Jupp! That fits. How about the rest?
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Would that be too much?..
Bul-Kathos’ Children
- Remove Knockback
- Add +200 Poison Damage (Full Set)
- Add +200% Enhanced Damage (Full Set)
- Add Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band to the Set
- Knockback must be removed to make set viable. You can’t use Frenzy with this set because of this effect, making for slow kill speed. This set could benefit with additional poison damage (poison damage on Tribal Guardian is lackluster), add bonus for additional ED as set has low damage for hell. Lastly, consider adding Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band as set piece
Removing the knockback… and adding BK ring to the set have always been my biggest wishes for it. Wouldn’t even need to change existing rings. Wouldn’t hurt anything lol.
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Completely agree, changing Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band as a set piece for Bul-Kathos’ Children would be a great change.
Changing BK from Unique to Set would fit the theme. But it’s not what the devs did in 2.4 (see Charles comment above). Set items have a higher effective magic find quote than uniques (you know the graph) and therefore our proposed changes to the unique ring would be to much for a now more frequent find?
So, as unlikely as my suggested changes on single Mavinas items unfortunately.
@ CharlesJT: Nevertheless like your changes for the set. Although removing KB would be an item change as well. But an easy one I guess.
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That was my thought as well as all the devs need to do is hit the delete button for KB. Here is the summary thus far for our set review…
Hsarus’ Defense
- Add +15 Maximum Stamina (2 Items)
- Add +15% Faster Hit Recovery (Full Set)
- Hsarus’ Defense is lackluster for melee and could use max stamina and FHR to help with early leveling
Tancred’s Battlegear
- Add +150 To Attack Rating (3 Items)
- Add 10% Physical Damage Reduction (4 Items)
- Add 15% Chance To Cast Level 10 Charged Bolt On Striking (Full Set)
- Tancred’s Battlegear is lackluster for melee and could use AR, PDR, and chance to cast charged bolt to strengthen theme of lightning damage
Berserker’s Arsenal
- Add +20% Faster Run/Walk (2 Items)
- Add +20% Deadly Strike (Full Set)
- Change +3-297 Defense to +3-297 Life (+3.00 Per Character Level) (2 Items)
- Change 5-9 Poison Damage to 1-148 Magic Damage (+1.50 Per Character Level) (Full Set)
- Berserker’s is mediocre compared to other class-themed sets. Set could benefit from FRW, DS, change defense to life and poison damage to magic damage to be consistent with Berserk, and relevent at later levels
Aldur’s Watchtower
- Add 10% Faster Cast Rate (2 Items)
- Add 10% Faster Cast Rate (3 Items)
- Add 10% Faster Cast Rate (Full Set)
- Add +100% Magic Find (Full Set)
- Aldur’s could benefit from FCR as set bonuses to give elemental druids a reason to use set. Lastly, adding a new full set bonus to MF would give characters more options to MF. This complements partial set bonus of 50% MF
Isenhart’s Armory
- Add +1 To All Skills (Full Set)
- Add 25% Chance To Cast Level 5 Holy Bolt On Striking (Full Set)
- Change All Resistances +10 to All Resistances +1-74% (+0.75% Per Character Level) (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. Lastly, buff all resist of full set bonus to be relevent at later levels
M’avina’s Battle Hymn
- Add +2-198 To Magic Damage (+2 Per Character Level) (2 Items)
- Add +33% Piercing Attack (3 Items)
- Add +100 To Life (4 Items)
- Add +20% Fire Damage (Full Set)
- M’avina’s is a budget set for a Frost Maiden, but is painfully slow. Adding additional magic damage, ability to pierce and extra life would help this set out. Lastly, adding fire damage bonus would add flexibility to enhance other skills
Bul-Kathos’ Children
- Remove Knockback
- Add +200 Poison Damage (Full Set)
- Add +200% Enhanced Damage (Full Set)
- Add Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band to the Set
- Knockback must be removed to make set viable. You can’t use Frenzy with this set because of this effect, making for slow kill speed. This set could benefit with additional poison damage (poison damage on Tribal Guardian is lackluster), add bonus for additional ED as set has low damage for hell. Lastly, consider adding Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band as set piece
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I would revise the innate polearm bonus of -monster defense pre hit to - targets defense per hit instead (perhaps double the amount provided to crossbows ( compensating for range vs crossbow )) The reason being, is that I would like to see the bonus applicable to polearms in PVP rather than strictly pvm
Crown of Thieves Buff “Do Not Require Keys To Open Locked Chests” - That’s a clever stat. I like it.
I like that Unbending will was added to hammers. I would suggest Polearms and Spears as well.
Similarly, I would suggest Death to be available in Hammers / Maces
Stone Shield is interesting.
Regarding new cube recipes
How about cube upgrade recipe that adds up to100% enhanced damage when upgraded to exceptional, and up to 150% enhanced damage when upgraded to elite.
For example
- Coldsteel Eye cutlass original 200-250ed upgraded to elite rerolls 200-400ed
- Rixots Keen short sword original 100ed upgraded to exceptional 100-200ed upgraded to elite rerolls 100-350ed
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Thanks for the feedback and made the following changes to the OP…
Polearms
To improve viability of polearms, will now receive innate ability to roll w/ -10% Target Defense for Normal Polearms, -20% for Exceptional, and -30% for Elite. Historically, polearms were used to deal with heavily armored opponents.
| Polearms | Minus Target Defense |
|---|---|
| Normal | -10% |
| Exceptional | -20% |
| Elite | -30% |
Crossbows
To make crossbows more competitive, will now receive innate ability to roll w/ -5% Target Defense for Normal Crossbows, -10% for Exceptional, and -15% for Elite. Historically, the major benefit of Crossbows over Bows was its penetration power through armor.
| Crossbows | Minus Target Defense |
|---|---|
| Normal | -5% |
| Exceptional | -10% |
| Elite | -15% |
Unbending Will
- Can now be made in Hammers, Polearms & Spears
- This runeword has a huge boost to enhanced damage, expanding to hammers (available to ogre mauls/thunder mauls and their exceptional variants), polearms and spears would be a great addition
In addition, added the following…
Beast
- Can now be made in Scourge
- This runeword is a good option for scourge
Trang-Oul’s Avatar
- Add 10% Faster Cast Rate (3 Items)
- Add 10% Faster Cast Rate (4 Items)
- Add 10% Faster Cast Rate (Full Set)
- Change Fire Ball from 18 to 20 (2 Items)
- Change Fire Wall from 13 to 20 (3 Items)
- Change Meteor from 10 to 15 (4 Items)
- Change Fire Mastery from 3 to 5 (Full Set)
- Fix bug that increases casting delay in vampire-form resulting in slower casting
- Trangs needs more FCR to be viable. Also, buff fire skills and mastery for improved viability
3 Likes
So, back to the set. We covered so far:
M’avina’s Battle Hymn
Berserker’s Arsenal
Isenhart’s Armory
Aldur’s Watchtower
Tancred’s Battlegear
Hsarus’ Defense
Bul-Kathos’ Children
Trang-Oul’s Avatar
Proposed changes would help those sets to be more usefull.
How about the other sets I mentioned earlier?
Death’s Disguise Set
Orphan’s Call
Sazabis
Cow Kings
Sanders
Heaven’s Brethren
One thought to one of the already discussed sets. Like Sazabis as a budget option for A5-mercs, Isenhart’s is technicially one of the sets what could be used on a niche A3-merc (Helm, Shield, Sword, Armor). How about tailoring it a bit more on this use case as a hybrid caster set? The only other set helping casters is Sanders, but that can not be equiped by a merc.
The +1 Skills helps before a spirit sword and other +skill gear would become available.
An Act 3 merc would need FCR, FHR, Res and life. Blocking is not working on A3 (as far as I now, plz correct me if I´m wrong). FRW doesn´t help much. As well as the rest of the full set bonuses.
Scaling @res per level would brings it to 22-33 @ res max at lvl 30 (but probably you would not use it after lvl 25 I guess > want an spirit sword at lvl 25). That would not make a real difference to the original stats. Full sets grants +10% and the helm and the shields grants 8% each as a item set-bonus (so resulting in 26% already right now).
Original at the lvl 8/20/25:
Lvl 08: 10+8+8=26%
Lvl 20: 10+8+8=26%
Lvl 25: 10+8+8=26%
Lvl related at the lvl 8/20/25/30:
Lvl 08: 06+8+8=22%
Lvl 20: 15+8+8=31%
Lvl 25: 19+8+8=35%
Lvl 30: 22+8+8=38%
So better increase it a full 1.0% each lvl?
How about leaving the chance to cast holy bolt and add instead FHR (BP for the Act 3 Merc would be 5 / 8 / 13 / 18 / 24 / 32). So +20% or even 25% FHR could be utilized directly (even if you would not want them in close combat). Suits others chars as well.
Second thing would be FCR (Act3 Merc 8 / 15 / 26 / 39 / 58 / 86 / 138). So how about adding +26 FCR to reach the third BP (or only 15% and add additionally some life)? Would be more than Sanders, but Sanders have some great gloves and boots making it already more viable for you own char.
Any thoughts on that?
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How about this?..
Orphan’s Call
- Add -25% Target Defense (2 Items)
- Add +100% Enhanced Damage (3 Items)
- Change Attacker Takes Damage of 5 to Attacker Takes Damage of 250 (3 Items)
- Orphan’s Call partial set bonuses are rather lackluster and could use a boost.
And this…
Sazabi’s Grand Tribute
- Add +100% Damage To Demons (2 Items)
- Add 1-250 Cold Damage (Full Set)
- Sazabi’s Grand Tribute could benefit from additional bonus to damage vs. demons and strengthen theme of cold damage for full set.
Hm…I cant see why you choose those stats? And to be honest I still cant see myself using it. Since you choose a completely different approach than I did, I´d like to hear your thoughts on this and whats your reasoning will be?
Same with Sazabis. Dmg to deamons does help a bit. But only partially. The cold dmg on the other hands isn´t really something you would love to have on your merc (Necro hates it with corpse explotion and your GF-Barb will not welcome it either). 1-250 is not crazy much as well. Couldn´t find any Sazabi lore, so not sure what the theme will be…
And we didn´t finish over here:
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Looking at your ideas again, I like the light resist as a 2-piece bonus and fits nicely with the fire/cold resist already on the set. The FRW is a solid choice for a 3-piece bonus, just bumped to match Stealth. As this set lacks plus skills, feels appropiate for full set bonus…
Orphan’s Call
- Add +15% Lightning Resist (2 Items)
- Add +25% Faster Run/Walk (3 Items)
- Add +1 To All Skills (Full Set)
- Change Attacker Takes Damage of 5 to Attacker Takes Damage of 250 (3 Items)
- Orphan’s Call partial set bonuses are rather lackluster and the proposed buffs would make it a solid budget set for physical damage characters.
How about we add 2-piece IAS bonus to the set along with additional damage to demons to strengthen the damage to demons already on Sazabi’s Cobalt Redeemer shown below…
Sazabi’s Grand Tribute
- Add +20% Increased Attack Speed (2 Items)
- Add +100% Damage To Demons (Full Set)
- Sazabi’s Grand Tribute could benefit from a bonus to increased attack speed along with a bonus to damage vs. demons.
As Death’s Disguise suffers from the poor damage of the weapon, how about we add DS as 2-piece bonus and max. damage as full set bonus as shown below…
Death’s Disguise
- Add +20% Deadly Strike (2 Items)
- Add +1-99 To Maximum Damage (+1.00 Per Character Level) (Full Set)
- Death’s Disguise could benefit from a bonus to deadly strike along with a bonus to max. damage per level to offset poor damage of the weapon.
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Get this man a job, then immediately a raise.
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More then I asked for. I really would like to try that. Done for me! 
Hope anyone is commenting on the changes of all the sets, not only the two of us…
That would make it a good set for an Act 5 Merc. Cant see myself using it with only 2 pieces on any char. But the full set is a solid budget option already and a decent one with the proposed changes.
The proposed buffs will certainly make the set better. But the base problem remains imho.
The gloves and the belt are a no-brainer early on. Both can be equiped with level 6. IAS, @res and 8% LL are a good combination (even if the later doesn´t make any affect early on). But the sword is the problem…
Death’s Touch
Set War SwordOne-Hand Damage: 10 to 25
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 71
Required Dexterity: 45
Durability: 44
Base Weapon Speed: [0] +25% Enhanced Damage
4% Life Stolen Per Hit
Adds 25-75 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration (Normal) (2 Items)
You can not equip it with level 6! E.g. a Barb:
Starting values for strength is 30 for dex its 20. So in total you would need to ad 41 points into strength and 25 in to dex. So a hefty 66 points in total from level 1 on.
6*5=30. So to equip the full set you would need 33 points from your gear (no way you would get that).
So even if you would not invest a single point in vitality, you would need to level till (at least) level 12-13. More realistic is level 18+ while investing some points into vitality.
So if we not bring down the requirements a lot. This set would not be used with more than the belt and the gloves. And since the belt has only 1 (!) additional row, that would would personally annoy me hard past level 10. And for level 18+ the dmg of the sword of 10-25 is simply not enough to be viable.
So I come back to my proposition. Adding +10 strength and +10 dex as a two set bonus. Which is still not enough to equip it before lvl 9 without a single point put into vitality. The scaling max damage might be good once you could wear it for some levels…
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How about instead of adding DS, we add +10 to STR and +15 to DEX as a 2-piece bonus to help with the requirements of equipping the sword at a low level as you mentioned in order to get more mileage out of this set…
Death’s Disguise
- Add +10 To Strength (2 Items)
- Add +15 To Dexterity (2 Items)
- Add +1-99 To Maximum Damage (+1.00 Per Character Level) (Full Set)
- Death’s Disguise could benefit from bonuses to both strength and dexterity to help equip the sword along with a bonus to max. damage per level to offset the poor damage.
How about this…
Cow King’s Leathers
- Add +10% Life Stolen Per Hit (2 Items)
- Add Hell Bovine Appearance (Full Set)
- Change Level 5 Static Field from When Struck to On Striking (Full Set)
- Cow King’s Leathers could benefit from LL being melee focused and changing static field to on striking would be more useful. In addition, add the hell bovine appearance for full set bonus (e.g. similar to Trang-Oul’s Avatar)
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Great, done!
Hell Bovine Appearance would be super super awesome 
Still, finding the boots would the biggest issue (but didn´t realize until now, that they are super good for lvl 13 - have to shop a pair ). But I guess at a level 13-25, that would be fun. 10% life leech is nice on paper, but with the low dmg you make, that doesn´t help you too much this early on. Maybe we change that to +3 or 4 to life after each kill instead?
Changing static from „when struck“ to „on striking“ is a good change too. But 25% might be to much then? Static is super mighty that early on. Habu 10%?
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Here you go…
Cow King’s Leathers
- Add +5 Life After Each Kill (2 Items)
- Add Hell Bovine Appearance (Full Set)
- Change Level 5 Static Field from When Struck to On Striking (Full Set)
- Cow King’s Leathers could benefit from LL being melee focused and changing static field to on striking would be more useful. In addition, add the hell bovine appearance for full set bonus (e.g. similar to Trang-Oul’s Avatar)
To build on the theme of cold damage on Sanders Superstition, I thought it would be a fun addition to add cold o-skills as set bonuses (similar to fire o-skills on Trangs) instead of trying to make a wand function in melee along with FCR and chance to cast blizzard on striking as full set bonus…
Sander’s Folly
- Add +20 To Ice Bolt (2 Items)
- Add +15 To Ice Blast (3 Items)
- Add +10 To Glacial Spike (Full Set)
- Add +15% Faster Cast Rate (Full Set)
- Add 20% Chance To Cast Level 5 Blizzard On Striking (Full Set)
- Sander’s Folly could add cold o-skills as set bonuses (similar to fire o-skills on Trang-Oul’s Avatar). In addition, added FCR and chance to cast blizzard on striking as full set bonus would add more value to the set.
From my perspective, Heaven’s Brethren is a defensive set designed for melee, although damage is low and clvl req. on the shield is high. This set could benefit from a 2-piece bonus to STR, 3-piece bonus to CB, and a full set bonus to both damage to demons and chance to cast amplify damage on striking as shown below…
Heaven’s Brethren
- Add +25 To Strength (2 Items)
- Add +25% Crushing Blow (3 Items)
- Add +250% Damage To Demons (Full Set)
- Add 10% Chance To Cast Level 3 Amplify Damage On Striking (Full Set)
- Heaven’s Brethren is a defensive set designed for a melee fighter, although damage is low and clvl req. on shield is high. This set could benefit from a 2-piece bonus to STR, 3-piece bonus to CB, and a full set bonus to both damage to demons and chance to cast amplify damage on striking.
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Done!
I love the idea giving the set a variety of cold skills. But a set having requirements between lvl 20 and 28 a total of +45 equivalent stat points might be to much. Especially the 2 set bonus of +20 to ice bolt would apply for the boots and gloves (as the best items of the set). I would adjust ice bolt to maybe 10-15? Rest is fine imho.
Thats a sound combination of skills and affixes. But still not sure if I would use that a lvl 81 with then still 160 strength needed to equip the shield. The weapon will remain weak with a base dmg of underwhelming 41-49. So at lvl 69 (to reach 3 pieces without the shield), that might not be enough to be at least usable?
Any thoughts on this tailoring this set for an Act 3 merc?
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Sounds good and I’ll adjust Ice Bolt to +15.
How about Heaven’s Brethren designed for a melee/fire caster hybrid set (e.g. keeping w/ theme of fire damage on Dangoon’s Teaching)?..
Heaven’s Brethren
- Add +15% Crushing Blow (2 Items)
- Add +15% Fire Skill Damage (3 Items)
- Add +50% Faster Cast Rate (Full Set)
- Add +200% Damage To Demons (Full Set)
- Add +200% Attack Rating Against Demons (Full Set)
- Change All Skills from +2 to +3 (Full Set)
Agreed, and I’ll increase 1% to all resist per level and add 25% FHR as set bonus on Isenhart’s Armory. Adding FCR may be too much. 
I dont know…this set is not going to be usefull unless the shield is heavily modified as well as the weapon on item level… so maby we just leave it a shi*ty set as it is 
Even a badly rolled Eschutas would easily outperform everything you find here…only if youre looking for stylepoint, you might wear the helmet
Would not use it as a firecaster even if every single corner ist stuffed with max sockets and facets 
So take it You´ve my blessings for the above.
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