What is ‘Lucky Hit’ in Diablo 4 and how does it work?

Lucky Hit is one of the new effects added to Diablo 4, and it’s easily one of the most confusing and convoluted mechanics in the game. But, like most complex things in Diablo 4, Lucky Hit can make a major difference if you weave it into your build intelligently.

Unlike some other new effects, like Fortify, Lucky Hit isn’t class-specific. So Barbarians, Necromancers, Druids, Rogues, and Sorcerers can all take advantage of Lucky Hits.

In this Diablo 4 guide, we’ll explain how Lucky Hit works and what kinds of effects it can offer your character.

What is a Lucky Hit?

Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon

Some skills and items have a special affix on them that denotes a bonus effect if there’s a “Lucky Hit.” Usually this bonus effect comes with a percentage chance to actually occur, like 5%. But Lucky Hit isn’t just a percentage chance to do something cool — there’s an unfortunate amount of math involved.

Let’s use an example that involves the Pressure Point passive and the Hammer of the Ancients skill for Barbarians. Pressure Point, which gives skills up to a 30% chance to make enemies Vulnerable, isn’t just a flat 30% chance every time you hit something. No, instead you have to multiply this by the Lucky Hit chance of the skill you’re using as well.

If you’re using Hammer of the Ancients, which has a 50% Lucky Hit chance, you’ll get a Lucky Hit 50% of the times you hit an enemy with it. And then if you’re using Pressure Point, you’ll make that enemy Vulnerable 30% of the time you get a Lucky Hit. So, together, you have a 15% chance of making an enemy Vulnerable due to Pressure Point while using Hammer of the Ancients.

This works similarly for item affixes that offer some incredible Lucky Hit bonuses. You can’t just take the in-game percentage on the item as gospel. You must first multiply it with the Lucky Hit chance of the skill you’re using. Those two percentages together equal how likely you are to see the effect occur.

Best builds for Lucky Hit

Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon

Lucky Hits can have some great effects, like healing you in a critical moment or restoring a good chunk of your resources. Even with effects that have a low Lucky Hit chance, these occurrences can be extremely powerful when paired with skills that are good at getting Lucky Hits, like Hammer of the Ancients.

However, Unlike critical hits or Overpower, Lucky Hits do absolutely nothing on their own. Lucky Hits are only useful if you actually pair them with a Lucky Hit bonus on your weapons or passives. Because of this, the best kind of build to focus around Lucky Hits is one where you have multiple Lucky Hit bonuses that can occur at once.

If you have an item that has a small chance to heal you on a Lucky Hit, another item that has a small chance to refund Fury on a Lucky Hit, and you’re using the Pressure Point passive, you could get lucky and activate all three of those powerful effects on a single Hammer of the Ancients smash. The more Lucky Hit effects the better, if that’s the kind of build you’re going for. Certain items and effects can also increase your Lucky Hit chance.

Lucky Hit is an incredibly versatile effect, and there are some builds that might rely on getting the bonuses to activate while other builds don’t use the Lucky Hit mechanic at all.