Patch 2.1
Patch 2.1 was a major content patch for Reaper of Souls. It was developed during the spring and summer of 2014[1] and went live to the PTR for player testing in late June, 2014[2]. After numerous patches and changes and added content/features, Patch 2.1 finally went live on August 26, 2014.
New features added in Patch 2.1 include: Greater Rifts, Legendary Gems, the artisan Urshi, the Realm of Trials, The Cesspools tileset, Greed's Domain, Seasons, Seasonal Legendaries, and hundreds of changes to legendary items and class skills.
This article houses not just the patch notes, but extensive collections of changes made during the lengthy PTR period, tracking the evolution of various new game features.
Contents
- 1 Official Patch Notes
- 2 Item Changes
- 2.1 Seasonal Legendaries
- 2.2 Helms
- 2.3 Shoulders
- 2.4 Amulets
- 2.5 Chest Armor
- 2.6 Gloves
- 2.7 Belts
- 2.8 Bracers
- 2.9 Legs
- 2.10 Boots
- 2.11 Rings
- 2.12 One-Handed Weapons
- 2.13 Two-Handed Weapons
- 2.14 Bows and Crossbows
- 2.15 Orbs
- 2.16 Mojos
- 2.17 Quivers
- 2.18 Shields
- 2.19 Item Sets
- 2.20 Legendary Gems
- 2.21 Weapon Procs
- 3 PTR Patch 2.1 Feature Previews
- 4 New Feature: Seasons
- 5 New Feature: Greater Rifts
- 6 New Feature: Leaderboards
- 7 New Feature: The Cesspools
- 8 General
- 9 Classes
- 10 Blizzard News and Quotes Before PTR
- 11 Healing
- 12 Pets
- 13 Demon Hunter
- 14 Monk
- 15 Ladders and Seasons
- 16 Leaderboards
- 17 Conquests
- 18 Greater Rifts
- 19 Nephalem Rifts
- 20 Legendary Gems
- 21 Combat Changes
- 22 The Cesspools
- 23 Non-Season Players
- 24 Clans
- 25 References
Official Patch Notes
Numerous versions of the patch were rolled out over the course of the PTR testing, with major updates on: June 26th start date, July 11, July 18, August 5, and August 13.
The full final patch notes can be seen below.
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Item Changes
Dozens of legendary items were buffed or modified in the patch, and a few new ones were created as well. An overview:
- Ramaladni's Gift is a new legendary material that can add a socket to any unsocketed weapon.
New item set: Roland's Legacy. Crusader set, six pieces. Helm, Roland's Visage, shoulders Roland's Mantle, chest Roland's Bearing, gloves Roland's Grasp, legs Roland's Determination, and boots Roland's Stride.
Roland's Legacy item set bonuses (2) Set Bonus:
(4) Set Bonus:
(6) Set Bonus:
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Other new legendary items:
- Akanesh, The Herald of Righteousness -- One-handed spear. Inherent bonus of +15-25% holy damage.
- The Dagger of Darts -- New WD dagger. Legendary affix: Your Poison Darts and your Fetishes' Poison Darts now pierce.
- Wojahnni Assaulter -- Crossbow: Legendary Affix: Rapid Fire deals 40-50% more damage per second, stacks up to 4 times.
- Unrelenting Phalanx -- Crusader Shield: Legendary affix: Allows Phalanx to summon twice as many Avatars.
Seasonal Legendaries
New legendary items only findable by seasonal characters. All these items will move into the general character pool once the season concludes and new seasonal legendary items will be added with season two. Full details on the Seasonal Legendary items page.
- Aether Walker -- Wand, wizard only.
- Legendary Affix: Removes the cooldown of Teleport. Teleport now costs 25 Arcane Power.
- Bottomless Potion of Rejuvenation -- Health potion.
- Legendary Affix: Restores 15% of your primary resource when used below 25% Life.
- Frydehr's Wrath -- Crusader Shield
- Legendary Affix: Removes the cooldown of Condemn. Condemn now costs 40 Wrath.
- Hillenbrand's Training Sword -- Templar Relic (follower item)
- Legendary Affix: Reduces the cooldown of all Templar skills by 50%.
- Krelm's Buff. Belt. No class restriction.
- Legendary Affix: Grants a 20% Movement Speed bonus. Taking damage causes you to lose this effect for 15 seconds.
- Krelm's Buff -- Bracers
- Legendary Affix: Grant you immunity to Knockback and Stun effects.
- Leonine Bow of Hashir -- Bow.
- Legendary Affix: Grants Bola Shot a 15-20% chance on explosion to pull in all enemies within 24 yards.
- Remorseless -- One-handed Mighty Weapon. Barbarian only.
- Legendary Affix: Grants Hammer of the Ancients a 25-30% chance to summon an Ancient for 20 seconds.
- Sacred Harvester -- Ceremonial Dagger, WD only.
- Legendary Affix: Soul Harvest now stacks up to 10 times.
- Slipka's Letter Opener -- Scoundrel Token, follower item.
- Legendary Affix: Reduces the cooldown of all Scoundrel skills by 50%.
- Vadim's Surge -- Enchantress Focus, follower item.
- Legendary Affix: Reduces the cooldown of all Enchantress skills by 50%.
- Vengeful Wind (Fist Weapon)
- Legendary Affix: Increases the maximum stack count of Sweeping Winds by 5-7.
Helms
- Gyana Na Kashu -- Fireball weapon damage increased from 300-400% to 525-700%.
- Kekegi's Unbreakable Spirit -- No more inherent affix to cooldown reduction.
- Leoric's Crown -- Legendary affix boosts the effect of the gem socketed into the helm by 75-100%.
- Madstone -- Life regeneration no longer inherent. New Legendary Affix: Your Seven-Sided Strike applies Exploding Palm.
- [[Mask of Jeram No longer rolls AllRes by default.
- Helltooth Mask (Name duplication with the Mask of Jeram fixed.
- Quetzalcoatl -- No longer an inherent bonus to mana regeneration or Attack Speed.
- Storm Crow -- No longer inherent roll to Life on Hit.
- The Grin Reaper -- No longer inherent bonus to cooldown reduction.
- The Swami -- New legendary affix: The damage bonus from enemies killed while in Archon form now lasts for 10-15 seconds after Archon expires.
Shoulders
Barbarians can now roll +damage to Furious Charge and Call of the Ancients on shoulders.
- Firebird's Pinions -- No longer rolls +Black Hole damage inherently.
- Jade Harvester's Joy -- No longer inherent bonus to AllRes.
- Vile Ward -- New legendary affix: Furious Charge deals ~30% increased damage for every enemy hit while charging.
Amulets
Hellfire Amulet added as a reward for the Infernal Machine. Standar 4/2 legendary with legendary property that grants 1 passive skill for the appropriate class.
- Blackthorne's Duncraig Cross -- Removed inherent rolls to Attack Speed, LoH, and Life%.
- Eye of Etlich -- Removed inherent rolls to All Res and LoH.
- Halycon's Ascent -- Removed inhernt rolls to +Damage to Elite and Reduced Damage from Elite.
- Haunt of Vaxo -- Now procs Stuns performed by pets. -
- Kymbo's Gold -- Removed inherent LoH. New legendary affix: Picking up gold heals you for the amount of gold picked up.
- Moonlight Ward -- Arcane damage now rolls +30-40% (up from 20-25%). Retroactive change.
- The Flavor of Time -- Now rolls with primary stats. -
- The Traveler's Pledge -- No longer rolls with inherent bonuses to mainstat, Regen, Thorns damage, and +%Life.
Chest Armor
Barbarians can now roll +damage to Furious Charge and Call of the Ancients on chest armor.
- Vyr's Astonishing Aura -- No longer rolls +1-2% Critical hit Chance.
Gloves
- Marauder's Gloves -- Removed the cooldown reduction inherent property.
Belts
- Angel Hair Braid -- New legendary affix: Allows Punish to gain the effect of all runes.
- Lamentation -- No longer inherent affix to critical hit chance. New legendary affix: Allows Rend to be applied twice.
- Saffron Wrap -- No longer rolls life%. Now rolls a primary affix that reduces resource cost of skills, which was formerly found on Sash of Knives.
- Sash of Knives -- No longer rolls Resource Cost reduction. New legendary affix: Chance on attack to throw a dagger at a nearby enemy for 275-350% weapon damage.
- Vigilante Belt -- No longer rolls Regen and LoH. Now rolls cooldown reduction.
Bracers
- Gundgo Gear -- No longer rolls All Res and Life%.
- Lacuni Prowlers -- Now rolls 5 primary stats. (Still with inherent Attack Speed and Movement Speed.)
- Nemesis Bracers -- No longer rolls Movement Speed in herently.
- Slave Bonds -- Now roll 5 primary stats.
- Strongarm Bracers -- Now triggers from knockbacks performed by pets.
Legs
- Blackthorne's Jousting Mail -- No longer rolls LoH and Life%.
- Depth Diggers -- New Legendary Affix: All resource generators deal 80-100% more damage. Does not apply to Wizards and WD primary spells. (Blue explanation here.)
- Hammer Jammers -- Now rolls with 5 primary affixes.
- Vyr's Fantastic Finery -- Inherent roll to All Res removed.
Boots
The fact that inherent bonuses to Movement Speed are actually unwanted by high level characters (since Movement Speed can easily be made up with Paragon Points) seems to have prompted the removal of inherent MS from a few legendary boots.
- Blackthorne's Spurs -- No longer inherent Movement Speed.
- Firebird's Tarsi -- No longer inherent Movement Speed.
- Natalya's Bloody Footprints -- No longer inherent Movement Speed or increased Armor.
- The Crudest Boots -- New Legendary Affix: Mystic Ally summons two Mystic Allies to fight by your side. Minimum level increased to 22.
Rings
- Band of Untold Secrets -- Inherent roll to Attack Speed removed. Now rolls 5 primary stats.
- Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band -- Removed inherent bonus to Life% and LoH. Legendary Affix Life drain effect now capped at 2000% weapon damage per second. (Capped to prevent it being OP in deep Greater Rifts.
- Eternal Union -- New Legendary Affix: {{c_orange}|Increases the duration of all Phalanx Avatars by 200%. }}
- Focus -- No longer LoH inherently.
- Justice Lantern -- Now rolls 5 primary stats.
- Litany of the Undaunted -- No more inherent affixes.
- Manald Heal -- May roll with all resource cost reduction. (Formerly only Spirit cost reduction was possible.)
- Natalya's Reflection -- Removed inherent Regen affix.
- Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac -- Removed bonus to all main stats and other default rolls.
- Restraint -- Removed inherent rolls to Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction by default.
- Rogar's Huge Stone -- Removed inherent rolls to life regeneration and vitality.
- Stolen Ring -- Now rolls 5 primary affixes.
- Stone of Jordan -- No longer rolls Max resource inherent bonus. (Sometimes rolled 5 primary stats on PTR, but changed for live.)
- The Compass Rose -- Now rolls 5 primary affixes.
- Unity -- Removed inherent bonus to LoH.
One-Handed Weapons
New weapons:
- Akanesh, The Herald of Righteousness -- Spear with 15-25% holy damage.
- The Dagger of Darts -- New ceremonial WD dagger.
- New Legendary Affix: Your Poison Darts and your Fetishes' Poison Darts now pierce.
- Arreat's Law -- Critical hit chance affix removed.
- Azurewrath -- No longer rolls Attack Speed inherently.
- Doombringer -- No longer rolls life % and life per hit.
- Genzaniku -- Visuals were changed from reddish glow to greenish/blueish glow.
- Manajuma's Carving Knife -- Removed roll critical hit damage property.
- Mad Monarch's Scepter -- Now counts assists in addition to kills, making the 10 count for the proc easier to achieve in a group.
- Rimeheart -- Redesigned legendary affix since the previous "instantly shattered" was OP in greater rifts.
- New Legendary Affix: Now 10% chance to instantly deal 10,000% weapon damage as Cold to Frozen enemies.
- The Barber -- Removed critical hit damage.
- The Fist of Az'Turrasq -- Legendary Affix redesigned since Exploding Palm has been changed.
- New Legendary Affix: Increases Exploding Palm's on-death explosion damage by 75-100%.
- The Gidbinn -- Fetishes spawned by The Gidbinn should now work with the Fierce Loyalty passive and Carnevil's Legendary Power.
Two-Handed Weapons
All two-handed weapons had their base damage increased to create a 26-30% DPS buff. This is retroactive and applies to all existing two-handers. The Crusader's Heavenly Strength passive has been tweaked (nerfed) to compensate, though Crusaders should still be stronger on the whole than they were previously.
Barbarians can now roll +damage to Furious Charge and Call of the Ancients on two-handed Mighty Weapons.
- Baleful Remnant -- Now counts assists in addition to kills.
- Bastion's Revered, New Legendary Affix: Increases maximum number of Frenzy stacks to 10.
- Blade of Prophecy -- Legendary affix text changed as a clarification. (No change in function.)
- Bovine Bardiche -- The chance to summon cows has been increased to 100%, though the internal cooldown is unchanged. Cows are also greatly upgraded in attack ability and hit points.
- Fate of the Fell -- Extra Fires of Heaven hits will now be able to generate procs. -
- Flying Dragon -- Fixed an issue preventing this item from correctly granting +100% Attack Speed. -
- Fury of the Vanished Peak -- Now rolls +25-30% Seismic Slam damage as a fifth primary affix. -
- Heart Slaughter -- Has had its critical hit damage roll removed, now rolls with +25-30% physical damage. -
- Incense Torch of the Grand Temple -- Has been redesigned: Reduces the Spirit cost of Wave of Light by 60%-80%. Now rolls +25-30% Wave of Light damage as a fifth primary affix. -
- Madawc's Sorrow -- Stun duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds. -
- Scourge -- Explosion weapon damage increased from 130-160% to 1800-2000%. -
- Stalgard's Decimator -- Has had its critical hit damage roll removed. Can no longer smart roll for Witch Doctor or Wizard. Weapon damage increased from 275-350% to 550-650%. This change will apply retroactively. Legendary Power can now proc from Rend, Whirlwind, Cyclone Strike, Tempest Rush, and Shield Bash. -
- The Flow of Eternity -- Cooldown reduction for Seven-Sided Strike increased from 45-50% to 45-60%. -
- The Furnace -- Removed legendary affix that caused 6-8% monster health in damage.
- Legendary Affix: Increases damage against elites by 40-50%.
- The Grand Vizier -- Now rolls +25-30% Meteor damage as a fifth primary affix.
- Legendary Affix: Reduces the Arcane Power cost of Meteor by 40%-50%.
- The Grandfather -- No longer rolls Attack Speed inherently.
- The Sultan of Blinding Sand -- Removed Movement Speed inherent bonus.
- Warmonger -- No longer rolls attack speed and damage increase by default.
- Wrath of the Bone King -- Now rolls with +25-30% cold damage.
Bows and Crossbows
Newly added item:
- Wojahnni Assaulter
- Legendary Affix: Rapid Fire deals 40-50% more damage per second, stacks up to 4 times.
Changed:
- Balefire Caster -- Now rolls with +15-20% Fire damage inherently primary affix.
- Etrayu -- No longer rolls life per hit by default, now rolls 15-20% cold damage.
- Natalya's Slayer -- No longer rolls +%damage inherently.
- Uskang -- No longer rolls LoH inherently. New inherent property, +15-20% lightning damage.
Orbs
- Mirrorball -- No longer rolls CDR inherently. Extra Magic Missile hits will now be able to generate procs.
Mojos
- Homunculus -- No longer rolls Reduced Damage from Elites and AllRes inherently.
Quivers
Unconfirmed: All quivers can now roll +elemental damage as a primary affix. (Maybe just Holy Point Shot, as seen below.)
- Flint Ripper Arrowheads renamed to Meticulous Bolts. New legendary affix: Ball Lightning now travels at 50% speed.
- Holy Point Shot -- Now rolls 15-20% elemental damage as one of the five primary stats.
- Silver Star Piercers -- New legendary affix: Chakram now generates 3 hatred.
Shields
New:
- Unrelenting Phalanx -- Legendary affix: Allows Phalanx to summon twice as many Avatars.
Changed:
- Akarat's Awakening -- No longer rolls with socket by default.
- Hellskull -- No longer rolls cooldown reduction by default.
- Jekangbord -- Extra Blessed Shield hits will now be able to generate procs.
- Lidless Wall -- Inherent bonuses to Attack Speed and Resource Cost Reduction removed.
- Stormshield -- Removed inherent bonus to Elite Damage Reduction and Melee Damage Reduction.
Item Sets
New:
- Roland's Legacy -- New melee themed Crusader set. Includes the standard Torment set items of: helm, shoulders, chest, pants, gloves, boots.
- (2) set bonus: +500 strength.
- (4) set bonus: Increases Shield Bash Damage by 100%. Increases Sweep Attack Damage by 100%.
- (6) set bonus: Every use of Shield Bash or Sweep Attack that hits an enemy grants 20% increased Attack Speed for 3 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times.
Changes to Item Sets:
- Embodiment of the Marauder -- (6) set bonus: Fixed an issue that caused Hatred spenders cast by the Sentries to have a slower attack speed than intended.
- Firebird's Finery -- (6) set bonus: Has been redesigned - Dealing Fire damage causes the enemy to take the same amount of damage over 3 seconds, stacking up to 3000% weapon damage as Fire per second. After reaching 3000% damage per second, the enemy will burn until they die. -
- Immortal King's Call -- (3) set bonus: Life per Fury spent increased from 289 to 500.
- Inna's Mantra -- (2) set bonus: Life per Spirit spent increased from 124 to 200.
- Might of the Earth -- Earthquakes caused by the Might of the Earth set will once again generate Fury through the * [[Earthen Might Passive Skill.
- Monkey King's Garb -- (4) set bonus: Weapon damage increased from 1600% to 3500%. The decoy will now attempt to spawn next to the closest enemy within 15 yards.
- Natalya's Vengeance -- (4) set bonus: Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 2 seconds per kill. Now also triggers on assists.
- Shenlong's Spirit -- (2) set bonus: Energy ball weapon damage increased from 300% to 1200%. Spirit generation increased from 1 to 4 per second. Energy ball size significantly increased. Internal coodown decreased from 3 to 1.66 seconds.
- The Legacy of Raekor -- (5) set bonus: The damage type dealt by Furious Charge will now be based on the element of the Skill Rune you're currently using.
- The Shadow's Mantle -- (2) set bonus: Now, upon receiving fatal damage you instead automatically cast Smoke Screen and are healed to 25% Life. This effect may only occur once every 120 seconds. (4) set bonus: Has been redesigned - now enables all Shadow Power runes.
Legendary Gems
There are 14 new Legendary Gems, findable only in Greater Rifts and socketable only in rings/amulets. They can be upgraded, boosting their base effect and they unlock a second legendary property at level 25. See the legendary gems article for full details.
- Bane of the Powerful
- Bane of the Trapped
- Boon of the Hoarder
- Enforcer
- Gem of Efficacious Toxin
- Gogok of Swiftness
- Invigorating Gemstone
- Mirinae, Teardrop of the Starweaver
- Moratorium
- Pain Enhancer
- Simplicity's Strength
- Taeguk
- Wreath of Lightning
- Zei's Stone of Vengeance
Weapon Procs
Previously, only few legendary items with an elemental proc would benefit from the appropriate type of +elemental damage. For instance Thundergod's Vigor was buffed by +lightning damage gear while Thunderfury was not. This has changed in Patch 2.1 and most items with some sort of elemental damage proc now benefit from +elemental damage affixes.
The following legendary items have procs that are confirmed to now benefit from the appropriate type of elemental damage.
Arcane Damage:
Fire Damage:
- Cinder Switch
- Maximus
- Scourge
- Shenlong's Spirit, (2) set bonus
- Storm Crow
Lightning Damage:
Physical Damage:
- Death's Bargain
- Death Watch Mantle
- Blackfeather
- Bul-Kathos's Oath, (2) set bonus
- Stalgard's Decimator
Thanks to numerous fans for collecting the item changes info. [1][2][3][4][]
PTR Patch 2.1 Feature Previews
New Feature: Seasons
Seasons are an optional, recurring game mode that offers players the opportunity to periodically start fresh, leveling Normal or Hardcore characters from scratch without gold, resources, or previously earned Paragon experience. Similar to the separation between Normal and Hardcore game modes, Seasonal characters will have their own shared stash and artisan progression as well. Any items, gold, or Paragon experience earned during a Season will be rolled over to a player’s non-Seasonal characters once the Season concludes.
Seasons offer unique rewards and new challenges for players, including new Legendaries, an exclusive Transmogrification set only available to those who compete in each Season, and new achievements called Conquests. Progress within a given Season will be tracked in our new Leaderboard system.
Please note that Seasons are not yet available for testing on the PTR. This feature will be enabled at a later date.
New Feature: Greater Rifts
Formerly referred to as Tiered Rifts, Greater Rifts are a special type of timed Nephalem Rift. There are an infinite number of Greater Rift levels, and each Greater Rift level will be progressively more difficult than the last.
Completing a Greater Rift within its alloted time will allow players to progress to the next level (and if your time is exceptionally good, you may even skip multiple levels at once). Players can continue progressing through Greater Rift levels so along as they complete the Rift before its timer expires. Once a timer expires, players will reach the end of their current Greater Rift journey and their best results will be tracked in our new Leaderboard system.
New Feature: Leaderboards
With the addition of Seasons and Greater Rifts, we want to provide players with a way to measure their progress within each of those environments. To do so, we’ve created Leaderboards.
Leaderboards will track a variety of competitive player data including Greater Rifts clear times, Seasonal achievement point totals, and Seasonal Conquest completion ranking across several different game styles. Designed to be informative and detailed, Leaderboards will also allow you to compare your progress to that of players within your gameplay region, on your friends list, and in your clan roster.
New Feature: The Cesspools
In patch 2.1.0 and moving forward, players will now have a chance to spawn a new level environement while in a Nephalem Rift or Greater Rift: The Cesspools.
Originally designed as the sewers of Westmarch, we weren't quite able to include the Cesspools in the list of playable environments in Reaper of Souls by the time the expansion launched. Still, we loved the look and feel of this festering, dank underworld and have spent some time polishing it up for use in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts. We hope you enjoy this new randomized landscape!
General
- An additional Stash Tab is now available for all players with Reaper of Souls
- Players will now be disconnected from Diablo III upon being inactive for 30 minutes while outside of a game
- Healing Changes
- The amount of Life restored by Health Globes from Rare monsters has been reduced from 30% to 15%
- The amount of Life restored by Health Globes from Champion and Minion monsters has been reduced from 20% to 15%
- The amount of Life Regeneration and Life On Hit granted by items has been increased
- These changes apply to all items from level 1 to 70
- These changes are retroactive and will apply to existing gear
Classes
Made a number of improvements to the AI of several pets:
- Pets that belong to other players will now be less visible
- Fixed a number of issues which could sometimes cause pets to not attack a nearby enemy or stand still and stop attacking the enemy they were currently attacking
- Pets affected by these improvements include:
Barbarian
Active Skills
- Ancients should now more reliably hit moving targets
- Korlic's Furious Charge ability now deals damage to enemies he passes through
- Mawdawc's Seismic Slam ability now has a small knock up effect instead of the knock back
- Skill Rune - Duty to the Clan
- Has been redesigned
- Enemies hit are now chilled reducing Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds
- Chilled enemies have a 10% increased chance to be critically hit
- Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause the ancients to never use their bonus abilities
- Fixed an issue that allowed the Ancients to snapshot attack speed when summoned
- Damage area has been increased from 120 to 180 degrees to more closely match the visual
- Skill Rune - Gathering Storm
- Has been redesigned
- Now Chills all enemies hit and causes them to take 10% increased damage from all sources for 3 seconds
- Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
- Weapon damage increased from 2600% to 4200%
- Skill Rune - Giant's Stride
- Secondary tremor weapon damage increased from 160% to 200%
- Skill Rune - Molten Fury
- Weapon damage increased from 4500% to 5100%
- Weapon damage increased from 360% to 540%
- Skill Rune - Battering Ram
- Weapon damage increased from 760% to 900%
- Skill Rune - Bull Rush
- The stun has been replaced with a freeze
- Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
- Skill Rune - Dreadnought
- Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning
- Now grants immunity to all crowd control effects while active
- Skill Rune - Bravado
- Has been redesigned
- Now increases your run speed by 40% and knocks back enemies as you run
- Skill Rune - Contempt for Weakness
- Has been redesigned
- Now instantly heals you for 35% of your maximum Life
- Skill Rune - Mutilate
- Has been redesigned
- Now causes enemies Chilled by Rend to take 10% increased damage from all sources
- Will now lock on to an enemy you targeted with your mouse if you hold down the button
- Weapon damage increased from 1000% to 1100% over 5 seconds
- Skill Rune - Lacerate
- Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning
- Skill Rune - Mutilate
- Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
- Skill Rune - Ravage
- Damage type changed from Physical to Fire
- Skill Rune - Slaughter
- Damage caused by this rune can now trigger procs
Crusader
Active Skills
- Avatar run speed increased from 100% to 200%
- Skill Rune - Bowmen
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that caused the Bowmen to stop attacking when an enemy was in range, but out of line of sight
Demon Hunter
- Dexterity no longer grants Dodge chance
- Dexterity now grants 1 Armor per point
Active Skills
- Skill Rune - Maelstrom
- Tendril weapon damage increased from 220% to 450%
- Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
- Skill Rune - Shooting Stars
- Rocket weapon damage increased from 400% to 600%
- Skill Rune - Boar Companion
- Now cleaves enemies in front of him
- Skill Rune - Chain Gang
- Damage type changed from Poison to Physical
- Weapon damage increased from 620% to 750%
- Skill Rune - Chemical Burn
- Weapon damage increased from 220% to 500% over 2 seconds
- Skill Rune - Grievous Wounds
- Additional damage on Critical Hit increased from 130% to 330%
- Skill Rune - Impact
- Stun chance increased from 50% to 100%
- Skill Rune - Overpenetration
- Damage type changed from Poison to Cold
- Skill Rune - Arsenal
- Rocket weapon damage increased from 160% to 300%
- Skill Rune - Punishment
- The Discipline cost has been removed
- Now has a 20 second cooldown
- Weapon damage increased from 1250% to 1500% over 5 seconds
- Skill Rune - Anathema
- Weapon damage increased from 5400% to 5800% over 5 seconds
- Skill Rune - Dark Cloud
- Weapon damage increased from 2650% to 3500% over 8 seconds
- Skill Rune - Flying Strike
- Weapon damage increased from 3200% to 3800% over 5 seconds
- Damage type changed from Physical to Cold
- Skill Rune - Shade
- Weapon damage increased from 2400% to 2800% over 5 seconds
- Sill Rune - Stampede
- Weapon damage increased from 4200% to 4600% over 6 seconds
- Weapon damage increased from 525% to 685%
- Skill Rune - Bombardment
- Weapon damage increased from 465% to 545%
- Skill Rune - High Velocity
- Pierce chance increased from 40% to 50%
- Damage type changed from Poison to Lightning
- Skill Rune - Web Shot
- Slow duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds
- Weapon damage increased from 200% to 280%
- Skill Rune - Chain of Torment
- Weapon damage increased from 240% to 300% per second
- Skill Rune - Impaling Bolt
- Damage type changed from Physical to Lightning
- Skill Rune - Spitfire Turret
- Weapon damage increased from 70% to 120%
- Skill Rune - Gloom
- Damage reduction increased from 15% to 35%
- Skill Rune - Well of Darkness
- Cooldown reduced from 14 to 10 seconds
- Skill Rune - Special Recipe
- Cooldown has been removed
- Now reduces the Discipline cost to 10
- Weapon damage increased from 250% to 340%
- Skill Rune - Echoing Blast
- Weapon damage increased from 250% to 420% per explosion
- Skill Rune - Lightning Rod
- Weapon damage increased from 280% to 500%
- Skill Rune - Long Fuse
- Weapon damage increased from 300% to 520% per explosion
- Skill Rune - Sticky Trap
- Weapon damage increased from 680% to 800%
- Weapon damage increased from 400% to 575%
- Skill Rune - Demolition
- Weapon damage increased from 340% to 400%
- Skill Rune - Emberstrafe
- Weapon damage increased from 80% to 185% over 2 seconds
- Skill Rune - Rocket Storm
- Weapon damage increased from 90% to 110%
- Skill Rune - Stinging Steel
- Extra damage on Critical Hit increased from 130% to 140%
- Skill Rune - Acrobatics
- Cooldown reduced from 8 to 6 seconds
- Skill Rune - From the Shadows
- Damage type changed from Poison to Cold
Passive Skills
Has been redesigned
- Now when you receive fatal damage, you instead vanish for 2 seconds and regenerate 50% of maximum life
- This effect has a 60 second cooldown
- No longer increases your Life by 10%
Blizzard News and Quotes Before PTR
Healing
19th June
Healing Globes drop rate. [3]
17th June
The healing power of Health Globes is to be reduced. [4]
Pets
4th June 2014
To Call of the Ancients specifically: [5]
- The Ancients should no longer sometimes stand idle when they have foes they could be clobbering instead.
- The Ancients should now use their secondary abilities as indicated on the tooltip.
Other pets to be addressed: [6]
I did some digging and found out that these changes will update multiple pets, and not just Call of the Ancients. I’ll go over what those changes are, and what pets it should affect. I also want to emphasize that we don’t have an estimate to share for when we expect patch 2.1, but we’re definitely working on it and are looking to provide a PTR.
We’re making a number improvements to the AI of several pets:
We’re also fixing a number of issues that sometimes prevented some pets from attacking nearby enemies, or caused them to stand still and stop attacking their current target. Pets affected by these changes should include:
- Call of the Ancients
- Companion
- Fetish Army
- Gargantuan
- Mystic Ally
- Phalanx
- Zombie Dogs
Demon Hunter
18th June
Preparation - Punishment db is being rebalanced. Changes to Preparation - Blizzard CM, 18/06/2014</ref>
Preparation (Punishment) was creating less than ideal gameplay by encouraging the conversion of Discipline to direct DPS. The byproduct of this was Demon Hunters frequently finding themselves without their defensive or utility skills, often resulting in more frequent character death. To address this, we are reworking this rune to no longer cost Discipline, but have a 20 second cooldown.
While this change may initially seem severe, it has several major benefits we hope players will take the opportunity to explore and experiment with:
- All Discipline is now reserved for defensive and utility skills, encouraging Demon Hunters to take greater advantage of these skills.
- Nightstalker will feel less mandatory in conjunction with Punishment, freeing up a Passive slot in many builds.
- If you choose to keep Preparation (Punishment) in your build, the cooldown corresponds with roughly how long it would take to regenerate the appropriate amount of :*Discipline (unless you had a large amount of Resource Cost Reduction).
- Cooldown Reduction is now a more attractive stat, and this may open up new CDR-focused builds.
We know this changes builds and the gameplay pattern for some Demon Hunters. We’re also working hard to adjust other skills as well as introduce Legendary items both in this patch and constantly in the future in order to continue opening up new and exciting ways to play.
Monk
18th June
One With Everything is being removed. [7]
Adjustments to One With Everything has been a long-standing community request, but we wanted to make sure we could address this in a way that solves all of its components without reducing the Monk’s survivability. There are two major issues with One With Everything:
It’s too good, to the point it feels mandatory for all Monks to use. It forces Monks to gear a specific way, which is difficult and frustrating. We are addressing this issue in two ways. First, both Monks and Demon Hunters will no longer receive Dodge from Dexterity. Instead, they will receive Armor, similar to Barbarians and Crusaders. For more information on this change, please refer to our Patch 2.1.0 PTR Preview blog.
Second, One With Everything is being replaced with a new passive called DiabloWikiHarmony. Harmony allows 30% of your single elemental resistances from items to apply to all elements.
With these two changes, we can move away from a place where Monks are forced to rely on their secondary affixes for DiabloWikiToughness. It’s possible you may see your Toughness as a lower number after this change is in effect, depending on how you’ve previously geared. However, the exchange of DiabloWikiDodge to more reliable survivability stats like DiabloWikiArmor and more accessible DiabloWikiAll Resist should provide you roughly the same amount of survivability, and overall you shouldn’t notice a big difference.
These changes will soon be available on the PTR, and we hope that you will take the opportunity to try them out and let us know how they feel. We’re eager to hear your feedback on this and other changes coming in Patch 2.1.
…
Nevalistis: Just some additional clarification, since I see some confusion on the new passive:
Harmony will apply 30% of a single resist to all other resistances aside from the element it normally provides (meaning it doesn’t double-dip on itself). Here’s a math-y example in hopes this provides a clearer picture:
I acquire a piece of gear with 100 Fire Resist. From that gear, I’m gaining 100 Fire Resist and 30 Resistance to all others.
Hope that makes more sense. :)
A player wanted clarification on the maths:
- "So let me get this new maths right
- Gear
- 1000 AR, 800 Lit Resist
- With OWE
- 1000 + 800 = 1800 AR
- With Harmony
- 1000 + 800*.3 = 1240 AR
- 1000 AR + 800 LR = 1800 Lightning Resist"
17th June 2014
A change to Dexterity that will affect the Demon Hunter as well as the Monk was announced in a blog preview. [4]
15th May
Blizzard specifically addressed the planned Monk changes, although all classes will be addressed. [8]
Our future goals for the Monk in 2.1.0 focus improving core class attributes, class abilities, and addressing Legendaries that need improvement. You should all be able to see (and test out) these changes soon™ on the 2.1.0 PTR once its live. (Note: Initially, the PTR will not have all the changes we want to do for 2.1.0, but as the PTR progresses, more changes will be added. Also note that we do not have an ETA for the 2.1.0 PTR at this time.)
We also want to let you all know that we will be improving some of the underwhelming Set items. The following Sets will be receiving buffs or redesigns to their full-Set bonuses in 2.1.0 and will be retroactive, so keep those pieces:
- Firebird’s Finery
- Raiment of a Thousand Storms
- Monkey King’s Garb
- Thorns of the Invoker
- The Shadow’s Mantle
Ladders and Seasons
17th June
A large blog post from Blizzard. [4]
6th June
Ladder-Only legendaries. [9]
- Seasons will be optional. Similar to how you flag a character as Hardcore, when you create a character, you have the option to also make them Seasonal.
- There will be Seasonal Legendaries.
- At the end of a Season, Seasonal Legendaries will roll over into the non-Season loot pool.
- New Seasonal Legendaries will be available for Seasonal characters once the new Season begins.
"To be very clear here, that means that we’ll be able to find Seasonal Legendaries on regular (softcore/hardcore) characters after that season has expired, correct?"
"Not just that we’ll be able to keep the Seasonal Legendaries we found during the season."
25th March 2014
Ladders, much requested, have been confirmed by Blizzard to be coming in the next content patch. Although Blizzard have toyed with the community with cryptic clues on Twitter or images of the devs stood surrounded by ladders Josh Mosqueira finally confirmed at the Reaper of Souls Launch party that ladders were coming to Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls. [10]
24 April 2014
John Hight in a later interview elaborated, giving away a few more details. [11]
Leaderboards
19th June
Are there going to be any Paragon point based Leaderboards? [12]
17th June 2014
Announcement of Leaderboards. [4]
They also released details of the different type of Leaderboards.
Greater Rift Leaderboards
- Solo play for each class (e.g. top players for Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Crusader, etc.)
- 2-Player Groups
- 3-Player Groups
- 4-Player Groups
Season-Only Leaderboards
Conquests
19th June 2014
Hardcore and Softcore conquests. [13]
17th June
Announcement of "Season-only achievements". [4]
Greater Rifts
19th June
How does the timer in Greater Rifts work? Greater Rifts Timer - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014]</ref>
Running out of time will prevent you from progressing in difficulty, but it will not remove you from the Rift you’re currently in, and you’ll be able to continue your progression towards the Rift Guardian like normal.
As usual, the normal caveat applies that this is still in development, and possibly subject to change.17th June 20
Previously known as "Tiered Rifts". [4]
How Greater Rifts Work
- You’ll race against a clock to fill a progress bar by accruing monster kills.
- Most monsters do not drop loot; rewards have been completely shifted to the Rift Guardian.
- This removes conflicting pressure from attaining a better time versus picking up all your loot.
- Monsters grant differing amounts of progress for your progress bar; the tougher the monster, the more they fill up your progress bar.
- You cannot resurrect at your corpse or in town while in a Greater Rift—only at the last checkpoint.
- Note that, currently, if you die in a Greater Rift on a Hardcore character, that death will be permanent.
- You cannot use player banners or the Teleport option if the target player is in a Greater Rift.
- Higher Greater Rifts levels are progressively more difficult.
- This difficulty is separate from the standard difficulty settings (Master, Torment I-VI, etc.)
If you complete a Greater Rift before time expires you’ll advance to the next difficulty level. Should your time be exceptionally good, you might even skip a few levels! If time instead expires, you’ll have reached the end of your current Greater Rift journey and your best results will be posted to the appropriate Leaderboards.
25 March 2014
Tiered Rifts were first mentioned by Wyatt Cheng in an interview he gave at the Reaper of Souls launch party. [14]
24 April 2014
Later in an interview from Shacknews John Hight reiterated.[11]
Nephalem Rifts
17th June 2014
From the blog post preview by Blizzard. [4]
Legendary Gems
17th June 2014
From the blog post preview by Blizzard. [4]
24th April
In an interview John Hight gave the first mention of a new level of gem to try to deepen the socketing mechanic currently in play. [11]
Combat Changes
17th June 2014
Blizzard shared a some examples of types of class-specific changes they are working on in a blog preview. [4]
Dexterity & Survivability
Healing
The Cesspools
24th June 2014
The Cesspools are not a fully fleshed out area with distinct mobs and bosses and will only appear in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts.[15]
17th June
Blizzard announced a new area. [4]
Non-Season Players
17th June 2014
Some of the additions rolling out in Patch 2.1 for season players will also find their way to non-season players eventually. [4]
Clans
24th June 2014
No changes to clans planned for Patch 2.1.[16]
References
- ↑ Patch 2.1 release - Josh Mosqueira, 25/03/2014
- ↑ PTR Live - Blizzard Entertainment, 26/06/14
- ↑ Healing Globes drop rate - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Patch 2.1 Preview - Blizzard Entertainment, 17/06/2014
- ↑ Call of the Ancient changes - Blizzard Community Manager, 04/06/2014
- ↑ List of Pets to change - Blizzard Community Manager, 04/06/2014
- ↑ Removal of One with Everything - Blizzard CM, 18/06/2014
- ↑ Monk Changes - Community Manager, 15/05/2014
- ↑ Ladder-only legendaries - Blizzard Community Manager, 06/06/2014
- ↑ Ladders coming to Diablo 3 - Josh Mosqueira, 25/03/2014
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Tiered Rifts - John Hight, 24/04/2014
- ↑ Paragon Leaderboards - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014]
- ↑ Hardcore and Softcore conquests - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014
- ↑ Tiered Rifts - Wyatt Cheng, Blizzard Entertainment, 25/03/2014
- ↑ Cesspools scope - Blizzard CM, 19/06/2014
- ↑ Clans in 2.1 - Blizzard CM, 24/06/2014