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Ethereal Items are found only in the Expansion. "Ethereal" is not a modifier, it's a type of item flag, similar to Superior or Socketed, that can occur on all types of items. Ethereal can occur on normal items, but also magical, Rare, Unique, (but not Set), any type of item in the game that has durability.
'''Never Ethereal''': * Rings, amulets, bows, crossbows, or on the always indestructible *Amulets* Bows* Crossbows* [[Phase Blades ]] (Always indestructible.)* Any [[Elite Crystal SwordsSet Item]]<!--s../weapons/swords-elite.shtml-->), or any Set * [[Unique|Unique Items. Unique items that are Indestructible ]] with "indestructible" as a special property will not spawn Ethereal either. Sets being never-(Other than some that are always indes/ethereal is assumed to be a bug.)
Ethereal occurs on about 5% of all weapons and armor. It is both good and bad.
Ethereal items calculate the 50% defense or damage increase on the base item, and that is then modified by any mods on the item. This makes for much larger improvements in defense/damage.
==Ethereal Appearance==
In your inventory Ethereal items are transparent. They have the same colors from affixes as other items, but they'll always be somewhat see-through. You can [[Ethereal Merc| see one here]].
A nice sort of [[Easter Egg]] occurs when a [[Necromancer]] creates an [[Iron Golem]] from an Ethereal item. The golem appears partially transparent.
==Ethereal Bonus Calculation==
For a weapon, if you had a War Pike, with a base damage of 33-178, and 300% enhanced damage, it would do 132-712. If this item were Ethereal it would be 49-267 base, and the 300% damage would make it 196-1068. A huge improvement. Of course the problem is that it would only have 13 durability.
==Item Durability Loss==
The following odds assume you are wearing all types of armor listed. If you do not have a given type of armor on and the game rolls that armor to take the durability loss, you do not lose any durability.
Shields lose durability when you block successfully with them. Shields do not lose durability when you Smite with them (your weapon does). If you have no equipped weapon your Smite will not cost you any durability, but it will also be very slow, since weapon speed influences Smite speed.
If you don't hit anything with your weapon, (as with an orb or staff or wand used by a spell-caster) the item will never lose any durability. So an ethereal orb is just as good as a non-ethereal one.
==Merc-wear==
Ethereal items are best used on your hired [[Mercenaries]], since their equipment never loses any durability. Your merc will enjoy the added defensive boost, or the extra damage, and can use that item forever. And the gear doesn't sell for much, so you aren't missing on a great profit by not selling it instead. Ethereal weapons are very good for mercs, and if you find some nice ethereal unique armor or helm, you can use it until it's down to 1 durability, then put it on your merc where it will remain useful indefinitely.
==Selling Ethereals==
Anything you sell that is ethereal is gone; the NPC merchants will not display it for repurchase, even if they have room in their window.
==Self-Repairing==
An item can get Ethereal as well as one of the self-repairing modifiers, and will last forever if you don't use up the durability quicker than it repairs itself. If you use it up completely, the item will regenerate durability, but will still be unusable. The key is obviously to take it off or wait in town to let it regenerate, if it's getting really low.
===Self-Repairing Throwing Items===
As of patch 1.10 this has been modified. A throwing item with the magic property Replenishes Quantity now replenishes if depleted to 0 quantity.
==Superior Ethereal==
This is possible, and the Ethereal is calculated after any +durability from Superior. So a 50 durability item with say 12% bonus from Superior would have 56 durability, and that would drop to 31 with Ethereal.
==Ethereal Items with Charges==
Neither the item nor the charges on the item can be repaired, so once you've used up all of the spell charges, they are gone forever.
==RuneWords==
Ethereal socketed items used to make a RuneWord remain Ethereal after becoming [[Runeword]]s. Thus any Runewords created will still be Etherealand have the associated bonuses, but in an item that can not be repaired or socketed, with the normal bonus and lower defenseeven if you have another [[Zod rune]]. Making an Ethereal Runeword simply for your Merc to use is possible, and unrepairableof course. There are no RuneWords several runewords that use Zod become indestructible or self-repairing, and can thus be made in Ethereal items and used normally. * [[Breath of the Dying]], added in v1.0910, is the only Runeword that uses a Zod Rune and thus becomes indestructible.* [[Death]], [[Eternity]], and [[Oath]] gain indestructibility as a property.* [[Exile]] and [[Prudence]], gain a self-repairing mod as a Runeword property.
==Imbuing Ethereal==
This is not a good idea, since the Ethereal stays on the item even once it's been made Rare. Unless you are very lucky and hope for a self-repairing mod, or have Zod runes to spare, or just want to make something for your [[merc]], don't do it.
==Socketing==
You can socket a normal ethereal item, and it will remain ethereal, and gain sockets just as a non-ethereal item would.
In Diablo 2 version 1.11 and 1.11b, there is a bug regarding the socketing of ethereal armors and shields. Ethereal armors and shields are assigned a 50% bonus to their base defense rating when dropped. This is normal. What is not normal is the fact that when sockets are added to an ethereal armor or shield using the Horadric Cube, that ethereal defense bonus is applied again. The result is an armor or shield with an absolutely impossible defense rating. Enhanced defense modifiers are then added to that base defense rating, so the difference in end defense is rather huge. An ethereal Sacred Rondache shield socketed this way and the having the Rune word [[Exile ]] installed can have a defense in excess of 1000. And because of the self-repair mod on Exile, it will not break.
This bug appeared as a side-effect when the 1.10 ethereal armor upgrade bug was fixed. In order to fix that bug, a defense bonus of 50% was simply crammed into the ethereal unique armor upgrade formula. Unfortunately that fix also affected the ethereal armor socketing formula, making armors now gain a second defense bonus when socketed.
==Cube Recipes==
[[Category:Items]]
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