That looks pretty good!
I also like the attribute on Tyrael’s that’s something like % damage to demons (assuming theres one for undead). I think that is an underutilized attribute.
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Upon reading lore, “Arkaine was an ancient hero who turned the tide of the Sin War and drove demons back to the Burning Hells. He was well known for wearing the Holy Armor known as Valor.” With that, it seems fitting to add damage to demons (instead of ED) and might aura when equipped (caught up in the fervor of battle, the righteousness and strength of justice)?..
Arkaine’s Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1295-1450
Required Level: 85
Required Strength: 165
Durability: 30
+150-180% Enhanced Defense
+1-2 To All Skills
+0-49 To Vitality
30% Faster Hit Recovery
Damage Reduced By 10-15
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add Indestructible
- Add 1-3 Open Sockets
- Add +180-210% Damage To Demons
- Add Level 8-12 Might Aura When Equipped
- Change Required Level from 85 to 80
- Change +0-49 To Vitality (+0.5 Per Clvl) to +0-99 To Vitality (+1.0 Per Clvl)
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More lore from the Sin War trilogy.
Facing Bul-Kathos, was a younger challenger, an unknown warrior that had acquired a great treasure while adventuring across the lands of Sanctuary. This treasure was the The Grandfather and Doombringer, two mythical swords imbued with powerful magiks. The legends said that these swords were lost forever in a titanic battle of good and evil, where the champions of both sides annihilated themselves and their armies by crossing these blades in mortal combat.
This sword needs to be a sick bastard. Whatever is making it fall behind, that needs to end NOW!
How did we go from legendary Barbarians dual wielding these outside of Rogue Encampment, to Soy Boy Barbs holding crystal swords and shields?
Charles can you do a no-holds-barred version of this sword? For example, 80 to life? Forget 80 to life, we want +120 to life, and we want Barbs to Dual wield these again.
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Love all your comments. 100% agree! We need to cautiously rework only a few helms, belts, helmets and boots for increased veriety. A lot are in a good shape and only e few need some extras to open up a new theme for certain builds! 
A sorceress wielding x2 daggers (assuming Wizardspike’s). Exposed. Booyah.
Lol nice observation, apparently more items were nerfed in 1.10:
(From a JSP thread in 2011)
Arkaine’s Valor (Balrog Skin) - +2 all skills, 1554 def, +2.5 vitality/per level, +2 life per level, 50% fire resist…
The Grandfather (Colossus Blade) - 150% ED, but +175 life and 25% life and mana bonus
Harlequin Crest (Shako) - +2 all skill, 100% ED, +40% life, no PDR or life/mana per clvl, 50% MF
Baranar’s Star (Devil Star) - 1.5 vitality per level, no elemental damage
Stormshield (Aegis) - The special item type makes it interesting, but the mods on it are the same like in v1.09, and the Aegis has more str req and less blocking…
Lightsabre (Elegant Blade) - 200% ED, 30% lightning absorb, interesting item type
Wizardspike (Bone Knife) - 95% res all!
Hellslayer (Decapitator) - +2 vitality per level, 150% ED, Indestructible, but the Enhanced max damage is less than in v1.09
Arreat’s Face (Slayer Guard) - +2 barb skills, +0.5 max damage per clvl, 15% target’s defense (especially useful in PvP)
Vampire Gaze (Grim Helm) - 8% life and mana leech, 25% PDR, rest is same
Valkyrie Wing (Winged Helm) - 30% IAS, faster cast, faster run/walk
Gerke’s Sanctuary (Pavise) - +1 vitality per level etc.
Visceratuant (Defender) - +2 necro skills, +80 life
Saracen’s Chance ammy - Prismatic Atma’s Scarab…
String of Ears (Demonhide Sash) - fixed 8% LL, 15% PDR etc.
Herald of Zakarum (Gilded Shield) - Cannot be frozen, +damage!
Hellmouth (War Gauntlets) - Cannot be frozen, 20% IAS
Skullder’s Ire (Russet Armor) - +30 vitality and perfect ED% along with all the bonuses of the v1.09 one
So I see my suggestion of giving The Grandfather 120HP isn’t that far off, it used to have +175 life and a 25% life bonus (which is ideally what an elite unique should look like in all honesty).
I’m assuming Peter Hu nerfed some of these to give more emphasis to runewords?
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1.08:
1.10:
Nice job Peter Hu, 10/10 item balancing. Don’t tweak numbers, just remove attributes and butcher the sword.
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Grim’s Burning Dead
Grim Scythe
Two-Hand Damage: (72-84) To (168-196)
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 70
Required Dexterity: 70
Durability: 55
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
+140-180% Enhanced Damage
Adds 131-232 Fire Damage
+3 To Necromancer Skill Levels
-50% Target Defense
+20% Enhanced Defense
+200-250 To Attack Rating
Fire Resist +45%
Requirements -50%
Attacker Takes Damage of 8
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +2-4 To Raise Skeletal Mage (Necromancer Only)
- Add +1-3 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
Just found one 
Would suggest the obove but make it roll both 1-3. But would increase dmg ab bit. You will hit stuff with this every now and then. Would increase fire dmg a bit (131-232 > 200-400) and AR 300-400 and 10% IAS.
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Here’s a great video on the before and after of items.
2 Likes
Here are the no-holds-barred versions for the following items:
The Grandfather
Colossus Blade
One-Hand Damage: (62-87) To (164-474)
Two-Hand Damage: (145-203) To (289-649)
Required Level: 81
Required Strength: 189
Required Dexterity: 110
Sword Class - Fast Attack Speed
+150-250% Enhanced Damage
+2-247 To Maximum Damage
+50% Bonus To Attack Rating
+80 To Life
+20 To All Attributes
Indestructible
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add Ethereal
- Add 1-3 Open Sockets
- Add 5% To Experience Gained
- No Experience Loss Upon Death
- Add Increase Maximum Life 20%
- Change Life from +80 to +120
- Change Required Level from 81 to 75
- Change Enhanced Damage from +150-250% to +200-300%
Arkaine’s Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1295-1450
Required Level: 85
Required Strength: 165
Durability: 30
+150-180% Enhanced Defense
+1-2 To All Skills
+0-49 To Vitality
30% Faster Hit Recovery
Damage Reduced By 10-15
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add 1-3 Open Sockets
- Add +180-210% Damage To Demons
- Add Level 8-12 Might Aura When Equipped
- Change Required Level from 85 to 80
- Change +0-49 To Vitality (+0.5 Per Clvl) to +0-149 To Vitality (+1.5 Per Clvl)
Wizardspike
Bone Knife
One-Hand Damage: 23 to 49
Required Level: 61
Required Strength: 38
Required Dexterity: 75
Dagger Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
+2-198 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
50% Faster Cast Rate
Regenerate Mana 15%
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
All Resistances +75
Indestructible
- Proposed Buffs:
- Change All Resistance from +75 to +95
1 Like
That’s a good start. It’s always easier to scale up and tone it down than go bit by bit.
I have a question about this sword though.
What would be the design reasoning why a godly sword such as this not have these attributes:
- Deadly Strike
- Crushing Blow
- Open wounds
It has very standard attributes except for: 50% to Attack Rating
Where do we draw the line and say “No this sword shouldn’t have crushing blow or deadly strike”.
It looks like other swords do follow a design pattern. For example items like Lightsabre and Azurewrath
have attributes like:
- 200 - 400 cold/lightning/fire/magic
- Increased attack speed
- Ignore target defense
You wouldn’t expect to see crushing blow/deadly strike/open wounds on these types of weapons.
But for a two handed Colossus Blade:
To me it makes sense that an Elite Colossus Blade would at least have crushing blow.
An executioner sword? Nah. A Colossus Blade? That’s a two handed sword for a man that has intentions of doing some… bad things.
What do you guys think?
2 Likes
I like this change a lot. What do you think about including a +1 Strafe as an O-skill? That would truly make this the “Doomslinger.”
I like it. I would also suggest adding +2-3 to Venom, +1-2 to Shadow Master, and +2-3 to Dragon Talon. It fits the name, “Jade Talon” to have both Venom and Dragon Talon on this claw, not to mention the +2 to Shadow Skills suggest this ought to have both Shadow and Martial Arts tree skills on it. Otherwise, you might as well use a rare claw instead for better damage and better + skills.
Shadow Killer ought to have +2-3 to Dragon Flight, +2-3 to Cloak of Shadows, and +2-3 Blade Fury. (They all fit the name, and Blade Fury will work well with the -25% target Defense).
Firelizard Claws ought to have +2-3 Dragon Tail (the fire damage finisher), while Bartuc’s Cut Throat ought to have +2-3 to Dragon Claw.
How about make those O-skills, (and +1-2 Summon Resist) and also give the Scythe 20% Reanimate as Skeletal Mage? That way you could use it as a Barbarian or something and create an army of skeletal mages to follow you around. Not super powerful, but hilarious. Or alternatively you could use it on a Necromancer with max Skeleton Mastery and Skeletal Mage and get more powerful mages.
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Good question. My thought was since we are proposing to add 1-3 open sockets, the player could customize their Grandfather. If you want DS/CB/OW, they could socket the Lo/Ber/Um, respectively. I think adding these attributes with open sockets may be a bit too much. I think the proposed buffs below is a massive boost…
The Grandfather
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add Ethereal
- Add 1-3 Open Sockets
- Add 5% To Experience Gained
- No Experience Loss Upon Death
- Add Increase Maximum Life 20%
- Change Life from +80 to +120
- Change Required Level from 81 to 75
- Change Enhanced Damage from +150-250% to +200-300%
Sounds like a solid change to me…
Doomslinger
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +1 To Strafe
- Add 10% To Cast Level 15 Fire Ball On Striking
- Change Amazon Skill Levels from +1 to +1-2
That looks like a really fun change…
Jade Talon
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +2-3 To Venom
- Add +2-3 To Dragon Talon
- Add +1-2 To Shadow Master
- Add +30% Faster Block Rate
- Change Enhanced Damage from +190-240% to +210-260%
Agreed, Blade Fury would work well with this…
Shadow Killer
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +2-3 To Blade Fury
- Add +2-3 To Dragon Flight
- Add +1-2 To Cloak of Shadows
- Change Enhanced Damage from +170-220% to +230-280%
Overall, great changes…
Grim’s Burning Dead
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add +2-4 To Raise Skeletal Mage
- Add +1-3 To Skeleton Mastery
- Add +1-2 To Summon Resist
- Add 20% Reanimate As: Skeletal Mage
- Change Fire Damage from 131-232 to 200-400
- Change Attack Rating from +200-250 to +300-400
Lastly, I’m curious what people think about the proposed buffs to Nord’s Tenderizer below…
Nord’s Tenderizer
Truncheon
One-Hand Damage: (129-150) To (159-184)
Required Level: 68
Required Strength: 88
Required Dexterity: 43
Durability: 55
Mace Class - Fast Attack Speed
+270-330% Enhanced Damage
+50% Damage to Undead
Adds 205-455 Cold Damage, 5 sec. Duration
Freezes Target +2-4
Cold Absorb 5-15%
+25% Increased Attack Speed
Level 16 Blizzard (12 charges)
+150-180% Bonus To Attack Rating
- Proposed Buffs:
- Add Cannot Be Frozen
- Add 20% To Cast Level 40 Blizzard On Striking
- Remove Level 16 Blizzard (12 charges)
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That’s a change worth trying.
The ‘12 charges’ stuff wasn’t great from the start. They either needed to 30x them (except for Teleport staff, etc) or remove them and just give O-skill.
I would also raise the Treasure class from 54 to 78 to give the item more value (maybe?)
I think we should also take inspiration from itemization from other games as well such as League:
The items themselves are pretty basic: +health, resistances, cooldown reduction.
The thing that makes the items stand out the most is the unique passive
In Diablo 2 that would be like giving an item an Aura, or a Spell.
Arkaine’s Valor
Balrog Skin
Defense: 1295-1450
Required Level: 85
Required Strength: 165
Durability: 30
+150-180% Enhanced Defense
+1-2 To All Skills
+0-49 To Vitality
30% Faster Hit Recovery
Damage Reduced By 10-15
Proposed Buffs:
Add 1-3 Open Sockets
Add +180-210% Damage To Demons
Add Level 8-12 Might Aura When Equipped
Change Required Level from 85 to 80
Change +0-49 To Vitality (+0.5 Per Clvl) to +0-149 To Vitality (+1.5 Per Clvl)
So I think TC87 items like Arkaines should have something special like Might aura.
Lvl 12 Might is 150% ed, where as a Might merc can have up to 320% ed might aura. It would be far better with the Blessed Aim aura.
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I feel like this ought to be designed for a Druid. Or maybe a Barbarian. So maybe something like +1 Cold Mastery as an O-skill (if that’s too powerful, alternatively -15% Enemy Cold Resistance), and have the Blizzard become Chance to Cast level 16 Blizzard on Striking? That would make this a weapon for a Hurricane Fury Druid, or a maybe Frenzy Barbarian or a Frost Zealot.
I don’t know, chance to cast level 40 Blizzard on Striking feels wrong to me. And possibly dangerous, what if a Sorceress was to wield this with max synergies on a level 40 Blizzard? That’s only 60 points, still allowing max energy shield or max Frozen Armor into the build. I mean, I usually don’t disagree with empowering melee Sorceresses, but level 40 Blizzard on Chance to Cast… that feels a little too much to me, I’d feel better with a level 16 (or even level 22) Blizzard that also gives Cold Mastery to help other classes make effective use of it.
2 Likes
Guys, I did a rough test. There are too many cold immunes in Hell for this item to be useful.
I had trouble proccing Blizzard at the end. I didn’t have a full Barb build, only a Shaftstop. But let me know if you want me to continue testing it with a full build or a Druid.
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Err… wouldn’t the proper test be in Ancient Tunnels or Stony Tomb? Since those are level 85 areas without Cold Immunes?
Act 4 has large numbers of Cold Immunes so that seems a rather poor place to test.
2 Likes
Players 1, somewhat mid tier gear, 20% chance to cast level 40 Blizzard, dual wielded.
Probably a bit OP. But I think an item like this should be TC78. So you would need to find two of them which would be difficult.
2 Likes