Diablo 4 Itemization Rework Breakdown: Full List of Changes

After a nearly 2-hour livestream, the Diablo 4 team has finally revealed the itemization rework that is happening at the start of Season 4. The scope of this update is truly massive, with tons of adjustments to the current systems in the game, as well as a wide array of new crafting additions that will allow players to further modify their items. The general philosophy behind this update is for loot to drop less but be of higher quality and for players to have a lot more interaction with their items through some new crafting systems.

Sweeping changes to the Codex of Power, Unique items, and the way stats work are also present, which will provide a lot of quality-of-life improvements while also providing players with a lot more agency over their loot. In this article, we are going to go over the entire itemization rework that is coming to Diablo 4 alongside Season 4.

• Base Item Updates
• Additional Updates
• Codex of Power Updates
• New System: Tempering
• New System: Greater Affixes
• New System Masterworking

Diablo 4 Base Item Updates

Before we go over all of the ways you can interact and change your loot, let's talk about how the base items are going to work in the game. Rare and Legendary items are going to have a smaller list of affixes when they drop, which will help players quickly go through their loot in order to find any upgrades. The way affixes work is also changed, with most of the 'deal damage on Tuesday' modifiers being removed from the game in favor of stronger ones, such as Core Skill upgrades. Some quality-of-life changes are also going to be added, with Sacred and Ancestral items only dropping from their respective World Tiers.

Here is a summary of all base item updates that are coming to Diablo 4 with Season 4:

• Smaller pool of affixes.
• More relevant and potent affixes.
• Ex. Ranks of a single Core Skill.
• Only Sacred items in World Tier 3.
• Only Ancestral items in World Tier 4.
• Affix values are punchier so they can be felt.
• Rare item affixes down to 2 from 4.
• Legendary item affixes down to 3 from 4.

Diablo 4 Additional Updates

There is a bunch of miscellaneous quality-of-life changes that are also coming on top of the base item updates. A lot of bloated systems have been streamlined, with fewer items dropping but of higher quality, the removal of some crafting ingredients, as well as more opportunities for Forgotten Souls to drop in the world. Guaranteed 925 item power loot is going to start dropping a lot sooner, and the rerolling cost of items is now capped, as opposed to continuing to grow infinitely.

Here is a summary of all additional item updates that are coming to Diablo 4 with Season 4:

• Legendary items dropped from monster lvl 95+ are always 925 item power.
• Gems are simpler, better and have a much longer crafting tail.
• Salvage, crafting and rewards all retuned:
• Significantly reduced item drop rates (less time sorting, more time slaying)
• Item rerolling gold cost capped.
• Material removal and consolidation.
• Forgotten Souls from Whispers of the Dead, rare drop globally from elites.

Unique Items

Unique items are also getting a small update, allowing them to drop much faster while progressing. They can now start dropping in World Tier 1 and 2 and Uber Uniques will have a very small chance to drop from monster level 55 onwards.

• Many Uniques can drop in World Tier 1 and 2.
• All Uniques can drop in World Tier 3.
• Uber Uniques can start dropping from monster lvl 55, and they drop at 925 item power.

Diablo 4 Codex of Power Updates

Some of the biggest quality-of-life changes are happening to the Codex of Power. Starting from Season 4, players are no longer going to be extracting the power from their Legendary items. Players will now be able to directly salvage these items, and the effect of the item will go directly into the Codex of Power. This will stop players from hoarding dozens of Aspects while waiting for the perfect item to drop before using them.

The roll value of the item you salvage will also be transferred into the Codex of Power, with the highest roll becoming a permanent unlock. This means that if you manage to find a max-rolled Edgemaster's Legendary power, you will be able to salvage it and have the max roll forever in your Codex of Power. This will keep the nice feeling of finding a max value Legendary Power while also allowing you to 'complete' your codex.

All Legendary powers will also be available in the Codex of Power, so just through salvaging items, you will be able to build a nice collection that you will be able to use infinitely. Some new UI elements have also been added to accommodate all of these changes.

Here is a summary of all Codex of Power changes that are coming to Diablo 4 with Season 4:

• All Legendary Aspects are now available in the Codex of Power.
• Salvaging Legendary Items will store the highest roll you have into your Codex of Power.
• Legendary Power rolls now have a wider roll value to accommodate for these changes.

Diablo 4 New System: Tempering

The first of the 3 new mechanics that are being introduced to the game is Tempering. Once you start playing the game in Season 4, new items, which are called Manuals, are going to start to drop from monsters. These Manuals will have 4 affixes which can be applied to your items by going to the Blacksmith. Only one of these affixes will be added at random, but each item is going to have a certain amount of rerolls, called Tempering Durability, which you can use before the change becomes permanent.

This system is one of the reasons for the removal of affixes from the base items, as now you will be able to apply your own through Tempering. The affixes you can apply through this system are going to be separated into different categories, with certain restrictions depending on the item type you are Tempering with. Ancestral items can have up to 2 tempered affixes, which brings the total of main stats an item can have to 5.

Here is a summary of the new Tempering system that is coming to Diablo 4 with Season 4:

• Crafting system that allows you to add cool new affixes.
• Tempering Manuals will be required, which drop from most content, not target farmable.
• These Manuals become recipes in the Blacksmith.
• Tempering attaches one affix from the Manual (at random from 4).
• Ancestral items can have 2 tempered affixes.
• Can reroll affixes, up to the item's Tempering Durability (amount of rerolls)
• You will not be able to tamper Unique items.

Diablo 4 New System: Greater Affixes

Greater Affixes are another new addition to the game, which will provide players with even more opportunities for chasing strong items. Greater Affixes are stronger versions of normal affixes that can start appearing on all items that are Ancestral Legendary or Unique. These affixes are 1.5 times stronger than regular ones, and they can only drop from enemies. This provides another layer of item power in the game, with the strongest stats being reserved for these exclusive drops.

In the image below, you can see the difference between regular affixes and the greater ones, with a change of 40 Dexterity and 25% Critical Strike Damage between the same item power loot. How rare these items are going to be remains to be seen, but they are definitely going to be used as bases on top of which you will start crafting some of the strongest items in the game.

Diablo 4 New System Masterworking

To cap it all off, we have the last new crafting system that will be available in the game. Masterworking is going to replace the regular upgrade system that was already in the game with a more intricate one. Instead of being able to upgrade all of your stats only, you will also have a significant boost to one of them as well. Mastercrafting is going to have 12 upgrade ranks, and for each 4 ranks, you will receive a massive upgrade to one of your affixes. This feature will also work on Unique items, and Tempered affixes can also be Masterworked. The crafting materials for this new system can be farmed from a new endgame system called the Artificer's Pit.

Here is a summary of the new Masterworking system that is coming to Diablo 4 with Season 4:

• Late game crafting system to upgrade items.
• Improves the value of your current affixes.
• 12 upgrade ranks.
• Most ranks slightly increase the value of all affixes.
• Every 4 ranks, a single affix is massively upgraded.
• Works on Unique Items.
• Tempered affixes can also be Masterworked.

That covers the entire itemization rework that is coming to Diablo 4 alongside Season 4. Not only have most of the systems in the game been drastically changed, but the addition of the new Tempering and Masterworking systems, as well as Greater Affixes, is going to significantly impact the way the game works. More information on these systems is likely to come in the upcoming PTR, and we will keep you up-to-date on anything new that comes out!