Diablo 4 Ancestral Legendary Item Drops: How To Unlock in Season 1

A step-by-step guide to unlocking Ancestral item drops, including Legendaries, in Diablo 4.

First Published July 18, 2023, 11:26

As you might know, Diablo 4 has several item rarities for players to find, namely Common, Magic, Rare, Legendary, and Unique. There are, however, high item-level variants as you work your way up to level 100 in Diablo 4, and you will find both Sacred and Ancestral versions along the way.

This guide focuses on the latter, explaining how you can unlock the chance for Ancestral item drops, including Legendary Ancestral items, in Diablo 4, so let's get farming!

Update on 18 July 2023: We've updated this article with the latest info on Ancestral item drops in Diablo 4 Season 1

How To Unlock Diablo 4 Ancestral Item Drops in Season 1

As you can see from the image above, you'll need to be in World Tier 4 (Torment) difficulty to unlock Ancestral item drops, from Common to Legendary.

Ancestral items are beefed-up versions of your standard and Sacred gear, with higher item levels and base stats. You won't get Sacred items to drop while playing the campaign or even while farming in Nightmare (World Tier 3) difficulty. These are, of course, the best-of-the-best items, so you will need to grind for a long time to see an Ancestral Legendary item drop.

Follow the steps below to unlock Ancestral item drops in Diablo 4:

Complete the Diablo 4 Campaign/Story
Gear up enough to take on and clear the Cathedral of Light Capstone dungeon.
With World Tier 3 (Nightmare) difficulty unlocked, change to Nightmare and start slaying monsters across Sanctuary.
Level up to 70.
Head to the Dry Steppes and complete the Fallen Temple Capstone dungeon in World Tier 3.
Head back to the main city, interact with the World Tier statue, and change to World Tier 4 Torment.

Congratulations, you will now see Ancestral items start to drop. Keep in mind that Torment difficulty poses quite a challenge, so make sure you have a great build and a full collection of Sacred items at this point.

How To Farm Ancestral Items in Diablo 4

There are multiple ways to farm more Ancestral items in Diablo 4. You want to look at which activities give you the best drops overall and the most Legendary items. World Bosses are, of course, a good way of getting Ancestral drops, but they are crazy difficult on Torment, and there might not be enough high-level players around if you have leveled up quickly. To this end, we suggest doing endgame activities, focusing on the ones you can complete the fastest to farm Ancestral items in Diablo 4.

Check out short explanations of the endgame activities where you can, hopefully, get more Sacred Legendary items to drop below:

Nightmare Dungeons: These dungeons are endgame activities in Diablo 4, unlocked by finding Sigils in Sanctuary. Using a Nightmare Sigil turns any normal dungeon into a Nightmare dungeon, with unique affixes, such as portals spawning with additional enemies, environmental effects, and more.
Helltides: Helltide events are new region-wide events in Diablo 4 that unlock after World Tier 3 Nightmare difficulty. These events are part of the game's endgame content and offer players new challenges and opportunities to earn valuable rewards. Diablo 4's Helltide events will spawn a multitude of demons that drop a new currency called Cinders, which players can use to open special Helltide chests spread across the different regions of Sanctuary in Diablo 4.
Tree of Whispers: The Tree of Whispers is an endgame Diablo 4 bounty system sending players to different parts of the world to complete specific objectives for high-level rewards.

It is important to note that you can get Ancestral items, including Legendaries, from any activity as long as you are in World Tier 4 difficulty. Yes, you can even get a drop in the open world while interacting with a regular chest or a loose rock...

If you've missed it, check out the Diablo 4 launch trailer below while you think about those shiny Ancestral Legendary item drops!

That's everything you need to know about getting Ancestral item drops, from Common to Legendary, in Diablo 4. If anything changes, we will endeavor to update this article. Good luck, and have fun farming!

For more Diablo 4, be sure to check out our dedicated section or some of our Guides & Tutorials just below:

Diablo 4 Season 2 Guides

Class Builds & Tier Lists

Tech Guides & Fixes

World, Maps & Locations

Diablo 4 Items & Slots

Achievements/Challenges

Legendary Aspects

Strongholds

Bosses

Gameplay Systems

The Story, Lore & Characters

Diablo 4 Season Guides

Our section keeps growing, so check for new guides daily! Don't forget to pick up one of the Diablo 4 Editions and join the fight to save Sanctuary soon.

Written by Wessel Minnie

Wessel is a former member of Bravado Gaming, a top South African esports organization, and a former editor at GLITCHED.online. He can also be found on HLTV discussing everything CS esports. When he's not writing or editing, Wessel is clicking heads in Counter-Strike 2, pondering over the best Diablo 4 builds for each class, or venturing into the Lands Between of Elden Ring for the umpteenth time. He loves ARPGs and any SoulsBorne title he can get his mitts on, but feel free to email or drop him a message on social media with any interesting gaming-related topics you think he might enjoy.

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Chauncey Koziol

Update: 2024-08-15

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