Smoldering Ashes are a specific type of material exclusive to the Season 1 Battle Pass in Diablo 4. They are used as currency to purchase passive boosts for your Seasonal character, known as Season Blessings.
You can’t find Smoldering Ashes in the open world. They are instead earned as a direct result of progressing through the Battle Pass of Diablo 4’s Season of the Malignant.
Despite giving you powerful boosts, the game is quite vague about them. Fortnuately, we’ve gone through everything you need to know about how to get and use Smoldering Ashes in Diablo 4.
How to Get Smoldering Ashes in Diablo 4
There are a total of 20 Smoldering Ashes to earn in Diablo 4 Season 1. The only way to get Smoldering Ashes is to progress through the Season 1 Battle Pass. Both Free and Premium Battle Pass Tiers can unlock Smoldering Ashes.
You need to earn Favor to progress through each Tier of the Battle Pass. To earn Favor you need to:
- Defeat monsters
- Complete quests
- Complete Objectives in The Season Journey
- Each objective will reward you with Smaller Favor
- Complete Chapters in the Season Journey
- Completing a Chapter will require you to complete a certain amount of objectives
- Once complete, you are rewarded with a larger amount of Favor. This increases with later Chapters
Smoldering Ashes appear as rewards for reaching certain Tiers in the Battle Pass of Diablo 4’s Season 1. There are 20 Smoldering Ashes in total.
You can receive 1-3 Smoldering Ashes, depending on the Tier.
It’s important to note that each Smoldering Ashes reward has a certain level requirement attached to it. Even if you have unlocked the Tier Reward, you must first be at that level to claim it. You can always come back and claim the Smoldering Ashes when you are at the right level.
Here are all the Smoldering Ashes Battle Pass Tiers (including their amount) and their level requirements:
| Battle Pass Tier | Level Requirement | Number of Smoldering Ashes |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 40 | 1 |
| 18 | 53 | 1 |
| 22 | 56 | 1 |
| 28 | 62 | 1 |
| 32 | 66 | 1 |
| 38 | 71 | 1 |
| 48 | 78 | 2 |
| 52 | 80 | 1 |
| 58 | 82 | 1 |
| 62 | 86 | 1 |
| 68 | 89 | 2 |
| 72 | 90 | 1 |
| 77 | 93 | 1 |
| 82 | 97 | 2 |
| 88 | 100 | 3 |
How to Use Smoldering Ashes in Diablo 4
To use Smoldering Ashes in Diablo 4, head into the Season Blessings menu and use it as currency to purchase a Seasonal Blessing passive buff for your character.
Seasonal Blessings provide a percentage bonus to various passive effects, ranging from XP gain to increased Elixir durations.
Here are all the Season Blessings you can purchase with Smoldering Ashes in Diablo 4:
| Season Blessing | Effect | % Boost for First Level |
|---|---|---|
| Urn of Aggression | Boost to XP earned from Monster kills. | 3% |
| Urn of Bargaining | Boost to the amount of Gold earned from Vendor Sales. | 5% |
| Urn of Reclamation | Boost to the chance of rare materials from salvage. | 10% |
| Urn of Prolonging | Boost to the duration of all Elixirs. | 15% |
| Urn of Malignance | Boost to the chance of powerful Malignant Heart Drops. Hearts drop after completing the campaign. | 5% |
Each Season Blessing can be upgraded a total of four times. Each upgrade costs one Smoldering Ashes currency.
It’s important to note that there are diminishing returns with each purchased upgrade. For instance, the Urn of Aggression’s boost to XP from slaying monsters begins at a 3% boost, followed by two 2% boosts, and a final 1% boost.
Fully maxed out, the total percentage increase for the Urn of Aggression is a 8% boost to XP.
Best Seasonal Blessings to Upgrade & Spend Smoldering Ashes
Despite its diminishing returns, the Urn of Aggression Season Blessing is the best one to max out first and focus on. This is because a boost in XP will help you when leveling your character in your push towards World Tiers 3 and 4, and the endgame.
Here are all of the Season Blessings, ranked from best to worst:
- Urn of Aggression
- Urn of Malignance
- Urn of Prolonging
- Urn of Reclamation
- Urn of Bargaining
As the majority of your earned XP will be through monster kills, maxing out the Urn of Aggression first will reap you the most benefits early on.
The Urn of Malignance gives a potent boost to Malignant Heart drops, which will help you in the grind towards powerful Wrathful Hearts later.
The Urn of Prolonging provides a useful buff to Elixirs, meaning you get to sustain even more XP gain and any other buff that comes along with it.
The least useful Season Blessings are the Urn of Reclamation and the Urn of Bargaining. You’ll likely be salvaging materials repeatedly during your time in Diablo 4, meaning you should already have a decent amount of materials by the time you end up needing them. The same goes for Gold.
If you do happen to make a mistake when spending your Smoldering Ashes, fret not! You can easily reverse your decision and refund your Smoldering Ashes by heading into the Season Blessing menu and hitting ‘Y’/’Triangle’ on console:
