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Recommended reading Diablo 4's old and forgotten dungeons will be renovated into loot-packed marathons that culminate with a duel against a familiar boss in its next season Diablo 4 has finally given dungeons their teeth back and the loot hunt has never been more satisfying Crisis averted—Blizzard quickly axes busted Diablo 4 build that turned players into teleporting gods of destruction on the PTR, because it was 'basically eclipsing everything else' Just 2 weeks after its release, this Diablo-style roguelike has already reworked its entire campaign to please action RPG fans looking for a challenge Path of Exile 2's next major update lands next week, adding a new campaign act, a massive list of buffs, and—yes, finally—a way to trade while the other player is offline 'Let's fix every problem anyone has': Path of Exile 2 director says its massive next patch should pull the game out of its Dawn of the Hunt depression era Diablo Immortal's new druid class dragged me back in and convinced me that ignoring all the monetization leaves you with a solid action RPG Diablo 4's next season acknowledges its greatest weakness as an action RPG and offers a solution on how to fix it Tyler Colp 21 August 2025 Season 10 might be the first step to another major overhaul to the game. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Activision Blizzard) Diablo 4's next season has me hopeful that Blizzard understands its greatest weakness as an action RPG—and how to fix it. Every experienced player has had to learn one reality of Diablo 4: Not every skill is created equal. And by that I mean, the skill tree is full of cool abilities that don't necessarily do anything even with phenomenal gear. There are a number of reasons for this, but the biggest obstacle has always been how loot works in Diablo 4. Your gear makes up the majority of your character's power through legendary aspects and unique items that change how skills work and give them hefty damage buffs. Related Articles Diablo 4's old and forgotten dungeons will be renovated into loot-packed marathons that culminate with a duel against a familiar boss in its next season Diablo 4 has finally given dungeons their teeth back and the loot hunt has never been more satisfying Crisis averted—Blizzard quickly axes busted Diablo 4 build that turned players into teleporting gods of destruction on the PTR, because it was 'basically eclipsing everything else' Say you really enjoy playing a sorceress with spinning lightning orbs around her. Without the unique item that specifically makes them orbit around you and multiplies their damage, your lightning orbs will shoot in a straight line and tickle monsters as they pass by. You either have the item for Ball Lightning or you don't use Ball Lightning. This is counter-intuitive for anyone who is used to skill trees that do that kind of stuff instead, like in Path of Exile. Most skills in PoE get stronger from things you can find in its notoriously massive skill tree. It's so big because it's full of ways to empower just about every skill in the game, preventing anyone from having to accept that their favorite one is a dud. Diablo 4's skill tree can't do that. No matter how many points you dump into a skill, it won't match the power of someone using the items designed for it. This is a problem that even Blizzard is aware of, and the developers have hinted at a major skill tree rework coming in the near future (an expansion, perhaps?). (Image credit: Tyler C. / Blizzard Entertainment) I'm convinced season 10 is essentially a teaser for how Blizzard is going to fix Diablo 4's loot problem. When I look at what season 10 is doing to items and builds in Diablo 4, I see what looks like a game on the verge of changing pretty dramatically over the next year. A group of guide writers recently visited Blizzard in Irvine to test upcoming changes and maybe even a new paladin class. Whatever they saw was a big enough deal that Blizzard wanted feedback from the players who have a deep understanding of what makes a build in Diablo 4. And with how seasons almost always introduce things that set up what's coming down the line, I'm convinced season 10 is essentially a teaser for how Blizzard is going to fix Diablo 4's loot problem. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Absolute chaos (Image credit: Tyler C. / Blizzard Entertainment) Season 10 is the season of uniques, the extremely powerful tier of items that are the beating heart of almost every popular build in the game. Technically, they're not changing at all. What's changing is how you use them with a new variant exclusive to the season. Whenever a unique drops next season, there's a chance it'll drop as a chaos unique. Chaos uniques carry over all the same stats and powers (with a small boost) as normal uniques except they can be worn in a different slot on your character. A sorceress who wants the unique amulet that supersizes her fire-breathing hydras now gets to put that on somewhere else, freeing up that amulet spot for a different item—maybe even another unique. Necromancers can equip an item that is normally a shield as their boots and it still provides all the same bonuses. It's a little goofy to wear something called Beastfall Boots as your gloves, but the impact this change has when it comes to buildcrafting is huge. (Image credit: Tyler C. / Blizzard Entertainment) I've been trying out all sorts of combinations of uniques on the season 10 PTR this week. I've never had so much fun experimenting with gear before. Uniques I never use because the slot they took up was too valuable to give up are now worth considering when they can go anywhere I want. On my sorceress, I was using two pairs of boots (one as unique gloves and the other as a normal legendary) for the cooldown reduction on my teleport evade to zoom through dungeons like never before. Chaos uniques pry open the iron bars on Diablo 4's gear and finally let you throw stuff together to discover interactions that weren't possible otherwise. They also ignore the ways you're usually forced into having defensive items make up half of your loadout. Now all that power comes with a severe cost that you have to fix. Solving gear-related problems is one of the most satisfying parts of an action RPG, and it's an experience Diablo 4 lost as Blizzard sped the pace of the game up and simplified loot. For the first time in a long time, I've had to consider what items should go where and if they're worth more than what I'm giving up. Usually, you just pull the loot of the shelves like a shopping list and everything eventually works itself out. Chaos uniques compete for every slot on your character sheet, and that means having to make decisions based on where your character is at now and not just where you want them to be eventually. Loot reborn, again (Image credit: Tyler C. / Blizzard Entertainment) It also opens the door for building around skills that have never had the items to support them. Some uniques offer massive damage increases that you'd never use because they would lock you out of another item needed to change how the skill behaves. This, to me, is why Blizzard was willing to unshackle the most powerful items from their designated slots. For Diablo 4 to become an action RPG where any skill can be viable, your gear has to be far more customizable than it is now. While I don't think uniques are going away, I think the concept of a skill-specific power being tied to a specific item and slot is going to go away. Part of what's fun in other games is finding your way to a version of a build that doesn't necessarily look like someone else's. That's possible in Diablo 4 right now, but it comes with a massive cost in power to the point of being so ineffective you might as well follow a build guide. (Image credit: Tyler C. / Blizzard Entertainment) It would be too tragic for Blizzard to give us something this good and not have plans to bring the spirit of it back. Chaos uniques bring a level of flexibility to the game that minimizes the disparity between using the most optimal gear and using the gear that fits how you want to use the skill. Maybe you want those lightning orbs to explode on impact instead of orbiting your character. A permanent system where you can mix and match powers like chaos uniques would finally allow that to be possible. I don't know if it'll happen via a skill tree rework or a new crafting system or both. I just know it would be too tragic for Blizzard to give us something this good and not have plans to bring the spirit of it back. Diablo 4 doesn't need to have the overwhelming complexity of PoE, but it desperately needs to let you build your character around your favorite skills and items without having to worry about hitting a brick wall when you don't follow the one way to make everything work together. Season 10 is a taste of what Diablo 4 could be if it celebrated all of its creative and powerful loot by letting you cook something up in your own way, and I'm crossing my fingers that it's just the first step to something much more robust down the line. Diablo 4 season 10 starts on September 23. Blizzard Entertainment Social Links Navigation Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Diablo 4's old and forgotten dungeons will be renovated into loot-packed marathons that culminate with a duel against a familiar boss in its next season Diablo 4 has finally given dungeons their teeth back and the loot hunt has never been more satisfying Crisis averted—Blizzard quickly axes busted Diablo 4 build that turned players into teleporting gods of destruction on the PTR, because it was 'basically eclipsing everything else' Just 2 weeks after its release, this Diablo-style roguelike has already reworked its entire campaign to please action RPG fans looking for a challenge Path of Exile 2's next major update lands next week, adding a new campaign act, a massive list of buffs, and—yes, finally—a way to trade while the other player is offline 'Let's fix every problem anyone has': Path of Exile 2 director says its massive next patch should pull the game out of its Dawn of the Hunt depression era Latest in RPG One of Elden Ring's upcoming new starter classes is a freakishly strong jock with an intelligence score so low, they probably can't read, but the hardcore PvP kiddies are going ga-ga for them Bloodlines 2 developers try to justify the game's DLC clans, but it's not very convincing: 'We have been expanding it from where we originally planned to land' How to beat Everdark Gladius in Elden Ring Nightreign Bloodlines fans rage as Paradox locks 2 playable clans behind $30 DLC: 'Is Paradox smoking crack?' 'Let's fix every problem anyone has': Path of Exile 2 director says its massive next patch should pull the game out of its Dawn of the Hunt depression era Path of Exile 2's next major update lands next week, adding a new campaign act, a massive list of buffs, and—yes, finally—a way to trade while the other player is offline Latest in Features Whisper of the House takes the cosy isometric decorating of Unpacking and unleashes it upon an entire town like an ultra-relaxing endless mode After 20 hours with the Battlefield 6 beta, I believe EA has a ticking time bomb on its hands, though it's not too late to defuse it A boundless excitement for Battlefield 6 loomed large over Call of Duty's deflating Black Ops 7 reveal If you've ever craved the perfect combination of vibes from Puyo Puyo Tetris and Rhythm Heaven, do I have the game for you After 30 minutes with Hollow Knight: Silksong, I'm desperate to play another 100 hours of its refined, needle-sharp action Even if you're as tired of parrying in action games as I am, pay attention to Onimusha HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards Best gaming laptop in 2025: I've put the best of this new generation head-to-head and we have a winner Best gaming chair in 2025: I've tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I'd suggest for any PC gamer Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Elgato 4K S review MSI Stealth 18 HX AI review MSI MPG CoreLiquid P13 360 review Asus ROG Falcata Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025) review PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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