Blizzard’s Overhaul of Unique Items
In Diablo 4’s upcoming Season 5, Blizzard is addressing a significant issue that arose with the loot system in the last season. While the changes revitalized the action RPG, an entire tier of unique items was rendered nearly obsolete. Unique items, known for their creative effects, couldn’t compete with the enhanced power of normal legendary items. To rectify this, Blizzard has boosted the power of every unique item in the game, making them competitive with the ultra-rare ‘uber’ uniques.
Examples of Enhanced Unique Items
With the new season, some unique items have undergone significant changes to make them more appealing:
Howl from Below (Necromancer): Now boosts the speed and damage of corpse explosion instead of a minor chance to stun and fear enemies.
Staff of Lam Esen (Sorcerer): Now offers a 75% chance for charged bolts to cast twice, rather than a slight critical strike damage increase.
Saboteur’s Signet (Rogue): Now causes bigger and more powerful grenade explosions instead of marginal health and damage boosts.
Fields of Crimson (Barbarian): Now increases the size of rupture’s explosion and boosts damage against bleeding enemies rather than a minor damage increase.
Greatstaff of the Crone (Druid): Now ensures storm strike always hits two enemies for significant damage instead of providing small damage increases.
Tempering System and Mythic Uniques
In addition to unique item enhancements, season 5 introduces the tempering system, allowing players to add powerful stats to their legendary gear. Although unique items aren’t customizable, Blizzard has curated specific powerful stats for them. Also, masterworking upgrades can significantly raise these bonuses, encouraging players to integrate unique items into their builds.
‘Uber’ uniques, now termed mythic uniques, have also received an upgrade. The Harlequin Crest, for example, now offers a baseline 20% cooldown reduction for every skill, which can be increased up to 54% with masterworking.
New Endgame Activity: Infernal Hordes
Season 5 introduces a new permanent endgame activity called Infernal Hordes. This wave-based roguelite dungeon resembles a hellish version of Hades, where players fight waves of demons with options to increase difficulty for better rewards. Failing too many times ends the run. Infernal Hordes will be the main source of over 50 new legendary and unique items, providing fresh content for players seeking to enhance their builds.
The Season of the Infernal Hordes starts next week on August 6 and will run until the release of the Vessel of Hatred expansion on October 8. Prepare to dive into the enhanced loot system and face the infernal challenges ahead.
