Summary
Diablo 4is in the perfect position for fans of bothDiablo 2andDiablo 3, as it features both unique and legendary quality items, the two rarest item types from their respective entries. InDiablo 4, uniques take the cake as the rarest of the rare with some uber uniques being extremely difficult to find. Out of all the uniques in the game, some of the best are iconic pieces of gear that return fromDiablo 2, and the unique Arm of King Leoric deserves to make its return inDiablo 4as well.
While allDiablo 4uniques are hard to find, some offer better bonuses and affixes than others, like theHarlequin Crestcompared to The Occulus. Both of these uniques are originally fromDiablo 2, but the Harlequin Crest is a much more universally beneficial item compared to The Occulus, which can only be used by the Sorcerer and is mediocre at best. ADiablo 2unique weapon like the Arm of King Leoric would be a great piece of gear to add since it could bolster the unique weapon choices for the Necromancer with one ofDiablo 2’s best options for the class.
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Diablo 2’s Arm of King Leoric Could Help Buff an Underpowered Diablo 4 Necromancer Build
The Arm of King Leoric is a unique wand for theNecromancer class inDiablo 2, and it comes with a bevy of useful affixes that cater to the Necromancer’s summoning prowess. Its primary strength comes from the +2-3 ranks it provides to several of the Necromancer’s summoning skills like Raise Skeleton, Raise Skeletal Mage, and Skeleton Mastery, as well as a blanket +2 for all Summoning and Posion and Bone skills. On top of these affixes, it also gives the Necromancer additional Mana, increased damage to Undead enemies, and the chance to cast Bone Spirit and Bone Prison when struck by an enemy’s attack.
With all of these affixes geared toward boosting the Necromancer’s summoning capabilities, the Arm of King Leoric would be a welcome addition toDiablo 4.Summoner builds forDiablo 4’s Necromancerare somewhat underpowered due to their relatively frail minions that lack the survivability to be useful as players get farther in the game. However, giving players access to a unique weapon like this could help the Summoner play style more gain more versatility and overall power by granting additional ranks of skills the player is likely to use on this type of build without even having to rebalance the stats of the Necromancer’s skeletal minions.
There would need to be some adjustments to the Arm of King Leoric’s affixes to bring them more in line withDiablo 4’s specific mechanics. For example, Raise Skeleton is now an implicit skill for Necromancers, so rather than receiving additional ranks via a unique affix, granting ranks toNecromancer passives like Skeleton Warrior Masteryand Skeletal Mage Mastery make more sense. Additionally, the chance to cast Bone Spear when hit by an enemy attack could be added alongside the chance to activate the other Bone Skills of the Necromancer.
If the Arm of King Leoric is added toDiablo 4, it would likely also include an affix specific to this unique weapon much like all other uniques in the game. This affix would be most useful if it had a similar effect to that of the legendary Aspect of Reanimation, only instead of increasing the damage done by theNecromancer’s Skeletal Minions, it increased their overall health. Doing this would also help to buff Summoner Necromancer builds inDiablo 4while giving Necromancers access to more unique weapon options, and limiting this affix to a unique weapon would prevent it from creating too broken of a build.
Diablo 4is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
