d4 The Butcher and the Only Unique Item in the Diablo 4 Beta?

[Starym 3,560]

 

Unique items are a higher tier than legendaries in Diablo 4, and we've only seen one drop in the entirety of the Beta so far, and it comes from everyone's favorite boss, the Butcher! Well, not everyone's favorite, as hardcore players have been having a very rough time with the red one as he just comes in and they have no real chance of escaping.

The Butcher himself is a boss that randomly appears in any of Diablo 4's dungeons, chases down the player and leaves either when he kills them or after too much time has passed in the fight. If you do manage to kill him, you might see the probably only unique in the Beta, however: the Butcher's Cleaver (which is not a guaranteed drop), as spotted by ZERGq!

There will be plenty more uniques, and while this particular one doesn't seem that powerful (or does it, in PvP?), they're supposed to be some of the best items out there in the full release.

Here's a video of a kill (not the one with the unique drop, however):

And a less successful encounter (which is probably more like what happened to most players):

Personally I almost got him the first time he ambushed me, as I was NOT expecting it and got a little confused as he chased me down half the dungeon.

It's great to see both the iconic weapon and boss make a return, especially in this way that's very reminiscent of the terror he caused back in Diablo 1, as many players remember him much more clearly then Diablo himself. Hopefully other uniques have as much favor as this one, although they won't have their own personal specific bosses they drop from.

[Arcling 733]

Butcher is an iconic type of demon, so he had to be there. I see they went with D3 design, rather than D1.

[TyZone 396]

I am not a fan of this UI, I hope it gets cleaned up a bit. It looks really chaotic, maybe it's the opacity? Maybe the font?

 

+1 for the cleaver, though.

[TyZone 396]

1 hour ago, Arcling said:

Butcher is an iconic type of demon, so he had to be there. I see they went with D3 design, rather than D1.

Even though the sprite of the first hasn't aged well, there's something about it that makes it more frightening. Maybe it's the fast feet, which imply a demonic speed? Maybe it's because he looks more authentic like something that would come out of a flesh-room? Who knows. I think the D3 models suffered from too much lighting effect and glow.

[Arcling 733]

3 hours ago, TyZone said:

Even though the sprite of the first hasn't aged well, there's something about it that makes it more frightening. Maybe it's the fast feet, which imply a demonic speed? Maybe it's because he looks more authentic like something that would come out of a flesh-room? Who knows. I think the D3 models suffered from too much lighting effect and glow.

I actually liked quite a lot of D3 models, but not all of them. Butcher's design in D1 was very simple and I think it worked well (there is also skin in HotS based on D1 appearance), way less stylized, just simple apron and cleaver.