Affix

The 4 primary / 2 secondary affixes on a legendary.

"Affixes" (also known as Bonuses and Modifiers) are the special magical properties found on items in the Diablo games. In Diablo 1 and Diablo 2, item modifiers were rigidly separated into prefixes and suffixes, which limited how they could combine on items. Magical items could only spawn with a prefix, a suffix, or both. Rares in Diablo 2 could have up to 3 of each for a maximum of six, but never spawned with say, 4 prefixes and 2 suffixes.

Diablo 3 uses prefixes and suffixes on magical items, and used them for Rares in the initial (D3v) game. This changed in Loot 2.0 and affixes are now sorted entirely into primary affixes and secondary affixes. The prefix/suffix system still exists on magical items, but for rare and legendary items, the system limits them to 4 primary and 2 secondary affixes, with no sorting into prefixes and suffixes.

Which affixes are available varies by the item slot, and is one of the main factors in itemization in the game. The most useful affixes are generally limited to only appear on certain types of items, and with different possible ranges on different types of items. For instance, the most valued affix in the game, Critical hit Chance, can appear at 1-10% on Amulets or Gloves, 1-6% on Bracers, Helms, and Rings, and only in smaller amounts in other slots as an inherent bonus on several legendary items and/or set bonuses. Other useful affixes such as All Res can be found on every type of armor and jewelry, but not on weapons or most off-hand items. Mainstat can be found on every item, but the amount varies widely between different slots. And so on.

Diablo I Affixes

Diablo I's itemization system was very simple. Magical items had a prefix, suffix, or both, but never more than two. There were no rare items and no set items. There were legendary items, called Unique in D1 and D2, but they were completely non-random. All had inherent properties that never varied, often with special affixes found only on unique items, and there was only one Unique item for most item types.

Diablo I Unique Items.

Diablo II Affixes

In Diablo II there were various rules for item modifiers.

Magical items could have 1 prefix, 1 suffix, or both.
Rare items could have up to 6 affixes -- 3 prefixes and 3 suffixes -- though most had just 2-4 total affixes, and never more than 3 prefixes or suffixes.
Crafted items had a few preset mods, and could roll up to additional 2 prefixes and 2 suffixes, though this varied slightly between recipes. Crafted items also had some Special Modifiers that were never found on magical or rare items.
Set Items and Unique Items were entirely custom designed, and could have any number of modifiers that didn't necessarily correspond to any of the affixes.

Full list of Diablo II Modifiers

Archived Article [e]
Affix is an archived article about material previously included in Diablo 3. However, it has currently been removed or the article contains outdated facts. The information is stored in Diablo Wiki for posterity. Please note: Links in this article lead to both updated and archived material.

This article was last up to date:

January 2014Currently updated version of this article is:

Diablo 3 Item Development

Itemization was a big area of fan interest during Diablo 3's development. While the developers were often asked how items and affixes would work in the game, they tended to reply in vague terms during development, since itemization is always one of the last things completed before launch, and the system remained in flux. Unfortunately as we saw upon Diablo 3's release, the itemization, especially in terms of Legendary Items and Affixes, was very poorly designed, and not until Loot 2.0 in early 2014 did legendary items become largely compelling.

Three key issues of fan interest regarded +skill bonuses, life/mana [[leech], and Magic Find. During development the designers said they wanted to make all those stats useful, but less mandatory or powerful than they had been in Diablo 2. They failed:

All +skill bonuses were removed entirely since Diablo 3 skills don't increase in level.
Life leech was hugely overpowered in D3v until Loot 2.0 removed it.
Magic Find was overpowered, mandatory, and found on almost every item in D3v until Loot 2.0 removed it.

+%Magical Damage

A big change to itemization in Diablo 3 pre-game was the addition of +%magical damage. This affix was seen on many items pre-game and at Blizzcon demos, and it modified spell damage the same way that +%damage has always boosted weapon damage in the Diablo games.

The issue this modifier was meant to address was the way spell-casters have always had less dependence upon items; Necromancers and especially Sorceresses were the best characters at Magic Finding in Diablo 2 since they didn't need a big damage weapon, and could use weapons that boosted MF, resistance, hit points, and other survival stats while that was never an option for the combat classes.

This entire system was scrapped during development, all skills/spells were reworked to derive their damage from weapons in the same fashion, and +%damage modifiers were almost entirely removed, left just on weapons and a few legendary items in other slots. That was further reduced in Loot 2.0 with +%damage lowered to 1-10%, and found only on weapons where it's a very minor factor in total character damage.

Appropriate Modifiers

The developers have said that they hope to have more useful modifiers and less useless ones, but there's a balance to strike on this issue. Every item can't have good mods or characters would quickly have all great equipment and the item game wouldn't be any fun. However, no one likes finding useless mods on items; useless because they provide properties of no value, or even things your character can't use.

Julian Love spoke about this in an interview from Blizzcon 2010. [1]

In Diablo 1 there was some useless prefixes and suffixes on a lot of the items, have you cleaned a lot of that up a bit to make sure everyone can use everything?

Julian Love: We agonize about this every day. We’re constantly looking at the affixes and their value. There are some affixes that are better than others, but you really just have to make choices. When you see an axe drop and it has 3 affixes to it you have to decide if those affixes are right for you, for your build, or your class. That’s crucial, because otherwise all the loot is the same. So some affixes are by definition [not as useful], but maybe they’re nice to have. So there’s a sort of a pecking order in the usefulness in some of the affixes.

We definitely don’t want affixes though that you dread, that you see and are like “oh geez, what a waste of time!” We look at this every day, and as we add more affixes in — because of new game mechanics that come in — we look at them again to see if it changes the balance of ones that are rolled up. We’re always looking at the classes to make sure they’re evenly distributed so like the wizard doesn’t always just use one affix all the time. It’s just an ongoing topic of conversation at work for us.

Diablo 3 Vanilla Auction House Affixes

This is a compilation of the various item affixes searchable in the Diablo 3 Auction House in late 2012. This is not a current list as Loot 2.0 made many changes to itemization, but it is preserved for posterity and future reference.

All Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Arcane Power on Crit: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Arcane Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Armor: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Attack Speed: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Amulet, Gloves, Ring,

Barbarian Skill Bonus: Bash: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Cleave:Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Frenzy: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Hammer of the Ancients: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Overpower: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Rend: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Revenge: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Seismic Slam: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Weapon Throw: Belt,
Barbarian Skill Bonus: Whirlwind: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,

Bleed Chance: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Block %: Off-Hand,
Bonus Min Arcane Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Cold Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Fire Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Holy Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Lightning Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Physical Dmg: Amulet, Ring,
Bonus Min Poison Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus Min Weapon Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Bonus vs Elites: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Chance to Blind on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Chance to Chill on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Shoulders,
Chance to Fear on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Chance to Freeze on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Belt,
Chance to Immobilize on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Boots,
Chance to Knockback on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Bracers,
Chance to Slow on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Pants,
Chance to Stun on hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Gloves,
Cold Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Crit Hit Chance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Bracers, Gloves, Helm, Ring,
Crit Hit Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Amulet, Gloves, Ring,
Crowd Control Reduction: Off-Hand, Amulet, Helm, Ring,

Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Bola Shot: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Chakram: Chest Armor,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Elemental Arrow: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Entangling Shot: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Evasive Fire: Chest Armor,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Grenades: Chest Armor,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Hungering Arrow: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Impale: Chest Armor,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Multishot: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Rapid Fire: Off-Hand,
Demon Hunter Skill Bonus: Spike Trap: Chest Armor,

Dexterity: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Experience: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Extra Health from Globes: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Fire Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Gold Find: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Has Sockets: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Bracers, Chest Armor, Helm, Pants, Ring,
Hatred Regeneration: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Chest Armor,
Indestructible: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Shoulders,
Intelligence: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Life %: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Chest Armor, Helm, Ring, Shoulders,
Life Regeneration: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Life Steal: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Belt,
Life after Kill: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Amulet, Ring,
Life on Hit: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Amulet, Ring,
Life per Spirit Spent: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Helm,
Lightning Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Magic Find: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Movement Speed: Boots,
Mana Regeneration: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Max Arcane Power: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Max Discipline: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Chest Armor,
Max Fury: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Belt,
Max Mana: 1-Hand, Off-Hand, Helm,
Min Bleed Dmg: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand,

Monk Skill Bonus: Crippling Wave: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Cyclone Strike: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Deadly Reach: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Exploding Palm: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Fists of Thunder: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Lashing Tail Kick: 2-Hand,
Monk Skill Bonus: Sweeping Wind: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Tempest Rush: 2-Hand,
Monk Skill Bonus: Way of the Hundred Fists: Helm,
Monk Skill Bonus: Wave of Light: 2-Hand,

Physical Dmg to Attacker: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Physical Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Pickup Radius: Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Shoulders,
Poison Resistance: Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Reduced Dmg from Elites: Off-Hand, Chest Armor,
Reduced Dmg from Melee Attacks: Off-Hand, Amulet, Bracers, Chest Armor,
Reduced Dmg from Ranged Attacks: Off-Hand, Amulet, Bracers, Chest Armor,
Reduced Level Requirement: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Shoulders,
Spirit Regeneration: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Helm,
Strength: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Vitality: 1-Hand, 2-Hand, Off-Hand, Amulet, Belt, Boots, Bracers, Chest Armor, Gloves, Helm, Pants, Ring, Shoulders,
Weapon Dmg %: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,

Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Acid Cloud: Helm,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Fire bats: Helm,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Firebomb: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Haunt: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Plague of Toads: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Poison Darts: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Spirit Barrage: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Summon Zombie Dogs: Helm,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Wall of Zombies: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,
Witch Doctor Skill Bonus: Zombie Charger: 2-Hand, Off-Hand,

Wizard Skill Bonus: Arcane Orb: Off-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Arcane Torrent: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Blizzard: Off-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Disintegrate: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Electrocute: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Energy Twister: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Explosive Blast: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Hydra: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Magic Missile: 1-Hand, 2-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Meteor: Off-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Ray of Frost: Helm,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Shock Pulse: Off-Hand,
Wizard Skill Bonus: Spectral Blade: Off-Hand,