Nephalem Valor

Nephalem Valor was a game mechanic in Diablo III that was removed in patch 2.0.1. It was intended, among other systems, to make sure that the end game was fun, exciting, and balanced so that a 3-minute run of the same area would not be the most efficient way to acquire loot.

Nephalem Valor was one of the major new systems in Diablo III and it became active at level 60. The philosophy stated by Blizzard was as follows:


 * Rare and Champion packs already have great loot on them. By killing a Rare or Champion pack or opening a resplendent chest, not only do you get the loot, but you'll also receive a buff granting you increased magic find and gold find. Completing an Event awards you Nephalem Valor as well. However, if you change a skill, skill rune, passive, or leave the game, the buff disappears. As an extra reward, if you kill a boss while this buff is active, you’ll receive extra loot drops from that boss.

In the PC version, Nephalem Valor could be stacked as high as 5, with each stack offering +15% Magic Find, Gold Find, and a multiplicative modifier to EXP gained. The Magic/Gold find was allowed to go past the maximum cap of 300% by however much the stacks grant. So players who had already reached the cap could still accrue up to 75% Magic/Gold find from their Nephalem Valor.

For console games, the exact amount of magic find and gold find provided by the buff was +25%. It could stack up to 3 times (to a total of +75%) and would last 30 minutes. The duration could be refreshed by killing additional elite packs, opening a resplendent chest, or completing an Event. However, the buff would not grow to more than a stack of 3 (+75% gold find, magic item find, and experience).

This system was implemented to encourage players to stick with a skill build of their choice, select an area of the game they enjoy, and sweep it for elite and champion packs on their way to a boss (the buff is not refreshed when killing a rare - violet - enemy), finishing off a run with a boss that'll be worth killing. If the player wanted a shorter play session, they could be done at that point, but if they had more time, the path of least resistance would ideally be to stay in the same game and make their way towards the next boss.