Blizzard reveals a Diablo 4 farming tip I wish I knew sooner

Diablo 4
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

What you need to know

  • Sacred and Ancestral items are some of the most valuable pieces of gear in Diablo 4's endgame, as they have much higher stats and Item Power values compared to regular drops.
  • Blizzard has revealed that Nightmare Dungeons have a higher chance to drop Sacred or Ancestral items than other activities do.
  • This makes them the best places to farm for Sacred or Ancestral variants of Legendary and Unique drops.
  • Nightmare Dungeons are filled with lots of Elite monsters and bosses, so Legendary drops in them are fairly common.

Once you slice and dice your way through the campaign and the Cathedral of Light Capstone Dungeon in Blizzard's new hit ARPG, you'll be prompted to jump into World Tier 3: Nightmare and begin your journey through Diablo 4's endgame. In it, you can participate in a variety of new activities and earn tons of powerful loot drops, the best of which are Sacred and Ancestral (exclusive to World Tier 4: Torment) items.

The Sacred and Ancestral versions of Legendary and Unique gear pieces are highly desirable since they have significantly higher stat rolls and Item Power values, and getting your hands on them will vastly improve your Diablo 4 builds. Since launch, the community hasn't been sure what the best way to farm for them is, but that's no longer the case thanks to a new tip from Blizzard.

"Items that drop in Nightmare Dungeons have a higher chance of being Sacred or Ancestral than items that drop outside of Nightmare Dungeons," said Diablo 4 Associate Game Director Joseph Piepiora on Twitter. Humorously, a "The More You Know" meme was attached to the post.

Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons were already worth grinding since they're the only source of the Glyph XP you need to improve Glyphs on your Paragon Board, but now that we know they have higher drop rates for Sacred and Ancestral items as well, farming them is even more valuable. Note that once Diablo 4's big patch coming soon goes live, they'll also give increased XP and will be easier to travel to thanks to portals that will be created whenever you use a Nightmare Sigil.

I recently got to World Tier 3 and have been trying to hunt down Sacred versions of the Legendaries and Uniques I want for my Barbarian build, so I wish I knew about Nightmare Dungeons' higher drop rates sooner. Farming them will definitely be my priority moving forward, though, and it should be yours too if you're looking for Sacred and Ancestral items (especially since the Elites and bosses in Nightmare Dungeons drop Legendaries fairly often).

In other news, Blizzard has announced plans to address disconnects causing deaths on Hardcore mode by making Scroll of Escape items (instant teleports back to a safe zone) automatically trigger when a server-side error is detected. A dedicated pouch for gems is coming in Season 2, too, and dataminers have discovered evidence of a deadly World Tier 5.

Diablo 4 is out now and is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. It's one of the best Xbox games for fans of dungeon crawlers and hack-and-slash combat, and we've been having an absolute blast with it.

Diablo 4: Ultimate Edition

Diablo 4: Ultimate Edition

The Ultimate Sacrifice from your wallet to our Blessed Mother, the Ultimate Edition of Diablo 4 comes with a bunch of cosmetics, the Premium Battle Pass and 20 tier skips for you to enjoy.

Buy on:  Xbox | PC (Battle.net)

Brendan Lowry

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. He's been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you'll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he's not writing or gaming, there's a good chance he's either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once. Follow him on X (Twitter).