Naturally, the next step was to add 60 more.
That sounds slightly contradictory, but it is actually part of the same plan. Blizzard is retiring older and underused Essences while simultaneously introducing a fresh batch designed around current class builds.
The August 12 update adds six new Legendary Affixes for every one of Diablo Immortal's ten classes, giving Barbarian, Blood Knight, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Druid, Monk, Necromancer, Tempest, Warlock and Wizard new toys to chase.
And several of them do considerably more than make a familiar number slightly larger.
Demon Hunter Gets a Lot More Chakram
Demon Hunter has one of the more immediately ridiculous-looking batches.
Bloodstained Legacy changes Spinning Chakram into a cone of saw blades that damages and knocks enemies back. More importantly, your other Skills can then launch the same volley of saw blades when cast.
Irebrand adds a Chakram Mark that increases damage against marked enemies, while Sharp and Sharper causes Spinning Chakram to shatter enemy armor and increase the damage they take by 24% for three seconds.
In other words, Blizzard has looked at Spinning Chakram and decided the main problem was insufficient quantities of spinning metal.
Reasonable.
Necromancer Can Ride a Bone Beast
The Necromancer batch may contain the winner for sheer visual nonsense.
Khemsklet Khud changes Bone Spikes so that the Necromancer summons an undead Bone Beast and mounts it.
While riding, the player becomes immune to knockback, takes reduced damage and charges through enemies, knocking them aside while generating an absorb shield.
That is not a passive stat improvement.
That is transportation.
Necromancer also gets several new Corpse Explosion tools, including Brazen Sepulchre, which detonates nearby corpses and summons Bone Spirits around the player, and Gilt Scultetus, which restores Life when Corpse Explosion hits a Feared enemy.
It is especially interesting because Blizzard is simultaneously retiring a large number of older Legendary Essences. The new batch gives a clearer idea of what Blizzard means when it talks about replacing outdated options with powers designed for the current game.
Wizard Gets a Moving Black Hole
Wizard also gets some wonderfully unnecessary physics.
Infinitesimal Authority makes Black Hole surround an ally and follow them around, continuously pulling in and damaging enemies. Hitting Chilled enemies can extend its duration and increase the vortex's radius.
Rime Grotto does something similar with Meteor, creating a moving area of falling ice shards around an ally, while Gelid Dunewatcher turns Scorch into a giant rolling ice boulder that grows and accelerates before exploding.
It is difficult to complain when a patch note contains the phrase “large boulder of ice.”
Warlock Gets More Malignant Shadow Synergy
The relatively new Warlock class receives six Affixes built heavily around Devouring Darkness, Spiteful Sacrifice and Warp Strike.
Itinerant Spite makes Primary Attacks throw dark magical swords and apply Malignant Shadows, with every third Primary Attack blinking the Warlock forward.
Undreamt Calamity then allows Devouring Darkness to consume Malignant Shadows, immediately dealing their remaining damage and granting increased damage for each stack consumed.
Meanwhile, Griefmuzzle gives Devouring Darkness a 22.8% Critical Hit Chance boost after using its Sacrificial Power ability.
There is a fairly obvious attempt here to create packages of Essences that talk to each other rather than six isolated bonuses sitting in six equipment slots.
Every Class Gets Six
The rest of the update follows the same general pattern.
Barbarian gets new Leap, Furious Charge and Demoralize interactions. Blood Knight receives a strong Dash theme. Crusader gets new Falling Sword, Condemn and Holy Banner tools, including a Banner that can prevent death and teleport the player back to safety.
Druid receives Raven Swarm, Fire Tornado and Oak Sage synergies. Monk gets new Flying Kick, Cyclone Strike and Shield of Zen interactions, while Tempest receives new Movement Speed scaling, Drenched synergies and additional Zephyr support.
There are certainly plenty of familiar “damage increased by 18%” lines in the notes.
But the better Affixes are the ones that change what actually happens when you press the button.
Retire Old Powers, Add Better Ones
This is ultimately the test of Blizzard's controversial Essence Retirement strategy.
Removing old build options is much easier to defend if the replacements create genuinely interesting new ones.
Sixty new Legendary Affixes arriving on the same day that another collection of old Essences disappears makes Blizzard's direction unusually clear.
Diablo Immortal is not trying to make its Legendary pool permanently smaller.
It is trying to stop it growing forever.
Old powers leave.
New powers enter.
Whether the new ones are better will take players considerably longer than one afternoon to decide.
But if nothing else, the Necromancer can now ride an undead Bone Beast through Sanctuary.
That is a reasonably strong opening argument.
