Blizzard has recently announced that it’s working to remove the famous “Shred Druid build” from Diablo 4 in order to restore the game’s balance. This was one of the best druid builds in Diablo 4, as it allowed gamers to do insane amounts of damage, but it seems that it won’t last for long.
A few days ago, a streamer called Moxsy posted a clip in which his Diablo 4 druid dealt over 1.8 billion damage in a single hit. That was all due to a special build he was using, which focused on constantly doing big crits with area-of-effect lightning damage. Moxsy, who named the build “Lightning Shred 2.0,” explained that the strategy involves using a Waxing Gibbous axe to guarantee Shred criticals, reduce Shred Spirit cost, stack critical strike damage with abilities such as the Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeasts and increase the percentage of damage that crits do. By coupling that with special gear, the numbers add up, creating an unbelievably broken build.
However, it seems that the days of the famous shred druid are numbered in Diablo 4 if it’s up to the creators of the game. In a recent statement made to PC Gamer, Blizzard has affirmed that this kind of build is not intentional and that the company’s devs are currently looking into how to change it in the last update.
While this build does not seem to be one of the bugs in Diablo 4, it’s an unintended exploit of the mechanics that certainly affect gameplay balance, as other builds won’t get close to doing this damage. Blizzard is aware of that, and patching up some people’s fun by potentially removing some of the triggers that cause this exploit to work seems like the only way to prevent abuse. At the moment, it’s not clear how the build will be “fixed,” though.
Nerfs to exaggeratedly powerful druid builds are not everything that Blizzard has in store for the future. At the moment, Diablo 4 is preparing its first season, Season of the Malignant, which will debut on July 20, bringing more content to the game. During a recent livestream, there were some hints about a possible date for Season 2 of Diablo 4, too, as one image implied that it could happen in October 2023. Blizzard previously stated that each season of the action RPG would last for around three months, so this seems to be a credible date for its start.
Source: PC Gamer
