Several Diablo 4 players have reported that they randomly received the biggest XP boost of their life in the latest season. One player went from level 60 to 100 instantly, a process that usually takes several hours grinding dungeons. After some investigating, Blizzard found the culprit: a mischevious new unique dagger for rogues.
Instead of pulling the dagger out of the game, however, Blizzard has turned off its unique effect as it works on a fix.
“We have temporarily disabled the unique power on The Umbracrux,” head of PR Adam Fletcher wrote on X. “This is due to reports from some massive experience gain from players during specific encounters.”
The Umbracrux is a rogue-only item new to season 5. It spawns a little totem that takes all the damage you deal to it and spreads it out to surrounding enemies. The clever effect gives single target skills AOE damage and is critical for some of the best rogue builds this season. Without it, it’s as good as a butter knife.
Nobody knows what caused the dagger to dump XP on some players. Reddit user Neamins posted a video where they shot up 34 levels after killing a stronghold boss with it equipped. Several other players had it happen in the new Infernal Hordes wave-based dungeons. My guess is that the totem must have a weird interaction with how Diablo 4 scales monsters to your level in its scripted combat encounters and that is causing it to give players buckets of XP when it disappears.
None of the affected players have had their free levels revoked, nor have they received any kind of erroneous account suspensions. Blizzard must’ve decided to let them have their free character boost much like they let all those players keep their uber uniques when a bug was giving them out like candy back around the game’s launch.
Even though rogue players might have to suffer with a backup dagger for a day or so, it’s a relatively small blemish on an outstanding season of Diablo 4. Blizzard reworked almost every single unique item in the game and every class is flourishing. Season 5 has put Diablo 4 in an excellent spot as it transitions into its first expansion Vessel of Hatred in October.