Challenge leagues are a great opportunity for a fresh start in a new economy. All of your old characters and items are still present in the Standard and Hardcore leagues, but you're encouraged to join the new leagues, complete challenges and demonstrate your mastery of Path of Exile!
In the Scourge Challenge League, you'll meet a mysterious figure who hands you a rusty-looking device called the Blood Crucible and urges you to implant it into your body. As you slay enemies, the Crucible fills with their blood. Once it reaches a certain threshold, you're able to activate the device. This will instantly thrust you into a parallel reality, an alternate Wraeclast where some form of apocalyptic event is occurring. This Wraeclast is overrun by demons known as The Scourge. They're powerful, dangerous and come in many forms. The more blood you have collected, the longer you can stay shifted into the parallel Wraeclast. But the longer you stay, the more damage you'll take.
You can put an item inside the Blood Crucible. While you are killing the Scourge, it absorbs corruption from the alternate Wraeclast and focuses it onto the item. After enough kills, your item is ready to transform. When it does, it becomes corrupted and gains a pair of Scourged Modifiers. One of these is a beneficial mod and one is a detrimental mod. These scourged mods are in addition to the regular explicit and implicit mods or enchantments on the item.
Once you're exploring the Atlas of Worlds, you may gain the ability to place maps in the Blood Crucible, alongside your equipment. When a Map absorbs enough corruption and transforms, it gains a beneficial and detrimental effect in the same way that a piece of equipment does, but can also gain a modifier that changes the behaviour of Scourge league in that map entirely.
With 3.16.0, there are Standard, Hardcore and Solo Self-Found variations of the Scourge challenge league available. They have the same core mechanics and items. You can create private league versions of these leagues, with mods that make the game harder.
The new challenge leagues include a set of 40 new challenges. When you complete 12 challenges, you will receive the Scourge Weapon. When you reach 24 challenges, you will receive the Scourge Wings. At 36 challenges completed you'll receive Scourge Pet. These microtransactions are only obtainable in this league.
From the 19th challenge onwards and for every third challenge after that, you will receive pieces of the Scourge Totem Pole decoration to display in your hideout. The Totem Pole permanently showcases how many of the Scourge challenges you completed during the league.
Areas that contain Betrayal now contain three encounters instead of a single encounter, restoring it to its original functionality to match PC. As a result, the following rewards are no longer tripled: the amount of experience received when you make a decision, the amount of items dropped from Bargain decisions, the amount of veiled items dropped by Syndicate members, Safehouse leaders contribution of intelligence towards the Mastermind and Safehouse rewards.
Added alternative targeting behaviour for Hydrosphere which will attempt to cast the skill behind the targeted enemy, instead of on top of them.
Bestiary Orbs can now be used within the Bestiary User Interface to itemise a Beast.
It is now possible to view your Atlas in all areas after unlocking the Map Device, instead of only within a Map or Hideout.
The low-Life User Interface warning now displays on top of other User Interfaces, such as the Passive Skill Tree, Atlas, and Character Panel.
Added a setting for preventing others from using Portals in your Hideout to the Options Menu.
Added an indicator to display the current leader of a party.
Guild Members and Officers are now able to view permissions set for Guild Stash Tabs.
The cursor is now kept within the Purchase Items window when refreshing an Expedition Vendor Shop.
It is now possible to filter characters by League on the Character Selection Menu.
Updated NeverSink loot filters.
Fixed a bug where dying whilst targeting Raise Spectre could cause characters to become uncontrollable upon resurrecting.
Fixed a bug where you could not open the Instance Manager if a skill bound to Triangle was on cooldown.
Fixed a bug where Heist Chests could be interacted with while your Inventory or Passive Skill Tree was open.
Fixed a bug where the loading screen and Passive Skill Tree User Interface did not extend to all edges of the screen on PlayStation.
Fixed a client crash that could occur when using Wither and alternative behaviour Flame Dash.
Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Energy Blade: Grants a buff which significantly lowers your maximum Energy Shield to transform your equipped weapons into Swords formed from that energy. Casting the spell again removes the buff. Requires a Non-Bow weapon.
Added a new Dexterity/Intelligence Skill Gem - Temporal Rift: Reserves Mana to apply a buff and leave afterimages of your recent past. Cast the spell again to return to the oldest afterimage, teleporting you to that location as well as resetting your Life, Mana and Energy Shield to the values they had then.
Added a new Dexterity/Intelligence Skill Gem - Tornado: Create a Tornado that repeatedly damages enemies around it. It will move forward for a duration, during which your projectiles can collide with it to deal damage as though it was an enemy. Then it will chase down enemies for a secondary duration, and reflect a portion of the damage it took from your projectiles to them in addition to its own damage.
Added a new Dexterity Skill Gem - Poisonous Concoction: Throws an explosive bottle that deals unarmed attack damage in an area and has a chance to poison. Can consume charges from a Life Flask to add further damage. Requires an empty main hand, and no off-hand weapon.
Added a new Intelligence Skill Gem - Soul Link: Targets an allied player to apply a buff which links you to them for a duration. While linked, your Energy Shield will intercept some of the damage they would take. If the target dies while linked, you will also die. This skill cannot be used by Totems, Traps, or Mines.
Added a new Strength/Intelligence Skill gem - Protective Link: Targets an allied player to apply a buff which links you to them for a duration. While linked, they copy your block chance and recover life when they block. If the target dies while linked, you will also die. This skill cannot be used by Totems, Traps, or Mines.
Added a new Intelligence Skill gem - Intuitive Link: Targets an allied player to apply a buff which links you to them for a duration. While linked, their hits can trigger your supported spells. If the target dies while linked, you will also die. This skill cannot be used by Totems, Traps, or Mines.
Added a new Dexterity/Strength Skill gem - Vampiric Link: Targets an allied player to apply a buff which links you to them for a duration. While linked, your life leech gives recovery to them instead. If the target dies while linked, you will also die. This skill cannot be used by Totems, Traps or Mines.
Added a new Strength Skill gem - Flame Link: Targets an allied player to apply a buff which links you to them for a duration. While linked, they deal additional fire damage based on your life. If the target dies while linked, you will also die. This skill cannot be used by Totems, Traps, or Mines.
Added a new Intelligence/Dexterity Skill gem - Destructive Link: Targets an allied player to apply a buff which links you to them for a duration. While linked, they use your critical strike chance for main hand hits. If the target dies while linked, you will also die. This skill cannot be used by Totems, Traps, or Mines.
Added 13 new Divination Cards, designed by our supporters.
Added 7 new Unique Items.
Added Expedition to the core game, with a few adjustments. Please read the Expedition Changes section for more information.
As we move new leagues to the core game, we will replace outdated obsolete content. In this case, Expedition replaces Perandus. Please read the Perandus Removal section for more information.
Introduced the Tainted Mythic Orb, a currency item that unpredictably either upgrades a corrupted item to unique rarity or destroys it. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Divine Teardrop, a currency item that unpredictably raises or lowers the tier of each modifier on a corrupted rare item. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Exalted Orb, a currency item that unpredictably adds or removes a modifier on a corrupted rare item. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Chaos Orb, a currency item that unpredictably either reforges a corrupted rare item with new random modifiers or removes all of its modifiers. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Chromatic Orb, a currency item that unpredictably reforges the colour of sockets on a corrupted item. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Jeweller's Orb, a currency item that unpredictably adds or removes a socket on a corrupted item. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Orb of Fusing, a currency item that unpredictably adds or removes a link to the largest group of linked sockets on a corrupted item. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Blacksmith's Whetstone, a currency item that randomises the quality of a corrupted weapon. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Armourer's Scrap, a currency item that randomises the quality of a corrupted armour. This item can be obtained from Scourge encounters.
Introduced the Tainted Blessing, a currency item that can be placed in the Divine Font to allow Enchantment of Corrupted Gloves, Boots, Helmets or Belts.
Introduced the Sacred Orb, a currency item that randomises the numeric values of the base defences on an armour.
Added two new Gem Socket Notches options: Small Notches and Large Pattern. You can change between these Socket Notches and the Default Sockets in the UI page of the Options Panel.
Stackable items dropped from Chests and as rewards at the end of encounters (such as Delve, Ritual, Incursion, Delirium and Blight) will no longer drop multiple stacks of the same item. They instead collate it into a single combined stack of the item.
Map Fragments for The Apex of Sacrifice, The Alluring Abyss, The Shaper’s Realm, Absence of Value and Meaning, and the Pale Court now have a Stack Size of 10. Scarabs also now have a Stack Size of 10.
Incubators now display Item Level on their Item Tooltip and Icon. It is also now possible to stack Incubators of the same type and Item Level, with a Stack Size of 10.
It is now possible to promote a party member to replace you as the leader of your party if you are the current leader.
An Explosive or Poisonous Flask will now be visually attached to your Character’s Belt when socketing the Explosive Concoction or Poisonous Concoction Skills in your equipped items.
Updated the visual buff effect for Bone Armour.
Some Monsters in Act 2 have had their visual effects updated, and the existing animations of many Monsters have been improved. We’ll be reviewing the balance of Monsters in Act 2 in a future patch.
Continued to incrementally improve the sound, art, effects and environments.
Expedition has been added to the core game. You can find Expeditions from Act 6 onwards, and in Maps you’ll have approximately an 8% chance to encounter an Expedition site.
Expedition Artifacts are no longer tradeable items, which has two key effects. The first is that they are automatically collected as you complete Expeditions, and the second is that all characters can now engage with the Kalguuran merchants without having to feel that their best plan is to trade the currency away to other players who may use it more efficiently than them. It's a difficult decision working out whether to make specific items tradeable or not, but we feel that on balance, this new approach will solve several problems with the system. It's also worth noting that the currency items that allow you to reroll the vendors' inventories are still tradeable.
Logbooks now have a maximum Area Level of 83.
Logbooks now display their Area Level on their Item Icon.
Accessing Expedition Vendor shops now has a character level requirement of 35.
Replaced Perandus Scarabs with new Expedition Scarabs. This change affects existing Scarabs.
Replaced the Decadent Incubator with a new Kalguuran Incubator, which can be added to an equippable item, dropping an Expedition Item after killing a certain amount of Monsters. This change affects existing Decadent Incubators.
Existing Decadent Delirium Orbs will be replaced with Kalguuran Delirium Orbs, which add layers of Delirium with the Expedition Item reward type to Maps. This is the only source of Kalguuran Delirium Orbs, these are unobtainable as item drops or from any other source.
Existing Metamorph Organs that previously gave Perandus rewards will instead provide Expedition Item rewards. Expedition rewards cannot be obtained from new Metamorph encounters.
Rog's crafting prices have been tweaked so that Common Artifacts aren't in higher demand than Lesser and Greater Artifacts.
Monsters spawned in Expedition encounters now have 35% less chance to spawn Beyond Portals on Death.
Expedition Faction Currency Chests are now more common than other Chests in Expedition Logbooks.
The "Runic Monsters are Duplicated" Remnant modifier is now rarer.
Remnant modifiers found in Expedition sites that grant Runic Monsters and Chests a chance to drop an additional Map or Unique now grant 20% chance (previously 35%).
Remnant modifiers found in Expedition sites that grant Runic Monsters and Chests a chance to drop an additional Gem, Weapon, Jewellery Item or Armour Item can now be found at all Levels of Expedition Sites (previously up to Level 67 Expedition sites).
Added new Expedition Watchstone Modifiers, some of which can increase the amount of Expedition rewards dropped by Monsters.
Perandus has been removed from the core game. Some sources of Perandus Item rewards from other League content have been replaced with Expedition Item rewards, as noted above.
Perandus Coins can no longer drop, though you are still able to store any existing Coins in the Currency Stash Tab.
The Perandus Manor Unique Chateau Map can no longer drop, and it is no longer possible to open this Map in a Map Device.
"The Mayor" and "Squandered Prosperity" Divination Cards can no longer be obtained. Existing Divination Cards can still be turned in.
The following Uniques have been added to the core drop pool: Seven-League Step, Umbilicus Immortalis, Trypanon, Varunastra, and Zerphi's Last Breath.
"The Cheater" Divination Card can now drop from Guff "Tiny" Grenn.
Currency, Map, Quad, Unique, Divination, Fragment, Essence, Delve, Delirium, Metamorph and Blight Stash Tabs can now be purchased for Guild Stashes. We've also added the ability to create Stash Tab Folders and set Affinities for Guild Stash Tabs.
The Guild Stash History webpage has also seen improvements, now displaying the quantity of an item that has been added or removed, and which Stash Tab those items were stored in. You can also now set a custom date range to view changes within that time frame, and download the displayed history as a .CSV file.
Introduced Guild Hideouts: Guild Hideouts feature a Map Device and Crafting Bench that can be used by all Guild Members. When in a party with fellow Guild Members, the party can all access the party leader's Map Portals from the Guild Hideout.
Guild Leaders can select which Hideout to use for their Guild Hideout from ones they have discovered throughout the game. Microtransaction Hideouts can also be purchased to be used for a Guild Hideout from donated Guild Points. Note: Microtransaction Hideouts purchased for Personal Hideouts do not grant the ability to use them as Guild Hideouts.
Hideout Decorations for Guild Hideouts can be purchased using donated Guild Points.
In addition to the Guild improvements noted above, we've also made improvements to Hideouts in Path of Exile: Scourge.
If a Hideout closes with portals still open, it no longer prevents access to the Map. Instead, whenever a player joins a Hideout or Guild Hideout, any previously opened portals are reopened if the destination Map still exists.
Map Portals to empty Map instances will not expire so long as the Map owner remains in either their Hideout or Guild Hideout.
The Master Level and Favour systems have been removed entirely.
You now have unlimited access to a range of Hideout Decorations through the Decorations Tab in both Personal and Guild Hideouts (excluding purchased Microtransaction Hideout Decorations).
We’ve added a "Tag" search system for Hideout Decorations which can be used in addition to the existing search field to quickly locate specific Decorations.
As a result of these changes, the Forsaken Masters Achievement is now completed after defeating each Master's most dangerous foe: The Vaal Omnitect for Alva, Aul, the Crystal King for Niko, Farrul, First of the Plains for Einhar, The Syndicate Mastermind for Jun, and The Shaper and Elder for Zana.
The Watchstone Modifier that granted increased Master Favour gained can no longer roll. Existing Watchstones with this Modifier will still exist, but will do nothing.
Increased Master Favour has also been removed from the "A Gracious Master Prophecy" and the Atlas Passive in The Uncharted Realm, these still provide their other functions still.
Added new Blight-ravaged Maps. These Maps can be obtained by completing high tier Blighted Maps, and can be Anointed up to 9 times (with a maximum of 3 Oils of the same type). Monsters within these Maps both move faster and have substantially more life than those found within Blighted Maps.
Added new Unrelenting Timeless Emblems, which can drop from Domain of Timeless Conflict encounters. Unrelenting Timeless Emblems provide improved rewards, with Monsters gaining challenging modifiers each time they are revived.
Many Legion Monsters have had the maximum distance they are able to use their long-ranged skills reduced, or can no longer use their long-ranged skills against other Legion Monsters.
Added new Flawless Breachstones which are more challenging, and thus more rewarding, than other kinds of Breachstones.
Rare Monsters in Breach Domains now drop an additional Reward Type, with Rare Monsters in Flawless Breach Domains dropping two additional Reward Types.
Breach Domain Areas now have additional random Modifiers, with Areas opened from Flawless Breachstone having four additional random Modifiers.
Breach Domain Areas no longer have the Modifier which grants increased Quantity of Items found in the Area.
Loot accumulated from killing Monsters in Breach Domains now drops upon reaching the Boss Arena Portal, instead of dropping throughout the encounter.
Added 10 additional waves to the Simulacrum, it now has a total of 30 waves. As you can expect, these extremely difficult extra waves are very rewarding and feature escalating chances for a Delirium boss to spawn.
With each wave you play, the Simulacrum now has an increasing chance of dropping cluster jewels, and past wave 20, Delirium unique items.
The drop rate of Delirium Orbs from Delirium encounters has also been increased.
The Atlas now has only four regions: Haewark Hamlet, Valdo’s Rest, Glennach Cairns, and Lira Arthain. The number of obtainable Watchstones has been reduced to 16 (previously 32), and there are now 118 Maps on the Atlas (previously 164).
The following Maps have been removed from the Atlas: Academy, Arachnid Tomb, Arena, Bazaar, Beach, Belfry, Bramble Valley, Burial Chambers, Cage, Castle Ruins, Channel, City Square, Cold River, Colonnade, Coral Ruins, Courthouse, Coves, Crater, Crystal Ore, Desert Spring, Excavation, Factory, Frozen Cabins, Geode, Graveyard, Iceberg, Infested Valley, Ivory Temple, Jungle Valley, Lava Chamber, Marshes, Mesa, Pen, Peninsula, Phantasmagoria, Pier, Precinct, Primordial Pool, Ramparts, Residence, Scriptorium, Shipyard, Shrine, Villa, and Volcano. The Perandus Manor Unique Chateau Map has also been removed.
The Augmented Distant Memory Unique Courthouse Map is now a Unique Haunted Mansion Map, as Courthouse is not currently on the Atlas.
The unlock requirements for Zana's Map Device options have been reduced, relative to the decrease in number of Maps on the Atlas.
Each bonus objective you complete now increases the chance for Maps to drop one tier higher by 1.5% (previously 1%).
Each 4 awakening bonus objectives you complete increases the effect of Modifiers on Non-Unique Maps by 1% (previously each 6).
Map tiers and locations have been shuffled. Most maps are now initially found at a different tier.
Item Base Types specific to the Atlas have had their drop regions updated, with some being shuffled to other regions. Atlas Rings now drop in Tier 11 or higher Maps (previously Tier 6 or higher).
The following Base Types can be found in Haewark Hamlet: Crystal Belt, Gripped Gloves, Marble Amulet, Opal Ring, and Two-Toned Boots (Evasion/Energy Shield).
The following Base Types can be found in Valdo's Rest: Artillery Quiver, Convoking Wand, Iolite Ring, Spiked Gloves, and Two-Toned Boots (Armour/Evasion).
The following Base Types can be found in Glennach Cairns: Apothecary’s Gloves, Blue Pearl Amulet, Cerulean Ring, Two-Toned Boots (Armour/Energy Shield), Vanguard Belt, and Vermillion Ring.
The following Base Types can be found in Lira Arthain: Bone Helmet, Fingerless Silk Gloves, Fugitive Boots, Seaglass Amulet, and Steel Ring.
Additional targets for the following Prophecies have been added as their original targets can no longer be found on the Atlas: Battle Hardened, Burning Dread, Darktongue’s Shriek, and The Malevolent Witch.
The option for Maven to release all Bosses at once is now a Modifier found on Maven Invitations, and will no longer occur unless you open an Invitation with this Modifier.
Captured Boss progress in The Uncharted Realms is no longer lost in Permanent Leagues when the Atlas is shuffled.
Some of the Map Bosses you are required to defeat to upgrade your Pantheon have changed as a result of these Atlas changes.
Crafting Recipes that were previously unlocked in Maps that have been removed are now found within other Maps currently on the Atlas.
Many Divination Cards have found new homes as a result of the Atlas Changes:
The Fiend can now drop in Poorjoy's Asylum.
The Army of Blood can now drop in Poorjoy's Asylum.
The Bitter Blossom can now drop from Oshabi, Avatar of the Grove.
Time-Lost Relic can now be found in Expedition Logbooks.
The Jester can now drop from Ash Lessard.
Vinia's Token can now drop in the Palace Map.
The Drunken Aristocrat can now drop in the Laboratory Map.
The Chains that Bind can now drop in the Dungeon Map.
The Thaumaturgist can now drop in the Alleyways Map.
The Dapper Prodigy can now drop in the Palace Map.
The Tyrant can now drop in the Primordial Blocks Map.
The Jeweller's Boon can now drop in the Mineral Pools Map.
The Undaunted can now drop in the Conservatory Map.
The Messenger can now drop in the Port Map.
Baited Expectations can now drop in the Dry Sea Map.
A Note in the Wind can now drop in the Dry Sea Map.
The Academic can now drop in the Museum Map.
Unchained can now drop in the Dungeon Map.
The Unexpected Prize can now drop in the Palace Map.
Cursed Words can now drop in the Cemetery Map.
The Journalist can now drop in the Haunted Mansion Map.
The Enthusiasts can now drop in the Museum Map.
The Master can now drop in the Lair Map.
More is Never Enough can now drop in the Vault Map.
The Offspring can now drop in the Stagnation Map.
The Mind's Eyes can now drop in the Bone Crypt Map.
The Golden Era can now drop in the Basilica Map.
Brotherhood in Exile can now drop in the Chateau Map.
Some Atlas Passives have been removed as a result of the number of Atlas Regions changing, while others have been moved to another Region.
Here are the Atlas Passives now found in each Atlas Region:
Haewark Hamlet: Bumper Crop, Heart of the Grove, The Grove's Call, Amplified, Controlled Corruption, Seance, Paid in Blood, Sacred Lands, Finest Samples, High Yield, Escaped Experiment, Intelligence Gathering, Test of Loyalty, and Bribery.
Glennach Cairns: Scent of Blood, Torn Veil, Per Diemon, Underground Kingdom, Abyssal Army, Lightless Legion, Total Anarchy, Rogue Trader, Time Dilation, Resource Reallocation, Contested Development, Face to Face, Protracted Battle, and High Value Targets.
Lira Arthain: Distinguished Demolitionist, Buried Knowledge, Ancient Writings, Secret Stash, Inside Job, Big Game, Great Migration, Natural Selection, Gatekeepers, Flash Breach, Within Their Grasp, Trespassers, and Exotic Goods.
Valdo’s Rest: Persecutory Delusion, The Singular Eternity, Greater Forces, Ominous Arrival, Diplomatic Escort, Twice Tempted, Tamper-Proof, Guarded Hoards, Sulphite Infusion, Packed with Energy, Spores on the Wind, Immune Response, and Epidemiology.
New Expedition Atlas Passives have been added:
Distinguished Demolitionist: 35% increased Explosive Radius in Areas. 20% increased number of Explosives in Areas.
Buried Knowledge: 50% increased Quantity of Expedition Logbooks dropped by Runic Monsters in Areas. Areas contain 25% increased number of Runic Monster Markers.
Ancient Writings: Remnants in Areas have 40% chance to have an additional Suffix Modifier. Expeditions in Areas have +2 Remnants.
Small Expedition Passives: Areas have +3% chance to contain an Expedition Encounter.
Changes to existing Atlas Passives:
The previous Rich Veins and Sulphite Sentinels Atlas Passives have been combined, now called Guarded Hoards. This provides: Voltaxic Sulphite Veins and Chests in Areas have 10% chance to contain double Sulphite. Sulphite Veins and Chests in Areas are guarded by Sulphite-hoarding Monsters.
Epidemiology no longer provides "Blighted Maps found in Areas are Anointed". It now has "Blight Chests in Areas have 100% more chance to contain Blighted Maps" (unchanged), and "Lanes of Blight Encounters in Areas have 35% chance for an additional Reward Chest" (previously found on Mass Mycelium).
Flash Breach no longer grants "Breaches in Areas spawn 10 additional Rare Monsters". It now grants "Breaches in Areas have 30% increased Monster density" and "Breaches in Areas have 30% increased Area of Effect".
Time Dilation now grants "Incursions in Areas have 33% chance for all Monsters to be at least Magic", instead of "Incursion Monsters in Areas are at least Magic".
The following Atlas Passives in The Uncharted Realm have been changed:
Close Allies: Gain 1 additional Atlas Mission from each Master each day. Areas have +7% chance to grant an Atlas Mission on Completion (previously +10% chance to grant an Atlas Mission on Completion).
Master of the Atlas: No longer has "Zana Missions in Areas grant 100% increased Favour" as the Favour system has been removed entirely.
Atlas Mission Chance: Previously called "Master Favour". Now grants "+3% chance to grant an Atlas Mission on Completion", instead of "Missions in Areas grant 30% increased Favour".
Problem:
The current state of Delve leaves players having to spend a huge amount of time playing through relatively easy content in order to reach content that is more challenging and rewarding. Delve doesn't sufficiently reward this time investment.
Solution:
Make Delve difficulty and rewards scale much more quickly with Depth. Grant high level players immediate access to harder Delve content. Make a number of changes to the rewards, difficulty and monster mechanics of Delve content to make it more challenging and rewarding.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The difficulty of Delve encounters now scales much faster. The difficulty of encounters at depth 500 is now roughly equivalent to the previous difficulty of depth 1,000 encounters. Depth 1,500 encounters are now roughly equivalent to the previous difficulty of depth 6,000 encounters.
The availability of rewards from Delve also now scales much faster, with the intention that progressing deeper into the Azurite Mine is more rewarding than equivalent depths previously were. For example, depth 500 is now more rewarding than depth 1,000 was previously.
As a result of these changes, the Azurite Mine has been reset in Permanent Leagues. Niko has drilled a mineshaft to the deepest level Delve encounter previously completed in that league to pick up where you left off. This change does not affect gathered Azurite or Sulphite, or upgrades you have purchased at the Voltaxic Generator.
Previously-acquired Delve depth and solo depth has been wiped from the Permanent League ladders. To get back on the ladder, just keep playing Delve from whatever level you can handle.
City Biomes in the Azurite Mine are now more common and can appear in earlier depths, but are now smaller on average.
City Biomes can no longer spawn without Delve nodes.
We've also introduced new Delve Biome modifiers, and allowed Delve Biome modifiers to spawn below depth 6,000.
The Area Level of the Azurite Mine now scales slightly faster, reaching Area Level 83 at depth 145 (previously depth 171).
Niko’s mineshaft can now drill deeper into the Azurite Mine, up to depth 101 by Character Level 90.
Delve encounters now contain fewer chests, though each chest is now more likely to drop interesting rewards.
Fossils and Resonators are now more commonly found within Delve, and less commonly found from other sources.
Increased the base Sulphite Capacity to 1,200 (previously 600), scaling up to 6,400 Capacity after six upgrades (unchanged).
Alchemical Resonators are no longer purchasable from Niko, and can no longer be obtained from chests or any other sources. Existing Alchemical Resonators will still function as usual.
Bloodstained Fossils now Corrupt an Item, granting them a Corrupted Implicit Modifier (previously granted a Vaal Modifier).
Enchanted Fossils have been renamed to Deft Fossils, which now grant more Critical Modifiers, and no Attribute Modifiers (previously granted a Labyrinth Enchantment).
Encrusted Fossils have been renamed to Fundamental Fossils, which now grant more Attribute Modifiers, and no Critical Modifiers (previously granted more Sockets, with the possibility of White Sockets).
Tangled Fossils now makes a random Modifier type much more likely, and prevents another random modifier type (previously granted any Fossil modifiers). The effects are fully revealed once a Resonator is fully Socketed.
The damage dealt by the Darkness based on player Life and Energy Shield has been roughly halved. The flat damage per Darkness stack now scales with depth, up to a cap at around depth 1,000. For an example of the impact this has, a character with 6,000 Life would take less damage from the Darkness than previously at depths below about 500, and take approximately 50% more damage from the Darkness at depth 1,000 and greater. A character with extremely low amounts of Life could take as much as ten times the Darkness damage it previously did at depth 1,000.
Turong's mega Fireball skill now deals ~35% more damage.
Cavestalkers can now cast Spark Novas.
Introduced a new type of Spider enemy that drops from the ceiling and uses Flicker Strike
Mother Spiders now summon more Spider packs.
Monsters in Darkness now attack players from 50 units away (previously 20).
Ice Golems found in Frozen Hollow Biomes can now cast Ice Storm.
Hellions that drop Burning Ground on death can now be found in Magma Fissure Biomes.
Monster sounds and animations have been improved for many Delve monsters, to match the ongoing Act Monster improvements.
Problem:
Finding all six Trials of Ascendancy often took a very large number of maps. Assuming players were playing alone, it averaged to around 150 maps to find them all, but could be much more if players were unlucky. By this point, players were often over-levelled for the content and were starting to encounter difficult-enough endgame content where the extra Ascendancy skills were sorely needed. This problem would be further exacerbated by the reduction in Atlas size taking place in the Scourge expansion.
We recently added a means to open random Trials of Ascendancy in the Map Device by consuming an Offering to the Goddess. While this made finding all the trials easier, it often felt lossy as it required you to sacrifice something of value. You could have used that to run an Eternal Labyrinth for more enchantment opportunities and Labyrinth reward chests.
Solution:
In Path of Exile: Scourge, you'll no longer need to complete all of the Trials of Ascendancy found in maps in order to access the Eternal Labyrinth. You'll simply need to travel to the Labyrinth, paying one Offering to the Goddess.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Accessing the Eternal Labyrinth no longer requires the completion of Trials of Ascendancy found in Maps, only the completion of previous Labyrinths. It still costs one Offering to the Goddess to access.
The Eternal Labyrinth now requires a Character Level of 68 to access (previously 60).
Trials of Ascendancy can no longer spawn in White Maps, and the ability to consume an Offering to the Goddess in the Map Device to open portals to a random Trial of Ascendancy has been removed.
In Path of Exile: Scourge, we're making a number of changes to improve how characters mitigate ailments, use flasks, and build defences. We're also addressing the extreme power of Auras and Curses in parties, while improving the strength of these mechanics for builds with a smaller investment. Finally we're changing Elemental Overload and Elemental Equilibrium and massively buffing elemental damage over time to be less dependent on them.
Assembled below are topics with identified problems and our intended solutions. Below each solution is a spoiler tag with the specifics of what we're changing, including patch notes. Please note that as we're still just over a week out from release, anything here is subject to change based on our further testing and your feedback.
Problem:
In 3.15, we changed how flasks prevent ailments and curses on you, but didn't provide enough reasonable alternatives for mitigating ailments.
Solution:
Introduce a large number of options and improve existing options for characters to deal with Ailments. Characters should now be able to pick between reservation skills that mitigate ailments, remove effects reactively with life or mana flasks, gain immunity at a cost through Utility Flasks, or use improved modifiers on items and the passive skill tree to mitigate ailments and curses.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Certain skills now mitigate Ailments:
Purity of Elements: Aura now grants "You and nearby Allies are Immune to all Elemental Ailments", and "You and nearby Allies gain +20-34% to all Elemental Resistances" (previously 12-27%). Now has a Reservation of 50% (previously 35%).
Anomalous Purity of Elements no longer grants "You and nearby Allies have +0-2% chance to avoid Elemental Ailments". Instead, it now grants "0-10% increased Effect of Aura".
The Eternal Labyrinth Enchantment for Purity of Elements Reservation has been changed to match the values of other 50% Reservation Auras.
Steelskin: Now has "Buff grants Immunity to Bleeding".
Tempest Shield: Is now a Reservation Effect, and grants Immunity to Shock, as mentioned below.
Utility Flasks now have modifiers that grant Immunity to an Ailment during Flask Effect but lessen the duration of the Flask. This takes the place of the modifiers that give a specific Ailment Immunity if used while the Ailment is active.
For example:
Immunity to Bleeding and Corrupted Blood during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration.
New tiers of the modifiers that give Immunity to an Ailment if used while the Ailment is active have been added to Life and Mana flasks, providing up to 17 seconds of Immunity at the highest tier.
Allied Consecrated Ground now grants 50% reduced Effect of Curses on You while standing on it.
A rebalance to Passive clusters that provide Ailment protection, as well as new passives across the passive tree.
Between the Templar and Witch, Asylum now grants Chaos Resistance as well as protecting against Curses instead of increasing Consecrated Ground effect.
Between the Witch and Shadow is a new cluster to protect against Poison, Bleeding and Stun.
New sources of protection from Stun, Curses, Critical Strikes and Ailments as well as more specialised mechanics like Corrupted Blood, Maim, Hinder and Impale.
New Keystone Passive Skill added to the centre of the tree that causes intelligence to provide no inherent bonus to Energy Shield, but instead reduces elemental ailment duration on you.
Many Pantheon Powers have been updated to better mitigate Ailments. Some Pantheon modifiers have been updated to be more of a choice with others.
Soul of Brine King: Upgraded Soul of the Brine King Pantheon now grants “Cannot be Frozen”, instead of “You cannot be Frozen if you’ve been Frozen Recently”.
Soul of Arakaali: No longer grants 10% chance to Avoid Lightning Damage from Hits. It now grants 10% reduced Damage taken from Damage over Time (previously 5%). Upgraded Soul of Arakaali Pantheon no longer grants 30% reduced Effect of Shock on You, or 30% reduced Shock Duration on You. Instead, it now grants “Debuffs on You Expire 20% faster”. Upgraded Soul of Arakaali Pantheon now grants +40% Chaos Resistance against Damage over Time (previously 25%), and 20% increased Recovery rate of Life and Energy Shield if you’ve stopped taking Damage Over Time Recently (previously 50%).
Soul of Abberath: No longer grants 5% reduced Fire Damage taken while moving, or “Unaffected by Burning Ground”. It now grants 60% less Duration of Ignite on You. Upgraded Soul of Abberath Pantheon no longer grants 50% reduced Ignite Duration on You, it now grants “Unaffected by Burning Ground”, as well as 10% increased Movement Speed while on Burning Ground.
Soul of Shakari: Soul of Shakari and the upgraded Soul of Shakari Pantheon powers have been swapped. Soul of Shakari Pantheon now grants 50% less Duration of Poisons on You, and “You cannot be Poisoned while there are at least 3 Poisons on You” (previously 5 Poisons). Upgraded Soul of Shakari Pantheon now grants 5% reduced Chaos Damage Taken, and 25% reduced Chaos Damage over Time taken while on Caustic Ground.
Soul of Ralakesh: No longer grants 25% chance to avoid Bleeding. Instead, it now grants “Moving while Bleeding doesn’t cause you to take extra Damage”.
Soul of Yugul: No longer grants 50% chance to Reflect Enemy Chills and Freezes. Instead, it now grants 50% chance to Reflect Hexes, and “You and your Minions take 50% reduced Reflected Damage” (previously 25%). Upgraded Soul of Yugul now grants 30% reduced Effect of Curses on You (previously 20%).
Soul of Garukhan: No longer grants +5% chance to Evade Attack Hits if you've taken a Savage Hit Recently. Instead, it now grants 60% reduced Effect of Shock on You.
Soul of Tukohama: Now grants “While stationary, gain 3% additional Physical Damage Reduction every second, up to a maximum of 9%” (previously 2%, up to a maximum of 8%). Upgraded Soul of Tukohama no longer grants “While stationary, gain 0.5% of Life Regeneration per second every second, up to a maximum of 2%”. Instead, it now grants “Regenerate 2% of Life per second while stationary”.
Crafting modifiers have been updated:
The Veiled modifier on Body Armour that granted 25-30% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments and being Stunned now grants 30-35% chance. The crafting bench version of this modifier has been updated accordingly.
The “Chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments” crafting bench option now grants 21-25% chance (previously 16-18%).
The “Reduced Effect of Chill and Shock on You” crafting bench option now grants 30-40% chance (previously 21-25%).
Added the following new crafting bench modifiers:
Shields - Take no Extra damage from Bleed while Moving
Belt - +36/43% Chaos Resistance to Damage over Time
Boots - 50/60% chance to Avoid Bleeding
Rings - 50/60% reduced Ignite Duration on you
Rings - 50/60% reduced Effect of Chill on you
Rings - 50/60% reduced Effect of Shock on you
Rings - 20/25% reduced Effect of Curses on you
Helmet - 15/20% reduced Effect of Freeze on You
“Avoidance” crafting bench options are now called “Ailment, Stun and Curse Mitigation”.
Updated crafting bench modifier unlock locations:
Rank 2 “Attributes” crafting bench options are now unlocked in the Western Forest in Act 6, these were previously unlocked in The Ascent in Act 4.
Rank 3 “Attributes” crafting bench options are now unlocked in Maps, these were previously unlocked in the Western Forest in Act 6.
Rank 1 “Ailment, Stun and Curse Mitigation” crafting bench options are now unlocked in The Ascent in Act 4, these were previously unlocked in Maps.
The new Belt crafting bench option is unlocked with other reduced Damage over Time crafting options. This unlock was in the Incursion Temple but is now found in a Map. The remaining new crafting options are unlocked alongside other Ailment, Stun and Curse Mitigation crafting options in The Ascent in Act 4. The modifier level of existing modifiers in the Rank 1 Ailment, Stun and Curse Mitigation category have been lowered (so the item level requirement of the item is appropriate if you use this craft during the campaign).
Updated certain Rare item modifiers, and added some new ones. Shields:
Chance to Avoid all Elemental Status Ailments can now roll as a Suffix on all Shields (previously just Dexterity Shields).
The tier 1 Chance to Avoid all Elemental Status Ailments modifier can now grant up to 35% chance (previously 23%). Lower tier modifiers have been adjusted accordingly.
Influenced Items
The chance to Avoid Ignite/Freeze/Shock modifiers on Crusader Boots and Quivers now scales up to 60% chance (previously 45%), and lower tier modifiers have been removed. Elevated modifiers have been adjusted accordingly.
The chance to Avoid Poison and Bleed modifiers on Hunter Boots now scales up to 50% chance (previously 35%), and lower tier modifiers have been removed. Elevated modifiers have been adjusted accordingly.
The chance to Avoid all Elemental Status Ailments modifier on Shaper Boots now scales up to 35% chance (previously 25%), and lower tier modifiers have been removed. Elevated modifiers have been adjusted accordingly.
The chance to Avoid Stun modifiers on Elder and Redeemer Boots, Gloves and Quivers now scales up to 35% chance (previously 30%), and lower tier modifiers have been removed. Elevated modifiers have been adjusted accordingly.
The reduced Ignite/Freeze duration and reduced Shock Effect modifiers on Crusader Helmets now scales up to 60% reduced (previously 45%), and lower tier modifiers have been removed. Elevated modifiers have been adjusted accordingly.
The reduced Curse Effect modifier on Crusader and Shaper Rings now scales up to 40% reduced (previously 35%), and lower tier modifiers have been removed.
The “Moving while Bleeding doesn’t cause you to take extra Damage” modifier can no longer roll on Hunter Shields.
Improved Avoidance values on Essences:
The Chance to Avoid Shock/Freeze/Ignite modifier on Belts, Helmets and Boots from Essences of Torment/Suffering/Anguish now scales up to 60% chance (previously 44%). Lower tier modifiers have been adjusted accordingly.
New Essence modifiers
Essences of Loathing now provides chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments for Boots (previously chance to Dodge Attack Hits).
Essences of Scorn now provides increased Stun Threshold for Body Armour (previously chance to Dodge Spell Hits), and Chance to Avoid being Stunned for Boots, Gloves and Helmets (previously only Gloves and Helmets).
Improved Avoidance Suffix modifiers on Abyss Jewels:
Suffix modifiers that grant a chance to Avoid Ignite/Chill/Freeze/Shock/Poison/Bleed/Stun now scale up to 30% chance (previously 20%).
Added two new modifiers to Regular Jewels:
15% reduced Effect of Chill and Shock on You
10% reduced Effect of Curses on You
Timeless Jewels:
The Brutal Restraint Notable Passive Skill addition that grants a chance to Avoid Stuns now grants a 20% chance (previously 10%).
The Elegant Hubris Notable Passive Skill transformation that grants a chance to Avoid being Chilled and chance to Avoid being Shocked now grants 80% chance (previously 50%).
Cluster Jewels:
The Elegant Form Cluster Jewel Notable Passive Skill now grants 20% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments (previously 15%).
Jewel Corruptions:
Adding an Implicit modifier with 20-25% chance to Avoid Ignite/Chill/Freeze/Shock/Poison/Bleed/Stun is now a possible outcome when Corrupting all Jewels.
Synthesis Implicits:
Synthesis Implicit modifiers on Jewels that grant a chance to Avoid Ignite/Chill/Freeze/Shock/Poison/Bleed/Stun now grant 8-10% chance (previously 3-5%).
Harvest Implicits:
Modifiers that granted a chance to Avoid Ailments or reduced Ailment Effect now have values of 15% (previously 10%).
Ring Corruptions:
Obtaining an Implicit Cannot be Poisoned/Ignited/Inflicted with Bleed modifier is now possible earlier in the game when Corrupting a Ring, and now has a higher outcome chance.
Some Uniques have been updated:
The Tear of Purity Amulet no longer grants 5% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments. Instead, it now grants +5% to all Elemental Resistances (as Purity of Elements now gives Elemental Ailment Immunity, the modifier had very little use). This affects existing versions of this item.
The Conqueror’s Longevity Jewel now grants 10% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments (previously 3%). Existing versions of this item can be updated to the new values with a Divine Orb.
The Ghastly Theatre Shield now grants “Bleeding cannot be Inflicted on You” (previously 30-50% chance to avoid Bleeding). Existing versions of this item can be updated with a Divine Orb.
The Kikazaru Ring now grants 60% reduced Effect of Curses on You (previously 40%). Existing versions of this item can be updated to the new values with a Divine Orb.
Problem:
Many Flask modifiers grant buffs during Flask Effect, which isn't well-suited to a Life or Mana Flask's short and reactive nature.
Solution:
Added new modifiers to Life and Mana Flasks that are impactful but brief, and have a Duration rather than applying during Flask Effect.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Removed many Flask Effect modifiers from Life and Mana flasks, and added the following modifiers for Life and Mana Flasks:
Hinder nearby Enemies with 40% reduced Movement Speed for 4 seconds if used while not on Full Mana (Mana Flasks Only)
Hinder nearby Enemies with 40% reduced Movement Speed for 4 seconds if used while not on Full Life (Life Flasks Only)
Grants Immunity to Hinder for 17 seconds if used while Hindered | Grants Immunity to Maim for 17 seconds if used while Maimed
Recover an additional 40% of Life Recovery over 10 seconds if used while not on Full Life (Life Flasks Only)
Problem:
Utility Flasks are usually used proactively, but the Ailment protection modifiers introduced in 3.15.0 work by reacting to an Ailment on you.
Solution:
Replace the Ailment Removal Modifier on Utility flasks with one that grants Ailment Immunity but lessens flask duration. Note that base durations on Utility flasks have been increased to compensate (see below).
Specifics:
Spoiler
Added new modifiers to Utility Flasks for mitigating Ailments as well as adding more tiers to existing modifiers that are now only found on Life and Mana Flasks, as noted above. We have also added these Ailment Immunity Modifiers for Utility Flasks as Beastcrafting options.
Immunity to Bleeding and Corrupted Blood during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration at the highest tier
Immunity to Poison during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration at the highest tier
Immunity to Shock during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration at the highest tier
Immunity to Ignite during Flask effect | Removes Burning on use | 35-39% less Duration at the highest tier
Immunity to Freeze and Chill during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration at the highest tier
Problem:
Utility Flasks are sustainable with enough character damage and clear speed, but there aren't easy ways to sustain Utility Flasks for less-powerful characters.
Solution:
Add new modifiers and improve existing modifiers on Flasks that affect their duration or charge gain. Add some new Passive Skills to help sustain Flasks. Extend the base duration of Utility Flasks to reduce how often they need to be used.
Quicksilver, Diamond, Granite, Jade, Quartz and Silver Flasks now last 6 seconds (previously 4).
Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, Aquamarine, Sulphur, Basalt, Stibnite and Corundum Flasks now last 8 seconds (previously 5).
Gold and Iron Flasks now last 5 seconds (previously 3).
Bismuth Flask now lasts 8.5 seconds (previously 5.5).
Amethyst Flask now lasts 6.5 seconds (previously 4.5).
Unique Flasks are being reviewed as a result of these changes:
Dying Sun now has 40-60% less Duration (previously 40-60% reduced duration).
Coruscating Elixir now has 25% increased Duration (previously 100%).
Bottled Faith now has 15-30% reduced Duration (previously 20-40% increased).
Adding and improving Flask investment in the Dexterity area of the Passive Skill Tree.
Problem:
Even after lowering the power of many Unique flasks in 3.15.0, Unique Flasks still outclass most Magic Utility Flasks. In addition, the item level of flasks did not matter after a certain point.
Solution:
Add multiple tiers to most Flask modifiers. At higher levels, Flasks now have much more powerful effects available. Flask modifiers that increase Armour or Evasion are now weaker at their first tier as the changes to Armour and Evasion below make them more powerful. These changes allow us to restore some of the power that was removed from Flasks in 3.15 without affecting the early-mid game so much.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Here are examples of the highest tier modifiers available:
60-65% Reduced Effect of Chill on you during Flask effect | 60-65% Reduced Duration of Freezes on you during Flask effect (Level 80)
60-65% Reduced Effect of Shock on you during Flask effect (Level 82)
60-65% Reduced Effect of Curses on you during Flask effect (Level 84)
Immunity to Bleeding and Corrupted Blood during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration (Level 76)
Immunity to Poison during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration (Level 76)
Immunity to Shock during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration (Level 74)
Immunity to Ignite during Flask effect | Removes Burning on use | 35-39% less Duration (Level 74)
Immunity to Freeze and Chill during Flask Effect | 35-39% less Duration (Level 72)
12-14% increased Movement Speed during Flask effect (Level 85)
56-60% increased Armour during Flask effect (Level 84)
56-60% increased Evasion during Flask effect (Level 84)
37-40% additional Elemental Resistances during Flask effect (Level 81)
0.8% of Attack Damage Leeched as Life during Flask effect (Level 80)
0.8% of Spell Damage Leeched as Energy Shield during Flask effect (Level 80)
50-55% increased Critical Strike Chance during Flask effect (Level 82)
31-34% chance to Freeze, Shock and Ignite during Flask effect (Level 72)
40-45% Chance to avoid being Stunned during Flask Effect (Level 80)
15-17% increased Attack Speed during Flask effect (Level 82)
15-17% increased Cast Speed during Flask effect (Level 82)
51-55% chance to Avoid being Chilled during Flask Effect | 51-55% chance to Avoid being Frozen during Flask Effect (Level 80)
51-55% chance to Avoid being Shocked during Flask Effect (Level 82)
51-55% chance to Avoid being Ignited during Flask Effect (Level 82)
75-80% increased Block and Stun Recovery during Flask Effect (Level 73)
+32-35 to Maximum Charges (Level 82)
Gain 7 Charges when you are Hit by an Enemy (Level 80)
26-28% reduced Charges used (Level 82)
46-50% increased Charge Recovery (Level 83)
31-35% chance to gain a Flask Charge when you deal a Critical Strike (Level 80)
Grants Immunity to Ignite for +15-17 seconds if used while Ignited (Level 78)
Grants Immunity to Shock for +15-17 seconds if used while Shocked (Level 78)
Grants Immunity to Poison for +15-17 seconds if used while Poisoned (Level 82)
Grants Immunity to Bleeding for +15-17 seconds if used while Bleeding (Level 80)
Grants Immunity to Chill for +15-17 seconds if used while Chilled | Grants Immunity to Freeze for +15-17 seconds if used while Frozen (Level 76)
Remove a curse on use (Level 8)
Hinder nearby Enemies with 35-40% reduced Movement Speed for 4 seconds if used while not on Full Mana (Level 82)
Hinder nearby Enemies with 35-40% reduced Movement Speed for 4 seconds if used while not on Full Life (Level 82)
Grants Immunity to Maim for +15-17 seconds if used while Maimed | Grants Immunity to Hinder for +15-17 seconds if used while Hindered (Level 82)
Grants 75-80% of Life Recovery to Minions (Level 82)
26-29% reduced Mana Cost of Skills during Flask Effect (Level 80)
35-40% of recovery applied as an extra recovery effect over 10 seconds (Level 81)
The Cinderswallow Urn Unique Flask has changed as a result of the changes above. “60-80% reduced Reflected Damage taken during Flask Effect” is now a possible modifier when Unveiling this Flask, which has replaced the increased Critical Strike Chance during Flask Effect modifier that was possible previously. The crafted version of this new modifier has values of 45-55%, and has replaced the Critical Strike Chance during Flask Effect crafting option.
Problem:
Enkindling effects on Flasks aren't impactful enough, and aren't bringing Flasks back to the kind of power that non-permanent uptime should grant.
Solution:
Buff some Enkindling Orb effects, most notably the increased Flask Effect modifier.
Problem:
Belts are the item slot intended to enhance Flasks, but only have a limited list of modifiers that actually affect Flasks in their modifier pool.
Solution:
Add more tiers to Flask modifiers on Belts, and move the Flask Effect modifier out of the Influence modifier pool into the base modifier pool for Belts.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Added more tiers to Belt modifiers that affect Flasks, resulting in buffs to most modifiers, most notably Life and Mana recovery modifiers. Here are some examples of values of some high tier modifiers:
40% increased Flask Life Recovery rate
40% increased Flask Mana Recovery rate
40% increased Flask Charges gained
33% increased Flask Effect Duration
Flasks applied to you have 12% increased Effect
Problem:
Instant-recovery Life Flasks are by far the most reliable tool for survivability, as the total Life recovery from a Flask is reasonable but spread over a long period of time.
Solution:
Keep the total Life Recovery from all Life Flasks the same, but halve the amount of time for this to occur, which doubles their healing per second. This is a huge improvement to how effective non-instant Life Flasks are at keeping you alive in tough situations.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The Blood of the Karui Unique Flask is being reviewed as a result of these changes, and now has 35-50% reduced Recovery Rate (previously 5-20% increased).
Problem:
There are no accessible tools for a player to change their charge gain method if gaining charges on kill isn't well-suited to their slower playstyle.
Solution:
The “Survival” Unique Jewels available from the "Through Sacred Ground" quest have been reworked to let you gain charges another way, while reducing the charges gained from kills.
Specifics:
Spoiler
There is now a limit of 1 for these Survival Jewels.
Survival Instincts: Now has "50% increased Flask Effect Duration" and "20% reduced Flask Charges Gained". It no longer grants +20 to Dexterity, or +6% to all Elemental Resistances. Existing items can be updated using a Divine Orb.
Survival Skills: Now has “Flasks gain 2 Charges when you hit a Non-Unique Enemy, no more than once per second” and “80% less Flask Charges gained from Kills”. It no longer grants +50 to Armour, or 10% increased Global Physical Damage. Existing items can be updated using a Divine Orb.
Survival Secrets: Now has "Flasks gain 3 Charges every 3 seconds while they are inactive" and "Flasks applied to you have 20% reduced Effect". It no longer has 10% increased Elemental Damage, or "Regenerate 3 Mana per second". Existing items can be updated using a Divine Orb.
Problem:
Rangers don't have a form of Life Recovery that they excel at, while almost every other core character has a signature special Recovery method.
Solution:
Add new and improve existing passive skills specialising in the recovery of charges for life and mana Flasks as well as life recovery from Flasks in the Ranger section of the Passive Skill Tree.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Added Life Regeneration if you’ve used a Life Flask in the past 10 seconds and Mana Gained on Hit with Attacks if you’ve used a Mana Flask in the past 10 seconds to the Ranger starting area.
Added new Passive Skills in the Ranger section of the Passive Skill Tree that increase generation of Life and Mana Flasks, including gaining a Life Flask Charge on Hitting Enemies, with a short cooldown. Added new sources of life and mana flasks gaining charges every 3 seconds and Life Flasks gaining Charges when you Suppress Spell Damage.
We are doing a major balance pass to improve defences and recovery for all characters. The goal here is to put more power into the core defences (Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield) to make them the best way to mitigate the kind of damage they are best at preventing, while taking some of that power away from the one-off mechanics that provide a significant defence for too low a cost. While some individual mechanics have been nerfed, this is overall a massive buff to defenses across the board.
Previously, there were some very tanky characters, but they were gated behind specific niche mechanics and uniques that were not accessible to everyone. What we're doing here is moving a lot of that power to everyone else, so that core defenses are far more powerful than they were before.
We're also making sure that every type of character has plenty of ways to mitigate a much more diverse set of damage types. For example, Evasion mitigates Attacks well, so we're introducing Spell Suppression to help Evasion builds protect themselves against Spells.
Overarching Problem:
Dodge and Blind provide more mitigation for fewer passive points and item slots than any other defence type. Attack Dodge does this in a form that is almost identical to Evasion but is far more efficient.
Overarching Goal:
Remove Dodge entirely and review certain powerful mechanics like Blind (and Fortify for non-melee characters). Improve almost every other scalable defence type significantly to make them more powerful. This includes Armour, Evasion, Energy Shield Recovery and Spell Block.
Problem:
Armour as a core stat doesn't provide sufficient defence with low to medium investment. Armour characters instead rely on a number of other mechanics to provide them with the defence against Physical Damage that Armour is meant to provide.
Solution:
Improve the Armour formula so that Armour is more powerful, providing better mitigation across the board, and increase the strength of modifiers on items that add base local Armour.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Previously, if you had 10,000 Armour and you took a hit that dealt 2,000 physical damage, you'd reduce that hit by 33%. Now you'll reduce that hit by 50%.
A rule of thumb with the new Armour formula is that if you want to get 50% mitigation against a physical damage hit, you need 5 times the damage as Armour where previously it required 10 times the damage. As an example, if you want to mitigate a 5,000 hit down to 2,500, you used to need 50,000 Armour to do this. Now you only need 25,000 Armour.
Increased the strength of modifiers on gear that add base local Armour, and added a smoother progression of tiers (as they were currently very low until the highest tier, and had some levels where there was no new tier for a large number of levels). This will on average result in items with higher Armour on them, especially during the Campaign and early maps, and make it much more affordable to reach decent Armour values.
Armour provided by base types can now be 15% higher on average, as part of a variable base type system detailed below.
Determination has been buffed to provide both a flat bonus to Armour, as well as its existing “more” multiplier to Armour.
Grants up to 2051 Armour at level 20 of Determination.
New Suffix modifiers have been added to all Armour-based Body Armour and Shields that provide up to +8% additional Physical Damage Reduction on each slot. Crafted modifiers have also been added.
Additional Physical Damage Reduction mods were discontinued from all other rare modifiers so that large values could be provided on the above two slots.
New Suffix modifiers have been added to all Armour-based Gloves, Helmets and Boots that provide increased Life Regeneration Rate. This works as a multiplier to your Life Regeneration value. Crafted modifiers have also been added.
Monster base Armour has been reviewed as a result of changes to the Armour formula, and has been slightly decreased.
Problem:
Evasion doesn't provide sufficient defence. Evasive characters instead rely on the Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics keystones to provide Attack and Spell mitigation.
Solution:
Remove Attack Dodge entirely. Substantially buff Evasion so that it is a good option and make sure it is easily available on items.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Improve the Evasion formula to grant more chance to evade for all values of Evasion Rating.
To have a 75% chance to Evade against a Tier 16 Map monster, you currently need 49,000 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 24,200 Evasion Rating after this change.
To have a 75% chance to Evade against a Tier 1 Map monster, you currently need 23,800 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 12,700 Evasion Rating after this change.
To have a 50% chance to Evade against a Tier 16 Map monster, you currently need 13,750 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 8,150 Evasion Rating after this change.
To have a 50% chance to Evade against a Tier 1 Map monster, you currently need 6,650 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 4,275 Evasion Rating after this change.
To have a 25% chance to Evade against a Tier 16 Map monster, you currently need 4,500 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 3,300 Evasion Rating after this change.
To have a 25% chance to Evade against a Tier 1 Map monster, you currently need 2,180 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 1,735 Evasion Rating after this change.
Increase modifiers on gear that add base local Evasion Rating, and smooth the progression of tiers (as they were currently very low until the highest tier). This will on average result in items with higher evasion on them, especially during the campaign and early maps, and make it much more affordable to reach decent Evasion values. Update Crafted modifiers to similar values and make them available earlier in the campaign.
Rank 1 Defences crafts are now unlocked in The Crematorium in Act 3 (previously The Karui Fortress in Act 6).
Rank 1 Fire Damage crafts are now unlocked in The Solaris Temple in Act 3 (previously The Crematorium in Act 3).
Rank 1 Cold Damage crafts are now unlocked in The Crystal Veins in Act 4 (previously The Solaris Temple in Act 3).
Rank 2 Elemental Resistances crafts are now unlocked after fighting Piety in The Belly of the Beast in Act 4 (previously The Crystal Veins in Act 4).
Rank 2 Defences crafts are now unlocked in The Karui Fortress in Act 6 (previously The Feeding Trough in Act 10).
Rank 1 Chaos Damage crafts are now unlocked in the Temple of Decay in Act 7 (previously after fighting Piety in The Belly of the Beast in Act 4).
Rank 2 Accuracy crafts are now unlocked in The Desecrated Chambers in Act 10 (previously Temple of Decay in Act 7).
Rank 3 Life and Mana crafts are now unlocked in The Feeding Trough in Act 10 (previously The Desecrated Chambers in Act 10).
Evasion provided by base types can now be 15% higher on average, as part of a variable base type system detailed below.
The Grace Skill Gem now has “You and nearby Allies gain 20% more Evasion Rating” at gem level 1, up to 29% at gem level 20”, as well as its existing flat bonus to Evasion Rating. These changes make the Aura very effective at Attack Mitigation if you’ve already invested in Evasion Rating.
Reworked Evasion passives.
Adjusted monster base Evasion and Minion Accuracy to compensate for changes to the evasion formula.
Monsters with abilities that always hit have been reviewed as a result of the removal of Dodge. Abilities that were deemed an issue no longer always hit, such as Fractal Gargantuan’s Slam, Rigwald, the Wolven King’s Barrage, Daresso, King of Swords’ Reave, and Guardian of the Chimera’s Combo and Charged Attacks.
Problem:
Evasion provides no defence against Spells.
Solution:
Introduce "Spell Suppression" on Evasion items as well the Dexterity section of the Passive Skill Tree, which gives a chance to halve spell damage taken. The chance can be stacked up to 100%. Convert existing sources of Dodge and Spell Dodge to Spell Suppression or replace them with other bonuses.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Spell Suppression is designed as the Dexterity character's best answer to spells. In general, Spell Suppression gives easier access and more reliable spell damage mitigation for Dexterity characters without reliance on specific uniques. It's also much more reliable than Spell Dodge, but has a lower maximum. There will be a few specialised ways to invest in increasing the spell damage suppressed to reward high investment if you want to further protect yourself from spell hits.
Spell Suppression will be found on various Passive Skills in the Evasion areas of the Passive Skill Tree.
The Evasion Wheel at the centre of the Passive Skill Tree no longer provides Accuracy, but provides a combo of Evasion and chance to Suppress Spells instead.
New Suffix modifiers have also been added to all Evasion Armours that can roll modifiers that grant a chance to Suppress Spell Damage. Body Armours and Shields in particular can roll larger values of these modifiers.
New Keystone Passive Skill added to the centre of the tree called Magebane: Dexterity provides no inherent bonus to Evasion Rating. You gain a 1% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage per 15 Dexterity.
Vaal Grace no longer has 24-34% Chance to Dodge Attack Hits or Spell Hits. Instead, it now has +15% Chance to Evade Attack Hits, and “Suppressed Spell Damage dealt to you is Unlucky”.
Additional chance to Evade modifiers were discontinued from all Rare modifiers, passives and Pantheon powers as their values were generally too low or felt out of place and so that Vaal Grace could provide a very large value of this stat.
Change Elusive to provide 15% chance to Avoid Damage from Hits, instead of it's old Dodge-related stats.
Change Wind Dancer to further improve high Evasion builds rather than reducing Evade chance, but making it riskier if you're not Evading attacks a lot. It now gives 20% less Attack Damage taken if you haven't been Hit by an Attack recently, and 40% more Evasion Rating and 20% more Attack Damage taken if you have been Hit, so it's better for Evasion characters that have a high Evasion Rating and bad for characters that are being hit a lot. It has no interaction with Spells now, to focus its interaction on Evasion.
Acrobatics has been redesigned. It no longer has any of it's old properties, but now changes any modifiers to Spell Suppression into Spell Dodge at 50% of it's value. The intention is that Acrobatics is the only source in the entire game for Spell Dodge, for characters who would like to benefit from that playstyle still. Spell Dodge is still capped at 75%, and the Keystone Passive will specifically mention this.
The Perfect Form: Now grants 80-100% increased Evasion Rating (previously 30-50%), 70-100 Life (previously 50-80), and 10-15% increased Dexterity (previously 5-10%). Now grants Acrobatics instead of Phase Acrobatics.
Three-step Assault: Now grants 30% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments while Phasing. This affects existing items, though they have a value of 10%. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Omeyocan: Now grants 10% increased Evasion per 500 Mana. This affects existing items, though they have 2% increased Evasion per 500 Mana. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
White Wind: Now grants 30-40% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while your Off Hand is empty. This affects existing items, though they have values of 15-25%. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Precursor Emblem: Now grants 1% chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Endurance/Frenzy/Power charge.
The Green Nightmare: Now causes Passives granting Cold Resistance or all Elemental Resistance to also grant Chance to Suppress Spell Damage at 50% of its value. This affects existing items, though they have a value of 35%. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Timeless Passives that granted Spell Dodge now grant a chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
Small Cluster Jewels that granted 1% Dodge now grants 2% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
Hit and Run Cluster Jewel Notable: Now grants 6% chance to Suppress Spell Damage if you've Hit an enemy recently.
Untouchable Cluster Jewel Notable: Now grants 6% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
Elegant Form Cluster Jewel Notable: Now grants 6% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
Darting Movement Cluster Jewel Notable: Now grants 8% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while moving.
Darkray Vectors: Now grant 10% increased Evasion Rating per Frenzy Charge. Existing items instead have 2% chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Frenzy Charge, and cannot be updated with a Divine Orb.
The Watcher’s Eye modifier which previously granted chance to Dodge Attack Hits while affected by Grace now provides 12-15% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while affected by Grace. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
The Watcher’s Eye modifier which previously granted chance to Dodge Spell Hits while affected by Haste now provides 5-8% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while affected by Haste. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Quickening Covenant: Now has 20-24% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
Conqueror's Longevity: Now has 5% chance to Suppress Spell Damage and 10% Life Recovery from Flasks (previously 8%). Existing items will have 3% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. A Divine Orb can be used to update the Life Recovery value.
Assailum: Now grants 14-20% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while Channelling. This change affects existing items.
Hyrri's Ire: Now grants 30% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. This change affects existing items.
Oskarm: Now grants 10-12% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. This affects existing items, though they have values of 7-8%.
Bloodbond grants 12-15% chance for Minions to Suppress Spell Damage. This affects existing items, though they have values of 6-10%, which can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Quartz Flask: Now grants 10% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
The Boot Enchant that granted a chance to Dodge Spell Hits if you’ve taken Spell Damage recently now grants a chance to Suppress Spell Damage if you’ve taken Spell Damage recently.
The Snowblind Grace: Now grants 20% chance to Suppress Spell Damage, and 80-100% increased Evasion Rating (previously 30-50%). Existing items will have the chance to Suppress Spell Damage, with a value of 10%.
Atziri's Step: Now grants 20-26% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. This affects existing items, though they have values of 21-24%.
Evasion/Energy Shield base type Shields that had a 2% chance to Dodge Attacks or Spells now have a 3% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. A Blessed Orb can be used on existing items to obtain this new value.
Evasion/Energy Shield base type Shields that had a 4% chance to Dodge Attacks or Spells now have a 5% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. A Blessed Orb can be used on existing items to obtain this new value.
Hinekora's Sight: Now has 600-1000 Accuracy and Evasion, and prevents +3% of Suppressed Spell Damage. Existing items have a 12-20% chance to Suppress Spell Damage, and cannot be updated with a Divine Orb.
Incursion modifiers that provided Movement Speed and chance to Dodge Attack Hits/Spell Hits instead now grant Movement Speed and chance to Avoid Bleeding/Poison.
Ascent from Flesh: Now grants 30% increased Evasion while Phasing. This affects existing items, though they have a value of 6%. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Timeless Passives that granted Attack Dodge now grant a chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments.
Daresso's Defiance: Now grants 180-220% increased Armour and Evasion (previously 160-200%). No longer grants Dodge, this affects existing items. Existing items can update the increased Armour and Evasion values using a Divine Orb.
The Blade Flurry Helmet Enchantment that granted chance to Dodge Attack Hits now grants +1 Maximum Stages. This affects existing items
The Charged Dash Helmet Enchantment that granted a chance to Dodge Attack Hits now grants +4/+6 to Radius if you have finished Channelling Charged Dash recently. This affects existing items.
The Boot Enchantment that granted a chance to Dodge Attack Hits if you’ve taken a Critical Strike recently now grants reduced Extra Damage taken from Critical Strikes if you’ve taken a Critical Strike recently.
Maraketh Swords now have 15%/20% chance to Maim on Hit, instead of 4%/6% Dodge. A Blessed Orb can be used on existing items to obtain this new value.
Saving Kraityn in the “Deal with the Bandits” Quest now grants 10% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments as a reward.
The Upgraded Soul of Lunaris Pantheon no longer grants 5% chance to Dodge Attack and Spell Hits if you've been Hit Recently. It now grants 6% reduced Elemental Damage Taken if Hit Recently.
Phase Acrobatics no longer exists.
Map Modifiers that granted increased Accuracy Rating to Monsters and made Player chance to Dodge Unlucky have been replaced with ones that reduce the amount of Suppressed Spell Damage Prevented by a percentage for Players.
Many other smaller changes on top of those noted above to improve specific items, Passives, and Skills.
Problem:
Due to Armour and Evasion not working effectively as primary defences previously, we've introduced a lot of mechanics over the years that either scale them too efficiently or scale off them too efficiently (or not well enough). The intention would be that the straightforward way of getting armour or evasion on your items is the best way to maximise its efficacy.
Solution:
Review all mechanics that scale off Armour/Evasion, and all mechanics that grant large values or increases to Armour and Evasion.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Vaal Molten Shell: Buff will now grant +50 Armour at gem level 1 (previously 25), up to +858 Armour at gem level 20 (previously 429). Buff no longer grants 20-29% more Armour. Now grants 35% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 40% at gem level 20 (previously 35%).
The Brass Dome: Unique has been redesigned to more properly embrace its identity of a high Armour Body Armour, while not providing as extreme of a difference compared to a Rare Body Armour with top tier Armour modifiers. It no longer has "10% reduced Movement Speed", "50% increased Shock Duration on you", or "30% reduced chance to Block Attack and Spell Damage". Instead, it now has 350-400% increased Armour (previously 600-650%), “+1-5% to all maximum Elemental Resistances”, and "Strength provides no bonus to Maximum Life".
Memory Vault: No longer grants “Gain Armour equal to your Reserved Mana”. Instead, it now grants “1% increased Armour per 50 Reserved Mana”.
The Formless Flame and The Formless Inferno: Now grant “Armour is increased by Overcapped Fire Resistance” (previously Uncapped Fire Resistance).
Craiceann's Carapace: Now grants 200-250% increased Armour (previously 300-350%). It provided just a bit too much Armour compared to Rares when considering all the other stats it provided.
Transcendence: Keystone Passive Skill now grants -15% to maximum Elemental Resistances (previously -5%).
Mask of the Tribunal: No longer grants “Nearby Allies have 4-6% increased Defences per 100 Strength you have”. Instead, it now grants “Nearby Allies have 1% chance to Block Attack Damage per 100 Strength you have”. Existing items are unaffected.
Font of Thunder: Now has 400-500% increased Evasion and Energy Shield (previously 500-600%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Rime Gaze: Now has 140-160% increased Energy Shield (previously 180-200%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Doryani's Delusion: Now has 150-180% increased Evasion Rating (previously 180-220%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Garukhan's Flight: Now has 300-340% increased Evasion Rating (previously 320-380%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Lioneye's Remorse: Now has 180-220% increased Armour (previously 200-250%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
Magna Eclipsis: Now has 180-220% increased Armour (previously 200-250%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
“Avatar of the Chase” Raider Notable Ascendancy Passive: No longer grants “35% more chance to Evade Melee Attacks during Onslaught” or “35% more chance to Evade Projectile Attacks during Onslaught”. Instead, it now grants “10% more chance to Evade Attacks during Onslaught”.
The Snowblind Grace and The Perfect Form: Now grant “Evasion Rating is increased by Overcapped Cold Resistance” (previously Uncapped Cold Resistance). They both now have 80-100% increased Evasion Rating (previously 30-50%), and The Perfect Form now has “10-15% increased Dexterity” (previously 5-10%).
Willowgift: No longer grants “Fortify Buffs you create instead grant 30% more Evasion Rating”. Instead, it now grants “4% chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Fortification”, but removes the less damage taken from Fortification. Existing items will no longer provide Evasion Rating while you have Fortify, though you will need to use a Divine Orb to obtain Spell Suppression from the item.
Problem:
Characters who rely solely on Armour are not protected against Elemental Damage.
Solution:
Add more Maximum Elemental Resistances to areas of the passive tree that have Armour in them.
Specifics:
Spoiler
More access to maximum Elemental Resistances has been provided to Armour areas of the Passive Skill Tree in order to shore up the weaknesses of Armour-focused characters.
More information on Passive Skill Tree changes will be coming later.
First Problem:
The Veiled modifier that increases quality on equipment was required to maximise the Energy Shield from an item. This is a problem because you cannot pick up the best Energy Shield items off the ground.
Second Problem:
Stacking the "Energy from Naught" notable passive on Cluster Jewels was too efficient as a way to maximise your Energy Shield.
Solution:
Replace the Veiled modifier and lower the power on the Energy from Naught Notable. Compensate all characters for the loss of maximum energy shield by increasing the strength of all Energy Shield base types. Add more Energy Shield to the passive skill tree.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Energy Shield provided by base types has been increased by 5% on average, and can now be an additional 15% higher than this on average, as part of a variable base type system detailed below.
The Veiled crafted modifier that provided Quality and Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence, no longer provides Quality. This is to keep the top end at about the same while bringing lower investment Energy Shield up. Instead, it now grants up to 25% chance to Avoid Ignite, Freeze, or Shock, depending on the Attribute, also providing another way to allow characters to solve their Ailment problems. This can no longer be crafted on Weapons.
The Energy from Naught Cluster Jewel Notable Passive Skill now grants +60 to maximum Energy Shield (previously 100).
Added new passives that grant Energy Shield to various locations on the tree that didn't have many Energy Shield passives.
Problem:
With the desire to increase Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield power across the board, we felt that the base values on items were too low. In addition, we feel that our item system needs more base type heterogeneity.
Solution:
Base Types are now generated with a random 0-15% (on average) higher base defence, as an inbuilt property. This means that all base types can be better than they currently are, and armour base types are not homogeneous any more.
Problem:
Energy Shield is most often used with leech and regeneration like Life, rather than embracing its unique recharge mechanic.
Solution:
Increase the base recovery rate of Energy Shield recharge. Rework the downside of the Wicked Ward Keystone. Move improvements to Energy Shield Recharge to the core modifier pool for Energy Shield gear, away from specialised item mechanics.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Energy Shield now recharges at a base amount of 33% per second (previously 20%).
The Wicked Ward Keystone Passive Skill no longer grants “50% less Energy Shield Regeneration Rate” or “50% less Maximum total Energy Shield Recovery per Second from Leech”. Instead, it now grants “40% less Energy Shield Recharge Rate”. This brings the recharge rate with Wicked Ward down to 19.8% per second, while before it would have been 20% with or without the keystone. It also allows you to invest in other forms of Energy Shield recovery if you would like to, like including Energy Shield Leech in your build. Recharge also has more avenues of scaling as mentioned below. This combined with the faster natural recharge is almost entirely a buff.
The Blightwell Unique Talisman now grants “50% slower start of Energy Shield Recharge during any Flask Effect” (previously 30%), and “150-200% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate during any Flask Effect” (previously 400%).
New Suffix modifiers have been added to all Energy Shield-based Body Armours and Shields that provide up to 66% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge on each item slot.
Crafted and Influenced “faster start of Energy Shield Recharge” modifiers on Rings can no longer be obtained.
Faster start of Energy Shield Recharge has also been added to areas of the Passive Skill Tree where Energy Shield is found. Crafted modifiers have also been added.
New Suffix modifiers have been added to all Energy Shield-based Gloves, Helmets and Boots that provide up to 38% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate. Crafted modifiers have also been added.
Percent Energy Shield Regeneration modifiers can no longer be obtained on Energy Shield-based Body Armours, and are no longer in the Influenced modifier pool.
The Ghost Reaver Keystone Passive Skill now prevents your Energy Shield from Recharging (previously 50% less Energy Shield Recharge Rate).
The Crusader modifier for Gloves that provides increased maximum total Energy Shield Recovery per second from Leech now provides 15% (previously 10%).
Increased maximum total Energy Shield Recovery per second from Leech has been improved on the Passive Skill Tree, so Energy Shield Leech is now stronger with investment.
Map Modifiers that prevent Mana or Life Leech from Monsters now also prevent Energy Shield Leech from Monsters.
Problem:
Builds wanting to invest in both Evasion and Energy Shield rely heavily on Ghost Dance, requiring them to be a Trickster.
Solution:
Give everyone access to Ghost Dance as a Keystone Passive.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Every 2 seconds, gain a Ghost Shroud, up to a maximum of 3. When Hit, lose a Ghost Shroud and Recover Energy Shield equal to 3% of your Evasion Rating. Cannot Recover Energy Shield to above Evasion Rating.
The Trickster Ascendancy will be changed as it no longer grants Ghost Dance.
Problem:
Builds wanting to invest in both Armour and Energy Shield have no mechanic that gives a synergy between the two.
Solution:
Add a new Keystone Passive Skill, and add more hybrid Armour/Energy Shield Passives to the Templar section of the Passive Skill Tree.
Specifics:
Spoiler
New Keystone Passive Skill called Divine Shield: 3% of Total Physical Damage prevented from Hits Recently is Regenerated as Energy Shield per second. Cannot Recover Energy Shield to above Armour.
Problem:
Some areas of the Passive Skill Tree, the Shadow area in particular, have no defence against (and very little life regeneration to overcome) Damage over Time effects.
Solution:
Improve Life Regeneration modifiers on gear, and add a new Keystone between the Witch and Shadow area on the Passive Skill Tree to heavily dampen the initial impact of Damage over Time.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Greatly enhanced flat Life Regeneration modifiers on gear, to be closer to 2-3% of an expected character life at their level. Percentage based Life Regeneration has been removed from non-Unique equipment modifiers, and the Influenced modifier pool. This is now reserved for Uniques and the Passive Skill Tree.
New Keystone Passive Skill added to the Shadow Area called Lethe Shade: Take 50% less Damage over Time if you've started taking Damage over Time in the past second. 100% more Duration of Ailments on you.
Problem:
A few specific mechanics grant a lot of Life Regeneration, especially with Endurance Charge stacking, but for many other sources Life Regeneration is not very powerful.
Solution:
Remove various sources of Life Regeneration per Endurance Charge or lower their values, review effects that give Life Recovery Rate and high values of Life Regeneration. Add new passives in the Strength area of the tree that grant Life Regeneration and one source of increased Life Regeneration Rate.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The Kaom’s Way Unique Ring now has “Regenerate 0.2% of Life per second per Endurance Charge” (previously 0.4%). It also now has “2% increased Area of Effect per Endurance Charge”.
The Replica Atziri’s Foible Unique Amulet now grants 20-25% increased Life Regeneration Rate (previously Life Recovery Rate).
The Flow Untethered Unique Belt now grants 10-15% increased Life and Energy Shield Recovery Rate (previously 15-20%).
Influence modifiers on Belts which granted increased Life, Mana, or Energy Shield Recovery Rate now have values of 10-12% (previously 16-20%).
The Surging Vitality Cluster Jewel Notable Passive no longer grants “Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second”.
Consecrated Ground now causes you to regenerate 5% Life per second (previously 6%).
Problem:
Shadow attackers don't have a form of Life Recovery that they excel at, while almost every other core character has a signature special Recovery method.
Solution:
Add new passive skill clusters to the Shadow area of the Passive Skill Tree, allowing investment in a combination of Life on Hit, Life on Kill and Life Leech. This also includes a source of Maximum total Life Recovery per Second from Life Leech in the Shadow area of the passive tree.
Problem:
Witch and Shadow casters don't have an accessible form of Life Recovery.
Solution:
Add new passive skill clusters to the area of the Passive Skill Tree between Shadow and Witch, allowing investment in Life on Kill and recouping a portion of damage taken as Life.
More information on Passive Skill Tree changes will be coming later.
Problem:
Block is a pretty fundamental form of defence available to characters, seeing as it is available on Shields, but the Gladiator Ascendancy is far more efficient for Block investment compared to any other class because of the Gladiator's "Versatile Combatant" notable skill that grants as much Spell Block as you have Attack Block.
Solution:
Give everyone access to a weaker form of Versatile Combatant as a Keystone Passive, and replace the Gladiator Ascendancy skill. Also improve how much Block chance and Spell Block chance you can get from other sources.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Versatile Combatant is now a Keystone Passive on the Passive Skill Tree: Grants +2% Chance to Block Spell Damage for each 1% Overcapped Chance to Block Attack Damage. Also grants -25% to maximum Chance to Block Attack Damage, and -25% to maximum Chance to Block Spell Damage. This means that if you have a 75% chance to Block Attack Damage, allocating this Keystone Passive grants you a 50% chance to Block Attack Damage, as well as a 50% chance to Block Spell Damage.
More access to Spell Block has been added between the Templar and Witch sections of the Passive Skill Tree.
The Suffix modifiers that grant Attack Block and Spell Block on Shields have been improved, and new tiers have been added. These now grant up to 16% Attack Block and 15% Spell Block respectively at the highest tier.
The Shaper Suffix modifier on Shields which granted chances to Block Spell Damage can no longer roll.
The Gladiator's Block Ascendancy Passive Skills have been reworked, more information can be found below.
Bone Offering no longer causes Minions to recover Life when they Block. Instead, it now grants Minions 4% Life Regeneration if they've Blocked recently.
We've also made changes to Passive Skills.
Problem:
The pool of modifiers available on Shields includes some that have values that are too low or aren't relevant to shields. The power level of shield modifiers in general is also too low.
Solution:
Remove irrelevant modifiers from Shields and add some really powerful ones.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Modifiers such as Chance to Block Projectile Attack Damage, Chance to Avoid Stun, Increased Global Physical Damage, Global Elemental Damage, Global Attack Damage, flat Mana gained on Block, percentage Life Regeneration, and Increased Cast Speed either felt out of place, or generally did not have impactful values. These can no longer be obtained on various Shields.
These changes are meant to make Shields feel more cohesive as a defensive piece of equipment, as well as to make their core modifiers more impactful. This will also make it easier to roll powerful Shields and obtain Shields with a specific modifier you’re after.
As mentioned above, modifiers such as Block Chance and Spell Block Chance were significantly improved and new tiers were added. Block Chance now goes up to +16% at its highest tier, and Spell Block Chance goes up to +15% at its highest tier.
We have added a few impactful modifiers to specific Shield types:
Armour-based Shields can now roll high values of Reduced Extra Damage taken from Critical Strikes, the value going up to 60% at the highest tier.
Armour-based Shields can now roll up to 8% additional Physical Damage Reduction.
Armour-based Shields can all now roll up to 100 Life gained on Block. Previously only pure Armour Shields could roll Life gained on Block, but now this can also roll on Armour/Evasion and Armour/Energy Shield bases.
Evasion-based Shields can now roll high values of a chance to Suppress Spell Damage taken, up to 34% at its highest tier.
Evasion-based Shields can all now roll up to +480 Accuracy Rating. Previously only pure Evasion Shields could roll Accuracy Rating, but now this can also roll on both Armour/Evasion and Evasion/Energy Shield bases.
Energy Shield-based Shields can now roll higher values of Faster Start of Energy Shield Recharge, up to 66% at its highest tier.
Energy Shield-based Shields can all now roll increased Critical Strike Chance with Spells. Previously only pure Energy Shield Shields could roll increased Critical Strike Chance with Spells, but now this can also roll on both Armour/Energy Shield and Evasion/Energy Shield bases.
Problem:
As a defence, Blind was equivalent to an incredibly high level of evasion, with minimal character investment. It felt mandatory for all characters.
Solution:
Make Blind synergise with Evasion so that it's more powerful only if you have built a very evasive character. The power level of the new Blind is significantly lower than before, but has more opportunities for further investment if you want to specialise in it.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Blinded now causes targets to have 20% less Accuracy Rating and Evasion Rating. This change makes it so Blind is of no defensive help to characters who have no Evasion, but helps if you do.
It also has an offensive component, like if you want to lower the Evasion Rating of Evasive monsters to make it easier to hit them.
Blind Effect is now available on the Passive Skill Tree if you want to invest in this further.
The Saboteur Ascendancy Notable Passive Skill that is tied to Blind is being reviewed, and Flesh and Stone is being changed as noted below.
Problem:
Because Flesh and Stone blinded nearby enemies, it was incredibly popular. The changes to Blind have reduced its power, so now characters may be missing a low-cost defensive reservation effect.
Solution:
Reduce the cost of Flesh and Stone and change Tempest Shield so that it is a similarly powerful defensive reservation effect (alongside Arctic Armour and Flesh and Stone). The intent is that there are three competing defensive reservation effects that you are able to pick between, or use together.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Flesh and Stone has been changed back to a 25% Reservation as a result of the changes made to Blind. It also now has “Enemies Maimed by this Skill take 8% increased Physical Damage” at gem level 1 (previously 13%), up to 11% at gem level 20 (previously 16%).
Tempest Shield has been reworked to become a 25% Reservation Effect that provides a large amount of Spell Block as well as an Immunity to Shock. It no longer has “+3% Chance to Block Attack Damage while holding a Shield”. It now has “+18% Chance to Block Spell Damage while holding a Shield” at gem level 1, up to +25% at gem level 20 (previously +3% at all gem levels). It still has the property of shooting out Lightning on Block, and the Damage has been significantly buffed: Now has “Deals 38 to 115 Lightning Damage” at gem level 1 (previously 24 to 26), up to 896 to 2688 at gem level 20 (previously 284 to 426).
Arctic Armour was already buffed to provide an Immunity to Freeze.
Problem:
Fortify is intended as a defensive benefit for being a melee character, but can often be obtained by spellcasters using melee weapon types without engaging in melee combat.
Solution:
Change the Fortify mechanic so it is given as stacks of Fortification, which is gained based on how much melee damage you deal.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Sources of Fortify now grant a number of stacks of Fortification based on the percentage of the enemy's ailment threshold dealt by the hit that applied Fortify to you, with a large bonus to fortification stack generation against rare and unique monsters. You have 1% less damage taken from hits for each stack of Fortification, and Fortification lasts 5 seconds by default. Fortification from multiple melee hits or different sources stacks, up to a default cap of 20 stacks. You can only gain Fortification stacks from one hit every 0.1 seconds.
The Fortify clusters on the Passive Skill Tree have been reworked to focus more on Fortify-related stats.
The Hardened Scars Passive now grants 25% less Damage over Time taken while Recovering Life from a Life Flask. It no longer grants Fortify while Recovering Life from a Life Flask.
The Champion’s Fortitude Notable Passive Skill now grants you 20 Fortification.
Dread Banner now grants +10 to maximum Fortification for 0.05 seconds per Stage when placed. It no longer grants 1% increased Fortify Effect per Stage.
Fortify Support no longer has increased Fortify Duration, as the base duration has been increased and this stat is now more accessible on the Passive Skill Tree.
The Sorrow Mask, Atonement Mask and Penitent Mask Helmet Implicit modifiers now grant +2-3 to maximum Fortification instead of 10-15% increased Fortify Effect.
Beacon of Madness now grants +15 to maximum Fortification while affected by Glorious Madness (previously 60% increased Fortify Effect while affected by Glorious Madness). This change affects existing items.
Kingmaker now grants nearly allies 10 Fortification (instead of Fortifying nearby Allies). It now has 190-200% increased Physical Damage (previously 170-200%). Existing items will be affected by the Fortify change, though a Divine Orb is required to update the Physical Damage values.
Perseverance now grants "Melee Hits which Stun Fortify" instead of “14-20% chance to gain Fortify when you Stun an Enemy with Melee Damage”. Existing Items can update their chance to Fortify with a Divine Orb.
The Veiled modifier that previously granted 50% increased Fortify Effect while Focused now grants +10 to maximum Fortification while Focused. Crafted versions of this modifier have been adjusted accordingly. This change affects existing items.
Vigilant Strike no longer has “Can’t be Evaded”. It now has “Melee Hits Fortify for 8 seconds” at all gem levels (previously “Grants Fortify for 6 seconds on Melee Hit” at gem level 1, up to 11.7 seconds at gem level 20). Now deals 230% of base Attack Damage at gem level 1 (previously 222%), up to 350% gem level 20 (previously 325%). Now has 230% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 222%), up to 350% at gem level 20 (previously 325%). Quality now grants 0-20% increased Damage (previously “Grants Fortify for 0-2 seconds on Melee Hit”).
Quality on the Phantasmal Vigilant Strike Skill now grants “Melee Hits Fortify for 0-2 seconds” (previously 0-20% increased Damage)
Quality on the Divergent Vigilant Strike Skill now grants 0-10% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate (previously 0-60%).
The Vigil now causes Vigilant Strike to grant the same amount of Fortification to Allies as it grants to You.
The 5% increased Effect of Fortify granted to Notable Passive Skills by Lethal Pride has been replaced with +1 maximum Fortification.
Willowgift: No longer grants “Fortify Buffs you create instead grant 30% more Evasion Rating”. Instead, it now grants “4% chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Fortification”, but removes the less damage taken from Fortification. Existing items will no longer provide Evasion Rating while you have Fortify, though you will need to use a Divine Orb to obtain Spell Suppression from the item.
The Writhing Worms summoned by The Writhing Jar Unique Flask were found to generate Fortification too easily with these changes. We have changed them so they now have an Ailment Threshold similar to that of a normal Monster in an Area Level 83 area.
Support characters - Auras and other Reservation Effects
Problem:
The Reduced Reservation stat provides very little benefit at low values, but becomes very powerful when heavily invested in. This allows players to run every Aura in the game. It also forces Reduced Reservation to be balanced around extreme levels of investment, limiting how useful it can be to characters that do not run enormous numbers of Reservation Skills. Finally, characters that heavily invested in Reduced Reservation in order to run more skills on Mana were also able to reserve Life extremely effectively as well with no further investment, rendering this the only sensible way to play most heavily reservation-focused builds.
Solution:
Replace "Reservation Reduction" with "Reservation Efficiency". When stacked, Reservation Efficiency does not allow for infinite Auras. This can be given out much more liberally as a result, letting characters run additional Reservation Effects with only a couple of sources of Reservation Efficiency. The average character benefits, but the top end of extreme reservation has been made significantly weaker.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Modifiers to Reservation have been replaced with Reservation Efficiency. Reservation Efficiency works by dividing the cost of the Reservation Effect: 100% increased Reservation Efficiency would halve the cost of all Auras. 50% Reservation Efficiency cuts down costs enough to let you reserve an additional 50% Reservation Aura.
Passives and item modifiers with reduced Reservation have been replaced with increased Mana Reservation Efficiency, generally at double the value of the previous reduced Reservation value, but sometimes with different values for balance reasons. This means that a small amount of Reservation investment is more impactful than before, while high investment doesn’t allow as many Auras to be used. The vast majority of Reservation Efficiency offered is now Mana-specific in order to prevent reserving both Life and Mana being the default choice for a build heavily invested in Reservation. Generic Reservation Efficiency and Life Reservation Efficiency are still available on some item modifiers.
If not mentioned below, all sources that previously provided reduced reservation, including for specific skills or types of skills, now provide increased mana reservation efficiency at twice the value of the reduced reservation they used to give. Modifiers on existing items are affected by these changes.
Notable passive skills granted by cluster jewels that previously granted reduced reservation of a specific aura now grant 50% increased mana reservation efficiency of that skill for auras that have 50% base reservation, and 80% increased mana reservation efficiency of that skill for auras that have 35% base reservation.
The Hierophant’s Sanctuary of Thought Notable Passive Skill now provides 25% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency, instead of 10% less Mana Reservation.
Helmet enchantments that previously granted reduced reservation of a specific skill now grant the following values of increased mana reservation efficiency for that skill. Existing items will instead have twice the previous reduced reservation value (generally lower than the new values). Enchantments for skills that have 50% base reservation now grant 20/30% increased mana reservation efficiency, for Merciless and Eternal Labyrinth versions respectively. Enchantments for skills that have 35% base reservation now grant 30/45% increased mana reservation efficiency. Enchantments for skills that have 25% or flat base reservation now grant 50/75% increased mana reservation efficiency.
The Corrupted Implicit modifier on Jewels that previously provided 1% reduced Reservation now provides 2% increased Reservation Efficiency, not specific to mana.
Skyforth now grants 12% increased Reservation Efficiency (not specific to mana), instead of 6% reduced Reservation.
Hyrri’s Truth now grants “Precision has 100% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency”, instead of “Precision has 50% less Reservation”. This change applies to existing items.
Replica Hyrri’s Truth now grants “Hatred has 100% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency”, instead of “Hatred has 50% less Reservation”. This change applies to existing items.
Essence Worm now grants 80% reduced Reservation Efficiency (not specific to mana), instead of 40% increased Reservation.
Memory Vault now grants 20% reduced Reservation Efficiency (not specific to mana), instead of 10% increased Reservation.
Unique items that previously granted a specific skill 100% reduced reservation now cause that skill to have no reservation. This change applies to existing items.
Items that previously caused socketed gems to have reduced reservation have been balanced separately to other reservation efficiency effects. They still provide generic reservation efficiency rather than mana reservation efficiency, but generally have values lower than double the amount of reservation reduction they used to provide. Existing items will be updated to the functionality and values stated below, but will still display the old values unless updated with a Divine Orb.
The Shaper and Hunter Influence Shield modifiers that previously granted 10/15% reduced Reservation of Socketed Gems now grants 15/20% increased Reservation Efficiency of Socketed Gems.
The Synthesised Implicit modifier that previously granted 10% reduced Reservation of Socketed Gems now grants 20% increased Reservation Efficiency of Socketed Gems.
Prism Guardian now grants “Socketed Gems have 30% increased Reservation Efficiency”, instead of “Socketed Gems have 25% reduced Reservation”.
Victario’s Influence now grants “Socketed Gems have 45% increased Reservation Efficiency”, instead of “Socketed Gems have 30% reduced Reservation”.
The Devouring Diadem now grants “Socketed Gems have 25% increased Reservation Efficiency”, instead of “Socketed Gems have 20% reduced Reservation”.
Vivinsect now grants “Socketed Gems have 20% reduced Reservation Efficiency”, instead of “Socketed Gems have 10% increased Reservation”.
Heretic’s Veil now grants “Socketed Curse Gems have 20% increased Reservation Efficiency”, instead of “Socketed Curse Gems have 12% reduced Reservation”.
Rotblood Promise now grants “Socketed Curse Gems have 80% increased Reservation Efficiency”, instead of “Socketed Curse Gems have 50% reduced Reservation''.
Essences of Loathing now provides increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills for Body Armour and Helmets (previously chance to Dodge Attack Hits).
Problem:
Characters specialised in maximising the power of auras provide an absolutely insane amount of damage and defence to party members, making a party with an aura-specialised character so much more effective than one without.
Solution:
Remove sources of Aura Effect from Cluster Jewels and move the Aura Cluster Jewels type to Small Cluster Jewels, so it is no longer possible to continuously stack Aura Effect for your party. Introduce a new Cluster Jewel Notable to increase the "Effect of your Auras on You" for builds that are building Auras for their own power.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The Aura Cluster Jewel type can now be found on Small Cluster Jewels, rather than Medium Cluster Jewels. This makes it more costly and less impactful to stack large numbers of Aura Cluster Jewels. The small Passives now grant 6% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency, instead of increased Aura Effect. This change does not affect existing Medium Cluster Jewels.
Aura Notables can no longer roll on Medium or Large Cluster Jewel base types.
Cluster Jewel Notable Passive Skills have all had Aura Effect removed. The increased Aura Effect of Auras on you from the Purposeful Harbinger Cluster Jewel Notable now only applies to your own Auras Effect on you.
The Replenishing Presence Cluster Jewel Notable Passive no longer has 6% increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills. It now has Non-Curse Aura Skills have 20% increased Duration.
Master of Command now has 100% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Banner Skills (previously 50% reduced Reservation).
Pure Might now has 80% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency for Purity of Fire (previously 30% reduced Reservation).
Pure Guile now has 80% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency for Purity of Ice (previously 30% reduced Reservation).
Pure Aptitude now has 80% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency for Purity of Lightning (previously 30% reduced Reservation). Now has 15% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate instead of “Regenerate 1% of Energy Shield per second”.
Self-Control now has 80% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency for Discipline (previously 30% reduced Reservation). Now has 25% increased Mana Regeneration Rate (previously 15%).
Uncompromising now has 50% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency for Determination (previously 30% reduced Reservation). Now has 20% increased Stun Threshold (previously 10%).
Sublime Form now has 50% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency for Grace (previously 30% reduced Reservation). Now has +10% to all Elemental Resistances (from +5%).
Added Cluster Jewel Notable Passives that grant high amounts of Reservation Efficiency to specific Auras, as well as some other small bonus. For example: Zealotry has 50% increased Reservation Efficiency, and 10% increased Effect of Consecrated Ground you Create.
The Pure Commander Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Electric Presence.
The Stalwart Commander Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Volatile Presence.
The Vengeful Commander Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Righteous Path.
The Precise Commander Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Destructive Aspect.
The Summer Commander Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Modifying Aspect.
The Winter Commander Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Frantic Aspect.
The Grounded Commander Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Introspection.
The First Among Equals Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Spiteful Presence.
The Jinxed Juju Amulet now grants 5-10% increased Effect of your Curses (previously 10-15%), and 5-10% increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills (previously 10-15%).
The Brutal Restraint Timeless Jewel Notable additions now grant 8% Effect of Non-Curse Auras (previously 10%).
The Elegant Hubris Timeless Jewel Notable transformation now grants 12% Effect of Non-Curse Auras (previously 15%).
The Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel Notable transformations now grant 7-10% Effect of Non-Curse Auras (previously 10-15%).
The Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel Small node transformations now grant 2-4% Effect of Non-Curse Auras (previously 3-5%).
Problem:
Characters specialised in maximising the number and power of Curses provide far too much damage and defence to party members, making a party with a Curse-specialised character so much more effective than one without.
Solution:
Make Curse Cluster Jewels a Small Cluster Jewel, with many of the Notables reworked to benefit specific Curses significantly, greatly improving a regular character wanting to maximise their Curse of choice. Make significant changes to Doedre's Skin as it applies many Curses at almost no cost.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The Curse Cluster Jewel type can now be found on Small Cluster Jewels, rather than Medium Cluster Jewels. This makes it more costly and less impactful to stack large numbers of Curse Cluster Jewels. This change does not affect existing Medium Cluster Jewels.
Curse Notables can no longer roll on Medium or Large Cluster Jewel base types.
To make these Jewels more useful for characters using only one or two Curses, we’ve greatly improved the Cluster Jewel Notables granting benefits to specific Curses as well as added new ones, however, they can no longer be found on Cluster Jewels other than Curse type ones.
List of Cluster Jewel Notable Passives changed:
In general, Curse Effect that applies to all Curses no longer exists on Cluster Jewel Notable Passives.
We've reworked two existing Curse Cluster Jewel Notables to new ones, and also introduced four new Notables to Curse Cluster Jewels: Hound's Mark, Doedre's Gluttony, Doedre's Apathy, and Master of the Maelstrom.
Evil Eye no longer has "Non-Cursed Enemies you inflict Non-Aura Curses on are Blinded for 4 secconds". It now has "Enemies you Curse take 6% increased Damage" (previously 5%).
Lord of Drought, Blizzard Caller, Tempt the Storm, Misery Everlasting, and Exploit Weakness all now grant 40% increased Curse Effect of specific Curses (previously 25%). Tempt the Storm now has 25% increased Mana Regeneration Rate instead of 5% increased Cast Speed.
Forbidden Words no longer grants 5% increased Effect of your Curses. It now grants 15% Increased Reservation Efficiency of Curse Aura Skills (previously 4% reduced Reservation).
Wish for Death no longer has "Curse Skills have 20% increased Skill Effect Duration".
The Whispers of Death Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Inevitable Doom.
The Dark Discourse Cluster Jewel Notable Passive has been removed. Existing items will have this replaced with Doedre’s Spite.
Added new Curse Cluster Jewel Notable Passives that benefit Doom, Marks and Hexes that previously didn’t have their own Notables (such as Punishment, Elemental Weakness, Temporal Chains and Enfeeble).
Doedre's Skin now grants “Hexes from Socketed Skills can apply 5 additional Curses”, it previously granted “Hexes from Socketed Skills ignore Curse Limit” (this is so Replica Doedre’s Damning has some downside with using it). Now grants “20% less Effect of your Curses” for all Skills, instead of reduced Curse Effect of Socketed Skills triggered with the Summon Doedre’s Effigy Skill. The Summon Doedre’s Effigy Skill now has a short Cast Time (previously Instant), its cooldown has been removed (previously 0.5 seconds), and now has a Mana cost. Existing items will be affected by this Curse Limit change, though they will only have 20% less Curse Effect of Curses triggered with Summon Doedre’s Effigy. Existing items cannot be updated with a Divine Orb.
Some other Uniques have been rebalanced:
The Replica Doedre’s Damning Ring now grants 15-25% increased Effect of your Curses (previously 25-35%). Existing versions of this item can be updated to the new values with a Divine Orb.
The Wheel of the Stormsail Shield now grants “Curse Skills have 100% increased Skill Effect Duration” (previously 25%). Existing versions of this item can be updated to the new values with a Divine Orb.
The Jinxed Juju Amulet now grants 5-10% increased Effect of your Curses (previously 10-15%), and 5-10% increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills (previously 10-15%). Existing versions of this item can be updated to the new values with a Divine Orb.
The Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel Notable transformations now grant 7-10% Effect of your Curses (previously 10-15%).
The Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel small node transformations now grant 2-4% Effect of your Curses (previously 3-5%).
Problem:
The Elemental Damage over Time effects of Cold Damage over Time, Burning and Ignite are too dependent on Elemental Overload and Elemental Equilibrium. Ignites are too dependent on Ignite Damage Multipliers on skills, making skills without Ignite Multipliers too weak to use Ignite with.
Solution:
Greatly improve the base strength of Ignite, Burning and Cold Damage over Time, while making Elemental Overload and Elemental Equilibrium less powerful or require more investment with Damage over Time skills. Rebalance skills that could apply Ignite effects around the new base damage of Ignite and remove the Ignite Damage multipliers.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Player Ignite now inherently deals 150% more Damage than before (previously 50% of base Damage over 4 seconds, now 125% of base Damage over 4 seconds).
Cold Damage over Time Skills now deal more damage:
Creeping Frost now deals 18.4 Base Cold Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 16.7), up to 2225.6 at gem level 20 (previously 1391.2). Its Hit Damage remains unchanged.
Wintertide Brand now deals 13.7 Base Cold Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 12.5), up to 261.2 at gem level 20 (previously 164.6).
Cold Snap now deals 34 to 52 Cold Damage at gem level 1 (previously 32 to 47), up to 1057 to 1586 at gem level 20 (previously 666 to 999). It also now deals 28.7 Base Cold Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 26.3), up to 1894 at gem level 20 (previously 1193.2). It now has 240% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously 140%).
Vaal Cold Snap now deals 37.8 Base Cold Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 34.3), up to 2454.4 at gem level 20 (previously 1532.7). Its Hit Damage remains unchanged.
Vortex now deals 42 to 63 Cold Damage at gem level 1 (previously 38 to 57), up to 833 to 1250 at gem level 20 (previously 524 to 787). It now deals 116.2 Base Cold Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 106.5), up to 2315.1 at gem level 20 (previously 1456.9). It now has a Critical Strike Chance of 6% (previously 6.5%), and 180% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously 100%).
Siphoning Trap now deals 16.9 Base Cold Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 15.5), up to 760.7 at gem level 20 (previously 426.3).
Burning skills now deal more damage:
Searing Bond now deals 32.2 Base Fire Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 29.4), up to 3899.6 at gem level 20 (previously 2459.5).
Scorching Ray now deals 12.8 Base Fire Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 11.7), up to 696.3 at gem level 20 (previously 439.4).
Righteous Fire now deals 39 Base Fire Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 35.8), up to 2447.9 at gem level 20 (previously 1541.8). It also now deals 35% of Life and Energy Shield as Base Fire Damage per second (previously 20%).
Vaal Righteous Fire now deals 120% of Sacrificed Energy Shield and Life as Fire Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 80%), up to 158% at gem level 20 (previously 99%).
Fire Trap now deals 35.7 Base Fire Damage per second at gem level 1 (previously 32.5), up to 2934.9 at gem level 20 (previously 1833.6). Its Hit Damage remains unchanged.
Flame Wall now deals 2.2 Base Fire Damage per second at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 679.9 at gem level 20 (previously 456.3). Its secondary Debuff now deals 7.2 Base Fire Damage per second at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 2266.4 at gem level 20 (previously 1520.9).
Infernal Legion Support now has “Minions from Supported Skills Deal 15.4 Fire Damage per second to Enemies near them” at gem level 1 (previously 15.6), up to 2092.6 at gem level 20 (previously 1315.9).
Many Skills that had an Ignite Multiplier have had that Multiplier removed. The Skill has been balanced to compensate for this, if necessary. Certain Skills have been rebalanced due to the change to Base Ignite Damage, taking into account whether they're able to take full advantage of Elemental Overload now. Note that examples below do not include the effect of Elemental Overload or Elemental Equilibrium, hence why the Ignite value is much higher for many of the skills:
Fireball no longer has 50-88% more Damage with Ignite. It now has 25% chance to Ignite at all gem levels (previously 20-39%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 33.0% higher.
Vaal Fireball no longer has 50-88% more Damage with Ignite. It now has 25% chance to Ignite at all gem levels (previously 20-39%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 33.0% higher.
Discharge now has 55% less Damage with Ailments (previously 30%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 60.7% higher.
Flameblast now has 60% more Damage with Ailments for each Stage (previously 90%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 75.0% higher at 10 Stages.
Vaal Flameblast now has 70% more Damage with Ailments for each Stage (previously 100%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 81.8% higher at 10 Stages.
Incinerate now has “Final wave deals 250% more Damage with Ignite” (previously 500%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 45.8% higher. It received a harsher damage loss because it still works very well with Elemental Overload.
Quality on Anomalous Firestorm no longer grants “(0.00)-(-0.06) seconds to Base Duration”, or “First Impact deals 0-60% more Damage with Hits and Ailments”. Instead, it now grants 0-10% chance to Ignite Enemies. Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 150% higher. If using the Anomalous quality, the Ignite is now 110% higher.
Fire Burst (Granted by the “Cast Level 20 Fire Burst on Hit” Essence Modifier) now deals 752 to 1127 Fire Damage at level 20 (previously 1122 to 1683). Now has a 1 second Cooldown (previously 1.5 seconds). It now has 170% Effectiveness of Added Damage (previously 250%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 67.5% higher.
Hexblast now deals 103 to 155 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 74 to 110), up to 965 to 1447 at gem level 20 (previously 689 to 1034). It now has “40% more Damage with Hits per 5 Doom on Hex with most Doom” (previously 60%), and “15% more Damage with Ailments per 5 Doom on Hex with most Doom” (previously 40%). It now has 210% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously 150%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 95.6% higher at 30 Doom, and 83.3% higher at 40 doom.
Doom Blast (from Impending Doom Support) now deals 54 to 81 Chaos Damage at gem level 1 (previously 39 to 58), up to 602 to 903 at gem level 20 (previously 430 to 645). It now has “40% more Damage with Hits per 5 Doom on Hex”, and “15% more Damage with Ailments per 5 Doom on Hex”. It no longer has “60% more Damage per 5 Doom on Hex”. It now has 140% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously 100%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 44.6% higher at 30 Doom, and 32.8% higher at 40 doom.
Divine Ire now has “Beam deals 30% more Damage with Ailments per Stage after the first” (previously 70%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 7.1% higher at 20 Stages. It received a harsher damage loss because it still works very well with Elemental Overload, and was already one of the highest Ignite damage skills.
Penance Brand now has “Explosions deal 60% more Damage with Ailments per Energy after the first” (previously 100%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 54.8% higher.
Explosive Concoction no longer has “Deals 30-49% more Damage with Ignite if Charges were consumed from a Ruby Flask”. It now has “+40-78% to Damage over Time Multiplier with Ignite if Charges were consumed from a Ruby Flask”. Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 155.0% higher if you had +50% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier.
Armageddon Brand now deals 40 to 69 Fire Damage at gem level 1 (previously 34 to 51), up to 613 to 920 at gem level 20 (previously 398 to 597). It no longer has 120-250% more Damage with Ignite, or 25% chance to Ignite Enemies. It now activates every 1 second while Attached (previously 0.75 seconds), and has a base Critical Strike Chance of 5% (previously 6%). It now has “Deals 10% more hit Damage to Branded Enemy” at gem level 1, which scales up to 29% at gem level 20. It also now has 135% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously 85%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 10.1% higher. It received a harsher damage loss because it still works very well with Elemental Overload.
Shattering Steel now has “Projectiles deal up to 100% more Damage with Hits per Steel Shard consumed at the start of their movement, lowering this bonus as they travel farther” (previously Hits and Ailments). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 16.7% lower when consuming 2 shards. This skill is not intended to work well with ignite so it doesn't justify having its own unique multiplier stat.
Explosive Arrow now has “Explosion deals 5% more Damage with Hits per Explosive Arrow on Target” (previously Hits and Ailments). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 66.7% higher with 10 arrows on the target. Ignite with the skill is now 25.0% higher with 20 arrows on the target.
Sentinels of Purity summoned with Herald of Purity now have 40% less Life. Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 50.0% higher when using the Death Wish skill from the Maw of Mischief Unique Helmet.
Frost Bomb now deals 8 to 13 Cold Damage at gem level 1 (previously 14 to 21), up to 930 to 1395 at gem level 20 (previously 1336 to 2003). It no longer has 25% reduced Energy Shield Recharge Rate. It now has “4% more Damage with Hits per 0.1 seconds Duration”. It now has 210% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously 300%). Because of base Ignite damage changes, Ignite with the skill is now 74.1% higher when it is able to ignite.
Purifying Flame: Now has "Deals 8 to 12 Physical Damage" at gem level 1 (previously 7 to 10), up to 884 to 1326 at gem level 20 (previously 803 to 1205). It now has 200% Effectiveness of Added Damage (previously 180%).
The Elemental Overload Keystone Passive Skill now gives more Hit and Ailment Elemental Damage to Skills if they crit in the last 8 seconds. This means that you can't use a second rapidly hitting skill, making a small amount of critical chance investment much more important to skills taking advantage of Elemental Overload.
The Elemental Equilibrium Keystone Passive Skill now applies 25% Exposure of the Elements not Hit with, removing Exposure of the Elements you Hit with. It's now an easy way to apply a strong Exposure effect rather than a huge damage boost that we balanced Elemental Damage over Time Skills around. Some other skills have been reviewed because of these changes.
The damage dealt by Flame, Ice and Lightning Golems has been increased by roughly 30% at all gem levels.
Summoned Raging Spirits now convert all of their Damage to Fire Damage.
Moved the Elemental Equilibrium Keystone Passive to the Ranger section of the Passive Skill Tree, where there is much less existing access to Exposure for Elemental builds and access to Skills that rotate Elements, such as Wild Strike.
More scaling options have been added to Damage over Time builds on the Passive Skill Tree and items, raising the top end of damage over time for well geared characters.
There are now 5 tiers of the Global Damage over Time Multiplier Suffix modifier that rolls on all Weapons, going up to 26% on one-handed Weapons, and 45% on two-handed Weapons.
There are now 5 tiers of the Global Damage over Time Multiplier Suffix modifier that rolls on all Amulets as part of their base modifier pool, going up to 26%.
The Influence modifiers on Rings that had a chance to Ignite/Freeze/Shock as well as some flat Damage have been changed. They no longer provide a chance to apply the Ailment, but provide a lot more added Damage instead. The Fire version rolls up to 23-30 to 47-54 Fire Damage against Ignited Enemies, the Cold version rolls up to 20-26 to 41-48 Cold Damage against Chilled or Frozen Enemies, and the Lightning version rolls up to 4-8 to 82-86 Lightning Damage against Shocked Enemies.
Essence of Delirium no longer rolls “Hexes you inflict have +5 to maximum Doom” on Rings, or +10% to Damage over Time Multiplier on Amulets. Instead, it now rolls +12-15% to Damage over Time Multiplier on Rings, and “Hexes you inflict have +10 to maximum Doom” on Amulets.
Fire, Cold, Physical, and Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier modifiers on Jewels now have values of +6-8% (previously +3-4%).
There is a new Global Damage over Time Multiplier Suffix modifier that can roll on all Jewels with a value of +4-6%.
All Jewels can now roll a Faster Damage of Ailments Prefix modifier, with a value of 4-6%.
The chance to Ignite/Freeze/Shock Suffix modifiers on Weapons now have multiple tiers, with their chances now 10%, 15%, and 20% respectively. Staves have a 20%, 25%, and 30% chance respectively.
Damage over Time Multiplier modifiers on Influenced Gloves and Amulets now roll values up to +16-20% at its highest tier (previously +13-16%).
Faster Ignite, Poison, and Bleed modifiers on Influenced Boots now roll up to 10-12% (previously 8-10%).
Emberwake added a bit too much damage and crowded out any other options you could use with an Ignite build, and the downside has gotten weaker over time due to us adding more sources of Faster Ignite Damage. It no longer has “Ignited Enemies Burn 50-65% slower”, and it now has “40% less Burning Damage”. This change does not affect existing items.
Problem:
Burning Arrow is too complex for a level 1 skill.
Solution:
Redesign the skill without a secondary stacking burning effect, but with high added fire damage against Ignited enemies.
Specifics:
Spoiler
No longer has a stacking Burning Effect. Now deals 150% base Damage at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 214% at gem level 20 (previously 184%). Now adds 3 to 4 Fire Damage to Attacks against Ignited Enemies at gem level 1, up to 201 to 302 Fire Damage at gem level 20. Now has an Attack Speed of 90% of Base (previously 100%). Now has a 25% chance to Ignite (previously 50%).
Vaal Burning Arrow can now store 4 Uses (previously 3), and has a 2 second Soul Gain Prevention (previously 1 second). It no longer has a stacking Burning Effect, and now adds 3 to 4 Fire Damage to Attacks against Ignited Enemies at gem level 1, up to 201 to 302 Fire Damage at gem level 20. It now has an Attack Speed of 90% of Base (previously 100%), and deals 200% of base Attack Damage at gem level 1 (previously 160%), up to 284% at gem level 20 (previously 198%). It also now has 200% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 160%), up to 284% at gem level 20 (previously 198%).
The Sudden Ignition Unique Jewels no longer has “With at least 40 Dexterity in Radius, Burning Arrow can inflict an additional Ignite on an Enemy and cannot apply its Burning Debuff”. Existing items now have “Ignited Enemies Killed by your Hits are destroyed”. Note, this item has not been obtainable since 3.9.0.
The Pitch Darkness Unique Jewel no longer grants Burning Arrow chances to spread Burning Ground or Tar with at least 40 Dexterity in Radius. Existing Items now have “+10% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier”. Note, this item has not been obtainable since 3.9.0.
Problem:
Ignite builds don't have a way to focus their damage on bosses, forcing balance to be the same for clear speed damage and boss damage.
Solution:
Change Flame Surge to be able to apply extra Burning on ignited enemies.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Flame Surge now creates a burning ground that deals damage equal to a percentage of that ignite if you hit an ignited enemy. Burning Ground can be created every 2 seconds, with a percentage of Ignite Damage on the enemy converted to Burning Ground.
Patch notes for balance changes that did not fall under these topics can be found below.
The Passive Tree has changed so significantly that there is no way to concisely describe the full breadth of changes. Here is a selection of problems with the previous version of the passive tree and the solutions used to address them.
Problem
Clusters often have the exact same stats as other clusters, and some have niche stats that are wasted on many builds.
Solution
Make clusters more unique compared to each other as well as having a more clear identity. Remove niche or unneeded stats entirely, or shift them to Masteries. Improve many notables that have had secondary stats removed. Rework some clusters to perform another more useful function.
Problem
Damage over Time builds have fewer damage clusters available compared to hit builds, and those clusters often spread power between Damage over Time Multipliers and Increased Damage, devaluing other sources of Increased Damage for their build.
Solution
Improve existing Damage over Time clusters with a focus on Damage over Time Multiplier or other Damage over Time stats. Rework some clusters to be better for Damage over Time builds. Add new clusters for some forms of Damage over Time.
Problem
Life builds rely heavily on the life cluster near the Scion start area to maximise investment in life. Characters on the right side of the passive tree are at a disadvantage because of the long path to access the wheel.
Solution
Lower the total amount of Life granted by the Scion's Life cluster. Add life to other life clusters on the tree that aren't in starting areas or connected to the paths to the Scion area of the tree. 9% increased Life has been removed from the Scion's Life cluster, and improved Life clusters have gained 2-4% increased Life, meaning a character that took three outer Life clusters and the Scion life cluster together would have the same or more life, and a character taking four or more outer life clusters that wouldn't have taken the Scion life cluster has gained at least 10% additional increased life.
Problem
Many defensive mechanics have few ways to invest in them on the passive tree, outside of Life.
Solution
Add new clusters for Spell Block, Spell Suppression, Life Regeneration, Life Leech, Life on Hit, Life on Kill, Life Recoup, Energy Shield Recharge, Ailment Mitigation for every Ailment type, Curse Mitigation, Stun Mitigation, Life and Mana Flasks. The majority of clusters removed from the tree are offensive, while the majority of clusters added to the tree are defensive.
Problem
There is an uneven spread of Keystones across the tree. Certain areas have higher density than others. Some Keystones are out of place for the area of the tree they currently are.
Solution
Spread out Keystones throughout the tree, moving some to more appropriate locations.
Problem
Each passive Cluster can only have one mastery, but some existing clusters have multiple themes, like Trap and Mine clusters.
Solution
Split some clusters into two separate clusters. Some Clusters have been aligned with a specific Mastery, with an adjustment to stats to further solidify this theme. This may be based on the existing stat proportions or to help with a lack of that type of Mastery in that section of the tree, to allow access to specific useful Mastery effects.
Problem
The tree is very compact, making it hard to easily view and leaving little space for rearranging clusters.
Solution
Spread out the entirety of the passive tree, and increase the radius of small, medium, large and very-large jewels. This is done to give a relatively equivalent but not identical effect of radius jewels on the tree. This will have impacted all Radius jewels in different ways.
Problem
The Ranger's class start is very front-loaded with life and other beneficial stats, and has more costly pathing when leaving the passive tree than many other class starts.
Solution
Remove most of the maximum life from the Ranger's starting Evasion passives. Redistribute this between other passives in the Ranger start area, so that the total amount of increased maximum life is slightly higher than before. Rework some sections of the Ranger class start, including new notables and effects.
Problem
Certain percentage Modifiers from the first few starting passives of classes have little to no impact on characters at very early levels.
Solution
Change class starting nodes so most provide at least one flat modifier. For example, the Ranger now gets accuracy rating and projectile damage on one starting passive, and flat life and evasion rating on the other.
Problem
With the removal of dodge, some characters lost a way to mitigate monster abilities that always hit.
Solution
Reviewed monsters with abilities that alway hit. Removed always hit from all fodder monsters and some Boss abilities where appropriate.
Problem:
There are a few special benefits from some Cluster Jewel Notables that would be well-suited as Masteries.
Solution:
Move these stats to Masteries on the Passive Skill Tree, while providing compensation to the Notables that lost these stats.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Holy Conquest: No longer has “Brands Attach to a new Enemy each time they Activate, no more than once every 0.3 seconds”, it now has 25% increased Brand Damage and Brands have 25% increased Area of Effect if 50% of Attached Duration expired.
Cry Wolf: No longer has “Warcries have a minimum of 10 Power”, it now has 20% increased Total Power Counted from Warcries, and Exerted Attacks deal 30% increased Damage (previously 25%).
Overshock: No longer has “Your Shocks can increase Damage taken by up to a maximum of 60%”. It now has “40% increased Effect of Lightning Ailments” (previously 30%).
Due to the sweeping changes made to the passive tree, existing Anointments that apply to a Notable that has been removed will now apply a different Notable. We've also taken this opportunity to review the Oil combinations required for Notables.
Problem:
Gladiator and Trickster have both had a notable from the Ascendancy moved onto the passive tree. Many Ascendancies have had the power of their notables affected by the changes to Defences.
Solution:
Grant new Ascendancy notables to the Gladiator and Trickster, and some existing notables have been reworked. Rebalance and rework affected Notables on the Chieftain, Inquisitor, Saboteur, and Raider. Change the Ascendant to have the Notables of the above classes match the effects found on their equivalent Ascendancies.
Chieftain
Tasalio, Cleansing Water: Now grants "20% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage" (previously 15%), and "20% increased Life Recovery Rate if you've taken Fire Damage from an Enemy Hit Recently" (previously 50%).
Gladiator
Passives with Block have been fully reworked:
Painforged: Now has +10% chance to Block Attack Damage, Cannot be Stunned by Hits you Block, and Counterattacks deal Double Damage
Added a new notable, which replaces Versatile Combatant, that has +10% to maximum Block Chance, +10 to Armour and Evasion Rating per 1% Block Chance.
Violent Retaliation: Now has Ignore Enemy Monster Physical Damage Reduction if you've blocked in the past 20 seconds, and Attack Damage is Lucky if you've Blocked in the past 20 seconds.
Inquisitor
Pious Path: Now grants "50% increased Effect of Consecrated Ground you create".
Raider
Quartz Infusion: No longer grants 15% chance to Dodge Attack Hits, or 15% chance to Dodge Spell Hits. Instead, it now grants +40% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
Avatar of the Veil: No longer grants "Nearby Enemies have 20% less Accuracy Rating while you have Phasing".
Avatar of the Chase: No longer grants 35% more chance to Evade Melee Attacks during Onslaught or 35% more chance to Evade Projectile Attacks during Onslaught. Instead, it now grants 10% more chance to Evade Attacks during Onslaught.
Trickster
Patient Reaper: Now grants 50% increased Recovery Rate of Life, Mana and Energy Shield if you've Killed an Enemy affected by your Damage Over Time Recently (previously 70%).
Escape Artist: No longer requires Ghost Dance (which has been replaced with a new Notable). No longer grants "5% increased Attack and Cast Speed per Ghost Shroud" or "Cannot be Stunned while you have Ghost Shrouds".
Added a new notable, which replaces Ghost Dance, that provides "Every 10 seconds, take no Damage over Time for 5 seconds."
Saboteur
Born in the Shadows: Now grants 15% reduced Damage taken from Blinded Enemies (previously 10%).
Ascendant
Trickster Passive Point: now has 50% increased Recovery Rate of Life, Mana and Energy Shield if you've Killed an Enemy affected by your Damage Over Time Recently (previously 70%). No longer has "Cannot be Stunned if you haven't been Hit Recently", it now has 10% reduced Damage taken from Damage over Time.
Raider Passive Point: No longer has 10% chance to Dodge Attack Hits, it now has 20% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
Gladiator Passive Point: Now has +5% to maximum Block (previously 3%), 10% chance to Block Attacks (previously 15%), and now has 20% more Physical Damage over Time (previously 25%). It no longer has "15% chance to Block Spells". It now has Ignore Enemy Monster Physical Damage Reduction if you've blocked in the past 20 seconds
Problem:
Many Awakened gems aren't significant improvements over their non-awakened versions. Some get an interesting bonus effect at level 5 and others have something interesting at all levels, while other awakened gems have very little increase in power over their non-Awakened versions.
Solution:
Change Awakened gems that only gave higher values of their normal scaling stats to have either an extra effect or a large boost in the values of their existing effects at gem level 5. Adjust values and scaling for awakened gems to ensure that a level 1 awakened gem is a clear upgrade to a level 20 non-awakened gem.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Awakened Added Fire Damage now grants “+1 to Level of Supported Physical Skill Gems” at gem level 5 (previously “+1 to Level of Supported Fire Skill Gems”).
Awakened Arrow Nova now grants “Supported Skills deal 25% less Projectile Damage” at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 21% less at gem level 5 (previously 26%).
Awakened Brutality now grants “Supported Skills have 10% chance to Crush Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit” at gem level 5.
Awakened Burning Damage now grants “+1 to Level of Supported Fire Skill Gems” at gem level 5.
Awakened Cast while Channelling now grants “Avoid Interruption from Stuns While Using Supported Skills” at gem level 5.
Awakened Cold Penetration now grants “Supported Skills have 10% chance to inflict Cold Exposure on Hit” at gem level 5.
Awakened Controlled Destruction now grants “Supported Skills have 10% chance to Unnerve Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit” at gem level 5.
Awakened Deadly Ailments now grants “Supported Skills deal 48% more Damage with Ailments” at gem level 4 (unchanged), up to 54% at gem level 5 (previously 49%).
Awakened Elemental Damage with Attacks now grants “Elemental Damage from Supported Skills cannot be Reflected” at gem level 5.
Awakened Elemental Focus now grants “+1 to Level of Supported Elemental Skill Gems” at gem level 5.
Awakened Fire Penetration now grants “Supported Skills have 10% chance to inflict Fire Exposure on Hit” at gem level 5.
Awakened Fork now grants “Supported Skills deal 10% more Projectile Damage” at gem level 1 (previously 0%), up to 14% more at gem level 5 (previously 9%).
Awakened Greater Multiple Projectiles now grants “Supported Skills deal 25% less Projectile Damage” at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 21% less at gem level 5 (previously 26%).
Awakened Hextouch now grants “+1 to Level of Supported Curse Skill Gems” at gem level 5.
Awakened Lightning Penetration now grants “Supported Skills have 10% chance to inflict Lightning Exposure on Hit” at gem level 5.
Awakened Melee Physical Damage now grants “Supported Skills have 10% chance to Intimidate Enemies for 4 seconds on Hit” at gem level 5.
Awakened Melee Splash now grants “+1 to Level of Supported Strike Skill Gems” at gem level 5.
Awakened Minion Damage now grants “+1 to Level of Supported Minion Skill Gems” at gem level 5.
Awakened Multistrike now grants “Supported Skills deal 20% less Attack Damage” (previously 25%).
Awakened Spell Echo now grants “Supported Skills deal 10% less Damage” (previously 20% less), and “Final Repeat of Supported Skills has 20% chance to deal Double Damage” (previously 25%).
Awakened Swift Affliction now grants “Supported Skills deal 43% more Damage over Time” at gem level 4 (unchanged), up to 49% at gem level 5 (previously 44%).
Awakened Unbound Ailments now grants “Supported Skills have 58% increased Duration of Ailments on Enemies” at gem level 4 (unchanged), up to 69% at gem level 5 (previously 59%). Now grants “Supported Skills have 58% increased Effect of non-Damaging Ailments on Enemies” at gem level 4 (unchanged), up to 69% at gem level 5 (previously 59%).
Awakened Vicious Projectiles now grants “Supported Skills deal 53% more Chaos Damage over Time” at gem level 4 (unchanged), up to 59% at gem level 5 (previously 54%). Now grants “Supported Skills deal 53% more Physical Damage over Time” at gem level 4 (unchanged), up to 59% at gem level 5 (previously 54%). Now grants “Supported Skills deal 53% more Physical Projectile Attack Damage” at gem level 4 (unchanged), up to 59% at gem level 5 (previously 54%).
Awakened Void Manipulation now grants “+1 to Level of Supported Chaos Skill Gems” at gem level 5.
Awakened Unleash Support now grants a maximum of 4 Seals at gem level 5 (previously a maximum of 3 Seals).
Problem:
Melee Range is given at very small values on many Strike Gems, and characters lack diverse ways to invest in Melee Range on the passive tree and gear.
Solution:
Remove Melee Range from some Strike Skill Gems, and add new sources of Melee Range to the passive tree.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The following Skills no longer have “+0-2 to Melee Strike Range”: Dominating Blow, Double Strike, Vaal Double Strike, Dual Strike, Elemental Hit, Frenzy, Infernal Blow, Pestilent Strike, Puncture, Riposte, Static Strike, Smite, Viper Strike, and Wild Strike.
Boneshatter now has “+2 to Melee Strike Range” at all gem levels (previously +0 at gem level 1, up to +2 at gem level 20).
Glacial Hammer, Vaal Glacial Hammer, Heavy Strike and Vigilant Strike now have “+2 to Melee Strike Range” at all gem levels (previously +2 at gem level 1, up to +4 at gem level 20).
The Melee Strike Range Suffix modifier on Elder Gloves has been replaced with a new Suffix modifier that grants “13-16% increased Melee Damage” and “+2 to Melee Strike Range”. The Elevated version of this modifier grants “+3-4 to Melee Strike Range”. This change does not affect existing items.
The Veiled and Crafted modifiers on Helmets and Gloves that granted Level of Socketed Melee Gems and Melee Strike Range now grant “+2 to Melee Strike Range” (previously +1).
The Warlord’s Reach Unique Jewel now grants “10% increased Attack Damage” (previously 8%), and “+2 to Melee Strike Range” (previously +1). Existing items can be updated to these new values with a Divine Orb.
Problem:
Shield Skills deal too much damage for how little investment is required and have had their damage unintentionally increased by the buffs to base armour defences in this expansion. Shield Charge also generates Fortification too easily without investment.
Solution:
Lower the flat added damage bonus on Shield based skills, and rebalance the added damage to slightly lower the damage of the skill in general. Shield Charge in particular has much lower base damage, but now gets more added damage based on the defences of your shield. Overall this is only a slight damage loss for players using a high defences shield.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Shield Charge now has a base Attack Time of 0.5 seconds at all gem levels (previously 0.53-0.47 seconds). Now has 3 to 4 Added Physical Damage per 15 Armour or Evasion Rating on Shield at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 5 to 7 at gem level 20 (previously 4 to 6). Now deals 12 to 18 Base Off Hand Physical Damage at gem level 1 (previously 16 to 25), up to 134 to 200 at gem level 20 (previously 350 to 525).
Shield Crush now has a base Attack Time of 0.8 seconds at all gem levels (previously 0.85-0.76 seconds). Now has 3 to 4 Added Physical Damage per 15 Armour or Evasion Rating on Shield at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 5 to 7 at gem level 20 (previously 4 to 6). Now deals 4 to 6 Base Off Hand Physical Damage at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 172 to 258 at gem level 20 (previously 286 to 429).
Spectral Shield Throw now has a base Attack Time of 0.65 seconds at all gem levels (previously 0.7-0.6 seconds). Now has 3 to 4 Added Physical Damage per 15 Armour or Evasion Rating on Shield at gem level 1 (previously 4 to 5), up to 5 to 7 at gem level 20 (previously 6 to 8). Now deals 47 to 70 Base Off Hand Physical Damage at gem level 1 (previously 58 to 86), up to 203 to 304 at gem level 20 (previously 399 to 599).
The Merciless Labyrinth Enchantment for Spectral Shield Throw now grants “Spectral Shield Throw Fires 2 additional projectiles” (previously 3). Existing items with this Enchantment are unaffected.
The Eternal Labyrinth Enchantment for Spectral Shield Throw now grants “Spectral Shield Throw Fires 3 additional projectiles” (previously 5). Existing items with this Enchantment are unaffected.
The Seething Fury Unique Jewel now grants “+0.15% to Off Hand Critical Strike Chance per 10 Maximum Energy Shield on Shield” (previously +0.2%). Existing items can be updated to these new values with a Divine Orb, and a temporary lapse in judgement.
Problem:
Using Totems to cast Forbidden Rite gets around the threat of self-damage on Forbidden Rite, making it much more efficient than the skill in other ways while still benefiting from high life-based damage.
Solution:
Change the way Totems mitigate damage so that they have much less total health, but take significantly less damage from enemy hits and damage over time, more than compensating for the health loss in normal situations. Adjust some sources of Totem Life and Totem Chaos Resistance. Rebalance Dark Pact to partially offset the changes to Totem Life when used on Totems while buffing the skill for casting yourself. Also rebalanced the unique Torchoak's Step to account for the life reduction on Totems.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Character Totem Life has been reduced by approximately 60%. Totems now take 80% less Damage from enemies, but take full Damage from themselves.
The Soul Mantle Unique Body Armour now grants 20-30% increased Totem Life (previously 50%). Existing items can be updated to these new (worse) values with a Divine Orb.
The Torchoak Step Unique Boots now grants 20-30% increased Totem Life (previously 30-50%). It also now has “Totems Reflect 100% of their Maximum Life as Fire Damage to nearby Enemies when Hit” (previously 25%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
The Ancestral Might Cluster Jewel Notable no longer grants 20% increased Totem Damage. Instead, it now grants 15% increased Totem Life.
The Ancestral Preservation Cluster Jewel Notable no longer grants 30% increased Totem Life. Instead, it now grants “Totems gain +20% to all Elemental Resistances”, as well as “Totems have 15% additional Physical Damage Reduction” (previously 10%), and “Totems gain +25% to Chaos Resistance” (previously 40%).
Dark Pact now sacrifices 8% of Skeleton’s Life to deal that much Chaos Damage (previously 6%). Now has “40% more Damage with Hits and Ailments if using your Life” at gem level 1 (previously 0%), up to 97% at gem level 20 (previously 76%).
Problem:
Some skills released in 3.15 are not as powerful as intended.
Solution:
Improve Voltaxic Burst, Explosive Concoction, Absolution and Ambush.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Absolution now has +0 to radius at gem level 1, up to +4 at gem level 20.
Explosive Concoction now has 115% of base Attack Speed (previously 100%), and +6% to Critical Strike Chance (previously +5%). The spread angle of Explosive Concoction projectiles has also been increased.
Voltaxic Burst now has “1% more Damage with Hits and Ailments for each Cast of this Spell currently waiting” at all gem levels, and a base Critical Strike Chance of 6.5% (previously 5%).
Ambush no longer has “Exerted Attacks have 200-276% increased Critical Strike Chance”. Instead, it now has “Exerted Attacks have +25% to Critical Strike Chance”.
Quality on the Divergent Ambush Skill now grants “Exerted Attacks have +0-5% to Critical Strike Chance” (previously “Exerted Attacks have 0-40% increased Critical Strike Chance”).
Absolution now grants “25% chance to Summon a Sentinel of Absolution on Hitting a Rare or Unique Enemy” (previously only Hitting a Unique Enemy).
We’ve also tweaked the description on Dominating Blow to more accurately describe its functionality. It has been updated from “25% Chance to Summon a Normal Sentinel of Dominance when you Hit a Unique Monster” to “25% Chance to Summon a Normal Sentinel of Dominance on Hitting a Unique Monster”. This is not a functional change.
Problem:
Cast On Melee Kill, Cast On Critical Strike and Cast while Channelling have separate Cost and Reservation Multipliers for Attacks and Spells, but this can't be communicated.
Solution:
Change these Supports to have the same Cost and Reservation Multiplier for both Attacks and Spells, adjusting the cost to not shift the combined mana cost significantly.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The following Support Gems now have a 120% Cost and Reservation Multiplier (previously 140% for Attacks, and 100% for Spells): Cast on Melee Kill, Cast on Critical Strike, Awakened Cast on Critical Strike, Cast while Channelling, and Awakened Cast while Channelling.
Problem:
Spectral Throw has a higher mana cost compared with other starting skills, resulting in it being difficult to use in the early game without constantly running out of mana.
Solution:
Lower the Mana cost of Spectral Throw.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Spectral Throw now has a base Mana cost of 5 at gem level 1 (previously 7), up to 8 at gem level 20 (previously 9).
Problem:
Base Ward on items is too weak relative to the improved core defences.
Solution:
Increase base Ward on Expedition base types and adjust unique Expedition items that scale from ward.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The Runic Helm base type now grants 41 base Ward (previously 34).
The Runic Crest base type now grants 97 base Ward (previously 81).
The Runic Crown base type now grants 164 base Ward (previously 137).
The Runic Greaves and Runic Gloves base types now grant 24 base Ward (previously 20).
The Runic Sollerets and Runic Gages base types now grant 62 base Ward (previously 52).
The Runic Sabatons and Runic Gauntlets base types now grant 102 base Ward (previously 85).
The Nightgrip Unique Gloves provided a bit too much Added Chaos from Ward. It now has “Gain Added Chaos Damage equal to 20% of Ward” (previously 25%). Existing items can be updated to these worse values using a Divine Orb.
Problem:
Some Breach Unique items are not as desirable as others.
Solution:
Change some Breach Uniques, giving more of a reason to engage with a wider variety of Breach encounters.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The Tulfall Unique Wand now has “Gain a Power Charge on Killing a Frozen Enemy” (previously 50% chance to gain a Power Charge on Killing a Frozen Enemy), and “15-20% increased Cold Damage per Frenzy Charge” (previously 10-15%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
The Esh’s Visage Unique Shield now has “Chaos Damage does not bypass Energy Shield while not on Low Life” (previously Low Life or Low Mana), this change affects existing items. It also now has “+70-100 to maximum Life” (previously +40-70), existing items can be updated to these new values with a Divine Orb.
The United in Dream Unique Sword now grants Level 25 Envy Skill (previously 15), this change affects existing items, though you will need to use a Divine Orb to fix the description on the item. It also now has “Minions deal 60-80% increased Damage” (previously 30-40%), existing items can be updated to these values with a Divine Orb.
The Skin of the Lords Unique Body Armour now grants “+2 to level of Socketed Gems” (previously +1). A Divine Orb would be able to update this on existing items, if they weren’t Corrupted already.
The following Keystones Passive Skills can also now appear on the Skin of the Lords Unique Body Armour: Divine Shield, Ghost Dance, Iron Will, Lethe Shade, Magebane, Solipsism and Versatile Combatant.
Voice of the Storm and Choir of the Storm: Unique Amulets both now grant “Critical Strike Chance is increased by Overcapped Lightning Resistance” (previously Increased by Lightning Resistance). Choir of the Storm now has “-30% to Lightning Resistance”.
Problem:
Skills that interact with Critical Strikes were not tagged in any way, which is required for a new Critical Mastery effect that applies to all Critical Support Gems.
Solution:
Added a new "Critical" Gem Tag. This applies to skills which positively affect your Critical Strikes, or provides effects on Critical Strikes.
Specifics:
Spoiler
This tag can be found on the following Skill Gems: Ambush, Assassin’s Mark, Battlemage’s Cry, Bladefall, Blade Vortex, Vaal Blade Vortex, Cobra Lash, Destructive Link, Dual Strike, Frost Shield, Ice Spear, Icicle Mine, Lightning Spire Trap, Lightning Trap, Vaal Lightning Trap, Precision, Power Siphon, Vaal Power Siphon, Summon Ice Golem, and Zealotry.
The tag can also be found on the following Support Gems: Cast On Critical Strike, Awakened Cast On Critical Strike, Charged Mines, Charged Traps, Controlled Destruction, Awakened Controlled Destruction, Critical Strike Affliction, Increased Critical Damage, Increased Critical Strikes, Inspiration, Nightblade, and Power Charge on Critical.
Problem:
Both the Apex of Sacrifice and The Alluring Abyss Atziri encounters are not rewarding enough, and Atziri's Disfavour no longer fits the power level of a unique from The Alluring Abyss.
Solution:
Make Pledge of Hands drop from Atziri, Queen of the Vaal in The Alluring Abyss. Move Atziri's Disfavour to a drop from Atziri, Queen of the Vaal in the Apex of Sacrifice.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Atziri’s Disfavour now drops from Atziri, Queen of the Vaal in The Apex of Sacrifice (previously in The Alluring Abyss).
Pledge of Hands is now exclusively obtained as a drop from Atziri, Queen of the Vaal in The Alluring Abyss, and through relevant Divination Cards. The Hollow Pledge Prophecy can no longer be obtained, though existing Prophecies can still be completed.
The Last One Standing Divination Card now has a chance to drop by killing Daresso in the Colosseum Map (previously from the Hall of Grandmasters Unique Promenade Map).
The Atziri’s Acuity Unique Gloves now grants “40-60% increased Global Critical Strike Chance” (previously 25-35%). Existing items can be updated to these new values with a Divine Orb.
Problem:
Traps and Mines are very vulnerable to some monster abilities without the Clever Construction passive notable giving them damage immunity when first placed.
Solution:
Give all Traps and Mines the damage immunity from the Clever Construction Notable Passive as a built-in effect, for a shorter time. Give a Trap and Mine Mastery option that gives your Traps or Mines full damage immunity.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Character Traps and Mines are now invulnerable from taking damage for 2 seconds after they have been thrown.
Problem:
The Unwavering Focus Cluster Jewel notable can be stacked to reduce the cost of Channelled Skills to 0, including non-mana costs. This isn't usually worth the opportunity cost, but has problematic interactions in some setups.
Solution:
Replace the Cost Reduction on Unwavering Focus with another effect.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The Unwavering Focus Cluster Jewel Notable no longer grants “15% reduced Cost of Channelling Skills”. It now grants “50% chance to Avoid being Stunned while Channelling” (previously 40%), and “Channelling Skills deal 30% increased Damage” (previously 25%).
Problem:
Some Unique Map Bosses have too high of an Ailment Threshold compared to other Bosses on an Atlas with all Watchstones active.
Solution:
Bring the Ailment Threshold of Bosses with very high Ailment Thresholds in-line with others.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Lowered the Ailment Thresholds of the Putrid Cloister, Vinktar Square, Doryani’s Machinarium, and Hallowed Ground Unique Bosses (as they were too far above other Bosses on a fully Watchstoned Atlas).
Problem:
Socket Crafting unlocks and Meta Crafting Modifier Unlocks are found in specific content that a player might not engage with.
Solution:
Many crafting modifiers that were obtained from Delve, Prophecy and Incursion are now obtained in maps, including Meta Crafting Modifiers being found in unique maps.
Specifics:
Spoiler
The crafts that allow Items to have mulitple Crafted Modifiers, prevent Item Prefixes or Suffixes from being changed, prevent Items from rolling Attack or Caster Modifiers, crafts that modify Socket Colours, Numbers or Links on an item, and all crafts previously found in the Incursion Temple can now be found in Maps.
Problem:
The Sacred Blossom boss fight doesn't have a sufficiently valuable unique reward. The Forbidden Shako unique that is intended to be this reward is outclassed by Replica Forbidden Shako from Heist.
Solution:
Stop Replica Forbidden Shako dropping. Change Forbidden Shako to match the values of Replica Forbidden Shako.
The Forbidden Shako Unique Helmet now grants one Level 1-10 Support Gem that Supports Socketed Items, and one Level 25-35 Support Gem that Supports Socketed Items (previously two Level 15-25 Support Gems). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
The Replica Forbidden Shako Unique Helmet can no longer be obtained.
Problem:
The Added Damage to Attacks modifiers on Quivers provide very small damage bonuses, while Quivers are intended to be a powerful source of damage for Bows.
Solution:
Add more tiers of Added Damage on Quivers and greatly increase their power.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Modifiers on Quivers that granted added Elemental Damage to Attacks have been buffed, and now have a set of modifiers that can roll past level 29, capping out at level 77. Generally these modifiers have values that are 50% that of the corresponding added Elemental Damage modifier on Bows.
Examples of the new highest tier modifiers:
Adds 37-50 to 74-87 Fire Damage to Attacks
Adds 33-45 to 67-78 Cold Damage to Attacks
Adds 6-13 to 136-155 Lightning Damage to Attacks
Quivers now share the same modifier progression for Added Physical Damage to Attacks as those on Amulets - previously only being able to roll up to level 28 modifiers.
Example of the new highest tier modifier:
Adds 11-15 to 22-26 Physical Damage to Attacks
Note, the weighting of Added Damage to Attacks modifiers on Quivers has been adjusted such that the chance to roll other Prefix Modifiers like Maximum Life or Weapon Elemental Damage is similar to before.
Added Damage to Attacks Modifiers granted by Essences of Anguish, Suffering, Torment, Contempt and Envy for Quivers have been updated accordingly.
Added Damage with Bow Attacks Implicit Modifiers obtained through Corrupting Quivers have been buffed slightly. New Quiver Corruption Implicits for added Physical and added Chaos Damage with Bow Attacks have also been added.
The Essence of Horror and Elder Quiver modifier that grants Cold Damage per Frenzy Charge now grants 6-8 to 12-13 added Cold Damage per Frenzy Charge (previously 3-4 to 6-7). This does not affect the similar Ring Modifier obtained through Essence of Horror.
Quivers now have their own Modifiers for added Cold, Lightning and Fire Damage to Attacks on the Crafting Bench (at much higher values than before). Quivers can now also craft Rank 2 added Physical Damage to Attacks, and added Chaos Damage to Attacks (previously only Rank 1).
It is now possible to craft Rank 1 added Cold, Lightning and Fire Damage to Attacks modifiers on Gloves at the Crafting Bench.
Hybrid elemental added Damage Modifiers on Quivers can now be Unveiled at the same values as those on Shields and Rings, and the Rank 2 and 3 versions of these Modifiers can now be crafted on Quivers at the Crafting Bench (previously only Rank 1).
Problem:
Without investing in Minion passives that gave minions Life Regeneration, a character using Golems for their buff effect will often have their golems die to slow damage attrition.
Solution:
Give all Golems Life Regeneration, and then further increase the inherent life regeneration of Stone Golems.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Stone Golems now regenerate 2% of their Life per second (previously 1%).
Carrion, Chaos, Flame, Ice and Lightning Golems now regenerate 1% of their Life per second.
Problem:
The Harvest crafts that upgrade a Normal or Magic item to a Rare item with a modifier of a certain type are close in function to their matching craft that reforge a Rare item, while being unable to be used on a single item repeatedly.
Solution:
Combine the two harvest crafts into a single craft that reforges a Normal, Magic or Rare item as a Rare item with new Modifiers.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Crafts that previously reforged a Normal or Magic item to a Rare with a specific Modifier now reforge a Normal, Magic or Rare item into a Rare with a specific Modifier.
Crafts that previously reforged a Rare with a specific Modifier now reforge a Normal, Magic or Rare item into a Rare with a specific Modifier.
Crafts that previously reforged a Rare with a specific Modifier, and made that Modifier group more common, now reforge a Normal, Magic or Rare item into a Rare with a specific Modifier, and make that Modifier group more common.
Problem:
Modifiers on Unique Synthesis Maps don't provide as much increased Pack Size, Item Quantity and Rarity when compared with other Map Areas.
Solution:
Update the values on these modifiers to match their Map counterparts.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Modifiers on Unique Synthesis Maps that provide increased Pack Size, Item Quantity and Rarity have been buffed, bringing them up to values more in line with similar Modifiers for other Maps.
For example, the modifier for Unique Synthesis Maps that increases Rare Monsters and grants “Rare Monsters each have a Nemesis Mod” now provides +13% Item Quantity, +8% Item Rarity, and +5% Pack Size.
Problem:
Items that trigger Marks on hitting a Rare or Unique can trigger repeatedly in some situations, costing mana each time.
Solution:
Change Mark trigger modifiers to only trigger if you don't have a Marked target.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Influence modifiers that Trigger Assassin's, Poacher’s or Warlord’s Mark when you Hit a Rare or Unique Enemy now only Trigger if you do not have a Mark applied to an enemy.
Problem:
Certain projectile abilities used by Incursion Architects, Syndicate Operatives and bosses based on Lunaris have a bug that causes them to hit a target multiple times simultaneously when firing additional projectiles. This is particularly powerful with Syndicate Operative Spectres that have been supported to fire multiple projectiles.
Solution:
Fix the skill, which will prevent players taking large bursts of damage in maps with additional projectiles. This will also bring Syndicate Operative Spectres more in-line with other Spectres.
Problem:
Outside of the passive skill tree, there are few scaling options for Minions in the early game.
Solution:
Improve the values of some modifiers granted through Essence of Fear, keeping the top end values from Deafening Essence of Fear. Add more ways to invest in minion damage and accuracy from Essence of Fear.
Specifics:
Spoiler
Essences of Fear can now provide Minions deal increased Damage when used on Gloves, providing values of 28-30% with Deafening Essence of Fear.
Essences of Fear can now provide increased Minion Accuracy Rating when used on Helmets, providing values of 28-30% with Deafening Essence of Fear.
Lower tiers of Essences of Fear now provide higher values for Minion Life and Minion Movement Speed. Muttering Essence of Fear now provides values of 13-15% for both (previously 7-10%), with Deafening Essence of Fear now providing 28-30% (previously 27-30%).
Poisonous Concoction is now offered to the Ranger for completing The Siren’s Cadence, and can be purchased from Nessa by the Duelist, Shadow and Scion.
Energy Blade can be purchased from Clarissa by the Templar, Shadow, Witch and Scion after completing Lost in Love.
Summon Carrion Golem is no longer offered to the Scion for completing Breaking the Seal.
Hydrosphere and Sigil of Power are no longer offered to the Shadow for completing Breaking the Seal.
Temporal Rift is now offered to the Shadow for completing Breaking the Seal, and can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Ranger, Witch and Scion.
Tornado is now offered to the Ranger and Shadow for completing Breaking the Seal, and can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Scion.
Soul Link is now offered to the Scion for completing Breaking the Seal, and can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Templar, Shadow and Witch.
Flame Link is now offered to the Scion for completing Breaking the Seal, and can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Marauder, Duelist and Templar.
Intuitive Link is now offered to the Scion for completing Breaking the Seal, and can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Duelist, Ranger and Shadow.
Protective Link can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Marauder, Templar and Scion after completing Breaking the Seal.
Vampiric Link can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Duelist, Ranger and Scion after completing Breaking the Seal.
Destructive Link can be purchased from Petarus and Vanja by the Shadow, Witch and Scion after completing Breaking the Seal.
Fixed a bug where Magic and Rare Monsters in Area Level 85+ areas had half the Life they were supposed to.
Fixed a bug where a small number of Crafting Recipes usually unlocked by clicking on interactables in areas were instead always unlocked.
Fixed a bug where the Intelligence Gathering Atlas Passive Skill would grant Intelligence for a random Immortal Syndicate Safehouse to all players in the area. It now only grants Intelligence to the Map owner.
Fixed a bug where Flasks with Instilling Orb modifiers such as "Used when Charges reach full" would cancel Expedition Explosive placement.
Fixed a bug where Sunder could deal no damage to a target if you lost line of sight to them.
Fixed a bug with Sweep, Bladestorm and Rage Vortex where targets were being hit at the end of the animations for these Skills, instead of when the visual effects of the Skills passed over them.
Fixed a bug where the target limit on Bladestorm and Rage Vortex would not reset between repeats when using Multistrike.
Fixed a bug where some animations could desync in Predictive Networking Mode.
Fixed a bug where some Map areas could fail to spawn four Ritual Altars.
Fixed a bug where summoned Reapers would teleport when the level of the Summon Reaper Skill Gem changes.
Fixed a bug where Awakened Cast on Critical Strike Support did not specify only Supported Spells gain increased Cooldown Recovery Rate.
Fixed a bug where Mirage Archer could visually persist after its duration had expired.
Fixed a bug where 101% reduced Projectile Speed or higher would cause projectiles to move incredibly fast. Reduced Projectile Speed now has a maximum of 99%.
Fixed a bug where Corrupting Fever could snapshot the amount of damage dealt per second with the Corrupting Blood debuff.
Fixed a bug where "Supported by Faster Casting" Glove modifiers did not have the Gem modifier tag.
Fixed a bug Critical Strike Affliction Support still had the Chaos Gem tag.
Fixed a bug where Tormented Spirits could not spawn around some Bosses.
Fixed a bug where Betrayal Fortress Ballistas were able to attack through walls.
Fixed a bug where Skills with a percentage reservation cost could still be reserved with extremely high costs.
Fixed a bug where the Void Ancestral Warchief would die when players walked out of range of it, instead of becoming inactive.
Fixed a bug where an inaccessible room could spawn in The Chamber of Sins Level 1.
Fixed a bug where the Illusionist Weapon Effect microtransaction was missing part of its effect.
Fixed a bug where the Scavenger Weapon microtransaction could not be applied to Rune Daggers.
Fixed a bug where the area of effect of Earthquake when using the Demonic Earthquake Skill Effect microtransaction was incorrect.
Fixed a bug where Warcry Skill Effect microtransactions could not be applied to Battlemage's Cry.
Fixed a bug where the projectiles fired and burning ground left from killing the Wild Hellion Alpha dealt no damage.
Fixed a bug where Delirium Demons could appear from orbs summoned by the Maven when she witnessed a Boss fight in a Map.
Fixed a bug where Mana gained on Hit from having a Gemini Claw equipped was not displayed in the Character Panel.
Fixed a bug where the description on the Summon Harbinger of Focus, granted by The Unshattered Will Unique Shield, did not specify the buff granted while channelling makes you avoid all Elemental Ailments.
Fixed a bug where the effect of Shock on you was not visually displayed correctly when using a Life Flask with the Numbing Elixir Cluster Jewel Passive allocated.
Fixed a bug where increased Area of Effect per Repeat from Quality on Anomalous Multistrike Support did not visually represent the Area of Effect correctly.
Fixed a bug where the Aspect of the Avian, Cat, Crab, and Spider Skills would become unreserved when changing areas with the Chainbreaker Timeless Jewel Passive allocated.
Fixed a bug where Impending Doom Support Gem did not have the "Trigger" tag.
Fixed a bug where Hexes socketed in the Mark of Submission Unique Ring could gain doom.
Fixed a bug where some Incubators could fail to drop an item upon reaching their kill requirement threshold.
Fixed a bug where a Maven-created clone of The Shaper could still deal damage to you with their beam skill if it hit you as you were teleported out of the Arena.
Fixed a bug where the Mysterious Treasure Hideout Decoration would not fade into bones when a player was near.
Fixed a bug where Holy Relic Minions from the Summon Holy Relic would have to be re-summoned after logging out.
Fixed a bug where Curse Effect would increase the effect of Vulnerability applied by the Coward's Chain Unique Belt.
Fixed a bug where the damage area of Izaro's Reave did not match the visual area of the attack.
Fixed a bug where the Overkill damage from an enemy cursed with Punishment dying could be dealt to the player if the source of the enemies death was not the player.
Fixed a bug where Toxic Rain inconsistently targeted enemies when used by a Trap or Mine, unlike other Rain style skills.
Fixed a bug where Vaal Lightning Strike could be used on targeted enemies on the other side of a wall from the player.
Fixed a bug where the Cruelty buff could sometimes display the incorrect effect of Cruelty on you on the Buff icon.
Fixed a bug where Swift Assembly Support did not describe that Supported Skills throw Traps randomly around targeted location.
Fixed a bug where Elixir of the Unbroken Circle did not recover life above 50% when Petrified Blood was active.
Fixed a bug where Kitava's Thirst did not describe that Mana used to Trigger a Skill could provide a chance to Trigger Socketed Spells.
Fixed a bug where the Watcher's Eye modifier that grants increased Physical Damage while using Pride stated it granted increased Attack Physical Damage.
Fixed a bug where stealing the Nemesis Grasping Vines modifier and then hitting an enemy would apply Vines to the player.
Fixed a bug where the Thirst for Blood Skill from Jack, The Axe could snapshot its reservation cost.
Fixed a bug where the Elemental Hit could visually fire the same element in a row when using Predictive Networking Mode.
The 3.16.0 Content Update for consoles also includes Hotfixes from PC, as well as some notes from 3.16.0b. They are listed below for your reference.
3.16.0 Hotfix:
Fixed a bug with Energy Blade where it could delete the player's weapon if they logged out in town after activating it.
Fixed a bug with Nightgrip unique gloves causing the player to take more damage than intended.
Fixed a bug introduced in 3.16.0 where the Duskdawn unique staff granted "Critical Strikes deal no damage" instead of "120-150% increased Spell damage if you've dealt a Critical Strike recently". This fix affects existing items.
Fixed a crash that could occur when loading hideout templates containing pets.
Fixed a client crash that could occur when entering Vaal Side Areas.
3.16.0 Hotfix 2:
Fixed a bug where remaining portals for Zana missions were closing earlier than they should.
Fixed a common client crash occurring with Scorching Ray.
3.16.0 Hotfix 3:
Fixed a bug where players were sometimes unable to return from side areas or missions within maps.
Fixed an instance crash.
3.16.0 Hotfix 4:
Fixed the Scholar's Mod on Flasks from being able to incorrectly roll % Increased Charges per use instead of Reduced.
3.16.0 Hotfix 5:
Fixed a bug in Scourge League where the Blood Crucible could mistakenly upgrade an explicit mod on unique items. We also plan to fix existing items that were affected by this.
3.16.0b Patch Notes:
This patch contains some improvements to the Scourge League, tweaks to the damage dealt by some monsters, and fixes a variety of small- and medium-importance bugs.
Scourge Improvements
The Tainted Mythic Orb can now unpredictably upgrade Corrupted items to Unique items even if their item level is lower than when it would normally be able to drop. Prior to this change, the orb would fail to apply to the item if there were no valid Unique items to upgrade to.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where the colour of sockets on the Skin of the Loyal Unique could be modified.
Fixed a bug where Zana's Fortune Favours the Brave Map Device option would fail to open a Map.
Fixed a bug where Watchstones could sometimes fail to drop from a Conqueror's Citadel.
Fixed a bug where it was not possible to open portals to a Betrayal Safehouse or the Temple of Atzoatl from within a Guild Hideout.
Fixed a bug where the "20% chance to Avoid being Stunned" Resistance and Ailment Protection Mastery was not granting Stun Avoidance.
Fixed a bug where some Redeemer Influence Amulet Modifiers were providing reduced Mana Reservation Efficiency instead of increased. This fix applies to existing items.
Fixed a client crash that occur when using Spectral Shield Throw with Vanishing Dye applied to an equipped Shield.
Fixed a client crash that could occur with the Automaton Divine Ire Skill Effect Microtransaction.
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