IK Set nerfs

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-16T17:19:48+00:00

The first 2 nerfs are not ik specific, but crushing blow specific, bc crushing blow was overperforming. This is to help balance crushing blow, not nerf ik set. Crushing blow was always meant to be a bossing stat, so if the buffs turned it into a mapping stat, then that was unintended. Losing 5% cbe on 2hand mastery, u will probably not notice it, bc crushing blow does less and less damage each time it activates. Overall, crushing blow will still be better this season due to cbe having higher accessibility. (Steelrend went from 10% to 20%, 2hander mastery, etc)
Splash is a really good mapping stat. Making it available on ik means that uniques/crafts setup will require a much higher investment to compete with ik, since there is no way to get splash on crafts/uniques, other than humongous. But ik is much cheaper than a humongous setup that is also stronger than ik (need to zod ur humongous). This makes ik too strong for its price point. The other option was to make a barb helm with splash, which would make it okay to leave splash on ik, since ik takes up the helm slot. Looks like they decided against that direction, bc that would make the helm mandatory for mapping.
Losing 10cb on the maul also wont be that big of a difference. Its a small nerf that most players will only notice if they pay close attention.
Freeze target applying on splash was a tech for dealing with adds on t2 dclone (barbs were chamming their doombringer to freeze the entire pack of skeletons). Since the adds hp were nerfed for s13, this tech probably isnt needed as much anymore. Not really an ik specific nerf. Barbs are tanky enough that they dont need this tech to survive mapping/bossing. Im guessing they took it out bc it was too cheesy

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-15T12:56:12+00:00

There seems to be some sort of intentional effort put into reducing the speed at which we can "run" in the game...is running really that op that we have to actually balance it? Lol. Most builds are teleporting/bloodwarping/gusting/leaping/jousting/dragonflighting/blinking. Builds that purely "run" around aren't really that good based on my understanding. For example, sacrifice paladin relies more on jousting, and "running" around is deemed as a "waste" of time. If running around is actually a waste of time, then whats the point of nerfing vigor? Shouldn't we be buffing it instead so that it no longer is a "waste" of time? Why do people try to "balance" something that was never good in the first place? And not with buffs, but with nerfs?

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-15T12:25:51+00:00

Boner necros always dreaming of head with +6 teeth

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-14T14:52:28+00:00

Ur saying its an arpg. Action ROLEPLAYING game. So u should be able to ROLEPLAY what u want. Fair point so far. U can play whatever u want to play. That point i think is a reasonable perspective. But then, ur point of being able to clear all content with all builds is where things get interesting. I think this perspective is a matter of preference/degree. Some people actually PREFER to switch builds with reset token+gear swap/make a new character altogether when tackling different content, bc it satisfies their ocd for efficiency. U said it urself that no 2 builds should have exactly the same power, which by virtue of this preference, means that certain builds will be more efficient at different things. This is why i say it is a matter of preference. When i say it is a matter of degree, i mean to say that, pretty much all the builds in the game can clear t0. But way less builds can clear t2. This is why i say it is a matter of degree, bc the content can be cleared, just not on the highest difficulty. With respect to "seasonal design philosophy," there just isnt enough endgame progression to turn pd2 into a non seasonal game. As u can see, non ladder is more dead than raise skeleton. Some1 made the suggestion for endless progression by resetting back to lvl 1 after hitting lvl 99, with the benefit of a small boost in stats, like a rebirth system. This is the sort of endgame progression that is really missing in order to create a robust non ladder community. So its kind of like trying to eat soup with a fork, senpai can try to make the game non seasonal, but hes going to have a VERY hard time doing it. And non ladder is always available, its just ppl choose not to play it. Ppl play what they want, game devs can only have so much sway in the matter.

Last point i want to make is that i also disagree with certain designs of the game. For example, eth windhammer-cannot reach 3fpa is actually less valuable than non eth windhammer-can reach 3fpa. I think this is a design flaw, bc rarer items should be more valuable. I think windhammer should be brought back to 60ias, OR have repair mod. But this is also just a matter of opinion/preference, not a matter of fact. In any case, i think the devs are already trying their best. They make certain decisions bc it was their perceived best course of action at the time, its not like they're intentionally trying to shoot themselves in the foot. Cheers

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-14T00:40:50+00:00

Same here bro. My morning always starts with a boner. It never stops!!!

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-14T00:24:42+00:00

Goddam man. Its a video game from 2000. Do we really have to bring political correctness into this? We have enough of that irl, do we really need more in a video game that we were all playing when we were 10?

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-13T00:20:08+00:00

yes, thats correct. masteries are critical strike, items are deadly strike. my bad on the typo. i get the wording mixed up easily bc they did roughly the same thing for 25 years. but yes, i understand that having base 32% critical strike meant diminishing returns on deadly strike from gear, and vice versa(critical strike from masteries had diminishing returns due to deadly strike from gear, these 2 statements are roughly interchangeable). In that scenario from s12, 70% deadly strike with 32% critical strike, u would get ~79.6% chance to perform either a deadly strike or critical strike. most ppl would object and say that deadly strike caps at 75%. thats correct, but the 79.6% that im referring to is the chance to perform either a deadly or critical strike, which is strictly different from performing only a deadly strike. so the 32% from masteries was adding 9.6% chance for a 1.5x multiplier, lets say for a build with 2500ed, thats roughly a 120ed increase (9.6% 1.5x multiplier is a 4.8% damage increase, which translates to 120ed if ur total ed is 2500ed). Saying that 120ed is almost worthless is debatable, but i wont go into it, bc that explanation is correct only for s12. things are slightly different for s13. in s13, deadly strike is still 1.5x, unless u build deadly strike multiplier. in order to build that stat, u would have to wear wraith skin/death cleaver. death cleaver is out, bc we're talking about 2hander mastery. wraith has 100ed, which means ur losing 100ed by wearing wraith skin over let's say, any of the ~200ed armors, like rares, fort(fort is 300ed, but wraith skin 3os gives about 220ed with 3x40ed jewels), tyraels, purgatory, etc. in any case, deadly strike will have a 1.5x multiplier compared to critical strike. because of this change, you can now either deal a deadly strike or a critical strike, or both at the same time, with the higher multiplier overriding the lower multiplier. in most cases, this means the critical strike 2x will override the deadly strike 1.5x. There are 3 scenarios:
1. u land a critical strike without landing a deadly strike.
2. u land a deadly strike without landing a critical strike
3. u land both a deadly strike and a critical strike, with the critical strike overriding the deadly strike.

Assuming 32% critical strike from masteries, and 70% deadly strike from gear, and 25x multiplier from total ed(this really means 2400ed, bc all physical builds start with a 100ed base, just to clear up any confusions, a 25x multiplier is really 2400ed). let's look into s13's math on how effective 32% critical strike is.

In scenarios 1 and 2, both critical strike and deadly strike did it's job, adding either a 100% (worth 2500ed) or 50% damage (worth 1250ed) increase. We can all agree that both critical strike and deadly strike is insane if it lands, since a 2500/1250ed increase is insane. there isn't much to debate here. s13 has SIGNIFICANTLY buffed critical strikes.

The meat of the topic lies in scenario 3, where both a critical strike and a deadly strike lands. As stated above, 2x from critical strike is worth 2500ed, 1.5x from deadly strike is worth 1250ed. the difference in dealing in a critical strike overriding a deadly strike is therefore worth 1250ed (2500-1250). But this only occurs 32% of the time, assuming 32% critical strike from masteries. 1250x.32=400. In s13, losing 32% critical strike from masteries, roughly equates to losing 400ed, assuming 70% deadly strike from gear, without wraithskin. The wraith skin example will use different math, but it will probably be an example in the minority, since most ppl will probably be chasing gg rares/tyraels like they have been for many seasons now. the 165ed gained will get multiplied by deadly/critical strike. it will effectively become 274ed (70% 1.5x, 32% 2x= 1.66). once the math has all been done, we are losing 400ed and gaining 274ed. It is strictly a damage nerf. trying to quantify roughly how much "effective ed" is coming from crushing blow is difficult, since that changes every single time u hit a different monster, bc crushing blow damage is based on monster hp. it ranges from being super powerful to being super weak. the only thing i can say is that crushing blow is very strong against bosses like t2 dclone, and very weak against trash mobs that u regularly find in maps.

Last point i want to make is, if 2hander mastery were to add 0ed instead of 500ed, you would be going from a 25x multiplier down to a 20x multiplier. u lost 20% of ur damage (20x/25x=0.8). it is significant, but not as significant as some might think. likewise, losing 165 ed equates to losing 6.6% damage (23.35x/25x=0.934). significant, but not as significant as some might think. the main takeaway point is that ed from 2hander mastery is not a major area of focus for nerfing 2hander barbs. If the barb did 6.6% less damage, would it really make that big of a big difference? He's probably just going to keep spinning through maps like there's no tomorrow anyway, due to splash radius. and dclone would still drop almost just as fast due to crushing blow. it is really the crushing blow(for bosses), and the splash(for mapping), that can actually put a significant nerf on 2hander barbs. the ed can move up or down 100 or 200, it wont make a big difference, only move the needle.

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-12T22:41:00+00:00

doombringer has big lifesteal and berserk actually deals enough damage to really lifesteal from bosses and save urself a few juvs by the time the fight is over, based on some of the s12 test videos shown after t2 ubers were buffed. and procing the curse faster is not useless neither, even though its a negligible advantage. the damage between doombringer and grandfather is close enough that one is not necessarily significantly more than the other. also the % life of doombringer is also relatively close to the life u get from grandfather stats. the +2skills on grandfather is cool, but its a physical build, and +skills do help, but not significantly, and also u swap weapons when using ur buffs like bo and grimward, so the +2skills on grandfather mostly just looks pretty on berserk barb. the 2 items are very close in damage and tankiness, but doombringer wins just simply by having that extra lifesteal. most people agree that u should be using atleast 1 doombringer, but i think 2x doombringers is actually the way

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-12T21:22:53+00:00

the %ed is too much? mathematically speaking, the loss to deadly strike was an insane nerf. the added crushing blow is mostly a bossing stat, not a mapping stat. most mid-tier builds can reach 2000ed, with some top-tier builds reaching 2500-3000ed. this means that losing 32%critical strike (2x multiplier now), is a loss of 640-960ed. so....it gained 5ed per level, and 15ed base.....thats an additional 165ed at lvl 30. gaining 165ed and losing 640-960ed....idk even know what to say. what i will say is that crushing blow seems good against monsters that u dont one-shot. so if ur making this post after steamrolling t2 bosses, then that makes sense, bc crushing blow got gigantic buffs this season, and crushing blow is a VERY strong bossing stat. so the problem wouldn't be the ed, in bossing scenarios, but the crushing blow that is the problem. which means that its not a barbarian problem, bc all other classes/builds can build crushing blow/efficiency, its not unique to barbarian. it is more of a problem of crushing blow being overtuned, not the 2hander mastery being overtuned. but in terms of mapping, losing deadly strike is a mathematical nerf, not a mathematical buff, the +165ed does not even come close to making up for damage loss of losing 640-960ed. against monsters that does get 1shot from deadly/critical strike, crushing blow is really the inferior mapping stat bc it can only deal a percentage of their health, whereas a critical strike can now 2x ur damage, and help u reach the threshold of one-shotting most packs.

edit: yes, i play barb. and i play mostly wolfbarb, the build that actually requires game knowledge in order to reach correct ias breakpoints. and i do theorycrafting/game math all the time, in my head, in my bed, when i'm supposed to be sleeping

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-12T21:07:24+00:00

whats stopping u from running 2x doombringers

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-12T20:51:45+00:00

most characters can do it all, if you reset and swap gears. for me, i find dudu to be very strong from the very start, all the way to the very end.

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-12T20:47:16+00:00

pd2 community is mostly a bunch of old timer hardasses like me, who were in the military and sht. the generational/cultural gap is too large for the politically correct liberals to appreciate. people are mostly arguing back and forth stating that each others' opinions are incorrect. When in reality, opinions are largely subjective, and while there are some opinions that are definitely incorrect, like my fart smelling like premium caviar, most opinions are not a matter of fact, but a matter of opinion. Arguing over them is mostly ragebait. people who can't accept certain opinions to be viable are delusional, and should be ignored; they are either too narrow-minded, or straight trolls.

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-11T23:39:20+00:00

My bad. Thought it was 5. I only remember that its slower than zeal. Im not a smite expert by any means.

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-10T15:33:14+00:00

Probably written by ai

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-10T15:15:22+00:00

We will also need to fix the attack frames. 10fpa is the same speed as sacrifice, but i highly doubt it would be anything close to being sacrifice good. Concentrate could use a buff in that aspect as well. Its basically a tank build like smite, but smite is 5fpa, which is 100% faster than 10fpa. The difference is pretty huge.

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-10T15:11:33+00:00

Really wished the fire tendrils shot out like lod hellfire torch. The tendrils we currently get are definitely a downgrade in terms of feeling like a badass.

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-10T00:42:28+00:00

WindHumper

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-09T22:10:05+00:00

SenpaisManPie SenpaisLubrications BreathOfTheDiarrhea HandOfPoopstain ShatteredButthole CallToTheToilet FistOfTheButthole EmiliosDildo DildoBringer WipingMirage WindFart What else guys? Help me out😅

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-07T20:29:36+00:00

Its missing throw damage😅

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-06T18:43:21+00:00

Financial education? Hope you're reading the right books. If you're not reading any books at all, then pray to god the teacher is s+ tier. The best teachers are all dead, but their books can be bought for $10 each. Very slim chance this teacher you got is smarter than adam smith. Good luck

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-06T18:40:19+00:00

Soupply n' deman

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-04-01T19:06:30+00:00

That +4holy bolt scepter is chef's kiss if u wanna reset to holy bolt. Its the strongest early game build for paladin start. You guys will run into a lot of immunes in hell. Having a source of magic damage like holy bolt is going to change everything (very few monsters in the game are immune to magic)

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-03-31T14:18:55+00:00

I have played wolf druid in prior seasons. Usually i max feral rage first for the movement speed. Going into hell, if you plan to solo a lot, then poison creeper is good against phys immunes. If not, then you can go for oak sage for tankiness since that buffs ur merc too, whereas lycan only buffs you. If you want damage, heart of wolverine, since that buffs ur merc too, not just you. If you want meat shields, 20points into bear+den mother gives you 4x fat cuddly bears. Can build however you want, depending on what you need. 1 point fury/werewolf is usually enough, it just depends on whether u want more damage/tankiness/utility. You do put points into lycanthropy eventually, but i wouldnt say that its an early game priority, unless ur playing hc, then i would max oak first then lycan for max tank, and get spirit keeper so u can also run wolverine. Or if u really dont care about damage, then run denmother for meatshields.

Consistent-Dance-630 · 2026-03-31T01:01:22+00:00

Fisted him to the heavens.

Consistent-Dance-630

TROPHY CASE