Somehow, Blizzard has changed up Plague's stats. Plague's preferred order has changed to Cham + Shael + Um. It's with a substantial cost, but also a new purpose for D2R Items the under-used Cham rune. The Plague that's been updated Plague reads like some strange experimental build that has a very specific use case. Everyone is trying to figure out why you should choose Plague over something similar to Hoto or even a formidable melee weapon, such as Grief (or Breath of the Dying.

The main change is that Plague now makes use of socketed 3 swords instead of general weapons. A further change is -1 to All Skills, and the removal of +strength since Fal is no more used. Enhanced damage has been added, which is a big gain for raw damage. The other stats are basically the same.

Plague appeared strange at beginning, but it also had some uses, maybe for casters. YouTuber Drunski125 suggests that Plague being restricted to swords alone is not the best idea.

"If you could do it with scepters, think of it would be a plus 3 Fist of Heavens Scepter you roll Plague into, and gives you a cleansing aura as well as an additional skill point. This is another incentive for something else than Hoto. Let's say for a trapsin you get an additional +3 light sentry or cheap D2R ladder items +3 Death Sentry claw, you could roll Plagueto gain +4 traps, cleansing aura. This is another reason to go with something other than Hoto. "Blizzard has yet not announced when Diablo 2 Resurrect's v2.4 will be available.