Hey Everyone,
Ahead of our Unlocked and Loaded update last year (aka Itemization), we released the intended balancing changes ahead of the rest of the patch notes. The idea was to give players a sneak peek ahead of time, and to allow the players time to give their feedback.
We’re doing it again.
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For Nightmares and Visions, we will be including a rework to the Ogryn Talent Tree and a series of Weapon balance changes.
- Part 1 (Ogryn Talent Tree Rework)
- Part 2 (Ogryn Weaponry Balancing)
- Part 3 (Additional Weapon Changes and Tweaks)
To tell us more about our proposed changes, we’ve brought along two developers who assisted with the work: Gunnar (Ogryn) and Matteo (Weapons).
Without further ado, we’ll pass the dev blog over to Gunnar to talk about the…
Ogryn Talent Tree Rework
Left Branch / Skullbreaker
The Left part of the Tree has been very focused on the use of Heavy Attacks. While we do think that Heavy Attacks are thematic to the Ogryn, it should not be the only viable Melee focused Build.
We’ve removed the ‘Heavy’ restrictions on some Talents, added new Melee focused Talents without it, and reworked some Talents to provide different bonuses depending on if you’re using Light, or Heavy, attacks.
Middle Branch / Bodyguard
We’ve felt that the Ogryn has been lacking interesting options for the Bodyguard playstyle, and have added many new Talents that allow you to explore both Tank Builds, as well as Supportive Builds.
Right Branch / Gun Lugger
We’re updating the Burst Limiter Override Keystone to be better overall for any Ranged Build, along with its modifiers. We’ve also added nodes that flesh out a few Ranged Builds, focusing on critical hits, explosives or sustained fire.
Note: This is a WIP. We have not finished all the icons for this tree, etc. A final version will be included with the patch notes at release.
Existing Passives
Base Toughness
We've removed some Toughness from the Tree, and to make up for it we bumped the Base Toughness.
- oughness: 50 to 75.[/*]
We've removed a few Defensive nodes from the Tree, and to make up for it we’ve given the Ogryn a bump to his innate Tank Passive.
- oughness Damage Reduction: 20% to 25%.[/*]
New Passives
Outta My Way!
The large hitbox of the Ogryn could get in its way on more than one occasion. Pox Hounds and Trappers were more difficult to avoid while not dodging, and even when dodging he could get stuck on nearby Horde Enemies, abruptly canceling the dodge and leaving him vulnerable.
We’re giving the Ogryn a new passive ability that should make his Dodges more consistent, while also doubling down on the theme of our Brutish friend.
- Dodging staggers nearby Non Elite/Special, human-sized, enemies, knocking them out of the way. The effect is reduced on consecutive dodges.[/*]
Combat Ability Changes
Loyal Protector
“Removed ‘Big Lungs’ talent, increased base value to make up for it.”
- Radius Increased - 8 to 12.[/*]
“Will protect you from Flying Dogs, Nets, and Bullets.”
- You now count as Dodging during Charge.[/*]
“Lowered the Reload Speed slightly to make room for new 'Keep Shooting Talent'.”
- Reload Speed - 70% to 65%.[/*]
New Combat Ability Talents
Loyal Protector
No Pain!
“Should provide some good defense against the newly taunted enemies.”
- oyal Protector Replenishes 25% Toughness and an additional 0.5% Toughness Replenished each 1s per enemy affected, to a maximum of 10%, for 10s.[/*]
Blitz Ability Changes
Big Box of Hurt
“Should let you be less stingy about when to use it.”
- Charges: 2 to 3.[/*]
“Should make it feel more reactive and incentivise weaving it in between weapon attacks more often.”
- Wield Time: 1s to 0.5s.[/*]
- Chain Times: 0.6s to 0.4s. [/*]
New Blitz Ability Changes
Big Friendly Rock
That One Didn't Count
“For those with either great or poor precision…”
- Big Friendly Rock Replenishes a Charge if you hit an enemy Weakspot or hit no enemies. 5s Cooldown.[/*]
Bigger Box of Hurt
“To make the Box a greater Crowd Control option.”
- +3 Grenades Released.[/*]
Coherency Changes
Stay Close!
“Toughness gained through Coherency is less reliable, this should make the Coherency a lot more useful in a majority of situations.”
- 25% Coherency Toughness Replenishment to 15% All Toughness Replenishment.[/*]
“We’ve removed the +25% Suppression State Node, but still wanted to keep the effect in the Ranged Ogryn Builds.”
- New Effect: +25% Suppression to you.[/*]
Keystone Changes
Heavy Hitter - Keystone
“Heavy Hitter has been too focused on Heavy Attacks. We want to open it up more for Light Attacks, but still keep some of the incentives to go for the Heavies.”
- 5% Melee Damage to 3% Melee Damage.[/*]
- Stacks 5 to 8. [/*]
- On Heavy Attack Hit to On Melee Attack Hit. [/*]
- Heavy Attacks grant 2 Stacks. [/*]
Just Getting Started
“To match the increased Max Stacks of the Base Talent.”
- Stacks: 5 to 8.[/*]
“It didn’t feel necessary to limit the bonus behind Max Stacks. Also increasing the max output.”
- 100% Melee Toughness at 5 Stacks to 15% Melee Toughness Per Stack.[/*]
“Obsolete with the reworked Base Talent.”
- Removed.[/*]
Don't Feel a Thing
“As an alternative to ‘Unstoppable’.”
- Heavy Hitter also grants 1.5% Toughness Damage Reduction for each stack.[/*]
“An additional choice of customization for Heavy Hitter.”
- Heavy Hitter also grants 15% Cleave for each stack.[/*]
“An additional choice of customization for Heavy Hitter.”
- Heavy Hitter also grants 10% Impact for each stack.[/*]
Feel No Pain - Keystone
“Coherency Toughness regeneration was simply not impactful enough.”
- 2.5% Coherency Toughness Replenishment to 2.5% All Toughness Replenishment.[/*]
Modifier Changes - Feel No Pain
Pained Outburst
“Getting a small boost of 20% Toughness once at 0 stacks, felt like it was too little, too late. Bumping the Toughness and lowering the activation requirements.”
- Reaching Zero stacks to Falling to, or below, 5 stacks. Toughness Replenished: 20% to 50%.[/*]
“See Base Talent note..”
- 2.5% Coherency Toughness Replenishment to 2.5% All Toughness Replenishment.[/*]
Burst Limiter Override - Keystone
“Burst Limiter Override was both too weak and uninteresting. We’re giving it a baseline ranged power bonus that isn’t dependent on Chance, while also giving you a bit more control over when it's activated.”
- Chance to Proc: 8% to 15%.[/*]
- Now also grants 2% Ranged Damage. 10 Max Stacks, 10s Duration. [/*]
Modifier Changes - Burst Limiter Override
Maximum Firepower
“Other than simply being too strong when paired with High Rate of Fire weapons, it was also quite poor on slower weapons. This will hopefully make it more balanced."
- Ability Cooldown Reduction: 200% to 100%.[/*]
- Duration 2s to 4s. [/*]
“We’ve increased the base chance of activation, and replaced this with more interesting choices.”
- Removed.[/*]
New Nodes - Burst Limiter Override
Back Off!
“Should pair well with more of a Hybrid Combat playstyle, and also with the Weapon Special Actions of your Ranged Weapons.”
- Lucky Bullet has a +10% chance to trigger after a Killing Melee Attack, stacking 10 times.[/*]
“To double down on the Hybrid Combat playstyle.”
- Burst Limiter Override also grants 1.5% Fire Rate per Stack.[/*]
“For those who want to share in the Ogryn’s newfound talents”.
- 15% Ranged Damage to you and Allies in Coherency on Lucky Bullet. Lasts 8s.[/*]
Talent Changes
Slam
“Slam needs some love now that it has a new place in the Tree. The bonus stamina should go well with the Tanky playstyles of the central branch.”
- New effect: Staggering Melee Attacks replenish 5% Stamina. 1s Cooldown.[/*]
Furious
“Light Attack Ogryns rise up. Loosening up on the theme of only using Heavy Attacks.”
- Heavy Melee Attack to Melee Attack.[/*]
The Best Defence
“Light Attack Ogryns rise up.”
- Toughness on Heavy Melee Attack 20% to 15%. Now also replenishes 5% Toughness on Non-Heavy Melee Attack.[/*]
Smash 'Em!
“Light Attack Ogryns rise up.”
- Toughness on Heavy Melee Attack 20% to 15%. Now also replenishes 5% Toughness on Non-Heavy Melee Attack.[/*]
Batter
“Light Attack Ogryns rise up.”
- Now also applies 2 Stacks of Bleed on Non-Heavy Melee Attacks.[/*]
Soften Them Up
- Description changed to specify that it only applies to Melee (previous Description was Wrong).[/*]
Payback Time
“To make it a bonus you are more in control over, but reducing the effectiveness to make up for a higher uptime.”
- Damage: 20% to 15%.[/*]
- Now also triggers on Successful Dodge. [/*]
Hail of Fire
“30% was in some situations a gamebreakingly high bonus. We’re lowering the Rending bonus, but giving it a bump towards Ranged Damage as a substitute.”
- Rending 30% to 15%.[/*]
- Now also grants 15% Ranged Damage. [/*]
Light 'em Up
“Reaching 32 stacks in virtually no time at all with some weapons was way too powerful; we’ve increased the stacks per to make it a better talent for slower weapons, but capped the Maximum stacks at 16.”
- Stacks applied 2 to 4. Now only applies stacks up to 16.[/*]
Hard Knocks
“We like the theme of stagger, but we want to lean more into the Bodyguard / Support themes.”
- Old functionality removed.[/*]
- New: Enemies staggered by you take +15% more Damage for 5s. [/*]
No Stopping Me!
“No Stopping Me from towering through like a battering ram.”
- New effect: Reduced Movement Speed Penalty while charging Heavy Melee Attacks by 100%.[/*]
Bruiser
“Giving it the same treatment as Zealot’s Invocation of Death, for the sake of Balance.”
- 4% Combat Ability Cooldown Reduction Instantly to 100% Ability Cooldown Regeneration for 3s.[/*]
Pacemaker
“Updating the reload mechanic and hit requirements to make it more reliable. Lowering the Reload Speed a bit since you’ll have more alternatives to increase it.”
- 25% for 5s to 15% on your next Reload.[/*]
- Hit Requirement: 5 to 3. [/*]
Unstoppable Momentum
“Increased the duration to gain more use out of it as it previously felt too short.”
- Duration 2s to 3s.[/*]
Massacre
“Increasing the Crit Chance bonus as it didn’t feel impactful enough, and also increased the Duration to make it easier to maintain.”
- Critical Chance: 1% to 1.5%.[/*]
- Duration: 10s to 12s. [/*]
Crunch
“It became increasingly difficult to fully charge an attack on our higher difficulties. This should give you some great benefit even if not fully charged.”
- Now works similar to the Thrust blessing, granting the bonus based on charge time.[/*]
- Maximum Impact: 40% to 30%. [/*]
- Maximum Damage: 40% to 15%. [/*]
New Talents
For the Lil'Uns
- On Ally getting Toughness Broken, gain 10% Strength, and 25% Toughness Damage Reduction for 10s. 30s Cooldown.[/*]
- On Ally getting Knocked Down, gain Stun Immunity, and 25% Revive Speed for 10s. [/*]
No Hurting Friends
- 2.5% Strength on Health Damage Taken by you or Allies in Coherency. 5 Max Stacks. Lasts 10s. 15% Toughness Damage Reduction on Max Stacks.[/*]
Focused Fighter
- 4% Damage Resistance from Melee Attacks on Successful Melee Attack. Stacks 5 times. Stacks are removed upon taking Damage from a Melee Attack.[/*]
Strongman
- 10% Damage Resistance on Elite Kill or Special Kill. Lasts 5s.[/*]
Can't Hit Me... Again
- 20% Damage Resistance vs Ranged for 2.5s after getting hit by a Ranged Attack. 4s Cooldown.[/*]
Keep Shooting
- 15% Reload Speed when reloading an Empty Clip.[/*]
Strike True
- 15% Melee Weakspot Strength.[/*]
Beat Them Back
- 15% Melee Damage on Successful Heavy Melee Attack. Lasts 5s.[/*]
Pumped Up
- 15% Damage Resistance while above 75% Stamina.[/*]
Brutish Strength
- 2 Stacks of Brittleness on Push.[/*]
Simple Minded
- 30% Corruption Resistance.[/*]
Unbreakable
- Your Perfect blocks can block all Melee Attacks. On Perfect Block gain 20% Melee Damage on next Attack.[/*]
Concentrate
- 60% Sway Reduction, 20% Spread Reduction, 15% Recoil Reduction, while bracing your Ranged Weapon, but lose 0.75 Stamina per second.[/*]
Fire Away
- Your Explosions apply 1 Stack(s) of Burn, increased to 2 Stack(s) on close explosion. Max Stacks 12.[/*]
Frenzied Blows
- 2% Melee Attack Speed on Chained Hit for 5s. Stacks 5 times.[/*]
Bash and Blast
- 2.5% Ranged Damage on Melee Kill. Lasts 8s. Max Stacks 6.[/*]
Dedicated Practice
- 20% Swap Speed.[/*]
Spray and Slay
- 15% Melee Damage and 7.5% Melee Attack Speed for 6s after emptying your Clip.[/*]
Lucky Streak
- 25% Critical Strike Damage.[/*]
Stat Node Changes
In the previous version of the Talent Tree, many of the Stat Nodes served a purpose to extend the length of the branches and clusters. Now that we’ve added a lot of new Talent Nodes, many of the Stat Nodes have been either replaced or removed.
Continue on to Part 2 in order to read about the upcoming Weapon Balancing and Tweaks for Nightmares & Visons!
