Combat Styles Improvements - Beta Update 2

Today, we’re launching an updated beta build to address player feedback and showcase upcoming Combat Modernisation changes, helping us continue to refine and polish the update.

This beta branch will be available from today until Monday, February 16th and we are investigating the viability of an additional update next week if possible. Let's dive in!

Style Identity

It's clear from your feedback that Melee's initial beta iteration missed the mark a little, with less cohesion and simplicity than the other styles, whilst also feeling weaker, and missing some of the effects you felt important, we've realigned Melee to introduce a new status 'Bloodlust' which plays into various abilities and gives it some much needed structure.

Introduced firstly through 'Pressing Blow', a new Melee ability (currently re-using the Smash icon - this is placeholder), gaining maximum stacks allows you to empower a number of your Melee abilities.

As well as this, introducing additional methods of gaining Bloodlust stacks - casting Berserk and using Punish while the target is below 50% lifepoints will generate the maximum number of stacks, so that you can continue benefiting from it throughout your rotation.

Alongside the above changes, Melee often feels weaker than the other styles, especially in the early game as it has to get up close and dirty in order to damage a target. We're rebalancing melee to up the base effectiveness of the style and make it feel slightly less reliant on Berserk.

Ability Modification

Basic Attack

• 100% → 115% AVG per hit
• x0.66 for fast weapons

Backhand

• 70% → 100% AVG per hit

Flurry

• 50% → 60% AVG per hit

Adaptive Strike

• 100% → 145% AVG (2 Hand)
• 100% → 150% AVG (Dual wield)

Dismember

• No longer a basic ability, costs 0% adrenaline
• 28% → 40% AVG
• 5 hits → 6 hits

Hurricane

• Instead of requiring a specific number of targets to reset its cooldown, it now reduces it cooldown by 3s for each enemy hit.
• First hit: 135% AVG → 150% AVG
• AOE hits: 150% AVG → 170% AVG

Dismember Recast 1

• 35% AVG → 90% AVG
• Removed the movement damage multiplier

Dismember Recast 2

• 70% → 125% on bleed hits

Greater Flurry

• 65% → 75% AVG per hit

Punish

• 85% → 110% AVG

Assault

• 150% → 170% AVG per hit

Pulverise

• 270% → 290% AVG
• Now considered an ultimate ability

Berserk

Whilst we want Melee to have a bit more power, we're aware that during berserk, melee was already very strong. To mitigate excessive powercreep we're bringing berserk down to account for the baseline power. With the above changes we expect a players Berserk to be roughly the same damage as live.

• Damage Multiplier 2x → 1.75x
• Self damage multiplier 1.5x → 1.25x

Chaos Roar

• 95% → 115% AVG
• Damage Multiplier 2x → 1.75x

Meteor Strike

• Generate 3% Adrenaline every 0.6s → Generate 6% Adrenaline every 0.6s
• No longer clears when switching style, but only granted while you have a Melee weapon equipped
• Now considered an ultimate ability

Melee special attacks

• To not indirectly nerf special attacks with the above multiplier changes, special attacks across the board have had slight changes to their damage to allow them to perform on or at a similar level to live.

Ability Additions

• Quake has been re-enabled to give Melee a bit more additional AoE; and an early source of defence and affinity modification.

Ability Modification

Imbue: Gales

Following your feedback, we’ve made some adjustments to Imbue: Gales to make it feel slightly more impactful but reduce the amount it interrupts a rotation.

We’ve also reverted the 1.2s global cooldown to 1.8s.

• Cooldown: 15s → 20.4s
• Duration: 4.2s → 6s
• GCD: 1.2s → 1.8s

Imbue: Shadows

• Fixed a bug that stopped the buff applying to delayed attacks such as the Crystal Rain special.
• Fixed a bug that made it free to cast outside of combat

Bombardment

• AoE range has been increased from 1 tile → 2 tiles

Deadshot

• Deadshot with Igneous cape now hits for a total of 8 times

Binding Shot

• Corrected hit timing

Snap Shot

• Corrected hit timing

Corruption Shot

Corruption shot and blast are identical abilities currently, we'd like to change that so they feel less cut and paste.

We're moving Corruption Shot to immediately tag nearby enemies instead of spreading corruption, to better play into an immediate bombardment after targets are drawn together.

• Now hits multiple targets on the initial cast.
• Corruption DoT no longer spreads.

Other

Additionally the auto-setup action bar for Ranged has been further updated

Ability Removal

• Detonate has been disabled.

Detonate, Magma Tempest, and Corruption blast all sat in a weird spot of being AOE abilities, that all served roughly the same purpose, with little to differentiate them. With a focus on reducing ability bloat, and after speaking to you, we've elected to disable Detonate as it was the least favoured of the 3 abilities, and push magma up a tier.

Ability Modification

Magma Tempest

• Adrenaline raised from 0% → 25%
• Damage raised from 27.5% AVG per hit → 40% AVG per hit
• Cooldown raised from 15s to 21s

Concentrated Blast

• Now applies crit benefits to the entirety of the next 'attack'
• Note: This means it will last for both hits of wild magic / a Igneous Omnipower, but only the first channel of an asphyxiate.
• Note Note: We define 'next attack' as the next singular cast (e.g. Wild magic is a single 'attack' that hits twice. Whereas Asphyxiate is an ability that 'attacks' 4 times) If the tooltip stated 'next ability' we'd expect that to last for the full channel.

Greater Concentrated Blast

• Critical Strike Bonus reduced from 8% per channel → 7%

Tsunami

• Sped up hit timing

Sonic Wave

• Runic Charged Sonic Wave Adrenaline Reduction 50% → 35%
• Runic Charged Greater Sonic Wave Adrenaline Reduction 60% → 45%
• Fixed a bug that prevented the buff from being consumed
• Fixed a bug that allowed flow to be consumed by non-magic abilities.

Wild Magic

• Reduced cooldown from 6s → 5.4s

Dragon Breath

• Level requirement raised from 14 → 19

Omnipower

• Level requirement reduced from 20 → 12

We like smoke tendrils being an impactful pay-off for critical strike damage as well as synergising with Tsunami. However, the lack of crit boosting gear in the mid/early lategame meant in the base kit you weren't comboing off as much as we would've liked.

We're reducing smoke tendrils to a 0% adrenaline ability so it can act as an immediate adrenaline stim when combined with tsunami, without needing all the crit upgrades.

Smoke Tendrils

• Self Damage reduced 55% AD AVG → 37.5% AD
• Adrenaline Requirement 15% → 0%

Runic Charge

• No longer incurs a global cooldown

Sanguine Charge

Exsanguinate and Sanguine Charge felt a bit lost. Losing the 12% damage boost never really felt worth it. We're switching it up to keep the stacks, instead the player sacrifices some HP to Sanguine Charge.

Additionally, Sanguine Charge improving combust felt lackluster, especially with combust no longer being a basic. We're swapping this out so Sanguine Charge instead has a reduced cooldown compared to its bluer cousin, letting you power up your basics more often and keeping with the theme set out with the Blood tithe stacks.

• No longer consumes Blood Tithe stacks → Now costs HP
• No longer extends Combust
• Cooldown 30s → 19.8s

Stuns

• Stuns for Melee, Ranged and Magic now unlock at level 31 and unlock their second charge at level 54 to allow usage of these earlier in the player's progression.

Ability Modification

Updated 'Overpower', 'Deadshot', 'Omnipower', and 'Death Skulls' to require 60% adrenaline by default, as thematically an 'Ultimate', damage-dealing ability should feel impactful, but at the cost of 100% adrenaline it's never really worth it.

This is where previously the Igneous capes from TzKal-Zuk would rectify this issue, however we want these abilities to have value at its core, and not require a late-game upgrade as the solution. Going forward, we want to classify 'Ultimate' abilities as thematically strong abilities that fit the fantasy.

• Updated the igneous cape information and effects to reflect this

Damage Per Level

Modified the way that 'Damage Per Level' is calculated.

TL;DR: Damage per level now increases more in the early and midgame and less in the endgame, to make early combat less tedious, without impacting the endgame

• With the removal of auras, we understand that the average PvMer becomes weaker, especially those who revolve their gameplay around them (I.E., only do combat while under a specific aura).
• In addition to this, we're introducing 120 combats which roughly offset this damage loss - however, we don't want you to feel like you need to hit 120 in the relevant skill before you start bossing.
• As a result, we've modified the damage per level formula. In live, this takes the relevant stat level (e.g., when using a Ranged weapon, it takes your Ranged stat) and multiplies that by 2.5, linearly.
• We've modified how damage per level is calculated, by adding a logarithmic scale to the damage per level curve to alleviate some of the level benefits from the auras. This aims to add additional power to the mid-game to make combat progression less tedious, without adding additional passive power to the endgame where appropriate.
• For those more math-focused: this uses the formula: 145 * 2.5* (ln(1 + (0.6 * (Range_level/145))) / ln(1.6)
• 145: Max level with potion boosts
• 2.5: Original 'Damage Per Level'

Bug Fixes

• Basic attacks for ranged and melee will now alternate hands when dual wielding.

How do I join?

Ready to give the Beta a try? Here’s how:

• Jagex Launcher
• Head to the taskbar and close any running instances of the Jagex launcher.
• Click this link.
• The link will load the Jagex launcher then start loading the Beta, logging you in automatically.

• Non Jagex Launcher

On first login, your live save is imported into the Beta. You can re-import your save into the Beta once per hour.

Please note that this is a Beta, so not everything shown is guaranteed to make it into the live game. We’ll be working closely with players to refine these updates and bring them to the live game once they’re fully ready!

- The Runescape Team