How Diablo 4 Items Work (Frequently Asked Questions)

Diablo 4 Items FAQ

In Diablo 4, items have a lot of mechanics and nuances that can be easily overlooked.

In this article, we’ll be covering the things that you may have missed. Note that this is geared more toward intermediate and advanced players.

If we missed anything or you’d more explanation about something, just let us know in the comments.

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Jump to a topic by clicking below!

• What should I know about item rarities?
• Does Diablo 4 have Set Items?
• What are “unique” items?
• What are Ancestral and Sacred items?
• How do Aspects and Gear Slots work?
• How many stats can items have?
• Can I change Affixes on items?
• How do I upgrade items?
• What should I know about Gem Sockets?

What should I know about Diablo 4 item rarities?

There are four rarities in Diablo 4 that are indicated by their color. Here’s a quick TLDR of what you should know for each.

• Normal (Grey)
  • Just ignore them.
• Magic (Blue)
  • Although not great even for the early game, consider using them until you find Rares to replace them. You can disenchant a few of them for materials but you can ignore them late game.
• Rare (Gold)
  • The main misunderstanding Rare items have is that they are bad because they have only 3 Affixes (more on Affixes later), but they will have 4 of them after a certain item level just like Legendaries. So, they can be BIS late game as you can turn them Legendary with an Aspect and they will have 4 Affixes.
• Legendaries (Orange)
  • Legendaries have 4 Affixes, even at low levels, and they can be disenchanted for either crafting materials or extracting Aspects. Aspects are special effects that count as a 5th ‘’stat’’ if you want, you can have only 1 Aspect per item.

Rare Items can be turned into Legendary Items

By imprinting an Aspect on Rare Items they can be turned into Legendary Items, their stats will not change, you will just get the Aspect Bonus.

You should know: powerful gear is the essence of almost every Diablo 4 build!

Does Diablo 4 have Set Items?

According to Diablo 4’s Game Director Joe Shely, set items will be introduced in Diablo 4 in a future update.

Hot take but I personally hope they reverse this decision. Set items take too many slots away from customization since you need to run multiple mandatory items for specific MUST-have effects.

I’d rather brew my own builds myself, but we shall see how they turn out if added.

What are “unique” items?

Unique items come with special Aspects and Stats. Here’s what you need to know.

• Special Aspects
  • Cannot be extracted
• Special Stats
  • Allows certain gear pieces to break usual rules
    • For example, unique gloves can have stats that other gloves can’t roll.
• They always have the same stats
  • The variance is only in the stat range, such as 5 STR vs 8 STR

What are Ancestral and Sacred items in Diablo 4?

Do you know how Items have a certain ilvl (item level)? If an item passes certain thresholds of ilvl, it will be considered ‘’Sacred’’ or ‘’Ancestral’’, the latter being the highest tier and also having higher stats.

Are only Ancestral items viable late game?

Yes, as of now, it seems you’ll want to have only Ancestral items and everything else will be irrelevant. You can keep normal Legendaries and Sacred Items to level up new toons tho.

That makes no sense, what’s the purpose of that?

If you extract aspects from normal Legendaries, you can’t put them on ‘’Ancestral’’ level rare items.

Only Ancestral’ aspects can go on ‘’Ancestral’’ items. It’s a way for you to not find your BIS aspects early game.

Did you know? You can easily optimize your farming routes for Bosses, Helltides and more by using our Diablo 4 interactive map! Better optimized route will yield you faster and more efficient farming!

How do Aspects and Gear Slots work?

Aspects are divided into 5 BIG categories: Offensive, Defensive, Utility, Mobility, and Resource.

Different item slots (Chest, Gloves, Rings, etc) will only be allowed to use Aspects from their designated role.

That’s not something you can change, it’s decided by the devs what Item slot can use what Aspect.

Examples

Amulet

The Amulet is the best example because it’s all 5 categories at once. This means Amulets can be imprinted with any type of Aspect.

On top of that, Amulet is extra special because it will buff whatever Aspect you imprint on it by 50%.

Weapons

Weapons only count as Offensive’ so you can only imprint Offensive Aspects. Pretty much all the stuff that does damage. Nothing defensive.

Aspects on this slot get pumped up by 100%, so that’s where you put your most key offensive Aspect.

Why do Two-Handed weapons and Amulets receive better Aspect bonuses?

Only Amulets and Two-Handed weapons receive these bonuses, in the case of Two-Handed weapons, it is to mitigate the downside of having 1 less item meaning 1 less Aspect. Amulets are just cracked.

Diablo 4 Items and Their Aspect Categories

• Helm
  • Utility, Resource, Defensive
• Chest
  • Utility, Defensive
• Gloves
  • Offensive, Utility
• Pants
  • Defensive
• Boots
  • Mobility, Utility
• Weapon
  • Offensive
• Rings
  • Offensive, Resource
• Amulets
  • Utility, Resources, Defensive, Mobility, Utility

You should know: it is mandatory to combine Aspects, unique items, and have gear with proper affixes when you are making your own Diablo 4 build.

Do stats (HP, DMG, Resistances) roll following the 5 categories?

If your item can use certain Aspect types (for example, Resource), it’s an indication that it will ALWAYS have some Resource stats in its possible rolls. Of course, if you have bad RNG like me it doesn’t matter.

Still, knowing that can be very useful when chasing BIS. If you were to play a Bone Necro, your damage would scale based on your max Essence!

On top of that, items can usually roll a few other things, the most common ones are Flat HP, Resistances, and Basic stats.

Amulets, on the other hand, having all 5 categories including Mobility, can roll stats that are otherwise unique to Boots like % Movement speed.

How many stats can items have?

Items can have up to 4 Affixes and 1 Aspect imprinted on them. The number of Prefixes is decided by the base of the item and can’t be changed.

How to distinguish between Prefixes and Affixes

Let’s take a look at Devilish Circle below.

Fire Resistance and Shadow Resistance are the Prefixes of the Ring – they are divided by a grey line from the Affixes.

Max Fury, Max Life, Physical Damage, and Lucky Hit Chance are Affixes. The Aspect is the orange star.

Can I change Affixes on items?

You can change one Affix on your item at the Occultist. After you’ve changed one Affix, the rest of the stats on the item are locked forever and can’t be changed.

How do I upgrade items?

Items can be upgraded up to 4 times by paying gold in a similar fashion to how you change stats at the Occultist. Doing so will increase the item level of the item and all its powers besides the Aspect.

What should I know about Gem Sockets?

A common question is whether only items that drop with 2 Gems are worth picking up. Don’t worry you can add up to two gem slots to each of your Items at the Jeweler NPC.

Thanks for reading our Diablo 4 items FAQ! For more guides, head to our Diablo 4 blog.