Diablo 4 player discovers counterfeit 'legendary items' that shouldn't exist

Diablo 4's legendary item shouldn't look the same as those found by Reddit's Fr0zenberg. After Blizzard’s massive loot overhaul, they shouldn't be yellow like rares and some of their stats shouldn't even exist. Either Fr0zenberg found the rarest item in the game, or the first bootleg legendaries.

"I got a legendary Rare item ..." Fr0zenberg said in a Reddit post with a screenshot showing a chestpiece which should be impossible to obtain. The tooltip states that it is a rare item, but it has an effect that normally only appears on legendary items. It also has the "damage reduction stat" which is not available on regular items. One commenter found it so unbelievable, they accused Fr0zenberg Photoshopping their screenshot. Fr0zenberg apologized for their mistake after posting video proof.

Fr0zenberg includes a chestpiece and a pair boots with the same problem in his video. They claim they received them as quest rewards, but don't recall which ones. They also claim that their legendary abilities work despite the fact that these items are classified as rare-quality. It's likely a visual bug due to the fact that it's a quest reward and not a drop. I didn't believe item tooltips could lie.

Unfortunately, neither item is very useful for characters with max levels. Both items are a tier below what you would get on Diablo 4's world tier final difficulty. They will only be useful to you while you are still leveling up. Damage reduction is a valuable defensive stat in Diablo 4, but it's too weak to equip low-level equipment on a high level character. Fr0zenberg’s budget legendaries will be a novelty when season 5 begins next week.

I got a "Legendary Rare" item... from r/diablo4

You could also wear a tinfoil-hat and think that these items are examples of a new craft feature coming with the Vessel of Hatred in October. Blizzard has plans to make rares items more valuable for endgame players, who ignore them when they're fully equipped with legendaries. Maybe the rumors about a level squish are accompanied by a rework of rare items that allows them to have similar unique effects. I personally doubt that this will be the case. It's more likely that these items will break down and become a new kind of crafting material than to become some sort of phony legend. I agree with the commenters who commented on Fr0zenberg’s post: they should definitely hold onto what could be two of Diablo's most rare items.