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Diablo II: Resurrected Patch 2.4 - Pre-release PvP Analysis
Diablo II
Criado
14/4/2022 em 07:51
por
Harg
The long awaited update of the 2.4 patch for Diablo II: Resurrected is finally coming today. Mainly aimed at PvM, it will still have some important impacts on PvP, as we will now see. We'll cover the changes to anti-stun and class changes, make tier list predictions, and more.
If you aren't familiar with Diablo II: Resurrected organized PvP, you may want to read this first :
Introduction to PvP in Diablo II: Resurrected
Notice also that the previous iteration of the PTR has already been analyzed here :
PvP Analysis after Two Weeks on PTR Patch 2.4 - Mechanics, Class Balance, Meta Changes
We will here focus on the the most recent iteration of 2.4 and draw some conclusions about the future of PvP.
Anti-stun mechanic: what's new ?
The antistun mechanic has been introduced in the first version and the 2.4 patch note. You can find an analysis article explaining it here :
Hit Recovery Changes to PvP in Patch 2.4
To summarize, it places the player in a state of stun immunity during a brief moment right after he got put in the hit recovery animation once.
This is a game changing mechanic as a lot of classes in Diablo 2 rely on stunlock, especially when telestomping an opponent. Assassins in particular in PvP are dramatically dependent of their capacity to stun people.
That highly controversial PvP mechanic is still there in this third iteration of patch 2.4. Stunning someone two time in a row in a short period remains impossible, destroying any stunlock possibility. Through this article, we will look at what it implies for each class in PvP.
Class changes :
Bowazon is the new queen.
Previous buff to strafe, and dodge, along with the new stun immunity mechanic, were already really good for Bowazon. But Blizzard added even more buffs. Note that we will analyze them while taking into account the usual build for PvP Bowazon, with Fortitude Armor, Faith on Grand Matron Bow and as much point in Vitality as possible while retaining maxblock with Titan and Stormshield in weapon swap. The buff will affect Amazons using alternative builds a bit differently.
Multiple shot
added synergy from Guided Arrow: +12% physical damage per level
As Guided Arrow is maxed on PvP Bowazon Build, this change is approximately a 25% physical damage buff on that skill.
Guided Arrow
Added synergy from Multiple Shot: +12% physical damage per level
Multiple Shot isn't currently maxed by Bowazon players, but we expect it to change with the present buffs.
Note that, guided Arrow was already buffed by 2% enhanced damage by level on the previous iteration of the patch. Assuming Multiple Shot is maxed, those buffs are also close to a 25% upgrade on physical damage if you put them together.
Strafe
Synergy from Multiple Shot: +5% physical damage per level
Synergy from Guided Arrow: +10% physical damage per level
Strafe was also buffed in previous iteration of the patch. Indeed, the 25% penalty reduction of the weapon was lifted, causing a flat +33% buff of the damage of this skill.
But now, with the new buff from Multiple Shot and Guided Arrow, strafe win 300% enhanced damage. Considering its generally not allowed to put more than 1 point into Strafe in organized PvP, this is a gigantic 70% bonus physical damage.
Strafe, Guided Arrow and Multiple Shot are all skills used a lot in PvP, so those buffs will be VERY powerful in the Blood Moor.
Impale
Animation speed for Impale increased by 30%
It is hard to say how Impale is going to be relevant at that point, but it always nice to take. It currently has some niche uses against noblock caster, combined with BotD on a two handed spear.
Plague Javelin
Plague Javelin poison duration is no longer fixed at 3 seconds as it was in the previous PTR, but its duration and damage scaling have been adjusted compared to Live. This should net out to a 20% damage-per-second increase at level 1 and up to a 33% damage-per-second increase at max level.
That skill is generally banned in organized PvP, and this damage buff is probably not going to change that.
How are Amazons affected by the stun immunity mechanic ?
Amazons love it, especially combined to the dodge change. They were particularly vulnerable to stunlock as they got lower mobility than other classes. Now that they cant be reliably put in hit anime recovery and that the dodge animation doesn't prevent them for attacking, they will be really hard to stop in PvP.
Assassin
As the new Hit Recovery Mechanic wasn't nerfed in any way, the state of Assassins didn't change since the previous version of PTR.
In other words, its dire. Offensive capacities of both Trapsins and hybrid more melee oriented build are diminished a great deal. Its not a damage nerf but more of change of the whole class identity, who has always been relying on stunlock to impede their target before attacking them, as Assassin as a class doesn't have much burst damage.
While a nerf to the class is justified because they were a bit too strong, this change actually break the very identity of the class. Assassins will now either have to be much more defensive, either use hit and run tactics based on open wound damage. A third solution could be to play high physical damage build, but that's problematic : one, it requires a lot of costly gear (claws in particular) to be effective, even for PvP standard. Two, Barbarians already do that in a far more effective way, as they got more damages, better fast cast breakpoint, and don't rely as much on stunlock to catch their preys. And Barbarians themselves are also not in a good spot currently, so its hard to think emulating them will give proper results.
Finally, Assassin potential in Team vs Team is severely damaged, as their main role was to stun people to set up for their team mates aggression, which isn't really possible anymore because of the antistun mechanic.
Barbarian
This iteration of the patch note changed two things :
Barbarian got a very little buff to Axe Mastery which is way too small to impact anything
Leap animation got changed.
While being funny, the new leap anime is also slower. In normal circumstance, it would be a pretty significant nerf, but Leap is actually already nerfed by the hit recovery mechanic, so it doesn't matter too much.
Most importantly, that patch doesn't fix WhirlWind. Barbarians were already struggling because of that, and now they will have to face some buffed up enemies. This patch isn't great news for the Barbarian players, who only gained a small buff to Berserk damage, and yet lost so much.
How are Barbarians impacted by stun immunity ?
Rather badly, as we saw with Leap. Some Barbarian players also like to use Warcry to swirl and stunlock their target, but that strategy probably won't be viable anymore. The only good point for them is that Berserk kills people with no block fast enough to not be too much impacted by the change. Same goes for Whirl, assuming you managed to whirl your target long enough to hit, which is currently problematic.
So its more the TvT potential of the Barbarian than the 1v1 that should be affected. On the reverse, the anti much mechanic doesnt give too much to Barbarian (compared to others classes), as they already had good FHR Breakpoint and could ignore stunlock by using WhirlWind. On a final note, Warcry, that was used by some Barbarians as a stun tool in 1vs1, also becomes mostly obsolete with 2.4
Druid
Along with Amazons, Druids could potentially be the biggest winners of 2.4, with the recent change to the summoning tree :
Summoning
Druids can now have spirit wolves, dire wolves, and bears all summoned at the same time
Its a gigantic buff for Wind Druids, as they use summons as meat shield while telestomping their target. 10 Summons instead of 6 is massive and will make them much harder to hit. However, PvP communities might regulate the number of summons allowed, so its a little early to understand the impact of that buff on the meta.
Will that change allow Summoner Druids in PvP ? Its also a bit early to say as well. There is probably potential for a fun build. But a competitive build feels hard to achieve. Indeed, you would ideally want to use a Beast weapon to buff your summons, but that would prevent you from reaching 163 fcr, which is important both for mobility and for recasting. Consistently hitting people with high mobility or tanky stats with Summoner Druid should be hard, and the gameplay is lacking as there isn't much to do beyond teleporting and recasting.
How are Druids impacted by the stun immunity ?
On one hand, they don't like it, as they love to stunlock their target with Tornadoes. When one or two good telestomps are currently enough to finish their foes if they don't avoid the damage, its probable they will need twice as much in patch 2.4. Furthermore, the stun immunity mechanic destroys the Shock Wave Volcano combo, which was their only way to kill an Energy Shield Sorceress.
On the other hand, stun immunity is a big nerf to Assassins who were probably the biggest counter to Druid.
Necromancer
Nothing new of interest since previous iteration of PTR. They are already a S tier class and they are going to stay that way with their damage buff.
How are Necromancers affected by the stun immunity ?
Necromancers (and specifically Bonemancer, as they are the only real Necromancer build in PvP) can both play aggressive and defensive. As for anyone else, their offensive capacity are nerfed a bit by the impossibility of stunlocking. As Necromancers were rather susceptible to stunlock themselves however, they will have a even easier time to escape their foes while spamming overbuffed Bone Spirit.
Paladin
Holy Fire
Changed how the proximity bonus for Area Damage is calculated. It will now deal 200% damage to enemies at melee range.
Tooltip: The maximum Area Damage values incorporate the maximum proximity damage bonus.
Resist Fire Synergy increased from 18 to 21%
Holy Freeze
Changed how the proximity bonus for Area Damage is calculated. It will now deal 200% damage to enemies at melee range.
Tooltip: The maximum Area Damage values incorporate the maximum proximity damage bonus.
Holy Shock
Changed how the proximity bonus for Area Damage is calculated. It will now deal 200% damage to enemies at melee range.
Tooltip: The maximum Area Damage values incorporate the maximum proximity damage bonus.
Auradin are wildly hated in PvP (and most of the time, prohibited in GM PvP) as they can hit players while doing nothing but charging around. Buffing them is unhealthy for PvP. The way buff is done however, is interesting : it force them to go melee range (and probably charge or zeal their target) if they want to maximize their damage, instead of charging away.
Outside of that and the preexisting FoH buff, the main Paladin build, Hammerdin and Smiter, remain directly unchanged, but they are still affected by the stun immunity mechanic.
How are Paladins affected by the stun immunity ?
Both Smiters and Hammerdins currently use the following combo skill : Smite, Fist oh the Heavens and Telestomp. That combo will heavily suffer from the hit recovery mechanic. Hammerdin may still use it as it stun the target long enough to hit at least with one blessed hammer, but it mays prove difficult for the Smiter who generally uses slower FCR breakpoints.
Both already had way to escape Stunlock (Charge).
Hammerdins are less impacted because they deal so much damage so fast they could still be able to instant kill their target in a lot of situation. Smiter, however, will suffer greatly from the anti stun mechanic. And they are already struggling in 1v1 against most top tier classes.
Overall, those two classes (especially Smiters) run the risk of falling behind as they didn't have the strong buffs other classes like Amazon had.
Sorceress
Nothing new for them. As a reminder, they already got buffed on previous version of the patch.
How are Sorceress affected by stun immunity ?
They love it. Sorceress are easily the most defensive class in diablo 2 PvP. They mainly remain at range while spamming projecting and maintaining their distance by using their high mobility. As they use Energy Shield with 90% absorb and more, they are almost unkillable with out relying on stunlocks and open wound. With stunlock being out of the picture, there isn't much more to prevent them to dominate.
PvP Tier List Prediction of the main PvP builds
Obviously this tier list is only speculations and educated guesses at that point.
S
Bowazon
Sorceress - Fire Ball Energy Shield
Necromancer
Wind Druid
A
Paladin - Hammerdin
B
Barbarian
Assassin
C
Paladin - Smiter
Duels between the top classes would probably go this way :
Amazon beats Druid (probably, its hard to tell if having 10 summons will be enough to inverse the dynamic of this match up. against an overbuffed Bowazon), Sorceress and Vita Necromancer. Max block Necromancer (or near to maxblock) should probably retain the advantage however.
Sorceress beats Druid (especially as they cant use the Shock Wave Volcano combo anymore) and Necromancer.
Druid beats Necromancer.
Necromancers with maxblock beats Bowazon.
Out the 4 of them however, Sorceress and Amazon should have a bit more of a rough time against the remaining classes. Characters using open wound (Paladin, Assassin and Barbarian) will remain a threat to Energy Shield Sorceress, and Amazon should still have great trouble against maxblock Barbarian and Smiter.
Team vs Team
Assassins and Barbarians stun capacities being annihilated, there is nothing preventing the TvT meta to regress into a pure and simple domination from Bowazon based Team, at least in 3v3 and 4v4.
Bowazon team generally use an Hammerdin to enhance the Bowazon and protect her, and a Necromancer charged to curse the enemy team with amp and act as both a scout and a harasser.
The final spot in 4v4 is traditionally destined to Barbarian, but after this patch we might see Druids take their spots.
Finally, in 2v2, Druid Necromancer combo looks like a really strong team but will get hard countered by the Barbarian Energy Shield Sorceress duo. Amazon and Hammer also keeps being a top choice. Every Assassins based combo should be, however, heavily nerfed by this patch. In particular, Assassin + Barbarian combo, which was probably the strongest 2v2 team, shouldn't be effective anymore.
Overall conclusions for this patch
It feels like 2.4 will fix some issues Diablo 2 PvP has, at the cost of creating many others. While making stunlock obviously "less frustrating" (to not say non-existant) and PvP probably a bit more friendly for new players, it sacrifices a great deal of game depth.
The two most awesome combos in PvP, Smite FoH Stomp or Shock Wave Volcanoes stomp, got either nerfed or totally destroyed by that patch.
Barbarian suffers a lot, being even more nerfed than it was before.
Assassin got his game identity totally changed, and its new options are neither as skill expressive or as effective.
Team vs Team is going to get arguably a lot more boring and redundant, as only Amazon based teams will probably stand a chance in 4vs4.
Offensive gameplay wont be as rewarding as it is now.
Furthermore, the skills Blizzard buffed strongly in this patch are, for the most part, not the most interesting ones. Fist of the Heavens is an autolock skill and cant be avoided, obviously not a very skill expressive choice. Strafe has an autolock propriety as well. Bone Spirit is also a skill you spam more than one you aim with. Obviously, it has to be said those skills were buffed in PvM in mind and not PvP.
The PvP communities remains divided about this patch. While some are hopeful, a lot of PvPers are either scared or resigned.
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