The Boss Ladder is an Endgame feature offering bosses from level 50-200 that can be target-farmed for specific unique items and reward Hoard opening Items (Lair Keys) that enable you to access the loot when a boss in defeated.
It is not to be confused with Leaderboards which record player levels and achievements and are traditionally what we refer to as Ladders.
In Season 8, Blizzard dubbed the Boss ladder "Lair Bosses" and split them into three different tiers
- Initiate
- Greater Lair Boss
- Exalted Lair Bosses.
Below you can see which bosses are in which tiers.
Each boss has its own Loot Table highlighting items you can target farm. Bosses will also drop uniques from a general pool and a Mythic Unique pool. Details of all the drops can be found on the Boss Loot Tables page.
Members of the Boss Ladder to Target Farm Uniques
The Boss Ladder is a group of Bosses (sometimes referred to as Uber Bosses) who, when killed, can drop certain highly-coveted Unique items.
- Belial - Added in Season 8 (Exalted Lair Boss)
- The Harbinger of Hatred - Added in Season 8 (Greater Lair Boss)
- Urivar - Added in Season 8 (Initiate Lair Boss)
- Andariel - Mythic Uniques - Added in Season 4 (Greater Lair Boss)
- The Beast in the Ice - Added in Season 2 (Initiate Lair Boss)
- Duriel - Mythic Uniques - Added in Season 2 (Greater Lair Boss)
- Grigoire - Added in Season 2 (Initiate Lair Boss)
- Lord Zir - Added in Season 2 (Initiate Lair Boss)
- Varshan - Added in Season 1 (Initiate Lair Boss)
The Torment versions of each of those bosses is level 200 and has a better drop rate of Uniques, including Mythic Uniques, than the normal version.
Bosses that you can face again after completing the campaign but are not part of the boss ladder are:
How do you get to these bosses?
Each boss has different item requirements to access them. These items can either be collected in the open world or from the other bosses. Details are available on each of the above linked boss pages.
Boss Ladder Material Trading
The materials required to activate bosses on the Boss Ladder are not tradeable (changed in Season 4).
Lair Boss Keys
Below are tables showing the Bosses and materials required to access Boss Hoard rewards.
Initiate Lair Bosses
| Initate Lair Boss | Lair key Hoard Requirements |
|---|---|
| Varshan | 12 x Malignant Heart |
| Grigoire | 12 x Living Steel |
| Beast in the Ice | 12 x Distilled Fear |
| Lord Zir | 12 x Exquisite Blood |
| Urivar | 12 x Judicator's Masks |
Greater Lair Bosses
| Greater Lair Boss | Lair Key Hoard Requirements | Mats Acquired From... |
|---|---|---|
| Duriel | 3 x Shard of Agony | Varshan / Grigoire |
| Andariel | 3 x Pincushioned Doll | Beast in the Ice / Lord Zir |
| The Harbinger of Hatred | 3 x Abhorrent Heart | Urivar |
Exalted Lair Bosses
| Exalted Lair Boss | Lair Key Hoard Requirements | Mats Acquired from... |
|---|---|---|
| Belial | 2 x Betrayer's Husk | Dropped by Belial in ambush encouters |
Why farm the Boss Ladder?
Bosses on the ladder typically drop the much sought-after Unique or Mythic Unique items. The addition of these bosses in Season 2 allowed players to target farm items.
How Many Uniques can drop?
This depends on the Torment level you are playing in. Currently it is as follows:
- Torment 1: 3 Uniques + 1 Rune
- Torment 2: 4 Uniques + 1 Rune
- Torment 3: 5 Uniques + 1 Rune
- Torment 4: 7 Uniques + 1 Rune
What are the chances of an Mythic Unique dropping
As of patch 1.4.0, bosses from the ladder have a 0.5% chance of dropping a Mythic Unique.
Stygian Stones
Stygian Stones are a material dropped after the 1.0.4 patch release in The Pit. These stones are used to summon level 200 versions of each boss ladder boss.
Defeating these superior versions of the bosses in the boss ladder will grant players a Resplendent Spark as a first-time reward. The Resplendent Spark is account-bound.
Benefits of taking on the Superior versions
The main benefit of taking on these superior level 200 bosses is the reward. These versions have 10x the required boss materials but drop 10x the amount of uniques. This is ideal if you want to cut down on the number of boss runs you are making in search of the best unique items.
Changes to Boss Ladder
Patch 2.0.2, April 29 2025
Boss ladder overhaul. Three new Boss Ladder bosses added. The Harbinger of Hate, Urivar, and Belial.
Patch 2.0.1, October 8 2024
- Adjusted the drop rates of Mythic Unique items from Ladder Bosses to compensate for being guaranteed Ancestral quality.
- Duriel and Andariel do not guarantee a Mythic item drop but their chance to drop a Mythic item is twice as high as other Tormented bosses.
Patch 1.5.0, August 6, 2024
- The summoning Urn now respawns after the boss is defeated, allowing players to more quickly reset and defeat the bosses repeatedly.
- Boss Ladder bosses no longer drop Rare items. They now drop additional Gold instead of Rare items.
- Tormented Bosses now drop 5 times as many Boss Materials.
- Rebalanced Tormented Boss loot to have parity with each other.
- All Tormented Bosses have 5 chances to drop a mythic at 1.5% chance each. In total, a 7.5% chance to drop a Mythic Unique. The resulting effect of this change is that the bosses have a chance to drop multiple Mythic Uniques instead of just 1.
- The cost to summon a Tormented boss had been reduced from 2 Stygian Stones to 1.
- Boss Health has been reduced across the game.
- Before:
- WTI: 0%
- WTII: 4000%
- WTIII: 6500%
- WTIV: 30000%
- After:
- WTI: 0%
- WTII: 2000%
- WTIII: 4000%
- WTIV: 6000%
Patch 1.4.3, June 17, 2024
- All Tormented bosses have had their health reduced by 30%. This includes Blood Boils from Tormented Echo of Lilith.
Patch 1.4.0, May 14, 2024
- Tormented Echoes of all ladder bosses can be summoned with Stygian Stones, obtained from deep within The Pit.
- Stygian Stones are needed along with an increased amount of summoning materials, but fear not – they also drop more rewards!
- Tormented Echoes will be level 200.
- All items dropped are item level 925.
- Defeating your first Tormented Echo drops one Resplendent Spark as a first-time reward (account bound).
- Mythic Uniques can start dropping from monster level 55, drops at 925 item power.
- Andariel added to the Boss Ladder with the same drop table and rate as Duriel.
Patch 1.3.0, January 23, 2024
- The Item Power ranges for items dropped by end-game bosses, such as Varshan and Zir, have been decreased for Rare and Legendary Items. Unique Item Power has not been changed. Examples (note that the current range for Unique Items was previously the range for all items):
- Varshan in WT3 (Level 55)
- Unique Item Power Range: 675-750
- Rare/Legendary Range: 650-725
- Grigoire in WT4 (Level 75)
- Unique Item Power Range: 850-925
- Rare/Legendary Range: 800-875
- Beast in the Ice (Level 85)
- Unique Item Power Range: 900-925
- Rare/Legendary Range: 850-925
- Duriel remains unchanged (always drops 925)