Annihilus 5.0 Changelog:
General Changes:
• Ladder Reset! Runes and other items will not be on the Gold Vendor for the first week of the reset. The first player to hit Level 99 on Softcore + Hardcore will get the chance to design a Skill Effect with me, that they will own exclusively. There are certain limitations to this, but I will discuss that privately with the winner! Second place will get 5,000 Gold, third will get 2500 Gold.
• The Crucible has been completely reworked from scratch mechanic wise. It will now be MUCH easier to proceed to the next level, as there are no tickets you have to "eat" or keys to cube. It is very self explanatory as soon as you go in, it is much smoother and is much more enjoyable to play. Each Level can randomize between 3 different maps each and have different monsters. However, this is the ultimate endgame area now and is not meant to be soloable, more information why below!
• A new foe has come back to Sanctuary. This Fallen Angel is rather hidden, and has some pretty unique items not quite like anything else you've seen. He also has a fight a little different from what you're used to as well. Good luck!
• The real Avatar of Cthulhu has found his way into the lair of R'lyeh. Be careful and do not forget to make a TP, as he is second only to the final Crucible bosses.
• Belial is no longer part of the Worldstone Event. He will have to be found, and he has some new loot!
• Endgame Boss difficulty has been modified. "Puzzle" bosses such as Tyrael, Ctoggha, and Trag'Oul are now considered "Mythic" monsters, along with the Crucible bosses and some other bosses you will run into. You can tell these Mythic monsters apart by their purple name, and the "shield" that is going around them. Mythic monsters will receive a large heal every 10 seconds, so it is a race to out damage the heal. This prevents people from cheesing bosses they should not be able to do yet. Crucible bosses are a special case, and will heal every 5 seconds.
• Monsters no longer have innate regeneration. Monsters cannot heal at all unless it is a specific circumstance, such as having a heal ability, or being a Mythic monster. Prevent Monster Heal was completely unreliable and casters could not even use it, so it has been removed along with the regeneration.
• Act 5 Mercenary now uses Concentrate instead of Bash, War Cry instead of Stun, and Battle Cry instead of Shout.
• Monster HP no longer scales with player count. All monster HP has been drastically increased in Nightmare and Hell to compensate this, as things were dying way too fast in solo games. You will also directly benefit by playing with a group now, as things will definitely die much faster. Monster Damage still scales with player count.
• Experience gain no longer increases past 16 players. This is to help prevent giving an advantage to those who could load 64 windows up for the race.
• Drop rates have been changed across the board, especially in inferno zones. Uniques will not be as easy to obtain, this will help the new world drop vanilla uniques hold plenty of value. Player count will no longer increase the drop rate of puzzles, enchantments, cow / Azathoth organs, and boss exclusives. This is another change we are making to remove the advantage of loading several clients, and once again will greatly increase the value of items found from puzzle bosses.
• SEVERAL Class balance changes across the board, I will do my best to go into more detail in the Class Changes section.
• Several skills have been modified to no longer count as a "Curse". This allows them to stack side by side with a curse, and Bosses who are immune to curses can now be affected by them. This includes the following skills: Battle Cry, Taunt, Searing Light, and Acid Inject.
• The Annihilus Launcher has been rewritten, and should no longer be falsely flagged as a virus! It should be a bit more stable/reliable as well. Thanks Token.
Class Changes:
Amazon
• Physical javelin skills have been drastically buffed.
• Jab now has Damage Synergies, increased damage per level, and flat damage added per level.
• Impale does 6/4 Weapon Damage, has had its damage massively increased, has flat damage added per level, has Damage Synergies, and no longer ruins durability. It also no longer uses its really slow animation.
• Fend has been reworked. It can now hit the same target more than once, and hits much faster. It is comparable to a faster, stronger version of Zeal. It now has Damage Synergies as well, and flat damage added per level.
• All Lightning Javelin skills synergize with each other now, and have had their Damage Synergy % modified. Lightning Arc has been modified and should be more reliable, and look a little better!
• Poison Javelin skills have had their Damage Synergy % increased.
• Physical Bow skills have received the same treatment.
• Multiple Shot now does 100% Weapon Damage instead of 75%, has scaling Damage per Level, flat damage added per level, and 2 Damage Synergies.
• Guided Arrow now has much more Damage per Level, flat damage added per level, and 2 Damage Synergies.
• Strafe now does 100% Weapon Damage instead of 75%, has scaling Damage per Level, flat damage added per level, and 2 Damage Synergies.
• Valkyrie now gains the caster's current level of Dodge / Avoid / Evade / Critical Strike, instead of just the base points put into them.
• Decoy Health and Resists per level has been increased.
• Mana costs modified across the board.
Assassin
• Martials Arts tree has received several changes. Jack of all Trades was just a tad too strong, so it has been lowered to 4% per level instead of 5%. This was mostly to tone down WWsins, so to compensate I have buffed the Martial Arts skills quite a bit, I will try and include everything, but it is very possible I will miss something.
• Flurry Kick has increased Damage per Level, now also has a Damage Synergy.
• Dragon Claw's base damage, Damage per Level, and Damage Synergy % has been increased.
• Fixed a bug with Ambush's deadly strike chance not scaling at all, it now properly scales to 50% and also does 150% Weapon Damage.
• Dragon Strike Damage per Level has been increased.
• Damage Synergy % of all other Martial Arts builds have been increased.
• Venom's poison per level has been lowered, and now does it's damage over 1 second instead of 0.4 seconds.
• Blade Shield now does 3/4 Weapon Damage instead of 1/2.
• Shuriken Flip has had its Damage per Level greatly increased, and increased Damage Synergy %.
• Shadow Warrior / Master health has been increased.
Barbarian
• Barbarian has been reworked. I will try and sum this up, as there is too much to list!
• Almost all Combat skills have had their Damage per Level drastically increased, Damage Synergies % increased, Damage Synergies aSynergy Skills changed, and most skills have some sort of new function. I will list the notables.
• Berserk now drains stamina instead of lowering defense, and now gives you a chance to ignore all damage based on how many base points you have in the skill. This skill now does 6/4 Weapon Damage and has potential to hit HARD.
• Frenzy now gains Life per Hit.
• Concentrate now has Crushing Blow.
• Whirlwind now does 5/4 Weapon Damage.
• Leap Attack has been replaced with Seismic Leap. This is a good Physical-type AoE clearer, and has a chance to knockback.
• As mentioned earlier, Battle Cry is no longer a curse, and can be applied alongside Amplify Damage or whatever else.
• Battle Cry and War Cry shout ranges have been increased.
• War Cry now does Magic Damage, this will be your Magic-type AoE clearer if you prefer this build over Seismic Leap!
• Combat Masteries have been modified. Several Masteries have been condensed into one such as Melee Mastery, and new Masteries have been added. Be sure to check them out!
• Find Item no longer incorrectly ignores part of the formula when deciding if an item should drop or not. It will now have the exact same drop rate for puzzles and other items as simply killing the monster would have.
Druid
• Shapeshifting skills have received several buffs.
• Rabies Damage per Level has been increased and Damage Synergy % increased.
• Pounce's Damage per Level has been drastically increased, maximum Open Wounds chance has been increased, and Damage Synergy % has been increased.
• Shockwave Damage Synergy % increased, and Damage per Level has drastically been increased.
• Fury now has Damage Synergies, and increased AR per level.
• Tornado Damage Synergy % has been lowered by 3%. This skill was still too strong, and I didn't want to increase the damage frames anymore, it should be more in line with other classes now.
• Armageddon has been reworked! It is now the best Fire Skill as it should be, and it will automatically track nearby targets and hit them instead of landing randomly across the screen. Visuals have been changed as well.
• Hurricane and Armageddon's duration are now both increased with skill level.
Necromancer
• Since monsters have MUCH more HP in Nightmare and Hell now, Corpse Explosion damage from max health has been lowered by 40% max. The damage should still feel about the same now.
• Poison Maelstrom Damage per Level has been slightly decreased, as it was performing very well in all situations.
• Bone Spear Damage Synergy % has been lowered by 3%.
• Blood Golem now applies Open Wounds as Prevent Monster Heal has been removed.
Paladin
• Sacrifice has had its Damage per Level drastically increased, Synergies have been modified, and Damage Synergy % has been increased.
• Zeal's AR per Level has been increased, increased Damage per Level, and Damage Synergies have been modified.
• Blessed Hammer no longer does Weapon Damage or Physical Damage. Its Magic Damage per Level has been drastically increased, and it's Damage Synergies have been modified.
• Prayer no longer costs mana.
Item Changes:
• A LOT of endgame items have been modified. Dreamlands items were not keeping up with the rest of the endgame content, and Dreamlands can be pretty hard, so several of their items have been buffed. This includes the Call of Cthulhu set, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out!
• Quivers can now be enchanted! They have 4 Enchantment slots just like a shield.
• Quivers now have a MUCH more wide variety of affixes. You can find some really awesome rare Quivers if you look!
• Cthulhu's items have all received some sort of buff or rework.
• Almost all Crucible items have received some sort of change.
• R'lyeh Caches no longer give puzzle boxes, and will now always give a random Rune, Enchantment, and a Divine Gem. You can now carry more than 1 R'lyeh Cache.
• Quill Storm from Corrupted Stormshield no longer scales from Weapon Damage, and will not proc CTCs.
• Flame Horizon's CTC Damage has been nerfed, and will fire slightly less missiles.
• Several new "vanilla" uniques have been added. This means they can be found anywhere in Hell mode as long as the monster's item level is enough. They will need to be atleast mlvl 87 to drop them. You can tell what level the monster is by picking up an item they drop and checking the ilvl on it. These vanilla uniques share their base item with another unique which will be much more common, similar to Templar's Might and Tyrael's Might, so these items should be rare and valuable. The following item types have new uniques: Colossus Blade x2, Hydra Bow, Sacred Rondache, Conquerer Crown, Berserker Axe, Blood Spirit, and War Pike.
• Some Enchantment Scrolls have been modified. Scroll of Magic Damage is no longer a Cain only drop, and he now has a new Enchantment.
• Health Potions now heal for more.
• Damage Reduction % is now called Physical Resist for the sake of consistency. It caps at 75% like every other resist
• Standard of Heroes should no longer drop, and are not involved in making the Diablo Soulstone anymore. These will obtained by cubing 6 Standards of Hell, which drop from Uber Tristram Diablo once per run.
• Charms can now roll higher Dmg / AR / Life / All Resists mods. Infernal Pearls have been buffed to match these new values.
• ilvl 99 Grand Charms can now spawn the +50 Life affix.
• Items with "xx Aura when equipped" will no longer show the Aura line on the item on Non-Ladder. The aura is still there, and will show up on any new items found in Non-Ladder, but old items will be missing the line of text. I had reasons for this, and Ladder will not be affected by it. Just wanted to let everyone know your Non-Ladder items are fine, just missing the Aura line!
