Plaguelands Update: Task Bar Hero (TBH)

Task Bar Hero has it's first major update has just dropped and it's looking like it's planning to improve the endgame grind that we've all been engrossed with since the game released.

They have been fairly open about the changes in roadmap for this update due to how long things have taken to develop but the update is still looking like it will be a lot of fun offering new features, visuals and much needed quality of life functionality.

Here are the Patch Notes if you would like to check them out in full.

The Plaguelands is intended to be an end game farming system which you have to use Corruption to enter and is a way to obtain super rare items compared to usual.

The Plaguelands can be accessed through the Portal UI on Nightmare, Hell, and Torment difficulties and unlocks after clearing Stage 1-10 of each difficulty.

You will need 30 Contamination to enter the Plaguelands which is consumed the longer the stay within the zone. Contamination will recharge over time whilst you are online or offline so you can save up and make a push for higher grade items are your own leisure.

Chests will drop less frequently here but will have a much higher chance of ultra-high grade items than in normal zones (Celestial or higher). These chests will be stored separately to chests obtained from the normal area available before this update.

There will also be the ability to apply a Plague Intensity to the Plaguelands before entering which will make it more difficult but increases the rewards as a result.

Once you reach a Plague Intensity of 6 or higher there will be a chance of dropping Contaminated Soulstones that can be used to face off against Contaminated Bosses that are harder than normal bosses with even greater rewards.

Corrosion Recipe

There is a new Cube Recipe making its way to the game called Corrosion which will grant you the resource required to enter the Plague Zone.

Corruption can be be attained through the new Cube Recipe and will grant Corruption in the same way Alchemy grants Gold.

If an item is more than 21 Levels higher than your Cube Level it will not be usable by the Corrosion Recipe so bare this in mind when obtaining items from the Marketplace.

There is also a small chance that Plague Fruit can drop from the Plaguelands which can also be used with the new Recipe to obtain Corruption.

Synthesise Recipe

The Synthesise Recipe has also been updated to have a Level 80 - 90 bracket so that gear can be synthesised upwards towards the newly added Level 90 items.

Crafting Recipe

Level 90 crafting options have also been added to the Crafting Recipe feature as another means of obtaining these items.

Offering Recipe

It will also be possible to obtain Level 90 items through offerings using Immortal Grade Coins or higher through the Offering Recipe.

With the new update the level cap of items is raising from Level 80 to Level 90 which means all gear that has been obtained until now has a good chance of being replaceable by the new items making their way into the game.

These can be obtained from the High Zones and Plaguelands that are Level 90 or higher with a chance of dropping higher rarity items from the Plaguelands.

There are new Unique Stats being added to the game that should hopefully throw up the team meta and provide different team setups a chance to shine.

The following have been added to the game:

Knight

• Eternal Sword (Lv90 Arcana) - Unyielding Will skill's cooldown is reduced by 30%.
• Eternal Shield (Lv90 Arcana) - Aegis Field's damage absorption increases by 500.
• Eternal Sword (Lv90 Beyond) - The basic attack count required to trigger Retribution Strike skill decreases by 1.
• Eternal Sword (Lv90 Celestial) - Retribution Strike skill's consecutive attack count increases by +1.
• Eternal Shield (Lv90 Celestial) - Aegis Field moves along with the Knight.

Ranger

• Eternal Bow (Lv90 Arcana) - The basic attack count required to trigger Skewer Shot skill decreases by 1.
• Ancient Arrow (Lv90 Arcana) - Arrow Rain skill's cooldown is reduced by 30%.
• Eternal Bow (Lv90 Beyond) - The basic attack count required to trigger Piercing Arrow skill decreases by 2.
• Eternal Bow (Lv90 Celestial) - Scatter Shot skill's projectile count increases by +1.
• Ancient Arrow (Lv90 Celestial) - When a basic attack critically hits, Arrow Rain cooldown is reduced by 1 second.
• Eternal Bow (Lv90 Divine) - Skewer Shot skill's consecutive attack count increases by +1.

Sorcerer

• Ethereal Ring (Lv80 Arcana) - Lightning skill's damage element changes to Fire.
• Eternal Staff (Lv90 Arcana) - Meteor Strike skill's cooldown is reduced by 30%.
• Eternal Orb (Lv90 Arcana) - Hydra's attack speed increases by 200%.
• Eternal Staff (Lv90 Beyond) - Lightning skill shocks enemies on hit.
• Eternal Orb (Lv90 Beyond) - Ice Orb has a 30% chance to freeze chilled enemies on hit.
• Eternal Gloves (Lv90 Beyond) - Meteor Strike skill's damage element changes to Cold.
• Eternal Staff (Lv90 Celestial) - Snowstorm deals 100% additional damage to frozen enemies.
• Eternal Staff (Lv90 Divine) - Fireball skill's projectile count increases by +1.
• Eternal Orb (Lv90 Divine) - Ice Orb skill's consecutive attack count increases by +1.

Priest

• Dimensional Scepter (Lv80 Arcana) - Heal skill's cooldown is reduced by 30%.
• Eternal Scepter (Lv90 Arcana) - Sanctuary's healing is halved, but its cooldown is also halved.
• Eternal Tome (Lv90 Arcana) - Blessing of Warding increases elemental block chance by 5% per level.
• Eternal Scepter (Lv90 Beyond) - Priest's basic attack skill's range increases by 500.
• Eternal Tome (Lv90 Beyond) - Damage taken within Sanctuary is reduced by 20%.
• Eternal Scepter (Lv90 Celestial) - Killing an enemy with an attack while under the Wrath of Heaven buff reduces Wrath of Heaven's cooldown by 1 second.
• Eternal Scepter (Lv90 Cosmic) - While under Wrath of Heaven buff, attacking enemies also casts Heal on allies.

Hunter

• Dimensional Gloves (Lv80 Arcana) - Explosive Bolt skill's damage element changes to Cold.
• Dimensional Crossbow (Lv80 Beyond) - Crossbow Turret cooldown is reduced by 50%.
• Dimensional Crossbow (Lv80 Divine) - 20% chance to fire Frost Bolt instead of a basic attack.
• Dimensional Bolt (Lv80 Divine) - Charge Trap skill's maximum placement count increases by 5.
• Eternal Crossbow (Lv90 Arcana) - Quick Loader skill's cooldown is reduced by 30%.
• Ancient Bolt (Lv90 Arcana) - Charge Trap skill's maximum placement count increases by 2.
• Eternal Crossbow (Lv90 Beyond) - The basic attack count required to trigger Shock Bolt skill decreases by 1.
• Ancient Bolt (Lv90 Beyond) - Each time Explosive Bolt kills a monster, Charge Trap cooldown is reduced by 1 second.
• Abyss Ring (Lv90 Beyond) - Explosive Bolt skill's damage element changes to Lightning.
• Eternal Crossbow (Lv90 Celestial) - The basic attack count required to trigger Explosive Bolt skill decreases by 1.
• Ancient Bolt (Lv90 Celestial) - 20% chance to fire Explosive Bolt instead of a basic attack.
• Eternal Crossbow (Lv90 Divine) - Explosive Bolt skill's consecutive attack count increases by +1.
• Ancient Bolt (Lv90 Divine) - Shock Bolt skill's projectile count increases by +1.
• Eternal Crossbow (Lv90 Cosmic) - 30% chance to fire Frost Bolt instead of a basic attack.
• Ancient Bolt (Lv90 Cosmic) - Charge Trap skill's maximum placement count increases by 7.

Slayer

• Dimensional Hatchet (Lv80 Beyond) - Attack Speed is amplified by 1% per 1% missing HP.
• Dimensional Axe (Lv80 Cosmic) - Killing a bleeding enemy with Axe Spin increases Axe Spin's duration by 1 second.
• Eternal Axe (Lv90 Arcana) - The basic attack count required to trigger Ground Slam skill decreases by 1.
• Eternal Hatchet (Lv90 Arcana) - Each time a Ground Slam rock explodes, the basic attack count required to trigger Ground Slam decreases by 1.
• Eternal Axe (Lv90 Beyond) - Axe Spin's damage is converted to fire, and bleeding chance becomes ignite chance.
• Eternal Hatchet (Lv90 Beyond) - Axe Spin skill's cooldown is reduced by 30%.
• Eternal Axe (Lv90 Celestial) - Axe Spin's chance to cause bleeding increases to 50%.
• Eternal Hatchet (Lv90 Celestial) - The HP that the Slayer hero steals with skills becomes 2x.
• Eternal Axe (Lv90 Divine) - Killing a bleeding enemy with Axe Spin increases Axe Spin's duration by 1 second.
• Eternal Hatchet (Lv90 Divine) - Ground Slam skill's consecutive attack count increases by +1.

Shared

• Dimensional Armor (Lv80 Beyond) - Takes 20% of the damage allies receive instead.
• Ethereal Bracer (Lv80 Beyond) - Elemental Dodge Chance +20%
• Dimensional Armor (Lv80 Celestial) - 30% of damage taken is shared among other party members.
• Dimensional Armor (Lv80 Divine) - Chaos Resistance is fixed to the highest elemental resistance value.
• Dimensional Armor (Lv80 Cosmic) - Max HP +2000
• Ethereal Bracer (Lv80 Cosmic) - Max HP +100%
• Eternal Armor (Lv90 Beyond) - The highest elemental resistance value is applied to all elemental resistances.
• Eternal Boots (Lv90 Beyond) - Moves between waves at the average movement speed of all party members.
• Abyss Bracer (Lv90 Beyond) - Max All Elemental Resistance +3%
• Eternal Helmet (Lv90 Celestial) - Max All Elemental Resistance +3%
• Eternal Armor (Lv90 Celestial) :- Max HP +1000
• Eternal Boots (Lv90 Celestial) - Move between waves at the speed of the slowest party member, excluding yourself.
• Abyss Earring (Lv90 Celestial) - Elemental Dodge Chance +40%
• Abyss Bracer (Lv90 Celestial) - Max HP +50%
• Eternal Armor (Lv90 Divine) - Damage reduction on a successful block becomes 75%.
• Eternal Helmet (Lv90 Cosmic) - Max All Elemental Resistance +5%
• Eternal Armor (Lv90 Cosmic) - You cannot take more than 50% of max HP in damage from a single hit.
• Eternal Boots (Lv90 Cosmic) - Move between waves at the speed of the fastest party member.

Those of you that have got an overabundance of gold will be glad to know that there are new Runes coming to the game to help expand and customise your game experience with enough time investment.

There are 27 Nodes focused around the Plaguelands and 17 Nodes have been added focused around increased Treasure Chest Drop Rates and Wave Count Reduction.

There are also some Character Stat Nodes that have been added to the Bottom Right section of the Rune Map so be sure to pick these up when you can.

The Act Boss Chest Rewards have had a balancing pass to bring up the Item Drop Chance to 42% as opposed to it being between 20% - 30%.

The chance to obtain Beyond Grade items has also been doubled so these should be a little more common as well as Celestial, Divine and Cosmic Grade items becoming available to drop from these chests.

Accessories should also drop higher grade versions at a slightly higher rate with Arcana and Beyond versions making there way to the Act Boss Chest Rewards at a low rate.

As part of the balancing changes the Attack Speed of all the Weapon Types have been adjusted to the following:

Sword (Knight)

• Uncommon-Immortal : 1.20 (unchanged)
• Arcana : 1.27 → 1.32
• Beyond : 1.33 → 1.48
• Celestial : 1.40 → 1.68
• Divine : 1.47 → 1.92
• Cosmic : 1.53 → 2.24

Bow (Ranger)

• Uncommon-Immortal : 1.50 (unchanged)
• Arcana : 1.65 (unchanged)
• Beyond : 1.85 (unchanged)
• Celestial : 2.60 → 2.10
• Divine : 3.35 → 2.40
• Cosmic : 4.10 → 2.80

Staff (Sorcerer)

• Uncommon-Immortal : 0.75 (unchanged)
• Arcana : 0.79 → 0.83
• Beyond : 0.83 → 0.93
• Celestial : 0.87 → 1.05
• Divine : 0.91 → 1.20
• Cosmic : 0.95 → 1.40

Scepter (Priest)

• Uncommon-Immortal : 1.10 (unchanged)
• Arcana : 1.14 → 1.19
• Beyond : 1.18 → 1.31
• Celestial : 1.22 → 1.46
• Divine : 1.26 → 1.64
• Cosmic : 1.30 → 1.88

Crossbow (Hunter)

• Uncommon-Immortal : 0.90 (unchanged)
• Arcana : 0.94 → 1.01
• Beyond : 0.98 → 1.15
• Celestial : 1.02 → 1.32
• Divine : 1.06 → 1.53
• Cosmic : 1.10 → 1.81

Axe (Slayer)

• Uncommon-Immortal : 0.90 (unchanged)
• Arcana : 0.94 → 1.01
• Beyond : 0.98 → 1.15
• Celestial : 1.02 → 1.32
• Divine : 1.06 → 1.53
• Cosmic : 1.10 → 1.81

One of the major issues with survivability before this update was incoming Elemental Damage where even being capped on Resistances it would prove tricky to stay alive at times unless you killed the monsters before they could attack.

With this update the following monster elemental damage balance changes have been made:

Fire

• Fire Elemental - Attack Damage reduced by 27%
• Dragon Hatchling - Attack Damage reduced by 11%
• Lava Being - Attack Damage reduced by 15%
• Hell Golem - Attack Damage reduced by 33%
• Burning Hell Priest - Attack Damage reduced by 17% + Attack Speed reduced by 20%

Cold

• Snow Mountain Mage - Attack Damage reduced by 7%
• Frozen Hell Priest - Attack Damage reduced by 17% + Attack Speed reduced by 20%

Lightning

• Electric Hell Priest - Attack Damage reduced by 17% + Attack Speed reduced by 20%

Chaos

• Venom Insect - Attack Damage reduced by 35%
• Chaos Hell Priest - Attack Damage reduced by 39% + Attack Speed reduced by 20%

For those of you that want to customise the look of your characters there is a new Skin System coming to the game which allows you to alter the way your characters look.

We are yet to see all of the available skins but here is one that they shared ahead of time to give you an idea of what to expect.

There will be some Dusk Wanderer skins available to download for free on launch due to server issues prior to this release so be sure to check those out!

There is also some new quality of life coming with this update in the form of Statistics for those of you that like to dig deep into those numbers.