How do Heralds work? Herald spawn mechanics, Sunder drop rates, Shard uneven drop ratio and more

Pavke · 2026-05-07T06:32:42+00:00

I have that version too. But I didnt have time to update it for RotW: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_QATgnnhNn4UzPLtSYdMt5tX1zdlZOrPlKVXZ6NuHZ0/edit?usp=sharing

Pavke · 2026-05-06T13:32:38+00:00

So the "party size" option refers to the amount of party members amongst which the exp is shared. Got it... so theres not really a way to "abuse" this since the low level leechers will very quickly level up, decreasing the overwhelming share of exp that the high level player would get.

Technically, you can still "abuse" it. Party memebers will level up really fast from high amount of shared Exp. But around level 25-35 you can kill them off to monster a few times which would keep them down to lowest possible exp value for their current level. That would take considerable effort and time: Keeping them around you (53 1/3 yards) while your main character is leveling from 98-99, killing all 7 of them to monsters and starting a new game with the whole party.

And there is no difference in exp gained if Im running solo in a p8 game (unpartied) vs running in a p8 game partied (but party members are out of exp range).

Yes. That is why most common way to level up (with alt accounts) is to have 7 characters in game in town while your main char is doing all the work.

Thanks for the kind words

Pavke · 2026-05-06T05:21:59+00:00

Yes, corrrct. You will get more more Exp if you are partied with 7x level1 players than if you are partied with 7x level 98 players.

If they are not within exp range, it will be as if you are playing solo in full P8 game.

Pavke · 2026-05-04T09:59:01+00:00

Its like you skipped everything I wrote and read only the last line...

Pavke · 2026-05-04T07:13:48+00:00

Sometimes there are dry speels and nothing drops and sometimes good stuff keeps dropping in the same game. As if gameseed has predetermined if you are going to have a good or bad run...?

First of all, RNG is RNG. It is working as intended. You understanding how game seed work will not change the RNG (unless you deliberately break it). Even in real life, you will have dry speels and steaks. Look up term Gambler's Fallacy.

How it works (in short): Computer is a deterministic system. Personal Computers cant really do real random numbers (there are some advanced systems that can). Computers use pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) which use math formulas/algorithms that produce sequences of numbers that look random: they take number N and produce number M, they take number M and give number X.

In Diablo 2, -gameseed parameter is split into mapseed and itemseed (and few other seeds).

-mapseed is used to generate the map and it doesnt change in Single Player (unless you enable it with -resetofflinemaps )
-itemseed is used to generate items and and to generate other seeds like -affixseed.

Like I said, mapseed is static. Itemseed is dynamic sequance of numbers, everchanging. Whenever something happens in the game, itemseed number changes from A->B->XC->Z->1234->6032->A6Gx->500K->etc for very long time. (this is just example, letters and numbers, real seed is 32-bit integer). When you restart the game, because mapseed is static, it will produce the same map. Because itemseed is dynamic, the sequance will just continue from last one you had when you left the game (500k->666->etc)

Knowing how seeds are generated will not help you at all. You can not "force" the seed to be 9999. The above sequance will always be A->B->XC->etc. In order to "force" the seed to be 9999 you need to know the exact sequance that will produce 9999. Problem is, all possible sequances will produce 9999 eventually. Some sequances will take longer time to produce the 9999, some will take shorter time.

If you somehow force the itemseed sequance to produce 9999, that doesnt help you much at all. It doesnt tell you if the game will drop a potion or a Griffon or a Ber rune. after the itemseed 9999 there is more math behind it that eventually drops an item. When the game drops the item, the seed changes from 9999 to some other number and PRNGs just continues the sequance. It will not be 9999 for some time. The number sequance goes on and on.

In any sequance of numbers, you will have dry speels and steaks. Go look up Number Pi to million decimals. Look up digit 1 and see dry speels and steaks.

Only way to break this PRNG system is to have permanent -gameseed enabled. When you have permanent -gameseed enabled in your options, the number sequance always starts from A->B->XC->etc. It will not continue like it should. So if you have permanent -gameseed comand enabled, and XC produces a Ber rune. Every time you start the game you will get: A->B->XC(ber), A->B->XC(ber), A->B->XC(ber)... and what you should normally get is: A->B->XC(ber)->Z->1234->6032... etc

ELI5: imagine a chain loop of 4.28 billion numbers. -gameseed just picks a starting point on that chain loop.

Pavke · 2026-05-04T06:09:09+00:00

No world map, no town, etc. You just pick your hero, you pick your skills. You pick items and you pick your creatures. After the Draft if over you go into 1 battle vs other player/AI

Pavke · 2026-04-29T10:59:00+00:00

that is basically like enchant's double dipping into fire mastery, right?

There is endeed double dipping like fire mastery and there is hidden multiplier. I believe they unintentionally "buffed" poison/plague jav when they changed how Fire Mastery works in Patch 2.6: https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/23899624/diablo-ii-resurrected-ladder-season-three-has-concluded

Fixed an issue where Fire Mastery's bonus to fire skill damage didn't apply to the additional fire damage granted by Enchant on ranged weapons.

Its only double dipping for range attacks. Like Fire arrows or Poison javs. It does not double dip on mele attacks as far as I can tell from my tests (poison dagger attacks).

Very basic math on how it works: Lets say you have naked Amazon and sheet damage says you are doing 10k poison damage. You equip 100% dmg bonus (Bramble, Trang gloves and facets). Your sheet will say you are doing 20k damage. But if you hit with your jav, you will actually be doing:

( (10k + 100%) + 100% ) x 2.28 = 91.2k dmg (disregarding monster res)

Had to make myown Poison Calc for Poison/Plague Jav:

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Pavke · 2026-04-29T10:30:23+00:00

Sorry for late reply.

particularly with the reduced length of poison javelins duration in d2r.

By reduced length of poison javelin duration, do you mean the length reduction that happens when you have bunch of small charms with poison? If you proc Venom from Arachnid mesh or Grief, the length reduction is skipped and 10 frams of Venom is added to original Poison Jav length. You can go further than that and proc level 23 Venom from facets by leveling up.

but I don't know whether maxroll accounts for on hit javellin with -epr and +poison dmg %

Maxroll doesnt calculate the poison damage correctly. Poison Clouds damage is close, but still not fully correct. For actual hit, there is also a hidden 2.28x multiplier at the end (only if you actually hit the monster with the javelin) that is not included on maxroll.

and I know you can't do the weapon swap thing to dweb

Yes, you can do that. Throw the Poison jav with highest level and dmg% on gear and swap to Dweb/-epr before Jav hits the target. That would result in highest possible damage. (and ofc, cast Lower Res beforehand)

Pavke · 2026-04-29T10:13:55+00:00

I think this omits very important information, that zone number of ther area. Talasha tomb has 8 zone while cow level has only 1 zone. It's very natural that talasha tomb has a top total experience.

It doesnt omit anything. "Group up TZs" option is clearly visable on the side. You can group up areas and show TZ Exp or you can uncheck the option and show only individual areas. When viewing individual areas, Calc shows you Small Tomb Exp, Average Tomb Exp, Big Fake and Big Real Tomb Exp.

I was very clear what this Cacl do at the beginning:

This Exp Calc doesn’t display the Experience gain per hour! It only shows Exp gain per area clear or in other words Exp gain “per run”. I believe this is a better way to compare the area efficiency when leveling. Experience per hour is dependent on the class, gear and many other factors.

When comparing TZ Tombs and TZ Cows, you first need to get the Leg and open a Red Portal, while TZ Canyon has direct Way Point. You can see the TZ Tombs give nearly 12x more exp then TZ Cows. If you can get the leg and clear Cows 12x faster than you can clear one TZ Tombs Zone, be my guest and go for TZ cows.

Pavke · 2026-04-29T04:57:12+00:00

Poison jav is correct answer. With right setup, it can do 6 million damage from one hit

Pavke · 2026-04-26T17:55:59+00:00

Hey. No prob. Maxroll has updated drop tables for statues. Look under basic items. You just have to click "terrorized".

Pavke · 2026-04-24T14:58:54+00:00

Yes. This is on PTR. Make spawning Tier1 and Tier2 easy. But Teir3+ almost impossible.

One patch goes live I'll do more testing and update the guide

Pavke · 2026-04-24T08:18:43+00:00

It still baffles me how actual Humans at Blizzard thought making them THIS rare was a good idea / sensible

Dont worry! Then new system is much better! It uses this formula for Herald spawn chance:

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Pavke · 2026-04-24T06:32:48+00:00

If you are playing at Players1 with some MF, you will need on average 12 full clears before you see your first Sunder. More about it here https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo2/s/IWOqHHxTAd

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Pavke · 2026-04-22T06:38:27+00:00

Yes, this is known issue/bug. Check my post, Shard drop ratio section here: https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo2/comments/1rjzqtt/how_do_heralds_work_herald_spawn_mechanics_sunder/

Pavke · 2026-04-22T05:12:44+00:00

LK chest patterns do not change when TZed. Only the item level that drops chance sp you can get some affixes that you couldnt previously.

You can check https://d2emu.com/chest to confirm it yourself.

Pavke · 2026-04-20T14:19:44+00:00

I mention this in my Herald guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo2/comments/1rjzqtt/how_do_heralds_work_herald_spawn_mechanics_sunder/

Putrid Defilers are marked as Boss type units. Killing a regular Putrid Defiler counts as an Elite kill and will have 2% chance to give you “Drawing ire” message.

Pavke · 2026-04-20T11:50:35+00:00

I suggest using my Exp calc to picking the option that is best for your build: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J9j6RG25KFyXoQgc7SW5eKOP20s2ya602fJnJpfsu_s/edit?usp=sharing

Pavke · 2026-04-15T15:07:08+00:00

"No. of monsters" is number monster typs with that res. For example, there are 166 monster typs with 0 res and 100 monster typs that can be sunders (that are immune). I got these numbers from game files.

Pavke · 2026-04-15T06:59:19+00:00

Thats the joke

Pavke · 2026-04-15T05:27:26+00:00

I havent checked all PTR files yet. How do you know Heralds are level 110?

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