Unique and Set Items are some of the most powerful items in the game. The right one can enable a build (Bhuldar's Wrath), increase the power of a build significantly (Apathy's Maw) or in the case of Uniques, be the base for a powerful Legendary. Because they are so valuable, having a good strategy to find the Unique/Set that fits our build is imperative. In this guide we provide the best strategies for farming them. Regardless of whether they are acquired from bosses or are random drops in the world, we have a strategy that will speed up the process of finding these valuable items!
Boss Specific Uniques/Sets
These are drops that are only found on Bosses (i.e. Lagon). A boss specific Unique/Set will only drop from one boss, which means farming it is just a matter of killing the same boss until it drops. The drop rate of a boss specific Unique/Set depends on what kind of boss it is and which category it falls into.
For Timeline bosses in the Monolith of Fate:
- Common: There are two of these for each boss. They're guaranteed to drop one, and only one of these every time.
- Rare: There's a small chance the boss will drop this on each kill. Each boss has one of these. Drop chance can be improved with Item Rarity.
- Rare Empowered Only: These can only drop in Empowered Timelines. They have a small chance to drop each time. Drop chance can be improved with Item Rarity
- Ravenous Void: This is an exception that can drop from The Husk of Elder Gaspar or as a random world drop. While their chances of dropping randomly are exceptionally low, with high enough Item Rarity they can have up to a 4% chance to drop off of Gaspar.
For Dungeon bosses:
- Each tier (1-4) has their own Unique or Set. You must be at least that tier of dungeon to drop the item.
- A higher tier can drop any Unique or Set from lower tiers.
- Dungeon boss Uniques/Sets are not mutually exclusive. Multiple can drop from the same boss kill.
- Lower tier Uniques/Sets have a better drop rate than higher tier ones.
For Arena of Champions:
- There are three Champions, all with their own Unique. Which champion spawns for each Arena run is random.
- Alfrig Wolfmaw drops Omen of Thunder
- The Crimson Blade drops Penumbra
- Vaion the Arsenal drops Vaion's Chariot
- Champions can drop their Unique at any tier, but higher tiers have increased drop chance.
For Shade of Orobyss:
- He drops 5 different Uniques. They are not mutually exclusive
- Siphon of Anguish is a common drop. It can drop from any Shade regardless of Corruption.
- Stymied Fate is an uncommon drop from level 60 or higher Shades. it can drop at any level or Corruption. Drop rates are improved by Item Rarity.
- Apathy's Maw is an uncommon drop that requires a level 65 or higher Shade with at least 50 Corruption. Drop rates are improved with Item Rarity. We recommend farming this on Empowered.
- Shattered Chains is a rare drop that can only be found in Empowered with at least 120 Corruption. Drop rates are improved with higher Item Rarity.
- Omnis is a very rare drop that can only be found in Empowered with at least 200 Corruption. Drop rates are improved with higher Item Rarity.
Random Drop Uniques/Sets
Anything that falls under this category can drop anywhere in the world (including bosses) as long as the area level is at least as high as the level requirement of the Unique. While it may seem like these items will be hard to target farm, there are several mechanics that can make the process of farming a random drop Unique much easier.
Note: The strategies in this section only apply to random drops and are not viable methods for farming boss specific drops. See the above section for boss specific drops.
Unique Echo Rewards
There are two kinds of these rewards: one will drop any Unique/Set that qualifies for the area level of the echo, but another will drop only a specific Unique/Set type (i.e. boots). Each Timeline has a specific Unique Echo Reward type. This makes target farming a specific random world unique as simple as knowing the item type and finding the Timeline that has the right Echo reward. They are more likely to show up on Echoes that are further from the center (starting position on the web) and at higher Corruption (more on Corruption later).
Unique Echoes Rewards For Each Timeline
For more information on the Timelines in the Monolith of Fate check out our Monolith Beginner Guide.
Rune of Ascendance
This rare crafting material turns any Common/Magic/Rare/Exalted item into a Unique/Set item of the same type. Example: Using a Run of Ascendance on a Birch Bow could turn it into a Dragonsong. Three things to note:
- The base does not matter. Example: A Birch Bow, Longbow and Obsidian Bow can all become a Dragonsong
- The rarity of the base item does not matter. A Common item has the same odds of becoming a high level Unique as an Exalted item, so don't use good items!
- Your level and the area level do not matter. It is entirely possible for a level one character to use a Rune of Ascendance on a pair of gloves and make Ravenous Void. Unfortunately they still won't be able to wear them until level 91 (the level requirement for those gloves).
Just like Echo Rewards, this is a very good way to target a specific item although it is more expensive. Using the two together can be a very powerful target farming strategy.
Unique Blessing
The Winds of Fortune and Grand Winds of Fortune (Empowered version) drop from Abomination in the Fall of the Outcasts Timeline. This blessing doesn't help with target farming specifically, instead giving a boost to Unique drop rates for random drops when killing monsters and from reward chests. If you're hunting for a number of Uniques this is a Blessing worth picking up. Note that there is currently no Blessing to increase Set item drops.
For more information on the Fall of the Outcasts Timeline check out our Fall of the Outcasts Timeline Guide.
The Vaults of Uncertain Fate
If you have enough gold The Vaults of Uncertain Fate, a dungeon reward in the Lightless Arbor, can provide a very large number of Uniques/Set items. Unfortunately you won't be able to target farm since the type of Unique/Set obtained is still random so this is similar to the Unique Blessing in that it's just a way to increase overall Unique/Set drops.
Note: The Vaults of Uncertain Fate is an excellent place to farm both Exalted items and rare crafting materials. For this reason and due to other farming strategies for Uniques/Sets we do not recommend using this resource to farm Uniques/Set items.
For more information on the Vaults of Uncertain Fate check out our Lightless Arbor Dungeon Guide.
The Soul Gambler
The Soul Gambler is found in the Soulfire Bastion Dungeon and provides players with the opportunity to gamble for items. Choices made within the dungeon itself imbue items that are gambled for with special properties and several of these are Unique/Set specific:
- The first item purchased from the Soul Gambler will be a Unique or Set item (or has a higher chance of being Unique/Set on lower dungeon tiers)
- Uniques from the Soul Gambler have a x% increased chance to have at least 1 Legendary Potential
- Each implicit mod on a Unique or Set item from the Soul Gambler has a x% chance to roll twice within in its range and pick the higher value.
The first modifier makes it possible to target farm specific Uniques/Set items since the Soul Gambler lets us choose from an inventory of base items to gamble on. The second and third modifiers provide an opportunity to get a better than average Unique/Set item when one rolls from the gambler. Note that there are three reasons to avoid these strategies.
- Every run only provides a chance to get these modifiers. It's possible to go several runs without seeing them.
- The Soul Gambler also provides the opportunity to get Sealed Affixes on crafted items, including the only place in the game to get tier 5 Sealed Affixes. Hunting for these may be a better use of the mechanic.
- The dungeon can only be run as long as players have a key to the dungeon. Since it can't be run infinitely there is an opportunity cost to using keys for this strategy instead of of trying to get other items that this dungeon is more efficient at like the previously mentioned Sealed Affixes.
For these reasons, we recommend using Unique Echo Rewards, Runes of Ascendance and Faction mechanics to target farm uniques instead of the Soul Gambler.
For more information on the Vaults of Uncertain Fate check out our Soulfire Bastion Dungeon Guide.
Factions
Factions offer several powerful ways to hunt for Unique and Set items. Each one has different mechanics to improve your chances at getting valuable items:
Circle of Fortune
- Rank 2 allows for the use of fewer Runes of Ascendance with a 45% chance to preserve the Rune when crafting.
- Rank 5 provides a 35% chance to double Echo rewards. This includes Unique/Set Echo rewards.
- Rank 6 gives Uniques twice the chance to have Legendary Potential.
- Rank 9 drops the entire Set any time a single Set item drops.
- The Circle of Fortune provides additional opportunities to target farm by allowing the play to spend Favor on Prophecies. Each Prophecy has a predetermined objective and reward, allowing the player to choose the reward they prefer before accepting a Prophecy. These rewards can be Unique/Set items.
Merchant's Guild
- Rank 2 allows you to purchase Set items.
- Rank 3 allows for the purchase of Uniques without Legendary Potential.
- Rank 6 opens up the ability to buy Unique weapons with Legendary Potential.
- Rank 8 allows you to purchase all Unique items, including those with Legendary Potential.
- Rank 9 allows for the purchase of Legendary Weapons.
- Rank 10 opens up all Legendary items for purchase.
For more information on Factions, check out our Factions Overview.
Campaign Uniques
There are two Uniques that can only be obtained through a side quest in the Council Chambers. Upon completion of the quest player's must choose to turn it into either Elder Ezra or Artem the Gambler. Ezra rewards Avarice while Artem gives Gambler's Fallacy. These are exclusive rewards so each character can only receive one of them. Fortunately Cremorus in the dungeon Soulfire Bastion offers upgraded versions of each (Burning Avarice and Soul Gambler's Fallacy) so there is no need to farm this side quest on multiple characters.
Another campaign specific Unique drops from a mini boss in Verdant Lakes. To get there travel to The Rust Lands in Imperial Era and take the portal next to the east of the waypoint. Once you've reached Verdant Lakes head northeast until you encounter Orchirian the Rampant. Slay the oversized flower and he drops Orchirian's Petals. An upgraded version of this Unique called Ashes of Orchirian drops from Cremorus in Soulfire Bastion
Corruption
Increasing Corruption is another way of improving Unique/Set drop rates in four ways:
- It increases the likelihood that a random drop will be a Unique/Set.
- Improves the chance that a Unique/Set Timeline Echo Reward will appear on the Timeline web (includes specific ones)
- It increases the chance that a Timeline boss or Shade of Orobyss will drop rare Uniques/Set items.
- It slightly increases the chance that a Unique will have Legendary Potential.
- Some of the Shade of Orobyss' Uniques require a certain amount of Corruption in order to drop.
Because Corruption affects both random world drops and boss drops, increasing it is a good idea regardless of what kind of Unique/Set item you might be after. Keep in mind that corruption in normal Timelines has a cap that is below the baseline for empowered (50 vs 100), so it's better to push Corruption in Empowered Timelines.
Farming Legendary Potential (LP)
LP is required in order to make Legendaries. The strategy for farming LP is largely the same as any other Unique, but there are a few things to note:
- Set items cannot have LP
- Area Level and Corruption increase LP drop rates.
- Higher LP is rarer than lower LP. An LP4 is much rarer than an LP1.
- Uniques have a hidden stat called Legendary Potential Level. This stat determines how likely a Unique is to have LP and also makes higher LP much rarer. Some Uniques (like Wings of Argentus) have very poor Legendary Potential Level which makes even low LP very hard to get and 3-4 LP astronomically rare.
- Boss specific Uniques from Julra (the Temporal Sanctum dungeon boss) always have at least 1LP.
Due to the extreme variance in drop rates for LP items, we recommend not target farming an LP Unique unless you can be sure that the drop rate is within reason. Too many items that theoretically can have LP are so difficult to find that the effort will not be worth the payoff, and many multi LP items are effectively unachievable regardless of time spent.
For more information on LP and making Legendary items check out our Legendary Items Crafting Guide.
Summary
- Unique/Set target farming is a very viable strategy.
- There are two primary ways Uniques and Sets drop: Boss specific items only drop from the bosses who have them in their loot table while world drops can drop from virtually anywhere (including bosses).
- Each method has very different target farming strategies.
- There are three Campaign Uniques that only drop in the campaign and also in very specific ways.
- Increasing Corruption is good for any Monolith target farming strategy.
- Legendary Potential (LP) is only directly scalable through area level and has several mechanics that need to be considered.
Video
Credits
Written by McFluffin.
Reviewed by Terek & Aristotelian.