DDO Update 82 Preview Hits Lamannia With a Big Balance Pass and New Two-Handed Feat

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Dungeons & Dragons Online’s Update 82 is getting its first Lamannia preview, with the test server scheduled to open Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. Eastern and close Thursday, Sept. 10 at 5 p.m. Eastern. The headline here is a broad balance pass covering weapon combat, Reaper, cantrips, ranged combat, monster damage reduction, spells, mastery, AP costs, and enhancement trees.

The most notable addition is Lock In, a new active feat tied automatically to Improved Two Handed Fighting and Two Handed Specialty. When using a true two-handed weapon, not hand-and-a-half weapons and not animal form, players can disable Strikethrough for 20 seconds and gain Melee Power equal to 50% of their Strikethrough. It has a 60-second cooldown, and the dev notes say the numbers are still subject to tuning.

  • Morningstars and warhammers are being tested as hand-and-a-half weapons, meaning they can benefit from Strikethrough and Two Handed Fighting feats like bastard swords and dwarven waraxes.
  • Dragon Lord’s Dragon’s Roar is being reined in with a shorter cone and new limits against enemies unaffected by Greater Shout, including undead, elementals, and oozes.
  • Purple Dragon Knight’s For Cormyr! no longer requires the player to be below 50% HP, but its damage bonus is reduced to half Charisma modifier and lasts 20 seconds.
  • Warpriest and War Soul are getting several buffs, including a shorter Inflame cooldown, updated Smite Foe healing, more Melee and Ranged Power in later cores, and a critical multiplier bonus for Warpriest’s Divine Power.
  • Arcanotechnician gets new support for caster Artificers, including Multivial spells in the Artificer spellbook and a new Shock Gauntlet SLA.
  • Renegade Mastermaker, Vanguard, Harper Agent, Vile Chemist, Sacred Fist, and Sorcerer Savant trees all get targeted changes, mostly aimed at opening up build options or lowering AP pressure.

The preview also includes a batch of bug fixes. Legendary Armor Piercing should now provide its intended bonuses, The Null Blade and Void’s Ice Arrow should properly bypass monster DR, Abyss Pact Warlocks can damage enemies affected by Pierce Negative feats, and the Necromantic double prefix should correctly grant Deathblock.

There are a couple of engineering changes too, including a new UI option for Ki Healing Color and a fix for the Dissolve UI’s horizontal scroll bar. Some icons and visual effects for new enhancements are still placeholders during this Lamannia build.

Further reading: Official DDO forums preview