Keep in mind that Akkhan can use Captain Crimson (1,6x assuming 60% CDR) and Endless Walk (2x) or Focus + Restraint (2,25x); you can even cram Aughild to gain an extra 1,3x, at the cost of CoE.
So, i’d suggest to buff it at least to 2500-2750%. That will still make LoD the meta build, but at least will make Akkhan farming less tedious.
this is a bad idea!
- Fragment of Destiny : Your Signature Spells attack 50% faster and deal triple damage. You gain a Spectral buff whenever you land an attack with a Signature Spell. Hydras deal 25-30% increased damage for each Spectral stack. Max 10 stacks.
- Winter Flurry : Enemies killed by Cold damage have a 25% chance to release a Frost Nova. Your Hydra deals 125-150% increased damage to enemies in a Blizzard.
dont do this devs! just buff THE MAGISTRATE and SERPENT’S SPARKER
3 Likes
You get captains, aughild, focus/restraint. No CoE because you need to cube a RoRG. It’s a crazy fun, easy to play build. It just has no single target damage.
This is why you can’t increase damage too much.
I fail to see the alleged bad idea. Those buffs to Fragment of Destiny and Winter Flurry are decent and at least give some alternatives to Deathwish which remains unchanged.
Also this helps Typhon’s Veil based Hydra builds to become more viable compared to LoD Mammoth Hydra. Simply buffing The Magistrate and Serpent’s Sparker would also buff LoD Hydra which does not need buffing.
2 Likes
Whatever makes it clear a 140 Im good with.
The buff to Fragment is good (The signature dmg boost portion that is), but the dmg boost portion pertaining to Hydra is unnecessary and could’ve instead been done via Typhon, magistrate, and/or serpent sparker. Or they could’ve had the damage boosts been made global instead of specific to hydra only.
2 Likes
ECHOING FURY, IN-GEOM and some others items is some alternatives but not this new
4 leg items only for Hydra skill WOW
1 Like
I don’t understand why there isn’t any new mechanisms for the season buff.
Change HOW we play the game a little? Please?
Instead, we get something following us doing more damage which doesn’t change HOW we move our characters at all.
Sad day.
Boring.
I think that’s what they wanted to avoid since that’s how we ended up with death wish channeling builds.
Now we will have Inna / Gen, Inna / LTK, Inna / WoL.
So, can I throw my other monk sets in the trash? This is what I call “balance”.
Well if they would only come out with a server patch to fix the lag.
1 Like
Nev told us that quite some patches ago. These balance changes are going to be ongoing and will focus on different things each Patch. You DID get two (I think) patches with major Barb changes.
Other classes need love too. I wish they could do everything at once, but I don’t think that is realistic to expect.
P.S. I am not exactly shocked that a patch made with everyone totally working at home is smaller/lighter than ones where they had full office resources and interactions.
Not saying that makes you happier. I know it does not. I just also see that this year sucks.
7 Likes
More Random thoughts on the PTR notes
Things that confuse me are like this:
Is it 6 or 7 times? What causes the fluctuation in the multiplier damage?
Buffing Helltooth and adding the above damage is an obvious push for a Zombie Bear Resurgence, but is it really enough? I already set up a possible build and IDK… The Extra Cube slot may help a lot with something I’m not thinking of, however it’s already going to buff every other build too.
The God Tier builds next season will still be better, and some old stuff will be dusted off for kicks, but nothing will out shine what’s already on top from last season.
Looks like Wizard got kicked in the teeth and some of the item changes are strange. Someones has a hard on for a Twister build though, so we will see how that goes.
My Prediction is next seasons heavy hitter will still be God DH, and maybe with the new bracers Bone Spear makes it to A tier? Since everything is getting an upward shift it doesn’t seem like much of a balance patch.
Shadows of the Past
The Shadow player theme looks neat in theory but I can already see issues that might be annoying like the Mass Confusion spell on build 3 WD. That could actually slow down the players killing speed waiting for that to wear off. The Pirananado is going to displace mobs a lot, since every version has it.
How much will the shadows generally agro monsters or displace them from nice groupings in higher tiers, or with other skills I didn’t cover?
The Bonus LoTD for the Necro seems pretty broken since it’s on every one of the versions, it’s probably a guaranteed proc and the most powerful necro spell in the arsenal.
Does each player get one in Multiplayer? So does the 4 man become a temporary 8 man?
Is the timer affected by Flavor of Time?
Can this be triggered by Ahavarion, Spear of Lycander?
1 Like
Deathwish could’ve been handled by simply changing deathwish to work only for channeling skills (or at least give channeling skills a higher bonus than the global one).
The hydra bonuses offered by fragment of destiny and winter’s flurry is awkwardly placed. Again, if they wanted to buff hydra, there do exist items and a set that could’ve been buffed to achieve the same result.
1 Like
Actually you get a 4th slot this season.
Again 4th cube slot.
I am excited. I liked some of the builds from season 20. Especially with the bigger monk shenlong (cough) bonus. Path of justice with fists was gonzo before. Now it’s going to be bonkers. Super chill playstyle too.
So, now I’ve had a chance to read over the patch notes, particularly as they pertain to WDs more carefully, I’m a little conflicted.
My first thought was that this is great news for WDs, and my second was that the changes, welcome as they are, do absolutely nothing at all to address what I see as the biggest problem with the WD class - the ubiquity of the Lakumba’s Ornament bracers and the Sacred Harvester in just about every WD build. The current “best” Arachyr and Helltooth builds (as far as I recall) both require these two items for the damage reduction they provide when used together, but the changes these sets will be getting in this patch address only damage output, not damage reduction.
Maybe someone cleverer than me, and who hasn’t been awake for an unreasonably long time, can crunch some numbers and tell me my fears are unfounded, but as of right now I’m not feeling terribly optimistic. It’s a great start, but I hope this isn’t where it ends. Time will tell 
2 Likes
Presumably the damage buffs from Mortal Drama and Belt of the Trove apply to thorns as well. That’d mean the LoD Bomb build went nuclear grade. The reduced cooldown to 4 seconds for the autocast Bombardments means the pummeling will be more or less constant.
1 Like