Modifier

Item modifiers are the magical properties that modify base items and make them delicious. Not much is known about the prefixes, suffixes, and special modifiers that will modify Diablo III items, and the game system is far from complete at this point.

Diablo III Affixes

Few specifics have been given yet. The design team always says that itemization is one of the last steps in game design, since all the other features need to be nail down before the subtle balancing of item modifiers can be worked on.

From what we've seen on items in the Blizzcon demos, the item modifier system is fairly similar to what was done in Diablo I and Diablo II. Magical items are blue and have either a prefix, a suffix, or both. Rare items are yellow and may have multiple prefixes and suffixes. No set items have been seen yet, nor unique/legendary items.

Item modifiers are available on crafted items made from various recipes. The crafted items thus far seen have been blue (magical) or yellow (rare), depending on how many modifiers they have. The simpler recipes only produce magical items with one or two mods, while the better recipes make rares with multiple modifiers.

+Skill Level

Jay Wilson has said that +skill level modifiers will be uncommon in Diablo III. The team thought such mods were overdone in Diablo II, as they became so common that characters were almost expected to have +10 or more to all stats, or at least to their main skill tree. This devalued skill points, and made skills with just one point quite useful. The D3 Team wants skill points to be very valuable and important, and they want to reward skill point investments.

Leech

There will be very little life or mana (resource) leech in Diablo III. These mods, very common in Diablo II, allowed characters to gain back a % of the damage they dealt, and did much to remove the challenge from playing Diablo II. Leech, along with potion use, made characters essentially unkillable, except to monsters that could deal enough damage to kill in one or two hits.

Dying to a single hit feels cheap and unfair, so the D3 Team is working to avoid any such kills in Diablo III, whether intentionally or from bugs. By not giving characters an easy way to constantly remain full health, they can make monsters challenging without them being supremely damaging.

Magic Find

There will be magic find modifiers in Diablo III, and items with MF have been seen in all three Blizzcon demo builds to date. How high the values will go, how widely the modifier will be distributed, and how powerful they will be (diminishing returns?) is unknown.

One limiting factor for Magic Find is the need for mage characters to use equipment to boost their spell damage.

+%Magical Damage

One big change to the combat and item systems of Diablo III are +%magical damage item modifiers. These are very common, and will be essential for mage characters. In the Blizzcon demos magical and rare items such as staves, wands, daggers, and even body armor and helms were seen with +10-50% magical damage mods. It was not hard for a character, even by just lvl 14 or so in a demo, to have over +200% magical damage.

This made a big difference, the displayed spell damage in the character window increased proportionately, and spells were just obviously more damaging in use.

This modifier will be as important for mage characters in Diablo III as +%weapon damage is for combat characters. A high level Wizard or Witch Doctor in Diablo III would no more play without +%magical damage than a high level Barbarian, Demon Hunter or Monk would use a plain "white" weapon.

How much +%magical damage a high level character will want or need is not yet known, but it will be an essential property to strive for from item bonuses. This gives more of an end game item game to the Wizard and Witch Doctor, and also limits their Magic Find, since such characters can not just stock up on MF gear, knowing their base spells will be enough to kill quickly.

Appropriate Modifiers

The developers have said that they hope to have more useful modifiers and less useless ones, but there's a balance to strike on this issue. Every item can't have good mods or characters would quickly have all great equipment and the item game wouldn't be any fun. However, no one likes finding useless mods on items; useless because they provide properties of no value, or even things your character can't use.

Julian Love spoke about this in an interview from Blizzcon 2010. [1]

Question: In Diablo 1 there was some useless prefixes and suffixes on a lot of the items, have you cleaned a lot of that up a bit to make sure everyone can use everything?

Julian Love: We agonize about this every day. We’re constantly looking at the affixes and their value. There are some affixes that are better than others, but you really just have to make choices. When you see an axe drop and it has 3 affixes to it you have to decide if those affixes are right for you, for your build, or your class. That’s crucial, because otherwise all the loot is the same. So some affixes are by definition [not as useful], but maybe they’re nice to have. So there’s a sort of a pecking order in the usefulness in some of the affixes.

We definitely don’t want affixes though that you dread, that you see and are like “oh geez, what a waste of time!” We look at this every day, and as we add more affixes in — because of new game mechanics that come in — we look at them again to see if it changes the balance of ones that are rolled up. We’re always looking at the classes to make sure they’re evenly distributed so like the wizard doesn’t always just use one affix all the time. It’s just an ongoing topic of conversation at work for us.

Item Modification Information

This is a compilation of what mods you can search for in the Auction House within the Game. This information does not include the mods that can be sometimes found on Set or Legendary Pieces. Also, Please note that some item modifications require a class specific item in order to obtain the mod. Considering that only that class should be looking for that modification I did not see the necessity of making this distinction.

All Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Arcane Power on Crit: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Arcane Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Armor: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Attack Speed: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Amulet, Gloves, Ring,

Barbarian Skill Bonus: Bash: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Cleave:Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Frenzy: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Hammer of the Ancients: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Overpower: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Rend: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Revenge: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Seismic Slam: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Weapon Throw: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Whirlwind: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,

Bleed Chance: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Block %: Off-Hand,
Bonus Min Arcane Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Cold Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Fire Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Holy Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Lightning Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Physical Dmg: Amulet, Ring,
Bonus Min Poison Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus vs Elites: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Chance to Blind on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Chance to Chill on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Shoulders,
Chance to Fear on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Chance to Freeze on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Belt,
Chance to Immobilize on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Boots,
Chance to Knockback on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Bracers,
Chance to Slow on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Pants,
Chance to Stun on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Gloves,
Cold Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Crit Hit Chance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Bracers, Gloves, Helm, Ring,
Crit Hit Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Amulet, Gloves, Ring,
Crowd Control Reduction: Off-Hand, Amulet, Helm, Ring,

Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Bola Shot: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Chakram: Chest Armor,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Elemental Arrow: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Entangling Shot: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Evasive Fire: Chest Armor,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Grenades: Chest Armor,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Hungering Arrow: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Impale: Chest Armor,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Multishot: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Rapid Fire: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Spike Trap: Chest Armor,

Dexterity: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Experience: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Extra Health from Globes: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Fire Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Gold Find: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Has Sockets: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Bracers, Chest Armor, Helm, Pants, Ring,
Hatred Regeneration: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Chest Armor,
Indestructible: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Shoulders,
Intelligence: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Life %: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Chest Armor, Helm, Ring, Shoulders,
Life Regeneration: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Life Steal: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Belt,
Life after Kill: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Amulet, Ring,
Life on Hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Amulet, Ring,
Life per Spirit Spent: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Helm,
Lightning Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Magic Find: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Movement Speed: Boots,
Mana Regeneration: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Max Arcane Power: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Max Discipline: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Chest Armor,
Max Fury: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Belt,
Max Mana: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Min Bleed Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand,

Monk Skill Bonus: Crippling Wave: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Cyclone Strike: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Deadly Reach: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Exploding Palm: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Fists of Thunder: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Lashing Tail Kick: 2-Hand,
Monk Skill Bonus: Sweeping Wind: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Tempest Rush: 2-Hand,
Monk Skill Bonus: Way of the Hundred Fists: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Wave of Light: 2-Hand,

Physical Dmg to Attacker: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Physical Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Pickup Radius: Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Shoulders,
Poison Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Reduced Dmg from Elites: Off-Hand, Chest Armor,
Reduced Dmg from Melee Attacks: Off-Hand, Amulet, Bracers, Chest Armor,
Reduced Dmg from Ranged Attacks: Off-Hand, Amulet, Bracers, Chest Armor,
Reduced Level Requirement: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Shoulders,
Spirit Regeneration: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Helm,
Strength: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Vitality: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Weapon Dmg %: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,

Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Acid Cloud: Helm,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Fire bats: Helm,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Firebomb: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Haunt: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Plague of Toads: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Poison Darts: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Spirit Barrage: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Summon Zombie Dogs: Helm,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Wall of Zombies: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Zombie Charger: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,

Wizard Skill Bonus: Arcane Orb: Off-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Arcane Torrent: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Blizzard: Off-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Disintegrate: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Electrocute: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Energy Twister: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Explosive Blast: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Hydra: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Magic Missile: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Meteor: Off-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Ray of Frost: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Shock Pulse: Off-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Spectral Blade: Off-Hand,

Diablo II Affixes

In Diablo II there were various set rules for item modifiers.

Diablo II Modifiers

Diablo III will not repeat Diablo II's system exactly, but there may be a continuation of some of the rules, as there was from Diablo I to Diablo II.

Diablo II item modifer rules:

Magical items could have 1 prefix, 1 suffix, or both.
Rare items could have up to 6 affixes -- 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes -- though most had just 2-4 total affixes.
Crafted items had a few preset mods, and could roll up to additional 2 prefixes and 2 suffixes, though this varied slightly between recipes. Crafted items also had some Special Modifiers that were never found on magical or rare items.
Set Items and Unique Items were entirely custom designed, and could have any number of modifiers that didn't necessarily correspond to any of the affixes.