There were many, many Items revisions in 1.08 and 1.09. 1.08 items were deemed too strong and the large majority nerfed in 1.09.
But a pass on Runewords and Uniques is one of the main, if not THE main, balancing changes they need to do.
Like Beast should be a sword, there needs to be a Might unique/Runeword, Leaf should be in a Wand, outliers like Last Wish don’t need to be so ridiculous. It requires 3 JAH, and two of the JAH do absolutely NOTHING. Just a bad runeword.
But the game completely changed from version 1.09 to 1.10 and the entire revision just got out of date.
Don’t disagree, 1.10 is when Diablo stepped off the path. That’s when Synergies came in. Immunities came in. Monster HP increased drastically. Casters took over, particularly ones who didn’t care about immunities, and melee were left on the side of the road.
These changes to Boneshade will make this the best wand for the Bone Necro…
Boneshade
Lich Wand
One-Hand Damage: 10 To 31
Required Level: 79
Required Strength: 25
Durability: 17
Staff Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
+50% Damage to Undead
+2 To Necromancer Skill Levels
+1-2 To Bone Spirit (Necromancer Only)
+2-3 To Bone Spear (Necromancer Only)
+2-3 To Bone Wall (Necromancer Only)
+4-5 To Bone Armor (Necromancer Only)
+4-5 To Teeth (Necromancer Only)
+25% Faster Cast Rate
As proposed it would only be slightly stronger than Rune Word White, with the difference that white can be used from level 35 onwards, against 79.
Agreed. That is a very large level disparity between the two items. On a separate note, here are a few more updates to the OP to make uniques more UNIQUE…
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
Doombringer
Champion Sword
One-Hand Damage: (97-114) To (251-289)
Two-Hand Damage: (228-278) To (332-390)
Required Level: 69
Required Strength: 163
Required Dexterity: 103
Sword Class - Fast Attack Speed
+180-250% Enhanced Damage
Adds 30-100 Damage
8% Chance To Cast Level 3 Weaken On Striking
40% Bonus To Attack Rating
Increase Maximum Life 20%
5-7% Life Stolen Per Hit
Indestructible
Ethereal Edge
Silver-Edged Axe
Two-Hand Damage: (232-260) To (412-462)
Required Level: 74
Required Strength: 156
Required Dexterity: 55
Axe Class – Fast Attack Speed
+150-180% Enhanced Damage
+150-200% Damage To Demons
+270-350 To Attack Rating
+25% Increased Attack Speed
+10-12 Fire Absorb
+5-10 Life After Each Demon Kill
Indestructible
Ethereal
(Cannot Be Repaired)
Rune Master
Ettin Axe
One-Hand Damage: (105-122) To (211-244)
Required Level: 72
Required Strength: 145
Required Dexterity: 45
Durability: 24
Axe Class – Normal Attack Speed
+220-270% Enhanced Damage
+5% To Maximum Cold Resist
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (3-5)
Steelrend
Ogre Gauntlets
Defense: 232-281
Required Level: 70
Required Strength: 185
Durability: 24
+170-210 Defense
+30-60% Enhanced Damage
+10% Chance of Crushing Blow
+15-20 To Strength
Crown of Ages
Corona
Defense: 349-399
Required Level: 82
Required Strength: 174
+50% Enhanced Defense
+100-150 Defense
+1 To All Skills
Damage Reduced By 10-15%
All Resistances +20-30
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
Socketed (1-2)
Indestructible
Viperfork
Mancatcher
Two-Hand Damage: (121-142) To (266-312)
Required Level: 71
Required Strength: 132
Required Dexterity: 134
Durability: 28
Spear Class - Fast Attack Speed
+190-240% Enhanced Damage
+200-250 To Attack Rating
+50% Increased Attack Speed
+325 Poison Damage Over 10 Seconds
Poison Resist +30-50%
15% Chance To Cast Level 9 Poison Explosion On Striking
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
I like that. Very fitting for the name.
They still haven’t reversed the crap of taking break points from the trangs set when turning into a vampire, making using the full set worse than having 4 parts. That kind of idea is not good.
Agreed, I thought it was very fitting for the GF. Here are a few more fun ideas for uniques…
Marrowwalk
Boneweave Boots
Defense: 164-204
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 118
Durability: 16
+170-200% Enhanced Defense
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+1-2 To Skeleton Mastery (Necromancer Only)
+10-20 To Strength
+17 To Dexterity
Regenerate Mana 10%
Heal Stamina Plus 10%
Half Freeze Duration
Level 33 Bone Prison (13 Charges)
Level 12 Life Tap (10 Charges)
Cranebeak
War Spike
One-Hand Damage: (102-120) To (163-192)
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 133
Required Dexterity: 54
Durability: 26
Axe Class – Very Fast Attack Speed
+240-300% Enhanced Damage
+40% Increased Attack Speed
-25% Target Defense
Adds 1-305 Lightning Damage
20-50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 8 Raven (15 charges)
Baranar’s Star
Devil Star
One-Hand Damage: 129 To 159
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 153
Required Dexterity: 44
Durability: 172
Mace Class – Normal Attack Speed
+200% Enhanced Damage
+50% Damage to Undead
Adds 1-200 Fire Damage
Adds 1-200 Lightning Damage
Adds 1-200 Cold Damage, Duration 0-7 sec.
50% Increased Attack Speed
200% Bonus To Attack Rating
+15 To Dexterity
+15 To Strength
Earth Shifter
Thunder Maul
Two-Hand Damage: (115-132) To (630-720)
Required Level: 69
Required Strength: 253
Durability: 60
Mace Class – Very Slow Attack Speed
+250-300% Enhanced Damage
+50% Damage to Undead
+7 To Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
25% To Cast Level 14 Fissure On Striking
10% Increased Attack Speed
+33% Chance of Crushing Blow
10% Faster Cast Rate
Level 14 Volcano (30 charges)
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
Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One-Hand Damage: (89-105) To (162-191)
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 133
Durability: 65
Mace Class - Normal Attack Speed
+180-230% Enhanced Damage
+50% Damage to Undead
+123% Damage To Demons
Adds 222-333 Fire Damage
7-13% Life Stolen Per Hit
Fire Resist +15-20%
Level 23 Enchant (20 Charges)
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds
Obviously, this assumes it would be implemented properly. Who doesn’t want to transform into a Doom Knight by equipping a Doombringer?
I hate it, it’s a worthless power.
Respectfully disagree. What’s not to like, an ability not to use XP upon death? This would be very fitting with the proposed XP bonus for the Grandfather. It’s a nice little oddity.
It could be my d3 bias, but this is the kind of thing I’d throw on banner of heroes. I don’t think it’s relevant enough. Don’t lose XP on death.
The grandfather should do something special, like cast weaken or decrepify on a sword. The flavor text would be “the grandeur of the elders course through you”.
Instantly makes eth drops worthless.
That could definitely work. I do like the addition of flavor text.
There, this should fix the issue…
Fredi is indeed correct, such a reward is too powerful. It would completely invalidate Zod as a rune. Maybe a better way is to reverse it and make the item ethereal. That way “Zod” maintains it’s value.
The drawback is ethereal skullders, Titans, and all those things would lose all value immediately. But that’s not really a big deal, tbh.
Here’s another idea for your List:
Spirit Forge
Unique Linked Mail
[Fire Resist] +5%
Adds 20-65 [Fire Damage
Changed too:
Fire resist + 20-30%
-10% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Socketed (2).
Such an item with two perfect Rainbow Facets would be -20% fire resistance as a top roll and the high innate Fire resist would resist the impact of a sunder charm. Synergy in items; and I really didn’t change too much. I took an item that was obviously underbudget (and unfocused) and I just put an hard-to-find affix on it and focused it a little to add synergy with the Fire sunder charm.
I made a useless item really good with two tiny tweaks.
That’s what I had initially, Anya quest reward would add Ethereal property when you personalize item, then I switched to add Indestructible property instead. This idea was scrapped and removed. 
Thanks, I’ll definitely keep a note of this. I only proposed buffs to elite versions for uniques for the sake of time. I was thinking of adding exceptional versions too at some point. I think I touched every elite unique, might have missed a few. I also kept shako off the list for obvious reasons. This thread is a work in progress and continually updated.
Don’t hold your breath…
2.4 set changes made it clear that there will not be any real changes in itemization.
2.4 was the big hurrah for balance changes, and 2.5 addressed the experience grind, monster immunities and bug fixes, so I’m still optimistic the developers could overhaul itemization for a future Season.
Honestly it still might be a little underbudget. Maybe -15% Fire resist is better. 4 socket armors are a thing, and would be strictly better, I think, with +20% and -20%.
Looking at exceptional versions of uniques, there could be some exciting changes such as: