Blizzard Pulls Diablo 4’s 6 Uber Unique Items After Apparently Making Them Too Easy to Get

Blizzard has temporarily disabled Diablo 4’s six super rare unique items from the game to address a new issue with Helltide Chest drops.

The July 6 release of update 1.0.4 added unique items to the Helltide Chest loot pool. Helltide Mystery Chests are special chests available from taking part in Helltide events. (For a more detailed look at the Mystery Chest locations check out our Interactive Map. You can filter Mystery Chest Locations at the bottom to clear some of the clutter.)

The change was welcomed by players on the hunt for Diablo 4’s rarest items, such as the six super rare uniques currently in the game. Fans had complained about the miniscule chance to obtain them, with some comparing the drop rate to winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning. So the chance to obtain one super rare unique, however small, from a Helltide Chest gave players a clear, singular farming objective.

However, Blizzard abruptly disabled the super rare uniques from dropping in-game entirely to address an unnamed issue with Helltide Chest drops. “Players will not be able to obtain the six uber unique items until a hotfix which we expect to be implemented on Friday afternoon Pacific Time,” Blizzard said. “Other unique items will still be available from these chests.”

Blizzard has yet to explain the decision, but current speculation among fans is the developer noticed the six super rare uniques were dropping too frequently for its liking, and moved quickly to pull them from the game. The Harlequin Crest, aka the Shako, appears to have seen a dramatic drop rate improvement in particular.

“Yeah I couldn’t believe my eyes that I actually got one,” said redditor HistoricalDuty3834, who posted a picture of the Harlequin Crest on their character sheet. “I opened up a Helltide Chest with about 10 seconds left in it and was scrambling to take a pic for my friends I was playing with.”

Some Diablo 4 players reacted negatively to the move, accusing Blizzard of ruining their fun. “Fun police on patrol today,” said redditor loadsmoke. “… so they genuinely only want like five of those to exist across the entire world?” asked fkitbaylife. 

Please take this response as a sign that people actually want to have a chance to obtain these cool uniques. Even if it’s a 1% chance it’s still better than 0.0000001% chance.

— James (@jbsluggy) July 7, 2023

People actually get the item to drop. NOPE NO MORE TOO MUCH OUT THERE. Were only allowed to have a handful worldwide. ? ?

— BigHeroSixy (@BigHeroSixy) July 7, 2023

Some players are now calling on Blizzard to rollback the Shakos obtained from Helltide Chests to prevent imbalance within the player-versus-player portion of Diablo 4. With a follow-up fix set to hit Diablo 4 soon, it won’t be long before super rare uniques are once again available to obtain from Helltide Chests, albeit with adjusted drop rates.

Diablo 4 launched big, becoming Blizzard’s fastest-selling game ever. It is also a hit with critics, and, generally, has gone down well with fans. However, the cost of Diablo 4’s microtransactions has raised eyebrows, and, surprisingly, Whoopi Goldberg called on Blizzard to release Diablo 4 on Mac. Last night, Blizzard announced Diablo 4 Season 1, dubbed Season of the Malignant, starts July 20.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].