Developer Eleventh Hour Games released a beta update for Last Epoch. Patch 0.8.5c brings heavy balancing changes to the Druid’s Swarmblade Form, particularly its summoning aspect.
The Swarmblade is one of the three forms the Druid can transform to. Changing to this form unlocks four new abilities, but for now, let's focus on both Summon Hive and Swarm Strike.
That said, a particular build is quite popular nowadays that uses the scaling duration of Locust Swarm combined with some bugs and unintended mechanics. While this build is broken in terms of how powerful it is, the playstyle is quite unenjoyable. This is not something that the developers want. Thus, they made some changes to discourage people from gravitating to this build.
So, what are these changes? One of the most notable is that you are now limited to just one active Locust Swarm when using Swarm Strike, but the good thing is that it now deals 25% more damage. Also, the bug where the added melee poison damage for Locust Swarm was actually applied as melee physical damage has been resolved.
All Druids who went for the Swarmblade specialization have a free respec after updating to beta Patch 0.8.5c, so be sure to take advantage of this to modify your existing builds.
Since this is a beta update, all changes here are being monitored and are subject to change before they hit the live servers.
Highlights
- Last 12 seconds by default (from 9)
- You are now limited to 12 active locusts
- Locusts deal 50% more damage
- Hives summon locusts 122% more frequently
- The summon hive skill has 35% more cast speed
- The summon hive skill has a 5-second cooldown (from 8) and can hold 3 charges (from 2)
- You are limited to 3 active hives (from 2)
- Locust Swarm gains 15 melee physical damage, 15 melee poison damage, 15% increased duration, and 15% increased area per locust consumes (from 12, 12, 12%, and 12% respectively)
- Added melee damage is now applied at 350% effectiveness to Swarm Strike (from 300%)
- Grand Colony now also grants +1 maximum locust, but no longer increases the summoning speed of hives, and can have 3 points allocated (from 4)
- Hive Mind no longer increases the maximum number of hives or grants additional hive charges, but instead increases hive summoning speed and causes Locust Swarm to release locusts over time (a swarm does not lose damage as it releases locusts, but cannot release more locusts than were initially gathered to create it). It can have 3 points allocated (from 2)
The full list of changes can be found on Last Epoch’s official website.
