...
This, of course, means that my Telka already has more strength and dexterity than your Valeria. 80 and 110 base, to be upgraded further over time. I also didn't go with a respec; just shoot things with weaker skills like Magic Arrow and powerful hand-me-down bows until Freezing Arrow comes online in the act 3 jungle.
On finding/making a stronger bow ... Passion can go in missile weapons. Weird, but true. Put that in an elite, and you have tolerable damage - 160-210 ED and 25 IAS. Or maybe you'll get lucky and find something better running late Nightmare stuff.
The duration synergy on Freezing Arrow from Ice Arrow is basically worthless. If you want more freeze duration, stocking up on cold damage charms is a far better deal. All cold sources you have get added to both the damage and duration of the freeze burst, so every charm is +1 second. Two of those already matches the full 20-point synergy.
If you want a skill to further boost Freezing Arrow after you've finished the main skill and its damage synergy, go with Pierce. Every target that the arrow hits triggers the freeze burst, so hitting multiple enemies in a pack really hits them hard. Of course, you need the attack rating too...
This, of course, means that my Telka already has more strength and dexterity than your Valeria. 80 and 110 base, to be upgraded further over time. I also didn't go with a respec; just shoot things with weaker skills like Magic Arrow and powerful hand-me-down bows until Freezing Arrow comes online in the act 3 jungle.
On finding/making a stronger bow ... Passion can go in missile weapons. Weird, but true. Put that in an elite, and you have tolerable damage - 160-210 ED and 25 IAS. Or maybe you'll get lucky and find something better running late Nightmare stuff.
The duration synergy on Freezing Arrow from Ice Arrow is basically worthless. If you want more freeze duration, stocking up on cold damage charms is a far better deal. All cold sources you have get added to both the damage and duration of the freeze burst, so every charm is +1 second. Two of those already matches the full 20-point synergy.
If you want a skill to further boost Freezing Arrow after you've finished the main skill and its damage synergy, go with Pierce. Every target that the arrow hits triggers the freeze burst, so hitting multiple enemies in a pack really hits them hard. Of course, you need the attack rating too...
alice_ashpool
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Thank you both. Fortunately I have both my NM and Normal respecs available for just this eventuality - I loaded vit because I don't know which bows I might be looking for and what their requirements are, with the idea that I can respec when/if I find something good. Irritatingly Hell countess is off-limits because of cold immunity so a source of runes is no go - I was kinda hoping to find a Ko rune to make Harmony.
I think i will wait 'til I find a decent bow, rings and belt in NM cows and Chaos maybe, respec dex and str up, put my extra skills into Valkyrie. + stock up on some cold damage charms as mentioned.
I think i will wait 'til I find a decent bow, rings and belt in NM cows and Chaos maybe, respec dex and str up, put my extra skills into Valkyrie. + stock up on some cold damage charms as mentioned.
O_Bruce
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Isn't Harmony a ladder-only runeword back in classic D2:LOD? It was the go-to suggestion I wanted to mention.
For farming, I may suggest Mausoleum (not Crypt) next to the Blood Raven. It is level 85 area and contains lightning-immune monsters. You will need to be careful about elite monsters in there, some might be cold immune and cold enhanced (watch out for nova), while some would be lightning enchanted, so you'll need to watch out for charged bolts. But, being level 85 area you have chance to find some really rare stuff.
In other topic, patch 2.6 hit Diablo 2 Ressurected. Already found 4 sundering charms. 2 for cold immunes, 1 for poison, and 1 for fire. Respected my Sorceress for using Fire Balls, Meteors, Hydras combo, and having fun with it.
For farming, I may suggest Mausoleum (not Crypt) next to the Blood Raven. It is level 85 area and contains lightning-immune monsters. You will need to be careful about elite monsters in there, some might be cold immune and cold enhanced (watch out for nova), while some would be lightning enchanted, so you'll need to watch out for charged bolts. But, being level 85 area you have chance to find some really rare stuff.
In other topic, patch 2.6 hit Diablo 2 Ressurected. Already found 4 sundering charms. 2 for cold immunes, 1 for poison, and 1 for fire. Respected my Sorceress for using Fire Balls, Meteors, Hydras combo, and having fun with it.
jmerry
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And ... there. A morning session to finish up Normal, and I'm ready to start the tale of Telka. She's the sixth of my Hardcore cycle, which has so far seen three Guardians (assassin Danys, sorceress Cythandria, barbarian Jassar) and two deaths (necromancer Prebek, druid Osmadi).
As I've already mentioned, Telka is an amazon, specialized in the bow with a particular focus on Freezing Arrow. She can benefit from all of the stuff my previous characters in this project have found, and that's a lot. This is the original version of D2 (because Resurrected isn't available on Mac), but with the "runeword mod" enabling ladder runewords in single player and the GoMule program to transfer items around.
Archers are always a little tricky to start with, because it's hard to find a good bow that's usable at a low level. So for Telka, I made one:
That got me through act 1. Not perfect, but I had to work with the jewels I had. Six level 1 jewels, four lowering requirements.
Various set items complemented this, eventually settling on Angelic/Sigon's/Tarnhelm by the end of act 1. That combo stayed for the rest of normal difficulty - nearly 200 MF, plenty of life and mana, +2 skills, fire and cold resistance.
The bow, though, got switched out several times. At level 18, I switched to a rare Edge Bow (1-110 lightning damage). At level 20 and the end of act 1, I switched to a rare Reflex Bow (18-48 damage, with a socket that I put a perfect skull in). When my mercenary reached level 27 for Insight (in an ethereal Partizan), I switched back to the lightning damage bow. Then at level 28, I switched to Skystrike, which lasted through the last bit of act 2 and all of acts 3 and 4.
Most of the time, I attacked with Magic Arrows and the occasional Ice Arrow. Some Strafe was used as well once that skill came available. Skill investment was 1 to each bow and passive skill, with all excess points to Cold Arrow for the synergy value.
Level 30 comes in the Swampy Pit, and that means Freezing Arrow is online. It's absolutely devastating when you get it this early and invest this hard into it, killing entire packs in one or two shots. And since I have six cold damage small charms, it freezes for 8 seconds when it doesn't kill outright.
The only fight that gives me any trouble? Diablo. Archers aren't built for single-target damage, so it drags on for a long time. And he hits hard, easily taking out Waheed before too long. But despite that and excessively sweaty hands, I persevere. Many decoys and Valkyries died for this.
Oh, and the Hellforge gives me an Eld rune. Which isn't all that bad from a certain point of view; it's actually the rarest rune the normal Hellforge can possibly give you.
As I start the act 5 session, I hand Telka a new bow.
She can't use it yet, but she'll get there. Level 35 now, but that will rise rapidly. Indeed, level 42 comes in the Frozen River, and Telka equips her new bow when she returns to town to complete the rescue.
I don't take on Nihlathak right away after that, instead pushing forward to the Frozen Tundra waypoint before entering his temple. He's no threat at all when you freeze all of his minions and deny any corpses. Telka claims the reward right away:
Yeah. She's sticking with this bow for good.
Finally, I took on Baal this morning.
Telka makes Destroyer at level 48. 132 arrows spent on the Baal fight. Then she goes back for cows and a second Baal run, finishing up Normal difficulty at level 49. Everything was done at players 8 except the Ancients, and it's all single-pass except for that post-Destroyer session.
Telka only found one new item in all of normal difficulty: ethereal Twitchthroe. Since Waheed was using a non-ethereal Twitchthroe at the time, he upgraded immediately. Plenty of other unique and set items were found, but I had them already in my HC stash.
Telka also overhauled her equipment for Nightmare, swapping out everything but the bow and helm. She'll use a rare amulet (+1 amazon skills, +15 all resist), Skin of the Vipermagi (+24 all resist), a Stone of Jordan, a Raven Frost, rare gloves (+2 passive skills, +20 IAS, +24 poison resist), Razortail, and Infernostride. Not much magic find, but her resistances are solid, she has +8 to both kill trees she uses, and she has 100% pierce on her arrows. Nightmare shouldn't be much trouble with that.
As I've already mentioned, Telka is an amazon, specialized in the bow with a particular focus on Freezing Arrow. She can benefit from all of the stuff my previous characters in this project have found, and that's a lot. This is the original version of D2 (because Resurrected isn't available on Mac), but with the "runeword mod" enabling ladder runewords in single player and the GoMule program to transfer items around.
Archers are always a little tricky to start with, because it's hard to find a good bow that's usable at a low level. So for Telka, I made one:
That got me through act 1. Not perfect, but I had to work with the jewels I had. Six level 1 jewels, four lowering requirements.
Various set items complemented this, eventually settling on Angelic/Sigon's/Tarnhelm by the end of act 1. That combo stayed for the rest of normal difficulty - nearly 200 MF, plenty of life and mana, +2 skills, fire and cold resistance.
The bow, though, got switched out several times. At level 18, I switched to a rare Edge Bow (1-110 lightning damage). At level 20 and the end of act 1, I switched to a rare Reflex Bow (18-48 damage, with a socket that I put a perfect skull in). When my mercenary reached level 27 for Insight (in an ethereal Partizan), I switched back to the lightning damage bow. Then at level 28, I switched to Skystrike, which lasted through the last bit of act 2 and all of acts 3 and 4.
Most of the time, I attacked with Magic Arrows and the occasional Ice Arrow. Some Strafe was used as well once that skill came available. Skill investment was 1 to each bow and passive skill, with all excess points to Cold Arrow for the synergy value.
Level 30 comes in the Swampy Pit, and that means Freezing Arrow is online. It's absolutely devastating when you get it this early and invest this hard into it, killing entire packs in one or two shots. And since I have six cold damage small charms, it freezes for 8 seconds when it doesn't kill outright.
The only fight that gives me any trouble? Diablo. Archers aren't built for single-target damage, so it drags on for a long time. And he hits hard, easily taking out Waheed before too long. But despite that and excessively sweaty hands, I persevere. Many decoys and Valkyries died for this.
Oh, and the Hellforge gives me an Eld rune. Which isn't all that bad from a certain point of view; it's actually the rarest rune the normal Hellforge can possibly give you.
As I start the act 5 session, I hand Telka a new bow.
She can't use it yet, but she'll get there. Level 35 now, but that will rise rapidly. Indeed, level 42 comes in the Frozen River, and Telka equips her new bow when she returns to town to complete the rescue.
I don't take on Nihlathak right away after that, instead pushing forward to the Frozen Tundra waypoint before entering his temple. He's no threat at all when you freeze all of his minions and deny any corpses. Telka claims the reward right away:
Yeah. She's sticking with this bow for good.
Finally, I took on Baal this morning.
Telka makes Destroyer at level 48. 132 arrows spent on the Baal fight. Then she goes back for cows and a second Baal run, finishing up Normal difficulty at level 49. Everything was done at players 8 except the Ancients, and it's all single-pass except for that post-Destroyer session.
Telka only found one new item in all of normal difficulty: ethereal Twitchthroe. Since Waheed was using a non-ethereal Twitchthroe at the time, he upgraded immediately. Plenty of other unique and set items were found, but I had them already in my HC stash.
Telka also overhauled her equipment for Nightmare, swapping out everything but the bow and helm. She'll use a rare amulet (+1 amazon skills, +15 all resist), Skin of the Vipermagi (+24 all resist), a Stone of Jordan, a Raven Frost, rare gloves (+2 passive skills, +20 IAS, +24 poison resist), Razortail, and Infernostride. Not much magic find, but her resistances are solid, she has +8 to both kill trees she uses, and she has 100% pierce on her arrows. Nightmare shouldn't be much trouble with that.
jmerry
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I did a few Diablo runs today with my sorceress Cythandria, as an interlude before Telka pushes into Nightmare. She's up to level 91 now, because all of those runs add up. Ten runs, three new set and unique items for the collection: Stone Crusher, Bul-Kathos' Sacred Charge, Seraph's Hymn. She also gambled up some good stuff, like a rare amulet with +2 sorceress skills and +11 resists. That replaces her old blue +2 skill/+energy amulet, and I swap out a rare ring that only provided resistances with one that covers the resistance she still needs and adds magic find. 10 more points of MF for future runs.
The threat profile for those runs is very predictable and easy to manage, with one exception. Sometimes the game runs a little choppy on my old creaky hardware (the computer is old enough to vote), and doesn't draw everything. Like Abyss Knight projectile attacks. I want to dodge those, especially when they come from a boss pack, but it's a little hard to dodge invisible projectiles fired by offscreen enemies.
It's times like these that I really wish Resurrected was an option for me.
The threat profile for those runs is very predictable and easy to manage, with one exception. Sometimes the game runs a little choppy on my old creaky hardware (the computer is old enough to vote), and doesn't draw everything. Like Abyss Knight projectile attacks. I want to dodge those, especially when they come from a boss pack, but it's a little hard to dodge invisible projectiles fired by offscreen enemies.
It's times like these that I really wish Resurrected was an option for me.
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O_Bruce
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Ok, so I was about to give an update on Kristin and something bad happened. BAsically, I am unable to find any material on my PC from beating act I nightmare, nor anything related to some Andariel runs I did. So I did Radament quest from Act II just to give at the very least, some update.
The other thing is, I am not feeling like playing this character at the moment for a reason I am unable to specify. I migth as well roll another character in meanwhile.
The other thing is, I am not feeling like playing this character at the moment for a reason I am unable to specify. I migth as well roll another character in meanwhile.
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I've been looking forward to D4 of course, but this piece with gorgeous environment art screenshots and videos with D4 locations might just make more people hyped.
www.gameinformer.com
A Guided Tour Through The Five Regions Of Diablo 4's Sanctuary
Here are snapshots of Kehjistan, Scosglen, Fractured Peaks, Dry Steppes, and Hawezar and information on what to expect in each.
