Diablo 4 Tempering & Masterworking explained: How to upgrade gear in Season 4

❘ Updated: 2024-05-10T11:39:31

Diablo 4 Season 4: Loot Reborn is introducing Tempering and Masterworking to change the way you upgrade your items, so, here is everything you need to know including how to upgrade and what materials you need.

Tempering and Masterworking in Diablo 4 will completely revamp item upgrading in Season 4: Loot Reborn. Item upgrades are no longer the simple one-dimensional mechanic it used to be, as it has just become much more intricate in Season 4.

Now that Blizzard have released the official patch notes for Season 4, it’s only a matter of time before players can get in and enjoy the new mechanics. On that note, here’s everything you need to know about how to Temper and Masterwork gear in Diablo 4.

What is Tempering in Diablo 4?
How to Temper gear
What is Masterworking?
How to Masterwork gear
Masterwork costs

What is Tempering in Diablo 4?

Tempering in Diablo 4 will allow you to add new Affixes to your items in Season 4. It is a brand-new mechanic that will be essential if you want to change certain unwanted Affixes or add better ones to your weapons, armor, rings, or amulets.

Tempering can be accessed via the Blacksmith and the upgrade materials and resources can be gathered while fighting enemies in the overworld.

How to Temper gear in Diablo 4

You can Temper in Diablo 4 by visiting a Blacksmith once you have collected Crafting or Tempering Manuals.

Each Crafting Manual has a Codex of Affixes and is classified into six groups: Weapons, Offensive, Defensive, Mobility, Utility, and Resource, just like Legendary Aspects.

You can acquire Tempering Manuals from content all over the world, so they should drop normally for you. Similar to Aspects, they can be used infinitely, so don’t worry about target farming them. These Manuals also last until the end of the season, and Eternal Realm Manuals last forever.

Once you have a Manual, you can start adding Affixes from the list the Manual is tied to. For example, a Profane Innovation Manual, you can start adding from the Profane Innovation list.

Here is how to do it:

Go to the Blacksmith.
Plug in the gear that matches your recipe.
Select the desired recipe category.

Ancestral items can have two Tempered Affixes, but if you don’t like the stats that get applied to your gear, you will be able to re-roll the Affix. However, the number of times that you can re-roll the affix depends on the Temper Durability of the item.

Tempering a weapon allows you to add new Affixes.

What is Masterworking in Diablo 4?

Masterworking will allow you to upgrade the Affixes that you have in your desired item after you have fully Tempered them. It is a continuous level-up process that can even be reset to default if you are not happy with the results.

Just like Tempering, Masterworking can be accessed via the Blacksmith, and you should be able to get the material and resources you need from fighting enemies in the overworld.

How to Masterwork gear in Diablo 4

You can Masterwork in Diablo 4 by visiting a Blacksmith with fully Tempered gear. You will be able to Masterwork both Legendary and Unique items in Diablo 4.

Every gear has 12 Masterwork ranks, and with each rank, the value of your Affixes slightly increases. However, for every four ranks, the value of one Affix on your item will see a massive increase. In the newest patch notes, Blizzard have also confirmed that there’s no chance of failure in Masterworking.

The Affix that receives the bonus will turn Blue. However, if the same Affix is improved again, it will change to Yellow, and in rare cases, it will turn Orange if improved a third time.

Masterworking your gear allows you to modify Affixes.

While you won’t be able to add new Affixes through the Masterworking system in Diablo 4, you will be able to increase the efficiency of the pre-existing affixes on your weapons and armor, and just like Tempering, roll back to the default state if you are unsatisfied with the upgrades.

Masterwork materials in Diablo 4

Masterworking will cost a variety of materials from The Pit in Diablo 4:

Rank	Materials	Cost
1	10 Obducite 10 Rawhide 3 Veiled Crystal	100,000
9	50 Neathiron 10 Abstruse Sigil 20 Veiled Crystal 3 Forgotten Soul	2,000,000
12	250 Neathiron 50 Veiled Crystal 20 Abstruse Sigil 10 Forgotten Soul	10,000,000

Resetting the rank on a Masterwork item also comes at a cost. Here is what you need to take the item from rank 12 to rank 0:

30 Rawhide / 30 Iron Chunk
20 Veiled Crystal
5 Forgotten Soul
5,000,000

It’s important to note that these values have been taken from the recent loot update from Diablo 4 devs, so this has a chance to change before Season 4 goes live, and they don’t include all the materials you need for each rank. Rest assured, though, that we will keep you updated with any new information.

That concludes everything that you need to know about how to Temper and Masterwork items in Diablo 4. For more information about the game, be sure to check out the following links: