When it comes to Sacred and Ancestral items in Diablo 4, players are encouraged to outright ignore Sacred Rares at endgame, as Ancestral Rares offer the highest possible stat rolls. Furthermore, it is important that players obtain items with the highest or near-highest possible stat rolls, as they don't improve through item upgrades. Though this does not fix the problems that the community has with Diablo 4's endgame, it does make loot farming significantly easier, and the downtime spent browsing through one's inventory significantly less.

It's clear a Diablo 4 Items lot of love for Diablo 2 went into the development of Diablo 4 as this latest entry in Blizzard's ARPG series brings back much of what fans loved about the second entry. With a darker atmosphere, art style, and story alongside the classic skill tree setup, Diablo 4 feels a lot like a modern take on Diablo 2's formula, more so than Diablo 3 did. Diablo 4 even brings back iconic characters from Diablo 2 like Lilith and Andariel, but one returning Diablo 2 boss gets the short end of the stick compared to the others.

While Lilith gets a major upgrade in Diablo 4 as the game's main antagonist, Duriel, Lord of Pain gets a major downgrade from his intimidating Diablo 2 boss appearance. Diablo 4 generally does a great job building upon the foundation built by its predecessors, and the strengths of Diablo 2 in particular shine through in this title. However, Duriel's appearance in the game seems more like an afterthought or a throwaway boss that could have been swapped for any other enemy, which is a major misstep on the game's part.

Diablo 4 Could Have Made Duriel So Much More Menacing

Duriel is one of the four Lesser Evils in the Diablo universe and is the twin brother of Andariel, Maiden of Anguish, who both serve as major act bosses in Diablo 2. After facing off against Andariel as the boss of Diablo 2's first act, players will have to tackle her much tougher brother, who plays the role of the boss of Diablo 2's second act. He is fought inside of Tal Rasha's Tomb and ambushes the player who has come in search of Baal, one of Diablo's Prime Evils, commenting on their misfortune in expecting Baal but finding him instead.

The circumstances under which players fight Duriel in Diablo 2 make him one of the hardest bosses in the game. The battle begins immediately after the players enters the chamber, and the room's close quarters combined with the player's relatively low level means Duriel can quickly defeat players who are unprepared, especially if they're playing more frail classes like Sorceresses and Necromancers. To make matters worse, he has the Holy Freeze aura which tends to frequently Freeze the player, further limiting their mobility and making them easy targets for Duriel's heavy-hitting attacks like Smite.

Although Duriel makes an appearance again in Diablo 4, he is a far more underwhelming boss compared to the memorable monstrosity from Diablo 2. Diablo 4's Duriel fight takes place during the main campaign's final act while players are making their way through Caldeum towards the gates of Hell, and similarly to Diablo 2, are ambushed by the Lord of Pain. The difference in this case is that there is no pomp and circumstance to his appearance; Duriel doesn't speak, and the only substantial comment made by the player is a bit of speculation after the fight that Duriel may have been one of the other Lesser Evils Lorath spoke about.

This fight is a lot less difficult than Diablo 2's version as its place near the end of the game means players will likely have a solid endgame build going. Duriel could have been a much more menacing boss with a more prominent role in Diablo 4's story given that his sister Andariel has a whole act dedicated to preventing Elias from summoning her along with a harder boss battle. Duriel could have even been given a status similar to Diablo 4's Butcher and act as a random spawn to terrorize players within the game's dungeons, which would have been a much more fitting role for the character than what he was given.

A lucky Diablo 4 player was able to avoid the frustration of battling one of the most persistent and brutal bosses in Blizzard's action RPG after The Butcher boss spawned in a location perfect for cheesing. Normally one of the game's more intimidating bosses, The Butcher would have been quick work for players taking advantage of a soon-to-be-fixed exploit that lets Diablo 4 Druids do billions of points of d4 mats damage in a single hit.