Diablo 4 Gearing Guide for Season 13

Diablo 4 Gearing Guide Quick Overview:

1. There are 6 gear rarity tiers - Normal, Magic, Rare, Legendary, Unique, Mythic Unique
2. Item description can contain - Stats, Affixes, Legendary Aspect, and Unique Power
3. Legendary Aspects can be extracted and installed into any item
4. Tempering allows you to add Affixes to your gear, which now also works on Uniques
5. Masterworking improves an item’s inherent stats and values.

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Diablo 4 Gear Rarities

Before I talk about where to farm gear and how to do it fast, I figured I would do a quick breakdown of item rarities, as it is important to know the differences so you can make informed choices when deciding whether to keep something from the loot drop or use it in some other way.

If you’d rather skip this section, just use the table of contents on the right side and switch to the next section, like the timecodes of a YouTube video.

This is going to be useful to new players who are just jumping into the game for the first time and returning players because there have been some major changes to how stats work compared to how they were when the game first launched. So, very quickly, there are six gear rarities that go from the weakest to the strongest. Their difference is mainly in the amount of bonuses and stats that appear on them.

1. Normal - have no Affixes
2. Magic - have one Affix
3. Rare - have up to three Affixes
4. Legendary - have three Affixes plus a Legendary Aspect
5. Unique - have up to four Affixes and a Unique Power. All random
6. Mythic Unique - also have four Affixes and a Unique Power, but are far rarer

There’s also a special version of the item in each rarity that you can get, and it's called Ancestral. Basically, it's a stronger endgame version of an item. It is not its own rarity. Instead, it can drop on high-end gear such as Legendary, Unique, and Mythic Unique items. Ancestral gear has higher Item Power and is what players farm when they start replacing regular endgame gear in Torment difficulty.

Item Stats Explaiend

Now, you might be asking yourself - what do those stat things even mean? Here’s what they are:

Item Layer	Definition	Examples
Inherent Stats / Characteristics	Built-in traits tied to the item type itself, not random stat rolls. These usually appear near the top of the tooltip and describe the item’s base function.	Armor on armor pieces, All Resistance on amulets, elemental resistance on rings, weapon damage, attacks per second
Affixes	Bonus stat rolls that appear on an item. These are the main bonuses players compare when deciding if a piece is worth keeping. They can support damage, defense, resources, cooldowns, skills, or class scaling.	+Maximum Life, +Ranks to a Skill, +Cooldown Reduction, +Critical Strike Chance, +Movement Speed, +Resistance to an Element
Greater Affixes	Better versions of normal affixes that appear on Ancestral items. A Greater Affix rolls above the normal stat range, making it much more valuable for endgame gearing.	Higher +Maximum Life roll, boosted +Critical Strike Chance roll, stronger +Ranks to a Skill roll
Legendary Aspects	Special powers found on Legendary items. These are not normal stat rolls. They change, improve, or support how a build works, and they can be stored in the Codex of Power and imprinted onto eligible gear.	Aspect of Ancestral Force - Hammer of the Ancients quakes outward for [30 - 60]%[x] increased damage. This bonus is doubled against Bosses.
Unique Powers	Special effects tied to Unique and Mythic Unique items. These powers are usually the main reason to equip the item, since they can create or heavily support a specific build. Unlike Legendary Aspects, they stay tied to that specific item.	Ae'grom's Schism - Ae'grom and its summons deal x [30 - 50%] increased damage. You additionally summon Ae'grom's other half and gain a second Charge of Command Ae'grom.

Then there’s also the Item Power. This is the overall power rating of an item. Higher Item Power usually means higher base values, such as weapon damage on weapons, armor on armor pieces, and better stat ranges on gear. The current base Item Power is 850; previously, it was 750.

How to Gear Up in Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred

It’s time to talk about the optimal gearing path you should follow. We already know that there is a bunch of stuff that can get randomized when an item drops, so how do you progress through the endgame while improving your gear? It actually starts with a build.

Step 1: Pick a Build

That’s right! It all starts with a build, not gear. Listen, in Season 13 and onwards, gearing is not about finding early Legendary Aspects. It’s about picking a build and relying more on the new skill trees and passives.

So, I suggest the first thing you do is find a good build for your class that has a leveling path. It’s when you see what skills and passives to upgrade at each level for the most optimized points investment. This will ensure that you’re dealing the most amount of damage every step of the way. Having a build also means that you will learn which stats you’ll be looking for when gearing up.

I have posted a few build guides for classes myself, so if you’re interested, check out Best Warlock Builds and Best Paladin Builds if you’re playing the new classes this season.

Step 2: Farm 850 Item Power Gear on Penitent Difficulty

First of all, your job is to reach level 70. As you level up, your gear doesn’t matter, so don’t waste your time looking for the BiS until you’re max level. The reason for that is that the Item Power will constantly rise as you level up. There are certain breakpoints where switching items will increase the base stats by a lot, and that will keep happening until you’re lvl 70.

Once you reach level 70, all gear that drops will have Item Power 850. It’s like the entry point for gearing in the endgame. At this point, your job is to play on Penitent difficulty and make sure that every slot on your character has an item with Item Power 850. Items themselves don’t have to have the perfect stats yet. But you do need 850 before progressing to Torment 1 difficulty.

Step 3: Start Farming Ancestral Items

Once you clear The Pit tier 10 and gain access to Torment 1, that’s when you’ll start getting Ancestral items. It’s a good thing I’ve already covered what Item Power and Ancestral means, right?

Anyway, Ancestral items will have higher Item Power, for example, 900. You’re not getting Ancestral items to get Greater Affixes on them. In previous seasons, a Greater Affix was guaranteed to appear on Ancestral items, but that’s not the case.

Step 4: Progress to Higher Torment Tiers to Unlock Better Gear

You’re not going to be able to stay at Torment 1 for too long. As you get better gear and your build becomes stronger, you’re going to want to consider progressing to higher Torment tiers because they offer faster gear progression. Let me explain what each Torment tier offers and how to unlock it here:

Torment Tier	Requirement	Unlocks and Bonuses
Torment 1	Complete Pit 10	Ancestral quality items become available; Increased Legendary, Unique, and Mythic Unique items per Torment Tier; 300% more Experience from monsters; 100% more Gold
Torment 2	Complete Pit 15	Legendary Temper Manuals and Scrolls of Restoration now drop more frequently; Increased chance for items to be of Ancestral quality per Torment Tier; 400% more Experience from monsters; 120% more Gold
Torment 3	Complete Pit 20	Set Charms now drop more frequently; 500% more Experience from monsters; 140% more Gold
Torment 4	Complete Pit 25	Neathiron now drops more frequently; 600% more Experience from monsters; 160% more Gold
Torment 5	Complete Pit 30	Legendary Runes now drop more frequently; 700% more Experience from monsters; 180% more Gold
Torment 6	Complete Pit 40	Greater Lair Keys now drop more frequently; 800% more Experience from monsters; 200% more Gold
Torment 7	Complete Pit 50	Volatile Primordial Dust now drops more frequently; 900% more Experience from monsters; 225% more Gold
Torment 8	Complete Pit 60	Unique Charms now drop more frequently; 1000% more Experience from monsters; 250% more Gold
Torment 9	Complete Pit 70	Kulle’s Tuning Prisms now drop more frequently; 1100% more Experience from monsters; 275% more Gold
Torment 10	Complete Pit 80	Mythic Horadric Seals now drop more frequently; 1200% more Experience from monsters; 300% more Gold
Torment 11	Complete Pit 90	1300% more Experience from monsters; 300% more Gold
Torment 12	Complete Pit 100	1400% more Experience from monsters; 300% more Gold

What you’re looking for to get from higher Torment tiers after T1 is mainly a higher chance for Ancestral, Legendary Tempering Manuals, and Scrolls of Restoration on T2 and Set Charms on T3.

 

 

Step 5: Get Gear with Greater Affixes

After you have replaced all of your 850 IP gear with Ancestral variants, it’s time to start chasing those Greater Affixes. As I said, having an Ancestral item in each slot is great, but when those have Greater Affixes is even better.

Ancestral items can potentially drop with up to four Greater Affixes. These affixes have a 1.5x multiplier on their maximum roll, making them the strongest in the game.

Just know that your absolute priority should still be following your build guide to the letter, making sure it works as intended. Get those talismans, the charm sets, everything. By the way, I have a Talisman system guide, if you want to check that out. Then go for Ancestral items and later replace them with versions that have those Greater Affixes on.

Step 6: Use the Horadric Cube to Improve Useful Drops

So, at this point, you might want to start interacting with the Horadric Cube. Once again, there’s a guide for it if you need it. But basically, once Greater Affixes start to drop, you gotta start looking at all the loot that drops, not just the rarity. Any rare item might have the right combo of affixes.

For example, you might get a yellow item with three affixes. Now, why would you salvage it when you can turn it into the god roll piece of gear with the kind of crafting brought to you by the one and only Horadric Cube?

This is similar to how you craft items in PoE as well, in case you didn’t know.

Step 7: Farm Legendary Drops for Missing Aspects

The next step is filling out the Legendary Aspects your build needs. And you can’t do it through the old dungeons anymore. You gotta farm those Aspects by farming more legendary gear.

I’ve gotten to Torment 1 without having all the Aspects I needed, but I was till able to push on.

At this point, your build should already work through the skill tree, passives, 850 gear, Ancestral upgrades, and Greater Affix hunting. Aspects are still important, but they’re something you do long term, so you can go ahead and proceed to the next step.

Step 8: Target Farm Build-Specific Uniques

Once your general gear is in a decent place, you can start target farming specific Uniques. This is where bosses become more important.

The thing is, the boss loot tables have changed, and different bosses now have different loot pools. Check what the boss drops and farm those specific uniques that your build requires.

Now it's not about getting “better loot”. You are looking for specific items that complete your build. Some builds may need this step earlier, but for a general gearing path, it makes sense after you already have your basic Ancestral gear and Greater Affixes

Step 9: Chase Mythic Uniques Last

While previous steps depend on your situation and luck, there’s only one final goal in gearing, and that’s farming Mythic Uniques. 

They’re not something you focus on too early. The reason is simple. Mythic farming gets better as you get to higher Torment tiers. If you start chasing Mythics before your build is ready, you will probably waste time and just get mad.

Later on, I’ll talk about where you can get those - Lair Bosses, Mythic Tributes in the Undercity, War Plan bonuses, seasonal Sparks, Mythic caches at the Blacksmith, and specific Mythic crafting at the Jeweler.

Step 10: Use Loot Filter

Remember, in Step 6, I said you should start looking into all kinds of items, not just the rarest ones? Well, you should set up a Loot Filter that will highlight the most desirable items for you. In short, the game now has an interface that you can use to highlight or hide specific items. You can tune it so that the game only shows you the items with specific affixes or stats that you’re after when they drop on the ground. That’s super handy.

The Best Activities to Farm Gear

So, that was just something that hopefully gives you an idea or a general plan as to what to do in terms of gear. Now, we gotta get into some specifics. There are several activities for farming gear in Lord of Hatred Season 13. Some give you gear right away, while others just give you keys, crafting materials, tributes, or better reward modifiers.

War Plans

War Plans is now at the center of everything you do in the endgame. I have a dedicated guide explaining how the system works, but for the purposes of gearing up, War Plans lets you actually get more rewards by playing those activities that you laid out in your “playlist” through this system.

Use War Plans for:

• improving gear rewards across multiple activities
• getting better drops in higher Torment tiers
• customizing your farming path
• supporting Mythic Unique farming later on

If you don’t own the Lord of Hatred expansion, you’ll obviously miss out on its benefits. So, you’ll just have to play through all of these activities listed below in a regular way without additional rewards.

Whisper Caches

Whisper Caches are one of the easiest early endgame gear sources. If you forgot where these come from, you complete Grim Favors, turn them in, and open the cache. Especially pay attention to Grim Favor sources like Blood Maiden and bosses, since they can give quick progress toward a cache.

Use Whisper Caches for:

• easy gear drops
• Legendary items
• boss keys
• possible Greater Affix gear from specific cache options
• materials, depending on your War Plan playlist

Nightmare Dungeons

Nightmare Dungeons are another major gear farming activity. Certain dungeon modifiers like Equipment Delve can be very valuable for farming Legendary gear.

Use Nightmare Dungeons for:

• equipment caches
• Legendary gear
• Aspects from Legendary drops
• dungeon reward farming
• progressing into Escalating Nightmare Dungeons

 

 

Kurast Undercity

Kurast Undercity is another viable source to farm Legendary gear through Tributes. Use Tribute options to target certain reward types. Also, upgraded Tributes like Tribute of Ascendance (Resolute) can give better gear chances.

Use Kurast Undercity for:

• Legendary gear
• Ancestral equipment through upgraded Tributes
• Tribute-based target farming
• Mythic Unique farming later with Mythic Tributes
• War Plan-enhanced farming

Infernal Hordes

Infernal Hordes no longer guarantee Greater Affix gear, though Greater Affix items can still come from there. Although Bartuc is now considered a Lair Boss, this makes Infernal Hordes more relevant for boss-style rewards.

Use Infernal Hordes for:

• general gear drops
• possible Greater Affix items
• Bartuc boss loot
• Lair Boss-related rewards

Legion Events

Legion Events are often overlooked but very worthwhile. They give you tons of useful materials and can also drop good loot, especially on the highest Torment tier you can handle.

Use Legion Events for:

• gear drops
• important crafting and upgrade materials
• steady event-based farming
• quick rewards between other activities

Helltides

Helltides remain one of the best open-world gear sources. Helltide chests are a way to target certain gear categories, such as weapons or defensive items. Besides, Blood Maiden gives more loot now, especially when more Baneful Hearts are used.

Use Helltides for:

• target farming gear slots
• weapon caches
• protection caches
• Blood Maiden loot
• Orchard Gifts
• Lair Keys
• War Plan-enhanced farming

Lair Bosses

Bosses are the main source for target farming Uniques. As I said earlier, unique loot tables have changed, so you gotta check loot tables to know which boss drops which item. Besides, bosses still have a small chance to drop Mythic Uniques.

Use Lair Bosses for:

• target farming Unique items
• boss loot tables
• Greater Lair Keys
• Mythic Unique chances
• build-specific gear farming

F.A.Q.