Diablo 2 Fallen Strategies #3: Debuffs part 3

[Flix 5,116]

D2F Strategies #3: Debuffs part 3

The debuffs listed here are the leftover odds and ends, that have idiosyncratic effects and behaviors that are unlike other debuffs. Notably, these are the debuffs that you can not protect yourself from with the "Detrimental Magic Effects -X%" modifier.

I inserted Wiki links where appropriate for pictures and further reading.

Stun
Stun is a particularly dangerous debuff because it leaves the player completely incapacitated and helpless. Stun always has a fixed duration: 3 seconds. After being stunned, the player has a 4.5 second immunity to stun, which prevents "stun-lock" exploits (the same is true against enemies).

• It's a common debuff for bosses to use: General Terus and the Facetelleon are particularly dangerous as they have spells with 100% chance to stun. The Nameless Guardians and the Octagolamus have spells with 50% chance to stun.
• "enemy_electricity_shock" - is the narrow electric cone shock used by Willowisps and dozens of other enemies. In D2F it has a 50% chance to stun you.
• "enemy_area_stomp" - the "stomp" is a nova attack that has the same graphics as the Barbarian's War Cry. It's used by large enemies: Minotaurs, Ogres, Trolls, Giants, Ents. 80% chance to stun.
• "enemy_teleport" - enemies that can teleport have a 50% chance to stun you if you're close by. This includes Demon Gremlins, Flayer Shamans, Ice Elementals, Blood Dryad Shamans, Swamp Skeleton Mages, Ghost Mages, Mazzagon, and Icehawk Riftwing
• "enemy_flammenwerfer" - enemies can now use Furious Emblazer, and stun you with it (10% chance). It's used by elite Fire Elementals, Witch Doctor Endugu, and Fire Tower traps.
• "enemy_schockpulse" - elite mechanical guardians in the Wastelands can use Untouchable Force, which of course can stun you (10% chance). Bremm Sparkfist can also use it.
• "enemy_shocknova" - this is a lightning nova I made for the mod. Chance to stun is 20%. It's only used by Stormtree and the Summoner.
• "enemy_wirbelsprung" - Assailing Somersault, used by Izual. 15% chance to stun you if you're near her jumping off point.
• "enemy_brsrk_zerfetzen" - this is a special version of the bleeding hard hit that I made. It additionally has life leech damage and 10% chance to stun you. It's used by werewolves, vampires, bats, Dragon Berserks, Blood Divers, Varmin, the Dark Seraphim, Szzark the Burning, Eyeback the Unleashed, Eldritch the Rectifier, Hephasto the Smith, and Andariel.

The best way to defend against being stunned is to use the item modifiers: 'Block Chance: Stun' or 'Chance to Reflect: Stun.' The modifier also appears on a few combat arts:

• Stun can be blocked by Natural Resistance (Barbarian), and Dodge (Amazon).
• Stun can be reflected by Thorns (Paladin) and Helgrotha's divine gift, Salvation.

 

Knockback
Knockback has been removed from enemies in Diablo 2 Fallen, because it can cause a rare glitch that leaves your character permanently unable to move or take action. The player still has the ability to cause knockback.

There are however also combat arts with a "push" ability, which always triggers and actually knocks you back much further than the standard knockback debuff. These are:

• "boss_krake_flutwelle" - this is the water spray attack used by the Octagolamus. It's also used by the smaller counterparts in the swamp, the Stygian Lurkers.
• "boss_firedemon_wegschlagen" - the Carnach has a melee attack that pushes you back
• "boss_auge_schockwelle" - this is the enemy version of Gust of Wind/Arctic Blast. It's used by the Abishai of Dissension. In D2F it's also used by the Ice Hydra, Snapchip Shatter, and Baal.
• "enemy_cone_wind" - like a weaker gust of wind type attack, this spell is used by harpies, griffons, and Blood Divers in the Cursed Forest.

The "Block Chance: Knockback" modifier has been removed from the game. To avoid being "pushed," Block/Reflect the spell or attack that causes the effect.


CA Regen Penalty
When you are hit by this debuff, you get a CA regeneration penalty for 10 seconds. Spells that took 2 seconds to regenerate may now take 6 seconds. This debuff only appears on one enemy combat art: Mind Strike, used by The Banshee (boss), The Evocator (boss), Scaron (boss), and elite Demonic Skulls in the Blood Forest.


Energy Annihilation
Energy Annihilation is a debuff that disrupts your CA regeneration. When you are hit by it, all your Combat Arts go on regeneration as if you had just cast them. This can be a huge problem for spellcasters or melee characters who rely on combat arts. Luckily there are only two ways to be debuffed like this. One is a trap which you can avoid, the second is close-range buff that requires the enemy to be close to you. It does no damage to you.

• "boss_auge_traps_kk" - another of the Abishai's traps, also used by Achmel the Cursed and elite Mechanical Hunters in the Wastelands.
• "boss_phoenix_energytrap" - used by Narmul the ice phoenix, this is a similar trap to the Abishai's, although this one is static and does not seek you out.
• "enemy_aura_energyleech" - a buff that's only used by Flying Eyes in the normal game. In D2F, it's also used by Witch Moon, Ancient Kaa the Soulless, Frozenstein, and Hierophants.

 

Life Leeched Per Hit
Life Leech damage is serious business because there's no resisting it, not to mention it will heal your opponent in addition to damaging you. Attacks with this property inflict an additional flat amount of Life Leech damage with every hit.

• The Facetelleon has three different attacks with life leeched per hit. A whirlwind aura similar to the Druid's Hurricane, a blue nova explosion, and a temp buff that also slows your movement, attack, and stuns you.
• "boss_auge_blutsturm" - this is a blood-cloud Area of Effect attack used by the Abishai. In D2F it's also used by the Banished (vampire mages) in the Whisperwood.
• "boss_auge_traps_lifeleech" - the Abishai's life leech seeking trap. In D2F it's also used by Varmin, the boss of the Druid's class chain quest.
• "witch_aura_lifeleech" - a life leech aura made for the CM Boss, Asmarael Queen of Spiders. It's also used by Varmin, the Countess, the Blood Lord, and Wyland Voidbringer. It's a temp buff only lasting 20 seconds. It originally had massive Leech Life %, which I removed completely because it was insanely overpowered.
• "buff_aura_lifeleech" - this is a stronger and much longer-lasting life leech aura (still not as strong as Asmarael's old buff). It additionally has a small amount of LL%, and lasts 3 minutes (I would have just made a permanent buff but the mechanics didn't allow for it). It's only used by Mephisto.
• "enemy_brsrk_zerfetzen" - the special bleeding/leeching hard hit used by several enemies (see list above under 'Stun').

 

Leech Life From Opponents %
Generally more useful against enemies (especially those with high hitpoints like bosses), and much more dangerous to you, LL% is fairly rare for enemies to use.

• "boss_krake_heranziehen" - this is the "pull" attack used by the Octagolamus, that draws you towards it and leeches your life.
• "enemy_ghost_schock_1" - the infamous
  used by Flying Eyes, Draconic Dragonflies, and Crystal Traps. It's also used by the Banished, Diablo, Swamp Skeleton Mages, Elite Mummy Priests, Summoner Demons in the Wastelands, Rabbit Cultists, and one of Daloriel's companions (Bergentar).
• "buff_aura_lifeleech" - mentioned above, the life leech buff used by Mephisto.

 

Deadly Strike
Formerly "death blow," this modifier was renamed after the D2 equivalent ability. No enemy spells have this property, but some player combat arts do. It causes you to begin dealing double damage when the target's hitpoints fall below a certain threshold. The threshold is dependent on the combat art and can be raised by the modifier "opponent level for deadly strike." Not strictly a debuff, but worth mentioning to avoid confusion about the renaming. As far as I know there are no enemies that can use Deadly Strike, and there's no way to defend against it (in PVP), except for blocking/reflecting the attack that causes it.


Crushing Blow & Shattering Blow
Crushing Blow was formerly known as Deep Wounds. When triggered, a weapon hit reduces the target's hitpoints by 8% for 10 seconds. No enemy spells have this property, but all playable characters except Sorceress and Necromancer have at least one combat art that can be modified to inflict Crushing Blow.

There is also a stronger version (20% hp reduction) that only appears on items, called Shattering Blow (formerly Deadly Wounds). These two debuffs were renamed after similar D2 modifiers because they don't cause any bleeding damage like the 2 proper 'wounds' debuffs (Open Wounds and Mortal Wounds), and to simplify the terminology.

As far as I know, there are no enemies that can use Crushing Blow or Shattering Blow, and there's no way to defend against it (in PVP), except for blocking/reflecting the attack that causes it.


Mortal Wounds
Formerly 'serious open wounds' this debuff is a combination of Open Wounds and Crushing Blow, reducing your hitpoints by 8% for 10 seconds and causing bleeding DOT. Because of this extreme power it only appears on one enemy spell:

• "boss_auge_traps_mortalstrike" - another of the Abishai's seeking traps, in D2F it's also used by Lachdanan, T-Mutant Orcs, and T-Mutant Dryads.

All playable characters except Sorceress and Druid have one melee combat art that can be modified to inflict Mortal Wounds. Detrimental Magic Effects -X% WILL reduce the bleeding damage, it's unknown if it affects the Crushing Blow effect. As with all the debuffs listed in this installment, the best defense against it is to block/reflect the attack/spell that causes the effect.

If the source of the debuff is a spell, then Philios' divine gift Redemption will provide protection, as it banishes almost all enemy spells and has a high chance to block any that slip through.


This guide wraps up the series on debuffs. If's there anything else about the mod that people would like explained or want some guidance about, I'd probably be willing to write some more articles.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Flix

[Flix 5,116]

Updated for Beta 6. This last debuff guide is meant to tidy up some of the odds and ends that behave unlike other debuffs, and also as a mini-glossary for some of the terms I changed. Deathblow and the "wounds" modifiers almost all got renamed, which might confuse a new player at first.

[Flix 5,116]

For some reason all the links in the guide got corrupted and are now dead. No clue how that could have happened. Apologies to anyone attempting to use the links to view images or click over to the Wiki. I'll repair the links in the next day or so.

[Flix 5,116]

All links have been repaired. Wasn't so bad. And code backed up this time just in case.

 

Here's an addendum on Deadly Strike (Death Blow).

 

If you equip an item with the modifier "Opponent Level for Deadly Strike: X%" then you will begin to deal double damage when the opponent's hitpoints fall below the X% threshold. However, the item modifier will normally only work on weapon attacks, not spells.

 

It's a mistake to say Deadly Strike won't work on spells at all though. A spell can gain this property as a modification or even as a base property, in which case the item modifier "Opponent Level for Deadly Strike: X%" will apply to those spells (by raising the threshold at which the double damage kicks in).

 

The spells that can inflict Deadly Strike in Diablo 2 Fallen are as follows:

 

Assassin:

Psychic Hammer (default property)

Mind Blast (Gold mod "Deadly Strike")

Shock Web (Gold mod "Kilowatt")

Barbarian:

Stun (Gold mod "Coldcock")

War Cry (Gold mod "Roar")

Druid:

Poison Creeper (Gold mod "Deadly Strike")

Werebear (Silver mod "Deadly Strike")

Necromancer:

Bone Spear (Gold mod "Impale")

Paladin:

Fist of the Heavens (Gold mod "Ordeal")

Sorceress:

Inferno (default property)

All remaining references to "Deathblow" in modifications are changed to "Deadly Strike" in Beta 7, to avoid confusion.

[Flix 5,116]

The addendum post above about Deadly Strike has been updated for BETA 7. The Sorceress's Inferno and the Druid's Werebear can now inflict Deadly Strike.