Some Warlock players would very much like the bug back.
Blizzard's Season 15 update included a deceptively small line in the bug-fix section:
Bind Demon's additional damage bonus was greater than intended.
That bonus has now been corrected.
According to players testing their existing Demon Summoner builds after the patch, however, the practical damage loss is enormous.
One level 99 summoner reports that their bound demon is now dealing only around 27% of its previous damage, while other community calculations put the overall loss closer to roughly 50% depending on skill level and the demon being used.
Those are player-tested figures rather than official Blizzard numbers.
But everyone seems to agree on the important part.
Bind Demon hits considerably less hard after Patch 3.3.
Blizzard Technically Calls This a Bug Fix
The distinction matters.
Patch 3.3 does not describe the Bind Demon change as a balance nerf.
Blizzard says it fixed an issue where the skill's additional damage bonus was greater than intended.
From Blizzard's perspective, Bind Demon was receiving damage it was never supposed to have.
From the perspective of someone who spent months building a character around that damage, the terminology is considerably less comforting.
You can call the removal of half your damage a bug fix.
The demon still notices.
Players Say Patch 3.2 Accidentally Supercharged Bind Demon
The current community explanation traces the problem back to Patch 3.2.
Bind Demon received a substantial mechanical rework in that update.
Blizzard changed the chance-to-bind calculations, introduced base skill requirements for binding Champions, Uniques and Super Uniques, capped demon health and adjusted several other parts of the skill.
According to community reverse-engineering of the numbers, one of the parameters used in the new Bind Demon formula also affected the skill's flat additional damage.
The result was apparently much more bonus damage than Blizzard intended.
One player analysing the post-3.3 formula says the new additional-damage calculation is:
50 + (skill level - 1) × 25
Under the previous unintended formula, high-level Bind Demon builds received substantially more.
That helps explain why the size of the perceived nerf varies between builds.
The more heavily a character invested into +skills and Bind Demon, the more dramatic the correction can feel.
One Player Says Their Demon Now Deals Just 27% of Its Old Damage
The most dramatic report appeared shortly after Season 15 launched.
A level 99 pure Warlock summoner posted that Bind Demon was dealing approximately 27% of its pre-Patch 3.3 damage.
The player says the build is still usable, but warns that the difference becomes much more painful against:
- Uber bosses
- Mini-Ubers
- Diablo Clone
- Colossal Ancients
- High-player-count endgame content
In particular, they argue that Colossal Ancients may now become extremely difficult for mid-tier Demon Summoner builds.
A second version of the discussion estimated the remaining damage closer to 31%.
Meanwhile, other players testing the change estimate the real-world overall DPS loss at roughly 50% once the bound demon's underlying native damage is included.
That discrepancy is exactly why the 27% number should not be treated as a universal new damage coefficient.
Different demons have different base attacks.
Skill levels differ.
Auras differ.
Amplify Damage changes the picture.
Player count changes how long targets survive.
Diablo II remains strongly opposed to simple arithmetic.
Bind Demon Is Not Dead
This is also important.
Despite some understandably dramatic forum titles, Bind Demon does not appear to be completely useless.
Players who have tested the post-patch build say it can still farm high-player-count content.
It is simply slower and increasingly dependent on getting a particularly good demon.
Cursed demons are now especially attractive because Amplify Damage can compensate for part of the lost physical damage.
A bound demon with useful Aura Enchanted modifiers can also remain extremely valuable even if its raw attacks are weaker.
So this is not necessarily:
Delete your Summoner.
It is more:
Your Summoner has been reminded that bosses have health bars.
Pure Demon Summoners Feel the Change More Than Hybrid Builds
The players most frustrated by Patch 3.3 are those who built specifically around the Demon tree.
Warlock has several ways to deal damage.
There are Hellfire builds.
Abyss builds.
Blood Boil setups.
Eldritch weapon builds.
And hybrid characters capable of treating Bind Demon as powerful passive support rather than their primary source of boss damage.
That became part of the original balance problem.
Players could reportedly invest heavily into Bind Demon while putting comparatively little into the rest of the summoning tree and still receive an extremely powerful companion.
A caster could effectively bring along a demon hitting far harder than the amount of skill investment suggested it should.
Fixing that makes sense.
But pure summoner players argue that Blizzard corrected the hybrid abuse without giving dedicated Demon builds enough compensation.
Goatmen Are Now Part of the Argument
That has pushed the conversation toward Warlock's other summons.
Several players are asking Blizzard to improve Summon Goatmen rather than simply restore the old Bind Demon damage.
The argument is that a dedicated Demon Summoner should have several viable pieces working together:
Bound demons for specialised elite power.
Goatmen for physical damage.
Summoned Tainted for elemental damage.
Demonic Mastery tying everything together.
Instead, some summoner players believe too much of the build's endgame strength had become concentrated in Bind Demon.
Patch 3.3 removed a large portion of that strength without substantially improving the weaker parts of the tree.
That leaves an interesting possibility.
Maybe Bind Demon did need fixing.
Maybe the rest of Demon Warlock also needs buffing.
Both things can be true.
Warlock Has Already Been Through Several Rounds of Nerfs
The reaction is also being amplified by the class's short history.
Warlock is Diablo II's first completely new class in 25 years, and Blizzard has spent much of Reign of the Warlock adjusting it.
Patch 3.2 changed Bind Demon extensively.
Its binding chance was reworked.
Elite demons received base skill requirements.
Bound demon health was capped.
The Cursed modifier's Amplify Damage proc chance was reduced from 75% to 5%.
And several unintended interactions were removed.
We have seen the same tension elsewhere in the expansion, where even tiny-looking fixes can completely change how a Warlock performs. One recent Patch 3.3 collision fix, for example, led players to argue that Abyss Warlock became dramatically stronger in real combat.
Bind Demon has now gone the opposite direction.
Season 15 Has Started With a Very Different Summoner
This is what makes the timing particularly painful for Demon Warlock players.
Players are starting fresh characters.
Build guides are being reconsidered.
Gear markets are resetting.
And anyone planning to recreate the Demon Summoner they played last season may discover that it does not feel like the same build anymore.
That does not automatically mean Blizzard made the wrong decision.
If Bind Demon was using an unintended damage formula, correcting it is reasonable.
The more important question is what the intended Demon Summoner is supposed to look like after the correction.
If Bind Demon was carrying too much of the tree, Blizzard has now solved that problem.
Perhaps a little too successfully.
Bug Fix or Nerf? To the Damage Meter, It Makes No Difference
This is one of those wonderfully Diablo patch-note situations where both sides can technically be correct.
Blizzard fixed a bug.
Players received a massive nerf.
The two statements do not contradict each other.
Bind Demon was apparently dealing far more additional damage than intended.
Patch 3.3 corrected it.
And some dedicated summoner builds are now reporting damage losses large enough to fundamentally change their endgame performance.
The skill is not dead.
The build is not unplayable.
But the demon you brought into Season 15 may feel considerably less enthusiastic than the one you had last week.
Blizzard removed unintended damage.
Unfortunately, unintended damage was still damage.
Sources
Blizzard: Diablo II: Resurrected Ladder Season 15 and Patch 3.3
Diablo II Forums: Bind Demon is still good but gutted for endgame content
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