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Diablo 4 Ancestral items explained

If you want the most powerful Diablo 4 Ancestral items, here is everything you need to know about how to get them and how they are better than Sacred items.

Diablo4 ancestral items: a locked gate with a demon's face. Its eyes are lit up with jewels and there is a fiery aura emitting through the gaps.

What are Diablo 4 Ancestral items? The long and short of it is that you find out these coveted variants of the loot in Sanctuary and its many dungeons. They come with buffs featuring higher-than-normal stat rolls and potent item powers, more than any gear you’ve seen before.

In many ways, the Diablo 4 Ancestral items are almost the same as the Diablo 4 Sacred items, except they require you to enter a more difficult Diablo 4 World Tier to obtain them. You’ll need to master your chosen pick of the Diablo 4 classes and have the very best endgame Diablo 4 builds if you want to stand a chance at getting the best gear possible.

The World Tier 4 screen showing that Diablo 4 Ancestral items appear if you choose this difficulty.

How to get Diablo 4 Ancestral items

To get Diablo 4 Ancestral items, you must play the game in World Tier 4: Torment difficulty. You can unlock this World Tier by completing the Fallen Temple Capstone Dungeon northeast of Dry Steppes in World Tier 3: Nightmare. Keep exploring dungeons in this mode, and you’ll soon come across them.

What do Diablo 4 Ancestral items do?

You’ll know you have an Ancestral item when the item name has “(Ancestral)” at the end of its name. The suffix can appear on any item rarity, from common junk all the way to the highly-coveted Diablo 4 unique items. They typically feature higher stats and better item powers than anything else in the RPG game.

However, there are some things to be aware of. Firstly, the suffix does not protect it from being sold as junk. Therefore, when you’re selling gear at shops or scrapping it for Diablo 4 salvage resources, ensure that you don’t accidentally get rid of it. On the plus side, this also means that Ancestral gear can be imprinted at the cultist with Diablo 4 Aspects.

Secondly, just because something has Ancestral on it doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily always better than a Sacred version for your build. If you do manage to plunder an Ancestral Unique item at the end of a particularly grueling Nightmare Dungeon, but it’s not good for your current character, consider putting it in the stash and letting another character take it for their build.

And that’s everything you need to know about Diablo 4 Ancestral items. If you’re looking to get the best gear in the highest difficulty mode, then our Diablo 4 farming guide has some tips for getting high-end items. You may also have some luck gambling away your Murmuring Obols for legendary loot.