Mod Release: Black Razor

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JDS
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by JDS » Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:29 pm

mmpx222 wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:04 pm
Thanks for your reply. I won't have any time to play during the Lunar New Year, but maybe I'll have another go next week.
Happy new year! :)
JDS wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:26 pm
I understand that it didn't make you feel to play anymore. But really, I think you need to give it another try -- just play a bit more carefully next time. Maybe you're used to the pure hack&slay playstyle of LoD (and many other mods), where the fun is in the splashy abilities, drops, and high-end builds. In this mod we tried to focus on the tactical movement and positioning, the thrill of not knowing what you'll find and having to make go with what you do find, and the near endless possibilities of itemization and builds.
So the mod is designed like a roguelike?
Yes, yes, that's exactly the goal! I can't claim that we accomplished it and there are definitely many issues still (e.g., the necro, or some affixes that are way too expensive making you super duper rich), but I think we get closer with each release :)
I kinda see your point. Maybe I did have a different expectation of how to play the game. I expected to skim through act 1 within a few hours, but given that each monster is so durable, it would actually take days.
Yes, it can take a few days to get through the first act. Since there is no "end game" - in fact the mod ends with the normal difficulty - I think that is fair.

I'm still a bit surprised how durable you describe the monsters. With a barbarian I can 1-shot fallen at the beginning. If you take more hits, could it be you are not playing /players1? It happened to me a few times when I switched from LoD to the mod.
It seems the zombies are specifically overtuned. As a Barbarian, fighting one costs too much HP to be worth it. Maybe I should avoid them and rely on Flavie a bit.

Exactly -- I avoid them at least until I get an armor and a few points of def. Then I can dance around then and heal between hits. Sometimes if I find a good ranged weapon (like a bow with elemental damage) I use that on the slow zombies.
Thanks for the tip on regen. Self sustain is a big problem at level 1, so having some would be great. If I'm having trouble healing, should I invest in vit?
Yes, absolutely. Vit increases regen by a good amount. Maybe too much to be honest, but we need more feedback to be sure.
About point 4: After a hit recovery, do all my attacks miss as long as I keep right click pressed?
No, only the first. The problem is that because this attack misses it will not send the other monster into recovery, which will attack immediately after, so you have a high chance to be hit again. This can create a sequence of multiple attacks where your character shows the swing animation without actually attacking, resulting in the fights taking forever and you losing a lot of life.
The amazing thing is that in LoD this is barely noticeable because of how the game is balanced; here, where it is much more 1:1, it's the difference between life and death (or at least a full potion bar and an empty one ;)).

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Sat Feb 02, 2019 9:48 pm

If u spend skill points then press the X (reset option) u lose your skill point.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by JDS » Sat Feb 02, 2019 9:57 pm

Doub wrote:
Sat Feb 02, 2019 9:48 pm
If u spend skill points then press the X (reset option) u lose your skill point.
You mean the one sold by Akara? Ouch.
Can you give more details on what happened? Did you start a new character with the new version of the mod, spend some skill points, reset, and receive back fewer skill points than you spent? You're playing on D2 1.13c via D2SE, right?

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Sun Feb 03, 2019 10:51 am

Yes i dl it yesterday. Lvled to 2, chose a skill then reset (with the X mark) and lost that 1 skill point i had.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by JDS » Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:10 pm

Thanks. I'll see if I can find a way to reproduce the error. On my copy the token works perfectly (I'm playing on 1.14d).

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Mon Feb 04, 2019 2:19 am

I think Doub is talking about the "Reset All Skills" button added by PlugY. Which shouldn't be possible since you disabled PlugY in 2.1...so he either unpacked and overwrote PlugY.ini, or is not using D2SE, or is using a wrong version of the mod.
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Mon Feb 04, 2019 11:44 am

@mmpx222
Yes thats what i did i used the Reset all button on the plugy.
--
hmmm i use D2SE, i just copied the mod into the MODS folders, didnt add any plugy to it.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by JDS » Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:46 pm

Oh, I see. Thanks for figuring it out for me : )
Since I don't use D2SE it's tricky for me to figure out what's going on with PlugY, but I definitely didn't mean to disable it or make it behave oddly like that.

For the next version of the mod, I have changed the config file of PlugY by setting

Code: Select all

ActiveSkillsUnassignmentOneForOne=1
I hope that will prevent the problem from happening in the future.
If you want to fix your character, my suggestion would be to increase the number of skill points on level up to 2 with PlugY, level up once, and set it back to 1, so that you get your skill point back.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Tue Feb 05, 2019 11:49 am

I like your way of thinking, very much like me in many cases, so while playing i will come up with suggestions. Here are some:

1) Make options available ONLY in shops and increase their price as much as u think it will be balanced.
This will give the player a sense of control and resource management instead of depending on luck that sometimes can become very frustrating.

2) This is one of my notes for my mod.... and its related to monster behavior/AI.
To tweak monsters AI u need to play around with aip1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8 in the MonStats.txt. BUT, not all monsters will work properly with the same changes. For example, I need to increase aip1 and aip2 to around 100-150 for Quill Rats to behave as I want. If I use aip3 or more they become “buggy”.

3)Reduce all monsters defense to 0 and increase it only when u think it fits the monster you have defense. Like for example. Flying birds can have high defense (or just give them Amazons evasion? Not sure if possible). And for other monsters and bosses u can simply increase damage reduction.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Tue Feb 05, 2019 12:01 pm

and btw, i did this change myself ActiveSkillsUnassignmentOneForOne=1
but didnt work for some reason, not sure what i am missing.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:56 am

JDS wrote:
Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:46 pm
For the next version of the mod, I have changed the config file of PlugY by setting

Code: Select all

ActiveSkillsUnassignmentOneForOne=1
I hope that will prevent the problem from happening in the future.
I believe that setting has been nonfunctional for a while. Median and several other mods disable PlugY's skill reset feature to prevent the skill point vortex bug. Akara and Tokens of Absolution work fine, though.
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:36 pm

Im not sure why u mention Median... ? :roll:

Arent Akara's option and Tokens of Absolution limited in Black Razor mod? or.... im totally confused.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:49 am

JDS wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:26 pm
1. roam around and get some gold to buy rags from Gheed. They will give you passive health regeneration.
This was the missing link that made the game playable. HP regen from Vitality works only with body armor; I was running around with no armor and had zero regen. Because regen is the only source of healing, playing without body armor is impossible. This info is so important that you should add it in the original post.

Other information that should be clarified in the first post:
  • Dexterity gives +1% Magic Find, +1 Max Stamina, and +1% Defense per 1 dex. It also gives +1% Faster Run/Walk per 11 dex.
  • Vitality gives +1 Replenish Life (≒ 0.098 life/sec) per 2 vit. You have a baseline HP regen of 3 (≒ 0.29 life/sec).
  • All of the above bonuses work only if you have a body armor equipped.
  • All weapons, including bows/crossbows/javelins/throwing weapons, gain +10% damage per 1 str (i.e. 1000 StrBonus). Dex provides no damage boost to any weapon, not even the ranged weapons.
  • Shields (for Smite) and boots (for Assassin kick skills) provide only +2% damage per 1 str (i.e. 200 StrBonus). Possible oversight?
Also, perhaps give all classes some rags equipped as the starting item, instead of mandating a visit to Gheed every game.

Balance Issues

Moved to a separate post; see below.

Bugs
  • Raise Skeleton and Raise Skeletal Mage tooltips display the wrong value for maximum number of skeletons.
  • Added 2019-02-11: I can't complete the Horadric Malus quest. After killing the Smith in the Barracks, I clicked on the malus stand (clickable object) to take the malus, but my character keeps repeating "I can't" and does not retrieve the hammer. This is a Level 5 Necromancer in hardcore single player, by the way. Things I've tried, but didn't fix the problem:
    • Removing everything in my inventory (except the gear)
    • Exiting and entering a new game
  • Added 2019-02-11: Summon Resist does not provide any resist bonus to the necromancer summons, even though the tooltips say so.
  • Added 2019-02-11: The Viper Amulet spawns with a rare item name and affixes, and the Staff of Kings/Horadric Staff spawns with zero modifiers. I believe this is because you disabled them (enabled=0) in UniqueItems.txt -- is this intentional?
  • Added 2019-02-13: The mod contains a PlugY.ini with ActivePlugin=1, so I assume PlugY is allowed. However, PlugY is disabled when the mod is loaded using D2SE; in the packaged D2SE_SETUP.ini, you added EnablePlugY=0.
--------
Doub wrote:
Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:36 pm
Im not sure why u mention Median... ? :roll:
To clarify my intents:
  • PlugY allows you to reset skill points. This works fine in vanilla Diablo 2, but will destroy all your skill points (i.e. skill point vortex bug) in several mods (possibly including BlackRazor).
  • ActiveSkillsUnassignmentOneForOne=1 does NOT prevent the skill point vortex bug
  • The only known solution is to completely disable PlugY's skill reset. I mentioned Median as an example of a mod that does this.
Doub wrote:
Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:36 pm
Arent Akara's option and Tokens of Absolution limited in Black Razor mod? or.... im totally confused.
Yes, Akara resets are limited to once per difficulty, but Tokens of Absolutions can be bought and used repeatedly as long as you have the gold.
Last edited by mmpx222 on Wed Feb 13, 2019 8:49 am, edited 9 times in total.
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:59 am

Tokens Of Absolution exist in the vanilla game? (i only finished vanilla normal :D )

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:56 am

Doub wrote:
Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:59 am
Tokens Of Absolution exist in the vanilla game? (i only finished vanilla normal :D )
Yes.
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:11 pm

only Hell difficulty though.. which isnt really helpful... https://diablo.gamepedia.com/Token_of_A ... Diablo_II)

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:12 pm

Doub wrote:
Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:11 pm
only Hell difficulty though.. which isnt really helpful... https://diablo.gamepedia.com/Token_of_A ... Diablo_II)
Yes. However, in BlackRazor, the ToAs can be purchased from Akara in Normal difficulty.
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Sat Feb 09, 2019 3:56 pm

:OI: :OI: :OI:

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Sat Feb 09, 2019 11:11 pm

PAssive regen from Vitality doesnt seem to always work, sometimes it just doesnt.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Wed Feb 13, 2019 8:42 am

Black Razor 2.1 Balance Critique

As the list of balance issues was growing, I split this into a separate post.

Early Game Balance

Level 1 is too harsh for (untwinked) classes without proper starting skills: the Paladin, Barbarian, Druid, and Assassin. Relying on Flavie should not be a core level 1 strategy.

Solutions:
  • Increase the ToHitFactor in CharStats.txt so that they can reliably hit Fallen.
  • Give all new characters some rags in the body armor slot.
  • Give all classes a StartSkill so that the early game is less boring.
  • Alternative: Give the melee classes a bow and quiver so they can reach level 2 without running out of potions.
Skill Balance

I really like having only 20 levels. Since skill points are scarce, maxing out a skill is impossible, and you have to carefully choose where to assign your next point. Compare cLoD, where you can easily maximize 3-4 skills, and the end-game build is figured out, so choosing where to put each point is less exciting.

Skills need to be properly rebalanced to counteract the removal of level requirements and prerequisites. Powerful skills like Frozen Orb and Hurricane can be used as early as level 2. These skills also cost too much mana. This encourages a degenerate playstyle where you annihilate mobs with 1-2 powerful spell, and sit idle 20 seconds to recover mana.

Spells that hit multiple times deal too much damage. Frozen Orb spawns 46 missiles per cast, yet each shard deals more damage than a single Meteor. Same goes for Blizzard.

Summoning spells also need to be rebalanced. The necroskeleton, all of the golems, and the Grizzy deal too much damage. The Golems and the Grizzly also have too much HP. (Also, their listed HP and damage in tooltips are out of sync.)

Mana Balance

Mana potions are too scarce. I am often forced to wait 20-30 seconds regenerating mana before taking on the next pack of monsters. This is a waste of play time.

Solution: Increase mana potion drop rates in TreasureClassEx.txt. Increase mana regen rate. Increase mana gain per energy (0.25 mana/energy is too harsh, even for a Barbarian).

Gold Balance

Gold balance is worse than cLoD. Since random magic items sell for very high prices, picking up gold (and +gold% find) is irrelevant. This makes gold gain very inconsistent and RNG-ey, which exacerbates the next issue.

Consumables like identify/teleport scrolls and resist potions are prohibitively expensive. This makes the early-game impossible, until you are lucky enough to find some magic items--at which point it becomes trivial.

Solution: Reduce the amount of gold vendors pay for items sold. Reduce consumable prices. Reduce cost multiplier in Skills.txt and ItemStatCost.txt. Reduce NoDrop, so that gold/item drops are more consistent.

Class Balance

Melee classes need more love. They need every point of vit just to survive, so they cannot afford to invest in other stats. Melee skills scale very poorly when compared to spells.

Solution: Increase ToHitFactor. Increase base stats of melee classes. Increase the base damage of melee weapons. Add something that benefits melee classes more than casters (maybe melee weapons give protection and/or defense?)

Alternatively, make strength NOT boost spell damage. Then you could make str give protection and/or defense, so that melee classes can become stronger overall, while casters have to choose between strength and energy.
Last edited by mmpx222 on Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:50 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by Doub » Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:14 am

@mmpx222
On Skill Balance.
D2 Vanilla way of skill learning is bad and meaningless in the first place. For me, this system is better because at least it doesnt give u this delusion that all skills are equal and force you into learning useless skills at first so that later on you respec and learn the good ones.
The only true solution would be to make each skill have the same value in one way or another, like, aoe dmg, single target, depending on the effect, etc. And again, the only true solution to my understanding is to remove useless skills that simply cant be improved because it ends up being the same with other skills OR find a way to improve it that much that its comparable with the rest of the skills.

On Potions
Above I suggested that he makes them buyable only and increase their cost so that ppl dont just spam them. At least this way u have a choice to manage your Gold and buy potions if u need instead of waiting the luck to kick in.

---

Also dont forget that VIT is supposed to give HP regen.. im saying supposed because for me it bugs sometimes and simply doesnt regen HP.

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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Wed Feb 13, 2019 3:34 pm

I just beat Baal in Hardcore Normal as a Necromancer. I would like to share the build I used.

Black Razor 2.1: Hardcore Poisonmancer

This Necromancer relies on three overpowered skills: Poison Nova, Bone Spirit, and Fire Golem. He can wipe kill large packs of monsters and dispatch bosses safely. He is one of the few characters that can earn gold faster than they spend on town portal scrolls!

Tactics Discussion

Run into a group of monsters, cast Poison Nova, run away, watch everyone melt. Repeat until nearly all monsters are dead. Your Bone Armor will absorb incidental monster attacks, and the Fire Golem, mercenary, and other minions will clean up any remaining monsters.

In dungeons, make the golem enter the room before you, so he takes the aggro while you run in after him and wreak havoc.

Against act bosses, cast Decrepify and let the Fire Golem tank while you spam Bone Spirit from afar.

Primary Skills

Your maximum level is 20, which means you only get 23 skill points. Choose wisely.

Note: Red text indicates discrepancies between tooltip numbers and actual stats!

Fire Golem: 1 point
  • Life: 313 × (100% + 20% × (Golem Mastery slvl) + 5% × (Blood Golem slvl))
  • Avg. Physical Damage: 79.5 (not displayed in-game)
  • Avg. Fire Damage: 33 + 14 × slvl (including bonus from Holy Fire)
  • Holy Fire aura damage: 4 + 0.75 × slvl
  • Holy Fire aura radius: 8 + (1/3 × slvl) yards
Skill Level12345678910
Avg. Fire Damage47617589103117131145160175
Holy Fire Aura Damage4.755.56.2577.758.59.251010.7511.5
Holy Fire Aura Radius (yards)8.679.331010.6711.331212.6713.331414.67

The Fire Golem is one of the strongest summons at skill level 1. It can 1-shot most monsters throughout the game and is very durable. Its Holy Fire aura helps finish off monsters and draws monster aggro away from you.

Invest your first skill point here, and it will carry you to the end game. Since additional skill points only increase its damage and attack rating, only a single point is enough.

Note: Holy Fire damage displayed in the tooltips are affected by your strength. Since the golem has zero strength, actual damage is much lower.

Poison Nova: 1-5 points
  • Avg. Poison Damage: (54.7 + 15.6 × slvl) × (100% + 10% × strength) over 2 seconds [levels 1~8]
  • Mana Cost: 3 + slvl
Skill Level12345678910
Avg. Poison Damage70.385.9101.6117.2132.8148.4164.1179.7203.1226.6

This is your primary killing tool. It boasts the highest total damage among all Necromancer spells, and covers a massive area. You can 1-2 shot most monsters w/o poison resistance.

Spend your second skill point (from Akara) here. It's mana cost is absurdly high, so don't invest too much points here. To maximize mana efficiency, hit as many monsters as possible with a single cast.

Bone Spirit: 1-5 points
  • Avg. Magic Damage: (16.5 + 8.5 × slvl) × (100% + 10% × strength) [levels 1~8]
  • Mana Cost: 1.5 + 0.5 × slvl
Skill Level12345678910
Avg. Magic Damage2533.54250.55967.57684.597109.5

This is your boss killing tool. It deals large damage to a single target, does not require aim, and can be spammed from a safe distance. You can also use it against Poison Immunes (Act 5 barricades, doors, etc.).

Get this skill before taking on Andariel, as Poison Nova is useless against her. It costs a lot of mana, so invest judiciously.

Bone Armor: 5-10 points
  • Damage Absorbed: 10 + 10 × slvl
  • Mana Cost: 3 + slvl
  • Cooldown: 30 seconds
This is your second health bar. You will be aggressively charging into monsters to maximize Poison Nova value, so you need all the protection you can get. This has a fairly long cooldown, so always be aware of it.

Invest 1 point here before entering the Barracks. Most of your spare skill points should also go here.

Decrepify: 1 point
  • Effect: -50% movement speed, -50% damage, -50% physical resist, -50% attack speed
  • Duration: 3.4 + 0.6 × slvl seconds
  • Mana Cost: 1 + 0.5 × slvl
This is your boss killing tool (2). Get this skill before taking on Andariel. Only 1 point is needed, since it becomes less mana efficient with skill level.

Secondary Skills

Raise Skeleton: 0-X points
  • Life: (21 + 15 × slvl) × (100% + 50% × max(0, slvl - 3))
  • Avg. Damage: 60.5 + (slvl - 1) × (100% + 7% × (Skeleton Mastery slvl) + 10% × strength)
    (Also gains 7% × max(0, slvl - 3) Enhanced Damage)
  • # of Necroskeletons: 1 + (approx. (Skeleton Mastery slvl) ÷ 3) (see Skeleton Mastery for details)
Skill Level12345678910
Max HP365166121.5192277.5378493.5624769.5
Avg. Damage60.561.562.567.973.579.385.191.197.3103.6

The Necromancer starts with a wand with +1 to Raise Skeleton. A level 1 Necroskeleton deals significant damage and can easily 1-shot most monsters in Act 1. He will carry you to level 2, at which point Fire Golem will take his place.

Don't put your first few skill points here, as the # of necroskeletons do NOT increase with skill level, and the points are needed elsewhere. Its Life scales rapidly with skill level, so invest spare points here if you want a second tank / physical damage dealer. Otherwise, you can use the 1-point necroskeleton like a zergling--very fragile, but deals significant damage if kept alive.

Raise Skeletal Mage: 0-1 point
  • Life: (61 + 15 × slvl) × (100% + 7% × max(0, slvl - 3))
  • Missile Level: max(0, [slvl ÷ 2 - 1]) + (Skeleton Mastery slvl)
  • # of Necromages: 1 + (approx. (Skeleton Mastery slvl) ÷ 9) (see Skeleton Mastery for details)
Skill Level12345678910
Max HP7691106129.47155.04182.71212.48244.35278.32314.39
Missile Level0001122334

A single cold Necromage is marginally useful for its slowing effect. Unfortunately, its damage is mediocre, and while it has more life than the Necroskeleton at level 1, it grows less quickly. Also, the # of Necromages does NOT increase with skill level. Use only as a 1-point wonder.

Skeleton Mastery: 0-4 points
  • # of Necroskeletons: (slvl / 2) - (slvl / 6) + 1
  • # of Necromages: (slvl / 6) - (slvl / 18) + 1
  • # of Revives: slvl / 18 + 1
  • Mastery Bonuses to Raise Skeleton:
    • AR: +15 per mastery slvl
    • Defense: +15 per mastery slvl
    • Damage: Increases bonus damage by 7% per mastery slvl. [small](This is rather complicated; see Raise Skeleton)[/small]
    • Also reduces Life regeneration for some reason. (Why?)
  • Mastery Bonuses to Raise Skeleton Mage:
    • AR: +15 per mastery slvl
    • Missile Level: +1 per mastery slvl
    • Also reduces Life regeneration for some reason. (Why?)
  • Mastery Bonuses to Revive:
    • Life +%: +5% per mastery slvl
    • Damage +%: +10% per mastery slvl
Skill Level12345678910
# of Necroskeletons1223333445
# of Necromages1111122222
# of Revives1111111111
Total3445566778

Skeleton Mastery increases the number of Necroskeletons, Necromages, and Revives at every other level. In fact, this skill is the only means of increasing the number of summons. I really like this idea, but the numbers need to be adjusted. As it is, the practical maximum number of Necromages is 2, and Revives 1. This is not enough.

Skeleton Mastery also improves minion damage. It strongly affects Necromage/Revive damage, but only slightly increases Necroskeleton damage. These effects are mostly irrelevant, since Necromage damage is still quite small, and the number of Necromages/Revives is limited.

For a full summoner build, I recommend investing only 4 points here. Skill points are scarce, and an extra Necromage is much less useful than an extra Necroskeleton. Ignore this skill if you prefer a more active playstyle.

Other Skills
  • Revive: A single revive might be useful as a second tank. However, monsters generally have much higher defense than AR, so it will deal little damage--if it ever attacks, that is. Revive AI is very dumb. Also, the # of Necromages does NOT increase with skill level. In fact, additional skill levels have no effect at all!. Use only as a 1-point wonder.
  • Clay/Blood/Iron Golem: While the other golems also have high damage, they are less than the Fire Golem at level 1. The Clay and Blood Golems also have much less Life than the Fire Golem, and would require more skill points to match the Fire Golem's durability. The Iron Golem has high defense compared to monster AR, making the thorns effect useless. The synergy bonuses are not worth it.
  • Golem Mastery: This increases the Fire Golem's life and movement speed. The golem already has a massive HP pool, though, so you won't need it.
  • Dim Vision, Terror: Potentially useful when wading through dangerous, tight monster packs. Only 1 point should be enough, as you won't have more to spare.
  • Amplify Damage, Lower Resist: Greatly nerfed compared to cLoD; they now have sharply diminishing returns. Your will never need these curses, as your spells and summons already deal massive damage.
  • Weaken/Life Tap/Iron Maiden/Confuse/Attract: Useless or irrelevant to this build.
  • Teeth, Bone Spear: Deals too little damage. 1-shotting monsters is much safer than 10-shotting them.
  • Poison Dagger: Deals too little damage and requires you to melee. High risk, low return.
  • Corpse Explosion: Requires a significant skill point investment to cover as wide an area as Poison Nova, by then which costs a ridiculous amount of mana. Poison Explosion can also 1- or 2-shot most monsters and does not require a corpse.
  • Poison Explosion: Worse in every aspect compared to Poison Nova.
  • Bone Wall, Bone Prison: Might be useful for crowd control, but unnecessary in practice. Why waste mana setting up barricades when you can instantly melt them with Poison Nova?
Stat Discussion
  • Strength: Each point adds +10% skill synergy damage. Early-game, your spells and summons deal so much damage that this is not needed. Consider investing in strength over energy when you have enough +Mana gear.
  • Dexterity: Each point adds +5 AR, +0.25 defense, +1 Max Stamina, +1% Defense, +1% Magic Find, +0.091% movement speed. Looks fancy, but not worth it.
  • Vitality: Each point adds +2 Max Life and +0.5 HP regen per second. This is a hardcore guide, so ~50% of your stat points should go here.
  • Energy: Each point adds +0.75 Max Mana. Early game, you will be mana hungry, so invest ~50% of your stat points here. Later on, when you have enough +Mana gear, strength surpasses energy in terms of mana efficiency.
Mercenary Discussion

This build is powerful and should work with any mercenary. That said, some thoughts on the merc choice:
  • Act 1 Rogue: I prefer this one. I already have a strong tank (Fire Golem), so I don't really need another. She is available at early game, tends to stay away from danger and does not block the golem in narrow passages. She also uses Inner Sight, which allows her and the golem to land attacks more frequently.
  • Act 2 Desert Merc: I can see the Prayer/Defiance merc being used for survival, or Blessed Aim for increased damage output. He would block narrow passageways in Act 2, though.

    Since this mod is Normal difficulty-only, Nightmare mercs (Thorns/Holy Freeze/Might) are out of the question.
  • Act 3 Iron Wolf: Since spells receive synergy from strength, I expect these will be much stronger than they were in cLoD. However, they have very low health, so using them might be tricky.
  • Act 5 Barbarian: Unlocks too late in the game to be useful.
Gear Discussion

Purchase and wear a rag from Gheed as soon as possible. HP regeneration from vitality activates only when you have a body armor equipped, and because potions are no longer available at vendors, HP regen is vital to your early game survival.

Focus on gear that provides +Life, +Vitality, +Mana and Mana Regen. +Mana provides more mana than +Energy.

Wear items with +Strength, as it increases your spell damage. Sometimes, +strength items can be more mana efficient than +mana or +energy items.

Defense and protection is useful for your merc, not you. You will be running around a lot, so defense matters little. Protection does not reduce the amount of damage absorbed by Bone Armor, and it won't be relevant against the high-damage attacks that can shatter your Bone Armor.

Shop for wands with:
  • + to Golem Mastery. This will be your "Fire Golem summoning" wand. Fire Golems never die outside of boss fights, so you can carry it around in your inventory. Even better if it also has + to Fire Golem.
  • + to Bone Armor. This will be your "Bone Armor casting" wand, ready to swap in combat.
  • Mana regen/energy/faster cast rate. This is your combat wand.
  • + to Raise Skeleton/Raise Skeletal Mage. It's nice to have an extra body in front of you, or to catch straggling monsters.
Miscellaneous

Picking up and selling scrap magic items will net you a large amount of gold. Magic Find will increase your income much more than Gold Find.

Be frugal with potions, as they are scarce (esp. mana potions). Once you have enough gold, you can use town portal scrolls to restore health/mana and save potions for emergencies.
Last edited by mmpx222 on Mon Feb 18, 2019 10:32 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:21 pm

I gave up trying to make the Barbarian work. This class feels like Dark Souls minus the satisfaction. What's baffling is that the other classes--especially the mages--are downright broken. I am confused as to whether the Barbarian is intended to be so difficult, or is a result of poor balancing.
JDS wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:29 pm
With a barbarian I can 1-shot fallen at the beginning.
...if you do hit the Fallen, that is.

The Attack Rating formula for players is 5 × (Dex - 7) + (ToHitFactor), where ToHitFactor = 45 for all classes in Black Razor 2.1. Since the Barbarian starts with 6 dex, his AR is 5 × (6 - 7) + 45 = 40.

A Fallen is level 1 and has 47 defense. The chance-to-hit formula is 100 × AR ÷ (AR + DR) × 2 × alvl ÷ (alvl + dlvl), so your chance to hit the Fallen is 100 × 40 ÷ (40 + 47) × 2 × 1 ÷ (1 + 1) = 46.0%. The Fallen also has a ToBlock of 9%, which means actual chance to hit is 41.8%. Don't be fooled by the values in the Lying Character Screen--it's bugged.

Meanwhile, your start with [6 dex ÷ 4] = 1 defense. Since the Fallen has 6 AR, he can hit you 100 × 6 ÷ (6 + 1) × 2 × 1 ÷ (1 + 1) = 85.7% of the time.

Why do I have only 1 defense? Because I don't start with any defensive gear and can't afford one. I need to kill monsters to earn gold, but I can't kill any because I'm too weak. See where I'm going?

I won't elaborate on the Zombies with 3.4 times the HP of Fallen, or the Quill Rats whose ranged attacks are bugged and have double AR.

Clearly, the Barbarian is not meant to be played untwinked. Each Fallen gives 3 XP; you need 500 XP to reach level 2. You can't kill 167 Fallen with only a double axe and 4 minor healing potions. Running back to Akara 50 times is not fun, either.
JDS wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:29 pm
Exactly -- I avoid them at least until I get an armor and a few points of def. Then I can dance around then and heal between hits. Sometimes if I find a good ranged weapon (like a bow with elemental damage) I use that on the slow zombies.
JDS wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:26 pm
1. roam around and get some gold to buy rags from Gheed. They will give you passive health regeneration.
Why is this not in the first post? How is a new player supposed to know that the HP regen kicks in only with a body armor equipped? This is a core survival/sustain mechanic, not some fancy trick that a modder should hide from players with invisible text, buried deep in page 3 of the thread.

Also, said core mechanic should not be gated behind a dice roll: Can the player find an item in the first 5 minutes that can be sold for enough gold to buy rags? If the first 5-6 monsters do not drop any good items, then your options are grim:
  • Avoid monsters and run around opening chests, hoping to find an expensive item.
  • Run back to Akara after every monster kill. Sounds fun.
  • Cower behind Flavie as she kills monsters for you. Speaking of which...
JDS wrote:
Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:26 pm
3. if you're really having trouble earning some early money, lure enemies to Flavie, she can 1-shot most mobs and even though you won't get XP you might still get some items
...This is a degenerate strategy. The class is so awful at level 1 that a map mechanic is the recommended farming method. Did you know that Flavie also attacks and lures in Corrupt Rogues and Fallen Shamans from Cold Plains? And she can't kill them fast enough before they kill the poor Barbarian? Or that the Fallen Shamans raise any Fallen that Flavie kills?

Please don't be too upset about my attitude, though. I'm venting after my hardcore Barbarian nearly died at level 1.

At least some classes either have a long ranged attack (Sorceress, Amazon) or a starting ability (Sorceress, Necromancer) at level 1, so they can reach level 2 without twinking.

Things don't get better when you get to level 2. Most combat skills are only slightly better than melee attack with only 1 skill point. Some are downright unusable because you have only 2 mana (plus 0.25 per energy).
  • Bash: +50% damage per slvl is nice, but provides no AR bonus, which you sorely need. Also, 0.5 mana is a pretty big figure when you only have 2 mana.
  • Stun: No damage or AR bonus and costs 0.625 mana. Why use this skill?
  • Concentrate: +20% AR bonus is nice, but no damage bonus. Also costs 2 mana when you have 2 max mana.
  • Berserk: Damage is actually rather high if you are damaged. Bonus points for being the only melee skill without a mana cost. A pity it has no AR bonus.
  • Leap Attack: Costs 9 mana. You only have 2 max mana.
  • Whirlwind: No AR bonus and costs 2.5 mana.
  • Double Swing: No AR or damage bonus. +20% attack speed per slvl is good, but also makes you drain mana faster. It doesn't help that the mana cost (0.5) is applied separately to each swing. Also, good luck finding / buying two 1-handed weapons.
  • Double Throw: No AR bonus. +20% damage per slvl is a joke when Strength gives +10% per point. Also, good luck finding / buying two throwing weapons.
  • Frenzy: No AR or damage bonus. Attack speed bonus is mediocre compared to Double Swing, and also makes you drain mana faster. It doesn't help that the mana cost (0.75) is applied separately to each swing. Also, good luck finding / buying two 1-handed weapons.
  • War Cry: Always hits, and deals high damage. Stun is nice. However, mana cost of 3 is prohibitive.
  • Battle Cry: Only reduces enemy defense by 10% at level 1. Also costs 5 mana when you only have 2 max mana.
  • Weapon Masteries: Damage scales with strength--nice, but +5% AR bonus is not enough.
  • Other skills only slightly improve his survivability or provide marginal utility.
The only useful skills at level 2 are Howl, Berserk, and Iron Skin, and they do not solve the fundamental problem: The Barbarian can't reliably hit anything, while everything else is hitting him. You put yourself in more danger by using melee attacks; yet you deal less damage than any other class. You have a pitiful amount of mana, making most skills barely usable; yet your skills are little better than basic attacks.
Last edited by mmpx222 on Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by mmpx222 » Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:35 pm

Doub wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:14 am
@mmpx222
On Skill Balance.
D2 Vanilla way of skill learning is bad and meaningless in the first place. For me, this system is better because at least it doesnt give u this delusion that all skills are equal and force you into learning useless skills at first so that later on you respec and learn the good ones.
The only true solution would be to make each skill have the same value in one way or another, like, aoe dmg, single target, depending on the effect, etc. And again, the only true solution to my understanding is to remove useless skills that simply cant be improved because it ends up being the same with other skills OR find a way to improve it that much that its comparable with the rest of the skills.
Yada yada. The system is meaningless if the individual skills are broken or useless. Which is the case in Black Razor 2.1.

Many games have found success in cLoD-like skill progression systems, or some variation thereof. D2 Vanilla way of skill learning is fine. Blizzard didn't know how to design skill trees or to design skills around them.

(This is not to say that Black Razor-like skill progression is worse. Both systems have their own merits, and people can have different opinions. In Black Razor, the skills are the actual problem.)
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Re: Mod Release: Black Razor

Post by csguak » Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:58 am

mmpx222 wrote:
Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:49 am

[*] Added 2019-02-11: I can't complete the Horadric Malus quest. After killing the Smith in the Barracks, I clicked on the malus stand (clickable object) to take the malus, but my character keeps repeating "I can't" and does not retrieve the hammer. This is a Level 5 Necromancer in hardcore single player, by the way. Things I've tried, but didn't fix the problem:
  • Removing everything in my inventory (except the gear)
  • Exiting and entering a new game
Vanilla game does not allow you to pick up Horadric malus until level 8.

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