wow Everything We Know About the Corrupted Items System So Far

[Stan 5,024]

A compilation of everything we know about the alternative to Titanforging coming in Patch 8.3.

Note that Patch 8.3 won't be out before next year and the current iteration of the system will be changed in future builds.

The Successor to Warforging and Titanforging

In Visions of N'Zoth and Mythic Season 4, Blizzard is effectively changing Warforging/Titanforging to a system called Corrupted items, which:

• Come with Benthic-like effects in three tiers (Tier 1/2/3);
• Come with a +Corruption stat in three tiers (Tier 1/2/3) which activates negative effects based on your Total Corruption accumulated on all gear;
  • Random Corruption ranges have become changed to static in the recent 8.3 PTR build.

"Benthic" Effects on Corrupted Items

Corrupted items have the following Benthic-like effects on them:

Avoidance

• Tier 1: Your Avoidance is increased by an amount equal to 3% of your Haste.
• Tier 2: Your Avoidance is increased by an amount equal to 6% of your Haste.
• Tier 3: Your Avoidance is increased by an amount equal to 10% of your Haste.

Critical Strike

• Tier 1: Increases the amount of Critical Strike you gain from all sources by 2%.
• Tier 2: Increases the amount of Critical Strike you gain from all sources by 3%.
• Tier 3: Increases the amount of Critical Strike you gain from all sources by 4%.

Critical Damage Bonus

• Tier 1: Increases the damage you deal with Critical Strikes by 2%.
• Tier 2: Increases the damage you deal with Critical Strikes by 3%.
• Tier 3: Increases the damage you deal with Critical Strikes by 4%.

Damage Taken Reduction

• Tier 1: Reduces your damage taken from periodic effects by 2%.
• Tier 2: Reduces your damage taken from periodic effects by 4%.
• Tier 3: Reduces your damage taken from periodic effects by 6%.

Haste

• Tier 1: Increases the amount of Haste you gain from all sources by 2%.
• Tier 2: Increases the amount of Haste you gain from all sources by 3%.
• Tier 3: Increases the amount of Haste you gain from all sources by 4%.

Healing Received Increase

• Tier 1: Increases your healing received from all sources by 2%.
• Tier 2: Increases your healing received from all sources by 4%.
• Tier 3: Increases your healing received from all sources by 6%.

Health Regen

• Tier 1: 20% of total Health regeneration now continues during combat.
• Tier 2: 30% of total Health regeneration now continues during combat.
• Tier 3: 40% of total Health regeneration now continues during combat.

Leech

• Tier 1: Increases your Leech by 2%.
• Tier 2: Increases your Leech by 4%.
• Tier 3: Increases your Leech by 6%.

Mastery

• Tier 1: Increases the amount of Mastery you gain from all sources by 2%.
• Tier 2: Increases the amount of Mastery you gain from all sources by 3%.
• Tier 3: Increases the amount of Mastery you gain from all sources by 4%.

Versatility

• Tier 1: Increases the amount of Versatility from all sources by 2%.
• Tier 2: Increases the amount of Versatility from all sources by 3%.
• Tier 3: Increases the amount of Versatility from all sources by 4%.

Spell Cast

• Tier 1 & Tier 2: Not Available / Implemented Yet?
• Tier 3: Your spells and abilities have a chance to grant you a Flash of Clarity, reducing the cooldown of your next 3 spells cast by 2 sec.

Corruption Stat

Based on your Total Corruption accumulated from all gear, there are four side effects that activate at various Corruption Levels:

Corruption Level	Side Effect	Description
10+ Corruption	Grasping Tendrils	Taking damage has a chance to slow your movement speed for 5 sec. The magnitude of the slow increases with further Corruption.
20+ Corruption	Corrupted Zone	Your spells and abilities have a chance to create a corrupted zone at your location, dealing Shadow damage to you every 2 sec. The size and damage of the corrupted zone increases with higher Corruption.
40+ Corruption	Grand Delusions	Taking damage has a chance to summon a Thing from Beyond, which pursues you for 10 seconds. Its speed increases with further Corruption.
60+ Corruption	Creeping Death	Damage taken increased by 10% and healing reduced by 10%.

The negative effects are not static and grow in power with increasing Corruption on your gear. For example, Creeping Death at Corruption Level 106 increases your damage taken and reduces your healing taken by 56%, which is a significant increase over 10% at Corruption Level 60.

Higher Corruption increases the number of side effects and their strengths.

Character Appearance

Your character becomes darker and pulses with Void energy based on your Corruption Level.

Azerite Powers

We datamined the Heart of Darkness Azerite Power which increases all your secondary stats by 54 while your Corruption Level is 25 or higher.

Corrupted Rings in Patch 8.3

Certain rings from Ny'alotha come with Benthic-like effects and a debuff with side effects.

• Corrupted Ring - Face the Truth
• Corrupted Ring - Last Grasp
• Corrupted Ring - Masochistic
• Corrupted Ring - Mesmerizing
• Corrupted Ring - Overconfident
• Corrupted Ring - Revel in Violence
• Corrupted Ring - Spontaneous Fury
• Corrupted Ring - Thing From Beyond

Corrupted Weapons in Patch 8.3

Certain weapons from Ny'alotha also have Benthic-like effects and a flat +25 Corruption Stat Increase which isn't currently reflected on the tooltip.

Weapon	Effect	Description
An'zig Vra	Devour Vitality	Your autoattacks bite into the target's soul, dealing 2% of your health in damage and healing you for that amount.
Devastation's Hour	Twilight Devastation	Your attacks have a chance to trigger a beam of Twilight Devastation, dealing damage equal to 5% of your health to all enemies in front of you.
Eyestalk of Il'gynoth	Ineffable Truth	Your Spells and Abilities have a chance to show you the Ineffable Truth, increasing the rate your cooldowns recover by 20% for 12 sec.
Faralos, Empire's Dream	Searing Flames	Your damaging abilities build stacks of Searing Flames. When you reach 30 stacks, exhale a Searing Breath, dealing damage equal to 5% of your health to all targets in front of you.
Mar'kowa, the Mindpiercer	Flash of Insight	Your mind's true potential is unlocked, causing your spells to grant you flashes of insight. Gain between 1% and 8% Intellect at all times.
Qwor N'lyeth	Echoing Void	Your damaging abilities build the Echoing Void. Each time it builds, Echoing Void has a chance to collapse, dealing 1% of your Health as Shadow damage to all nearby enemies every 1 sec until no stacks remain.
Shard of the Black Empire	Twisted Appendage	Your attacks have a chance to spawn a tentacle which Mind Flays your target for [ 3,110 + 25% of Spell Power ] Shadow damage every second for 10 sec.
Shgla'yos, Astral Malignity	Infinite Stars	Your spells and abilities have a chance to strike a nearby enemy with an Infinite Star, dealing [ 60% of Spell Power ] Arcane damage and increasing their damage taken from your Infinite Stars by 25%, stacking up to 10 times.
Sk'shuul Vaz	Obsidian Skin	Gain Obsidian Skin, increasing your Armor by 5%. Every 100% of your Max Health lost, explode with Obsidian Destruction, dealing Shadow damage equal to 1,000% of your Armor to all enemies within 20 yds.
Unguent Caress	Lash of the Void	Your attacks have a chance to lash your target with a living tentacle, dealing [ 30% of Attack Power ] Shadow damage and snaring them by 30% for 6 sec.
Vorzz Yoq'al	Void Ritual	Gain Void Ritual, giving your spells and abilities a chance to increase all secondary stats by 10 every sec for 20 sec. This chance is increased if at least 2 nearby allies also have Void Ritual.
Whispering Eldritch Bow	Whispered Truths	Your auto-shots reduce the remaining cooldown of a random Hunter ability by 1.0 sec.

Corruption Resistance

There are various ways to decrease your Corruption Level in Patch 8.3:

• New 8.3 Essences will reduce your Corruption by 10.
• You can talk to MOTHER and cleanse an item off Corruption, but that will also remove its beneficial effect.
• Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve (Wrathion's Legendary Cloak) comes with +5 Corruption Resistance at Rank 1.
• The Heart of Azeroth will have an infinite trait to aid you against N’Zoth’s Corruption at max level (Purity of the Worldsoul). The trait's available at HoA Level 85 and more details can be found here.

Blizzard's Goals with Corrupted Items

Finally, Blizzard shared their thoughts on the new Corrupted Items system in a blue post on October 24.

Blizzard (Source)

The most recent PTR build introduced an early version of our Corrupted Items system, and we’d like to highlight a few aspects of how the Corruption system works, and our goals as we iterate on it.

How Corruption Works

Items from Ny’alotha, Mythic Keystone dungeons in Season 4, BfA PvP Season 4, the Heroic Darkshore Warfront, and other new sources of loot that are updated with Season 4 will not be able to Warforge or Titanforge. Items from older content will retain an effective “ceiling” of item level 455, as they do today.

There will be a chance for these new items to be Corrupted by N’Zoth. A Corrupted item has a powerful beneficial property, similar to many of the Benthic effects seen in Nazjatar, but has a new detrimental stat: Corruption. Items can have varying levels of Corruption, with the amount of Corruption present correlating directly with the power of the beneficial upside (for example: an item might give 4% Critical Strike damage and 10 Corruption, or 6% Critical Strike damage and 15 Corruption).

Corruption represents the influence of N’Zoth, which will have negative effects on the wearer. As Corruption increases, a series of drawbacks are activated. You might remember how Corruption worked on the Cho’gall encounter back in Bastion of Twilight – that was a source of inspiration here. The drawbacks currently on the PTR are works-in-progress and not-yet-tuned, and we have changes already implemented in the next PTR build. Our general intent is for low Corruption to activate a minor effect that most people can play around without too much difficulty, medium levels of Corruption to activate a couple more effects that have a higher skill cap (nd may be more situational in where and when someone can handle having them active), and high levels of Corruption to be prohibitive, and virtually never worth it.

Gear that makes your character worse when you equip it doesn’t sound terribly appealing, but fortunately there will be a few ways of dealing with Corruption. The legendary cloak that players will earn from Wrathion early on in Visions of N’Zoth will negate some Corruption, and can be upgraded through entering and completing Horrific Visions to provide even more of a bulwark against Corruption.

Early on, we expect that players might wear one or maybe two pieces of Corrupted gear at a time. Later on, three or four pieces might be manageable. The vast majority of the gear players wear, even later on, will not be Corrupted. And these perks aren’t planned to be slot-restricted, so if there’s a specific power you want, there should never be a concern that your item needs to roll with that affix to be useful.

We also never want an item that would otherwise be an upgrade to feel unusable as a result of being Corrupted, so any Corrupted items can be taken to the Heart Forge and purified without restriction . If you get that trinket you’ve been hoping for, but it’s Corrupted with a beneficial effect you don’t like, or wearing it would push you above a Corruption threshold you’re comfortable with, just purify the item and carry on.

Itemization Philosophy

With itemization, we’re always looking for opportunities to create moments of excitement and choices and options to customize your gameplay to suit your playstyle and the content you choose to play. Warforging created some of this by allowing useful rewards to come from a wide range of content, and ensuring that there was almost always at least the chance of an upgrade from any repeat boss kill or other source of loot. However, as we’ve seen and heard clearly in feedback over the past years, it has also brought significant downsides: Progression feels less rewarding, as players killing a raid boss on a new difficulty for the first time often disenchant much of the loot because they have equal or better Warforged items from lower difficulties or other sources. In addition, the feeling that a given item could have Warforged more and been even better can leave a sense of disappointment at what should have been a clear reward moment. And the sense that these systems are out of players’ direct control makes it harder to work towards a clear goal or state of completion.

The Corruption system isn’t a permanent addition to World of Warcraft, but it is an extension of the theme of N’Zoth’s pervasive and growing influence over Azeroth. As we explore this over the course of the PTR, we’d love to hear feedback about the initial round of powers showing up on items, Corruption drawbacks that may be excessively punitive, and the system as a whole.

Please feel free to reply with your feedback here in this thread. Thank you very much!

Check out our Patch 8.3 Hub for more information about Visions of N'Zoth.

Here's everything we know so far about the Corrupted items system coming in Visions of N'Zoth.

[fxlm387 20]

Im planing to be a huge M and play with 60+ corruption and have my guildemate scream at me because i always die. 

[Highfather 8]

As a BM hunter using the  Dance of Death  Build. The Corruption buff Critical strike and Critical strike Damage should have a 100% uptime effect (using tier 3 of each corruption buff). I can't wait.

[Resnar 37]

I really think corruption is the worst thing they could come up..

[breck 29]

2 hours ago, Resnar said:

I really think corruption is the worst thing they could come up..

I am in total agreement. No way anyone is going to intentionally sabotage groups or run as much corruption as possible becuse gamers like to min max. Cant wait for the arguments. I am better because i did a billion dps for the three second i was alive and all of 10 points of damage total versus the player who did a 100 dps and 2 billion damage who was alive the whole fight.

[Perak 23]

I personaly like the idea of corruption. Well, in raids and M+ groups there will be new requments as to have ">xy of corruption" and at start, there will be not much corupted items we will wear. But on the other side, with time, the corruption will will be lesser with our resist etc, so we will have more boost to our healing,survilbality,dmg...its a nice add to do before new expansion.

+ Cant wait to see wideos of ppl who would run raid/M+ with as much corruption as possible :) that would add some interesting chalenge to the game and some fun to it as well :) and it would be best, if there were some rewards as well..as to run M10 dung with 20 or 50 corruption in time and get sone Tituls,pets,transmo, etc… so its not just for fun or just because i can...why not :) 

Lore wise….i like it. More better than warforge/titanforge as titanforge from normal i better than normal HC item(mean then same item) and can be even competetive with mythic item (which is much harder to get).

And just saying that its bad...or worst thing ever without any relevant points as to why it is SOOOOOOO BAD, is simply stupid and sortsighned…. and as to what has been said..if you dont like it, or dont want to have much corruption, just clean it in heardforge. But i agree that, its a new element which can get out of hand if there will be no way how to keep a eye on the amount of corruption ppl have. Hope we will be able to see (in LFG system) not only ilvl and seflwriten info, but actual corruption as well, otherwise we are in for same real s**t in pugs. :) 

All in all , i am realy interested how this will work and if it will bring more good and fun than downsides and frustration

[Seksi 208]

"With great power, comes great responsability".

This system is great, imho, because it puts the control over what happens and when squarely back into the hands of players.

The disadvantage, as pointed out by the other people who commented so far, is that most people are stupid. I'll take it ? 

[Stan 5,024]

This article has been updated with new Corrupted Weapons, the infinite HoA trait and more information about cleansing Corrupted Items.