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Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatredis making radical changes to the endgame loot chase. Most activities are getting their rewards tweaked, and endgame items are being updated through a small rework to Ancestral items. Any gear you obtained from World Tier 4 was previously called an Ancestral item, but starting in Vessel of Hatred, that’s no longer the case.
Finding an Ancestral item is more difficult than ever, but the power spike has never been greater. Finding the right Ancestral item will skyrocket your character’s damage and overall survivability, which you’ll need to conquer the highest Torment difficulties. Let’s go over how Ancestral items are changing in Vessel of Hatred and cover some notable drop sources.
What Are Ancestral Items?
Ancestral items are stronger variants of pre-existing Legendary and Unique gear. Think of Ancestral as a quality tag on items, not a rarity type.You’ll start obtaining Ancestral gear in Torment difficulties.If you’ve played Diablo 4 in previous seasons, you might remember Ancestral items dropping in World Tier 4. That’s similar to how they work now, but Ancestral items are a massive step up from your average Legendary.
Sacred items no longer drop in Diablo 4. Any previously owned Sacred gear is now tagged as “Legacy.”
An Ancestral item has the following advantages:
Once fully upgraded, an Ancestral item is arguably twice as powerful as your everyday Legendary, potentially higher if you’re lucky enough to get multiple Greater Affixes on your item.Uniques can also drop as Ancestral items, featuring the same benefits. Mythic Uniques always drop as Ancestral gear now, so you can expect Greater Affixes on every Mythic you find.
What’s A Greater Affix?
All Ancestral items you’ll find will have at least one affix (the stats on your item) with a white asterisk beside it. This is known asa Greater Affix, signifying that the affix is stronger than usual.A Greater Affix takes the stat line, maxes it, then makes it 50% stronger.This is absurdly powerful for items with large stat ranges like Fists of Fate.
Legendary gear can have up to three Greater Affixes, as that’s how many affixes a Legendary can naturally drop with. Uniques can have up to four. Greater Affixes donotappear on item implicits or aspects.
Enchanting A Greater Affix
If you reroll a Greater Affix into a different stat via enchanting, the Greater Affix will be lost.
Ancestral Item Drop Sources
Vessel of Hatred has reworked many endgame reward incentives, notably item drops.Ancestral gear can drop from virtually every activity in Diablo 4, provided you are on Tormented difficulty—your chosen Torment tier (I-IV) doesn’t matter. All known sources of Ancestral gear can be found in the table below.
Once per clear
Limited supply, resets weekly
What’s The Best Source Of Ancestral Gear?
In our view, it has to beInfernal HordesandMercenary caches.Infernal Hordes retains its GA chest from Season 5, but a generic equipment chest no longer exists. You can effectively get one Ancestral item per run, regardless of how much currency you earn.
The second method is the Mercenary Bartering system. In Vessel of Hatred, earning XP while mercenaries are in your party will build up renown with them, similar to seasonal vendors. Once their XP bar fills up, you’ll level up the mercenary and earn some rewards. This includes upgrades to the bartering system and Pale Marks, a currency used to purchase mercenary items.
Bartering can get your Ancestral gear outright. You can refresh the vendor’s stock with Pale Marks, fishing for the right Ancestral item to appear in their shop. What’s more efficient isbuying Aspect Caches.These award five random Legendary items with a small chance of an Ancestral drop. Pale Marks are fairly easy to earn, so you should always purchase these caches when available.
