Lucky Hit is a new mechanic in Diablo 4, not seen in any previous Diablo games. I’d describe it as being quite similar to Critical Strike Chance but less likely to happen, and the effects are more varied and powerful.
While the Critical Strike Chance probability rolls once per successful hit, Lucky Hit Chance probability rolls twice, and both have to be successful for the Lucky Hit effect to work. I know it might sound complicated and confusing, but it can be very effective—and has been all throughout my playthrough on each class.
\What does Lucky Hit mean in Diablo 4?
Lucky Hit is a special affix on a weapon. It is a powerful one that has a low chance of being triggered. The most common Lucky Hit effect in my experience has been Execute. It instantly kills an injured enemy and has its own stat in your Offensive stats section.
Lucky Hit Chance refers to two different probabilities. The first is the Lucky Hit Chance of a skill. Check your skill descriptions on the skill tree on your Abilities tab, and you’ll see it there—unless you have Advanced Tooltip Information disabled, as I did. I got so confused for a while there. Anyway, for most Base skills Lucky Hit Chance is 50 percent, but for most other skills, it’s much lower.
Related: How to maximize XP in Diablo 4
The other Lucky Hit Chance is displayed on the descriptions of any item with a Lucky Hit affix. These probabilities vary a lot, depending on the effect, and there are often other specific conditions that need to be met for the Lucky Hit Effect to occur.
Lucky Hit vs. Critical Hit in Diablo 4
For a Critical Strike, the game makes one probability roll each time you do damage to determine whether that hit does Critical damage. But for a Lucky Hit, the game makes two probability rolls. First, it rolls for the Lucky Hit Chance of the skill you’re using, then, if the first roll succeeds, it rolls for the probability of each Lucky Hit affix on the item(s) you’re using. If that second roll is also a success, then the Lucky Hit effect is triggered.
You need a decent grasp of math to fully understand it. I had to dig into some of the old knowledge I learned in high school to fully get my head around it.
A good way to remember it is if you attack using a basic skill with a 50 percent Lucky Hit Chance, and using a weapon with a Lucky Hit effect with 20 percent odds, then you have a 10 percent chance of triggering a Lucky Hit effect with each strike.
My Rogue currently has two weapons with Lucky Hit effects, a sword, and a dagger. Honestly, neither effect is probable nor powerful enough to make much noticeable difference overall. But I can imagine a character build designed to maximize the probability of a particularly potent Lucky Hit effect could be very effective indeed.
