New item sets and legendary powers focus on Crusaders, Monks, and Barbarians in Diablo 3 Season 19
@MatthewWRossi
With the 2.6.7 PTR, we’re getting a look at new sets and items coming for Diablo 3, and while the new sets are focused on Crusaders and Monks, several legendaries are getting reworked based on feedback from Barbarian players to make them more desirable or interesting for the game’s most angry class.
The two new class sets, the Crusader’s Aegis of Valor and the Monk’s Patterns of Justice, are sets built around Holy damage.
The set bonuses on the Aegis are built around the Fist of the Heavens ability, with the two piece set bonus giving the Crusader a chance to case another Fist immediately after casting the spell, the four piece bonus reducing damage taken after damaging enemies with the spell by 1% and stacking up to a 50% damage reduction, making the two piece bonus even more attractive. The six piece bonus increases the damage of Fist of the Heavens by 10,000% — combined with the two piece and four piece bonuses, this makes the ability very attractive and will allow a Crusader to design a build entirely around the ability.
Similarly the Patterns of Justice will buff Sweeping Wind in the same overall fashion — the two piece ability gives Sweeping Wind the effect of every rune, with the four piece increasing the movement speed bonus of the spell by 5% for every enemy in range, stacking up to 10 times for an overall 50% increase, and the six piece creating synergy between Sweping Wind and Tempest Rush. Attacking with Tempest Rush while Sweeping Wind is active will temporarily increase the size of Sweeping Wind after hitting over 30 times within a short period. Sweeping Wind damage is increased by 10,000%
There are a host of improved Legendaries as well — for example, the legendary Flail Darklight will now increase your chance of casting a second Fist of the Heavens by 100%, and will also now increase Fist of the Heavens damage by an additional 200 to 250%, making it extremely attractive for Crusaders using the new Aegis set. Likewise, the Fist Weapon Vengeful Wind is going to be extremely attractive for Monks who are using the new set, due to how it buffs Sweeping Wind.
As for the Barbarian Legendaries getting a rework, there are a lot of good ones, but the standout are the Bracers of Destruction, which currently buff the damage Seismic Slam does to the first five targets it hits. In 2.6.7 they’ll buff the damage Seismic Slam does to the first ten targets, making Seismic Slam builds a lot more powerful. In addition to all the changes to Legendaries to work with the new sets or buff Barbarian builds, there’s one more change that definitely needs attention — the Legendary gem Legacy of Dreams now has an increased chance to drop off of a Greater Rift Guardian. So if you want to go with a non-set bonus build, you’ll be able to.
There’s a lot to look at overall for the 2.6.7 PTR, including changes to monsters, the Season 19 theme, and more, so take a look on the official site or peruse the item chances below.
Items
- Developer Note: With Patch 2.6.7, we are beginning to roll out new class sets for every class in Diablo III. For the Season of Eternal Conflict, we’re focusing on the two classes that embody the Light and wield some form of Holy elemental damage: Crusader and Monk. You’ll also find a handful of retuned or newly added Legendary powers intended to synergize with the new class sets. We did a lot of community research into which skills were most requested by players as well as most underrepresented in current builds, and we hope you’re as excited as we are for these new gameplay options. The other class sets will be coming in later patches, so if your class isn’t represented this time around, fret not—they’re coming in a future patch!
- You’ll also notice a significant number of Barbarian item changes in this patch. While the Barbarian class set will be coming at a later date, we have very much heard the War Cry from our dedicated Barbarian community and implemented a number of changes heavily inspired by extremely thorough feedback. While not every suggestion has been taken at a 1:1 parity, the thoughtful analysis helped guide us to changes we could implement in this patch. Thanks very much to the community members who expressed their concerns in a respectful, constructive manner. It’s very helpful, and we greatly appreciate the thought and effort that went into making your voices heard!
- New Crusader Set: Aegis of Valor
- 2-Piece Bonus: The charged bolts from Fist of the Heavens has a chance to cast another Fist of the Heavens
- 4-Piece Bonus: Hitting with Fist of the Heavens reduces damage taken by 1% for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 50 times
- 6-Piece Bonus: Increase the damage of Fist of the Heavens by 10,000%
- New Monk Set: Patterns of Justice
- 2-Piece Bonus: Sweeping Wind gains the effect of every rune
- 4-Piece Bonus: Each enemy within Sweeping Wind increases your movement speed by 5%. Stacks up to 10 times.
- 6-Piece Bonus: Attacking with Tempest Rush while Sweeping Wind is active will temporarily increase the size of Sweeping Wind after hitting over 30 times within a short period. Sweeping Wind damage is increased by 10,000%
- Darklight
- Fist of the Heavens has a
[45-60%]100% chance to be cast twice. - Additional Legendary Power: Increases the damage of Fist of the Heavens by [200-250%].
- Fist of the Heavens has a
- Eye of the Storm
- New Legendary Power: When Sweeping Wind hits exactly 1 enemy, its damage is increased by 100%.
- Vengeful Wind
- Increases the maximum stack count of Sweeping Wind by
[6-7]10 - Additional Legendary Power: Increases the damage of Sweeping Wind by [250-300%]
- Increases the maximum stack count of Sweeping Wind by
- Chantodo’s Resolve
- The scaled attack speed damage bonus to Wave of Destruction has been reduced
- Developer Note: This is a reactive adjustment from an earlier change to how Wave of Destruction receives a bonus from Attack Speed. The buff that resulted from that change was more than we expected, so we’re reigning it in.
- Wrath of the Wastes
- 6-Piece Bonus: The damage bonus now also applies to Rend
- Lamentation
- Additional Legendary Power: Increases the damage of Rend by [150-200%]
- Ambo’s Pride
- New Legendary Power: Attacking with Whirlwind also applies Rend and the total damage of Rend is dealt over 1 second
- Remorseless
Hammer of the Ancients has a [25-30%] chance to summon an Ancient for 20 seconds- New Legendary Power: While both Wrath of the Berserker and Call of the Ancients are active, Hammer of the Ancients deals [200-250%] more damage.
- Fjord Cutter
You are surrounded by a Chilling Aura when attacking.- New Legendary Power: Seismic Slam attacks 50% faster and also deals 100-150% increased damage against Slowed or Chilled enemies
- Bracers of Destruction
- Seismic Slam deals [400-500%] increased damage to the first
510 enemies it hits.
- Seismic Slam deals [400-500%] increased damage to the first
- Fury of the Ancients
- Call of the Ancients gains the effect of the Ancients’ Fury rune and your Ancients attack 100% faster
- Bone Ringer
- Now has a cap of 60 stacks.
- Developer Note: We never intended for this item to be used in a way where you farm stacks for an egregious amount of time (5+ minutes) and then watch all their health disappear in less than a second. It’s not an engaging style of gameplay, and we don’t want that experience to be the best way to play the Necromancer.
- Legacy of Dreams
- This gem is now more likely to drop from a Greater Rift Guardian
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