Ladies, gentlemen, and heroes of all ages, season 4 of Diablo 4 is very much well underway at this point. A large number of people are reaching the proper endgame of this stage, with far more people hitting it at much quicker rates than we’ve ever seen before. Part of this is leading to an increase in boss summon materials, existing just due to a larger endgame player base than normal, which also leads to a much more active community for this activity.

The reason most people engage with the boss ladder on repeat is quite simple: Uber Uniques. These are some of the strongest items in the game, depending on your build of course, and the number of them are pretty major game changers that can even make whole new builds viable. This season, more than ever, it is easier to get Uber Uniques and not just easier to get them, but also easy to get a minimum of one of your own choice through the Resplendent Spark system.

Acquiring Uber Uniques

The real trick is you can actually forcibly gain sparks without considering luck in the slightest as an option, as long as you are willing to put some decent time into it. Today, we are going to very simply go over how to maximize your chances of getting Uber Uniques as quickly as you possibly can. We’ll discuss the bosses that you want to aim for specifically, the value of the torment versions of them versus the normal versions, and the best way to get their particular materials.

Guaranteed Resplendent Sparks

We’ll start off first by talking about the sources of guaranteed Resplendent Sparks this season. At least one of which is actually repeatable to get infinite Sparks, at least technically speaking. The first guaranteed spark each season is from killing any of the boss ladder bosses in their torment version during the level 200 fight. The first time that you kill a torment boss, you get a spark, so do it at least once.

The second guaranteed spark is supposed to be from the Echo of Lilith boss fight, which was buffed this season. However, there is a bit of a bug causing this to not drop Resplendent Sparks for all players, and this is being looked into by the developers currently.

The third guaranteed source is the very end of the reputation track for the Call of the Wolves seasonal activity. The final cache contains a single Resplendent Spark. This is specifically interesting because this reputation track is specific to each character, but your actual currency and material inventory, which includes things like Resplendent Sparks, is account-wide.

Maximizing Sparks with Multiple Characters

If you make another character, you can then farm the Iron Wolves reputation once again and gain another guaranteed Resplendent Spark. You can do that once per character, and this can still be used on your original character. You can do it multiple times, and then you’ve got another guaranteed Uber unique.

Of course, there is the caveat that for an average player doing that solo, it would probably take about 10 hours on an alt, even with the infusion of gear from your main. So, for most people, it’s not really worth the time over just farming Duriel or Andariel on your main character during that same 10-hour period. But hey, if you want an alt anyway, it’s an extremely smart way to double up.

You can also argue it’s the best way to get the Stygian Stones, which are the material required to do the torment versions of the boss ladder bosses. As of now, the drop rate on Stygian Stones seems to be incredibly low from their intended sources, which are the world bosses and the bit. But you get a handful of them guaranteed from the last couple of caches on the reputation track, so there is that to consider too.

Efficient Leveling and Reputation Gain

If you decide to do this, you would just level a character from level one through Hell Tide all the way up to level 100. Once you are strong enough, around level 30ish or so, you can start using Profane Mind Cages to boost the enemy’s level so your experience gain gets boosted as well. This also boosts your Cinder drop rate because the actual chests in Hell Tide are an extremely good source of reputation gain.

The other main thing that I found being effective is the Blood Maidens, the actual altar event. So basically, focus on the altar events once you are strong enough to do so, use Profane Mind Veil for the level increase if you are still strong enough to handle that, and then spend all of your Cinders on chests for more reputation.

Past World Tier 1 and 2, you don’t really have a choice of chests, of course, but on tiers 3 and 4, you have 75-cost chests that are worth 60 reputation, 150-cost chests that are worth 120 reputation, and 250-cost chests and above that are worth 180 reputation. So if you purely care about the reputation gain from chest choices, amulets, and light weapons are a complete waste of Cinders comparatively, as is the Living Steel chest, as these simply don’t give you more reputation, even though they cost more Cinders than the chests that give the same amount. Past that, it comes to the more specific boss materials.

Optimizing Boss Targets for Uber Unique Drops

Let’s talk about the bosses that you actually want to target first. Duriel and Andariel have the highest Uber unique drop rates in the game, though it’s worth noting that other boss ladder bosses also have an increased Uber unique chance, just much less so. Also, it should be included here that Uber unique drop rates in general have been increased in the overworld across the board, so that one in around 8,000 uniques that drop will be an Uber unique, no matter what. But that’s still just super low compared to just fighting these two bosses specifically.

As for whether you want to fight Duriel or Andariel, the choice between them is generally both; they have the exact same drop table and the loot chances when it comes to gear, at least, and this is a higher chance than the lesser ladder bosses. So, these two are the ones you want to focus on. Always aim for them; if you, for whatever reason, have to choose between doing one or the other, choose Duriel. He’s just an easier boss to fight for the same reward chance. He has more health, sure, but easier mechanics and less movement requirement than Andariel, which are both things that can really mess with some classes.

Here also seems like a good time to talk about their stack applying torment moves. These are telegraphed attacks that apply a stack to you that increases your damage taken, and these stack exponentially each time you are hit. Avoiding taking these damage hits is the only way to kill these bosses, at least until your own damage is high enough to just obliterate them before the stacks become a problem.

Optimal Material Farming for Summoning Bosses

All that said, let’s talk about how best to get and how best to use the materials for summoning these bosses. For Duriel, you need shards and eggs. Shards come from killing Greguar, who is summoned with Living Steel, and that is best farmed from Hell Tide. Eggs come from killing Varon, who is summoned with the various malignant body parts, which are best farmed from Whispers of the Dead.

You can do Whispers during Hell Tide to double this up super effectively. So, if you are looking for literally the most of either Duriel and Andariel per time spent actively farming materials, this is the way to do it—just completing Whispers while doing Hell Tide. For Andariel, you need shackles and dolls. Shackles come from Lord Zir, who is summoned with exquisite blood, which mostly comes from Legion Events, as well as actually.

Resource Acquisition Strategies

The Hellborne enemies in Hell Tide are known to drop air maps. Dolls, essential for summoning Beast and Ice, come from distilled fear and Cil powder, awarded after completing any Nightmare dungeon above tier 30. These materials can also drop from World bosses, with lesser versions available from any elite in the game and loot goblins. Another key material, Stygian Stones, is crucial for crafting torment versions of bosses. The most reliable sources for these stones are World bosses, although they are rarely dropped in high-tier pits.

Efficiency of Torment Boss Versions

Determining the value of torment versions of bosses involves assessing their rewards versus resource costs. For instance, a group capable of defeating regular Duriel in about 10 seconds might struggle with Uber Duriel, taking minutes to overcome him due to the critical need to dodge damage-stacking attacks. If materials are plentiful, repeatedly challenging regular Duriel might be more practical unless torment Duriel can be defeated in roughly one minute, considering the time spent on loading screens.

Torment bosses yield quintuple the rewards of their regular counterparts, but they require triple the summoning materials. Therefore, engaging torment bosses is worthwhile if your team is sufficiently powerful, enhancing the overall value of expended materials. Additionally, higher item rarity has been noted from loot obtained from torment bosses, significantly enhancing their appeal.

Loot Quality from Torment Bosses

The amount of loot and, more importantly, the quality of loot from torment bosses has genuinely improved. Personally, I have had two Uber Uniques drop naturally this season, both of which were in Dario’s Visage and both came from torment Duriel. At this point, I have engaged in significantly more regular Duriel and Andariel encounters than torment versions, yet both of my Uber Uniques have come from the torment versions. It’s not a hard rule, of course, but it is a consideration—a thing to think about. It might be a coincidence, or it could signify something more substantial.

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