Patch 1.5.15b Notes

This patch sets the groundwork for the long-awaited CS expansion, by bringing sweeping difficulty changes across the board. It adds a slew of global items, in line with the plans of Flagship Studios, and it includes fixes, clarifications, class changes, and minor new encounters and recipes in preparation for 1.6.

Difficulty and level changes

As Hell trembles, its earthly forces seem to be growing weaker. Specifically:

  • The Nightmare level curve has been revised, and will now conclude at lv55 – where CS will begin.
  • The tougher Emissaries have been weakened.
  • The Australia dungeon has become easier and more rewarding.

All of these changes intend to make CS fit into the overall game more appropriately, opening up a new endgame frontier while pushing other content down to make for a smoother ladder toward it. As they do, they should also strike a better balance between solo content and party content, with clearer dividing lines between the two.

The Nightmare Mode level curve

To make for a smoother leveling experience across NM and a logical transition to CS, NM map and station levels have been revised. Specifically:

The latter portion of Charing Cross

  • Millennium Battle: lv37
  • Craven Street: lv37
  • Embankment Approach: lv37
  • Embankment Redoubt: lv37
  • The Mind Of 314: lv37
  • Waterloo Bridge: lv37
  • Savoy: lv38
  • Temple Approach: lv38

Temple Station

  • Temple Station and most adjacent maps: lv38, except;
  • Puddle Dock: lv39
  • The Exospector: lv39
  • Cannon Street: lv39
  • Angel Passage: lv39

Templar Base

  • Templar Base and most adjacent maps: lv40, except;
  • Ludgate Hill: lv41
  • Bishop’s Court: lv41
  • Old Bailey: lv41

Monument Station

  • Monument Station and most adjacent maps: lv43, except;
  • Lower Thames: lv44
  • Tower Gateway: lv44
  • Tower Of London: lv44
  • Cannon Street Rail: lv44
  • Exodus: lv44
  • Crown Office Row: lv44
  • Mark Lane Approach: lv45
  • Mark Lane Station: lv45
  • Liverpool Approach: lv45

Liverpool Street Station

  • Liverpool Street Station and most adjacent maps: lv46, except;
  • Abandoned Tunnels: lv47
  • Houndsditch: lv48
  • Undershaft: lv48
  • Primrose: lv49
  • Shoreditch: lv49
  • Necropolis Level 1 through 4: lv50
  • Necropolis Level 5 (The Deep): lv51
  • Guildhall: lv53
  • John Milton Passage: lv55
  • Veil Asunder: lv55
  • St. Paul’s Approach: lv53

Finsbury Square

  • Finsbury Square and most adjacent maps: lv51, except;
  • Ploughyard: lv52

St. Paul’s Station

  • St. Paul’s Station and both starting adjacent maps: lv53
  • Paternoster Row: lv54
  • Little Britain: lv54
  • St. Paul’s Hellgate: lv54
  • Hell: lv55

The Emissaries changes

All Emissaries except Malphas have had their skills weakened to make for easier encounters. To prevent them from becoming too easy, however, they’ve also acquired some more defenses.

All Emissaries will now be immune to stun and interrupt, and in addition:

Malphas

  • Malphas’s ignite defense was considerably increased.

Eihort

  • The cooldown on Eihort’s dig skill has increased to 2 minutes from 1 minute.
  • Eihort’s minions will automatically die off after 90 seconds. 

Ruax

  • Ruax’s summon interval has increased to 2 minutes from 1 minute.
  • The number of Hellrifts spawned by Ruax was decreased to 2 from 3.

Xitalu

  • Xitalu’s self-healing has decreased to 5% HP from 10%.
  • The lifetime of Xitalu’s eyepods was shortened to 30 seconds from 60 seconds.
  • Xitalu’s ignite defense was increased by ~30%.

Finally, the Mutant Fury has been nerfed in the following ways:

  • Its damage was reduced by ~30%.
  • Its attacks will no longer have inherent shield penetration.

The Australia dungeon revamp

The Australia dungeon has been revamped, in line with player feedback, engagement rates, and its optimal place in the progression curve.

  • Both maps have had their party multiplier reduced to make for easier encounters, facilitating easier solo play. They may still not be average solo content, like the Wilds are not, but the difference will be notable.
  • A new hidden recipe has been added to the Cube, which requires 30 “Ancient Australian Blueprints” and will produce a random Australia item.
    • Player class, faction, and level do not affect the potential outcomes of this recipe. 
  • All 4 Named enemies featured in Australia may now drop “Ancient Australian Blueprints”, with the following chances:
    • T-3000: 100% chance for 3, 50% chance for 1 OR 2
    • Named bosses: 100% chance for 1, 25% chance for 1 OR 2
      • In addition, Gate Of Time has been relocated in the world map for more visual clarity.

In line with the dungeon’s increased accessibility and rewards, however, as well as the effective nerf of Emissaries themselves, the Explorer’s daily quest will now award 2 fragments instead of 5.

New NPC voices

Through generous contributions by the community, and the team’s own efforts where appropriate, new voices for NPCs new and old have been added to the game: 

  • Rick is now voiced by Lenvaldier
  • Baker is now voiced by Seadee
  • Smith is now voiced by Luehk
  • Librarian is now voiced by Luehk
  • Seer is now voiced by SumiSahirat
  • Auctioneer is now voiced by GuitarBard
  • Vicar is now voiced by Bryan
  • Envoy is now voiced by Nadja
  • Miner is now voiced by Sy
  • Ethan is now voiced by Seadee
  • Modder is now voiced by Lenvaldier
  • Coder is now voiced by Sy
  • Tester is now voiced by DeusBlackheart
  • Ken is now voiced by .yio
  • Athanasios is now voiced by Bryan
  • Tour Guide Sangan is now voiced by Nadja

In addition, the upcoming CS expansion is set to feature the voices of Guitarbard, Shagrazir, and Luehk, alongside our own Crash195x2, Psyona, Nadja, and Bryan.

Codex entries

Codex entry items have been added to the game. These PDAs contain excerpts from intercepted communications, which usually contain in-world information the player might be interested in.

  • To the best of our ability, this information is either directly adapted from or is strictly faithful to official canon material; Dark Horse comics, Mel Odom’s books, and Flagship’s unreleased game material. Very few creative liberties were taken, primarily to facilitate tongue-in-cheek references in Flagship’s own style or to pay tribute to external non-canon material such as PeeterMcG’s beloved Hellgate community story. To the best of our ability, none of this information should deviate from established rules and conventions or clash with Flagship’s established creative vision and direction.

Availability

Upon completing Leader’s final “The End is the Beginning is the End” quest in St. Paul’s, the Envoy will deem you trustworthy enough to hand you some information on behalf of a third party. These quests will explain how codex PDAs came to be, and why they’re available across London.

  • These quests will only be available in Normal mode.
  • These quests do not affect codex functionality in any way, and only serve to inform the player of their existence.

Structure

Codex PDAs are mainly split across the 3 factions, and are named and numbered accordingly. The names use acronyms, which stand for “Intercepted [Faction] Comms”:

  • The 30 ICCs are focused on Cabalists
  • The 30 ITCs are focused on Templars
  • The 30 IHCs are focused on Hunters
  • The 10 IGCs are general comms

In turn, codex entries are graded:

  • #1-2, #11-12, and #21-22 of each set are Common
  • #3-5, #13-15, and #23-25 of each set are Enhanced
  • #6-8, #16-18, and #26-28 of each set are Rare
  • #9, #19, and #29 of each set is Legendary
  • #10, #20, and #30 of each set is Unique

These grades do not reflect rarity, and won’t affect the Piecemaker.

Sources

As the codex quest will inform you, demons throughout London can carry such items. Specifically:

  • All Champion enemies have a 1% chance to drop PDAs of any rarity except Legendary and Unique
  • Legendary and Unique PDAs may only drop from designated bosses and Zombie Scholar, a new Treasure Passageway spawn

The player’s class and faction do not affect PDA drop rates from any sources.

Recipes  

Finally, once read, these PDAs can be used productively. The Cube will now feature hidden recipes, which are as follows:

  • 2 Common, 2 Enhanced, and 2 Rare PDAs: one among 3 new Named Legendary relics
  • 4 Rare, 1 Legendary, and 1 Unique PDA: one among 9 low-level Unique weapons, 3 per faction
  • 6 Unique PDAs: a Mythic mod of a random type

The Named Legendary relics the first recipe can produce are the following, and will carry the following affixes:

  • Relic of Strength (Templar): +Strength, and +swordsmanship damage OR +shield damage OR +swordsmanship userate
  • Relic of Knowledge (Cabalist): +Willpower, and +evocation damage OR -Evoker skill power cost OR -Summoner skill power cost
  • Relic of Vigilance (Hunter): +Accuracy, and +Combat damage OR -Combat power cost OR +Tactical userate

The low-level Unique weapons the second recipe can produce are:

  • Trakt’s Illumination
  • Fisher’s Fiery Cast
  • The Eradicator
  • Megalodon
  • Mordify
  • Ceremonial Shard
  • Fusilier’s Friend
  • Derek’s Divine Equalizer
  • Arashi’s Spider-Shot

To avoid potential issues with storage, each PDA will stack with copies of itself up to 50.

New global items

New Unique items for base types that had none have been added to the game, so that these base types have Unique variants to roll for. Split by faction, these items are the following.

  • Please note that level ranges and area restrictions that apply to base item types will also apply to their Unique variants as normal.

Cabalist items

  • Eruptor (mk1): St. Helen’s Plume
  • Lava Launcher (mk2): Anak Krakatau
  • Magma Cannon (mk3): Fury of Vesuvius
  • Boneshredder (mk1): Azrael’s Master
  • BioTox Rifle (mk1): Batson’s Green Death
  • Scourgeblaster (mk2): Aurego’s Spray
  • Baneblaster (mk3): The Emerald Assassin
  • Hive Crystal (mk1): Arbeh’s Creeping Death
  • Hive Shard (mk2): The Hive Queen 
  • Infector (mk1): Hussda’s Agonizing Disease
  • Defiler (mk2): Plague’s Birth
  • Spoiler (mk3): Ruinous Pulse
  • Phasebeam (mk1): Planeshifter
  • Phaseshifter (mk2): Soulstream

In addition, a new Mk2 variant of Boneshredders, named Soulrender, was added to the game. This variant will drop from lv40+ enemies, and comes with its own Unique version in “Soulshredder”. 

  • Except for Soulrenders and “Soulshredder”, all of the above items use names left over by Flagship Studios.

Templar items

  • Flanged Shield (mk1): Buck’s Buckler
  • Molten Edge (mk1): Paxton’s Icarian Blade
  • Swarm Edge (mk2): Ravenous Edge
  • Rift Ripper (mk2): Pilgrim’s Conviction
  • Thunderblade (mk2): Ancestors’ Grace
  • Hypermace (mk2): Cantor’s Cudgel
  • Broadsaber (mk2): Ire of Peasants
  • Pyredge (mk2): Serrator
  • Adamantine Asp (mk2): Venom Injector
  • Vorpal Slasher (mk2): Nightslasher
  • Vorpal Ripper (mk3): Yio’s Sidearm
  • Charger: Faraday’s Device
  • Starburst: Lightwave

In addition, the two following base sword types, and a Unique variant for each, were added to the game as possible drops from lv32-42 enemies:

  • Holy Broadswords (Templar Broadswords Mk2), and their Unique variant “Divine Judgement”
  • Shadowblades (Nightblades Mk2), and their Unique variant “The Black Shroud”
    • As Flagship Studios had not planned for most of these items, only “Paxton’s Icarian Blade”, “Nightslasher”, “Divine Judgement”, “Faraday’s Device”, “Lightwave”, and “The Black Shroud” are names left over by them.

Hunter items

  • XM17 Stingray: He Who Hunts
  • XM18 Deathray (mk2): D2B3 ‘Doku No Kage’ Deathray
    • Since Hunters were the most complete faction in this regard, Flagship Studios had no such plans; both of the above are new names.

All factions

  • Workman’s Shirt: Kevin’s Shirt
    • Flagship Studios had no plans for such an item; this is also a new name.

New community items

In recognition of upstanding players’ and benefactors’ contributions to London 2038, particularly toward the above initiative but also beyond it, new community items have also been added to the game. 

Some of the following serve as both namesakes and new Uniques for base types to roll for, hence the double mention.

  • Nightblade (mk1), Necropolis only: Sterling’s Dagger Of Provocation
  • Conjurer gloves, Necropolis only: Mew’s Technical Machine
  • XM17 Stingray (Mk1), Stonehenge only: He Who Hunts
  • XM18 Deathray (Mk2), Stonehenge only: D2B3 ‘Doku No Kage’ Deathray
  • Hunter Peacemaker, Butcher’s Imp drop: John’s Wit
  • Hunter Peacemaker, Butcher’s Imp drop: John’s Reservation
  • Nanodyne Shockstorm (mk1), Necropolis only: Dave’s Flux Rifle
  • Meteor Blade, Necropolis only: 4tw’s Final Fiery Flash
  • Grand Glyphshard (mk2), Necropolis only: Zuran’s Orb
  • Predator Ripshard (mk2), Necropolis only: Aurene’s Murdermittens
  • F-S ‘Steelhook’ Launcher (mk2), Necropolis only: SeaDee’s Boombow
  • Stormcaster (mk3), Necropolis only: Luehk’s Claymaker
  • Headguard, Necropolis only: Sy’s Mining Cap
  • Order Gloves, Stonehenge only: Lenvaldier’s Karnak-bound Bracers
  • Flanged Shield (mk1), global drop: Buck’s Buckler
  • Vorpal Ripper (mk3), global drop: Yio’s Sidearm
  • Quartermaster legs, St. Paul’s areas only: Mark’s Trousers
  • Defender gloves, St. Paul’s areas only: MMan’s Winter Gloves
  • Conjurer helmet, St. Paul’s areas only: Crash’s Firm Jaw
  • Quartermaster boots, St. Paul’s Hellgate only: Gudy’s Two Shoes
  • Defender boots, St. Paul’s Hellgate only: Don’s Power Shoes
  • Conjurer boots, St. Paul’s Hellgate only: Violet’s Red Shoes
  • Tech, Sekworm drop: Val’s Valor
  • Relic, Sekworm drop: Psyona’s Eye
  • Battery, Sekworm drop: Night Hawk
    • In addition, CS is set to feature namesake items for Guitarbard and Shagrazir.

Necropolis changes

  • The Champion spawn chance in all Necropolis levels was slightly increased.
  • 9 new items among those outlined above, 3 per faction, will be Necropolis-exclusive drops. These are:
    • Templar: 4tw’s Final Fiery Flash, Luehk’s Claymaker, and Sterling’s Dagger of Provocation
    • Hunter: Sy’s Mining Cap, Seadee’s Boombow, and Dave’s Flux Rifle
    • Cabalist: Aurene’s Murdermittens, Mew’s Technical Machine, and Zuran’s Orb
      • These items have also been added to the treasures of Belzor, the Eye of Blood. Each kill will have a 3% chance to drop one of each faction’s new items. Said rolls for each faction’s items will be separate; there are 3 different 3% rolls, one per faction.

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St. Paul’s and Veil Asunder changes

  • Veil Asunder will now feature a new spawn class. All enemies there will no longer award exp, as it’s intended to be a passing encounter.
  • The St. Paul’s Hellgate area will now prohibit town portals and PRDs.
  • 6 new items, 2 per faction, will be drops exclusive to the St. Paul’s Hellgate area:
    • Templar: An Oni’s Yamato, Don’s Power Shoes
    • Hunter: Martin’s Villainy, Gudy’s Two Shoes
    • Cabalist: Womb of Egeria, Violet’s Red Shoes
  • 3 new items among those outlined above, 1 per faction, will be drops exclusive to Church Yard, Paternoster Row, Cheapside, and Little Britain. These are:
    • Templar: MMan’s Winter Gloves
    • Hunter: Mark’s Trousers
    • Cabalist: Crash’s Firm Jaw

Item changes

  • The drop rates of Taskmasters (mk3) were significantly increased.
    • This will also affect the drop rates of their coveted Unique variant, “The Master’s Hand”.
  • The drop rates of all 2-handed Templar guns were significantly reduced.
    • This will also affect the drop rates of all their Unique variants, but not “Arcane Desolator” since it’s a dedicated Unique drop with no normal variant.
  • Vorpal Shredders (mk1) will now drop from level 25-31 enemies.
    • Their Unique variant, “Wolverine”, will now be a possible drop as well.
  • Spike Bolters (mk1) will now drop from level 13-24 enemies.
    • Their Unique variant, “Vanya’s Bolting Anger”, will now be a possible drop as well.
      • This item has been tweaked from its original form to be more useful; its autofire skill was changed to a more unique one, it acquired a unique  onhit nova, and it acquired its type’s normal slots where it had none. To compensate and fit its new design, its skill bonus was reduced and its “increased electricity damage” affix was changed to added electricity damage.
  • The cursed “Wedding Ring” now has its own themed flavor text which hints at its intended use. It has also had its hp degeneration significantly increased.
    • The latter change is essentially cosmetic, since this ring’s only benefit comes by using it as a recipe material.
  • “The Burnshredder”’s base damage has been slightly buffed. Its fire damage component was converted to splash, and it has acquired a 30% direct physical damage component. Its ignite attack strength has also been slightly buffed.
  • “Nick’s Nailgun” has acquired an additional tech slot. Its onkill nova has also been changed to an onhit one of the same grade.
  • “Sine Nomine Inquisitoris” has been buffed in the following ways:
    • Its base damage was slightly buffed. 
    • Its base critical chance was increased to 8% and its critical damage bonus was increased to 150.
    • Its Rate of Fire was increased to 100.
    • Its shock attack strength was slightly increased.
  • “Kalika’s Catharsis” has been completely revamped:
    • It will no longer function as an Id Pulsar but as a streaming field gun with physical/fire damage and inherent stun/ignite strength. 
    • It will no longer be a Unique variant of its base type, but a global Unique drop with no base variant.
    • Its +1 to all Summoner skills was changed to +2 to Mind Power skills and +2 to Dominate.
    • It has acquired the model’s 5 original mod slots, since its new skill allows their use, and will now be able to receive augments for the same reason.
    • It will no longer feature the generic flavor text or description text of Id Pulsars, since it’s effectively not one. It will still clarify that it is not usable by Drones, however.
  • “Gabriel’s Fury” has acquired a 20% electrical damage component, to match “Call of the Archangel”’s design and make use of its inherent shock attack strength.
  • “Big Ben’s Radiated Ribauldequin” has had its base damage significantly increased. Its direct/splash damage ratio was also changed to 40/60, so that direct damage isn’t rounded down to a visually odd “0” value.
  • “The Botmaster”’s minion damage bonus was changed to a Bot damage bonus with higher values.
  • “Vestments of Soteria” will now also feature a 20% sfx defense bonus.
  • “XM55-B 20mm Shrapnel Rifle” has had its level lowered. It will no longer drop from Ember Freak, but from Fat Bully instead.
  • “Shinn’s Guard” has been revamped. Its minimum damage was buffed by 50%, its critical damage bonus was lowered to 100%, and it acquired a 300% damage of poison effect bonus.
  • “Vaisha’s Caress” has had its nova on kill changed to a nova on hit with the same values. In addition, it will now feature arcs.
    • Changes other than Rate of Fire changes are not retroactive.

Item and affix clarifications

  • All affixes, items, expertises, and skills which referenced “all elemental effects”, “elemental defenses”, and “defenses against all special damage effects” (but not individual attack strengths or defenses, such as “Stun Attack Strength” or “Stun Defense”) have had their descriptions streamlined to avoid confusion and ensure consistent terminology. Specifically:
    • All affixes, items, expertises, and skills which increase either all elemental attack strengths or all elemental defenses will now not specify “all”, and simply state they increase sfx strengths or sfx defenses.
    • All affixes, items, expertises, and skills which increase all elemental attack strengths will now refer to “sfx attack strengths”.
    • All affixes, items, expertises, and skills which increase all elemental defenses will now refer to “sfx defenses”.
      • This includes Focus Item tooltips and descriptive texts as well.
  • Armor pieces that offer increased damage as an inherent property will now reflect this more accurately, reading “increases damage by [value]%” instead of “adds [value]% damage”.
  • Affixes which increase firing accuracy will now read “+[value]”, and ones which decrease it will now read “-[value]” in red.
  • All novas which are remote (ie centered on the enemy) will now state this in their effect text by specifying “Remote” before their nova’s name. Regular novas (ie centered on the player) will read the same as before.
  • The green description line of Id Pulsars will now correctly end in “.”.
  • A typo in “Seven-Branched Sword”’s flavor text was corrected. 
  • “Johny’s Mecha-Slicer 3000”’s overview screen will now correctly list physical splash damage.
  • “Zen Focus” will now feature a unique description line that clarifies its unique fire attack and atypical damage.
    • As always, clarifications are strictly explanatory and do not affect functionality in any way.

Skill clarifications and corrections

  • All skills that increase all outgoing damage will now simply state this, instead of specifying weapon/skill types they affect, for brevity and clarity.
  • Sprint will now properly clarify it increases movement speed.
  • Vigor will now properly capitalize Rate of Use.
  • Spider Mines will now display its cooldown.
  • The following skills will now state their base duration:
    • Sprint
    • Surge of Restoration, Surge of Wrath, Surge of Speed
    • Multishot
    • Medpak Retrofit
    • Elemental Drain
    • Word of Fear
  • Skills that reference Elementals will now correctly distinguish between the “elemental” adjective and the “Elemental” noun, and capitalize the latter.
  • The Summon Force Elemental skill will now clarify that it summons Force Elementals, not “Earth” ones.
  • The Summon Spectral Elemental skill will now clarify that its phase attack strength bonus applies to its summoned Elemental.
  • Darkform now outlines its passive effect through a “PASSIVE:” line in the description window for clarity and text economy.
  • Shield skills which gain sfx attack strength bonuses will now read “sfx attack strengths increased by:” instead of listing each elemental effect.
  • Surge of Speed will now clarify its “velocity” bonus refers to movement speed.
  • Charge’s description will now end on a “.” instead of a “!” to avoid visual confusion.
  • Summon Carnagor no longer mentions “armor” twice.
  • Inhibitor Bots now state they also take up the player’s shield penetration value (which applies when they detonate through Concussive Crash).
  • Elemental Beacon’s effect description was streamlined to match Elemental Drain’s.
  • Elemental Drain’s skill synergy line will now clarify that Brom’s Curse’s sfx defense reduction is in addition to its own.
  • Flashcrasher Grenade will now correctly read “Base Shield Penetration of all Grenade skills increased”.
  • A typo in Aura Stability was fixed.
  • Brom’s Curse will no longer erroneously state that its effect scales to the user’s maximum hp value.
  • Crusader Wrath will no longer read “melee strength”, as its damage bonus can also apply to guns. Its armor reduction effect has also been relocated to the description field from the effect field, since it’s static and skill levels don’t affect it.
  • Prayer of Smiting will now state that it deals “electricity damage”, in line with other skills.
  • Angelic Orator now specifies that damage reduction applies while Call of the Chosen’s taunt effect applies, and references Call of the Chosen as the receiver of its bonuses for more clarity.
  • Crosscutter, Sword Typhoon, and Path of Righteousness now state that they cannot trigger Surges.
    • As always, clarifications are strictly explanatory and do not affect functionality in any way.

Affix additions and changes

  • All novas, whether when the player or an enemy is hit or killed, have had their damage calculations revamped to more closely scale to the level of the item which grants them. The difference in performance compared to before should be minimal.
    • This change has also allowed armor affixes of novas when the player is hit to deal damage, as outlined in the “bug fixes and optimizations” section below.
  • New affixes which grant an sfx attack strength bonus to the player’s minions have been added to the game. These affixes can appear on all Cabalist and Hunter armor pieces, and are “Enchanter’s” (Common), “Innovator’s” (Rare), “Elementalist’s” (Legendary), and “Afflictor’s” (Mythic).
    • These affixes will not affect spells that take up the player’s +minion damage value but are not themselves minions, such as Tempest and Swarm. By nature, they can only affect actual minions which can deal damage. Specifically:
      • Engineer: the Drone, Rocket Bot, Bomber Bot, Nanobot, Spider Mines
      • Summoner: all Elementals, Carnagor, Warper, Reaper, Shadows
      • Evoker: Ember, Wall of Bone, Spectral Serpents
  • Two specialized Unique affixes geared toward minion damage have been added to the game; one which grants a damage bonus to the player’s Demons, and one which grants a damage bonus to the player’s Bots. These affixes will currently only be present in select Unique items, and more sources of both may roll out with the next patch.
  • Bosses which are immune to AI changes (Fear, Taunt, Mind Control, Blind, Stop) will now have a new monster affix, “Indomitable”, to communicate this to the player.
    • This new affix can also occur normally, spawning on random Champions.
  • A new monster affix, “Vigilant”, has been added to the game. This affix will grant immunity to critical hits, as well as a 50% armor bonus.
    • This new affix will not occur normally, and will only be assigned to designated bosses and unique enemies.
  • The “Boomerang”, “Backlash”, and “Rebounding” monster affixes have been revamped. Specifically:
    • They will no longer function differently depending on an enemy’s existing Aura.
    • Reflected damage will now function as ranged thorns, reflecting static damage consistently instead of sudden bursts.
  • The property of Venom Totems (and Master Totems, when Venom Totems are active) which procs Bug Hives when hit has had its damage significantly decreased, to prevent sudden bursts of damage killing players.
  • 3 new Mythic affixes, exclusive to helmets, have been added to the game:
    • “Mage’s”: +1 to all Cabalist skills, +1 to a random Cabalist skill
    • “Knight’s”: +1 to all Templar skills, +1 to a random Templar skill
    • “Soldier’s”: +1 to all Hunter skills, +1 to a random Hunter skill
      • These affixes will block “+1 to all [class] skills” affixes and augments, as the two belong to the same group.
  • A new Mythic affix, “Flawless”, has been added to the game. This affix is exclusive to batteries, fuels, and techs, and grants reduced weapon energy consumption alongside a 1-2% chance to trigger a remote Electric Nova on hit.

Skill changes

Blademaster skill changes

  • Sword Of Reckoning has been modified in the following ways:
    • It will now gain 2% critical chance per skill level. 
    • It will now always grant 10% Armor Penetration.
    • As a skill synergy, it will now increase the damage of Sword of Authority by 10% per skill level.
  • Sword of Authority has been modified in the following ways:
    • It will now have a prerequisite of 2 points into Sword of Reckoning.
    • It will now gain 2% critical chance per skill level.
    • It will now always ignore 10% of the enemy’s armor.
    • As a skill synergy, it will now increase the sfx strengths of Sword of Reckoning by 10% per skill level.
  • Hamper’s enemy speed and armor penalties have been equalized with those of the Guardian’s version of the skill.
  • Call Of The Chosen and Angelic Orator will now cap at 7 points each. Their effects have been scaled accordingly, so they should only be very slightly less effective than before when maxed.
  • Offensive Blademaster skills have been added to new skillgroups for increased customizability. These are the following:
    • Duelist: Sword of Reckoning, Sword of Authority, Hamper
    • Knight: Sword of Justice, Sweeping Strike, Whirlwind
    • Flying Blade: Crosscutter, Sword Typhoon, Heaven’s Arc, Charge, Path of Righteousness
      • Affixes that modify these skillgroups will not spawn normally or be augmentable. For the time being, such affixes will only be available on designated Unique items.

Guardian skill changes

  • Sword Of Reckoning has been modified in the following ways, in line with the Blademaster version of the skill:
    • It will now gain 2% critical chance per skill level. 
    • It will now always grant 10% Armor Penetration.
  • Prayer of Smiting had its base max damage value buffed by ~30%.
  • Prayer of Retribution had its base min damage and base max damage values buffed to 50% of the respective values of Prayer of Smiting.
  • In line with the new skillgroups for Blademaster skills, the respective Guardian skills have also been added to the same skillgroups. These are:
    • Duelist: Sword of Reckoning, Hamper
    • Knight: Sword of Justice, Sweeping Strike
    • Flying Blade: Heaven’s Arc

Summoner skill changes

  • The Reaper was changed in the following ways:
    • Its base damage was changed to fire, and it got some matching base ignite strength.
    • Its sfx defenses were equalized to regular values, and its ignite defense was significantly increased.
    • Its thorns value was increased, and thorns will now take up the player’s Demon damage value (but not the player’s minion damage value).
    • Its deflection calculation was revamped; deflection chance will now start at 5% at level 1 and increase by 5% per skill level (capping at 50% when maxed).
  • Select skill level prerequisites have been adjusted to make it possible for the class to acquire all of its skills with hard points, which was previously impossible. Specifically:
    • The prerequisite of Afterlife for Drain Life and Blood Surge has been reduced from 2 to 1.
    • The prerequisite of Summon Witch Doctor for Dominate has been reduced from 3 to 2.
    • The prerequisite of Summon Warper for Spectral Strike and Spellstorm has been reduced from 3 to 2.
      • The respective Demon prerequisites for these Command skills now also align with Meat Shield’s Carnagor level prerequisite of 2.
  • Master of Lightning will no longer grant a chance for Electric Discharge on hit. Instead, Storm Elementals have acquired thorns, which Master of Lightning will now buff by 5% per skill level.
    • This is in addition to the 5% damage bonus per level, which the skill will now display properly.

Evoker skill changes

  • Ember and Spectral Serpents will now also be affected by the player’s Demon damage value.
    • Their descriptions have been updated to state this interaction.
    • This is in addition to them being affected by the player’s minion damage value.

Monster and level changes

  • Embankment Redoubt will no longer scale to player level but feature static enemy levels instead.
    • The troops controlled during the RTS quest do still scale to player level, however, so massive level differences will inform quest difficulty.
  • The 5 Lies will now drop regular monster loot on kills after the first.
  • Sydonai’s sfx defenses were revamped to account for the now-easier NM encounter. 
  • Sydonai will now belong to the new “Primus” caste.
    • The Primus caste will not occur normally, and only specific enemies will belong to it. For the time being, said enemies will only be Sydonai and Quavontavius.
  • Quavontavius will now belong to the new “Primus” caste, and has acquired the new “Vigilant” affix. 
  • Quavontavius has been nerfed in the following ways:
    • Its NM level was reduced, in line with Veil Asunder’s level.
    • Its attacks no longer have inherent shield penetration.
    • Its ignite defense was reduced by 50%.
  • Quavontavius’s drop table was adjusted. Instead of its previous loot, it will now have:
    • A 100% chance to drop an analyzer
    • A 15% chance to drop a tier 1 skill token
    • A 15% chance to drop a tier 2 skill token
    • A 15% chance to drop a tier 3 skill token
  • The tutorial bosses have had their hp significantly increased.
    • Quavontavius did receive a slight hp buff as well, alongside the “Vigilant” affix, but its level reduction and other nerfs will still make for an easier fight than before.
  • Motley Beast’s size was increased considerably. In addition, its hp and armor were slightly increased.
  • The Butcher’s Imp’s size was increased by roughly 50%. This has no other effect on this enemy.
  • The Butcher’s Imp will now have a 3% chance to drop one of two namesakes; “John’s Wit” or “John’s Reservation”.
    • These items will scale to the Imp’s level.
  • Bloodblade’s regular treasure was changed to that of an ordinary mob. It will still have its original treasure on first kill.
  • Lady Vengeance and Ember Freak will now drop Champion treasure the first time they’re killed.
  • Sekworm will feature unique loot the first time it’s killed, and regular Champion loot on subsequent kills.
  • Sekworm will now have a 50% chance to drop one of 3 new Legendary mods on the first kill; “Night Hawk”, “Psyona’s Eye”, and “Val’s Valor”.
  • Zombie Summoners of all types will now summon appropriate zombies that correspond to their names. Specifically:
    • Zombie Summoners will spawn regular zombies
    • Blood Bringers will spawn Blood Zombies
    • Festering Kings will spawn Festering Zombies
    • Ghoul Lords will spawn Ghouls
  • A new type of Zombie Summoner, named Plague Bearer, has been introduced to the game. This type will spawn Plague Zombies, completing the alignment above, and will produce a toxic field on death.
  • The variety of Zombie Summoners throughout London has been increased. 
  • Tubby Bastard’s hp has been increased.
  • Blobbo has been modified in the following ways:
    • Its hp has been increased.  
    • It will no longer be a random encounter in Piccadilly Circus, but a permanent one.
    • Its treasure will now be the same across kills (ie first-time loot will be the standard loot).

Achievement additions

  • In line with the Zombie Summoner realignment and variety boost, new achievements for killing the 5 types of this monster have been added to the game:
    • Ashes to Ashes: Kill 1,000 Zombie Summoners, revealed at 250 – grants the Undying Endurance skill
    • Gravedigger’s End: Kill 10,000 Zombie Summoners, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Puppeteer’s Bane”
    • Surge of Blood: Kill 1,000 Blood Bringers, revealed at 250 – grants the Blood Pact skill
    • Bloodbath: Kill 10,000 Blood Bringers, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Bloodletter”
    • Gravebound: Kill 1,000 Festering Kings, revealed at 250 – grants the Death Ward skill
    • Cauterized: Kill 10,000 Festering Kings, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Green Knight”
    • Breath from the Grave: Kill 1,000 Ghoul Lords, revealed at 250 – grants the Grave’s Boon skill
    • Sealing the Crypt: Kill 10,000 Ghoul Lords, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Ghoulslayer”
    • Miasma: Kill 1,000 Plague Bearers, revealed at 250 – grants the Plague’s Mantle skill
    • Necrosis: Kill 10,000 Plague Bearers, revealed at 1,000 – grants the title “the Plague Doctor”
  • A new achievement for Blobbo has been added to the game:
    • Blobbo Storno: Kill Blobbo 100 times, revealed at 5 – grants the Blobbo Storno skill and the title “Guardian of the Stone”.
  • A new achievement for Gatekeeper has been added to the game:
    • Shifting Currents: Kill Gatekeeper 100 times, revealed at 10 – grants the title “the Bouncer”.
      • The kill counts for these achievements are not retroactive.

In addition, a hidden event achievement has been added to the game. “Wisdom’s Blessings” requires that the player consumes a “Candy of the Learner”, and grants the title “the Scholar”. This achievement will become available through a future codex-related event.

Treasure Passageway changes

Treasure Passageways, excluding those found in the Wilds, now feature a 50% chance for a new spawn. Zombie Scholar is mostly harmless, and comes with: 

  • A hefty money multiplier
  • A guaranteed random mod drop 
  • A 15% chance to drop a Legendary Codex PDA
  • A 7% chance to drop a Unique Codex PDA
  • A 5% chance to drop the Unique Cabalist belt, “The Master’s Band”

For more information on these PDAs, please check the “Codex entries” section.

Catacombs changes

The main Catacombs bosses will now also have a chance to drop Legendary OR Unique Codex PDAs in addition to their original loot. Specifically, their chances will be:

  • Alastor (level 5): 1% chance
  • Orobas (level 10): 3% chance
  • The Deep Crow (level 15): 7% chance

For more information on these PDAs, please check the “Codex entries” section.

Recipe changes

  • A new recipe for Mythic armor pieces has been added to the game. This recipe requires 30 Shiny Crystals, 10 Necro essences, and 10 Beast essences. Just like the Mythic weapon recipe, it has a chance to create a Retrainer instead of an armor piece. Unlike it, however, this recipe will always create an item that is usable by the crafting character.
  • Two new hidden recipes using Cursed quality scrap materials have been added to the game:
    • 200 of each Cursed scrap material type and a Legendary armor will produce a Double-Edged armor piece
    • 200 of each Cursed scrap material type and a Legendary weapon will produce a Double-Edged weapon
      • The produced item’s level will be random. The type of armor or weapon used and the user’s faction and class will not affect the recipes’ outcome.
  • A new hidden recipe for Australia-exclusive items has been added to the game.
    • For more information on it, please check the “Australia dungeon revamp” section.
  • New hidden recipes for Codex items have been added to the game.
    • For more information on them, please check the “Codex entries” section.

Quest changes

  • The “Death To Order” quest will no longer require the completion of the Deep, but only the completion of “Regicide”, the quest before it.
  • All daily quests in Stonehenge and Parliament Square will now only be accessible in one difficulty mode per day, not both.

Misc changes and optimizations

  • The game launcher will now pick among four splash images at random.
    • The rest of the in-game tributes to Omerta will remain, as intended.
  • Weapons that feature arcs will now state this mechanic in their inspection window. The values displayed there will be updated if an external source modifies them, such as the “Reach of Talos” mod.
    • Weapons that don’t feature arcs on their own will not have their inspection windows updated if mods like “Reach of Talos” are added to them, since that will have no effect on such weapons.
  • Weapons that have a chance to fire extra bullets will now state this mechanic in their inspection window.
  • The “Aegis” buff’s icon now states its petrification immunity effect.
  • The Hardcore death state icon now reiterates that “death is permanent” for clarity.
  • The “Just One More” achievement’s text has been corrected, and will now accurately describe its requirement of getting all skills within a skill tab instead of getting all class skills.
  • The “The Hellgate” quest text will now better instruct the player to proceed to St. Paul’s Station through Guildhall instead of just reading “to the Hellgate!”.
  • Tier 2 skill tokens will now have a 15% chance to drop from designated bosses, in line with tier 1 and 3 ones.
  • The achievement of killing 1000 monsters with Beetlebores was renamed to “Firefly”.
  • Many new loading tips were added to loading screens, and a few old ones were corrected for accuracy.
  • Stark, Crawford, Tracy, Ethan, and Catharina got inspection texts where they had none, and Titus got a new inspection text to replace his old placeholder one.
  • An array of Unique/Named weapons, including most Hunter ones, that used their base types’ generic flavor text have received new flavor texts. A few Unique armor pieces also received new flavor texts.
    • This does not yet cover all Unique items, but the process will continue with the next patch to eventually cover all items throughout the game. 
    • There were a few exceptions, such as with “Buzz’s Frightgear” and “Dunbar’s Disruptor”, where the Unique variants maintained the old flavor texts while the base types got new ones.
  • Nemo and Ko will no longer display their old “subscriber only” label, as this has no effect on gameplay and only confuses new players.
  • A new humorous poster was added to the roster of station posters.
  • The quest item “Wedding Ring”, found during the “Message Men” quest, was renamed to “Engagement Ring” to avoid confusion with the Dawn of the Dead ring of the same name.
  • Alec’s wardrobe has been changed to that of a Cabalist, to match the quest’s text which describes him as one.
  • “XM134 Viral Thunders” were renamed to “XM9x-B Viral Thunders”, to maintain consistency and not have the number shared between them and Falcons.
  • Spelling errors to Desiccator’s name have been fixed. Quest texts, as well as the “Skull of Desiccator” item, will now use the correct spelling instead of “Dessicator”.
  • The spelling error in the quest text of the “The Chicken and the Eggs” quest was fixed, and “Liderc” is now spelled properly.
  • The typo in the “Sanctified” affix’s name was fixed.
  • Recipes that wrongly displayed ingredient names (eg “essence_necro” instead of “Necro Essence”) like the “Necromantic Talisman” will now properly display the correct in-game names.
  • Quest items that are not recipe materials will no longer be able to be placed into any storage container except the player’s inventory.
    • Any quest items already in any non-inventory storage container can only be retrieved, and not placed there again.
  • The zmail inbox’s cap was lowered to 20.
    • While understandably unpleasant, this change intends to help reduce bugs related to massive numbers of item assignments.

Bug fixes and optimizations

  • All novas which trigger when the player is hit will now properly deal damage.
  • An issue where grade-specific quest rewards could rarely roll for higher grades than intended was fixed.
  • Master Sniper’s state will now be normally removed on zone transition, as intended and in line with Sniper Mode.
  • Weapons that feature increased poison or shock damage will now properly display this property, regardless of modding.
  • Batteries produced by Alec’s blueprints will now be droppable, to prevent having unused blueprints produce permanent items.
  • All quests which involve using Fast Wands will now properly check for the item and remove it on quest completion or abandonment.
  • The quest rewards for “Kill No Name” will no longer be identified, as intended.
  • The Engineer’s Escape skill now properly belongs to the Stealth skillgroup.
  • Master Of Lightning will now properly display that it also grants 5% damage to Storm Elementals per level.
  • The Easter event recipes will now be hidden as intended.
  • “Sympathy” will no longer drop from Lady Vengeance, as intended.
  • The ingame mail (“Z-mail”) panel will no longer activate while any NPC dialogue is open.