If you've been playing Diablo 4 since at least the beginning of this year, you're probably aware that starting with Season 8, the game's most dangerous endgame bosses (also known as ladder bosses) have been fully upgraded to lair bosses.
This change isn't just in name; more importantly, the mechanics shift from gathering materials to summoning a boss to starting the fight, to allowing you to directly fight them, but you must first collect lair keys to unlock the boss's corresponding hoard upon victory.
To ensure you're getting the right lair keys, lair bosses are now divided into three different tiers: initiate, greater, and exalted. Higher-tier lair keys may require killing lower-tier lair bosses, while others can be obtained by completing regular Diablo 4 events.
The reason you should continue farming lair bosses in Season 10 is that they drop Unique or Mythic Uniques. While some may not be as powerful as Chaos Armor, the overall value is still worth the effort.
So how should you farm lair bosses in Season 10, and what tips should you keep in mind? We'll explain below.
Lair Bosses And Related Keys
There are nine lair bosses in Season 10, each with its own lair key and loot pool. While you can theoretically farm a specific set of lair bosses, you'll need to complete other gameplay or boss battles to obtain the keys needed to unlock their hoards.
One thing worth noting and encouraging is that after defeating an initiate lair boss, in addition to the higher-level lair keys, Stygian Stones will also drop. This item can be converted 1:1 into any desired greater lair key.
All lair bosses and the lair keys/Stygian Stone drops they can provide are as follows:
- Varshan (initiate): Required 12x Malignant Heart, drops Shard of Agony or Stygian Stone
- Grigoire (initiate): Required 12x Living Steel, drops Shard of Agony or Stygian Stone
- Beast in the Ice (initiate): Required 12x Distilled Fear, drops Pincushioned Doll or Stygian Stone
- Lord Zir (initiate): Required 12x Exquisite Blood, drops Pincushioned Doll or Stygian Stone
- Urivar (initiate): Required 12x Judicator's Mask, drops Abhorrent Heart or Stygian Stone
- Duriel (greater): Required 3x Shard of Agony
- Andariel (greater): Required 3x Pincushioned Doll
- Harbinger of Hatred (greater): Requires 3x Abhorrent Heart
- Belial (exalted): Requires 2x Betrayer's Husk
In addition to defeating low-level bosses, you can also earn specific lair keys by completing the following Diablo 4 events or gameplay:
- Malignant Heart: Whispers or Helltides
- Living Steel: Helltides Chests
- Distilled Fear: Nightmare Dungeons
- Exquisite Blood: Legion Events, Helltides, and World Bosses
- Judicator's Mask: Helltides, Whispers, and World Bosses
- Betrayer's Husk: Belial's Ambush
What Is Belial's Ambush?
Belial's Ambush is essentially an ambush that randomly triggers after defeating any initiate or greater boss, ensuring you have a chance to unlock Belial's hoard.
While this small Belial isn't as dangerous as a full-fledged boss, you must remain vigilant during the fight. During battle, it will attack you with a combination of blood and poison magic, requiring you to dodge quickly and carry gear with appropriate resistance.
How To Find Lair Bosses?
While you no longer need to collect summoning materials in advance, it's recommended to wait until your character level is high enough to handle endgame content before finding and challenging a Lair Boss.
You can find the corresponding lair boss on the map by its unique icon. Right-clicking it will teleport you to the boss and begin the fight. However, before doing so, you'll need to understand the boss's lair keys and drop information and find reliable allies.
Lair Boss Loot Patterns
First, all lair bosses have the potential to drop either Uniques or Mythic Uniques. These drops are categorized as general available to all classes, and gear specific to each class.
When you defeat a boss and receive your first Unique drop, it will be a class-exclusive item. If you obtain other Unique loot or defeat the boss later, your chances of receiving general or exclusive loot are equal.
In addition, it's recommended to complete the lair boss fight in a group, not only because it's more efficient, but also because each additional team member increases the boss's chance of dropping additional Unique loot by 33%.
Alternatively, you can increase the boss's loot drop rate by increasing the difficulty. Typically, at Torment 3 difficulty, the current lair boss will drop one additional Unique loot. At Torment 4 difficulty and with enough players, the boss may even drop seven.
Best Season 10 Lair Keys Farming Strategy
In addition to lair keys, you'll also need to complete other tasks to earn gold and other crafting materials. Therefore, it's not recommended to directly challenge initiate boss after entering the endgame. Instead, first obtain Undercity Tributes through Helltides.
To do this, you must first own Vessel of Hatred DLC, which qualifies you for entering and farming Kurast Undercity. You can then earn more Undercity Tributes by repeatedly defeating Blood Maidens in Helltides.
The more Tributes you use before entering Kurast Undercity, the greater the rewards you'll ultimately receive, significantly increasing your chances of obtaining lair keys by completing Kurast Undercity.
That's all you need to know before farming Diablo 4 lair bosses in Season 10. While you're doing the quests, don't forget to challenge the new boss Bartuc in Infernal Hordes to obtain Chaos Armor!
If defeating lair bosses to obtain Unique or Mythic Uniques on your own is too tedious or difficult, you can also trade safe Diablo 4 items at D4GOLD! Simply enter the name of the Unique item you want to instantly retrieve and buy it!
