Unique item required lvl vs. item lvl

Can't seem to find another thread on this exact topic.

I'm simply just wondering if it's intended that a unique item can e.g. drop on Merciless with an item level of 55, but with a required level of only 9.

This happened here a few hours ago with the item Wondertrap, Velvet Slippers, and it doesn't make that much sense to me currently. So unsure if it's a bug or that it's intended as the special stat makes the item powerful enough on its own.

Well monster at X level as a chance of dropping any item less than or equal to X so it makes perfect sense.

If it doesn't make sense they drop low level uniques maybe you are questioning why they drop level 1 items to begin with?

Oh another thing, a few uniques, like 2H swords, staffs and bows can get 6 sockets so the low level unique bows and stuff can get 6 sockets if they have a high ilvl but thats the only thing ilvl determines

which doesnt matter for wands, daggers, 1H weapons, shields, since they can only get 3 sockets anyway

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ampdecay wrote:

which doesnt matter for wands, daggers, 1H weapons, shields, since they can only get 3 sockets anyway

There are 1H swords that are just as big as 2H swords ( at least in the inventory ). I don't really remember ... can they also get only 3 sockets?

The first is ilvl 32, and cant have 6 sockets.
The second is ilvl 52 and can have 6 sockets.

That is why ilvl is important and high ilvl on certain uniques (bows, 2hands and chest armor) makes them much more valuable.

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ampdecay wrote:

Well monster at X level as a chance of dropping any item less than or equal to X so it makes perfect sense.

If it doesn't make sense they drop low level uniques maybe you are questioning why they drop level 1 items to begin with?

Aye, I know, and thanks for the answer. I was just wondering as the item level of 55 suggests a high level item, but the stats it gives are low level in terms of "+6 Strength", "+9 Dex" and so forth.

It's decently common that lower level items drop in higher level areas, but it mostly seems to be much less than a ~45 level difference, and more a la lvl ~40-45 items dropping in a lvl ~55 area.

In this case the item was rolled as a ilvl 55, and that doesn't seem to make much sence.

Reasen I ask is it seems to happen more often with unique items becoming much lower lvl items than their item lvl suggest. But aye, guess it's all just random luck as per usual. Thanks for the answers anyway :)

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Calmethar wrote:

Aye, I know, and thanks for the answer. I was just wondering as the item level of 55 suggests a high level item, but the stats it gives are low level in terms of "+6 Strength", "+9 Dex" and so forth.

It's decently common that lower level items drop in higher level areas, but it mostly seems to be much less than a ~45 level difference, and more a la lvl ~40-45 items dropping in a lvl ~55 area.

In this case the item was rolled as a ilvl 55, and that doesn't seem to make much sence.

Reasen I ask is it seems to happen more often with unique items becoming much lower lvl items than their item lvl suggest. But aye, guess it's all just random luck as per usual. Thanks for the answers anyway :)

Oh ok I see, well itemlevel is always equal to the level of the monster the item dropped from regardless of the level required to equip the item, those are two different things and are not related.

The itemlevel just determines which mods can spawn on a item but uniques are unique because they always spawn with the exact same mods on them. So for instance instead of getting that low level unique you get the same base item but its a rare, since that is is itemlevel 55 it can get all mods from level 55 and below.

Here are links to all the mods and what level they are so you can check them out yourself:

Prefixes

Suffixes

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ampdecay wrote:

Oh ok I see, well itemlevel is always equal to the level of the monster the item dropped from regardless of the level required to equip the item, those are two different things and are not related.

The itemlevel just determines which mods can spawn on a item but uniques are unique because they always spawn with the exact same mods on them. So for instance instead of getting that low level unique you get the same base item but its a rare, since that is is itemlevel 55 it can get all mods from level 55 and below.

Here are links to all the mods and what level they are so you can check them out yourself:

Prefixes

Suffixes

Ahh, I see, thanks a lot for the help :)

Just found another unique, item level 57 and required level 7. Rough it seems, as when you finally find a unique item it's mostly worthless anyway. The whole argument about lvl 57 mobs dropping very low level items not making that much sense, at least not with a difference of ~50 levels.

A bit disheartening all in all, but at least the uniques are not overly rare, so there's fun to be had even for more casual players.

Here's something you need to understand, let me try and spell it out long-like. Bear with me.

Uniques are not legendary items.
Uniques are not rare items.
Uniques are not magic items.
Uniques are not white items.

What Uniques are... are set items. Predetermined. They have unique art and unique stats.

The Harp Bow linked above has 100% increased critical multiplier, which is three times larger than possible to spawn on even an ilevel 77 bow.

Death's Harp will always have 100% increased critical multiplier regardless of its ilevel. Always.

Uniques like



Have some "set" stats and some "loose" stats. The fire resistance and burn duration can both go up to +50% and have a minimum of +30%. These rolls are totally random and not determined by ilevel. All ilevel does for a unique, is determine its maximum number of sockets.

Why are uniques set up this way?

Uniques exist to provide alternative ways to build your character.
You can think of uniques as between magics and rares.
Unique items can have amazing stats on them (like +100% critical multiplier) that no other item can get, but they have drawbacks. Death's Harp is a low base bow (the base level of an item determines its base level requirement, unless it spawns a mod on it which is of a higher level than its base requirement), so even with +100% multiplier, you usually have to replace it within 10 or so levels, because rare bows at 45-55 do much more damage on average.

Except, in the case of Death's Harp, you can continue to stack critical multiplier and build around the bow itself to achieve some degree of success. This is what uniques are designed for. If you find a "low level unique" you can use it to augment your build.

You may pick up a low level unique and say it's garbage, and you aren't alone there, but your expectations are totally wrong. It's not garbage. Not to everybody. I happen to like Death's Harp, and the robes I linked above. In certain circumstances and in certain builds, uniques are ridiculously powerful. Note how, Kripp's recent stun-lock build got so much attention - part of its success was the use of a unique claw. Uniques are extremely powerful, but they are designed to not be the most powerful.

The most powerful item in the game is a rare item with perfect rolls for its level. Uniques will not ever trump amazing or perfect rares. Ever. Don't expect them to. Some uniques, like Erqi, trump 98% of mauls, for certain builds at least, and that makes Erqi valuable, but it's still not the best. It won't ever be.

If you're disappointed when you find a low level unique, be aware that low level uniques are intended to be commonplace because GGG wants players to use them for interesting character builds that begin at a low level. You can sell low level uniques for cash, so consider them at least worth one to several alchemies, in a worst-case scenario. They aren't worthless, but you need to understand their worth and who they are worthful to.

Finally, there is a unique stratification:
Common
Rare
Ultra-rare

Common uniques are generally low level uniques -- though not always the case. Dream Fragments, Chayula, and Astramentis are low level unqiues worth dozens of GCPs. They very, very rarely drop. A unique's level is not its rarity.

Common uniques, like the Silverbranch Bow, have a fairly high drop rate, but are still valuable in HC due to their build-enabling stats. Generally speaking, if you level a character 1-60, you're very likely to find at least 1 common unique during that journey. That's how common they are. During CB, I got 350% IIR on my Shadow, and I was accumulating 2-8 "common" uniques a day.

GGG will never stop low level uniques from spawning for high level players, because they A) want these uniques to be relatively abundant in the economy B) want veteran players to be tempted to make alts centered around them C) want 6S uniques to be able to drop D) because PoE is a game about items.