Diablo 4 Update 1.3.0a Patch Notes: Seneschal Buffs & QoL Updates

Diablo 4 Season 3 released just a couple of days ago, and there was nothing short of a community uproar as most players felt like all of the new mechanics were a downgrade compared to the Season of Blood. Many players expressed their frustrations with the theme of the season being centered around traps and hazards, believing these sorts of mechanics do not belong in the ARPG genre. One of the main selling points of Season 3, the Seneschal Construct follower, was also deemed as 'too weak' and 'boring', having little to no impact on the gameplay.

Following all of this player feedback, Blizzard has released Patch 1.3.0a, which aims to address a lot of these issues, providing a ton of quality-of-life updates to nearly all of the new seasonal mechanics. Another update, called 1.3.1, is also slated to come out next week, which aims to follow up on these changes and create a smoother and more engaging player experience of Diablo 4 Season 3. Here is everything you need to know about Patch 1.3.0a:

• Echo of Malphas
• The Seneschal
• Vaults & Arcane Tremors
• Bug Fixes

Diablo 4 Update 1.3.0a Full Patch Notes

Patch 1.3.0a brings a ton of quality-of-life improvements to pretty much every new mechanic introduced in Season 3. The Echo of Malphas boss fight is going to become a bit more challenging, but will also provide a higher drop chance for the new Unique Governing and Tuning Stones, which will incentivize players to farm him a lot more.

The Seneschal Construct is not receiving any buffs, but all of the Stones you can use to upgrade him will have a greatly reduced experience requirement. We believe that further changes to the companion will come in patch 1.3.1, after Blizzard receives data on how strong it feels at max level.

The last set of changes includes a lot of quality-of-life updates to the Vaults and Arcane Tremors, making them a lot more lucrative to farm for players at all stages of the leveling process. Here is the full list of patch notes for update 1.3.0a:

Echo of Malphas

Developer’s Note: We have noticed players tended to use their Pearls of Warding for fighting Echo of Malphas instead of on Zoltun’s Warding. We are adding in Igneous Cores—a new item used solely to summon Malphas instead of Pearls—so players don’t have to choose between extra protection in the Vaults or fighting the boss. Additionally, we have made the fight against Malphas more difficult but also increased the rewards it provides.

• Echo of Malphas has had their Level raised from 85 to 100.
• The Health pool of Echo of Malphas has been increased by 30%.
• A new item—Igneous Cores—now exists for the purpose of accessing the Uber Vault and Echo of Malphas(confirm player-facing names). This item will replace the usage of Pearls of Warding in providing access.
• Igneous Cores have a chance to drop from Vault Heralds and are guaranteed to drop from Son of Malphas in World Tier IV.

Loot Updates

• The drop rate of Unique Stones from Malphas increased from .25% to .5%.Unique Stones now have a 3% chance of dropping from the chest after the boss.
• Defeating Echo of Malphas will now reward more Legendary items. Additionally, Item Level 925 items will drop more often.

The Seneschal

Developer’s Note: We’ve received feedback that the Seneschal does not feel powerful. The Seneschal becomes more powerful as it reaches max level, but we have noticed that many players have not had the chance to level up their Seneschal enough to experience this. We are introducing multiple changes to ensure players have more sources to earn Governing and Tuning Stones from so they can level up their Seneschal and unlock their new companion's full potential.

• Crafting a Governing or Tuning Stone will now always cost 200 Shattered Stone and 20 Iron Chunks regardless of level.
• Finding a max level Governing or Tuning Stone will now grant 150 –200 Shattered Stone.
• Governing and Tuning stones can now be acquired as rewards for completing Whispers.
• Son of Malphas now always drops 2-3 Governing and Tuning Stones.
• Stones awarded from Seneschal Stone Caches has been increased from 1 to 2 stones.
• Experience requirements for Governing and Tuning Stones have been reduced so they can be ranked up more naturally with your leveling experience.

Vaults and Arcane Tremors

We have made multiple quality-of-life changes to the player experience in the Vaults and Arcane Tremors.

• Consuming a Pearl of Warding at a Statue of Zoltun Kulle now grants 10 stacks of Zoltun's Warding, instead of 3.
• The max stacks of Zoltun's Warding has been increased from 300 to 999.
• The grace period for losing stacks of Zoltun's Warding when being hit by multiple traps at once has been increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds. (Ex: If 3 darts hit you in the span of 1.5 seconds, you'll only lose 1 stack instead of 3).
• Heralds of Malphas now guaranteed a Legendary item drop starting at Level 26, with a 15% chance to drop a second Legendary item.
• Knockback has been removed from all Obelisk Hazards.
• Chests will now appear after completing a Vault's ending encounter. These new chests will drop a guaranteed Legendary item starting from level 26+, with a 35% chance to drop another Legendary item.
• The projectile speed from Elemental Dart hazards has been reduced by 20%.
  The hitbox for floor-based Elemental Grate and Spike hazards have been reduced by roughly 15%.
• The spout hitbox for Elemental Pillars has been reduced by roughly 15%.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Gatehall would not display on the map for players on PlayStation.
• Fixed an issue where the Brazier could not be interacted with in certain circumstances during the Drums of the Vault quest.
• Fixed an issue where the Beckoning Thunder Horse cosmetic was invisible for Druid players.
• Fixed an issue where the damage effect and the visual effect were not in sync for floor traps in Vaults.
• Various stability and performance improvements.

That covers the full list of patch notes in the new 1.3.0a update for Diablo 4 Season 3. A ton of quality-of-life improvements have been made to all of the new mechanics that were introduced in Season of the Construct, with the increased experience rate for the Governing and Tuning stones being the most significant. Hopefully, even more changes are on the horizon as Blizzard continues reading all of the player feedback. For more Diablo 4 news and guides, make sure to check out the rest of our website!