by Diablo 4 originally launched with a series of powerful, unique items that were so rare that Blizzard had to come out and confirm they were real. Only a handful of people in the world have ever seen one, which meant they were effectively non-existent for most players.
Even though Blizzard has been steadily creating “uber” unique items, now known in-game as mythic unique items, that become more attainable over time, finding them is still a chore. To increase the odds, gather materials to repeatedly summon and defeat the endgame bosses and pray that the RNG is in your favor. That ends with Diablo 4’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred, where mythic unique items will finally be significantly easier to obtain – with one small catch.
Starting next week, anyone who spends enough time to fully complete the faction reputation board each season (which usually takes no more than a few weeks) and kills an end-game boss once will be able to create a random mythic unique. Previously you needed four brilliant sparks to create a mythic story of your choice, but Blizzard decided to compromise and introduce a random cache that only costs two. The catch is that it’s random, so you might not get exactly the one you want.
Mythic Uniques are certainly not necessary to enjoy the game, but they are a lot of fun to play with. Even the weirder ones are quite powerful, like the Spear of Ahavarion, which gives you a random shrine buff when you kill powerful enemies, regularly turning you into a destructive ball of holy energy or granting you temporary immortality. Most people will want Tyrael’s Might, a chest piece that turns your character into a brick wall that emits holy lightning bolts every second. Considering you can go an entire season and never see one, I think this is a pretty generous change for most players.
Vessel of Hatred has a number of ways to help you find myths, including:
- Getting extremely lucky with a random monster drop
- Defeat tormented bosses with a higher drop chance
- Collecting two sparkles to buy a random mythical unique cache
- Use a unique tribute to increase your chances in Undercity’s new timed dungeon (requires Vessel of Hatred)
- Find enough duplicate runes plus one brilliant spark to create one of your choice (requires Vessel of Hatred)
Blizzard’s lifting of restrictions on mythic uniques is another example of reducing the grind in Diablo 4 and lowering the barriers to the most exciting loot. During a stream earlier this week, the developers also said that regular unique items will drop three times as much as they do now. I already played with this change for my Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred review and found a handful of unique items throughout the campaign. Sure, legendary items are cool, but what about some boots that leave a trail of ice behind you?
While it’s a shame that you have to own Vessel of Hatred to make a specific mythic unique, I think it’s at least a good sign that Blizzard is willing to make finding them even easier than it already has. I’ve never liked the idea of having cool stuff in your game that no one will ever see, and I think these updates keep the spirit of mythic unique items as a rare pursuit item without limiting it to the 1% of players who have the time to spend a month farming for them.
Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred and season 6, Season of Hatred Rising, both release next week.
