Item Bases

This page lists changes made to item bases in PD2 relative to the vanilla game.

General

 * Ethereal bonus reduced from 50% to 25% (most exceptional/elite weapons rebalanced so that eth stats remain the same)
 * Ethereal items no longer have half durability
 * Throwing weapons and arrows/bolts have unlimited quantity
 * All claws can now have pointmods (previously, claws couldn't if they had a qlvl below 40 - all normal claws, Quhab, Wrist Spike, Fascia)
 * Clubs can now have Druid pointmods (similar to pelts)
 * Quivers can now be magic or rare (see affixes)

Automods
Modifiers that automatically appear on all regular/magic/rare/crafted versions of items, and sometimes unique/set versions too

Weapons
 * Melee weapons now have Melee Attacks Deal Splash Damage, except wands & staves (unique/set staves do get this automod, however)
 * Staves now have 10%/30%/50% Faster Cast Rate (normal/exceptional/elite)
 * Crossbows now have -10% to Enemy Physical Resistance
 * Daggers now have 20% Deadly Strike

Armor
 * Removed hidden -5%/-10% movespeed penalty from medium/heavy chests and shields
 * Paladin shields have reduced ranges for "All Resistances" automod
 * Rainbow reduced from +[8-15] to +[5-10]
 * Scintillating reduced from +[16-30] to +[10-15]
 * Prismatic reduced from +[25-35] to +[15-20]
 * Chromatic reduced from +[36-45] to +[20-30]

Damage
Damage Bonus from Strength/Dexterity
 * Polearms, Non-Class Spears, & One-Handed Swords now gain bonus damage equal to 75% str & 75% dex instead of 100% str
 * Staves & Two-Handed Axes/Swords now gain bonus damage equal to 110% str instead of 100% str (same as Hammers)
 * Bows/Crossbows now gain bonus damage equal to 50% dex instead of 100% dex

Base Damage
 * Normal weapon damage increased by ~4% on average
 * Exceptional weapon damage increased by ~42% on average to be closer to elite weapons and counteract the ethereal bonus being changed from 1.5x to 1.25x
 * Elite weapon damage increased by ~24% on average to counteract the ethereal bonus being changed from 1.5x to 1.25x, along with a few relatively minor adjustments for specific bases
 * Kick damage of boots adjusted

For weapons with two damage ranges, their 1-hand melee damage is listed second. Wands and Orbs are not listed here since they aren't attacked with (and their damage is unchanged).

Speed

 * Amazon spear speed modifiers improved by 10
 * Maiden Spear, Ceremonial Spear, Matriarchal Spear speed modifier improved from 0 to -10
 * Maiden Pike speed modifier improved from 10 to 0
 * Ceremonial Pike, Matriarchal Pike speed modifier improved from 20 to 10

Negative values mean the weapon attacks faster. Wands and Orbs are not listed here since they aren't attacked with (and their speed is unchanged).

Melee Range

 * Daggers and throwing knives/axes range increased from 0 to 1
 * All other melee weapons with a range of 0-1 increased to 2
 * All two-handed melee weapons with a range of 0-2 (except 1x3 staves) increased to 3
 * 2x4 Axes (Great Axe, Gothic Axe, Champion Axe) range increased from 2 to 4
 * 2x4 Maces (Maul, War Club, Ogre Maul) range increased from 1 to 4

Bows, Crossbows, Wands, and Orbs are not listed here because they aren't attacked with in melee combat (and their melee range is zero)

Defense

 * Aegis base defense increased from 145-161 to 215-241 (average +49%)
 * Ward base defense increased from 153-170 to 183-207 (average +21%)

Block
Paladins get +30% base block chance, Amazons/Assassins/Barbarians get +25% base block chance, and Druids/Necromancers/Sorceresses get +20% base block chance


 * Aegis base block chance increased from 24% to 38%
 * Ward base block chance increased from 24% to 30%

Sockets
Weapons
 * Maximum sockets increased by 1 for several exceptional/elite weapons
 * 1-socket daggers (Poignard, Bone Knife, Rondel, Mithril Point) can now get 2 sockets
 * 2-socket 1x3 weapons that can now get 3 sockets:
 * Axes (Hatchet, Tomahawk)
 * Maces (Cudgel, Truncheon, Flanged Mace, Reinforced Mace)
 * Swords (Gladius, Falcata, Cutlass, Ataghan, Shamshir, Elegant Blade, Tulwar, Hydra Edge)
 * Staves (Jo Staff, Walking Stick)
 * Scepters (Rune Scepter, Mighty Scepter)
 * Claws (Wrist Spike, Fascia, War Fist, Hand Scythe, Battle Cestus)
 * 3-socket two-handed weapons that can now get 4 sockets:
 * Polearms (Lochaber Axe, Ogre Axe)
 * Bows (Edge Bow, Spider Bow)
 * Crossbows (Arbalest, Pellet Bow)
 * 4-socket two-handed axes (Military Axe, Feral Axe) can now get 5 sockets
 * 5-socket Shadow Bow can now get 6 sockets

Another way to look at most of the weapon socket changes:
 * All exceptional/elite 1x2 weapons can now get 2 sockets except for Burnt Wand
 * All exceptional/elite 1x3 weapons can now get 3 sockets except for a dagger line (Stiletto, Legend Spike)
 * All exceptional/elite two-handed weapons (1x4 or larger) can now get 4 sockets except for a sword line (Espandon, Legend Sword), a spear line (War Spear, Hyperion Spear), and a staff line (Quarterstaff, Stalagmite)

Weapons with multiple values such as 3/4/6 have different maximum sockets depending on their ilvl (1-25/26-40/41+) and the socket values are colored orange if the item's quality level is higher than the ilvl range, signifying they won't drop at those ilvls. Throwing weapons are not listed here because they cannot get sockets.

Armor
 * Maximum sockets for exceptional/elite Necromancer shields increased from 2 to 3

Armor with multiple values such as 3/4/4 have different maximum sockets depending on their ilvl (1-25/26-40/41+) and the socket values are colored orange if the item's quality level is higher than the ilvl range, signifying they won't drop at those ilvls. Gloves, boots, and belts are not listed here because they cannot get sockets.

Durability

 * Durability for all weapons has been doubled
 * Some elite weapons have even more durability:
 * +20 durability for some swords (Falcata, Ataghan, Elegant Blade, Hydra Edge, Conquest Sword)
 * +20 durability for Bone Knife
 * +20 durability for some axes (Decapitator, Champion Axe, Glorious Axe)
 * +50% durability for other axes (Tomahawk, Small Crescent, Ettin Axe, War Spike, Berserker Axe, Feral Axe, Silver-edged Axe)
 * +50% durability for spears (Hyperion Spear, Stygian Pike, Mancatcher, Ghost Spear, War Pike)
 * +50% durability for staves (Walking Stick, Stalagmite, Elder Staff, Shillelagh, Archon Staff), additional +50% for Walking Stick

Missile Weapons, Throwing Weapons, Wands, and Orbs are not listed because they either don't have durability or are not attacked with so won't lose durability.

Other
Level Requirements

Quality Levels

See the tables on the Item Affixes page