First Blush Thoughts on Patch 6.8.10

General Discussion
1

So I admit I was hoping for a larger 2.7 makeover, but I also think that the actual changes that were made are pretty darn spiffy. I just wish there were more.

GOOD:

-Frozen Orb now has a far stronger set (DMO) and 3 items (Wizardspike, Unstable Scepter, and Triumvirate). There might even be a build where you never cast the orb, just spamming quick primary attacks and relying on 25% autocast from Wizardspike.

-MoBC only got 1 item, but buffing a GR115 build 6-fold on a bracer equals 11 more GR’s.

-The Energy Twister DMO build also seems quite interesting.

-Hydra also seems to get a buff, though I dislike the turret playstyle. Generally, Wizard got a major boost here.

BAD:

-Crusaders…what happened here?

-Does passive block AoV really need a buff to Ivory Tower?

-Why buff Akkhan…by 500%? The 2000% bonus is an absolute low-end outlier in D3 of 2020.

-No buff to Blessed Shield, probably the most rewarding Crusader build in the game. Sadness.

-Why buff Bombardment items? Is this leading to a strange LoN Bombardment build dealing damage every 4 seconds?

-Barbarians…they exist, believe it or not. They are in the game, weird right? The people (I will not mention) who thought the boring WW/Rend build of…3 patches ago(?) was fun will be thrilled that nothing will change…for the 4th patch straight.

OK:

-I accept that DH got an awesome set, and needs to take a turn on the bench.

-I am not sure there was a build that is unleashed because a 4th cube slot is available. Looks to be better to add value rather than buff a specific build that had 1 more item to fit than it had slots for.

-I frankly barely understand the Theme, and am OK with it.

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There’s actually quite a bit to look forward to with Crusaders. Norvald’s can be incorporated into so many builds.

  • A6I2 (Thorns Bombardment)
  • Invokers 6 (I believe the gain is better than standard Pig Sticker + Akarat’s Awakening)
  • AoV Fist of the Heavens

As for Roland’s, Seeker & straight up Akkhan’s set bonuses – yeah very sad to see the low GR130-133 target on these. No one is going to pick them up, when other builds still doing GR137-140. I think these bonuses should have been:

Akkhan 6pc @ 5000%
Roland 4pc @ 26000%
Seeker 6pc @ 24000% (both skills)
Seeker 4pc @ 70% DR

4 Likes
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Where you got those numbers from? If you can not solo GR138 with 5k plvl, give them some feedback in PTR.

4

Changes to wizard are horrible. Meteor and explosive blast are dead. Energy twister is marginally better in ns (new etched and valthek instead of deathwish) but twister stacking is probably more difficult if they travel straight (no twisted sword bonus). Hydra changes seem clunky by forcing blizzard and signature. Frozen orb is ok but bonus on weapon = tremendous loss of dr (no ooid) or mobility (no aether walker) in ns.

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5

just save face and play a DH god, if you dont you’ll just be far behind what you could have been.

S22 GoD Valla + Buriza lololololol

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6

Prior to Capt Crimson, Rolands was barely doing GR125 at 5k paragon. Kikaha was pushing the envelop and could probably elaborate on expected power.

Between Captain Crimson and this buff, we are looking at 4 more GRs, slightly more with several hundred of keys.

Seeker is about the same power as Rolands. You can see a 125 clear from a 4k paragon player:

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Mhm…“tons of legendary item changes”, they wrote. They have changed 11 legendary items, mostly in only changing numbers!
They should read the actually patch notes from poe or grim dawn…this will maybe help to see what “tons” means!

But ok…I like the buff for twisters…but now you MUST play twisters in a straight line in higher grifts…sry this is not my intention to play twisters.

The buff to arkhan set…ehm what is the deeper core of this buff…1 grift?

And for barbs nothing interesting…really strong!

*this is no hate against diablo, this is disappointment.
Have fun in next season!

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8

Yup, seems that is the sensible thing to do for 99% of D3 players next season. Especially since this is the set that drops from HG. Just play DH GOD which is insanely OP for literally no effort, even a 2 year old can play it effortlessly, clear the season in 2 days, and move on with your life.

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9

Lod phalanx + bombardment using orotz is probs gonna be worth a shot next season, 4 second double bombs, regular cast bomb reduced by phalanx,

Im hyped for this and this alone. Dont care how high it goes, but im guessing 130 minimum. Not that Ill ever push it that far but i play for fun not a mindnumbing fish for the perfect rift.

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10

What I’m really hoping for is that fourth cube slot to become permanent. It really does open up some extra defense, utility, or power to builds. I’d still also like to see death’s breaths drop starting at LV 1 so we didn’t have to wait until endgame to use an item we can get at LV 1 (or close to it depending on whether or not you kill anything on the way).

I’ll miss the gold find for Avarice/Avaricia runs, but I can manage with just the gear. But it’s still not a panacea for those god awful progress globes. Those still need to go. :slight_smile:

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11

Yeah I was expecting more balance changes as well. They made it sound like it was like an overall re-look into all sets/builds but was surprised how little changes there were. I pretty much played most builds in the game with every class and most are lacking in toughness and/or damage. Would like to see more before S22 starts.

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13

On the topics of Crusader…

Akkhan - Buffs have to be done very carefully to Akkhans due to the presence of Condemn build - Akkhan’s Condemn was able to do GR 130 with only a 1200% damage boost with Akkhan’s. 4500% (Akin to Wrath of the Berserker) would catapult Condemn up to GR 145+ quite easily.
Blessed Shield - Blessed Shield is currently the second strongest Crusader build.
Bombardment - Return of LoN Bombardment, a very powerful build for Crusaders roughly 12 or so seasons ago. This should catapult LoN Bombardment on up to top 5 Crusader builds easily.
Barb - Barb builds are actually close together atm - Zodiac Rend is the best, but it doesn’t have an immense lead over the other builds. ATM, Leapquake Barb is last, and this buff is targeted exactly at Leapquake without buffing Slam and Hammer builds.

DH - GoD will still likely be the best set in the game for speeds.

Personally, I strongly dislike the buff to Nervold’s Favor - Unlike all other 2 piece weapon sets for the other classes which favor 1, maybe 2 specific builds, Nervold’s Favor buffs EVERY Crusader build in the absence of better weapons. In this case, Nervold’s Favor is going to become the best for Invoker outright. With the 4th kube slot, you’ll likely see Hammerdin, Rolands, AND AoV all using Nervolds. Maybe even Akkhan-Condemn builds.

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Yep - I am actually looking forward to trying the Invoker build together with Nervold in the PTR and see how it performs…

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15

I don’t see anything wrong with that. It’s not like everyone in the top 10 crusader rankings can get easy GR clears, there’s only like 3 or 4 people in the entire world who can push squishy builds like condemn and hammers that high.

Crusader had one of the biggest GR gaps between rank 1 and rank ~3 out of all the classes when those builds were meta.

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Sadly, Norvald is a 2 handler, dps loss is too much for Invoker. Still a ~70 % increase in dps compared to current setting tho.

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17

Are these season buffs over-powering? Just adding a 4th Cube slot can be a big upgrade, depending on the class and set. Adding an occasional shadow pet just adds to the power.

Having said that, these are some interesting and attractive buffs that I think people will want to play.

I wouldn’t mind seeing these shadow pets used as Diablo’s minions in a future patch. That would really add a new wrinkle to the game.

18

I have many thoughts, but I think nerfing the two Condemn items and buffing Akkhans is a start. 2000% leaves much room to improve.

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19

This was my thought as well. Akkhan is a generic set and as such it could help a variety of builds if its bonus modifier was much higher. The only Akkhan build that will become broken OP if Akkhan is buffed is Condemn, so just nerf condemn. It is not like Condemn is used with other sets anyway… Nerf condemn damage affixes and buff Akkhan to be more similar to other sets in damage. Perhaps this will make a Phalanx pet build more viable in the future…

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20

For Phalanx to become viable, it needs to receive significant damage multipliers akin to what Bombardment is receiving

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21

I would really like to see Blessed Shield :shield: viable on both LoD and Akkhan. But Condemn is utterly ruining Akkhan.