Season 11 - Finish 2.5 Yr Community Project, Consider Buffing 11 Nostalgic Uniques

General Discussion
1

As we finish a 2.5 year community project for D2R- Community Feedback for Improving Itemization, we have discussed ad nauseam with many members of the community to improve itemization, with an emphasis on uniques. Uniques are completely outclassed by runewords, which is a shame as they have some of the most beautiful artwork in the game. In the current state, they are relegated as trophy items.

For Season 11, as we close this community project, I humbly request Blizzard considers buffing 11 uniques that prioritize lore, rarity, and nostalgia as these items deserve more significance while retaining the flavor.

1. Tyrael’s Might

Justification: rarest item in D2. It’s a sacred armor with a TC 87 and named after the Archangel of Justice. Tyrael, who is found in-game and is part of the Angiris Council, the ruling body of the High Heavens. It is an extremely rare item, yet so useless (primary use is a trophy item).

Tyrael’s Might
Defense: 1322-1502
Req Level: 84
Req Strength: None
+120-150% Enhanced Defense
+50-100% Damage To Demons
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+20-30 To Strength
All Resist +20-30
Cannot Be Frozen
Requirements -100%
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Indestructible

  • Buffs:
    • Add 5% CtC Lvl 30 Fist of the Heavens When You Kill An Enemy
    • Add Cannot Be Cursed
    • Change FRW to +45%
    • Change D. To Demons to +100-200%
    • Change Required Lvl to 1

2. Arkaine’s Valor

Justification: ancient hero Arkaine who turned the tide of the Sin War and drove demons back to the Burning Hells. Those who played D1 remembers this was one of the best armors the player could obtain, yet in D2, easily falls behind compared to Chains of Honor, Enigma, and Fortitude.

Arkaine’s Valor
Defense: 1295-1450
Req Level: 85
Req Strength: 165
+150-180% Enhanced Defense
+1-2 To All Skills
+0-49 To Vitality (+0.50 Per Clvl)
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
Damage Reduced By 10-15

  • Buffs:
    • Add Indestructible
    • Add 1-2 Open Sockets
    • Change All Skills to +2
    • Change Vitality to +1-99 (1 Per Clvl)
    • Change Required Lvl to 75

3. Templar’s Might

Justification: a rare paladin focused elite unique body armor, yet very underwhelming.

Templar’s Might
Defense: 1622-1923
Req Level: 74
Req Strength: 232
+170-220% Enhanced Defense
+250-300 Defense vs. Missiles
+10-15 To Strength
+10-15 To Vitality
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+40-50 Maximum Stamina
+1-2 To Offensive Auras (Paladin Only)

  • Buffs:
    • Add Lvl 6-8 Might Aura When Equipped
    • Add Poison Length Reduced by 75%
    • Add Requirements -50%
    • Change Offensive Auras to +2-4

4. Mang Songs’ Lesson

Justification: extremely rare staff, having Asian-themed name. Unfortunately, this item is largely invalidated by Spirit.

Mang Song’s Lesson
2H Damage: 83 to 99
Req Level: 82
Req Strength: 34
+5 To All Skills
+30% Faster Cast Rate
-7-15% To Enemy Lightning Resistance
-7-15% To Enemy Cold Resistance
-7-15% To Enemy Fire Resistance
Regenerate Mana 10%
50% Damage To Undead

  • Buffs:
    • Add Lvl 16-18 Meditation Aura When Equipped
    • Change FCR to +70%
    • Change All Skills to +5-7
    • Change Required Lvl to 77

5. The Grandfather

Justification: iconic legendary sword that harkens back to good ole days of Diablo II. Now, it’s a slow sword that is lacking useful end game attributes like Crushing Blow. It gets full style points though.

The Grandfather
1H Damage: (62-87) To (164-474)
2H Damage: (145-203) To (289-649)
Req Level: 81
Req Strength: 189
Req Dexterity: 110
+150-250% Enhanced Damage
+2-247 To Maximum Damage
+50% Bonus To Attack Rating
+80 To Life
+20 To All Attributes
Indestructible

  • Buffs:
    • Add Ethereal
    • Add 1-2 Open Sockets
    • Add 5% To Experience Gained
    • Add +25% Chance Of Crushing Blow
    • Change E. Damage to +250-300%
    • Change Required Lvl to 76

6. The Cranium Basher

Justification: mighty thunder maul of Thor. It’s truly a shame this item is rather lackluster, especially with a slow attack speed and very high level requirement.

The Cranium Basher
2H Damage: (119-132) To (560-632)
Req Level: 87
Req Strength: 253
200-240% Enhanced Damage
20 To Minimum Damage
50% Damage to Undead
75% Chance Of Crushing Blow
4% CtC Lvl 1 Amplify Damage On Striking
20% Increased Attack Speed
All Resistances +25
+25 To Strength
Indestructible

  • Buffs:
    • Add 1-3 Open Sockets
    • Change IAS to +40%
    • Change E. Damage to +350-400%
    • Change Strength to +1-99 (1 Per Clvl)
    • Change Required Lvl to 77

7. Azurewrath

Justification: created by Tyrael and wielded by Izual during the assault on Hellforge.

Azurewrath
1H Damage: (102-114) To (115-129)
Req Level: 85
Req Strength: 25
Req Dexterity: 136
+230-270% Enhanced Damage
+30% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 250-500 Magic Damage
Adds 250-500 Cold Damage
+1 To All Skills
+5-10 To All Attributes
Level 10-13 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped
+3 To Light Radius

  • Buffs:
    • Add +1 To Holy Freeze
    • Add +1 To Resist Cold
    • Add -10% to Enemy Cold Resist
    • Change All Skills to +2
    • Change Required Lvl to 75

8. Schaefer’s Hammer

Justification: rare item and named after Max and Erich Schaefer, two brothers who were critical to the development of D1 and D2.

Schaefer’s Hammer
1H Damage: (100-114) To (124-338)
Req Level: 79
Req Strength: 189
+100-130% Enhanced Damage
+2-198 To Maximum Damage
Adds 50-200 Lightning Damage
+50% Damage to Undead
20% CtC Lvl 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

  • Buffs:
    • Add Ethereal
    • Change IAS to +60%
    • Change Static Field Lvl to 20
    • Change E. Damage to +200-260%
    • Remove +1 to Light Radius

9. Messerschmidt’s Reaver

Justification: unique champion axe that prince Aidan used to slay Diablo in D1.

Messerschmidt’s Reaver
2H Damage: 177 To (283-514)
Req Level: 70
Req Strength: 167
Req Dexterity: 59
+200% Enhanced Damage
+2-247 Max Damage (2.5 Per Clvl)
Adds 20-240 Fire Damage
100% Bonus To Attack Rating
+15 To All Attributes

  • Buffs:
    • Add +6 To Axe Mastery
    • Add Prevent Monster Heal
    • Change All Attributes to +15-30
    • Remove 20-240 Fire Damage

10. Doombringer

Justification: iconic champion sword that has been invalidated by runewords. It deals a reasonable amount of damage and life leech, as well as large bonus to life.

Doombringer
1H Damage: (97-114) To (251-289)
2H Damage: (228-278) To (332-390)
Req Level: 69
Req Strength: 163
Req Dexterity: 103
+180-250% Enhanced Damage
Adds 30-100 Damage
8% CtC Lvl 3 Weaken On Striking
40% Bonus To Attack Rating
Increase Maximum Life 20%
5-7% Life Stolen Per Hit
Indestructible

  • Buffs:
    • Add +1 To Berserk
    • Add 5% Reanimate As: Doom Knight
    • Change Damage to 100-200
    • Change Indestructible to Repair 1 Durability in 5 Seconds

11. Blood Raven’s Charge

Justification: iconic matriarchal bow exclusive to Amazons and named after Blood Raven…

Blood Raven’s Charge
2H Damage: (56-66) to (131-155)
Req Level: 71
Req Strength: 87
Req Dexterity: 187
+180-230% Enhanced Damage
200-300% Bonus To Attack Rating
Fires Explosive Arrows Or Bolts (Level 13)
Level 5 Revive (30 charges)
+2-4 To Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)

  • Buffs:
    • Add +6 To Revive
    • Add 20% Reanimate As: Hungry Dead
    • Change E. Damage to 250-350%
    • Change Required Lvl to 61
    • Remove Level 5 Revive (30 charges)
8 Likes
2

Would love to see some of these. While I don’t want things to be OP, or breaking, I think some of these might not change much at all.

However, I would love to see the recommended changes to Schaefer’s Hammer.

2 Likes
3

I might not necessarily agree with all the changes proposed here or in your other thread but I can appreciate the massive amount of effort and discussion you and others have done over the last few years, and I do agree with the sentiment of buffing a lot of the weak sets/uniques. Would be cool if Blizz did something. :smiling_face_with_tear:

2 Likes
4

Right off the bat, changing indestructible mods to repair mods for the sake of seeking out eth versions of these already extremely rare drops is a bad direction. We already have this heartache hunt with much more common items, like titans or lacerator, having it for a much rarer item like grandfather seems obnoxious. What will happen is that any non eth version of these items will fall back into where they are currently as being worth nothing. Just make them balanced around not being ethereal.

I don’t see why anyone would use this over the HR RW armors given that’s it’s rarer than self finding any of the HR RW items.

Nice caster armor. The “it’s not enigma” problem still exists for non sorcs.

Not competitive with fort, but I think more common than a Lo rune.

This is actually competitive with all current caster setups.

Competitive with barb/druid options.

Would become the best weapon for 2h builds.

A better lawbringer.

Seems unremarkable.

Decent 2h option, fairly regular drop.

More oskills is always fun and a good way to make items relevant.

3 Likes
5

I dont see Tyrael w/o at least +1 to @sks and 4sox

and w/o Tely it end up as typical Merc or Sorc Armor.l which isbad for rarest item in the game.

I see two options to make Tyrael usefull

  1. make it OP as Enigma - boring.

  2. remove lvl req and make it as awesome lvling armor - something fresh what would motivate ppl to play again.

2 Likes
6

As this is community effort, I have taken your suggestions and updated TM to have required level of 1 as follows…

Tyrael’s Might
Defense: 1322-1502
Req Level: 84
Req Strength: None
+120-150% Enhanced Defense
+50-100% Damage To Demons
+20% Faster Run/Walk
+20-30 To Strength
All Resist +20-30
Cannot Be Frozen
Requirements -100%
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Indestructible

  • Buffs:
    • Add 5% CtC Lvl 30 Fist of the Heavens When You Kill An Enemy
    • Add Cannot Be Cursed
    • Change FRW to +45%
    • Change D. To Demons to +100-200%
    • Change Required Lvl to 1

Ok, needs to be improved then. I have reverted the changes to Schaefer’s Hammer and made it spawn with both Indestructible and Ethereal (like Ethereal Edge) and remove LR to not violate attribute limit as follows…

Schaefer’s Hammer
1H Damage: (100-114) To (124-338)
Req Level: 79
Req Strength: 189
+100-130% Enhanced Damage
+2-198 To Maximum Damage
Adds 50-200 Lightning Damage
+50% Damage to Undead
20% CtC Lvl 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

  • Buffs:
    • Add Ethereal
    • Change IAS to +60%
    • Change Static Field Lvl to 20
    • Change E. Damage to +200-260%
    • Remove +1 to Light Radius
7

This is one of the most well illustrated and important pieces of feedback I’ve read on the forums in a long time. 100% agree.

I think one good addition can easily be the sockets. That can really help set things apart, and with regards to armors, can really open customization options. You would be able to use this for defensive purposes stacking life or mana, or increasing max res with specific high runes, jewels for damage, etc.

For Tyrael’s Might, what about a mod “all enemies are also considered Demons”? This would give you full effect of laying of hands gloves, while also letting the undead modifiers work at their normal capacity on top. I know that’s kind of against the code for D2, but would very much fit the theme. This armor has had so many suggestions though, I couldn’t imagine trying to sort through them all.

One of my big gripes is with bows though. All of these updates would leave phys bowzons even farther behind. Which, might be ok, don’t want power creep to destroy the game. It would be nice if Eaglehorn, or Blood Raven’s Charge could compete at least somewhat with Faith/Mist.

1 Like
8

Honestly I could see doing this to DB, GF, MR, and TCB as well for the same reason, but in some of those cases other mods may be sufficient or we may be up against attribute limits.

Tohki’s point is one reason D3 loot never quite sat well with me. You finally find that item you want, but now you have an over-reliance on RNG of the rolls for it to be an upgrade/usable. This is less severe than that of course, but similar problem. You got your Grandfather and it has good ED roll, woohoo! But it’s non-eth, booo, back to the drawing board!

Definitely appreciate the years long effort you’ve made in continually collecting ideas and updating though, so hopefully the above doesn’t come off rude or dismissive!

1 Like
9

I agree on this statement. Layered RNG is something I don’t appreciate. Having a bunch of ranged affixes on a super rare unique is also pretty bothersome. I would say, the higher the rarity of any given item is, the more randomness should go down.

4 Likes
10

I appreciate the feedback. Based on what you guys mentioned, I removed auto-repair mod on GF and added Ethereal as shown below…

The Grandfather
1H Damage: (62-87) To (164-474)
2H Damage: (145-203) To (289-649)
Req Level: 81
Req Strength: 189
Req Dexterity: 110
+150-250% Enhanced Damage
+2-247 To Maximum Damage
+50% Bonus To Attack Rating
+80 To Life
+20 To All Attributes
Indestructible

  • Buffs:
    • Add Ethereal
    • Add 1-2 Open Sockets
    • Add 5% To Experience Gained
    • Add +25% Chance Of Crushing Blow
    • Change E. Damage to +250-300%
    • Change Required Lvl to 76

For TCB below, taking a different approach, I removed auto-repair mod and baked it already into the very high ED on weapon…

The Cranium Basher
2H Damage: (119-132) To (560-632)
Req Level: 87
Req Strength: 253
200-240% Enhanced Damage
20 To Minimum Damage
50% Damage to Undead
75% Chance Of Crushing Blow
4% CtC Lvl 1 Amplify Damage On Striking
20% Increased Attack Speed
All Resistances +25
+25 To Strength
Indestructible

  • Buffs:
    • Add 1-3 Open Sockets
    • Change IAS to +40%
    • Change E. Damage to +350-400%
    • Change Strength to +1-99 (1 Per Clvl)
    • Change Required Lvl to 77

For Doombringer, I took yet another approach and kept auto-repair mod on item for variety.

Doombringer
1H Damage: (97-114) To (251-289)
2H Damage: (228-278) To (332-390)
Req Level: 69
Req Strength: 163
Req Dexterity: 103
+180-250% Enhanced Damage
Adds 30-100 Damage
8% CtC Lvl 3 Weaken On Striking
40% Bonus To Attack Rating
Increase Maximum Life 20%
5-7% Life Stolen Per Hit
Indestructible

  • Buffs:
    • Add +1 To Berserk
    • Add 5% Reanimate As: Doom Knight
    • Change Damage to 100-200
    • Change Indestructible to Repair 1 Durability in 5 Seconds

You’re right, should have atleast on bow in the list, so added Blood Raven’s Charge to OP…

11. Blood Raven’s Charge

Justification: iconic matriarchal bow exclusive to Amazons and named after Blood Raven…

Blood Raven’s Charge
2H Damage: (56-66) to (131-155)
Req Level: 71
Req Strength: 87
Req Dexterity: 187
+180-230% Enhanced Damage
200-300% Bonus To Attack Rating
Fires Explosive Arrows Or Bolts (Level 13)
Level 5 Revive (30 charges)
+2-4 To Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)

  • Buffs:
    • Add +6 To Revive
    • Add 20% Reanimate As: Hungry Dead
    • Change E. Damage to 250-350%
    • Change Required Lvl to 61
    • Remove Level 5 Revive (30 charges)
2 Likes
11

Awesome job! 8 more chars

1 Like
12

Eh. Nothing wrong with the idea but what I would rather see is change to all uniques and improvements to sets. Milbregas, outside weapon damage for example, stands out to me as a really solid set.

I would rather see Uniques and sets brought in line for specific builds as you often dont have something through the journey of leveling. For sets though I do NOT want a Diablo 3 experience.

Throw barb easy example. There is literally no Normal quality uniques to fit the throwing experience. Whether its a javelin or a Throwing Axe. You have the Scalper and Deathbit. Thats it. Then a few options in the elite teir. Nothing in normal teir. I started the ladder with a throw barb. Had more fun that I thought I would. Lacerator from last season leaves a lot to be desired as between grimward and amp damage, both curses, BOTH get overridden by the Lacerators own fear. It sucks. Its essentially a punishment or tax for having the opportunity to proc amp damaga at all.
Id also argue they could create a way to make runeword options for throwing weapons. Idk cube it wiith X item and a rare gem or something idk.
Throwbarb further would benefit from more damage vs relying on Lay of Hands. My now non ladder thrower is notably better and has the gloves. Kills same hell council way easier than the one without it on ladder. I think aspects like this kind of suck for builds etc. Especially since the damage to demons iss the primary relevance of it. No res etc.

Like you though I agree regarding runewords.

Would be nice if across the board, regardless of your preferred specs, if there were options at each teir to choose from. If you find them at least, but at least they would exist. You can in a sense target farm runes via forge and countess. You can kind of do it with some stuff and they both boil down to odds…but its pretty quick to do countess and easy. For the common runewords like spirit its just too easy. Dont need to change spirit or remove it, just provide compelling alternatives so it isnt so hard for builds like Throw barb to level.

13

With respect to Tyreal’s Might, while the rarity is definitely a big thing against it, I think you fail to realize just how stupidly strong CAN NOT BE CURSED would be. I mean yeah Enigma’s Teleport is pivotal for non-Sorceress classes to gain insane mobility but if you’re a player that doesn’t care or happen to be a Hardcore character, I think you would sacrifice that mobility for the sheer survivability that attribute would bring.

Can Not Be Cursed means no Amplify Damage from “Cursed” packs or any Curse for that matter while in Act 4(even Iron Maiden if they were to ever bring that back). It also applies to Curses cast from Succubus and Baal, hence no massive Defense drop and NO BLOOD MANA for Energy Shield Sorceress that has a ton of points into Energy. It would also mean no Curses while in a PvP duel, although the signature Blue Armor would be easy to spot unless someone manages to hack or find a way to change their “look”.

That means any Physical Resistance(aka Damage reduced by x%) you have equipped is that much stronger and your Fire/Cold/Lightning Resistance can only be cut by Conviction(which for Paladins would basically make them impervious to debuffs with a Conviction of their own). Plus with Level requirement of 1 means that any character could use it and for a fresh toon, that all but makes them impervious to getting hit. Also it makes it a godly Mercenary Armor. Only thing that would make Tyreals the Best in Slot Merc armor is if it had some Increased Attack Speed. Treachery grants 45% so if it had 20-30%, it could come close or match with a 15/15 Jewel.

Builds that I would use it on as proposed:

Amazon: All
Necromancer: None… Slain RIP means no Corpse Explosion
Paladin: Everything… you have Charge + Vigor FFS
Barbarian: Slain RIP prevents horking. If you don’t plan to, everything but Singer
Sorceress: Nova ES big time but pretty much every build benefits.
Druid: Wind, Fire and Zookeper(I would miss Telestomping with minions though)
Assassin: All

@iGanc: Instead of Demons, imagine if Tyreals had a mod that made all enemies “Undead”. Take that and combine it with Azurewrath and voila, who gives a flying bleep about enemy Physical Resistance :rofl: Agreed on the Bows too.

14

Not quite true. With the might aura it becomes a really great option for merc when not using act 2 might, Templar’s Might is a common choice for mercs in PD2 and considered BIS for many builds and it has might aura lvl 6-8 in PD2

15

You can always find a shrine though, or walk into a less meaningful curse for your class/build. It’s convenient, but I don’t think I’d call it stupidly strong only because that buff/debuff is a single slot that’s easy to overwrite.

I wonder what the use case is for a merc. A2 mercs already bring might, and can bring conc as well. I don’t actually know if you can stack item auras with merc skill auras, that’d be something though.