Summary
- System Overhauls: Major changes to Energy Shield (ES) recharge, defensive mechanics like Deflection, and the introduction of a new Master system.
- Combat and Skills: Adjustments to melee splash, minion support, and specific skill balancing (e.g., Shield Ball, Temporal Rift, and Totems).
- Campaign and Quality of Life: Significant improvements to early-game progression, including weapon mod changes and leveling adjustments.
- Thematic Map Modifiers: A restructuring of map mods to separate defensive and offensive scaling.
New Systems and Mechanics
- Runes: At level 55, players gain “Runic core” with no downside. In mapping, this system allows trading base defense for ward. Weapons feature unique, type-based runes; for example, bows now have a 50% chance for an additional arrow.
- Masters: A new system allows players to select a Master with 12 available nodes. Players can pick four nodes and rotate them freely without cost.
- Sky Hives & Fortresses: Clarification that Sky Hives are effectively the new iteration of old fortresses, while fortresses now serve as the equivalent of the old hive colony mechanic.
Map and In-Game Changes
- Mapping: The map zoom level has been increased.
- Map Mod Modifiers: A thematic shift has been implemented:
- Suffixes: Primarily affect player or monster defenses and debuffs.
- Prefixes: Primarily affect offensive monster stats (e.g., physical extra, haste, critical strikes).
- Monster Density: Waterways have been adjusted, and some monsters removed, raising concerns about XP sustain.
- Bleeding: Bleeding on players no longer increases damage taken while moving.
Defensive and Statistical Adjustments
- Energy Shield (ES): ES recharge has been significantly nerfed, with many passive nodes reduced and “faster start” removed from base gear rolls. Pure ES builds are now considered riskier.
- Deflection: Viewed as an underperforming stat that fails to address the lack of life nodes for evasion builds. It currently feels ineffective as it acts as a secondary, weaker evasion mechanic rather than a source of max hit.
- Ghost Dance: Moved to a cooldown-based system (approx. 6.1 seconds). While it provides recovery, it is less effective against rapid, multi-hit “chunking” than the previous version.
- Leech: Val Pact functions like “Slayer Leech,” with a 3-second duration.
Skill and Combat Balance
- Melee Splash: Melee attacks now only splash once per damaging area. This prevents area skills from proccing excessive splash instances (e.g., in Whirling Assault).
- Temporal Rift: Cooldown reduced from 0.5s to 0.1s, making it a much more viable defensive tool.
- Totems: Spell totems have been buffed; they no longer require charges or specific costs to place, and the limit has been doubled.
- Shield Ball: Subjected to heavy nerfs. The “Fortifying Cry” interaction was reduced, and it now only consumes one stack rather than all available stacks, significantly lowering damage output.
- Sniper: Early-game damage has been slightly reduced, though late-game effectiveness remains largely unchanged.
Progression and Early Game
- Weapon Modifiers: To reduce variance in the early game, physical damage and accuracy modifiers cannot roll on weapons until level 8.
- Gem Levels: Cannot roll until level 18.
- Early Leveling: “Bring” is now available at level 1, which significantly improves the early leveling experience for Warriors and other melee classes by allowing for better stun management.
- Divine Orbs: These are now more common, which is intended to balance their utility in modifying item values.
Key References