Changes Coming to Legendary Gems and Life on Hit
The next Patch 2.1 PTR build brings changes to Legendary Gems, LoH, Monk Spirit resource, and more!
Legendary Gems Stat Changes
The last build of patch 2.1 on the PTR added Legendary Gems to be tested. The stats on those gems were placeholder stats, and the developers are refining them in the next patch. Developer John Yang posted with an updated list of how the gems will look in the next build.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
Hi everyone. I wanted to pop in here while discussion on Legendary gems is ongoing.
First off, our philosophy on Legendary gems is that, when you pick one up for the first time, you should immediately want to use it (assuming it’s for your build – some gems obviously don’t apply to all builds/needs). This puts a minimum bar on the starting power level. After that, the power increase per upgrade is directly related to the frequency of upgrading, which is closely tied to the Greater Rift reward scheme and is still being iterated on. In the end, we’d like gems to be infinitely upgradeable when it makes sense, but not be outrageous.
Additionally, all Legendary gems have been disabled for followers. These powers were not designed for followers in mind, and this way we can ensure the gems are of a high power level because you can only have 3 equipped. In the future, if followers need avenues of advancement we would likely make Legendary gems specifically designed for them.
Now for the details. The existing stats you see on Legendary gems on the PTR today are somewhat placeholder. So, to steer further discussion in a direction that’s more in line with the next PTR build, here are the freshly tuned numbers (with some of my notes) for each gem.
Bane of the Powerful
Enforcer
Moratorium
Zei's Stone of Vengeance
Simplicity's Strength
Bane of the Trapped
Wreath of Lightning
Gem of Efficacious Toxin
Pain Enhancer
Mirinae, Teardrop of the Starweaver
Gogok of Swiftness
Invigorating Gemstone
Boon of the Hoarder
Taeguk
As always, these numbers are not final and we’re keeping a close watch as PTR goes on. Please continue the discussions and let us know what you think.
Edit: Corrected Zei's Stone of Vengeance upgrade.
First off, our philosophy on Legendary gems is that, when you pick one up for the first time, you should immediately want to use it (assuming it’s for your build – some gems obviously don’t apply to all builds/needs). This puts a minimum bar on the starting power level. After that, the power increase per upgrade is directly related to the frequency of upgrading, which is closely tied to the Greater Rift reward scheme and is still being iterated on. In the end, we’d like gems to be infinitely upgradeable when it makes sense, but not be outrageous.
Additionally, all Legendary gems have been disabled for followers. These powers were not designed for followers in mind, and this way we can ensure the gems are of a high power level because you can only have 3 equipped. In the future, if followers need avenues of advancement we would likely make Legendary gems specifically designed for them.
Now for the details. The existing stats you see on Legendary gems on the PTR today are somewhat placeholder. So, to steer further discussion in a direction that’s more in line with the next PTR build, here are the freshly tuned numbers (with some of my notes) for each gem.
Bane of the Powerful
- Gain 30% increased damage for 20 seconds after killing an elite pack.
- Upgrade rank grants: +1 second buff duration.
- Rank 50 unlocks: Gain 20% bonus damage to elites.
Enforcer
- Increase the Critical Hit Chance of your pets by 20%.
- Upgrade rank grants: +0.4% Critical Hit Chance. Max +20% upgrade (+40% total).
- Rank 50 unlocks: Your pets are unkillable.
- Notes: As was discussed in another thread, allowing this this gem to rank up to +100% pet Crit would likely cause undesired gearing issues and probably be a little out of line.
Moratorium
- 30% of all damage taken is instead staggered and dealt to you over 3 seconds.
- Upgrade rank grants: +0.1 second to the stagger duration.
- Rank 50 unlocks: 10% chance on kill to clear all staggered damage.
Zei's Stone of Vengeance
- Damage you deal is increased by 6% for every 10 yards between you and the enemy hit. Maximum 30% increase.
- Upgrade rank grants: +0.1% for every 10 yards (+0.5% to max).
- Rank 50 unlocks: 30% chance on hit to Stun the enemy for 1 second.
- Notes: The max of 50 yards was added not because it was too powerful (even though it was too powerful), but so that you wouldn’t be incentivized to stay offscreen while your pets killed everything. At 50 yards, I expect you to be in range to actually still use your skills (crazy right?).
Simplicity's Strength
- Increase the damage of primary skills by 25%.
- Upgrade rank grants: +0.5% damage.
- Rank 50 unlocks: Primary skills heal you for 2% of maximum health on hit.
Bane of the Trapped
- Increase damage against enemies under control-impairing effects by 20%.
- Upgrade rank grants: +0.5% damage.
- Rank 50 unlocks: Gain an aura that reduces the movement speed of enemies within 15 yards by 30%.
Wreath of Lightning
- 15% chance on hit to gain a Wreath of Lightning, dealing 500% weapon damage as Lightning every second to 1-2 nearby enemies for 3 seconds.
- Upgrade rank grants: +10% weapon damage per second.
- Rank 50 unlocks: While under the effect of the Wreath of Lightning, gain 25% increased movement speed.
Gem of Efficacious Toxin
- Poison all enemies hit for 1000% weapon damage over 10 seconds.
- Upgrade rank grants: +20% weapon damage over 10 seconds.
- Rank 50 unlocks: All enemies you poison take 10% increased damage from all sources.
Pain Enhancer
- Critical hits cause the enemy to bleed for 500% weapon damage as Physical over 3 seconds.
- Upgrade rank grants: +10% weapon damage over 3 seconds.
- Rank 50 unlocks: Gain Blood Frenzy, granting you 2% increased Attack Speed for each bleeding enemy within 20 yards.
Mirinae, Teardrop of the Starweaver
- 15% chance on hit to smite a nearby enemy for 1000% weapon damage as Holy.
- Upgrade rank grants: +20% weapon damage.
- Rank 50 unlocks: Smite a nearby enemy every 5 seconds.
Gogok of Swiftness
- 50% chance on hit to gain Swiftness, increasing your Attack Speed by 2% for 3 seconds. This effect stacks up to 10 times.
- Upgrade rank grants: +1% chance.
- Rank 50 unlocks: Gain 2% Cooldown Reduction per stack of Swiftness.
Invigorating Gemstone
- While under any control-impairing effects, reduce all damage taken by 30%.
- Upgrade rank grants: +1%. Maximum +50% upgrade (80% total).
- Rank 50 unlocks: Heal for 20% of maximum life when hit by control-impairing effect.
Boon of the Hoarder
- 30% chance on killing an enemy to cause an explosion of gold.
- Upgrade rank grants: +1% chance on kill.
- Rank 50 unlocks: Gain 30% increased movement speed for 3 seconds after picking up gold.
Taeguk
- Gain 1% increased damage for 4 seconds after spending primary resource. This effect stacks up to 10 times. Gaining a stack refreshes all existing stacks.
- Upgrade rank grants: +1 max stack.
- Rank 50 unlocks: Gain 1% increased Armor for every stack.
- Note: This buff duration on this gem was chosen so that it’s easier to keep up with cheap spenders and not trivial with expensive spenders.
As always, these numbers are not final and we’re keeping a close watch as PTR goes on. Please continue the discussions and let us know what you think.
Edit: Corrected Zei's Stone of Vengeance upgrade.
Read on for more Blizzard Blues posts, including details on the big changes with Life on Hit.
Life on Hit Doubles on Items
There are big changes coming to the Life on Hit stat in patch 2.1. Instead of being tied to a proc coefficient that is different for each skill, Life on Hit will always be activated from a damaging attack. Grimiku gave a great explanation of the changes, as well as the notice that the upcoming PTR build will increase all the Life on Hit on items (including current items) by another 100%, and the LoH from Paragon Points by 50%.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
Life on Hit has undergone a number of changes, and it can be little confusing at first. I'll go over how LoH is currently working on the PTR, but it's also good to keep in mind that it's still subject to tuning.
The bullet-point basics:
More long-form explanation:
Currently in the live game, you’ll receive Life On Hit when an ability hits an enemy, and then that mechanic is run through the proc coefficient of the ability itself. As a general rule, this means that many AoE skills give very small amounts of Life On Hit vs. single targets, and you typically get large amounts of Life on Hit against multiple targets.
We want players to be able to heal consistently at the times you need it most: Boss fights and Elite fights. To support this, we’re altering some of the conditions of Life On Hit. Life On Hit will now trigger once per ability activation as long as that ability requires an animation*. This means casting Magic Missile, Frozen Orb, and Blizzard all provide the same Life On Hit per cast. Channeled spells provide an equivalent amount of healing over any given period of time to non-channeled spells.
Not only does this allow you to gain more Life when you’re attacking a low number of targets with AoE skills, it provides more consistent healing between various skills, and it also separates Life On Hit from the proc system. This last benefit is important as it means we can be more generous with allowing Legendary items to proc various effects.
All of that said, there is still some tuning to do now that we’ve adjusted how Life on Hit works. We’ll be keeping an eye a close eye on it, and continue to make the necessary adjustments to get it in line with where we want.
*Attacks that deal damage, but don't animate (like Overpower, or Frost Nova) do not trigger Life on Hit. The intention is to prevent double LoH procs per animation cycle since these skills can be cast while attacking, or channeling.
The bullet-point basics:
- You gain your Life on Hit amount per cast, so long as you're doing damage.
- The amount healed per cast does not change based on the number of targets hit.
- You continuously gain a portion of your Life on Hit value while channeling.
- We're increasing LoH on items by another 100%, and LoH in Paragon by 50% in an upcoming PTR build
- We're aware that this needs tuning, particularly with large packs of monsters, or those with Reflect Damage.
More long-form explanation:
Currently in the live game, you’ll receive Life On Hit when an ability hits an enemy, and then that mechanic is run through the proc coefficient of the ability itself. As a general rule, this means that many AoE skills give very small amounts of Life On Hit vs. single targets, and you typically get large amounts of Life on Hit against multiple targets.
We want players to be able to heal consistently at the times you need it most: Boss fights and Elite fights. To support this, we’re altering some of the conditions of Life On Hit. Life On Hit will now trigger once per ability activation as long as that ability requires an animation*. This means casting Magic Missile, Frozen Orb, and Blizzard all provide the same Life On Hit per cast. Channeled spells provide an equivalent amount of healing over any given period of time to non-channeled spells.
Not only does this allow you to gain more Life when you’re attacking a low number of targets with AoE skills, it provides more consistent healing between various skills, and it also separates Life On Hit from the proc system. This last benefit is important as it means we can be more generous with allowing Legendary items to proc various effects.
All of that said, there is still some tuning to do now that we’ve adjusted how Life on Hit works. We’ll be keeping an eye a close eye on it, and continue to make the necessary adjustments to get it in line with where we want.
*Attacks that deal damage, but don't animate (like Overpower, or Frost Nova) do not trigger Life on Hit. The intention is to prevent double LoH procs per animation cycle since these skills can be cast while attacking, or channeling.
Monk Resource and Tempest Rush Changes
The Monk skill Tempest Rush has been changed in the first two patch 2.1 PTR builds, and it will be adjusted further in an upcoming patch. Monks as a whole may be receiving changes to their base Maximum Spirit and Spirit regeneration from skills, to help their resource usage. Developer Don Vu dropped by the forums to provide info about all that.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
Hey all,
I wanted to chime in and explain the philosophy behind the most recent Tempest Rush changes on our Public Test Realm.
We want to make Tempest Rush damage comparable to other moving-while-doing-damage skills (like Strafe and Whirlwind). Increasing the damage also meant increasing the resource cost, though.
As our internal tests have shown and some players have figured out by playing on the PTR, Tempest Rush is still infinitely sustainable with some gear and skill specialization. However, we've heard your feedback and are looking at ways to help improve that sustainability further. At the moment, we're exploring increasing both the Monk's base Maximum Spirit and Spirit regeneration from skills (which will have class-wide benefits as well). In addition to this, the next PTR build fixes an issue where Tempest Rush incorrectly has an upfront cost of 30 Spirit in addition to the channeling cost. The end goal for all these changes would be to make Tempest Rush sustainable with fewer items and skills as it is now in PTR, but still deal meaningful damage.
We don't have an ETA on when these changes might be on live the PTR. And, full disclosure: since this is a PTR, such changes are subject to iteration before the patch goes live.
Thanks for the discussion!
I wanted to chime in and explain the philosophy behind the most recent Tempest Rush changes on our Public Test Realm.
We want to make Tempest Rush damage comparable to other moving-while-doing-damage skills (like Strafe and Whirlwind). Increasing the damage also meant increasing the resource cost, though.
As our internal tests have shown and some players have figured out by playing on the PTR, Tempest Rush is still infinitely sustainable with some gear and skill specialization. However, we've heard your feedback and are looking at ways to help improve that sustainability further. At the moment, we're exploring increasing both the Monk's base Maximum Spirit and Spirit regeneration from skills (which will have class-wide benefits as well). In addition to this, the next PTR build fixes an issue where Tempest Rush incorrectly has an upfront cost of 30 Spirit in addition to the channeling cost. The end goal for all these changes would be to make Tempest Rush sustainable with fewer items and skills as it is now in PTR, but still deal meaningful damage.
We don't have an ETA on when these changes might be on live the PTR. And, full disclosure: since this is a PTR, such changes are subject to iteration before the patch goes live.
Thanks for the discussion!
Legendary Power for Depth Diggers Restricted
The Legendary pants Depth Diggers are changing in patch 2.1. As detailed in the PTR patch 2.1 patch notes, they are being given a Legendary power: All resource generators deal 80-100% more damage. But in the second PTR patch, it was restricted: The damage bonus provided by this item's Legendary Power no longer includes Witch Doctor and Wizard Signature Spells. Naturally there was heated discussion around this restriction, and Grimiku provided context for the change.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
The philosophy behind the decision to prevent the bonus damage given by Depth Diggers from working with Witch Doctor and Wizard Signature spells was two-fold.
That said, we are more than happy to hear your feedback about the changes we’re making, and we encourage you to continue to do so. If you feel that Depth Diggers should benefit Signature skills, be sure to let us know how and why (these are two very important pieces of information).
Thanks to those of you who’ve posted thus far!
- First, Signature skills are not the same as resource generators, and typically have higher damage. Even with Prodigy and APOC, it doesn’t change the fact that, at their core, Signature skills do not generate resource. At present, Depth Diggers are only intended to benefit/boost resource generators, which does restrict their value to Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, and Monk skills.
- Second and more importantly, we don’t want to create an environment where Wizards and Witch Doctors are driven to only cast Signature skills because of a single item. Wizards and Witch Doctors also happen to already have items that make some of their Signature skills incredibly powerful (Mirrorball and Rhen’ho Flayer, for example), and there's a risk that with Depth Diggers this could funnel gameplay into something that's very one-dimensional. Ideally, we want your skill usage to be thoughtful and engaging, at least more so than just holding down left-click until an Elite pack or Rift Guardian dies.
That said, we are more than happy to hear your feedback about the changes we’re making, and we encourage you to continue to do so. If you feel that Depth Diggers should benefit Signature skills, be sure to let us know how and why (these are two very important pieces of information).
Thanks to those of you who’ve posted thus far!
Ramalandi's Gift Bug
The new item Ramalandi's Gift in patch 2.1 adds a socket to weapons that don't have one. Right now on the PTR, there is a bug that also rerolls all the other stats on the item! This bug will be fixed before the item is added, as noted here and as it was added to the PTR Patch 2.1.0 Known Issues.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
This caused the item to bug out and the stats to change
This is definitely a bug, and at this point a known issue to both our QA and development teams. I don't have an ETA on the fix, but it's certainly something we'll want to have resolved before 2.1.0 ships.
Thanks so much for kicking a report our way (and to the Bug Report forum too)!
Shared Drop Rate for Demonic Organs
The Infernal Machine event uses keys to start, and Demonic Organ drops to get the eventual reward. Those will become more important in patch 2.1, since the Demonic Organs will also craft the new Hellfire Amulet. The way those organs drop is changing with the patch, so that they drop for everyone in the group at once.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
Thanks for kicking off this discussion, Serge! Just to provide some context (which may or may not impact your feedback), we've recently made a change to Demonic Organs on the PTR so that groups will be able to synchronize better while farming them.
Currently, in the live game, when an Ubers boss is killed, every player has an individual chance (scaled based on difficulty) to get a Demonic Organ drop. This functionality has its pros, but a big con is that it can feel awkward to have one person in the group receive an organ and others not. It creates a kind of disparity within the group that we’d like to avoid. As a result, moving forward, the chance for a Demonic Organ to drop is now on the group level, rather than the individual player. So, let’s say that, previously, each individual player had a 20% chance to get a Demonic Organ drop, now the group as whole has a 20% chance. If a Demonic Organ drops, every member of the party will receive it.
This does not influence the drop rate (and the rate will continue to scale in the same way with difficulty as it does in the live game), but it will make sure that groups that stick together will all be on the same page for what's needed to complete a Hellfire Ring or Amulet.
Currently, in the live game, when an Ubers boss is killed, every player has an individual chance (scaled based on difficulty) to get a Demonic Organ drop. This functionality has its pros, but a big con is that it can feel awkward to have one person in the group receive an organ and others not. It creates a kind of disparity within the group that we’d like to avoid. As a result, moving forward, the chance for a Demonic Organ to drop is now on the group level, rather than the individual player. So, let’s say that, previously, each individual player had a 20% chance to get a Demonic Organ drop, now the group as whole has a 20% chance. If a Demonic Organ drops, every member of the party will receive it.
This does not influence the drop rate (and the rate will continue to scale in the same way with difficulty as it does in the live game), but it will make sure that groups that stick together will all be on the same page for what's needed to complete a Hellfire Ring or Amulet.
Transmogrification Requests and Changes
Transmogrification will work better for class-specific Legendary and Set items, in patch 2.1. Grimiku explained the upcoming changes, and took feedback on some of the restrictions that are currently in place for Transmogging weapons.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
We've got some adjustments to the Transmogrify system on the way, and you should be able to test them out on the PTR at some point in the near(ish) future. There will still be some restrictions in place, but some of the current ones will be lifted. Specifically the class-restricted limitations will be modified to offer a little more freedom.
I can tell you up front that you won't be able to Transmogrify your gear to look like another class, but you'll have more options for your own class-specific gear when all is said and done.
I can tell you up front that you won't be able to Transmogrify your gear to look like another class, but you'll have more options for your own class-specific gear when all is said and done.
But what if you want to turn a normal shield into a Crusader shield?
This should work as long as you do it while playing your Crusader. The shield will default back to its normal appearance if you transfer it to another character, though.
We especially need more options for 2H flails. 1H flails can be 1H swords/axes/maces, so why can't 2H flails be 2H swords/axes/maces?
The current restrictions on weapon transmogrification will still be in place after this change, but I'll bring this specific situation up at our next meeting.
Thats good to hear. I will assume my barb can finally transmog Raekors on her gear (also picked this up when I caught part of yesterday's stream, they said someone had this working internally).
This is a good example of what will be possible once these changes take place. Currently, players are unable to Transmog gear into the Raekor set, and even in a situation where the original piece of gear in question is a piece of Raekor. However, after the change a Barbarian could alter their gear to look like Raekors, so long as it’s been unlocked as an option. The item would default to its original appearance when transferred to a different class.
Please for the love all all things holy let us transmog our 2hand flails to other weapon types.
I'm going to bring this up at our next meeting with the developers and see what they say. There might be technical reasons why this is restricted, but the way it currently works is not very intuitive since 1-handed flails can Transmog into other weapons.
Ultimate Evil Edition Co-op
The upcoming Ultimate Evil Edition of Diablo III for the consoles will operate differently in some ways on the new consoles, versus the last-generation ones. One of those differences relates to how co-op is handled on the Xbox consoles.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
I saw this thread and thought it was pretty interesting, so I went ahead and asked around about it.
Microsoft has made some changes to the Xbox One that will now allow mixed multiplayer co-op games (i.e. games with both Gold and Silver members) to take their game session online. This is how local co-op games on the Xbox One version of Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition will work, as well. The only requirement is that the profile with the Gold membership will need to confirm that the Xbox One being used is that profile’s Home console.
I should point out that this is unfortunately not possible with the Xbox 360, and everyone playing in a local co-op game on an Xbox Live account will need a Gold membership in order to take that game session online. In light of that, local co-op parties created for UEE on the Xbox 360 that include both Gold and Silver members will not be able to play online. You can, however, play along with a Xbox Live Gold Account using a Guest account on Xbox 360, but you will not be able to keep your save data.â€
Microsoft has made some changes to the Xbox One that will now allow mixed multiplayer co-op games (i.e. games with both Gold and Silver members) to take their game session online. This is how local co-op games on the Xbox One version of Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition will work, as well. The only requirement is that the profile with the Gold membership will need to confirm that the Xbox One being used is that profile’s Home console.
I should point out that this is unfortunately not possible with the Xbox 360, and everyone playing in a local co-op game on an Xbox Live account will need a Gold membership in order to take that game session online. In light of that, local co-op parties created for UEE on the Xbox 360 that include both Gold and Silver members will not be able to play online. You can, however, play along with a Xbox Live Gold Account using a Guest account on Xbox 360, but you will not be able to keep your save data.â€
Ultimate Evil Edition Paragon Level
When patch 2.0 arrived for the PC version of Diablo III, all the experience points that had been accrued for the old Paragon Levels converted into the new Shared Paragon Levels. For the console Ultimate Evil Edition it will be a simpler process: the exact current Paragon Level will change to the new system.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
Things will work a bit differently than how the transfer from Paragon 1.0 to Paragon 2.0 worked on PC. If you transfer your save file to Ultimate Evil Edition, you will actually retain your current Paragon level that was earned playing Diablo III on console.
Keep track of all the current issues by checking out the latest Blizzard Blues posts in our Blue Post Tracker or RSS feeds!
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