Crushing Blow
Crushing Blow ("CB")is an item affix that is not found in Diablo 3. It was present in Diablo 2 and was one of the most sought item modifiers.
- Crushing Blow in Diablo 2.
In function, Crushing Blow deals damage that's some small % of the target's current hit points. This makes it a very powerful modifier when used against enemies with high hit points (and very weak when used against softer targets). It also becomes less effective over the course of a battle with a target, as their hit points are reduced and thus taking a % of them off is a smaller number.
While Crushing Blow does not exist in Diablo 3, there are a few skills and items that create a similar effect.
- The most obvious is the Monk's Exploding Palm, which causes targets to explode, dealing some % of their hit points to all nearby targets.
- The Furnace is a two-handed made added to the game in Reaper of Souls, which can deal 6% of a target's hit points as fire, to just that target. Blizzard questioned the exploitable nature of that item in Greater Rifts in June 2014.[1]
Reaper of Souls beta test
Crushing Blow was present in Diablo 3 during the Reaper of Souls beta test, but was removed during testing as the developers concluded (probably correctly) that it was overpowered. No matter how low the % chance for it to trigger, it was so powerful against big enemies that every character would have geared up for it. A Hard cap were suggested by players, but that too was rejected by the developers as an adequate way to integrate the powerful modifier into the game.
When Crushing Blow was present early in the RoS beta, it spawned in the 5-8% range as a primary affix and could be found on gloves, shoulders, rings, amulets, and weapons. The affix worked differently depending on the target, with a lower proc rate against Elites and lower still against big bosses. Blizzard replied to questions about it during the RoS beta in a forum post. [2]
The developers’ intentions with Crushing Blow is for it to be competitive with stats like Increased Attack Speed, Critical Hit Chance, or Critical Hit Damage, but obviously it will need some tuning if it clearly trumps all of those other stats.
We are of course interested in reading more of your thoughts on Crushing Blow, so please keep posting your feedback on it :-)
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Currently, a Crushing Blow hits for 25% health against normal monsters, for 12.5% health against elites, and it will hit for 5% health against bosses after the next beta patch has launched.
Keeping in mind that Crushing Blow is subject to changes and tuning since it has to compete with other stats (Increased Attack Speed, Critical Hit Chance, and Critical Hit Damage), what are your thoughts on these percentages?The property was removed in subsequent patches and Blizzard never gave any official explanation of why it was gone or why they'd given up on balancing it.
Crushing Blow in Diablo 2
The affix is described in detail in the Diablo 2 wiki. CB "worked" as a modifier in D2 since CB was very different in availability, and because the overall Diablo 2 combat engine was much more varied. A knowledgeable Dibalo 2 fan described the issue during the RoS beta.[3]
| Thinking back to D2, CB was less powerful per proc, was harder to come by on gear (just found on some special legendaries), only worked as a physical attack (when monsters had different elemental resistances and immunities) and since difficulty and monster hps didn’t scale up so high, CB didn’t seem mandatory. RoS is a very different game state. |
| Items of Diablo III [e] Item Basics Normal Items Crafting Legendary Armor I Legendary Armor II Legendary Weapons 1h Legendary Weapons 2h Item Sets |
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