Diablo 2 Resurrected has a LOT of Attack Modifiers that add additional effects when your Character attempts to attack a target. The following keyword stats on Weapons and gear can drastically increase your damage, disable your target, leech Life and Mana, or otherwise affect your target in unique and surprising ways. Keep in mind that each of the following stats can be available on a wide range of gear, and oftentimes can stack, making each attack a fireworks display of effects and damage. Most of the stats can also be applied by attack Skills which can greatly increase the effectiveness of any Melee or Ranged build.
Crushing Blow
On a successful weapon strike, Crushing Blow deals additional damage prior to the attack's damage, equal to a fraction of the remaining Life total of the target. In simpler terms: This deals % damage to the target.
Mechanics
Applied by any attacks, melee or ranged. Exceptions include:
bladesentinel, bladeshield, and the additional arrows from multipleshot.
Ranged attacks are 1/2 effective as the Melee attacks:
1/20 against Players and Mercenaries
1/16 against Super Uniques and Act Bosses / Ubers
1/8 against all other targets
Crushing Blow damage is reduced by additional players in game and Player Settings.
For a Melee attack against a normal minion, the calculation follows:
1/4 current Life / (0.5 + 0.5N) where N = number of players in the game up to 8
Critical Hits do not increase Crushing Blow damage.
Damage can be decreased by target's Damage Resist or Damage Reduced by %.
-% Damage Resistance does not increase Crushing Blow damage.
sanctuary does not allow Crushing Blow damage to effect Immune to Physical Undead targets.
Integer Damage Reduced by does not reduce Crushing Blow damage.
Deadly Strike
On a successful weapon strike, gives a chance to double the Physical Damage of the attack. This counts as a Critical Hit for the total chance to get a Critical Hit equation.
Mechanics
Deadly Strike % is summed from all sources on gear. % from an off-hand weapon only applies when that weapon is used for the attack.
This is mutually exclusive from other sources of Critical Hit chance, including Barbarian weapon Masteries, criticalstrike and clawmastery.
Each source of Critical Hit chance roll independently of one another.
If Deadly Strike would fail to cause a Critical Hit, then other sources of Critical Hit chance roll.
Act 5 Barbarian Mercenaries, valkyrie and irongolem have a 5% to Critical Hit which rolls irrespective of Deadly Strike and other source of Critical Hit. This means that a successful crit from this check and a successful crit from Deadly Strike would deal quadruple damage.
Since the Critical Hit chance increases Physical Damage prior to conversion by skills, this doubles the damage of the following skills:
magicarrow
firearrow
coldarrow
lightningbolt
fistsoffire
berserk
Deadly Strike does not apply for the following skills:
impale
dragontalon
dragontail
dragonflight
sacrifice
smite
For any attack with Deadly Strike and another source of Critical Strike the total percent chance to double your Physical Damage is calculated:
On a successful weapon strike that deals damage, Freezes normal or minions monsters, and applies Chill to all other targets as long as the target is not Immune to Cold or have 0 Chill Effectiveness.
Mechanics
Can only Freeze normal and minion monsters.
Freeze Target values are summed from all sources on gear. Freeze Target from an off-hand weapon only applies when that weapon is used for the attack.
Applied by any attacks, melee or ranged. Exceptions include:
bladesentinel, bladeshield, and the additional arrows from multipleshot.
Freeze or Chill Length is a random number in frames between 1 - 9 seconds (25 - 225 frames)
Effect length is 1/2 effective in Nightmare and 1/4 effective in Hell Difficulty.
On a successful weapon strike that deals damage, cast a level 1-20 dimvision on the target which Blinds it.
Mechanics
Can only Blind normal and minion monsters.
Hit Blinds Target % is summed from all sources on gear. % from an off-hand weapon only applies when that weapon is used for the attack.
Will only overwrite existing dimvision on the target if the level is equal to or higher than the existing Blind.
Will overwrite other non-Blinding Curses with exceptions:
confuse and attract.
Will be overwritten by any future Curses.
If applied at the same time as Hit Causes Monster to Flee on the attack, the flee effect takes precedent.
Reduces monster awareness to its melee range, causing it to finish its last action and then only use normal melee attacks instead of skills or special abilities.
Duration is reduced to 1/2 in Nightmare and 1/4 in Hell Difficulty.
On a successful weapon strike that deals damage, a target which can be knocked back will be moved up to 3 sub-tiles away from the attack direction and put into Hit Recovery.
Mechanics
Does not apply if the target is Frozen of killed by the attack.
Applied by any successful Melee or Ranged attacks and the chance of Knockback is determined by the target.
Knockback from any source on gear applies to the attack. An off-hand weapon's Knockback only applies to attacks made with that weapon.
Chance of Knockback depends on the target size, and if the monster has Knockback animations. Typically, Size 1 targets have a 100% chance, Size 2 have a 50% chance, Size 3 have a 25% chance, and most Bosses / inanimate objects have a 0% chance.
Bosses include Act Bosses, Ubers, the Ancients, Griswold, Izual, Nihlathak and Coldworm the Burrower.
Does not apply to Golems, Druid Vines, or Druid Spirits.
Life Stolen
On a successful weapon strike that deals Physical Damage, returns Life to the attacker equal to a % of the damage dealt.
Mechanics
All % sources from gear are summed together and applied to the weapon which is used in the successful strike.
Life Stolen % on the off-hand weapon is only applied if it is used to make a weapon strike.
Only applied to skills which do a Melee or Ranged Attack that has a Physical Damage component excluding:
bladesentinel and smite.
In Nightmare Difficulty Life returned is 1/2 effective, and in Hell Difficulty it is 1/3 effective.
Any modifier which would reduce damage dealt applies to the Life Stolen modifier as well. If the amount of Life Stolen % would be < 1% then it rounds down to 0%. So no Life returned on that attack.
Example: multipleshot only applies 3/4 weapon damage, so 1% Life Stolen would round down to 0%.
A target's Drain Effectiveness will reduce Life returned. If the target has 0% Drain Effective no Life is returned, regardless of damage dealt. Most Undead type monsters have Drain Effectiveness of 0%.
Mana Stolen
On a successful weapon strike that deals Physical Damage, returns Mana to the attacker equal to a % of the damage dealt.
Mechanics
All % sources from gear are summed together and applied to the weapon which is used in the successful strike.
Mana Stolen % on the off-hand weapon is only applied if it is used to make a weapon strike.
Only applied to skills which do a Melee or Ranged Attack that has a Physical Damage component excluding:
bladesentinel and smite
In Nightmare Difficulty Mana returned is 1/2 effective, and in Hell Difficulty it is 1/3 effective.
Any modifier which would reduce damage dealt applies to the Mana Stolen modifier as well. If the amount of Mana Stolen % would be < 1% then it rounds down to 0%. So no Mana returned on that attack.
Example: multipleshot only applies 3/4 weapon damage, so 1% Mana Stolen would round down to 0%.
A target's Drain Effectiveness will reduce Mana returned. If the target has 0% Drain Effective no Mana is returned, regardless of damage dealt.
Monster Defense per hit
On a successful weapon strike that deals damage, reduces the target's Defense value by an amount stated on the item.
Mechanics
When available on a weapon, only applied by attacks made with that weapon.
Reduces the base Defense of the monster before any +xx% Defense apply, like from the Stone Skin monster modifier.
Gives a % Chance to Cast the listed Skill when making a melee attack hit check against a target.
Mechanics
The attack does not need to hit to proc this chance. Only that an attack attempt was made.
Can be procced by Mercenaries, Summons, and Monsters with Gear.
Skill Points in the synergies of the skill apply to the skill when cast by this method.
Ranged weapons do not proc Chance to Cast on Attack unless used by a Shape Shifted Druid as a melee attack weapon.
Is applied by bladeshield but is applied as Striking instead of Attack. See Chance to Cast on Striking below.
chargedbolt and frozenorb originate from the attacker whereas all other skills originate at the target.
Chance to Cast On Striking
Gives a % Chance to Cast the listed Skill when making a melee attack hit check that succeeds, and the hit is not Blocked or Dodged by any means.
Mechanics
The attack needs to successfully hit, but does not need to deal damage.
Can be procced by Mercenaries, Summons, and Monsters with Gear.
Skill Points in the synergies of the skill apply to the skill when cast by this method.
venom and enchant are cast on the attacker.
poisonnova and staticfield are cast centered on the attacker.
The following skills are cast in the direction of the attacked target from the attacker's position:
firestorm
twister
tornado
bonespirit
chargedbolt
frozenorb
Diablo's firestorm from Hellfire Torch
All other skills originate from the attacked target's location.
Open Wounds
On a successful weapon strike that deals damage, causes the target to begin Bleeding, applying damage and stopping damage regeneration for 8 seconds.
Mechanics
Applied by any attacks, melee or ranged.
Exceptions include:
bladesentinel, bladeshield, and the additional arrows from multipleshot.
The total % chance from all items is summed to calculated the chance of applying.
Only adds the % chance from the weapon which struck. If another weapons is equipped, its % chance only applies to attacks made with that weapon.
Only applies to Monsters, Mercenaries, or Summons if they take damage from the attack, or are currently regenerating. If a monster is affected by Prevent Monster Heal, and do not take damage from the attack then Open Wounds will not apply.
Always applied to Characters if the attack successfully strikes.
Damage Dealt is modified against certain target types:
Special Units (Elites and Act Bosses): 1/2 effectiveness for Melee and Ranged attacks.
Player Characters: 1/4 effectiveness for Melee, and 1/8 effectiveness for Ranged attacks.
No form of damage reduction can reduce this effect.
Reapplying Open Wounds to the target always replaces the previous effect. If a lower level Character successfully strikes with Open Wounds, the timer is reset and the new calculation is applied.
Duration cannot be reduced in any way.
Any Life gain ability on Characters, Monsters with gear, or Summons with gear will work while Open Wounds is applied.
Life Drain is calculated according to Level of applier per frame in 1/256th of a point:
Example calculation: Player Character is level 50. Life Drain / Frame in 1/256th of a point = ((36 * 50) - 779) / 256 = 3.98 damage per frame Length in frames = 8 Seconds * 25 frames / second = 200 frames Total damage = 3.98 damage / frame * 200 frames = 797.65 Damage
Piercing Attack
Adds a chance to missile weapon attacks to Pierce the target when hit, and hit subsequent targets behind them.
Mechanics
% Chance to Pierce from all sources is summed from all sources, including the Amazon Skill pierce. % Chance to Pierce from an off-hand weapon only applies to attacks made with that weapon.
Piercing occurs when a hit check is successful or skipped by skills which always hit. Blocking does not stop the missile from Piercing.
Missiles can Pierce up to 4 times, making it possible to hit 5 targets.
bladefury can not pierce.
Chance to Pierce on gear is specific to the item:
Stormstrike 25% Gut Siphon 33% Razortail 33% Doomslinger 35% Kuko Shakaku 50% Ichorsting 50% Warshrike 50% Vidala's Barb 50% (From full set bonus) Demon Machine 66% Buriza-Do Kyanon 100%
Prevent Monster Heal
On a successful weapon strike that deals damage, stops monster damage regeneration for 80 minutes (120,000 frames).
Mechanics
Can only be applied by Player Characters, not by Mercenaries or Iron Golems.
Can be applied by any Melee or Ranged attack excluding:
bladesentinel and bladeshield.
Only applies to Monsters if they take damage from the attack.
Cannot be applied to the "Uber" version or Pandemonium Event Bosses:
Lilith
Duriel
Izual
Mephisto
DIablo
Baal
Slows Target
On a successful weapon strike that deals damage, Slows the target's attack rate and velocity by a %.
Mechanics
% from multiple sources on the attacker are summed. Slows Target % from off-hand weapons only apply to attacks made with that weapon.
Slow lasts for 30 seconds unless another Slow effect is applied before it expires. Reapplication of the same source only resets the duration.
Can be applied by Mercenaries and Iron Golems.
Applied by any attacks, melee or ranged.Exceptions include:
bladesentinel, bladeshield, and the additional arrows from multipleshot.
Can only apply a maximum of 90% Slows Target to normal and minions monsters making > 90% redundant.
Can only apply a maximum of 50% Slows Target to Player Characters, Elites, and Act Bosses making > 50% redundant.
With enough Slow % a target's animation and action flag may take so long that the skill or attack never occur. At which point the target will begin its next AI check and perform its next action. This can lead to animation "locks" for certain monsters, rendering them actionless until the Slow expires.
-% Target Defense
Causes attacks to calculate chance to hit as if the target had less Defense according to a % reduction.
Mechanics
When available on a weapon, only effective for attacks made with that weapon.
The full -% applies to normal and minions monsters.
These Modifiers are often unique, and have specific interactions with similar effects found elsewhere.
Whether it's dealing additional damage, or Crowd Controlling a target, a good build will harness many of these Modifiers to great effect.
While most attack Skills benefit from these Attack Modifiers, some have specific caveats that are important to remember.
I hope this in depth look into the different Attack Modifiers inspires you to find effective builds which capitalize on the multitude of powerful effects Diablo 2 has to offer.
