Diablo 4’s Ultra-Rare Unique Items Are So Rare, Blizzard Had To Confirm They Actually Exist

All of Diablo IV’s Unique items are build-defining pieces of gear that can make or break a character, but there are currently six, “ultra-rare” Uniques that are an even greater step above. The problem is, their drop rate is so low, they might as well not even exist.

It’s easy to see why these items are the most sought-after in the game. Harlequin Crest is bound to be the best helm in the game for the majority of players thanks to it granting +4 ranks to all skills. Other items, like the two-handed sword The Grandfather, simply grant a ridiculous amount of additional damage. And two of the Uniques, Andariel’s Visage, and Doombringer, have a chance to deal massive area-of-effect damage, making them potent additions to nearly any build.

Since Diablo IV’s launch, players had wondered if some of these ultra-rare Uniques were even in the game, with only a handful of confirmed instances of the items dropping. Blizzard has now confirmed the six items that players will likely be chasing for years to come are indeed real and obtainable, and clarified how fans can (very slightly) increase their odds of finding them.

As explained by Diablo IV lead class designer Adam Jackson on Twitter, the ultra-rare Uniques can drop from enemies that are level 85 or higher. The items will always drop at level 820 item power. They can additionally drop from anything that would normally reward a unique item. Jackson wrote that whenever a unique item drops, it has a very small chance for that unique to instead be one of the ultra-rares, making the most effective farming method something that would reward the most Uniques in the shortest amount of time.

Unfortunately, even with the knowledge in hand on how to theoretically obtain these Ultra-rare Uniques, the chances of seeing one of these items drop is still abysmally low. A number of the game’s most dedicated players responded to Blizzard’s confirmation with frustration, stating that current drop rates are so low that players might as well not even try to go for them, and simply play as normal and just hope to win the lottery.

“If it’s true the public number of these that is out there you’d have to play like 5,000 years or something to realistically get one, they basically don’t exist,” Maximum, the guild master and raid leader for one of World of Warcraft’s top raiding guilds, tweeted in response to Jackson.

Paul Tassi, a writer for Forbes, tweeted that the chances of finding the ultra-rare Uniques is similar to being “struck by lightning,” while streamer Char wrote that the very fact that Blizzard had to publicly confirm that the items were in fact real probably means their drop rate is too low.

Whether or not Blizzard increases the drop rates for the items in response to player complaints remains to be seen, but the developer has been keen on listening to player feedback. Big changes are coming to Diablo 4’s Nightmare dungeons as a response to feedback in the weeks ahead, with additional changes to how the game handles gems and more coming sometime after the game’s first season. Diablo IV Season 1 is slated to arrive in mid to late July.