How to Get Ancestral Items & Gear in Diablo 4 Season 8 (Legendary & Unique)

Ancestral items come with special attributes and benefits in Diablo 4, so they are popular across different seasons. With the start of Season 8, how to get ancestral items fast? This guide will cover the best way to farm ancestral gear in D4 Season 8.

How to Get Ancestral Items & Gear in Diablo 4 Season 8 (Legendary & Unique)

In Diablo 4, Ancestral items are stronger versions of Legendary and Unique items and start dropping from Torment I difficulty. Ancestral represents a quality level rather than a rarity level. Each Ancestral gear has an item power of 800, the highest in the game, so these types of gear pieces have high base damage, defense, and other benefits. Another thing to note is that Ancestral gear features at least one Greater Affix, which maximizes a stat line and boosts it by an additional 50%. While Ancestral Legendary items can have up to three Greater Affixes, Ancestral Unique items can possess up to four; however, these affixes do not appear on item implicits or aspects, and rerolling a Greater Affix via enchanting results in its loss. Ancestral items can be masterworked up to 12 times, instead of 8 times. Additionally, like other gear types, Ancestral items can be imprinted with Aspects.

D4 Season 8 Ancestral Items Drop Rate

The drop rate of Ancestral items in Diablo 4 experienced lots of reworks. Before Season 7, the Loot Reborn update introduced in Season 4 revamped the loot system, allowing Ancestral items to drop in Torment difficulties while removing Sacred items from the game; any Sacred gear previously owned was marked as Legacy. In Season 7, the drop rate for Ancestral Unique items was tripled compared to earlier rates, and the chances of acquiring these powerful items are greatly increased. However, in Season 8, Blizzard eliminated the bonus Ancestral drop rate for Unique items, which made their drop rate match Legendary items, so the Ancestral Unique items from farming will decrease.  

Best Way to Farm Ancestral Gear in D4 S8

The primary method involves participating in Infernal Hordes, which are events that yield high rewards, especially if you focus on defeating Aether Lords.

1.  Acquire compasses from Helltides or farm Supreme Belial to prepare for Infernal Hordes.

2. Enter Infernal Hordes on the highest difficulty manageable to maximize your reputation gains.

3. Prioritize choices that spawn Aether Lords, particularly those related to Aetheric mass, to significantly boost your reputation.

4. After completing the Infernal Hordes, head to the reputation board where you can redeem your accumulated reputation.

5. Use 72,000 reputation at the reputation board to obtain a repeatable cache that guarantees at least two ancestral items, one unique and one legendary.

6. Since the current reputation gain is likely unintentional, take advantage of this method quickly before potential nerfs occur.

Other Methods to Get Ancestral Items in Diablo 4

1. Helltides

The first one is Helltides, which is one of the effective methods for farming ancestral unique items in D4 now, as they are available in all difficulties, each lasting one hour. After completing the campaign, go to Kyovashad and complete the task of unlocking the Hell Tides. Search for the Hell Tide icon on the map, complete activities solo, or collaborate with other players. The rewards in the box include crafting materials, temperamental manuals, legendary, unique, and mythical items.

2. Lair Boss

Since the eighth season, the Lair bosses have been a new farming solution, as summoning these bosses is now free. This change allows players to breed endgame bosses without incurring any additional costs. In order to obtain maximum benefits from the Lair boss, you must use the materials collected from the boss to open the corresponding Hoard. Among these bosses, Belial may be a primary target, as he guarantees the dropping of ancestral unique items and is most likely to obtain mythical unique items.

3. Nightmare Dungeon

Although not as efficient as the Helltides and the Lair Boss, the Nightmare Dungeon can still serve as a source of unique items of ancestral tier. If you want to upgrade your Paragon Glyphs, these dungeons are the best way, but cleaning them requires a lot of time investment.