Avatar of John Yang
John Yang
Upcoming Change: 2-Handed Weapons(1)Category: PTR FeedbackJuly-17-2014 2:03 PM PDT (10 years ago) Go to Blizzard forum post
We’ve been discussing 2-Hander buffs for a while now. Right now on live, 2-Handers are almost always less powerful than dual-wielding 1-Handers for a few different reasons, and we wanted to rebalance them for Patch 2.1. We had two options to address the issue:

    1) Make new 2-Hander passives and buff existing 2-Hander passives for Barbarian, Monk, Witch Doctor, and Wizard.

    2) Buff all 2-Handed weapons baseline and adjust Heavenly Strength accordingly.

After trying both options out internally, we decided to go with option 2. This solution has two desirable benefits: 1) it’s immediately noticeable to all players when they pick up a 2-Hander and see the DPS number both significantly higher than a 1-Hander and higher than pre-Patch 2.1 2-Handers and 2) changing 1 passive is less of a jarring overall change for players than changing/adding 4 passives.

In the upcoming PTR patch, you should see the DPS of 2-Handed Melee Weapons increased by 23-26% across the board. The goal is to get the raw DPS of a 2H build to be close enough to the raw DPS of a Dual-Wield build that the weapon choice is mostly determined by the legendary powers on the item and by the build you are using. Some of the tradeoffs of 2-Handers vs. Dual-Wielding are that 2-Handers are intended to make more efficient use of resources and hit harder for skills with cooldowns while Dual-Wielding is intended to generate more procs, Life on Hit, and give more of certain stats. Currently, the raw DPS gap is large enough that Dual-Wielding feels like it is always the right answer.

To summarize the changes:
  • The DPS of 2-Handed Melee Weapons has been increased by 23-26% across the board.
  • This applies to the following weapon types:
    • 2-Handed Maces
    • 2-Handed Mighty Weapons
    • 2-Handed Axes
    • 2-Handed Flails
    • 2-Handed Staffs
    • 2-Handed Swords
    • Daibos
    • Polearms
  • In direct response, Heavenly Strength will now reduce damage done by 20%. With both changes, Crusaders using a 2-Hander should see a very small DPS increase.
  • This change is retroactive to existing live items.
  • This change only affects level 70 two-handed melee weapons.
  • This change affects two-handed melee weapons of all rarities.

  • We are still considering additional changes if needed but this should be a solid step towards making 2-Handers viable again for all classes.
    [Post edited one time, last edit by Lylirra at July-17-2014 2:27 PM PDT (10 years ago)]
    Avatar of John Yang
    John Yang
    Upcoming Change: 2-Handed Weapons(276)July-18-2014 6:02 PM PDT (10 years ago) Go to Blizzard forum post
    Posted by: jkcheng122

    As for bows not getting the same treatment, no reason for it since DHs have quivers to add stats.

    You hit the nail on the head here. Currently, 2-Handed Crossbows/Bows are very competitive with 1-Handed Crossbows because Demon Hunters can use a quiver with any bow type and as a result, 2-Handed Crossbows/Bows do not require a rebalance.

    Posted by: BruceWayne

    The only thing left unanswered is the extra socket, which is such a large DPS boost, does warrent concern.

    Posted by: Ariâel

    I'm guessing the reason they don't add the 4 stats and extra gem slot is ... Crusaders. They still get to use a shield and get the 4 stats and a gem slot, no second crit gem but still.

    Increasing the stat rolls on 2-Handed weapons so they are equal to two stat rolls of a 1-Handed weapon is a common suggestion and one we’ve definitely considered. Unfortunately, this solution would have the undesirable consequence of enabling only one class – Crusaders – to have the highest possible amount of certain stats from gear (e.g. Cooldown Reduction) when using both a 2-Hander and a Shield.

    Adding an extra socket to a 2-Hander effectively translates into more DPS. Yes, we could do that, but as some players have begun to point out, Critical Hit Damage is a problematic stat for us. Because it multiplies with Critical Hit Chance, it causes both of those stats to feel overly mandatory. We would much rather further increase 2-Hander base damage than give out more Critical Hit Damage.

    To give an extreme example for this topic, if we increased the base damage of 2-Handers by 10x, 2-Handers would definitely not need an extra socket or higher stat rolls in order to be competitive. That example tells us that we can continue making the distinction that 2-Handers hit harder and make more efficient use of resources while 1-Handers generate more procs and have more of certain stats, and not have to settle for a solution that unfairly gives a higher cap of certain stats to Crusaders or exacerbates the issue with Critical Hit Damage.

    The current 2-Hander buff is a safe first approach. We don’t want to swing the pendulum in the other direction and make 2-Handers the only option, so we are moving carefully. Thanks for all of your feedback, suggestions, and number-crunching – keep it up.
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