NPC Defense Adjustments: The impact of defence changes on player strategies and gameplay

Jagex is rolling out new updates for OSRS, and these changes will have huge impacts on players. The NPC Defense Adjustment establishes new mechanics that gamers must consider. The update also enables gamers to consume more content without needing the best items in OSRS. Players can quickly readjust their strategies and gameplay to tackle more challenging enemies. 

Project Rebalance Introduces New Weaknesses

To celebrate OSRS’s 11^th anniversary, Jagex is revamping the NPC Defense system in the game. Before the changes, some mobs already possessed innate vulnerabilities to some elements, and we already had bonus damage percentages for melee attacks. Devs expanded this concept to ranged weapons and expounded on Elemental Weaknesses. 

These adjustments let players be more flexible with their builds and not focus on getting the top BiS items in the game. These changes will allow more variety, so gamers won’t spam one specific build for all content. Devs will also benefit from the adjustments because future items in OSRS become more rewarding, and players will be given more incentive to farm them. Additionally, players looking to enhance their experience can buy OSRS gold safe, ensuring they have the resources to explore these new opportunities.

Elemental Weaknesses

Before, mobs with existing Elemental Weaknesses worked differently, and these characteristics weren’t widely pronounced. In this update, all mobs will receive various changes to their defences by giving them innate vulnerabilities. The weaknesses have also been reworked so that instead of providing a flat 100% bonus damage, we’ll be getting this new damage calculation:

·         Base Damage x (Magic Damage % + Elemental Weakness %)

Aside from this damage calculation, we’ll also gain a 1% bonus on Accuracy and Damage per percentage of Elemental Weakness. Adjusting your gear to match the vulnerability of your enemy means your attacks are more likely to hit. This setup also allows players to establish setups for a more significant advantage against specific enemies. Still, it won’t create a big gap if the damage scaling becomes too exaggerated. 

The basis for this change is to give Standard Spellbooks more use in the current meta. Initially, players will only use higher-tier or fire spells due to their vast damage outputs. With the Elemental Weaknesses, we give more simple spells like Earth, Water, and Wind more opportunities for use in various scenarios. Here is the adjusted Elemental Weakness list:

·         Zulrah: 50% Fire Weakness

·         All Metallic Dragons: 50% Earth Weakness

·         All Chromatic Dragons: 50% Water Weakness

·         Fire Giants: 100% Water Weakness

·         Ice Giants: 100% Fire Weakness

·         Ice Trolls: 100% Fire Weakness

·         Ice Warriors: 100% Fire Weakness

·         Icefiends: 100% Fire Weakness

·         Ghosts: 50% Air Weakness

·         Skeletons: 35% Air Weakness

·         Barrow Brothers: 50% Air Weakness

·         Aviansies: 45% Air Weakness

·         Kree’arra: 30% Air Weakness

·         Black Demon: 40% Water Weakness

·         Demonic Gorilla: 35% Water Weakness

·         Greater Demon: 50% Water Weakness

·         K’rilTsutsaroth: 30% Water Weakness

·         Hellhounds: 50% Water Weakness

·         Cerberus: 40% Water Weakness

·         Scarab Mages: 50% Fire Weakness

·         Swarms: 50% Fire Weakness

·         Arcane: 50% Fire Weakness

·         Solider: 50% Fire Weakness

·         Spitting Scarabs: 50% Fire Weakness

·         Kephri: 40% Fire Weakness

·         Kephri during Final Phase: 35% Fire Weakness

·         Abyssal Portal: 50% Fire Weakness

Ranged Weakness

The only type of damage weakness we had for the longest time was melee attacks. Players prefer Melee Damage because it is more precise and diverse in the offence. This type of attack’s vulnerability is split into three categories: Stabbing, Slashing, and Crushing. Mobs in OSRS had apparent weaknesses for any of the three, allowing players to know which ones to use to maximize their damage. 

This defence mechanism is now being implemented in range combat to introduce a variety of ranged weapons. The new and improved Ranged Defense types will promote using other weapons during specific encounters instead of the identical old ultimate BiS bows. Previously, we only used a particular range of items for almost any fight without considering their weaknesses. With this update, we gain more incentives to use other weapons to give us an edge. Here are all the new Ranged Defense types depending on the ammunition:

·         Heavy: anything that uses Bolts and Javelins

·         Standard: anything that uses Arrows (includes Magical Arrows)

·         Light: anything that uses Darts, Knives, and Throwables. 

The best thing about these changes is that the Ranged Weakness depends on what type of ammo you use instead of the item. You don’t have to manage or monitor too many items to get the most out of each monster’s vulnerabilities.

How Will This Impact the PvP Scene

The Magic and Ranged Defense changes will have little impact on the PvP scene. Players themselves don’t have Elemental Weaknesses, and Ranged Vulnerabilities rarely matter since your DEF stats depend on what you were rather than innate characteristics. Suffice it to say that these updates will only introduce variety in PvE or PvM. 

How Do These Changes Help OSRS

Overall, it helps introduce variety in the game’s combat. The updates will also open up new opportunities for devs to introduce rewards that can make meaningful contributions to the game. With these adjustments, we are more incentivized to try different things rather than rely on the same old thing repeatedly.