Balance Changes

This page contains outdated information. For an up-to-date list of skill changes from the vanilla game, see Skill Changes.

All classes have been tuned to give a better and customized gameplay in Project D2.

This section is intended to anyone who is interested in the skill balance changes respect Diablo 2 LoD stock version (vanilla).

Date of Last Update from Source: November, 9th 2020 (season 1 changes only)

Reference

FRW = Faster Run/Walk
FCR = Faster Cast Rate
IAS = Increased Attack Speed
AOE = Area of Effect
CD = Cooldown
AS = Attack speed
MDR = Magic Damage Reduction
PDR = Physical Damage Reduction
FHR = Faster Hit Recovery
HP = Health Points
AR = Attack Rating
MS = Movement Speed
MAEK = Mana After Each Kill
LAEK = Life After Each Kill
ED = Enhanced Damage OR Enhanced Defense
CB = Crushing Blow
DS = Deadly Strike
LOH = Life on Hit

Druid

Summons

You may only have 1 spirit and 1 vine up at a time, all other summons may be active

Oak Sage	Grants flat life instead of % life as well as providing a life regen aura that scales from points in carrion / solar.
Carrion	Grants AOE heal to nearby allies whenever it consumes a corpse.
Solar	Grants AOE mana to nearby allies whenever it consumes a corpse.
Raven	Now hits 3 times, caps at 12 ravens and at every 10 hard points spent. You may now summon an additional raven per cast (max 3). Ravens now have both wolves and grizzly as synergies and are part of the summon toolkit as well as doing small splash damage and partial cold damage.
Spirit of Barbs	Now has a flat reflect damage value that scales instead of % of monsters reflected.
Grizzly	Now has a melee splash at 20 hard points, grants a second bear.

Shapeshifting

Rabies	Spread tick rate increased and spread radius increased.
Hunger	Allows werebear form to consume corpses for a short buff to movement speed, life leech, and critical strike chance.
Werebear	Is now a level 1 skill and grants enhanced damage% and enhanced defense% (keep in mind defense works while moving). Werebear now grants a buff to summon grizzly i.e. leader of the pack and a decrease to wolves (Infinite duration "9999 seconds").
Werewolf	Grants enhanced damage %, attack speed % and 1 flat mdr +pdr every 3 levels. Werewolf now grants buff to wolves i.e. leader of the pack and a decrease to grizzly (infinite Duration "9999 seconds").
Lycanthropy	Now grants increased maximum life and attack rating to all shapeshift forms; life percentage significantly reduced.
Fury	3 hit cap instead of 5.
Shockwave	Stun is always 0.2 seconds. Damage scales. Increased range and projectile speed. Werebear, Twister, Tornado synergies.

Elemental

Gust	Teleport stuns on arrival, soft points spent lower the cooldown (.5 seconds cap) (does not work while shapeshifted).
Artic Blast	Now is a level 1 skill, also has bigger hit box and travels faster, and is a part of the wind druid synergy toolkit.
Twister	Now grants additional twisters based on soft points (14 max twisters). No 'shotgun effect'.
Tornado	Hit box improved (bigger).
Firestorm	Increased AOE based on skill level.
Molten Boulder	Increased missile speed based on soft points spent.
Fissure	Density increased, cooldown reduced, next hit delay removed.
Volcano	Cooldown reduced, next hit delay reduced.
Armageddon	AOE decreased, fall rate increased.
Cyclone Armor	No longer a wind druid skill synergy. Small CD.

Assassin

Traps

Chain Lightning Sentry	Added skill at lvl 30. Chain radius same as sorc. Bounces up to 5 times.
Death Sentry	Only explodes corpses. Flat phys/fire damage. 5-10% corpse life. lvl 30.
Fire Blast	Extra missile per 4 hard point up to 6.
Shock Web	No next hit delay. Larger Ground spread.
Blade Fury	Pierces. Attack trigger time affected by attack speed. 100% weapon damage and no longer reduced by 2h weapons
Blade Sentinel	Moves Faster. Gets stuck less. No longer counts toward trap count.

Martial Arts

Dragon Talon Kick	Capped at 3 attacks
Dragon Flight	Cast Delay is 2 seconds
Phoenix Strike	Removed Next Hit Delay for 3rd charge (cold attack). Now 2nd charge (lightning attack) no longer prevents 3rd charge from dealing damage when using Dragon Claw as the finisher

Shadow Disciplines

Burst of Speed	Attack speed is hard points only. Will work with Whirlwind changes.
Mind Blast	Remove stun after lvl 1. Increased AOE with soft points.
Psychic Hammer	Huge Damage increase. Synergies added.
Claw/Dagger Mastery	Changed from only claw mastery.
Fade	Damage reduction reduced
Cloak of Shadows	Fixed Duration (Canight doesn't remember how long.)

Necromancer

Curses

Complete rework of tree https://www.twitch.tv/videos/711896930

Curse Mastery	Improves effect of all curses. Additional curse at 10/20 hardpoints. Curses require hard points to be powerful. Necromancers can use each others curses.
Dark Pact	Consumes curses on targets and does damage for each curse. Only consumes 3 curses even with Darkforce. First curse remains after using with Darkforce
Amplify	Damage Reduce enemy PDR%
Dim Vision	Reduce enemy AR
Terror	Reduce enemy MS per point base
Confuse	Increase AS of monsters
Attract	Reduce enemy defense.
Decrepify	No longer reduce's enemy PDR% or damage. Reduce MS, AS, and cast rate.
Decrep/Terror	These work together. Max -85% MS

Summons

Summon Skeleton	Splash. Damage increased. Less skeletons able to be summoned. (8 max)
Summon Mages	Pierce. Damage increased. Less skeletons able to be summoned. (8 max)
Golem Mastery	Every 5 hard points gives additional golem. up to 5.
Iron Golem	Has splash if created with a weapon. Only first iron golem created is perm.
Clay Golem	Has splash
Revive	Total of 6 revives at 20 hard points. Can get 3 more with eternity RW.
Fire Golem	Indirect buff of Aura ticks increased

Bone

Bone Spirit	Faster missile speed
Corpse Explosion	5-10% corpse life damage. Flat fire/phys damage. Synergy with Poison explosion, revive.
Bone Spear	Additional spear at 15/25 skill. Three spears cannot hit one target.
Blood Warp	Teleport. Cooldown reduced with points. 8% max health cost per cast.
Desecrate	Cast corpses on ground. Poison explosion on cast. Corpses can be exploded. The corpses you've cast are monsters according the area you're place.
Poison Dagger	Now carries poison damage from gear/charms in the poison clouds released on hit (passive -1% enemy poison res. ) Only works on the dagger attack and not the cloud.)

Paladin

Offensive Auras

Might	Damage Bonus Slightly Increased. Radius Slightly Increased
Holy Fire	Aura tick rate increased AOE fixed Fire Damage & Fire Damage added to attack increased Bonuses from Resist Fire & Salvation increased Bonus from Blessed Aim added
Blessed Aim	Passive 10% increased AR per hard point.
Holy Freeze	Aura tick rate increased AOE fixed Slowed By % slightly increased Cold Damage & Cold Damage added to attack increased Bonus from Resist Cold decreased Bonus from Salvation increased Bonus from Blessed Aim added
Sanctuary	Aura tick rate increased AOE fixed Applies + magic damage as well as small undead damage bonus Has flat magic damage applied to attacks. Magic damage aura tick. Knockback undead type monster removed Bonus from cleansing removed Bonus from Might added Bonus from Blessed Aim added Bonus from Thorns added
Holy Shock	Aura tick rate increased AOE fixed Lightning Damage slightly decreased Lightning Damage added to attack increased Bonus from Resist Lightning decreased Bonus from Salvation increased Bonus from Blessed Aim added
Fanaticism	Appears unchanged above level 20. (Tooltip damage bonuses below level 20 are inaccurate; appears to be a slight nerf)
Conviction	Got nerfed. (In standard Diablo 2, at 20 level decrease enemies Defense 90% Elemental Resistance 125%)

Defensive Auras

Aura tick rate increased, all reworked to have passives now

Prayer	Health regeneration and life per hit (passive health regeneration per 2 base skills)
Cleansing	Reduce length of poison and curses (passive duration of curses and poison per 2 base skills)
Meditation	Increase mana recovery (passive mana per kill per 5 base skills )
Redemption	Redeems 5 Life per corpse at all levels.
Fire/Cold/Lightning Resist	Grants bonus to elemental damage for each respective element.
Salvation	Grants a bonus to all elemental damage.
Vigor	Passive 1% FRW per hard point

Combat

Sacrifice	Damage +% & Attack+% Greatly Increased Damage to self% decreased by skill level Receives bonuses form Redemption & Fanaticism increased
Smite	No longer impacted by flat damage increases (e.g. Grief) Receives only 14% of the damage bonus from damage boosting auras (e.g. Fanaticism, Might)
Zeal	Number of attacks decreased to 3 from 5 damage has been increased. Avoids animation lock Required level decreased 12 to 6
Conversion	Higher chance to convert. 8 second duration at all levels. Required level decreased 24 to 18
Joust	Teleport to enemy and impale them. FRW boost when landing. Hard points increase FRW. Small CD. Crit buff.
Holy Bolt	Pierces allies and enemies. Heals and damages.
Holy Light	Single target heal
Holy Nova	Long CD. AOE heal and damage.
Fist of Heaven	Removed Auto Target and CD Receive bonus form Holy Shock Removed Receives bonuses form Holy Light & Holy Nova Added Receive bonus form Holy Bolt Changed(Increase Bolt & Lightning Damage) Required Level 30 to 24 Required Skill Changed

Barbarian

Combat

Frenzy	Is now a level 1 skill Duration increased (8 seconds at level 1 scaling up to 36 seconds at level 28) Movement speed reduced Scaling increased, Gains 2% velocity per level until 16%, 1% per level after that
Bash	25% chance if monster is not put in to faster hit recovery animation If monster is put into FHR animation then no knockback Bash now requires 2 handed weapon,
Concentrate	Is now a level 12 skill Convert's phys damage to magic Magic damage conversion increased 2% per hard point
Berserk	Is now a level 24 skill. Now physical damage. Reduces your physical resistance for .5 seconds after berserking. Scaling physical resistance pierce.
Leap/Leap Attack	AOE on landing. Hard point's increase the speed of the leap (also has bad ass sound effect now) can Leech, Gorefoots increase speed.
Whirlwind	Increase the movement speed (4% per soft point) Movement speed increase speed of Whirlwind Will not apply splash.
Double Throw	Starts at 3, goes up to 5 per weapon. 10 total bounces. Pierce doesn’t effect.

Warcries

Battle Cry	Reduce enemy physical resistance. Can break immunities
Grim Ward	Grants party members flat attack rating, and damage
Battle Command	Gain 1 addition skill point every 10 hard points, and enhanced damage, 2% damage per soft point.
Battle Orders	15 life 7.5 mana per level. Flat increase.
War Cry	Now has scaling AOE. Stun removed. Procs FHR

Combat Masteries

Iron Skin	Hard points offer PDR%. Soft points defense
Combat Reflexes	Formerly increased stamina. Hard points max HP. Soft points FHR. Stamina bonus.
Throwing Mastery	Adds pierce. Applies to Bow and Crossbow as well.
Polearm and Spear Mastery	Improves Polearms and Spears
General Mastery	Improves Swords, axes, maces

Sorceress

Fire

Meteor	25% phys on impact. Missile falls faster. Fire ground shorter but higher damage. Shorter CD.
Inferno	Faster Spray speed
Fire Wall	Reduced duration. Reduced CD.
Combustion	Added for fireball synergy. Long CD. AOE burst fire ball.
Hydra/Lesser Hydra	Lesser shoots fire bolt. Greater shoots fire ball.
Fire Mastery	Med damage, Med Pierce
Warmth	Added flat attack rating bonus

Cold

Frozen Orb	Removed cooldown
Blizzard	Improved ground density
Ice Bolt	Faster missile speed
Ice Blast	Pierces. Faster missiles
Ice Barrage	AOE impact that chills. Additional missiles as you level (max 5). Shotguns No pierce
Cold Enchant	Can use enchant fire and cold together.
Chilling armor	Creates single blizzard spike per counter ranged attack. Chills melee on successful strike.
Cold Mastery	High pierce low damage

Lightning

Thunder storm	Time between attacks goes down with increased skills Cast nova on impact
Static Field	Reduces enemy's life to 50% in normal, 65% in nm, 80% in hell. Additionally gives -1% to enemy lightning resistance per soft point. Breaks immunities
Teleport	50% spell damage debuff for 1 second on cast. Teleport uses lightning FCR frames. (More info on cast rate Breakpoints https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Breakpoints ) Damage debuff reduced by hard points (+1% damage per point. This means that at lvl 2, you have a 49% damage debuff, and so on, until 30% at lvl 20) Teleport is disabled on Mini Key Boss zones (https://projectdiablo2.miraheze.org/wiki/Zones)
Lightning Mastery	No pierce, high damage
Energy Shield	Absorb caps at 80%. Synergy from telekinesis has been nerfed.
Telekinesis	Large Damage buff. Synergies added.

Amazon

Bow and Crossbow Skills

Magic Arrow	High flat magic damage. 50% weapon damage. Add 1 arrow every 10 soft points
Multi-shot	Reduced mana cost Range reduced greatly
Guided Arrow	Now pierces. Can pierce same target 3 times.
Strafe	No next hit delay. Reduced to 5 attacks from 10.
Fire/Cold Arrow	Additional arrow every 4 soft points. Flat damage. Hybrid element/phys damage. Fire increased damage decreased range. Cold is 75% weapon damage. Fire is 100% weapon damage
Exploding Arrow	Bigger AOE. AOE triggers on each pierced impact.

Javelin and Spear Skills

Javelin and Spear Mastery	Replaces impale. IAS per hard point
Fend	5 attacks instead of 10
Power Strike	Lightning Nova on attack. Main target gets primary lightning damage + Nova damage
Poison Javelin	Increased damage. Poison done over .5 seconds.
Plague Javelin	Poison damage done over 3 seconds. (fixed)
Lightning Fury	Damage and bolts released nerfed. Capped at 10 bolts.

Passive and Magic Skills

Inner Sight	Reduce enemy attack rating (percentage based) and defense
Slow Movement	Reduce enemy missile speed and movement speed
Evade	Is now a level 6 skill. Scaling FRW added
Dodge	Grants bonus FHR per hard point Removed animation
Pierce	Is now a level 12 skill.
Valkyrie	Additional valkyrie at lvl 20 and 30. Valks use Power strike. Valks move faster. Can inspect
Penetrate	passive -5% to enemy defense per hard point