Just found a Brainhew and looks amazing in-game, but after using axe, it’s lackluster. I would like to propose a few buffs. First, for “Brain” in the name, it woud be thematic to add CtC Confuse On Striking. Also, as this axe has no DS, OW, or CB, lets give it huge bonus to IAS. Lastly, ED could be improved while removing fire damage as it doesn’t fit…
Brainhew
Great Axe
2H Damage: (27-30) To (45-54)
Req Level: 25
Req Strength: 63
Req Dexterity: 39
+50-80% Enhanced Damage
+14 To Min Damage
Adds 15-35 Fire Damage
10-13% Mana Stolen Per Hit
+25 To Mana
+4 To Light Radius
I know we’ve discussed the low-level item Spire Of Lazarus a few times and removed it from OP, but still think it deserves a buff by the lore attached to it. I think atleast it should have rolls to Chain Lightning, Lightning, and Static Field as shown below…
Spire of Lazarus
Gnarled Staff
2H Damage: 4 To 12
Required Level: 18
+1 To Sorceress Skills
Adds 1-28 Lightning Damage
+1 To Chain Lightning (Sorceress Only)
+2 To Lightning (Sorceress Only)
+3 To Static Field (Sorceress Only)
+15 To Energy
Regenerate Mana 43%
Lightning Resist +75%
Damage Reduced By 5
+50% Damage To Undead
Spire of Lazarus
Gnarled Staff
2H Damage: 4 To 12
Required Level: 18
+1 To Sorceress Skills
Adds 1-28 Lightning Damage
+1 To Chain Lightning (Sorceress Only)
+2 To Lightning (Sorceress Only)
+3 To Static Field (Sorceress Only)
+15 To Energy
Regenerate Mana 43%
Lightning Resist +75%
Damage Reduced By 5
+50% Damage To Undead
Buffs:
Change Chain Lightning to +1-2
Change Lightning to +2-3
Change Static Field to +3-4
I would like to discuss again one of the worst unique shields in the game, Alma Negra. Instead of giving it 2 OS which is bland, I think giving it Lvl 1 Salvation is more fitting for a paladin shield and makes it special…
Alma Negra
Defense: 461-511
Req Level: 77
Req Strength: 109
+180-210% Enhanced Defense
+1-2 To Paladin Skills
20% Increased Chance of Block
30% Faster Block Rate
+40-75% Enhanced Damage
+40-75% Bonus to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced By 5-9
Buffs:
Add Lvl 1 Salvation Aura When Equipped
Change E. Damage to +100-150%
Change Bonus AR to +100-150%
Next, we should remove Lvl 1 Salvation off of Heavenly Garb as it is too powerful for a normal armor. Instead, lets buff theme of “anti-undead,” add HFD, and give it an exp boost to make it a good armor for leveling…
Heavenly Garb
Defense: 216
Req Level: 29
Req Strength: 41
+100% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%
All Resist +10
+15 To Energy
+50% Damage To Undead
+100 To Attack Rating Against Undead
I think the Barb really needs a few more solid options for nightmare. With that said, I think we should add Combat Skills to The Patriarch…
The Patriarch
1H Damage: (24-26) to (40-44)
2H Damage: (50-55) To (84-92)
Req Level: 29
Req Strength: 100
Req Dexterity: 60
+100-120% Enhanced Damage
Hit Blinds Target
+10 To Strength
100% Extra Gold From Monsters
Magic Damage Reduced By 3
Damage Reduced By 3
Wow. Amazing! Keep up the great work. I’d love to see your changes (toggle) available.
There’s a lot of great thought that’s gone into this. I’m curious, have you considered making uniques for items that currently don’t have a model? For example, there isn’t a set of wrymhide boots that are unique.
Hey Charles, busy with x-mas right now and would need some time to think about this (have some thoughts I need to double check when I have a few moments). So would reply to the last proposals in a few days.
Until then I wish everybody some nice holidays and good moments with your families and loved one!
+Attack Rating is always better than %Attack Rating because any Skill bonuses to Attack Rating(like Weapon Mastery for Barbs, Claw Mastery for Sins, Penetrate for Zons) amplify w/e your Base Attack Rating happens to be. Base Attack Rating is largely based on Dexterity but any sources of +Attack Rating buffs from gear are added to that total before being amplified by all sources of %Attack Rating(including Auras like Blessed Aim/Fanaticism). This is why Angelics is so useful for melee characters and having Atma’s get that would be a very welcome boost for Bowzons or any melee character looking to capitalize on not just Attack Rating but also Amplify Damage proc. This change would make Atma’s really, really good imo, although I wouldn’t mind a little higher proc chance(15-20% imo) since its a level 60 Amulet and Reaper’s Toll(level 75) has 33% chance on Decrepify.
Agreed. I would support increasing proc to 15% for Atma’s as you mentioned its lvl 60 amulet making this a really good option…
Atma’s Scarab
Amulet
Req Level: 60
5% CtC Lvl 2 Amplify Damage On Striking
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
+40 Poison Damage Over 4 seconds
Poison Resist +75%
+3 To Light Radius
Attacker Takes Damage of 5
Buffs:
Add +5-495 AR (5.0 Per Clvl)
Change Amplify Damage Cast to 15%
Remove 20% Bonus To Attack Rating
For Nature’s Peace, instead of adding max resists (overlaps with GA), I think it would be more useful to have Oak Sage as o-skill while also adding bonus to all attributes…
Nature’s Peace
Ring
Req Level: 69
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Prevent Monster Heal
Poison Resist +20-30%
Damage Reduced by 7-11
Level 5 Oak Sage (27 Charges)
Buffs:
Add +5 To Oak Sage
Add +5-10 To All Attributes
Remove Level 5 Oak Sage (27 Charges)
Lastly, for Crescent Moon, I think this amulet would be more useful to melee if it had magic damage (fits with MDR on amulet) and minus monster defense per hit…
Crescent Moon
Amulet
Req Level: 50
10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+45 To Mana
3-6% Life Stolen Per Hit
11-15% Mana Stolen Per Hit
Magic Damage Reduced By 10
-2 To Light Radius
Another item we haven’t discussed is The Oculus, which is the closest thing you can get to a cursed item. I really like the flavor of being randomly teleported when hit, I just think the proc % could be toned down a bit…
The Oculus
1H Damage: 18 To 42
Req Level: 42
+3 To Sorceress Skills
+5 To Mana After Each Kill
All Resistances +20
25% CtC Lvl 1 Teleport When Struck
+30% Faster Cast Rate
+20 To Vitality
+20 To Energy
+20% Enhanced Defense
50% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items
What if, instead of decreasing the chance of this unfortunate proc (to the point that this is no longer much of a concern), Oculus compensated that with defensive stats (buffed already present or new: def, res, life, maybe another proc, such as Confuse, Cloak of Shadows, Decrepify, Dim Vision, Slow Missiles or Howl/Terror)?
Honestly, Occy is in my oppinion the closet item to be perfectly balanced in the entire game!
It has only really good stats on it and it is not a super super rare find (have found 5-6 so far but not a single Death’s Fathom). For only the positiv, good and allaround stats you have the TP danger. Honestly, it saved me a dozen times from dying in mops but never killed me. Obviously too unpredictable for HC but in SC it´s awesome. You can even put a facet in it unlike in the runewords.
I would not touch it at all. It´s perfect as it is! If you don´t like the TP danger, you have plenty of alternativs like Echutas, Spirit and especially Hoto. Removing TP would render Echutas a bit more lackluster, would put it closer to a Hoto but would make it far more boring!
So please, there a plenty other items who needs love, but not Occy imho…
More to the rest on sunday from me! Have some awesome last days of 2023 gents!
Agreed, we should not touch Oculus. I just found a Swordback Hold and think we should add a small amount of flat damage, bonus to AR, and change ATD to be based on clvl could make this shield useful for low levels…
Swordback Hold
Defense: 43-51
Req Level: 15
Req Strength: 30
+30-60% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
50% Chance of Open Wounds
Attacker Takes Damage of 10
Would you use that at lvl 30+? I find it hard to imagine
Would keep it low level and therewith more in favor of Charles proposal. Is the 50% OW really useful between lvl 15-20? Even Andy has not that high regen at all.
How about some MAEK? More useful that early but nothing to the fantasy tbh.
nobody uses it prior to level 30 neither, but i could see some off-meta builds (that lack AoE) use it at high level considering that +Damage from Grief is used by the Blade shield and enhanced by off-weapon enhanced damage.
i think that trying to buff unique items’ raw stats to compete with runewords is a fool’s errand, it will never happen.
But by adding some + open skills on these items you could open the door to niche or out-of-the-meta builds that could add some new flavor to the game (similar to the +WW on the Chaos claw). More raw stats is not always the answer.
