Wolcen’s latest patch fixes the Dark Market exploit and nerfs Bleeding Edge

Update: Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem‘s latest hotfix (1.07), which comes as a surprise since the studio previously announced that they can only do one patch or hotfix each week, has also nerfed another broken skill: Winter’s Grasp. Now, it can no longer have its cooldown reduced by leveling it up.

Original:

You could say that Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem‘s latest patch (1.05) just offered a one-two punch, the likes of which may frustrate a few players. Say goodbye to a Dark Market exploit that increases rarity of unique items, turning them into beefed-up legendaries. Second, Bleeding Edge has also gotten a considerable nerf.

Note: For additional info about Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem’s Expedition ranks, Champion of Stormfall upgrades, skill builds, tips, and more, check out our guides and features hub.

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem’s patch 1.05 – Goodbye uber legendaries

One of the biggest changes in Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem‘s patch 1.05 is that players will no longer be able to increase the rarity of unique items. Previously, the exploit was possible if you completed one of the game’s Dark Market projects. Since unique items were already the highest rarity in the game, completing the said project will turn your gear into a legendary version. But, it’ll retain its perk and add more affixes and stat rolls.

Unique items in Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem don’t properly scale with your level. It’s possible to have a level 80 character doing a rank 150+ Expedition only to end up with a level 10 unique gear. The gear piece may have a higher item level (ilvl or gearscore), but its stat rolls still won’t match up with what you expected. As such, the Dark Market exploit actually made certain items more viable.

Wolcen Studio justified the decision, citing that they may revisit this feature (exploit) later on:

We know that you appreciate the possibility to change Unique items into legendary items and to craft them, however, we have to remove these possibilities for the moment.
We are definitely not against implementing it as a feature in the future, we find the possibilities that it offers interesting, but we want to spend time in designing it so the system works and is properly integrated with the rest of the game.

We will also implement a new power tier of uniques for the end-game progression with better raw values in a future patch, we are aware that aside from a few exceptions, Uniques are currently not competitive for high-end content.

My heart bleeds for Bleeding Edge

Another change also applies to a fan favorite skill: Bleeding Edge. I’ve made note of this skill several times, such as in our official review, a feature regarding the endgame, and a guide for stats, passives, and builds. Simply put, Bleeding Edge has become the go-to skill for high-end content in Wolcen, due to nodes and modifiers that improved its capabilities. Those have been nerfed in patch 1.05:

• “Despotic Perseverance” – reduced the Damage Multiplier per Ailment Stack from 20% to 2%.
• “Unstoppable Momentum” – increased the damage reduction from -100 to -150.
• “Unstoppable Momentum” – fixed the damage gain per level from 1 to 0.
• “Unstoppable Momentum” – now also adds a 10 seconds cooldown to the skill.
• “Self-adjusting Principle” – reduced the Projectile Speed Multiplier from 1.75 to 1.3.

The nerf to “Despotic Perseverance” is the most impactful. The node itself allows Bleeding Edge to synergize well with the usual ailment stacking builds. Fear not, however, because ailment stacking and Bleeding Edge remain viable for Wolcen‘s endgame. It just takes slightly longer for bosses to die.

Along with the above changes, Wolcen‘s patch 1.05 also introduced an oddity. Some dungeons and tilesets now tend to lack mobs or mob density. Likewise, I’ve noticed that there were times when some monster packs all remained idle at the edge of my screen when they used to pounce and aggro quickly. A hotfix (1.06) also adds Korean localization and fixes a game-breaking event during the campaign. In any case, you can view the full patch notes here.

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem is available on Steam. For additional information, check out our guides and features hub.