Diablo IV has six Uber Uniques that are the rarest and some of the most powerful items in the game. Players have spent hundreds of hours without ever coming across them—until now. A trick for easily earning them was recently discovered and Blizzard has now removed the items from the game entirely to try and stop the madness.
Previously only farmable in Nightmare dungeons, Uber Uniques were added to the game’s Helltide event in the latest patch, an in-game event where a particular zone on the map turns blood red and fills up with extra tough enemies. Players quickly found out that there was a way to significantly increase their chances of getting the Harlequin Crest, better known as Shako, one of, if not the, most powerful item in Diablo IV. That’s because characters like Barbarians don’t have many Unique helmets, meaning Helltide chests that only give out helmets are much more likely to grant those players Shakos instead.
“Just do Helltide and open the helm chest over and over and over and these are dropping like candy,” said YouTuber Raxxanterax in a how-to video about the trick. Players rushed to try and snag their Shako before Blizzard nerfed the exploit, and the Diablo IV forums and subreddits immediately began to fill up with success stories and memes. Players who chose the night of July 6 to not log on to the game were kicking themselves, while others who got Shako called on Blizzard not to take their cheesed Uber Uniques away.
It didn’t take long for Blizzard to step in and remove Uber Uniques, including Shako, from the game entirely until a hotfix goes live. Naturally, there were debates about whether this actually constituted an exploit, versus players just seizing on a seeming oversight in the game’s design following the latest patch. Others complained about how fast Blizzard reacted to what is arguably an innocuous issue when other quality of life features are still missing from the game.
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On the bright side, once the hotfix goes into effect, Uber Uniques like the two-handed sword The Grandfather and the Ring of Starless Skies will be easier to earn overall since they’ll now drop in Helltide activities, as well. While players still might not earn them even after dozens of hours of end-game farming, at least they can have a change of scenery from their standard Nightmare dungeon runs.
Diablo IV’s first season, meanwhile, goes live on July 20. Players will have to start entirely new characters but also have access to a whole new raft of season-specific abilities and builds. Hopefully the action-RPG’s most devoted players manage to earn at least one or two of their most coveted Uber Uniques by then.