A Diablo 2 secret many players never even knew existed is suddenly back in the spotlight, thanks to a post by NeverSink and an older breakdown from MrLlamaSC.
The “Souls Dance” Explained
Players discovered that isolating exactly four Burning Souls causes them to stop attacking and begin forming letters on the ground. This strange behavior has existed in the game for decades, but it turns out it does more than just reference the original developers.
The letter formation itself is widely believed to be a small developer tribute built into the monster AI, which is why players refer to it as an easter egg. The drop bonus, however, appears to be an undocumented side effect tied to the behavior rather than a clearly intended reward.
After the “souls dance” finishes, the player receives a hidden boost to item drop quality for the remainder of that game session.
It does not appear in the character sheet and disappears if you die or leave, but during the session, it massively increases the chance of higher-tier drops. Not every kill becomes a unique because of diminishing returns, yet the difference is noticeable enough that some players report finding more sets and uniques in a single Act run than during an entire playthrough.
The exact value of the bonus is not officially confirmed and comes from player testing rather than developer documentation.
Why Nobody Used This Before
For years, this was mostly a curiosity. Setting it up was slow and inefficient compared to traditional farming. However, the recently released Reign of the Warlock update changed that.
With faster Terror Zone rotations and new high-density farming targets, players can now trigger the effect and then clear entire areas while the hidden bonus is active. Instead of farming one boss repeatedly, you can run multiple zones in a single game.
The result is a rather bizarre situation where a 20-year-old easter egg has turned into a practical farming method.
So, if you see lightning ghosts suddenly spelling letters and staring at you instead of attacking… do not interrupt them. You might be looking at one of the strangest drop bonuses ever hidden in a Diablo game.
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