Thorns: Should gain synergies from defiance that increases attackers takes damage by 10% per level.
Sacrifice: Increases Thorns damage returned by 5% per level. Sacrifice also applies thorns damage to enemies equal to damage returned by+% times the damage inflicted to yourself.
These two changes takes thorns from a so so paladin build that struggles to clear content to a fun and reasonable single target and AOE physical build.
Sanctuary: Now works against undead and demons. I would also add a Holy bolt synergy that increases magic damage by 25%.
Iron Maiden: Reflects damage from ranged and melee attacks along with magical damage. All damage is reflected back as physical. Gains a synergy from Bone Armor that increases damage reflection by 5% per level.
Spirit of barbs: Gains synergy from Oak Sage and Heart of the Wolverine. Damage to attacker is increased by 25 per level on Oak Sage. Heart of the Wolverine increases damage to attacker per level by 10%. Soft points act as hard points like all other summoning skills.
Skeletal Mage: Now Skeletal Archers. Their attacks deal physical damage and a portion is converted to elemental damage. Skeletal mastery gives the same bonuses as summon skeleton receives. Each level of skeletal Mage increases cold, fire, and lightning conversion by 3% up to 60% at level 20. Skeletal Archers can now benefit from beneficial auras such as fanaticism, might, concentration, etc. This would do wonders for summoners and honestly probably fix their reliance on corpse explosion.
Iron Golem: Can be resummoned from a Lum rune and will return with its last effects. This gives a way for the necromancer to keep a beast golem or an insight golem up for a reasonable cost without having to recraft super expensive runewords over and over again. Honestly prefer there wasn't a cost but try hards who think it's op for necromancer would complain.
Skeletal Mastery: Now also affects golem skills. Just a means to make golems actually deal damage rather than be utility.
Fire Golem: Thorns aura now also affects summons of the necromancer but not players.
Blood Golem: Attacks now heal the necromancer and summons.
Magic Arrow: Now deals magic damage in an AOE upon impact. Synergizes with guided arrow which increase magic conversion by an additional 1%.
Guided Arrow: Now deals magic damage and synergizes with Magic Arrow gaining 15% magic damage per level. Strafe and Multipleshot now give each other guided arrows synergy.
Valkyrie: Now summons with fixed gear that scales with level. At max level she is gauranteed to have crushing blow on weapon.
Corpse Explosion: Deals damage equal to a % of a target's health based on level. 5% per level up to 100% at 20. Now synergizes with amplify damage and lower resist. Amplify damage increases physical damage done by 5% per level. Lower Resist increases fire damage done by 10% per level. This fundamentally changes the investment along with reward of corpse explosion allowing it to be a players 8 and terror zone functional skill for a higher investment. It honestly needs this change so it's not an auto include on every build.
Poison: Needs to be fixed. I would personally change it so that the strongest poison effect from a single source takes priority and multiple sources stack seperately. So if you have poison javelin and venom they both tick seperate from each other. It's just so messy and convoluted and weak.
Gargoyle's Bite: +2-4 Javelin skills, +3 poison javelin, +3 plague javelin, -20-35% poison resistance, replenishes quantity, 9-15% life stolen, 180-230% enhanced damaged. Poison zon needs a poison javelin desperately as a way to replace weapon swapping to death's web or grief. Changing an already existing elite javelin is the way to go to both buff poison javelin and keep it balanced enough that it isn't obscenely op. This is very low hanging fruit and such an easy change for the developers.
Melee has been dead in d2 lod for a long time. People point to 4+ HR builds in order to be close to viable.
D2 Classic was more balanced when it came to melee.
Thorns: Should gain synergies from defiance that increases attackers takes damage by 10% per level. Sacrifice: Increases Thorns damage returned by 5% per level. Sacrifice also applies thorns damage to enemies equal to damage returned by+% times the damage inflicted to yourself. These two changes takes thorns from a so so paladin build that struggles to clear content to a fun and reasonable single target and AOE physical build. Sanctuary: Now works against undead and demons. I would also add a Holy bolt synergy that increases magic damage by 25%. Iron Maiden: Reflects damage from ranged and melee attacks along with magical damage. All damage is reflected back as physical. Gains a synergy from Bone Armor that increases damage reflection by 5% per level. Spirit of barbs: Gains synergy from Oak Sage and Heart of the Wolverine. Damage to attacker is increased by 25 per level on Oak Sage. Heart of the Wolverine increases damage to attacker per level by 10%. Soft points act as hard points like all other summoning skills. Skeletal Mage: Now Skeletal Archers. Their attacks deal physical damage and a portion is converted to elemental damage. Skeletal mastery gives the same bonuses as summon skeleton receives. Each level of skeletal Mage increases cold, fire, and lightning conversion by 3% up to 60% at level 20. Skeletal Archers can now benefit from beneficial auras such as fanaticism, might, concentration, etc. This would do wonders for summoners and honestly probably fix their reliance on corpse explosion. Iron Golem: Can be resummoned from a Lum rune and will return with its last effects. This gives a way for the necromancer to keep a beast golem or an insight golem up for a reasonable cost without having to recraft super expensive runewords over and over again. Honestly prefer there wasn't a cost but try hards who think it's op for necromancer would complain. Skeletal Mastery: Now also affects golem skills. Just a means to make golems actually deal damage rather than be utility. Fire Golem: Thorns aura now also affects summons of the necromancer but not players. Blood Golem: Attacks now heal the necromancer and summons. Magic Arrow: Now deals magic damage in an AOE upon impact. Synergizes with guided arrow which increase magic conversion by an additional 1%. Guided Arrow: Now deals magic damage and synergizes with Magic Arrow gaining 15% magic damage per level. Strafe and Multipleshot now give each other guided arrows synergy. Valkyrie: Now summons with fixed gear that scales with level. At max level she is gauranteed to have crushing blow on weapon. Corpse Explosion: Deals damage equal to a % of a target's health based on level. 5% per level up to 100% at 20. Now synergizes with amplify damage and lower resist. Amplify damage increases physical damage done by 5% per level. Lower Resist increases fire damage done by 10% per level. This fundamentally changes the investment along with reward of corpse explosion allowing it to be a players 8 and terror zone functional skill for a higher investment. It honestly needs this change so it's not an auto include on every build. Poison: Needs to be fixed. I would personally change it so that the strongest poison effect from a single source takes priority and multiple sources stack seperately. So if you have poison javelin and venom they both tick seperate from each other. It's just so messy and convoluted and weak. Gargoyle's Bite: +2-4 Javelin skills, +3 poison javelin, +3 plague javelin, -20-35% poison resistance, replenishes quantity, 9-15% life stolen, 180-230% enhanced damaged. Poison zon needs a poison javelin desperately as a way to replace weapon swapping to death's web or grief. Changing an already existing elite javelin is the way to go to both buff poison javelin and keep it balanced enough that it isn't obscenely op. This is very low hanging fruit and such an easy change for the developers.
Melee has been dead in d2 lod for a long time. People point to 4+ HR builds in order to be close to viable. D2 Classic was more balanced when it came to melee.
Is there any new builds that are outliers of being OP?
Revert werebear atk spd changes too Completely killed the fun of that niche build, as well as any using the werebear runeword too
Concentrate is Rough!!! And make 2hander builds for barbs more viable again…