Welcome to my no-nonsense guide for upgrading items during the leveling process in Diablo 4 Season 4. This guide will be particularly useful before you reach World Tier 4 and start fine-tuning your endgame build. We'll cover what tempering is, how to use it, enchanting your D4 gear, and my logic for the order of upgrading mechanics to help you save Diablo 4 Gold. Let's dive in!

What is Tempering?

Diablo 4 Season 4 introduced a new system called tempering, which changed how loot stats and item upgrades work. Previously, items dropped with all stats available, and you could change one stat through enchanting. Now, items drop with fewer stats: rares have two affixes, legendaries have three, and uniques have four. Tempering allows you to add powerful affixes to these items.

How Tempering Works

Tempering adds up to two new affixes to an item. Before reaching World Tier 4 and acquiring ancestral items, you can only add one affix. The number of times you can temper an item is limited and depends on its rarity:

· Early items: Up to three tempering attempts.

· Ancestral items (drop in World Tier 4): Up to five tempering attempts.

Important Notes:

· Tempering applies only to rare and legendary items, not uniques.

· Each tempering attempt replaces the old affix with a new one, so there's a risk factor, especially on the last attempt.

· To temper an item, visit the blacksmith and select the first tab. Tempering costs no gold but requires materials, which you'll accumulate through gameplay. Salvaging rares and legendaries will often provide the necessary D4 materials.

· Manuals are needed for tempering, containing a list of possible stat outcomes. These drop like regular loot and have different rarities, impacting the potential stat values. Once you find a manual, it’s permanently unlocked.

Enchanting Your Items

Enchanting modifies one affix on your gear without changing the item's base stats (e.g., weapon damage, base armor). Affixes eligible for change are marked with dots below a horizontal line.

How to Enchant

1. Visit the Occultist: Click the fourth tab.

2. Choose the Item: Place the item you want to enchant.

3. Check Outcomes: Click the icon in the top right corner of the enchanting window to see potential outcomes and their ranges.

During enchanting, you get three choices: two new stats and an option to retain the original affix. Enchanting costs materials and a significant amount of gold, and the cost increases with each enchantment on the same item.

Order of Upgrading Mechanics

Here’s my thought process for upgrading items to save gold:

1. Identify a Good Base Item: Look for legendary items with good base power and at least two out of three stats that fit your build. Ignore the legendary power initially, as it can be changed easily later using the Codex of Power.

2. Start with Tempering:

3. Tempering has limited attempts and provides powerful affixes. Start here because failing to get a desirable affix can make the item useless.

4. For example, if you're playing a Frozen Orb build with a sorceress and find gloves with two good stats, go to the blacksmith and temper them with a manual from the offensive category.

5.Proceed to Enchanting:

6. If tempering yields the desired affix, move on to enchanting. Try to enhance the first stat to further improve your build. If enchanting becomes too costly or unsuccessful, consider settling for a subpar stat, continuing to invest gold, or sticking with your current item.

7. Modify Legendary Powers Last:

8. This step involves no RNG and is expensive, so it should be done after securing the right stats through tempering and enchanting.

Example Process

Suppose you're playing a Frozen Orb sorceress and find gloves with two useful stats. First, temper the gloves to add an offensive affix, like Frost Finesse, which boosts cold and vulnerable damage—key stats for your build. If successful, move to enchanting to refine another stat. Finally, modify the legendary power to fit your build.

Conclusion

This guide should help you level up your items efficiently during Diablo IV Season 4. Applying this logic can save you a lot of gold and improve your builds, but you can also buy Diablo 4 Items on the MMOexp platform. As you approach World Tier 4 and start getting heirloom items, you may want to adjust your strategy.