Even seven years after releasing, Diablo 3 is still staying current with regularly occurring updates. The Diablo 3 patch update 2.6.6 is just the latest that will be coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. If you want to go straight to the patch notes, you can skip to the bottom of the page to see all the changes. Directly below, you will find a few highlights from the upcoming patch including PTR participation, the Season 18 buff, and new item powers.
Diablo 3 Update 2.6.6 Highlights| How to participate in Patch 2.6.6 PTR
Diablo 3 patch update 2.6.6 isn’t quite out yet. However, if you want to see what the new update may have in store once it does launch, you can check it out on the game’s PTR server for a full week starting today, July 25, 2019. It should be noted that there may be periodic maintenances, outages, hotfixes, and minor patches implemented during this period. This option is only available for PC players, meaning console players will have to wait to see the changes when the patch officially releases.
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If you are interested in checking out Diablo 3 Patch 2.6.6 PTR, here are the steps you need to take:
- Open Battle.net
- Click the Diablo 3 tab on the left-hand menu
- Right above the “Play” button, there should be a drop-down menu. Click it and select “PTR: Diablo III.”
- Click “Install”
If starting a new character just to check out a patch seems daunting to you, you’re in luck. Bringing your existing characters from Diablo 3 is also possible. Here are the steps needed in order to bring your characters to the PTR server:
- Open the normal game, then log out.
- Open the PTR client and create a character, then return to the character screen.
- There should be a “PTR Copy” button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Click this.
- Select a region. Choose wisely, as you can only copy your account to one region.
- Click “Copy.” You should have disconnected from the client.
- Log pack into the PTR client. Your characters should be playable now.
If you have feedback you want to give regarding the patch, you can visit the PTR Feedback forum and provide your suggestions there. If you notice any bugs while you play, those reports should be given on the PTR Bug Report forum.
Diablo 3 Update 2.6.6 Highlights | Season 18 buff
When the Diablo 3 patch update 2.6.6 inevitably hits, the next Season will come along with it. In Season 18, the Season of the Triune, all players will receive the Triune’s Will buff. This will all of your abilities the chance to spawn a circle that gives one of the following powers when standing inside the circle:
- 100% damage bonus
- 50% discount on resources spent
- Quicker cooldown times
According to the “Developer Comment” portion of the “Seasons” section of the full patch notes, this was the developers’ way of creating a buff that could be beneficial to players new and old to Season Journey, as opposed to the end-game focused Seasonal buffs from previous seasons. So, even if you begin a brand new level 1 character, the Triune’s Will buff should be active.
Diablo 3 Update 2.6.6 Highlights | New item powers
A slew of new item powers has been added to Diablo 3, courtesy of the new update. in the “Developer Comment” portion of the “Items” section of the full patch notes, these new item powers were implemented for both players who may have been waiting for balance or quality-of-life adjustment to certain classes, as well as those experimenting with Kanai’s Cube. As a result, there are less class-specific additions that most of the player base can tinker with. You can check out the specifics on the new item powers below.
Diablo 3 Update 2.6.6 | Full patch notes
PATCH 2.6.6
Note:All changes apply to all versions of Diablo III, including PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC unless otherwise indicated.
- A pet has been added that will be available for players who pre-purchase Warcraft III: Reforged (PC Only)
- The buff for Season 18, the Season of the Triune, has been added
- Triune’s Will: All abilities have a chance when hitting an enemy to spawn a circle that gives a power. Only one circle can be active at a time.
- Power: Players in the circle receive a 100% damage bonus while active
- Resource Reduction: Players in the circle receive a 50% discount on resources spent while active
- Cooldown Reduction: While standing in an active circle, any skills currently on cooldown come off of cooldown more quickly
- Developer Comment:The last couple of Seasonal buffs have been focused primarily on end-game content. We wanted to try something different this Season with a buff that was more beneficial to players regardless of where they might be in their Season Journey. Triune’s Will can come into play as early as level 1 and continue to make an impact on your game experience from the beginning to the end of the Season, and we’re looking forward to seeing how players leverage this ever-changing boost throughout their adventures!
- Triune’s Will: All abilities have a chance when hitting an enemy to spawn a circle that gives a power. Only one circle can be active at a time.
- Developer Note: There are additional specific notes below, but broadly for 2.6.6, we wanted to introduce a handful of new item powers targeted at two audiences: (1) certain classes with long-standing requests for balance/quality of life adjustments and (2) the broader player base for experimenting with Kanai’s Cube. This means fewer class-specific new additions, but more additions that everyone has an opportunity to play with. We also experimented with making some of the craftable sets from Haedrig more appealing for fresh level 70’s or players looking to maximize their farming runs. We hope to see some interesting new theorycrafting and tactics out of 2.6.6 and can’t wait to see what the community does with this new loot!
- Flavor of Time
- New Legendary Power: Pylon effects last twice as long.
- The Executioner
- New Legendary Power: Attacks will slay enemies with less than (5-10%) health.
- Stone Gauntlets
- New Legendary Power: Getting attacked will slowly turn you to stone… (You gain 50% more armor, but your movement speed is reduced by 15% and attack speed is reduced by 20%. This effect stacks up to 5 times)
- Echoing Fury
- New Legendary Power: Slaying enemies engulfs the wielder into a Frenzy. (Killing enemies increases your attack speed by 15% and movement speed by 5%. This effect stacks up to 5 times)
- Squirt’s Necklace
- New Legendary Power: While not taking damage, your damage is increased by up to 100% and damage taken is increased by up to 50%.
- Messerschmidt’s Reaver
- New Legendary Power: Reduce the remaining cooldown of one of your skills by 1 second when you slay an enemy.
- Mortick’s Brace
- New Legendary Item: Wrath of the Berserker gains the effect of every rune.
- Developer’s Note: If you played during the Patch 2.2.0 PTR, you’ll recognize this as an item that was later removed from the game before it went to live servers. At the time, Mortick’s Brace gave too much power for a single item slot. However, the power curve of Diablo III has changed significantly since then and we’re comfortable with bringing it back.
- Spite
- Note: This item can be crafted from the Blacksmith and is not a normal loot drop
- New Legendary Power: Non-cleaving Gargantuans gain the cleave and chilling effects of the Humongoid rune.
- Legacy of Dreams
- New Legendary Gem:
- While you have no set bonuses equipped, every Legendary item you have equipped increases your damage dealt by 3.75% and reduces your damage taken by 2%. (Max level 99)
- Rank 25: This bonus is doubled for Ancient items.
- Developer’s Note: The end game opened up significantly with Season 17’s Legacy of Nightmare’s buff (and the community was clear about how much these new options were appreciated), but wanted to make this addition a more permanent fixture in a more streamlined way than simply making it baseline. This Legendary Gem should open that path up even further and at more opportunities than just late game Greater Rift pushing.
- New Legendary Gem:
- Crafted Sets
- Note: The following sets have been significantly revised from their existing level 70 counterparts. Items crafted prior to 2.6.6 will continue to exist in their old forms but will not be updated after the patch. In addition, after the patch, the old recipes will no longer be available to craft and all players will need to re-acquire these recipes by finding the plans again through Horadric Caches or by killing Odious Collectors.
- Sage’s Journey
- A Belt has been added to this set.
- Haedrig the Blacksmith now automatically learns how to forge this set at Rank 12.
- Captain Crimson’s Trimmings
- (2) Set Bonus
- Regenerates 6000 Life per Second
- Reduces cooldown of all skills by
10%20%. - Now also reduces Resource Costs by 20%
- (3) Set Bonus
- Set bonuses have been replaced
- Damage dealt is increased by your total percentage of Cooldown Reduction
- Damage taken is reduced by your total percentage of Resource Cost Reduction
- Set bonuses have been replaced
- (2) Set Bonus
- Aughild’s Authority
- (2) Set Bonus
- Set bonuses have been replaced
- Reduces damage taken by 15%
- Increases damage dealt by 30%
- Set bonuses have been replaced
- (3) Set Bonus
- Reduces damage from elites by
15%30% - Increases damage against elites by
1530%
- Reduces damage from elites by
- (2) Set Bonus
- Cain’s Destiny
- (2) Set Bonus
- Attack Speed increased by 8%
- +50% Experience. (5.0% at level 70) (Moved from (3) Set Bonus)
- (3) Set Bonus
- When a Greater Rift Keystone drops, there is a 25% chance for an extra one to drop.
- (2) Set Bonus
- Fixed an error that occurred when reporting a player via a friend request
- Fixed an error that occurred when saving an existing Friend Note without making changes
