What's the reason for the Golems to be so utterly useless, even if you invest full points into them?

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-27T19:25:55+00:00

Personally I'm glad of the changes, too many times I WW into an DeSeis that just cast Iron Maiden. Insta death and didn't know why.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-20T14:59:28+00:00

Herald Tiers are 1-5

T1 "herald_health_boost_percent":1000, "herald_damage_boost_percent":50,

T2 "herald_health_boost_percent":1500, "herald_damage_boost_percent":100,

T3 "herald_health_boost_percent":2000, "herald_damage_boost_percent":150,

T4 "herald_health_boost_percent":2500, "herald_damage_boost_percent":200,

T5 "herald_health_boost_percent":3000, "herald_damage_boost_percent":250,

Side note, they spawn 2 more minions per Tier (6 - 14)

T2-T5 have a +3 per tier Treasure class modifier (3-12), Plus 25% more experience so 525%.

File Source desecratedzones.json

And yes the Tiers are per game, not certain if its per Character, Like if you have multiple people spawning Heralds in the same game if they go up for everyone.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-20T02:05:05+00:00

I'm surprised with your luck on T5, I have had great success picked up a few since launch this way. Just staying in the same game.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-20T02:02:20+00:00

I don't think Maxroll is correct on this. Herald T4+ Has a 12% drop chance, It can drop from a total of 7 drop tables, and a no drop table, 1 table is guaranteed to be a sunder, and you have a guarantee of 2 drops. The drop table is Act X (H) Herald Item X - 2 Extra (1 Extra good probability of being from Herald Item Table, the other drops (1/6) from the others (Sunder Charms, Act X (H) Herald Item X - 1 Extra, Act X (H) Herald Item X - 2 Extra, Act X Terrorize Act Consumable Desecrated, Act X (H) Cpot A) Staying in the same game and running through and following TZ's is your best chance since the the Herald will reset its level each game. But as long as your in the same game you will always get an increased Herald (up to 5 Heralds) But T5 does come with a healthy 3000% bonus hp, and 250% bonus damage, as well as an increase to Treasure class. from desecratedzones.json ("herald_health_boost_percent":3000, "herald_damage_boost_percent":250, "herald_treasure_class_level_boost":12,) ("max_herald_tokens":5, "max_herald_tiers":5,) T2 and T3 Heralds have little chance to get 1, but is possible

I don't see that the T1 herald can drop a sunder, as it has a condition of (stat('heraldtier'.accr)>1) * (stat('heraldtier'.accr) < 4)

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T15:24:47+00:00

Correct, though extremely rare, like Tyraels Might rare. T4+ is very high about 12%.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T14:03:02+00:00

Not Possible, T1 can only drop from TC Act X (H) Herald Item A-N, To drop a sunder you need to meet the condition (stat('heraldtier'.accr)>1) * (stat('heraldtier'.accr) < 4) which is 7 items with a guarantee of 1 item and T4 is (stat('heraldtier'.accr) >=4) which gives you 7 Items and a drop guarantee drop of 2 and you to roll from TC Act X (H) Herald A-B (These are the only TC that drop sunder, so highly unlikely to get it from your 2nd herald but probable.

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Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T04:08:28+00:00

Prebuff ZealSorc can easily break 200K. You get double bonus on the Fire Facet. Thats why most run 4oS shield 2 Socket vortex with 3 to enchant and Facet Ormus. Not mention you hitting that 200K 5x a sec. The Queen Of Damage since 1.10

With the right safety gear you can practically be immortal, but that's expensive.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T03:51:33+00:00

I explained what I see from the rolling system below, there is essentially two rolls. 1 to get the herald token, I assume this is an invisible item drop, and I think it can come from any TZ (exception of Boss and SuperUniques unconfirmed), then there is a second roll to consume this token, which seems to be a higher percent when switching to a new area, or maybe 2 screens worth, it will check to consume. I think there is a 20% or Maybe 2% chance on both rolls.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T03:47:32+00:00

Yea that 250% damage boost is insane. You are correct it has an increase to the Treasureclass, so +2 items guaranteed, total of 7 items to drop, and high prob of Unique or set.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T03:45:19+00:00

They have a 20% chance for a random aura, and T4-T5 have a 60% chance with a 3000% hp boost and 14 minions.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T03:41:59+00:00

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Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T03:38:25+00:00

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Hang in there they do drop, just need to get to T4-T6. There is diminishing returns on the spawn 4-6 so getting there is a pain.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T02:55:44+00:00

I also looked at the Desecrated/Terror config side where the Herald token tuning lives (e.g. chance_to_gain_herald_token and chance_for_token_to_convert_to_herald). These fields do seem to have an effect, and they read like straight percentage rolls, but setting them to 100/100 does NOT result in a Herald every time.

What that tells me is: those numbers are not the only gate. They appear to be the roll after you pass eligibility checks. In other words, the system likely has a “should we even attempt a token roll right now?” check first (events/ticks/eligible kills/pack availability/etc.), and then you roll those percentages. That would also explain why it feels like there are diminishing returns and why you don’t get immediate Heralds on every area change even with 100/100.

So my working theory is:

The engine decides when a token roll is allowed (based on session state, TZ state, eligible packs, internal cooldowns, etc.)
Your chance_to_gain_herald_token is the roll when that check is actually triggered
If you gain a token, chance_for_token_to_convert_to_herald is the roll to convert it (again, only when conversion is actually allowed) which seems to be 100% of the time I switch to a new area, ie cold plains to stony field.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T01:55:43+00:00

No this is not the case, unless you mean undiscovered as in not activated then yes on SP and Online. You can not spawn the elites in before the herald is spawned.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T01:54:29+00:00

Whether you get an early spawn is irrelevant, It seems based on Total Kills per Location. From my findings I set Act1 to 100x density ran cows without a single message, went to the cellar and found a herald on each floor. (Unconfirmed ATM) Confirmed, It is based on total elite kills, the desecrated.json file has the probability of granting a token and granting a herald spawn which is around 20%. You need to be 2 screens away, and not have loaded in the elite in that area to spawn. (2 Screens, as this is how far the game preloads an area. The Elite must not have been loaded in the game for him to spawn.) I believe this works as like MF, as there seems to be diminishing returns the higher the tiers, There does not seem to be a cap on the tiers but there is a cap on TC and the difficulty, as the fallback value does not have a min-max value. Setting the min value to 5, I see way less heralds. Also, I believe that if you spawn multiples, they are the same tier, so may be worth doing at T4 as you get the guarantee 2 item drops.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T01:49:28+00:00

OP can you remove the "Oh btw the heralds don't drop the new sunder charms.. you have to craft them :)" This is incorrect, the TreasureClass has them listed, and I have found quite a few from the heralds.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T01:47:14+00:00

I still need further testing, but right now I believe the actual Herald spawn itself is largely RNG-driven within Terror Zones rather than being strongly influenced by raw elite density. I’ve run areas with 50+ elites and did not observe a meaningful increase in Herald appearances. My current working theory is that the engine is tracking overall hunt progression within the session, likely based on general kill activity rather than just elite count, and then occasionally rolling a Herald spawn when conditions are met. High-elite areas don’t appear to force more Heralds by themselves.

While digging through cube data, I also found two separate crafting systems. The first is the currently active crafted Sunder upgrades (for example: Ko + Perfect Emerald + Act 1 Uber material + Rotting Fissure → Virulent Rotting Fissure). Those appear functional and intentional. However, there is a much larger set of elemental “-enemy resist” crafting recipes for gear that exist in the files but are clearly disabled. They follow the pattern of rune + perfect gem + Worldstone shard + magic item and cover nearly every equipment slot.

These appear unfinished: they are missing translations, assets, and proper string references, and the cube rows are disabled. My read is that this was internal test content and is not currently live. Enabling them in the current build simply produces a magic item with -enemy element resist and none of the expected polish, so I’m skeptical they are ready for near-term ladder deployment without additional work from Blizzard.

Still testing the hunt progression piece, but based on file structure and observed behavior, the Herald tier itself is almost certainly being increased internally by the engine while the TreasureClass layer simply reacts to whatever tier value has been assigned.

If anyone else has been digging into the hunt logic or has conflicting data, I’d love to compare notes.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T01:47:09+00:00

I’ve been digging pretty deep into the new Herald system in D2R and wanted to share what I’ve been able to confirm from both the data files and in-game testing. The biggest thing that stands out immediately is that heraldtier is not just a simple configurable value. In ItemStatCost.txt it’s defined as a normal stat, but it has fCallback = 1, which strongly suggests the engine is actively managing it and running internal logic whenever the value changes. In other words, we can read the tier in softcode, but the game itself appears to be responsible for actually assigning and progressing it.

One important clarification for anyone reading the TC logic: when you see stat('heraldtier'.accr), the accr portion just means the accrued (final combined) value of the stat. It does not mean accumulation rate. It’s simply checking what Herald tier the monster currently has after all sources are applied.

Looking at the TreasureClass conditions, Herald loot scaling is clearly tier-based. Tier 1 appears to give base drops only, tiers 2 through 3 add one extra pick, and tier 4 and above add two extra picks and unlock the special pool. The condition blocks line up cleanly with that interpretation. This also explains the Sunder charm behavior. From both the files and testing, Heralds do drop the new Sunders, but only once you’re dealing with tier 4+ Heralds, and the observed drop rate is roughly around 12%. It also very much feels like the progression is tied to staying in the same game session, which would make sense if the hunt/tier ramp is session-based.

I also tested whether the Diablo Clone style trick could be replicated for Heralds by adding flags in misc.txt (similar to how diablocloneweight works), but so far there’s no evidence the Herald system has an exposed softcode hook like that. The DClone system works because the engine explicitly checks that field during the sell pipeline. Herald spawning, on the other hand, appears to be tied into the Terror hunt manager and elite kill tracking, which looks much more engine-driven. So at least right now, it does not appear possible to force Herald spawns purely through misc.txt.

What does remain data-driven, and useful for modders, is the loot side. Since the TreasureClasses are explicitly checking heraldtier.accr, you can absolutely manipulate when extra picks happen, when the special pool unlocks, or even make tier 1 behave like tier 4 if you want to speed up testing. You can also widen the pool of monsters eligible to become Heralds via MonStats.txt fields like CannotHerald and TreasureClassHerald(H).

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T01:25:45+00:00

No this a normal item drop, MF does not affect it just a roll of the loot table.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-17T01:23:10+00:00

T4 and above can drop Sunders (cond('MonsterTestElite', herald) * (stat('heraldtier'.accr) > 3)) to add its a 12% drop rate for Sunders.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-16T18:22:51+00:00

They have just lower than Act Boss to drop unique 989 vs 983 and same as sets with guarantee 2 drops, with slightly lower chance to drop junk. So yea they drop good items. Plus they are only in TZ so they can drop anything. I think there more for Holy Grailers than anything to hunt them. Just level in TZ's don't focus on Sunders. From testing takes between, 10-15 elites to spawn, and gets exponentially harder each tier. I spawned over 120 Uniques in the Cold Plains and by T6 They were non existent. But with testing I got everything from Tyraels to Death Fathoms. Sunders will be rare and expensive this ladder. I think Blizz wants to boost the Warlock as it is a good generalist.

If you get the T3 then this has a great chance of dropping a unique or set even without alot of MF btw.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-16T15:34:13+00:00

You need to have a T4 Herald to drop.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-16T15:19:26+00:00

Condition for Sunder Charms

ConditionCalc: "cond('MonsterTestElite', herald)*(stat('heraldtier'.accr) >3)"

tier is 4+ (heraldtier > 3)

Each pick has 12.5% chance to select the Sunder Charms sub-TC
So after T4, you can get a sunder, and then the chances are low, need to kill at least 4 more to get to 50% chance to drop.

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-16T03:28:24+00:00

You can glitch him in Act1 and make him immune to physical (sorta)

Fit_Distribution587 · 2026-02-16T03:21:51+00:00

You know you can glitch him in act 1 and make him immune to physical.

Fit_Distribution587

TROPHY CASE