Blizzard discusses skill trees and enchantment system in September quarterly update for Diablo IV

In the third of a series of quarterly updates for Diablo IV, Lead Systems Designer David Kim goes over some of the updates and newly planned systems for skills and abilities for the upcoming action RPG. The blog post also touches on updates to previous topics like Ancestral/Demonic/Angelic Powers and Legendary items, but spends most of the time detailing the upcoming skill system for the game. 

After touching on some minor updates to previous topics, David reveals a work-in-progress example of a new skill tree. Skill Points are spent on the branches at the upper end of the tree, while acquired passive points and then used on supporting abilities located on the lower half. The blog then goes into details on certain skills, examples of how they can be upgraded, and some examples of passive abilities you can pick up on the way, such as new critical hit effects for lightning-based abilities. The current plan is that an end game character will be able to fill out about 30-40% of the skill tree and allow for several different possible builds.

The blog post also goes into detail about the Sorceress's Enchantment System, which is stated to be somewhat analogous to the Barbarian's Arsenal System which was first detailed late last year. Using a few of the skills detailed earlier in the post as examples, the Enchantment System allows for unlocked skills to be used in a secondary fasion within 'Enchantment slots', rather than as active skills. The blog then briefly touches on some end game considerations, but leaves specific details to be looked at in a later update.

Diablo IV is in development for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.