The Arreat Summit — Basics: Gambling
Source: classic.battle.net — Gambling
In each act, one NPC in town will allow you to Gamble. Once you have selected Gamble you will see an inventory of items. These items will not be identified, and they will be offered at different prices. Select an item of a type you want to buy. Buy it. The item will then be automatically identified and you will see the item’s statistics.
Item Level
Items generated for the gamble stock are -5 through +4 levels of your character’s level with a minimum item level of 5. Note, this does not apply to level requirements often seen on items also known as required level. This applies only to the item level. This item level is never seen by the player in game and is used primarily in formulae that choose what affixes an item can get. Ancient armor has a quality level of 40, which means you can see it in the gambling screen at level 35. You will see it more often in the gambling screen when you are level 44 because at this point, you will always meet the required level. Look at the bottom of this page for a list of base items and their proper quality levels.
Certain items have a high quality level associated to them, when this occurs it is possible to attain higher level affixes. An example of this is the Diadem with a quality level of 85. In this case, you can receive higher level affixes even if you are at a low character level.
Rarity Chances
The items you receive will be from most common, to most rare: Magic Items, Rare, Sets, Uniques. Set and Unique Items are extremely rare.
- Magic Items: ~89.85%
- Rare: 1 in 10 (10%)
- Set: 1 in 1,000 (0.10%)
- Unique: 1 in 2,000 (0.05%)
Quality Tiers (Normal / Exceptional / Elite)
The level of quality of the items will be from most common to, most rare: Normal, Exceptional, Elite. The chance for the other types of items is:
Exceptional:
pV = max{0%, (ilvl − qlvlV) * 0.9% + 1%}
Elite:
pE = max{0%, (ilvl − qlvlE) * 0.33% + 1%}
- pE/pV = probability
- ilvl = clvl (-5 to +4)
- qlvl = quality-lvl of base item to be generated (i.e. 33 for Demonhide gloves)
General Info
You will mostly get Magic items which may or may not be worth anything to you (hence Gambling). You can Gamble Set or Unique Items and have the chance to Gamble Exceptional and Elite items as well. Gambling Items appear as Normal Items and can only be revealed as Exceptional or Elite Items after you buy them.
Gambling gives you a place to spend your money on the higher difficulty levels (Nightmare, Hell), and gives you a better chance at getting good Rare and if you’re lucky, Set and Unique Exceptional and Elite items that you are looking for. You can also get rare rings and amulets from Gambling which can be more difficult to find from monsters.
Buying all of the items on one screen doesn’t help to improve your chances any more than buying them one at a time per screen.
Items are created when you hit the Gamble button on the NPC menu. You can reset the Gambling menu by exiting the screen, then by clicking on Gamble again. You can continue to do this rapidly until you get the specific type of item you’re looking for.
Once you’ve unlocked all the item types at level 48, the items shown will be the same from then on. However, as you reach higher Character Levels, more Magic Prefixes and Suffixes will show up on items Gambled and you’ll have a better chance to get Exceptional and Elite items.
The price for Gambling each item goes up as your character level goes up.
Magic Find in no way affects Gambling.
Getting Money for Gambling
Pick up valuable items to sell to the Vendors. You may have to try out each item type to discover if it is worth something. Generally Magic Items are worth more than non-Magical Items.
You can also sell items to other players to generate money.
Since the majority of people like to trade items for other items, many players have large amounts of cash (those who don’t Gamble) they may be willing to use to buy your items. Sell armor for imbuing, and just about any other non Unique, non ultra important item to other players for Gambling money. Selling items to other players is even more appealing since the Vendors will only pay a maximum of 35,000 Gold for an item.
You can also kill players for money for Gambling but we won’t talk about that here =)
FAQ
Can I tell if an item will be Exceptional or Elite by its appearance on the Gambling screen? In most cases no, however, you can tell with Coronet vs. Circlets.
Will Items that give a better chance of finding magic items have an effect on your chances at Gambling? No.
Does the number of players in the game, the Act or Difficulty Level have any effect on the items you get from Gambling? No, only level of character.
Base Item Quality Levels
The quality level of an item comes into play in gambling. You will not see these items on the Gambling screen until your character level is +5 levels/-4 levels of the item’s quality level requirement. This information is valuable to figure out when you’ll be able to gamble for certain items.
To figure out at what Character levels a base item type will be available for Gambling, subtract 4 from the item’s quality level, for having a chance to upgrade to Exceptional subtract 5, and for Elite subtract 7. Note: Item types that are not listed are not available for Gambling.
Level 1 — Amulet, Ring, Club, Short Sword, Short Bow, Cap, Quilted Armor, Buckler, Javelin, Katar
Level 2 — Throwing Knife
Level 3 — Hand Axe, Dagger, Leather Armor, Leather Gloves, Boots, Sash
Level 4 — Spiked Club
Level 5 — Scimitar, Spear, Bardiche, Hunter’s Bow, Skull Cap, Hard Leather Armor, Small Shield
Level 6 — Large Axe, Light Crossbow
Level 7 — Axe, Throwing Axe, Heavy Gloves, Heavy Boots, Light Belt
Level 8 — Mace, Sabre, Long Bow, Studded Leather
Level 9 — Dirk, Trident, Wrist Blade
Level 10 — Pilum, Two-Handed Sword
Level 11 — Falchion, Crystal Sword, Voulge, Helm, Ring Mail, Large Shield, Spiked Shield
Level 12 — Broad Axe, Composite Bow, Chain Gloves, Chain Boots, Hatchet Hands, Belt
Level 13 — Balanced Knife, Claws, Double Axe, Morning Star, Scale Mail
Level 15 — Broad Sword, Scythe, Crossbow, Full Helm, Chain Mail, Kite Shield, Short Spear, Cestus
Level 16 — Balanced Axe, Brandistock
Level 17 — Battle Axe, Claymore, Kris
Level 18 — Short Battle Bow, Breast Plate
Level 19 — Military Pick, Flail, Mask, Bone Shield
Level 20 — Long Sword, Spetum, Splint Mail, Light Gauntlets, Light Plated Boots, Heavy Belt
Level 21 — Maul, Giant Sword, Poleaxe, Blade Talons
Level 22 — Tower Shield, Bone Helm
Level 23 — Great Axe, Blade, Long Battle Bow, Great Helm, Glaive
Level 24 — Bastard Sword, Pike, Heavy Crossbow, Plate Mail, Scissors Katar, Circlet
Level 25 — War Axe, War Hammer
Level 27 — Giant Axe, War Sword, Flamberge, Short War Bow, Gauntlets, Greaves, Plated Belt
Level 28 — Field Plate
Level 29 — Halberd, Crown, Throwing Spear
Level 30 — Gothic Shield
Level 31 — Long War Bow
Level 32 — Great Maul, Gothic Plate
Level 33 — Great Sword, Repeating Crossbow
Level 34 — War Scythe
Level 35 — Light Plate
Level 37 — Full Plate Mail
Level 40 — Ancient Armor
Level 52 — Coronet