Item bases

153 bases across 16 slots. A base decides the shape of an item before a single affix rolls.

What a base decides

Every item in Hellruler starts as a base: a Dagger, a Brigandine, a Coral Band. The base fixes the slot, the identity implicit that is always on the item, and either a damage line (weapons) or a defense line (armor). Affixes roll on top of that, so two Swords with different affixes are still both Swords underneath, swinging once a second for the same base damage.

Weapons differ in hands, swing interval, damage multiplier and damage type. A slow two-hander hits for more per swing; a fast one-hander hits more often. Physical damage is reduced by the monster's armour, elemental damage by the matching resistance. What a hit can inflict follows its damage type, not the weapon. Every weapon base belongs to a family (dagger, sword, axe, mace, claw, rapier, wand, frost, scepter, warstaff, bow) that decides which weapon affixes can roll on it.

Armor comes in three classes and their pairings. Heavy bases carry Armor, mitigation against physical hits. Medium bases carry Dodge rating, a chance to avoid a hit entirely. Cloth bases carry Barrier, a shell that takes a blow before your health, all but its chaos, and knits back 0.5% a second on a floor. The 3 pairings (heavy and medium: Armour + Dodge Rating; heavy and cloth: Armour + Barrier; medium and cloth: Dodge Rating + Barrier) carry two defences at half each. Jewelry carries no defense and leans entirely on its implicit and affixes. Every ancient set fixes one armor class and one base per slot.

Deeper bases start dropping past their drop depth and roll higher implicits; the tables on each slot page show the base line and implicit as the game rolls them at quality 100 at depths 100, 1,000, 10,000. Quality itself runs 50–125% and multiplies every number on the item.