Upgrading your gear in Diablo 4 is an essential part of the game and is necessary if you don’t want to get consistently beaten down by the denizens of the underworld.
Soon, you’ll need to start thinking about improving the gear you have equipped as you reach the later portions of the game.
There are plenty of ways to upgrade your gear in Diablo 4 – we’re going to cover them all here.
How to Upgrade Gear
To upgrade gear in Diablo 4, you must visit three key merchants in town: the Blacksmith, Occultist, and Jeweler.
- The Blacksmith
- Essential for upgrading the base stats of weapons and armor.
- The Blacksmith can be found in most towns and settlements – look out for a symbol depicting a hammer and anvil on your map.
- The Occultist
- Allows you to infuse gear with certain affixes and Legendary Aspects.
- The Occultist can be found in some towns and settlements – look for a symbol depicting a triangle with circles at each point on your map
- The Jeweler
- Upgrade your gems, allowing you to swap them in and out as you please.
- The Jeweler can be found in some towns and settlements – look for a symbol depicting a gem on your map
To begin a trade with any merchant, go up to the corresponding NPC and hit the interact button.
How to Upgrade Gear With the Blacksmith
The Blacksmith can upgrade any gear piece or weapon of your choice and will also be able to repair any damaged gear in your inventory. You’ll find a Blacksmith in most towns and settlements you come across in Diablo 4.
Upgrading gear will increase the item’s base stats at the cost of gold and materials. Depending on the item’s rarity, you can only upgrade it a certain number of times – the cost of gold and materials will increase each time. You can gain more materials by salvaging any unwanted weapons and armor.
You should probably hold off on upgrading your gear until much later in the game, as you will likely replace it with something better just around the corner early on.
How to Add Aspects and Enchantments to Gear With the Occultist
The Occultist can change the affixes of your gear by Enchanting them. This allows for much more freedom of choice and gives you the chance to swap out affixes to better suit your build. This is random and will cost you both gold and rare resources – you may want to hold off till later.
Unlike the Blacksmith, you don’t get immediate access to the Occultist after finishing the Prologue. You must either complete your first dungeon (that you’ll be able to see on the map) or simply reach level 20 for the Occultist to appear in Kyovashad.
One of the best services the Occultist offers is the ability to imprint Legendary Aspects onto your gear. Legendary Aspects are unique and highly powerful passive abilities tied to specific classes. You can get them from dungeons out in the world or from legendary gear by the Occultist.
Running through dungeons is the best way to guarantee that you will get the Aspects you want. Once complete, the Aspect will be available in your Codex of Power, where you can imprint it on an item of your choice.
How to Upgrade Gems With the Jeweler
The Jeweler will allow you to upgrade Gems as a way of adding further stat bonuses to your gear. Each Gem will have a different effect when slotted into weapons, armor, or jewelry.
The Jeweler can upgrade Gems (for a fee) to increase the power and potency of their specific effects. You can upgrade rings or amulets in the same way the Blacksmith can upgrade weapons and armor.
As well as being able to unsocket Gems from existing gear, the Jeweler can also add sockets to items. This comes with a heavy cost in gold and rare resources.
That’s all you need to know about upgrading your gear in Diablo 4. It’s a huge part of the game and an essential part of the late-game power grind.
