Many improvements were made to set items in Patch 2.4, I urge the developers to continue making progress and consider adding improvements to the sets below in Patch 2.5, which would further fuel build diversity…
Overall Set Item Changes
Set items may now roll Ethereal
Set items may now roll Staffmods, such as class-specific bonuses found on staves, scepters, shields, shrunken heads, helms, etc.
Overall, set items should be allowed to roll Ethereal and Staffmods, which would give many set pieces new capabilities to make them stand out
Bul-Kathos’ Children
Remove Knockback
Add +5 Double Swing (Full Set)
Knockback must be removed to make set viable. You can’t use Frenzy with this set because of this effect, making for a slow kill speed. This set could really benefit from a bonus to Double Swing (fitting for two-sword set)
Trang-Oul’s Avatar
Add +20% Faster Cast Rate (Full Set)
Fix bug that increases casting delay in vampire-form resulting in slower casting
Trangs needs more FCR to be viable
Aldur’s Watchtower
Add +100% Magic Find (Full Set)
Adding a new full set bonus to magic find would give characters more options to MF. This complements the partial set bonus of 50% Magic Find
Immortal King
Add +20% Increased Attack Speed (Full Set)
In light of the changes to Whirlwind in 2.4.3, I’m proposing a buff to IAS to help the IK Barbarian utilizing the 2-H Ogre Maul
Heaven’s Brethren
Add +100% Enhanced Defense (3 Items)
Add +20% Crushing Blow (Full Set)
Add 1-250 Fire Damage (Full Set)
Heaven’s Brethren is a defensive set, damage is low, and clvl requirement of shield is high. Set could benefit from bonus to CB and fire damage
Isenhart’s Armory
Add +1 To All Skills (Full Set)
Add 20% Chance To Cast Level 5 Holy Bolt on Striking (Full Set)
Isenhart’s Armory lack of plus skills means this set isn’t effective for long. With full set equipped, Lightbrand has chance to cast holy bolts
M’avina’s Battle Hymn
Add +33% Piercing Attack (3 Items)
Add +20% Fire Damage (Full Set)
M’avina’s is a budget set for a Frost Maiden, but is painfully slow. Adding the ability to pierce would help out. Also, adding fire damage bonus would add flexibility to enhance other skills
Berserker’s Arsenal
Add +5 Life Stolen Per Hit (2 Items)
Add +10-15 Magic Damage (2 Items)
Add +30% Deadly Strike (Full Set)
Berserker’s Arsenal is mediocre when compared to other class-themed sets, offering +skills and axe deals poor damage. This set could benefit from LL, bonus to magic damage and DS
Hwanin’s Majesty
Add 1-250 Lightning Damage (Full Set)
Add +20% To Lightning Resist (Full Set)
Hwanin’s Majesty set is not popular as the damage is subpar and could use a boost in lightning damage. Also, set would benefit from lightning resistance
Tancred’s Battlegear
Add +50% Enhanced Damage (3 Items)
Add +200 To Attack Rating (Full Set)
Tancred’s Battlegear is a lackluster set for melee combat and could use bonuses to ED and AR
I agree with Set items rolling Ethereal but as for Staff Mods, I disagree since Set Items are essentially Unique items with the ability to gain or lose attributes depending on how many items/pieces of the set you have equipped. These attributes are basically set in stone and do not change(although some attributes can vary like All Resistance on Natalya’s Helm for example). Adding Staff Mods only leads to power creep and greatly detracts from Uniques(that roll with them all the time) or godly Magic/Rare items(which are super expensive for that very reason). Adding Staff Mods via Anya(after killing Nihlathak) would be rather interesting I suppose but I’m very hesitant to propose such a thing for Unique/Set pieces(prefer to leave that to Normal/Magic/Rare).
As for the “Class Sets”, I came up with what you have already in my 2.5 Class Set topic(simple search to find it). For IK specifically, I recommended Burst of Speed replace the Enchant proc on IK Armor since that’s Skill IAS and that directly counters Holy Freeze/Decrepify far better than a meager 20% IAS would do. I mean the set comes with 65% IAS already so another 60% isn’t too hard to achieve to hit the 5 Frame breakpoint for Whirlwind. Should BoS proc, then the IK Barbarian will really be moving around fast(and IK Armor might become a factor in Frenzy Barb builds… heh).
Ditto M’avina’s Pierce(added it to Helm), Trang-Oul FCR(added FCR to multiple pieces along with Vampire FCR bugfix). As for the other sets, I suppose what you have isn’t too game breaking. Keep in mind these sets(excludiing BK) were made for classic Diablo and were not meant for LoD(hence why their stats are underwhelming).
Staffmods already make uniques useless over runewords. Hell there are white vendor items that are better than uniques and sets because of staff mods. I covered this extensively in the last PTR:
The set “improvements” were all in modifying set bonuses but no modifications were made to individual pieces.
There needs to be a complete overhaul of set items to make partial sets or individual pieces more useful. Right now, low level individual set pieces are basically equivalent to magic items with 2 fixed attribute rolls. That makes them far inferior to rares and uniques and outright useless against low level runewords.
On a fresh start, how often do you actually use low level set pieces that drop? That’s the barometer for how useless the set pieces are compared to equivalent drops at specified ilvl zone.
Here were some suggestions from last PTR:
There is no way to get back to 4 frames now, there needs to be some means of improving damage by at least 25% just to get the set back to 2.4 damage output at 5 frames.
Improvements to sets also require improvements to the individual pieces of the sets.
BK set is completely useless unless the damage on the weapons is increased. Double Unbending Will far exceeds the the damage of BK pieces and is far easier to find.
No thanks for ethereal sets. Shouldn’t have an extra layer of rng to complete a set, and require a zod for character use. Not against indestructible unique and rare rolling eth, but not sets.
Besides, im assuming that 2.5 is done at this point. Just waiting on new ptr client and D3 Ptr to be over
I agree that sets still need more tweaking, but it feels like they’re so hard to make viable. Heaven’s Brethren is a great example, where the pieces by themselves aren’t really all that great, and even as a full set is underwhelming because you have to be level 81 to wear all pieces and the set bonuses can’t compare to the gear you will probably already be wearing at that point.
Perhaps a way to remedy this is to adjust some of the underperforming sets and make them Mercenary sets. Give people a better reason to take an Act 3 merc over an Act 2. Have those full set bonuses give an aura (because you know what’s what we love is aura mercs).
Another great suggestion is to completely remove any Spell Charges from set items that aren’t teleport or lower resist. Let’s be honest with ourselves… no one uses spell charges on any item unless it’s one of those two. Not just because it’s the most expensive repair cost, but because most items whether they’re set, unique, or rune words, have useless low level Spell Charge spells. Beef up the “spell on attack/striking” mods, or make a full set increase the level and chance of an on-strike/attack spell effect.
There’s so much you could do for the mid-level sets to make them more exciting, but until then, they’re gonna get tossed away.
Ehh I dunno I don’t think any of the sets are honestly good enough to blow a Zod on, but the 5% eth chance wouldn’t really hurt collection, it would leave the option open if someone did want to collect an eth IK/Tal set for the lols though. I think it’s the kind of change that would be easy/quick to implement and give people a choice if they actually did want to try for it without changing really anything.
Not a fan of the staff mods though. That’s WAY too much RNG. Hard pass on a +3 Blizzard, +3 Teleport Tal Orb with +2 CM being some extremely good, but super rare thing. Would be a nightmare to farm.
It makes the Hell set pieces worse to find, and makes early sets even harder to put together. Absolutely against eth sets. They haven’t even fixed the requirement bug on mercs or upping sets yet.
Why should it be any different than Uniques? Ethereal sets actually expand options, not limit them. Also, no one is arguing for just Ethereal sets without other changes. Set pieces alll largely need to be reitemized and there clearly needs to be an alternative option to Zod rune as Runewords rule the Meta.
Maybe a dura regen jewel?
By the time you get around to assembling low level sets, you are already well past the point of their usefulness
It took em 8 months to fix the cube bug, I am sure the game will be bug free in the next century at this pace.
I think the solution is fixed staff mods on sets/uniques that don’t count toward the attribute budget for the piece. Otherwise, sets and uniques will never be competitive against runewords.
Runewords get staffmods, rune bonuses, AND 4 to 8 additional affixes…
Yes, the low level sets are hard to put together. This makes it harder. You drop an eth shako, feels bad, but it can be found almost anywhere in Hell. Tal Armor, IK Armor? Not so much.
If it’s one thing D2 DOESN’T need, it’s more Charsi food. Lord knows the poor gal already has enough to munch on.
I think this set had whirlwind in mind primarily for some reason. Never understood knockback on a dual wield set though.
No… no its not. That’s only when you take into consideration item elitism. All of the end game sets are absolutely viable for end game. They’re just more challenging is all. That said, some of the suggestions are not out of line.
That’s interesting, I’ve always thought BK was more geared towards Frenzy being a two-sword set, but Whirlwind also makes sense. I wonder if it would make more sense to have BK designed with bonus to +5 Double Swing/Frenzy or +5 Whirlwind?
Just because it’s only 5% chance to roll eth, doesn’t make it any easier to still complete sets, and still doesn’t absolve the joy of finally finding that last piece you have been looking for, only to Charsi it because of your “wonderful” luck that it rolled eth. I have found exactly 2 Tal Armors since D2R launched, both on non-ladder. I’ve found maybe 3 IK Armors since launch, 2 of them were non ladder, one on ladder.
It’s too much rng to both complete the set, and pray the rarest pieces don’t roll eth. And really, what will eth benefit with sets, that get most of their power from set bonuses? Eth Tal Helm upped for a Merc? Eth Sazabis full set for a merc?
The only benefit to character power, that wouldn’t require a Zod or be worthless outside of maybe PvP use are weapons and a couple of pieces that are innate indestructible.
Sazabi Sword, Aldur’s Boots, Ik Maul, Hwanin Bill, Heaven’s Brethren Shield. Not worth trolling players happy to see that green piece of gear to finish off their set.
Again, completely against this. We have the ability to up them with the cube. Update the set bonuses accordingly, no eth.
Could strongly benefit from 2changes to itemization
indestructible can now spawn eth
Having a chance to have the maul eth would make that set worth it for once since 1.10 ruined itemization
runewords can be made in all rarity of items at a reduced effect for non-normal items
This would allow 2 socket runewords in the maul
Steel
20% Enhanced Damage
+3 to Minimum Damage
+3 to Maximum Damage
+50 to Attack Rating
50% Chance of Open Wounds
25% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
+1 to Light Radius
Strength
35% Enhanced Damage
25% Chance of Crushing Blow
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
+20 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
Wind
10% Chance To Cast Level 9 Tornado On Striking
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+15% Faster Hit Recovery
+120-160% Enhanced Damage (varies)
-50% Target Defense
+50 To Attack Rating
Hit Blinds Target
+1 To Light Radius
Level 13 Twister (127 Charges)
& 2 for the helm
Lore
+1 To All Skills
+10 To Energy
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Lightning Resist +30%
Damage Reduced By 7
+2 To Light Radius
Nadir
+50% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
+30 Defense vs. Missiles
Level 13 Cloak of Shadows (9 Charges)
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
+5 Strength
-33% Extra Gold from Monsters
-3 to Light Radius
I don’t think it will work to have Set pieces generate random staff mods. It’d be kind of interesting, but from what I understand Sets and Uniques don’t work that way. Instead, they should just have Staff Mods added onto the item in question, with the Staff Mod being something that is thematic and synergizes well with the item in question.
For Example:
Aldur’s Watchtower:
Aldur’s suffers from several problems. The most obvious is the weapon, which lacks both the damage for a Shapeshifter, and the faster cast needed for a Elementalist. However, the helm also suffers from the lack of staff mods. The armor gives plus 1 to Elemental and Shapeshifting skills, and the entire set gives +3 to Druid Skills. Compare that to the +2 to all skill available on body armor Runewords, the potential +2 to all skills on a helm in addition to +3 to certain specific skills, and the possible +2 to Druid Skills on a Rare Mace. Basically that’s +4 from Aldur’s compared to the +9 potentially available on comparable alternatives (and that doesn’t even try to compete with a Heart of the Oak runeword).
How would I fix this set? Well it’s obviously aimed at either an Elementalist or a Shapeshifter. Probably a Shapeshifter/Wind Druid hybrid.
1: Add +3 Summon Grizzly to Aldur’s Stony Gaze (the helm). A Grizzly is useful a Druid caster, it’s also useful to a Shapeshifter, and to a Summoner.
2: Add +3 Hurricane to Aldur’s Stony Gaze. Even if not synergized a Hurricane can always be useful for the chill effect.
3: Add +3 Cyclone Armor to Aldur’s Stony Gaze. Cyclone Armor is pretty much always useful no matter your build.
4: Move the 350% Enhanced Damage from the Set bonus to Adlur’s Rhythm (the weapon) directly, perhaps replacing the second partial set bonus for wearing three items. Always better to have the damage directly on the weapon.
5: Replace the first partial set bonus (for wearing two items) on Aldur’s Rhythm with 30% Faster Cast.
6: Replace the third partial set bonus (for wearing four items) on Aldur’s Rhythm with +2 Druid Skills.
7: Change the base for Aldur’s Deception to Chaos Armor (the Exceptional version) instead of Shadow Plate (the Elite version). All the other pieces are Exceptional, let the player wear it all at the same time instead of having to wait till lvl 71 to wear the armor.
8: Replace the first partial set bonus (for wearing two items) on Aldur’s Stony Gaze with 20% Faster Cast.
9: Replace the second partial set bonus (for wearing three items) on Aldur’s Stony Gaze with +200 Attack Rating.
10: Replace the third partial set bonus (for wearing four items) on Aldur’s Stony Gaze with 20% Faster Block Rate.
11: Replace the second partial set bonus (for wearing three items) on Aldur’s Advance (the boots) with 20% Crushing Blow.
12: Replace the third partial set bonus (for wearing four items) on Aldur’s Advance with 20% Faster Hit Recovery.
13: Replace the first partial set bonus (for wearing two items) on Aldur’s Deception (the body armor) with 20% Faster Hit Recovery.
14: Replace the second partial set bonus (for wearing three items) on Aldur’s Deception with +250% Defense.
15: Replace the third partial set bonus (for wearing four items) on Aldur’s Deception with +50 to Life.
Tried to make it so the first partial Set bonus applies to casters, the second to melee, and the third to both. The above I think would make Aldur’s a very useful set for both Shapeshifters and Elementalists, and even a Summoner, well into Hell difficulty. Viable for the whole game but not quite best in slot for any of the builds. (Aiming for something like Tal Rasha’s in terms of power level).
