Diablo 3: A Look At the New and Updated Items in Patch 2.3

The upcoming patch will be introducing more legendaries and updating many older items that may not have affixes or changing the powers of others. This blog will look at them while taking into consideration how they may be used with possible builds and the Kanai’s Cube ability of converting legendary powers into additional passive abilities.

• Azurewrath – Increased damage from aura to 500-650%, affecting demons and knocking enemies into the air. Mostly, this weapon is used by followers and is good for CC’s. Not a huge game changer imo.
• Fulminator – Increases lightning rod damage to 444-555% and has guaranteed primary stat rather than attack speed. Not huge at this point but might be useful for lightning builds.
• Hellfire Amulet – Guaranteed to roll a socket. That part is HUGE just because the RNG of finding a perfect trifecta are pretty low. With the addition of the Keywardens dropping just the Machine parts rather than keys, you can farm these items a LOT easier.
• Stone of Jordan – Rolls with +maximum resource as a secondary stat for classes. Definitely will be huge as a bonus to Unhallowed Essence builds due to the Discipline bonus damage. That might be good for certain group compositions where an Unhallowed Essence build demon hunter is focused on glass cannon, high DPS. Otherwise, for solo play on high end rift or greater rifts, this might not be useful for them.
• Thorns of the Invoker – Now, an exclusive crusader set. My guess is that they’ll eventually revamp this set but then again there aren’t really other thorn builds beyond a crusader and barbarian. But even then this seems more for crusaders overall.
• Bracers of Destruction (new) – Seismic Slam deals 300-400% increased damage to the first two enemies it hits. Not sure if this is multiplicative. But I think it will be used in conjunction with Fury of the Vanished Peak and Immortal Kings as a build type for dedicated Seismic Slam builds.
• Bracers of the First Men (new) – Hammer of the Ancients hits increases 75-100% attack speed for 3 seconds. Might work with Remorseless type of Immortal Kings builds. Basically, allows you to spam click Hammer of the Ancients similar to how Crusader can cast fast Sweep Attack.
• Fjord Cutter (1h Mighty Weapon) – Chilling effect proc increased to 100%. Might be for utility barbarians. But I can’t see it being popular just due to CC being supremely reduced in the upcoming patch. Maybe an additional affect a Raekor build might use to stunlock opponents a little longer?
• Fury of the Ancients (Shoulders) – Call of the Ancients gain every rune. Very cool ability and item. Will be similar to Vile Ward with Raekor build barbarians except for Immortal Kings builds. Also, I can see this being used for hybrid Immortal Kings/Wrath of the Wastelands builds where those builds can gain both the increased fury generation and increased life.
• Gabriel‘s Vambraces (Bracers) – When Blessed Hammer hits 3 or less enemies 75-100% of its wrath is refunded. Pretty much a complimentary item to the new Blessed Hammer crusader set (will talk about it in a bit)
• Guard of Johanna (Shield) – Blessed Hammer damage is increased by 200-250% for the first 3 enemies it hits. Again, another complimentary item to the new crusader set.
• Johanna‘s Argument (Flail/New) – Increases attack speed of Blessed Hammer by 100%. More Blessed Hammer focused build stuff.
• Seeker of the Light (New Crusader Set) – Focuses on using Blessed Hammer to reduce the cooldown of Falling Sword and Provoke. Falling Sword decreases your damage intake while the last bonus increases the damage of Blessed Hammer and Falling Sword. I haven’t played around with Falling Sword but I heard it’s more of a fancy graphics element than anything useful.
• Hunter‘s Wrath (Belt/New) – Hatred generators attack 30% faster and deal 30-40% increased damage. Could be really great if stacked with Depth Diggers for something such as an Elemental Arrow/Kridershot lightning Unhallowed Essence build.
• Wraps of Clarity (Bracers/New) – Hatred generators reduce damage taken by 30-35% for 5 seconds. Basically, this will become a must-have affix for Unhallowed Essence builds. I’m sure Elemental Arrow/Kridershot Unhallowed Essence builds will be able to gain very high resistance overall (maybe add Simplicity’s Strength, although I do not know if that gem will work with Kridershot converting Elemental Arrow into a generator). This could be potentially very useful for Natalya Strafe builds since you’re essentially keeping up Strafe most of the time. That complimented by near constant Rain of Vengeance and the damage reduction from the set bonus should make Natalya Strafe builds a little tanky.
• Yang‘s Recurve (Bow/New) – Multishot attacks 40% faster, rolls with %30-40 Resource Cost Reduction. Basically, this bow is a must-have for Unhallowed Essence multishot builds since you’ll be spamming multishot. This along with the Hunter‘s Wrath belt will provide a reasonable amount of damage and defense.
• Binding of the Lost (Belt/New) – Each hit with Seven-Sided Strike grants 3-3.5 damage reduction for 7 seconds. Will be used with the new monk set.
• Shenlong‘s Spirit – Fist weapon set redone. Spirit Generators damage increased by 1% per point of Spirit available. At max spirit, all damage is increased by 300% but Spirit is no longer regenerated and 65 Spirit is drained per second until 0 spirit. Could be used with a variety of sets. Been seeing it used with Innes and Raiment combo builds.
• Uliana‘s Strategem (New Monk Set) – 2 set bonus applies Exploding Palm on 3rd hit of a Spirit Generator; 4 set bonus deals total damage with Seven-Sided Strike with each hit; 6 set bonus detonates Exploding Palm with Seven-Sided Strike. Obviously, the focus is around Seven-Sided Strike and Exploding Palm. So one key item to have with this set will be Gungdo Gear to help with multiplying your Exploding Palm across enemies. The other item is The Flow of Eternity daibo which reduces the cooldown of Seven-Sided Strike by 45-60%. Possibly, you will want a Madstone as it also applies Exploding Palm via Seven-Sided Strike.
• Coils of the First Spider (New) – Not sure what type of item this will be as it’s unlisted on the d3 site. Channeling Firebats increases 60k-80k life per hit.
• Jeram‘s Bracers (Bracers/New) – Wall of Death can be cast up x2 within 2 seconds before cooldown begins. Will work with revamped Helltooth set.
• Helltooth Harness (Revamped Witch Doctor set) – 2 set bonus causes enemies hit by Wall of Death to be afflicted by Necrosis becoming Slowed and taking 2500% weapon damage for each second up to 10 seconds. 4 set bonus reduces damage by 50% for 10 seconds after applying Necrosis. 6 set bonus increases damage affected by Necrosis by 800% from primary skills, Acid Cloud, Firebats, Grasp of the Dead, Piranhas, Wall of Death and Zombie Charger. Wall of Death will become imperative here but I’m having a hard time picturing what other items will synergize with this build. Not sure if the revamped Manajuma’s Way will be the key item but there’s no link between that set and Helltooth.
• Manajuma‘s Way (ravamped ceremonial knife/mojo) – Hex – Angry Chicken explosion damage is increased by 100% and slain enemies triggers additional explosions. Also, it last for 15% and movement speed as a chicken increases by an additional 100%. Looks to work with the new witch doctor set as that set will be influenced partially by Hex.
• Spirit of Arachyr (New Witch Doctor set) – 2 set bonus summons a permanent Spider Queen leaving webs that deal 1500% weapon damage over 5 seconds and slows enemies. The Spider Queen moves where you cast Corpse Spiders. 4 set bonus gives Hex the Toad of Hugeness rune. While it’s active, you take 40% reduced damage. After it’s finished, you will heal for 10% max life per second for 10 seconds. 6 set bonus increases damage of creature by 500%. It looks as though this set will work with the revamped Manajuma’s Way where you’ll take the Angry Chicken rune but also receive the Toad of Hugeness rune for both damage and defense. With Kanai’s Cube, you will probably use The Spider Queen‘s Grasp as the weapon passive for increased Corpse Spider damage and the slow effect. I rarely play with Hex or Corpse Spider so I’m not sure how all this will work in the end.
• Zunimassa‘s Haunt – 2 set bonus decreases cooldown of Fetish Army by 80%. Basically, the set bonus fixes an irritating thing where the cooldown of Fetish Army already is ridiculously high. While this shouldn’t affect most people, the real issue is if you die frequently and cannot summon a new Fetish Army as a result of the 2 minute cooldown issue. Rather than reducing the normal cooldown, they’re doing it through a set that pretty much focuses around Fetish Army.
• The Spider Queen‘s Grasp Rolls with 45-60% Corpse Spider damage. Pretty much will be essential in using in conjunction with the Spirit of Arachyr as a weapon passive.
• Chantodo‘s Resolve (Redesigned Wand/Orb set) – Every second in Archon you expel a Wave of Destruction, dealing 350% weapon damage to enemies in 30 yards. Each time you hit with an attack not in Archon form, 350% weapon damage is added to the Wave of Destruction, stacking up to 20 times. Pretty much a must have for the ravamped Vyr’s Amazing Arcana set.
• Vyr‘s Amazing Arcana  (Redesigned wizard set) – 2 set bonus Archon gains all runes; 4 set bonus automatically start with 50 Archon stacks upon entering Archon form; 6) set bonus gain Archon stacks when hitting with an Archon ability. Basically, buffing up the Archon ability since it’s been pretty weak from the beginning of the expansion despite being godly previously. You’ll be going to a cooldown build here because of the 2 minute cooldown from archon (actually 100 seconds with the Pure Power rune). Might need the Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac or In-geom for helping with cooldown reduction. There’s a few other items that will be mentioned to help this build out like The Swami and the new Fazula‘s Improbable Chain.
• Arreat‘s Law (Spear) – Revamped so that Weapon Throw generates up to 15-20 additional Fury based on how far enemy is. With Kanai’s Cube, I could see this possibly being used with an Immortal Kings range build with Seismic Slam and Weapon Throw becoming a combo (my favorite ranged barbarian combos). Perhaps, you could use this in conjunction with The Three Hundredth Spear for your ranged attacks and have the Seismic Slam passive from Fury of the Vanished Peak. Ancient Spear will help keep your fury up high and Wrath of the Berserker up. Bastion of Will for the bonus damage on top of that.
• Valla‘s Bequest (One Handed Crossbow/New) – Replaces Uzzuccob and allows Strafe to pierce. So pretty much a complimentary item to Natalya’s Strafe builds. Probably can use this affix or K‘mar Tenclip if you can’t find a Calamity or want to replace Natalya‘s Slayer to focus more on Strafe. Piercing essentially will give more damage since you’ll be able to hit more targets that way.
• The Swami – Bonus from archon stacks last for 15-20 seconds after Archon expires. Again, will probably be used with Vyr’s.

Here are the seasonal items introduced:

• Bane of the Stricken (New Legendary Gem) – Primary is where each attack increases the damage an enemy takes by 1% while secondary increases damage against bosses and Rift Guardians by 25%. Basically, a must have for rifts.
• Dishonored Legacy (Mighty Weapon/New) – cleave deals up to 300-400% damage based on missing fury. Not a huge game changer for barbarians but I’m willing to bet that we’ll see cleave’s power increased in a future patch.
• Sacred Harness (Belt/New) – Judgment is cast at your landing location when casting Falling Sword. Seems like a possible must have for the new Blessed Hammer set since you’re essentially getting a free Judgment. Basically, a free CC with Falling Sword.
• [d3]The Demon’s Demise[/d3] (Hand Crossbow/New) – Spike Trap – Sticky Trap spreads to nearby enemies when it explodes. Not sure what the intention is here because there has been no new announced demon hunter sets to work with Spike Trap. But Spike Trap has been ravamped for this patch. It could be that for Natalya builds rather than using Strafe, you could use this crossbow as a complimentary effect. Either that or perhaps in the future, the Shadow set will be revamped to use Spike Trap. I don’t see this being a must have for this patch though.
• [d3]Lion’s Claw[/d3] (Fist Weapon/New) – Seven-Sided Strike performs an additional 7 strikes. I can see someone using this and [d3]The Fist of Az’Turrasq[/d3] in terms of dual wielding then having The Flow of Eternity as their weapon passive to get the cooldown reduction for Seven-Sided Strike and maximizing their Exploding Palm/Seven-Sided Strike combo effect. Monks might be the way to go in seasons.
• [d3]Henri’s Perqquisition[/d3] (Mojo/New) – The first time an enemy deals damage to you, reduce that damage by 45-60% and Charm the enemy for 3 seconds. Doesn’t sound all that great at this moment. More for novelty or perhaps just for damage reduction and CC as a passive.
• Fazula‘s Improbable Chain (Belt/New) – Archon stacks also increase attack speed, armor and resistances by 1%. Not sure if this is on a per stack basis because 1% by itself is pretty weak. But if it is on a per stack basis, then this is going to be a must have for Vyr Archon builds.

Although these are the currently announced revamped and new items, I’m hoping that we’ll see stuff like the Shadow demon hunter set, Sunwuko, Invokers and Leapquake sets receive some attention as well. But most likely those will be saved for a future patch.

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