# Archnemesis ## Sanctum Patch Notes Monster Mods and Archnemesis Problem: * Archnemesis monster mods each added a number of stats and buffs to monsters, causing them to feel overwhelming and confusing (especially when multiple mods were present on the same monster). Solution: * Monster mods now only do one specific thing. * Here's an example: The Magma Barrier Archnemesis mod did a whole lot of stuff. It started by putting a magma barrier around the monster, but it didn't stop there. It converted some of the monster's physical damage to fire damage, it added some extra fire damage on top, it granted fire resistance to the monster and it gave some physical damage reduction for good measure. It also spawned volatile flamebloods to follow you. The new equivalent modifier just puts a magma barrier around the monster and does nothing else. Problem: * Keyworded, thematic monster mod names gave an impression of the overall effect of the mod on the monster but did not explain exactly what they granted, requiring players to memorise them. Solution: * Monster mods now say exactly what they do. * For example, rather than "Incendiary", which broke down into six properties, you'd now see monsters with either "Ignites" or "Fire and Ignite Resistant". Instead of "Deadeye", which did five separate things, you'd now see "Applies Random Mark", "Extra Crits" or "Accurate" as separate unrelated mods. Problem: * The percentage of Archnemesis mods that significantly changed gameplay was high, and combinations of modifiers that required careful play arose too frequently, making content too complex. Solution: * Since each mod now only does a single thing but monsters don't have more mods than they used to, the percentage of monsters with gameplay-altering effects is now much lower. Interesting and challenging emergent behaviour from overlapping mods can still happen, just less often. Problem: * The way Archnemesis rewards were set up meant that many players felt like they couldn't just kill a monster, they had to consider if they wanted to bring a magic find character in to maximise rewards Solution: * Players are no longer required to do annoying actions to maximise rewards * In Archnemesis, rewards were associated with individual mods. This meant that you could tell what kind of rewards you would get in advance. In some cases, you were then effectively required to fetch a magic-find culling character to make sure that you maximised the value of the monster mod that you had found. In other cases, you would ignore a monster completely if you knew that it would only drop rewards that were of no value to you. In the new system, we have added a significant pool of new rewards to rares, but the reward that is on the monster is hidden (and not associated with a specific mod), so you don't know what kind of rewards you will get until you kill the monster. Rare monsters with more mods are more likely to have these special hidden reward mods. This new reward system smooths out the spikiness that the Archnemesis reward system had. Conclusion: * The original motivation for developing Archnemesis was that the previous monster mod system was very out of date. Many of the mods didn't have any appreciable effect under modern balance and there wasn't a lot of interesting gameplay possible. In our opinion, Archnemesis did succeed at adding a lot of interesting new mechanics to rares, but introduced the problems described above. While creating the new monster mods described, we were careful to retain most of the interesting mechanics that Archnemesis introduced, but in a way that doesn't include a grab-bag of other effects and is diluted by many other simpler mods. * The result is a system that is very similar to what monster mods used to be like, but with much more up-to-date content and balance. Mods are simpler and say exactly what they do. While you can certainly still rarely encounter scary combinations of mods that really wake you up, it's a lot rarer than it was under the Archnemesis system. We feel that the new system is more modern and interesting than the old monster mod/nemesis system and is clearer and easier to understand in the heat of combat than Archnemesis was. ## Sentinel Patch Notes Archnemesis Changes * Archnemesis modifiers have been rebalanced and added to the core game. Existing Magic and Rare monster modifiers have been replaced with Archnemesis modifiers. * Rare monsters will be found with two Archnemesis modifiers by default. From Act 6 onwards, there is a chance to find monsters with three modifiers, and in Maps, a chance for finding monsters with four modifiers. * Magic monsters will be found with one Archnemesis modifier by default. * The life, experience, increased item quantity and rarity of Magic and Rare monsters are no longer primarily determined by the monster's rarity, these are now primarily determined by the type of modifiers on the monster itself. A monster with more, or rarer, modifiers will have more life, increased item quantity and rarity, and grant more experience. * Archnemesis modifiers are able to be gained by characters through sources such as Headhunter and Inspired Learning, though you are only able to have one instance of each modifier at any given time. Bloodlines and Nemesis Removal * Bloodlines and Nemesis have been removed from the core game. Some of their modifiers have been incorporated into the new monster modifier system: * The Snow Bolt and Inferno Bolt Nemesis modifiers have been incorporated into the Frost Strider and Flame Strider Archnemesis modifiers. * The Storm Herald and Final Gasp Nemesis modifiers can now be found as Archnemesis modifiers on Rare Monsters. * The Union of Souls, Voidspawn of Abaxoth, Spirit Walkers and Heralds of the Obelisk Bloodlines modifiers have been incorporated into the Archnemesis modifier system, and can be found on Magic monsters. ## Timeline (NZT) * Jan 25 - [Balance Manifesto](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3228807) * Jan 28 - [Announcement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4BLh5l8VA0), [Patch Notes](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3229187), [Passive Tree Json](https://github.com/grindinggear/skilltree-export/releases/tag/3.17.0) * Jan 31 - [All new and changed gems at 20/20](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3229646) * Feb 1 - * Feb 2 - Scourge League Ends, [Atlas Skill Tree](https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-atlas-skill-tree) * Feb 3 - [Item Filters](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3230194), [Challenge Rewards](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3230174) * Feb 4 - [Information about launch and hopefully a torrent](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3230371) * Feb 5 - 3.17 PC League Start, [Harmony Mystery Box](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3230823) * Feb 10 - 3.17 Xbox and PlayStation League Start