First on the list in the OP is to increase base weapon damage across the board, so that is already being proposed. For unique items, I think taking a more tailored approach to buffing (e.g. adding o-skills, affixes, unique abilities, etc.) adds more flavor.
oh i just read the title and post 
i dont think is good for the simple reason this will dont change or reduce the gap mean unbalance some item already have ,also this will be a huge amount of work to change all base item in the game , i think i sgot much simple solution , just add a % too the underpower item , same with updating Prefixes and Suffixes ,
What is being proposed in OP is simply increasing base weapon damage by 30-40% for a Season and adjust as necessary.
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always i try too give my opinion for buff or change ect, i keep always in mind to make this with the less work or coding possible , because i dont expect a big team working on d2re anyway good luck 
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I wish the developers would focus their efforts for Season 3 with improving itemization, with special focus on uniques. Like you mentioned, this would revitilze the game tenfold.
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The main thing here is that the Chance to Cast needs to be On Striking. Maybe you could make a two handed weapon around On Struck, though you’d need some odd effects to make it worthwhile. But a dagger? That has to be on striking, both from an actual usability perspective, as well as a flavor aspect.
I have a post that discusses charges in depth. The key here is that there are some charges that are valuable, and others that are not. Teleport charges are valuable of course, as are Decrepify charges, the only thing lacking is the number of charges. So increasing the number of charges for those two spells makes sense and increases the value of the item. Level 12 Firestorm, and especially level 10 Holy Bolt are simply worthless as charges no matter the number.
Holy Bolt is not a good spell for a charge at almost any level. If you have to have a Paladin spell, Fist of the Heavens would be better, but at level 39 that would mean level 10 FofH and that’s marginal. You’d probably be better off giving charges in Zeal (lvl 10), Vengeance (lvl 10), Charge (lvl 11), or even Conversion (lvl 16) or Sacrifice (lvl 24). Conversion is even thematic with the battlefield control of Decrepify and Teleport. Although Charge, Zeal, or Sacrifice would synergize better in damage output with Decrepify. Being a two handed axe… personally I’d like Charge charges on this weapon.
Firestorm is not a very good damage spell either, particularly at level 12. If you have to have a Druid spell, Fissure (lvl 24) would be the choice for damage output. Though that’s more caster oriented. Hurricane (lvl 10) while lower in damage adds the chill effect which might be more useful. Although the real Druid spell I’d like would be Cyclone Armor (lvl 24).
Burst of Speed would be a useful Assassin charge to get on the weapon. Or Slow Missile charges from the Amazon. Charges like those could make this a very versatile and interesting weapon to build a character around, while still fitting the flavor of “Spellsteel.”
I’d probably pick the following for charges on Spellsteel:
Level 1 Teleport (60 charges)
Level 3 Decrepify (90 charges)
Level 14 Slow Missile (180 charges)
Level 24 Cyclone Armor (100 charges)
Level 1 Battle Cry (300 charges)
Level 16 Conversion (60 charges)
Level 16 Burst of Speed (60 charges)
There, 7 spells, one from each class, suited to making this weapon flexible and useful for probably either a Barbarin, Paladin, or Sorceress, but other than the Teleport not the best at increasing clear speed. It’d be a weapon for a fun build, not a top meta.
Ethereal doesn’t really feel thematic. Maybe just change “Adds 30-50 Damage” to “Damage +30-50” (similar to Grief).
To be clear, the effect is +0.5 Vitality Per Character Level, and you want to change that to +1 Vitality Per Character Level. Maybe make it Ethereal?
Main thing here is to make Fury and Maul O-Skills. That would allow it to be used in combination with Wolfhowl or Beast by a Barbarian.
Clever replacing the Knockback with Chance to Cast Molten Boulder. Are the percent chances to cast high enough though? 4% is basically once every 25 strikes or so. Even for a Zealot that’s a lot of strikes. I’d suggest making it 10%.
I’d also suggest changing the +1 Amazon Skills, to +1 All Skills. Give the non-Amazon specific bows a little more flexibility in users.
I like it. Main thing needed though is for Crossbows to be allowed to reach 9 frames per an attack, as right now they are capped at 11 frames per attack no matter how much IAS you have.
I think making the Cold/Lightning/Fire Master O-skills is really all you need to do. Leave the +3 Sorceress Skill instead of making it All Skills, it will still be incredibly useful for a Fire Druid. No need for more Faster Cast rate either.
Would allow for stacking with Ice to get level 30 Holy Freeze Aura. I don’t think that would be a good idea. How about just giving +1 Holy Freeze as an O-skill? I mean, if you go all out and stack as much +skills as possible you still can’t get higher than level 16ish Holy Freeze anyway, (remember Charms + skills are Paladin only), and it won’t stack with Ice Holy Freeze Aura.
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Thanks for your feedback Sackett, great suggestions! I’ve incorporated many of your ideas (I think all of them actually) and updated OP accordingly. We have a pretty solid list for the developers.
I think fixing the items that were meant to provide mage utility (with lackluster charges) would do massive things for creating new builds in the game.
This would make the game a lot more fun if you found an item like this. As a casual player, whenever I found an item with low charges, I just didn’t even bother with it because I knew they would be out within a few minutes.
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Agreed. I liked Sackett’s recommendation for proposed changes below that would offer alot of utility with Spellsteel…
Spellsteel
- Change charges on item to below:
- Level 1 Teleport (60 charges)
- Level 1 Battle Cry (240 charges)
- Level 3 Decrepify (90 charges)
- Level 14 Slow Missile (180 charges)
- Level 16 Conversion (60 charges)
- Level 16 Burst of Speed (60 charges)
- Level 24 Cyclone Armor (120 charges)
Taking a first crack at normal unique armors, here’s what I came up with for proposed changes. Let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement…
The Centurion
Hard Leather Armor
Defense: 51-54
Required Level: 14
Required Strength: 20
Durability: 28
+30 Defense
Replenish Life +5
+50 To Attack Rating
+15 To Mana
+15 To Max Stamina
+15 To Life
25% Slow Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced By 2
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +1-3 To Charge
- Add +10% Increased Chance of Blocking
- Change Attack Rating from +50 to +100
Sparking Mail
Chain Mail
Defense: 133-140
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 48
Durability: 45
+75-85% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +30%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 10-14
Adds 1-20 Lightning Damage
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +1 To Lightning Skills
Boneflesh
Plate Mail
Defense: 234-257
Required Level: 26
Required Strength: 65
Durability: 60
+100-120% Enhanced Defense
5% Life Stolen Per Hit
+25% Chance Of Open Wounds
+35 To Attack Rating
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add 15% Chance to Cast Level 10 Bone Armor When Struck
Hawkmail
Scale Mail
Defense: 109-122
Required Level: 15
Required Strength: 44
Durability: 36
+80-100% Enhanced Defense
10% Faster Run/Walk
15% To Max Cold Resist
Cold Resist +15%
Cannot Be Frozen
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +5 To Raven
- Change FRW from 10% to 25%
Iceblink
Splint Mail
Defense: 163-172
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 51
Durability: 30
+70-80% Enhanced Defense
Freezes Target
Cold Resist +30%
Magic Damage Reduced By 1
+4 To Light Radius
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +3-6 To Frozen Armor
- Add Half Freeze Duration
Venom Ward
Breast Plate
Defense: 110-138
Required Level: 20
Required Strength: 30
Durability: 50
+60-100% Enhanced Defense
+2 To Light Radius
15% To Max Poison Resist
Poison Resist +90%
Poison Length Reduced By 50%
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +1 To Poison Skills
Heavenly Garb
Light Plate
Defense: 216
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 41
Durability: 60
+100% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
All Resistances +10
+15 To Energy
+50% Damage To Undead
+100 To Attack Rating Against Undead
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add 1 Open Socket
- Add Level 1 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped
Silks of the Victor
Ancient Armor
Defense: 468-512
Required Level: 28
Required Strength: 100
Durability: 60
+100-120% Enhanced Defense
+1 To All Skills
5% Mana Stolen Per Hit
+2 To Light Radius
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +1-3 To Shout
- Add 20% Faster Hit Recovery
- Change Enhanced Defense from +100-120% to +120-160%
3 Likes
Since I’m a casual, I didn’t realize that some unique items actually roll open sockets. I think that was something that was underutilized. That makes item rolling much more interesting. I think more two handed uniques and armors should roll open sockets.
I really like that you added that onto The Grandfather, that would be an amazing item to roll for.
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Completely agree. Adding sockets to uniques adds an opportunity for customization. In addition to adding sockets to Grandfather, I also proposed adding sockets for Stormlash, Schaefer’s Hammer, Astreon’s Iron Ward, Ondal’s Wisdom, Eaglehorn, Crown of Thieves, Butcher’s Pupil, etc.
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I didn’t realize they added an item for the legendary Schaefer brothers and it’s this lame weapon:
Required level 79, meanwhile grief is level 59
To be able to roll 1 - 2 sockets AND Ethereal on these types of weapons would be sick. It would be a massive motivator to grind and MF. It’s a no brainer to buff items.
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Yes, it’s a shame the legendary mallet is a lame weapon. Here are the proposed buffs to Schaefer’s Hammer to get it to its rightful place. Plus, as you mentioned, this adds more excitement to gearing for MF…
Schaefer’s Hammer
Legendary Mallet
One-Hand Damage: (100-114) To (124-338)
Required Level: 79
Required Strength: 189
Mace Class – Slow Attack Speed
+100-130% Enhanced Damage
+2-198 To Maximum Damage
Adds 50-200 Lightning Damage
+50% Damage to Undead
20% To Cast Level 10 Static Field On Striking
20% Increased Attack Speed
+8-792 To Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +75%
+50 To Life
+1 To Light Radius
Indestructible
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add Ethereal
- Add 1-2 Open Sockets
- Change Required Level from 79 to 72
- Change Enhanced Damage from +100-130% to +200-260%
i’m all for making under used unique/set items better, but i dont think a base damage is the route to go.
imo, diablo 2 should live and die by skills. i would much rather them increase synergies or base skill damage to increase melee damage potential to reward heavily investing in a certain skill and or tree rather than go the d3 route of making your damage entirely equipment based.
I think D2R strikes the right balance for skill damage vs. weapon damage. The problem is melee-based characters are more gear dependent than caster characters and uniques are utter garbage and completely outclassed by runewords. Uniques need an overhaul. Instead of touching base damage, we can add sockets, on-hit effects, o-skills, etc.
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i think buffing the skills melee classes use would go a long way to helping them as well. i think the ww change last ladder was a good first attempt at raising the damage floor, im not sure why they crunched the ceiling though.
most likely increasing synergies would be the best route as it rewards investing heavily into a certain skill and doesnt pay off until you’re either farming nightmare difficulty for experience or going through hell difficulty. front loading the base skill may trivialize the early game too much.
It makes a lot of sense. What do uniques have that runewords can’t have? Sockets!
On paper a high costing runeword should be better than a lot of uniques. But what if a unique hits its max rolls (eth, sockets, etc)?. Then it should have the potential to be more powerful than low roll runewords and possibly even BIS. That would be great.
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Agreed 100%. It’s unfortunate the vast majority of uniques in the game are utter garbage. I think revamping uniques would breathe new life into the game, making itemization even richer, and would encourge more players to MF. It’s time to make Tyrael’s Might, The Grandfather, Schaefer’s Hammer, and Mang Song’s Lesson great again!
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I like what you did with this. Mang’s Song should be for people that want to play as a glass cannon mage. Powerful mages like Lazarus used a two handed staff and it makes sense. If they did this I would feel like playing Sorceress, and I’m a Barb guy.
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Yeah, it’s a shame one of the most rare items in the game- Mang Song’s Lesson, is fairly medicore at best. I think it should be a powerhouse staff for the rarity.
A few more items that never see the light of day are Spirit Ward and Steel Shade. I think it would be fun to re-purpose Spirit Ward to be the defacto Magic Resist item in the game. In regards to Steel Shade, it should have the coveted CBF to make it stand out more…
Spirit Ward
Ward
Defense: 393-478
Required Level: 68
Required Strength: 185
130-180% Enhanced Defense
+25% Faster Block Rate
20-30% Increased Chance to Block
All Resistances +30-40
+6-11 Cold Absorb
5% To Cast Level 8 Fade When Struck
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add Magic Resist +15-25%
- Change +6-11 Cold Absorb to +10% Magic Absorb
Steel Shade
Armet
Defense: 300-345
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 109
Durability: 24
+100-130% Enhanced Defense
Replenish Life +10-18
+4-8% Mana Stolen Per Hit
+5-11 Fire Absorb
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +1 To All Skills
- Add Cannot Be Frozen
- Change Fire Absorb +5-11 to Cold Absorb 10%
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