Blizzard Previews Upcoming ‘Diablo 3’ Update, Patch 2.3 Will Let Players Use Legendary Effects As Passives

Patch 2.3, the next major update to Diablo 3, is about to be published on the public test realm. Players will have a chance to test and preview several new features coming to the action RPG, including a new zone, a new artifact, new legendary items, and other updates. Before the content goes live for testing, though, Blizzard developers posted a lengthy preview of what is to come in patch 2.3.

Firstly, a new area, Ruins of Sescheron, will be ready for players to explore. This area, filled with lore on barbarians, is home to new enemies and the lost Tomb of King Kanai. Within those walls players might find the new artifact coming to Diablo 3. Named Kanai’s Cube, this powerful artifact lets players take the special effects, the orange text, from a legendary item and wield it as a passive ability.

With the powerful Kanai’s Cube, players will be able to obtain the special effect of any piece of gear to store or use as a passive. However, only a handful can be active at a time. According to a Diablo 3 community manager, the limit is currently one weapon effect, one armor effect, and one jewelry effect. For example, a player will be able to store the passives from a pair of boots and a helm, but only one of the passives will be active at a time.

The passives gained from Kanai’s Cube are completely separate from the passives a character already has in Diablo 3, and using an item to gain its effect as passive ultimately acts like the character is wearing the item without equipping it. In this way, once an effect is being used as a passive, physically equipping the same item will yield no result. In short, players will not be able to stack legendary effects.

Although Kanai’s Cube is a huge part of update 2.3, plenty of other features are included in the patch. Crafting will see a quality of life pass, adventure mode will be updated, and four new torment levels are on their way. Specifically, max level crafting items will be obtainable as players level up, the Realm of Trials is being removed, and players will be able to journey through torment level 10 when 2.3 launches.

Of course, Kanai’s Cube and the other features of patch 2.3 are not on the test server yet so all information is subject to change. However, it definitely seems like patch 2.3 will be a big update for Diablo 3 and its players. It is likely that the current console generation will also get the non-seasonal improvements from patch 2.3 when it launches considering, as the Inquisitr reported, patch 2.2 released simultaneously across PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

What would you put in Kanai’s Cube?

[Images via Battle.Net]