Revision as of 19:47, 8 January 2012

Modifier Topics:

• Modifiers - General information.
• Prefixes - Modifiers on magical and rare items.
• Suffixes - Modifiers on magical and rare items.
• Special modifiers - Set/Unique items only.
• Charms - Modifiers on Charms.
• Runes - Rune modifiers.
• Jewel Affixes - Modifiers on jewels.
• Item Level - Related to all modifiers.

Prefixes occur before an item name and only one per magical item. Like Suffixes and Other Modifiers, Prefixes have a list of modifiers they can and can not occur with. Similar quality modifiers are found on the same item, as they were in Diablo. One added complication is that Rares, Uniques, and Item Sets list all of their modifiers by effect, and they can mix and match prefixes, suffixes, and other modifiers freely, so it's difficult to tell what exactly is giving the item a given property.

Rare items can have up to three prefixes, but only one from each family of prefixes. Magical items have one or none. Magical items have a 50% chance of a suffix only, 25% chance of a prefix only, and 25% chance of both.

• No prefixes will occur with others from the same family on the same Rare item. So if you got +%Defense on some kind of armor, you would get either Sturdy, Strong, Blessed, Glorious, Saintly, or Holy, but never more than one on the same item.
• Alvl (Affix Level): This figure is the level of the affix. The Ilvl of an item usually is equal to the maximum possible Alvl. For example a sword dropped by an Mlvl 50 creature would have an Ilvl of 50, and the highest affixes possible on it would be Alvl 50.
• Clvl req is 3/4 the highest Alvl on an item. So a Rare with with four mods, Ilvl 8, 22, 30, and 70 would require Clvl 52 to equip.
• Item types in Diablo II (please note that these do not necessarily correspond to Blizzard classifications):
  • Armor: Body Armors and Helms
  • Helms: include Animal Pelts (Druid Items) and Primal Helms (Barbarian Items) but not Circlets
  • Weapons All damage-inflicting items except Bows, Orbs, Scepters, Staves, and Wands, which are classified as their own item types and listed below as appropriate.
  • Bows: Bows and Crossbows
  • Shields include Shrunken Heads (aka Woodoo Heads; Necromancer items) and Auric Shields (Paladin items)

+ points to Attack Rating

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. Values added (not multiplied) to your total Attack Rating, and unaffected by AR-increasing skills. If you have 500% AR listed in your Character window, adding a Meteoric Ring would take you to 621-650% AR. For Amazons with a lot in Penetrate and Barbarians with a lot in a Weapon Mastery, adding more Dexterity is generally better than adding AR.

+ points to Attack Rating (based on character level)

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. The bonus gained is substantially larger than any of the set attack rating prefix. However, in order for this mod to be effective, your character has to be high level. The attack rating bonus might not be the best possible prefix on magical item.

+ points to Attack Rating / Maximum Damage (based on character level)

*The damage bonus compared to grandmaster's prefix is minuscule, and needs a high lvl character to use. Still, these are useful prefixes that can add plenty of attack rating to your attacks. Fool's mod is not rare to see and can be useful for any characters.

+% to Attack Rating (based on character level)

The attack rating bonus by % would benefit amazons the most since they have more dexterity than any other classes. However, for other classes, Fool's prefix is more beneficial. There is however a bug with this prefix when ranged weapons are used because for all ranged and explosion weapon attacks %AR applies as though it is flat AR. The character screen pretends you still get a %AR boost when you actually are getting a flat AR boost. As a result a 25% AR rune actually gives you no more AR than 5 soft dexterity points.

+ % to Damage (or +1 to Maximum Damage)

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items.

Very useful modifiers on weapons, these can appear on a Rare with any of the Master's family of affixes, making for the top damage items in the game. Cruel, Master's and Slaughter (or others from these families) must exist in combination on a Rare for it to deal godly damage.

+ Points to Attack Rating and + % to Damage (or +1 to Maximum Damage)

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items.

# The name of this affix is also used for the "+3 Barbarian Combat Skills" modifier.

Very useful modifiers on weapons, these can appear on a Rare with any of the Cruel family of affixes, making for the top damage items in the game. Cruel, Master's and Slaughter (or others from these families) must exist in combination on a Rare for it to deal godly damage.

+ Attack Rating and Damage vs Demons

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. These Damage and AR are only when hitting Demons, and do not show up in the Character menu. You must calculate this separately. Multiply your total physical damage (not elemental) by the appropriate bonus.

+ Attack Rating and Damage vs. Undead

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items. This Damage and AR works only when hitting Undead, and does not show up in the Character menu. You must calculate it separately. Multiply your total physical damage (not elemental) by the appropriate bonus. This stacks with the +50% Undead Damage on all blunt weapons, so a Divine mace would do 326-400% damage, for example.

+ Cold Damage*

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. Cold duration is very useful to slow attackers; you want to have something with it on every combat character, though usually a char or two is plenty.Cold duration is 1/2 in Nightmare and 1/4 in Hell. However, cold damage stacks across item types and even skills (like Amazon's Freezing Arrow or Paladin's Vengeance), so if you have some on your weapon, ring, and 3 charms, you can get substantial cold time, even in hell.

+ Fire Damage*

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items. Fire damage can be found in large amounts on weapons in D2X, second only to lightning damage in total amount. Fire tends to have much higher min but lower max, so the average is nearly the same, but the max number is smaller, and that's all some players look at. If the total damage is near the same, take the item with a bigger min, since you're guaranteed to do at least that much damage every time. You're better off with a 150-220 fire damage than a 1-370 lightning damage weapon.

** Previously called Ember.

*** Previously called Scorching.

+ Lightning Damage*

Lightning damage is the biggest possible elemental damage to find on a magical or rare weapon, though the minimum on it is very small. You should figure the average damage, since something with 150-250 fire damage beats a 1-350 lightning damage, for instance. Don't just glance at the max damage on items.A common tactic for Druids is to shop for a huge lightning damage wand in Act 2 hell, and then use that on their weapon switch to kill Physical Immunes. Socketed with a couple of Orts of Shaels or elemental damage jewels, such a wand can be quite effective, if you don't have a Baranar's. Put more lightning damage jewels into a 3 or 4 socket shield for a poor man's Tiamat's.

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items.

** This prefix is also used for the "+2 points to light radius" stats.

+ Poison Damage*

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items. Some poison damage is very useful to keep monsters from healing mid-fight, but it's hard to get enough of it to be a major factor in a big hell game. It's most often added from charms, especially in PvP combat. Poison damage was buggy in v1.08, is buggy in v1.09, and will probably be buggy in v1.10. The displayed amount doesn't stack correctly from multiple items, and neither does the duration time.

+ % to Defense

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. Somewhat devalued modifiers in Diablo II, due to Defense being largely unimportant for most characters by late Nightmare and Hell difficulty. The bonus value changed signifincatly in diablo expansion, being nerfed by 100% or more. However, godly mod was introduced to fill up the 100 to 200% bonuses that was previously provided Holy prefix.

# Strangely enough, Godly items can be spawned with two different Affix Level/Level Requirement combinations! Only the second combination (50/43) can be found on rare items.

+ points to Defense (based on character level)

A new mod introduced in the expansion. This is also based on a character level formula that provides increased defense each level. The defense gained is not significant later in the game, but very useful for low level characters. The level requirement also frees up lots of restrictions.

% Damage taken goes to Mana

This modifier converts Physical melee damage taken to your mana, so if you take a 100 point blow, you'll gain 10 points to your mana (with 10%). This stacks, and stacks with the higher % damage to mana found on some Uniques and Set Items.

Notes

• Does not reduce incoming damage.
• Does not apply to damage taken by your minions or hired mercenaries.
• For a detailed discussion on this subject, go to http://library.planetdiablo.gamespy.com/concept-vulpine.htm

+ points to Mana after each kill

Note: Mana awarded when death is caused by spell or physical damage, only if the wearer is the one to administer the killing blow. Does not work with kills by minions or party members, so isn't of much use to a Summoner Necromancer.

+ points to Mana

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items. Can stack with the +mana prefixes in the Wizardry family, to a maximum of +90 mana on a rare item. Note that +mana modifiers are generally higher Ilvl than +hps modifiers.

# All these items can be spawned with a "+1 to Mana" stat with an Affix Level of 1. They can only be dropped by Level 1 or 2 Monsters however.

+ Mana (based on character level)

Magic Damage Reduced by

Used to be very useful modifiers against damage over time spells, such as Firewalls, Meteors, and Diablo's pink lightning, and it worked on all other types of magical damage as well.

From version 1.10, Blizzard has implemented modifiers that reduces the protective effect of Magic Damage Reduced (MDR) against certain continuous attacks (i.e. frame-based attacks such as Firewall). Blizzard apparently thought that MDR was too powerful against frame-based attacks, and consequently they reduced its effect as if it was applied once each second instead of once each frame. As there are 25 frames in one second, this means that the MDR effect is effectively cut to 1/25. There are a few frame-based attacks (e.g. Inferno spell) whose corresponding MDR modifiers are not as low as 1/25.

+ points to Maximum Stamina

A largely ignored modifier, since the added stamina is so little. There are much larger bonuses to stamina in the Expansion.

+ % to Stamina Regeneration

More useful than the +stamina modifiers, but still far from coveted.

+ % to Resist Fire

* The following items with a "Fire Resist +5%" stat and an affix level of 1 can also be spawned but this is restricted to items with levels that do no exceed 4 (i.e. these items cannot be dropped by level 5 Monsters and above): Amulets, Belts, Body Armors, Boots, Circlets, Gloves, Helms, Orbs, Rings, Shields.

Fire resistance is the second most important type of resistance in Diablo II, after lightning. Many types of fire damage are over time (firewalls, meteors) which makes the minus magical damage mods very useful in combination.

+ % to Resist Cold

* The following items with a "Cold Resist +5%" stat and an affix level of 1 can also be spawned but this is restricted to items with levels that do no exceed 4 (i.e. these items cannot be dropped by level 5 Monsters and above): Amulets, Belts, Body Armors, Boots, Circlets, Gloves, Helms, Orbs, Rings, Shields.

Cold resistance is valuable, but there are not many monsters with cold attacks in Diablo II, so it's less important than Fire or Lightning. Higher cold resistance seems to shorten chill duration as well as lower damage.

+ % to Resist Lightning

* The following items with a "Lightning Resist +5%" stat and an affix level of 1 can also be spawned but this is restricted to items with levels that do no exceed 4 (i.e. these items cannot be dropped by level 5 Monsters and above): Amulets, Belts, Body Armors, Boots, Circlets, Gloves, Helms, Orbs, Rings, Shields.

Lightning resistance is the most important type of resistance in Diablo II and most players make an effort to keep this one max'ed at all times.

+ % to Resist Poison

* The following items with a "Poison Resist +5%" stat and an affix level of 1 can also be spawned but this is restricted to items with levels that do no exceed 4 (i.e. these items cannot be dropped by level 5 Monsters and above): Amulets, Belts, Body Armors, Boots, Circlets, Gloves, Helms, Orbs, Rings, Shields.

By far the least important type of resistance in Diablo II, this one can safely be ignored in most parts of the game, and many characters in hell have negative poison resistance while max'ing out the other three. Modifiers that shorten Poison duration are actually more useful, since most poison damage comes over time, rather than in one painful hit.

+ % to Resist All

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. Prismatic amulets are very popular. Rares can have two other prefixes, potentially adding more to two resistances on top of the resist all mod. Prismatic rings are less valuable, owing to their very high Clvl requirements, and also it's easier to find a ring with +20% to two or three individual resistances.

+ points to Skill Levels

Note: Skill point/s added only to skills with at least one point already added. +2 skill amulets are very tasty, and best obtained by gambling with a high (85+, 94 or better ideally) level character. They can also to be dropped by every monster past about the middle of Act 3, Hell. You can also make them in several crafting recipes, if the character cubing the ingredients is a high enough level.

* including Javelins.
** excluding Javelins.

+ points to Amazon Skill Trees

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items. Note: Skill point/s added only to skills with at least one point already added. These mods are less powerful than + to all character stats, but they can occur on gloves, and if you get one on a nice weapon or amulet, it can be quite useful. They are also much lower level than +2 to all skills mods, and therefore easier to find and can be used by much lower level characters.

# Acrobatic, Gymnastic, and Athletic were previously called Acrobat's, Gymnast's, and Athlete's, respectively.

+ points to Assassin Skill Trees

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. Note: Skill point/s added only to skills with at least one point already added.These mods are less powerful than + to all character stats, but they can occur on gloves, and if you get one on a nice weapon or amulet, it can be quite useful. They are also much lower level than +2 to all skills mods, and therefore easier to find and can be used by much lower level characters.

+ points to Barbarian Skill Trees

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items.

# The name of this affix is also used for a "+ Points to Attack Rating and + % to Damage" modifier.

Note: Skill point/s added only to skills with at least one point already added. These mods are less powerful than + to all character stats, but they can occur on gloves, and if you get one on a nice weapon or amulet, it can be quite useful. They are also much lower level than +2 to all skills mods, and therefore easier to find and can be used by much lower level characters.

+ points to Druid Skill Trees

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items. Note: Skill point/s added only to skills with at least one point already added. These mods are less powerful than + to all character stats, but they can occur on gloves, and if you get one on a nice weapon or amulet, it can be quite useful. They are also much lower level than +2 to all skills mods, and therefore easier to find and can be used by much lower level characters.

# Previously called "Nature's".

** Previously called "Terra's".

## Previously called "Gaea's".

+ points to Necromancer Skill Trees

# Previously called Accursed.

## Excluding throwing knives.

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. Note: Skill point/s added only to skills with at least one point already added. These mods are less powerful than + to all character stats, but they can occur on gloves, and if you get one on a nice weapon or amulet, it can be quite useful. They are also much lower level than +2 to all skills mods, and therefore easier to find and can be used by much lower level characters.

** Previously called Vodoun.

+ points to Paladin Skill Trees

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. Note: Skill point/s added only to skills with at least one point already added. These mods are less powerful than + to all character stats, but if you get one on a nice weapon or amulet, it can be quite useful. They are also much lower level than +2 to all skills mods, and therefore easier to find and can be used by much lower level characters.

** Previously named "Warder's"

+ points to Sorceress Skill Trees

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items. Note: Skill point/s added only to skills with at least one point already added. These mods are less powerful than + to all character stats, but they can occur on gloves, and if you get one on a nice weapon or amulet, it can be quite useful. They are also much lower level than +2 to all skills mods, and therefore easier to find and can be used by much lower level characters.

+ % chance of finding magic item

* Magical only: can not be found on Rare items. - Increases the odds that an item, when dropped, will be magical, Rare, Set, or Unique (rather than cracked, normal, or superior.) Basically it upgrades normal items to magical ones, so can make finding socketed items harder, ironically.
- Works with ranged attacks and spells.
- There are diminishing returns past 100%. See our Magic Find Guide or FAQ.

+ points to Light Radius

Useful mods to have, but not really sought out. They can stack with the +light radius suffixes on the same item, and multiple +light items stack as well.

# This prefix is also used for the "+1 min and 121-180 max lightning damage" stats.

Hit Causes Monsters to Flee (% Chance to Curse with Terror)

A generally despised modifier; this can ruin a top damage Rare weapon since most want a monster to stand still and be hit, rather than running off every time (can be useful on bows though). Frozen or blinded monsters will not flee, so using this while wearing Iceblink or Coif of Glory is an option.

Add Sockets

# previously called Mechanist's.

## previously called Artificer's.

* Magical only: cannot be found on Rare items. These mods can be useful for putting in godly jewels in magic items. Jeweler's mod is highly sought after by people planning to socket rare or magical jewels that adds damage and IAS. Unfortunately, magical items cannot become rune word items, so socketing runes is a waste with these mods.

** Excluding throwing weapons

Add Quantity To Throwing Weapons

The dense prefix is one of the most useful mod that Javazons can have since Javazons require more quantity rather than damage (i.e. lightning fury) All these mods can be spawn on rare items as well, making it convenient for any other classes that use throwing weapons (such as throwing Barbarians).