Core Character Defences and Recovery - Path of Exile

Overarching Goal	Armour is more powerful	Remove Attack Dodge entirely	Spell Suppression
Review all mechanics that scale off Armour/Evasion	Add more Maximum Elemental Resistances	Add more Energy Shield to the passive skill tree	Higher base defence
Increase the base recovery rate of Energy Shield recharge	Ghost Dance as a Keystone Passive	Divine Shield keystone passive	Lethe Shade keystone passive
Remove various sources of Life Regeneration per Endurance Charge	New passive skill clusters	Versatile Combatant keystone	Shields modifiers
Make Blind synergise with Evasion	Flesh and Stone, Tempest Shield	Fortify mechanic

A major balance pass to improve defences and recovery for all characters. The goal here is to put more power into the core defences (Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield) to make them the best way to mitigate the kind of damage they are best at preventing, while taking some of that power away from the one-off mechanics that provide a significant defence for too low a cost. While some individual mechanics have been nerfed, this is overall a massive buff to defenses across the board.

Previously, there were some very tanky characters, but they were gated behind specific niche mechanics and uniques that were not accessible to everyone. What GGG is doing here is moving a lot of that power to everyone else, so that core defenses are far more powerful than they were before.

Also making sure that every type of character has plenty of ways to mitigate a much more diverse set of damage types. For example, Evasion mitigates Attacks well, so we’re introducing Spell Suppression to help Evasion builds protect themselves against Spells.

Overarching Goal

Remove Dodge entirely and review certain powerful mechanics like Blind (and Fortify for non-melee characters). Improve almost every other scalable defence type significantly to make them more powerful. This includes Armour, Evasion, Energy Shield Recovery and Spell Block.

Armour is more powerful

Improve the Armour formula so that Armour is more powerful, providing better mitigation across the board, and increase the strength of modifiers on items that add base local Armour.

Previously, if you had 10,000 Armour and you took a hit that dealt 2,000 physical damage, you’d reduce that hit by 33%. Now you’ll reduce that hit by 50%.

A rule of thumb with the new Armour formula is that if you want to get 50% mitigation against a physical damage hit, you need 5 times the damage as Armour where previously it required 10 times the damage. As an example, if you want to mitigate a 5,000 hit down to 2,500, you used to need 50,000 Armour to do this. Now you only need 25,000 Armour.

Increased the strength of modifiers on gear that add base local Armour, and added a smoother progression of tiers (as they were currently very low until the highest tier, and had some levels where there was no new tier for a large number of levels). This will on average result in items with higher Armour on them, especially during the Campaign and early maps, and make it much more affordable to reach decent Armour values.

Armour provided by base types can now be 15% higher on average, as part of a variable base type system detailed below.

Determination has been buffed to provide both a flat bonus to Armour, as well as its existing “more” multiplier to Armour.

• Grants up to 2051 Armour at level 20 of Determination.

New Suffix modifiers have been added to all Armour-based Body Armour and Shields that provide up to +8% additional Physical Damage Reduction on each slot. Crafted modifiers have also been added.

• Additional Physical Damage Reduction mods were discontinued from all other rare modifiers so that large values could be provided on the above two slots.

New Suffix modifiers have been added to all Armour-based Gloves, Helmets and Boots that provide increased Life Regeneration Rate. This works as a multiplier to your Life Regeneration value. Crafted modifiers have also been added.

Monster base Armour has been reviewed as a result of changes to the Armour formula, and has been slightly decreased.

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Remove Attack Dodge entirely

Remove Attack Dodge entirely. Substantially buff Evasion so that it is a good option and make sure it is easily available on items.

Improve the Evasion formula to grant more chance to evade for all values of Evasion Rating.

• To have a 75% chance to Evade against a Tier 16 Map monster, you currently need 49,000 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 24,200 Evasion Rating after this change.
• To have a 75% chance to Evade against a Tier 1 Map monster, you currently need 23,800 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 12,700 Evasion Rating after this change.
• To have a 50% chance to Evade against a Tier 16 Map monster, you currently need 13,750 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 8,150 Evasion Rating after this change.
• To have a 50% chance to Evade against a Tier 1 Map monster, you currently need 6,650 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 4,275 Evasion Rating after this change.
• To have a 25% chance to Evade against a Tier 16 Map monster, you currently need 4,500 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 3,300 Evasion Rating after this change.
• To have a 25% chance to Evade against a Tier 1 Map monster, you currently need 2,180 Evasion Rating to achieve this. You will only need 1,735 Evasion Rating after this change.

Increase modifiers on gear that add base local Evasion Rating, and smooth the progression of tiers (as they were currently very low until the highest tier). This will on average result in items with higher evasion on them, especially during the campaign and early maps, and make it much more affordable to reach decent Evasion values. Update Crafted modifiers to similar values and make them available earlier in the campaign.

• Rank 1 Defences crafts are now unlocked in The Crematorium in Act 3 (previously The Karui Fortress in Act 6).
• Rank 1 Fire Damage crafts are now unlocked in The Solaris Temple in Act 3 (previously The Crematorium in Act 3).
• Rank 1 Cold Damage crafts are now unlocked in The Crystal Veins in Act 4 (previously The Solaris Temple in Act 3).
• Rank 2 Elemental Resistances crafts are now unlocked after fighting Piety in The Belly of the Beast in Act 4 (previously The Crystal Veins in Act 4).
• Rank 2 Defences crafts are now unlocked in The Karui Fortress in Act 6 (previously The Feeding Trough in Act 10).
• Rank 1 Chaos Damage crafts are now unlocked in the Temple of Decay in Act 7 (previously after fighting Piety in The Belly of the Beast in Act 4).
• Rank 2 Accuracy crafts are now unlocked in The Desecrated Chambers in Act 10 (previously Temple of Decay in Act 7).
• Rank 3 Life and Mana crafts are now unlocked in The Feeding Trough in Act 10 (previously The Desecrated Chambers in Act 10).

Evasion provided by base types can now be 15% higher on average, as part of a variable base type system detailed below.

The Grace Skill Gem now has “You and nearby Allies gain 20% more Evasion Rating” at gem level 1, up to 29% at gem level 20”, as well as its existing flat bonus to Evasion Rating. These changes make the Aura very effective at Attack Mitigation if you’ve already invested in Evasion Rating.

Reworked Evasion passives.

Adjusted monster base Evasion and Minion Accuracy to compensate for changes to the evasion formula.

Monsters with abilities that always hit have been reviewed as a result of the removal of Dodge. Abilities that were deemed an issue no longer always hit, such as Fractal Gargantuan’s Slam, Rigwald, the Wolven King’s Barrage, Daresso, King of Swords’ Reave, and Guardian of the Chimera’s Combo and Charged Attacks.

Spell Suppression

Introduce “Spell Suppression” on Evasion items as well the Dexterity section of the Passive Skill Tree, which gives a chance to halve spell damage taken. The chance can be stacked up to 100%. Convert existing sources of Dodge and Spell Dodge to Spell Suppression or replace them with other bonuses.

Spell Suppression is designed as the Dexterity character’s best answer to spells. In general, Spell Suppression gives easier access and more reliable spell damage mitigation for Dexterity characters without reliance on specific uniques. It’s also much more reliable than Spell Dodge, but has a lower maximum. There will be a few specialised ways to invest in increasing the spell damage suppressed to reward high investment if you want to further protect yourself from spell hits.

#	Description
1	Spell Suppression will be found on various Passive Skills in the Evasion areas of the Passive Skill Tree.
2	The Evasion Wheel at the centre of the Passive Skill Tree no longer provides Accuracy, but provides a combo of Evasion and chance to Suppress Spells instead.
3	New Suffix modifiers have also been added to all Evasion Armours that can roll modifiers that grant a chance to Suppress Spell Damage. Body Armours and Shields in particular can roll larger values of these modifiers.
4	New Keystone Passive Skill added to the centre of the tree called Magebane: Dexterity provides no inherent bonus to Evasion Rating. You gain a 1% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage per 15 Dexterity.
5	Vaal Grace no longer has 24-34% Chance to Dodge Attack Hits or Spell Hits. Instead, it now has +15% Chance to Evade Attack Hits, and “Suppressed Spell Damage dealt to you is Unlucky”.
6	Additional chance to Evade modifiers were discontinued from all Rare modifiers, passives and Pantheon powers as their values were generally too low or felt out of place and so that Vaal Grace could provide a very large value of this stat.
7	Change Elusive to provide 15% chance to Avoid Damage from Hits, instead of it’s old Dodge-related stats.
8	Change Wind Dancer to further improve high Evasion builds rather than reducing Evade chance, but making it riskier if you’re not Evading attacks a lot. It now gives 20% less Attack Damage taken if you haven’t been Hit by an Attack recently, and 40% more Evasion Rating and 20% more Attack Damage taken if you have been Hit, so it’s better for Evasion characters that have a high Evasion Rating and bad for characters that are being hit a lot. It has no interaction with Spells now, to focus its interaction on Evasion.
9	Acrobatics has been redesigned. It no longer has any of it’s old properties, but now changes any modifiers to Spell Suppression into Spell Dodge at 50% of it’s value. The intention is that Acrobatics is the only source in the entire game for Spell Dodge, for characters who would like to benefit from that playstyle still. Spell Dodge is still capped at 75%, and the Keystone Passive will specifically mention this.
10	The Perfect Form: Now grants 80-100% increased Evasion Rating (previously 30-50%), 70-100 Life (previously 50-80), and 10-15% increased Dexterity (previously 5-10%). Now grants Acrobatics instead of Phase Acrobatics.
11	Three-step Assault: Now grants 30% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments while Phasing. This affects existing items, though they have a value of 10%. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
12	Omeyocan: Now grants 10% increased Evasion per 500 Mana. This affects existing items, though they have 2% increased Evasion per 500 Mana. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
13	White Wind: Now grants 30-40% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while your Off Hand is empty. This affects existing items, though they have values of 15-25%. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
14	Precursor Emblem: Now grants 1% chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Endurance/Frenzy/Power charge.
15	The Green Nightmare: Now causes Passives granting Cold Resistance or all Elemental Resistance to also grant Chance to Suppress Spell Damage at 50% of its value. This affects existing items, though they have a value of 35%. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
16	Timeless Passives that granted Spell Dodge now grant a chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
17	Small Cluster Jewels that granted 1% Dodge now grants 2% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
18	Hit and Run Cluster Jewel Notable: Now grants 6% chance to Suppress Spell Damage if you’ve Hit an enemy recently.
19	Untouchable Cluster Jewel Notable: Now grants 6% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
20	Elegant Form Cluster Jewel Notable: Now grants 6% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
21	Darting Movement Cluster Jewel Notable: Now grants 8% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while moving.
22	Darkray Vectors: Now grant 10% increased Evasion Rating per Frenzy Charge. Existing items instead have 2% chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Frenzy Charge, and cannot be updated with a Divine Orb.
23	The Watcher’s Eye modifier which previously granted chance to Dodge Attack Hits while affected by Grace now provides 12-15% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while affected by Grace. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
24	The Watcher’s Eye modifier which previously granted chance to Dodge Spell Hits while affected by Haste now provides 5-8% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while affected by Haste. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
25	Quickening Covenant: Now has 20-24% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
26	Conqueror’s Longevity: Now has 5% chance to Suppress Spell Damage and 10% Life Recovery from Flasks (previously 8%). Existing items will have 3% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. A Divine Orb can be used to update the Life Recovery value.
27	Assailum: Now grants 14-20% chance to Suppress Spell Damage while Channelling. This change affects existing items.
28	Hyrri’s Ire: Now grants 30% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. This change affects existing items.
29	Oskarm: Now grants 10-12% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. This affects existing items, though they have values of 7-8%.
30	Bloodbond grants 12-15% chance for Minions to Suppress Spell Damage. This affects existing items, though they have values of 6-10%, which can be updated with a Divine Orb.
31	Quartz Flask: Now grants 10% chance to Suppress Spell Damage.
32	The Boot Enchant that granted a chance to Dodge Spell Hits if you’ve taken Spell Damage recently now grants a chance to Suppress Spell Damage if you’ve taken Spell Damage recently.
33	The Snowblind Grace: Now grants 20% chance to Suppress Spell Damage, and 80-100% increased Evasion Rating (previously 30-50%). Existing items will have the chance to Suppress Spell Damage, with a value of 10%.
34	Atziri’s Step: Now grants 20-26% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. This affects existing items, though they have values of 21-24%.
35	Evasion/Energy Shield base type Shields that had a 2% chance to Dodge Attacks or Spells now have a 3% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. A Blessed Orb can be used on existing items to obtain this new value.
36	Evasion/Energy Shield base type Shields that had a 4% chance to Dodge Attacks or Spells now have a 5% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. A Blessed Orb can be used on existing items to obtain this new value.
37	Hinekora’s Sight: Now has 600-1000 Accuracy and Evasion, and prevents +3% of Suppressed Spell Damage. Existing items have a 12-20% chance to Suppress Spell Damage, and cannot be updated with a Divine Orb.
38	Incursion modifiers that provided Movement Speed and chance to Dodge Attack Hits/Spell Hits instead now grant Movement Speed and chance to Avoid Bleeding/Poison.
39	Ascent from Flesh: Now grants 30% increased Evasion while Phasing. This affects existing items, though they have a value of 6%. Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
40	Timeless Passives that granted Attack Dodge now grant a chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments.
41	Daresso’s Defiance: Now grants 180-220% increased Armour and Evasion (previously 160-200%). No longer grants Dodge, this affects existing items. Existing items can update the increased Armour and Evasion values using a Divine Orb.
42	The Blade Flurry Helmet Enchantment that granted chance to Dodge Attack Hits now grants +1 Maximum Stages. This affects existing items
43	The Charged Dash Helmet Enchantment that granted a chance to Dodge Attack Hits now grants +4/+6 to Radius if you have finished Channelling Charged Dash recently. This affects existing items.
44	The Boot Enchantment that granted a chance to Dodge Attack Hits if you’ve taken a Critical Strike recently now grants reduced Extra Damage taken from Critical Strikes if you’ve taken a Critical Strike recently.
45	Maraketh Swords now have 15%/20% chance to Maim on Hit, instead of 4%/6% Dodge. A Blessed Orb can be used on existing items to obtain this new value.
46	Saving Kraityn in the “Deal with the Bandits” Quest now grants 10% chance to Avoid Elemental Ailments as a reward.
47	The Upgraded Soul of Lunaris Pantheon no longer grants 5% chance to Dodge Attack and Spell Hits if you’ve been Hit Recently. It now grants 6% reduced Elemental Damage Taken if Hit Recently.
48	Phase Acrobatics no longer exists.
49	Map Modifiers that granted increased Accuracy Rating to Monsters and made Player chance to Dodge Unlucky have been replaced with ones that reduce the amount of Suppressed Spell Damage Prevented by a percentage for Players.
50	Many other smaller changes on top of those noted above to improve specific items, Passives, and Skills.

Review all mechanics that scale off Armour/Evasion

Review all mechanics that scale off Armour/Evasion, and all mechanics that grant large values or increases to Armour and Evasion.

#	Description
1	Vaal Molten Shell: Buff will now grant +50 Armour at gem level 1 (previously 25), up to +858 Armour at gem level 20 (previously 429). Buff no longer grants 20-29% more Armour. Now grants 35% of Damage from Hits is taken from the Buff before your Life or Energy Shield at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 40% at gem level 20 (previously 35%).
2	The Brass Dome: Unique has been redesigned to more properly embrace its identity of a high Armour Body Armour, while not providing as extreme of a difference compared to a Rare Body Armour with top tier Armour modifiers. It no longer has “10% reduced Movement Speed”, “50% increased Shock Duration on you”, or “30% reduced chance to Block Attack and Spell Damage”. Instead, it now has 350-400% increased Armour (previously 600-650%), “+1-2 to all maximum Resistances”, and “Gain no inherent bonuses from Strength”.
3	Memory Vault: No longer grants “Gain Armour equal to your Reserved Mana”. Instead, it now grants “1% increased Armour per 50 Reserved Mana”.
4	The Formless Flame and The Formless Inferno: Now grant “Armour is increased by Overcapped Fire Resistance” (previously Uncapped Fire Resistance).
5	Craiceann’s Carapace: Now grants 200-250% increased Armour (previously 300-350%). It provided just a bit too much Armour compared to Rares when considering all the other stats it provided.
6	Transcendence: Keystone Passive Skill now grants -15% to maximum Elemental Resistances (previously -5%).
7	Mask of the Tribunal: No longer grants “Nearby Allies have 4-6% increased Defences per 100 Strength you have”. Instead, it now grants “Nearby Allies have 1% chance to Block Attack Damage per 100 Strength you have”. Existing items are unaffected.
8	Font of Thunder: Now has 400-500% increased Evasion and Energy Shield (previously 500-600%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
9	Rime Gaze: Now has 140-160% increased Energy Shield (previously 180-200%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
10	Doryani’s Delusion: Now has 150-180% increased Evasion Rating (previously 180-220%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
11	Garukhan’s Flight: Now has 300-340% increased Evasion Rating (previously 320-380%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
12	Lioneye’s Remorse: Now has 180-220% increased Armour (previously 200-250%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
13	Magna Eclipsis: Now has 180-220% increased Armour (previously 200-250%). Existing items can be updated with a Divine Orb.
14	“Avatar of the Chase” Raider Notable Ascendancy Passive: No longer grants “35% more chance to Evade Melee Attacks during Onslaught” or “35% more chance to Evade Projectile Attacks during Onslaught”. Instead, it now grants “10% more chance to Evade Attacks during Onslaught”.
15	The Snowblind Grace and The Perfect Form: Now grant “Evasion Rating is increased by Overcapped Cold Resistance” (previously Uncapped Cold Resistance). They both now have 80-100% increased Evasion Rating (previously 30-50%), and The Perfect Form now has “10-15% increased Dexterity” (previously 5-10%).
16	Willowgift: No longer grants “Fortify Buffs you create instead grant 30% more Evasion Rating”. Instead, it now grants “4% chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Fortification”, but removes the less damage taken from Fortification. Existing items will no longer provide Evasion Rating while you have Fortify, though you will need to use a Divine Orb to obtain Spell Suppression from the item.

Add more Maximum Elemental Resistances

Add more Maximum Elemental Resistances to areas of the passive tree that have Armour in them.

More access to maximum Elemental Resistances has been provided to Armour areas of the Passive Skill Tree in order to shore up the weaknesses of Armour-focused characters.

Add more Energy Shield to the passive skill tree

Replace the Veiled modifier and lower the power on the Energy from Naught Notable. Compensate all characters for the loss of maximum energy shield by increasing the strength of all Energy Shield base types. Add more Energy Shield to the passive skill tree.

• Energy Shield provided by base types has been increased by 5% on average, and can now be an additional 15% higher than this on average, as part of a variable base type system detailed below.
• The Veiled crafted modifier that provided Quality and Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence, no longer provides Quality. This is to keep the top end at about the same while bringing lower investment Energy Shield up. Instead, it now grants up to 25% chance to Avoid Ignite, Freeze, or Shock, depending on the Attribute, also providing another way to allow characters to solve their Ailment problems. This can no longer be crafted on Weapons.
• The Energy from Naught Cluster Jewel Notable Passive Skill now grants +60 to maximum Energy Shield (previously 100).
• Added new passives that grant Energy Shield to various locations on the tree that didn’t have many Energy Shield passives.

Higher base defence

Base Types are now generated with a random 0-15% (on average) higher base defence, as an inbuilt property. This means that all base types can be better than they currently are, and armour base types are not homogeneous any more.

Increase the base recovery rate of Energy Shield recharge

Increase the base recovery rate of Energy Shield recharge. Rework the downside of the Wicked Ward Keystone. Move improvements to Energy Shield Recharge to the core modifier pool for Energy Shield gear, away from specialised item mechanics.

• Energy Shield now recharges at a base amount of 33% per second (previously 20%).
• The Wicked Ward Keystone Passive Skill no longer grants “50% less Energy Shield Regeneration Rate” or “50% less Maximum total Energy Shield Recovery per Second from Leech”. Instead, it now grants “40% less Energy Shield Recharge Rate”. This brings the recharge rate with Wicked Ward down to 19.8% per second, while before it would have been 20% with or without the keystone. It also allows you to invest in other forms of Energy Shield recovery if you would like to, like including Energy Shield Leech in your build. Recharge also has more avenues of scaling as mentioned below. This combined with the faster natural recharge is almost entirely a buff.
• The Blightwell Unique Talisman now grants “50% slower start of Energy Shield Recharge during any Flask Effect” (previously 30%), and “150-200% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate during any Flask Effect” (previously 400%).
• New Suffix modifiers have been added to all Energy Shield-based Body Armours and Shields that provide up to 66% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge on each item slot.
• Crafted and Influenced “faster start of Energy Shield Recharge” modifiers on Rings can no longer be obtained.
• Faster start of Energy Shield Recharge has also been added to areas of the Passive Skill Tree where Energy Shield is found. Crafted modifiers have also been added.
• New Suffix modifiers have been added to all Energy Shield-based Gloves, Helmets and Boots that provide up to 38% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate. Crafted modifiers have also been added.
• Percent Energy Shield Regeneration modifiers can no longer be obtained on Energy Shield-based Body Armours, and are no longer in the Influenced modifier pool.
• The Ghost Reaver Keystone Passive Skill now prevents your Energy Shield from Recharging (previously 50% less Energy Shield Recharge Rate).
• The Crusader modifier for Gloves that provides increased maximum total Energy Shield Recovery per second from Leech now provides 15% (previously 10%).
• Increased maximum total Energy Shield Recovery per second from Leech has been improved on the Passive Skill Tree, so Energy Shield Leech is now stronger with investment.
• Map Modifiers that prevent Mana or Life Leech from Monsters now also prevent Energy Shield Leech from Monsters.

Ghost Dance as a Keystone Passive

Give everyone access to Ghost Dance as a Keystone Passive.

Every 2 seconds, gain a Ghost Shroud, up to a maximum of 3. When Hit, lose a Ghost Shroud and Recover Energy Shield equal to 3% of your Evasion Rating. Cannot Recover Energy Shield to above Evasion Rating.

The Trickster Ascendancy will be changed as it no longer grants Ghost Dance.

Divine Shield keystone passive

Add a new Keystone Passive Skill, and add more hybrid Armour/Energy Shield Passives to the Templar section of the Passive Skill Tree.

New Keystone Passive Skill called Divine Shield: 3% of Total Physical Damage prevented from Hits Recently is Regenerated as Energy Shield per second. Cannot Recover Energy Shield to above Armour.

Lethe Shade keystone passive

Improve Life Regeneration modifiers on gear, and add a new Keystone between the Witch and Shadow area on the Passive Skill Tree to heavily dampen the initial impact of Damage over Time.

Greatly enhanced flat Life Regeneration modifiers on gear, to be closer to 2-3% of an expected character life at their level. Percentage based Life Regeneration has been removed from non-Unique equipment modifiers, and the Influenced modifier pool. This is now reserved for Uniques and the Passive Skill Tree.

New Keystone Passive Skill added to the Shadow Area called Lethe Shade: Take 50% less Damage over Time if you’ve started taking Damage over Time in the past second. 100% more Duration of Ailments on you.

Remove various sources of Life Regeneration per Endurance Charge

Remove various sources of Life Regeneration per Endurance Charge or lower their values, review effects that give Life Recovery Rate and high values of Life Regeneration. Add new passives in the Strength area of the tree that grant Life Regeneration and one source of increased Life Regeneration Rate.

• The Kaom’s Way Unique Ring now has “Regenerate 0.2% of Life per second per Endurance Charge” (previously 0.4%). It also now has “2% increased Area of Effect per Endurance Charge”.
• The Replica Atziri’s Foible Unique Amulet now grants 20-25% increased Life Regeneration Rate (previously Life Recovery Rate).
• The Flow Untethered Unique Belt now grants 10-15% increased Life and Energy Shield Recovery Rate (previously 15-20%).
• Influence modifiers on Belts which granted increased Life, Mana, or Energy Shield Recovery Rate now have values of 10-12% (previously 16-20%).
• The Surging Vitality Cluster Jewel Notable Passive no longer grants “Regenerate 0.5% of Life per second”.
• Consecrated Ground now causes you to regenerate 5% Life per second (previously 6%).

New passive skill clusters

Add new passive skill clusters to the Shadow area of the Passive Skill Tree, allowing investment in a combination of Life on Hit, Life on Kill and Life Leech. This also includes a source of Maximum total Life Recovery per Second from Life Leech in the Shadow area of the passive tree.

Add new passive skill clusters to the area of the Passive Skill Tree between Shadow and Witch, allowing investment in Life on Kill and recouping a portion of damage taken as Life.

Versatile Combatant keystone

Give everyone access to a weaker form of Versatile Combatant as a Keystone Passive, and replace the Gladiator Ascendancy skill. Also improve how much Block chance and Spell Block chance you can get from other sources.

• Versatile Combatant is now a Keystone Passive on the Passive Skill Tree: Grants +2% Chance to Block Spell Damage for each 1% Overcapped Chance to Block Attack Damage. Also grants -25% to maximum Chance to Block Attack Damage, and -25% to maximum Chance to Block Spell Damage. This means that if you have a 75% chance to Block Attack Damage, allocating this Keystone Passive grants you a 50% chance to Block Attack Damage, as well as a 50% chance to Block Spell Damage.
• More access to Spell Block has been added between the Templar and Witch sections of the Passive Skill Tree.
• The Suffix modifiers that grant Attack Block and Spell Block on Shields have been improved, and new tiers have been added. These now grant up to 16% Attack Block and 15% Spell Block respectively at the highest tier.
• The Shaper Suffix modifier on Shields which granted chances to Block Spell Damage can no longer roll.
• The Gladiator’s Block Ascendancy Passive Skills have been reworked, more information can be found below.
• Bone Offering no longer causes Minions to recover Life when they Block. Instead, it now grants Minions 4% Life Regeneration if they’ve Blocked recently.
• Also made changes to Passive Skills.

Shields modifiers

Remove irrelevant modifiers from Shields and add some really powerful ones.

Modifiers such as Chance to Block Projectile Attack Damage, Chance to Avoid Stun, Increased Global Physical Damage, Global Elemental Damage, Global Attack Damage, flat Mana gained on Block, percentage Life Regeneration, and Increased Cast Speed either felt out of place, or generally did not have impactful values. These can no longer be obtained on various Shields.

These changes are meant to make Shields feel more cohesive as a defensive piece of equipment, as well as to make their core modifiers more impactful. This will also make it easier to roll powerful Shields and obtain Shields with a specific modifier you’re after.

As mentioned above, modifiers such as Block Chance and Spell Block Chance were significantly improved and new tiers were added. Block Chance now goes up to +16% at its highest tier, and Spell Block Chance goes up to +15% at its highest tier.

Added a few impactful modifiers to specific Shield types:

• Armour-based Shields can now roll high values of Reduced Extra Damage taken from Critical Strikes, the value going up to 60% at the highest tier.
• Armour-based Shields can now roll up to 8% additional Physical Damage Reduction.
• Armour-based Shields can all now roll up to 100 Life gained on Block. Previously only pure Armour Shields could roll Life gained on Block, but now this can also roll on Armour/Evasion and Armour/Energy Shield bases.
• Evasion-based Shields can now roll high values of a chance to Suppress Spell Damage taken, up to 34% at its highest tier.
• Evasion-based Shields can all now roll up to +480 Accuracy Rating. Previously only pure Evasion Shields could roll Accuracy Rating, but now this can also roll on both Armour/Evasion and Evasion/Energy Shield bases.
• Energy Shield-based Shields can now roll higher values of Faster Start of Energy Shield Recharge, up to 66% at its highest tier.
• Energy Shield-based Shields can all now roll increased Critical Strike Chance with Spells. Previously only pure Energy Shield Shields could roll increased Critical Strike Chance with Spells, but now this can also roll on both Armour/Energy Shield and Evasion/Energy Shield bases.

Make Blind synergise with Evasion

Make Blind synergise with Evasion so that it’s more powerful only if you have built a very evasive character. The power level of the new Blind is significantly lower than before, but has more opportunities for further investment if you want to specialise in it.

Blinded now causes targets to have 20% less Accuracy Rating and Evasion Rating. This change makes it so Blind is of no defensive help to characters who have no Evasion, but helps if you do.

It also has an offensive component, like if you want to lower the Evasion Rating of Evasive monsters to make it easier to hit them.

Blind Effect is now available on the Passive Skill Tree if you want to invest in this further.

The Saboteur Ascendancy Notable Passive Skill that is tied to Blind is being reviewed, and Flesh and Stone is being changed as noted below.

Flesh and Stone, Tempest Shield

Reduce the cost of Flesh and Stone and change Tempest Shield so that it is a similarly powerful defensive reservation effect (alongside Arctic Armour and Flesh and Stone). The intent is that there are three competing defensive reservation effects that you are able to pick between, or use together.

• Flesh and Stone has been changed back to a 25% Reservation as a result of the changes made to Blind. It also now has “Enemies Maimed by this Skill take 8% increased Physical Damage” at gem level 1 (previously 13%), up to 11% at gem level 20 (previously 16%).
• Tempest Shield has been reworked to become a 25% Reservation Effect that provides a large amount of Spell Block as well as an Immunity to Shock. It no longer has “+3% Chance to Block Attack Damage while holding a Shield”. It now has “+18% Chance to Block Spell Damage while holding a Shield” at gem level 1, up to +25% at gem level 20 (previously +3% at all gem levels). It still has the property of shooting out Lightning on Block, and the Damage has been significantly buffed: Now has “Deals 38 to 115 Lightning Damage” at gem level 1 (previously 24 to 26), up to 896 to 2688 at gem level 20 (previously 284 to 426).
• Arctic Armour was already buffed to provide an Immunity to Freeze.

Fortify mechanic

Change the Fortify mechanic so it is given as stacks of Fortification, which is gained based on how much melee damage you deal.

#	Description
1	Sources of Fortify now grant a number of stacks of Fortification based on the percentage of the enemy’s ailment threshold dealt by the hit that applied Fortify to you, with a large bonus to fortification stack generation against rare and unique monsters. You have 1% less damage taken from hits for each stack of Fortification, and Fortification lasts 5 seconds by default. Fortification from multiple melee hits or different sources stacks, up to a default cap of 20 stacks. You can only gain Fortification stacks from one hit every 0.2 seconds.
2	The Fortify clusters on the Passive Skill Tree have been reworked to focus more on Fortify-related stats.
3	The Hardened Scars Passive now grants 25% less Damage over Time taken while Recovering Life from a Life Flask. It no longer grants Fortify while Recovering Life from a Life Flask.
4	The Champion’s Fortitude Notable Passive Skill now grants you 20 Fortification.
5	Dread Banner now grants +10 to maximum Fortification for 0.05 seconds per Stage when placed. It no longer grants 1% increased Fortify Effect per Stage.
6	Fortify Support no longer has increased Fortify Duration, as the base duration has been increased and this stat is now more accessible on the Passive Skill Tree.
7	The Sorrow Mask, Atonement Mask and Penitent Mask Helmet Implicit modifiers now grant +2-3 to maximum Fortification instead of 10-15% increased Fortify Effect.
8	Beacon of Madness now grants +15 to maximum Fortification while affected by Glorious Madness (previously 60% increased Fortify Effect while affected by Glorious Madness). This change affects existing items.
9	Kingmaker now grants nearly allies 10 Fortification (instead of Fortifying nearby Allies). It now has 190-200% increased Physical Damage (previously 170-200%). Existing items will be affected by the Fortify change, though a Divine Orb is required to update the Physical Damage values.
10	Perseverance now grants “Melee Hits which Stun Fortify” instead of “14-20% chance to gain Fortify when you Stun an Enemy with Melee Damage”. Existing Items can update their chance to Fortify with a Divine Orb.
11	The Veiled modifier that previously granted 50% increased Fortify Effect while Focused now grants +10 to maximum Fortification while Focused. Crafted versions of this modifier have been adjusted accordingly. This change affects existing items.
12	Vigilant Strike no longer has “Can’t be Evaded”. It now has “Melee Hits Fortify for 8 seconds” at all gem levels (previously “Grants Fortify for 6 seconds on Melee Hit” at gem level 1, up to 11.7 seconds at gem level 20). Now deals 230% of base Attack Damage at gem level 1 (previously 222%), up to 350% gem level 20 (previously 325%). Now has 230% Effectiveness of Added Damage at gem level 1 (previously 222%), up to 350% at gem level 20 (previously 325%). Quality now grants 0-20% increased Damage (previously “Grants Fortify for 0-2 seconds on Melee Hit”).
13	Quality on the Phantasmal Vigilant Strike Skill now grants “Melee Hits Fortify for 0-2 seconds” (previously 0-20% increased Damage)
14	Quality on the Divergent Vigilant Strike Skill now grants 0-10% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate (previously 0-60%).
15	The Vigil now causes Vigilant Strike to grant the same amount of Fortification to Allies as it grants to You.
16	The 5% increased Effect of Fortify granted to Notable Passive Skills by Lethal Pride has been replaced with +1 maximum Fortification.
17	Willowgift: No longer grants “Fortify Buffs you create instead grant 30% more Evasion Rating”. Instead, it now grants “4% chance to Suppress Spell Damage per Fortification”, but removes the less damage taken from Fortification. Existing items will no longer provide Evasion Rating while you have Fortify, though you will need to use a Divine Orb to obtain Spell Suppression from the item.
18	The Writhing Worms summoned by The Writhing Jar Unique Flask were found to generate Fortification too easily with these changes. We have changed them so they now have an Ailment Threshold similar to that of a normal Monster in an Area Level 83 area.