The 3.2.0 PTR: Everything You Need to Know About Season 15

The 3.2.0 Public Test Realm (PTR) for Diablo 4 runs from August 4, 10:00 a.m. PDT to August 11, 10:00 a.m. PDT. During that window you can test the changes and features coming to the base game with Season 15 – across both the Eternal and the Seasonal Realm. One heads-up right away: Blizzard is deliberately holding things back. Part of what's coming with Season 15 stays under wraps until BlizzCon.

None of it is final – that's the whole point of a PTR. Blizzard collects feedback, tunes balance and squashes bugs before the season goes live. We went through the announcement in detail; here's everything you need to know.

Soul Splinters

The headline addition is Soul Splinters: socketables that go into your jewelry. They grant elemental and physical resistances plus one hefty bonus – which you pay for with an equally severe drawback. They come in five rarities (Common, Magic, Rare, Legendary and Unique) and can be upgraded in the Horadric Cube.

The values below scale with rarity:

• Splinter of Anguish – 250/1,750/2,625/4,375 Fire Resistance. You gain 15/20/25/35%[+] Critical Strike Chance and Attack Speed, but your Primary Resource costs go up by 30%.
• Splinter of Sin – 250/1,750/2,625/4,375 Lightning Resistance. You gain 10/20/30/40%[x] Maximum Health, but your Maximum Primary Resource drops by 30%.
• Splinter of Lies – 250/1,750/2,625/4,375 Cold Resistance. Your Gold and Crafting Material Drop Rate go up by 40/60/80/100% plus 25% Bonus Experience – but you are permanently Weakened and Vulnerable.
• Splinter of the Black Soulstone – 7/20/30/50 All Stats. Killing enemies absorbs a soul for 15 seconds. Each soul increases your damage by 2/3/4/5%[x], but also your damage taken by 0.5%. The effect stacks but does not refresh.
• Splinter of Pain – 250/1,750/2,625/4,375 Poison Resistance. You gain 10/20/30/40% Damage Reduction, but lose 30% Movement Speed.
• Splinter of the Mother – 250/1,750/2,625/4,375 Physical Resistance. You are Unhindered, and enemies you touch become Vulnerable for 10 seconds. After touching 100/150/200/250 enemies, you are Stunned for 4 seconds.
• Splinter of Hellfire – 35/50/375/625 Resistance to All Elements. You deal 40/60/80/100%[x] increased damage, but lose 100% Critical Strike Chance.
• Splinter of Damnation – 250/1,750/2,625/4,375 Shadow Resistance. Killing an Elite pack increases Monster Power by 1 for 10/15/20/25 seconds.

Note: the announcement lists "175" for the second resistance tier. The item preview in the same article shows 1,750 for a Rare Splinter, so we've corrected the value accordingly.

The Splinter of Hellfire is the one to watch: give up Critical Strikes entirely and you're handed up to 100%[x] damage. Pair it with the Splinter of Lies, which keeps you permanently Weakened and Vulnerable, and a whole class of high-risk builds starts to take shape.

Challenge Dungeons

Challenge Dungeons show up across Sanctuary as portals in the Overland. Behind each one waits a boss. On Torment difficulties you choose how hard the fight should be – up to three Torment tiers above your current difficulty. Crank it up and the rewards scale with you.

Blizzard explicitly notes that the PTR encounters exist to test the underlying system. Season 15 will ship different content in these dungeons.

Overland Ambush

"A demon in the bush is worth three in hell" – that's how Blizzard introduces Overland Ambushes. While you're roaming, a demon will occasionally start hunting you. You get a warning that you're about to become prey, then 30 seconds to flee or fight.

Blizzard calls these encounters difficult and says they're meant to test the mettle of Sanctuary's strongest warriors. Riding through the Overland unprepared is no longer risk-free.

Ten Uniques from Diablo 1, 2 and 3

Ten legacy Uniques have been dug out of Sanctuary's distant past – from the original Diablo, from Diablo 2 and from Diablo 3. Five are usable by all classes, five are limited to a mix of classes. These are permanent additions available in all versions of Diablo 4.

All classes:

• Leoric's Crown (Helm)
• Nemesis Bracers (Gloves)
• Ring of Royal Grandeur (Ring)
• Stone of Jordan (Ring)
• Squirt's Blouse (Chest) – Squirt's Necklace built into a chest piece

Multiple classes:

• Arioc's Needle (2H Polearm) – Barbarian, Druid, Spiritborn
• Henri's Perquisition (Offhand Focus) – Sorcerer, Necromancer, Warlock
• In-Geom (1H Sword) – Barbarian, Druid, Rogue, Necromancer, Paladin, Warlock
• The Furnace (2H Mace) – Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Paladin, Warlock
• Messerschmidt's Reaver (2H Axe) – Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Paladin, Warlock. Coming in Season 15, not testable on the PTR.

In terms of power and utility the returnees behave like regular Uniques. Their Unique affixes stay reminiscent of their original powers but have been adjusted to fit current itemization. Leoric's Crown shows this nicely:

• Original: Increases the effect of any non-Legendary gem socketed into the helm by 75-100%.
• Diablo 4: The item counts as Jewelry and increases the effect of any gem socketed into the helm by 75-100%.

Mythic Crafting Becomes Predictable

The biggest sore point of the current season is getting an update. The routes to creating Mythics stay the same, but the outcomes are far more deterministic.

Horadric Cube: Upgrade Direct Item to Mythic

This recipe is more expensive than the Blacksmith or Jeweler options, but it guarantees a total 1:1 transfer. Put in a Tibault's Will with ideal affixes and dialed-in Tempering and Masterworking, and you get exactly that item back in Mythic form – every affix and modification retained. The one restriction: you cannot use the recipe on an Unmodifiable item, so do not Transfigure your precious Mythic candidate.

Items created this way carry the Crafted tag – and you can only equip one Crafted item at a time.

Jeweler: Rune Crafting

Here you combine Resplendent Sparks and Runes and pick a slot (1-Handed Weapon, Ring and so on). You get a class-specific Mythic Unique for that slot – without the Crafted tag.

Blacksmith: Mythic Cache

The recipe now grants either Mythic Uniques or Iconic Mythics valid for your class. These carry no Crafted tag either. Blizzard's reasoning: once you already have your crafted Mythic from the Horadric Cube, you should still be able to spend excess Sparks without burning Runes on it.

Unique versions of Iconic Mythics

Every Iconic Mythic will also be available as a regular Unique. That puts these build-defining items within reach much earlier in a character's evolution, so you spend less time grinding through transitional builds.

Charms Now Come in Mythic Quality

The Talisman system keeps growing. Charms will now be available in Mythic quality too: their properties roll at maximum value and the Unique property gets a significant buff.

• Every Unique Charm in the game has a low chance to drop as a Mythic Unique Charm.
• There is no crafting method for them, and just like regular Unique Charms there's no way to target farm them. On the PTR you can test them through the PTR vendor Mrak.
• On top of that come 16 new Unique Charms based on existing Uniques that didn't have one yet. Eight of the ten legacy Uniques are getting Charms as well.

Rebirth: Bring Eternal Characters into the Season

Rebirth is the quality-of-life change plenty of players have been waiting for: instead of rolling a fresh character every season start, you carry an existing Eternal character over to the Seasonal Realm. It resets to level 1 there – but keeps its identity. Blizzard also tracks a running tally of hours played across all of that character's Rebirths.

Rebirth keeps:

• Class, name, appearance and state (Normal or Hardcore)
• Cosmetic preferences including transmogs and pigments, mounts and accessories, pets, portals and headstones

Important: move all gear and items into your Eternal stash first. Before you click Rebirth the game warns you that anything left behind will be lost, and offers to remove or destroy the items. As long as the character still has something equipped or in personal inventory, Rebirth won't start at all.

Horadric Post

The Horadric Post is a new channel for the Diablo 4 team to deliver rewards and messages straight to your account: rewards, supplies and commemorative items. The system is explicitly one-way – a blessed PO box straight from the ether, as Blizzard puts it.

During the PTR you'll receive an early commemorative reward so the delivery system can be tested ahead of Season 15.

Balance Highlights from the PTR Patch Notes

The full patch notes for PTR build #73123 are extensive. These are the changes that stand out:

• Barbarian takes a hit: damage per 10 points of Strength drops from 1.1% to 0.8%. The Madawc variants of Rallying Cry (200% → 100%) and Call of the Ancients (240% → 120%) are halved, and the Bleeding bonus on Two-Handed Sword Expertise falls from 30%[x] to 15%[x].
• Warlock gets the biggest buffs: Dread Claws' Ravenous Jaws variant jumps from 125% to 500%, Infernal Breath goes from 20% to 30% base and its Explosive Death variant from 100% to 200%, and Dark Prison's Calamity variant leaps from 30% to 200%.
• Defensive Aspects get a lift: Eluding Aspect no longer requires you to be Injured and now adds 10-15% Damage Reduction. Aspect of Audacity adds 15-20% Damage Reduction against Close enemies, Aspect of Rallying Reversal grants 10-15% Damage Reduction alongside the resource, and Wyward's Aspect adds 50%[+] Lightning Resistance.
• Offensive tuning: Aspect of the Expectant goes from 4-6% to 6-8% damage per Basic attack (stacking up to ten times). Aspect of Heavenly Strength loses Damage Reduction (30-40% → 20-30%) but is now available to Spiritborn.
• Azurewrath no longer explodes enemies and only damages the frozen target, but its damage rises from 100-120% to 120-150%.

Beyond that there are adjustments for Druid, Necromancer, Paladin, Rogue, Sorcerer and Spiritborn plus a long list of bug fixes.

PTR Boosts from Mrak

As on previous test realms, the trusty PTR vendor Mrak is available for the duration – find him next to the main Waypoint in major cities. His boosts hand you everything you need to start testing:

• Crafting and materials: Gold, Obols, all materials, unlock Masterworking, all Temper Manuals, Lair Keys, Tributes, Infernal Compasses and Nightmare Escalation Sigils
• Equipment: all Runes, max all Aspects, random Legendaries, all Uniques and Talisman items
• Paragon: grant and max all Glyphs
• Progression: complete the campaign and all Strongholds, set level 70, unlock all Waypoints and reveal the map, grant Skill and Paragon points, unlock and max War Plans, unlock all Torment tiers and set Paragon to 200
• Seasonal: grant seasonal items, meaning the Soul Splinters

Note: the boost only hands out Helms and Amulets at level 7 and level 15 respectively, so you'll need to level a little first.

How to Get onto the PTR

• Open the Battle.net app and select Diablo 4 from your games list.
• Above the Play button you'll find a game version dropdown.
• Pick "Public Test Realm" and hit Install.
• Once the client is ready the button turns into Play. Log in and pick any of the available test servers.
• Create a new test character – make it a Seasonal one for anything related to the seasonal themes.

PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate users open the Battle.net client through the Xbox app and take the same route from there. Feedback goes either through the in-game feedback tool (press Escape, open Report a Bug and switch the dropdown filter) or the PTR forums.

Is the PTR Worth It for You?

Short answer: yes, if Season 15 is on your radar. Soul Splinters and deterministic Mythic crafting reach deep enough into itemization that the meta should shift noticeably afterwards – and right now is the moment when feedback still changes things. If you'd rather wait for launch, you'll find the current setups in our tier list and can plan your next character at your own pace in the build planner.

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Source: The 3.2.0 PTR: What You Need to Know by Blizzard Entertainment, including the full build #73123 patch notes.