Augmenting Ancient Items: Level Up Your Loot!
You have been grinding Greater Rifts. Your fingers are numb. Now, you’ve got Ancient gear in Diablo 3. Great! Still, you likely want more. You’re a Nephalem. You always want the next level of power. Let’s explore augmenting Ancient items. It injects gear with pure stat juice. Excited? Let’s go!
The Magic of Augmentation: Stat Boosts That Stick
What happens when you augment an Ancient item? You add extra stats permanently. No take-backs. It’s like getting a tattoo on your gear. Instead of a design, you gain Dexterity, Strength, Intelligence, or Vitality. Here’s what you need:
- Permanent Stat Gains: These stats are forever. They don’t fade after a few minutes. This is a bond between your item and extra stats, till death or salvage do you part.
Let’s break down how to perform this magical stat injection.
The Augmentation Recipe: Cube Conjuring 101
You’ll need your Horadric Cube for augmentation. It is still useful. You’ll add some ingredients for stat-boosting magic. Here’s the recipe:
- Ancient Item: This needs to be Ancient for an upgrade. Don’t waste your ingredients.
- Legendary Gem: This provides the stat juice. Higher gem levels lead to better stats.
- Flawless Royal Emeralds (or main stat gem): You need three. Use Emeralds for Dexterity, Rubies for Strength, Amethysts for Vitality, and Topazes for Intelligence.
Once you have the ingredients, toss them into the Cube and hit “Transmute.” Poof! Your Ancient item is augmented. But how many stats do you get? Let’s calculate.
Stat Calculation: Gem Level to Stat Conversion
Your stats depend on the Legendary Gem level you use. The formula is: Gem Level x 5 = Stat Points. For example:
“If you use a level 110 Legendary Gem and three Flawless Royal Emeralds on an Ancient Bracer, it gains 110 * 5 = 550 Dexterity permanently.”
Whisper of Atonement: The Augmentation Gem Specialist
There’s a special gem for augmenting: the Whisper of Atonement. This gem is used only for augmentation. No other uses. It’s like a VIP pass to stat city.
- Exclusive Augmentation Gem: Whisper of Atonement only serves in augmentation recipes.
- Echoing Nightmare Source: You can snag these gems from the Echoing Nightmare.
Farming Whispers of Atonement in the Echoing Nightmare is your new goal.
Augmentation Mechanics: Overwriting, Not Stacking
A key aspect of augmentation: it doesn’t stack. Think of painting a wall. You can’t add layers of paint to brighten it. New augments replace old ones. Augment with a low-level gem, then upgrade? The old augment is lost.
“Augmenting doesn’t stack. So, augmenting with a level 50 gem gives 250 mainstat; later doing so with a level 60 gem nets only 300 extra mainstat.”
The lesson? Wait until you have a high-level gem before augmenting. Otherwise, you waste resources and time. Patience is key, young grasshopper.
Legendary Gems: Jewels That Pack a Punch
Let’s delve into Legendary Gems. They’re vital for end-game builds in Diablo 3. They slot into jewelry and grant powerful bonuses. Think of them as special seasoning for your gear set meal. Let’s unwrap their value.
Gem Acquisition: Looting Your Sparkly Prizes
How to acquire these coveted Legendary Gems? It’s simple: run Greater Rifts.
- Greater Rifts: Gem Central. To get Legendary Gems, run Greater Rifts. It’s like shopping for food in a dungeon filled with demons.
- Guaranteed Guardian Drop: Slaying a Greater Rift Guardian guarantees a Legendary Gem drop.
First gems ensure you get ones you lack. After collecting them all, they start dropping randomly.
Leveling Up Your Gems: Get Stronger, Faster
Legendary Gems can level up, boosting power. Upgrading gems is key to progression. Good news: You can upgrade them while socketed!
- Upgrade While Socketed: No need to unsocket them. They strengthen while contributing to your power.
“Can Legendary Gems be upgraded while socketed? Yes, one becomes active when socketed and can strengthen through higher ranks.”
Upgrading boosts effects and can unlock a secondary benefit at Rank 25.
Completing a Greater Rift gives upgrade attempts. Higher GR levels yield greater success chances. Fail? No gem lost, just an attempt gone. Success means a stronger gem.
Empowered Rifts: Extra Chances for Gem Goodness
Want to maximize upgrades? Enter Empowered Rifts. They cost gold to enter but provide extra rewards with bonus gem upgrades.
- Bonus Upgrade Attempts: Empowered Rifts yield +1 attempt at upgrading Legendary Gems.
- Deathless Bonus: Complete without deaths? Earn another bonus upgrade attempt! So, stay alive!
“Empowered Rifts grant +1 upgrade attempt at the end.”
Empowered Rifts help speed up leveling gems when going for higher ranks.
The Legendary Gem Roster: A Collector’s Dream (or Nightmare?)
How many Legendary Gems are there? Quite a few. Here’s the total:
- 23 Total Legendary Gems: That’s the number.
- grand total, folks. A good chunk of sparkly goodness to chase after.
There are currently 23 legendary gems in the game. 22 gems are available at any time and 1 is seasonal.
- 22 Readily Available: These are core gems. You can get them any time and any season. The bread and butter of gem collecting.
There are currently 23 legendary gems in the game. 22 are available at any time and 1 is seasonal.
- 1 Seasonal Gem: Each season introduces a unique Legendary Gem. This adds fresh flavor to the gem pool. Keeps things interesting, right?
There are currently 23 legendary gems in the game. 22 are available at any time and 1 is seasonal.
So get out there. Run those Greater Rifts. Start building your Legendary Gem collection. Your builds will thank you.
Ancient Legendary Items: Older, Wiser, Stronger
We’ve talked about augmenting Ancients. But what are Ancient Legendary items? They are souped-up versions of regular Legendary and Set items. They are aged to perfection. Enhanced stats make them valuable. Let’s uncork the secrets of Ancient items.
Drop Chance: The Torment Gamble
Ancient items do not drop easily. You need to play on Torment difficulty or higher for them to have a chance to appear. The higher the Torment level, the better your odds.
- Torment I+ Required: Forget finding Ancients on Normal or Hard difficulty. Torment I is the minimum entry requirement. Time to crank up the difficulty, adventurer!
Ancient Legendary Items Any level 70 Legendary or Set item dropped on Torment I difficulty or higher has a chance to be Ancient. The chance increases on higher levels of Torment (about 10% at Torment X).
- Higher Torment = Higher Chance: The tougher the monsters, the sweeter the loot. The chance of an item dropping as Ancient increases as you climb through the Torment levels.
Ancient Legendary Items Any level 70 Legendary or Set item dropped on Torment I difficulty or higher has a chance to be Ancient. The chance increases on higher levels of Torment (about 10% at Torment X).
The Torment X level offers about a 10% chance for a Legendary or Set item to be Ancient. Not guaranteed, but farmable.
If you’re hunting for Ancients, Torment difficulty is your playground. Get in there and start slaying!
Ethereal Items: Ghostly Gear with a Kick
Ethereal items were a special type introduced in Season 24. They were powerful, class-specific weapons. They had unique affixes and a ghostly, translucent look. These were limited-edition, spectral swag. Even if Season 24 is over, they remain relevant for augmenting.
Augmenting Ethereals: Yes, You Can!
Good news for anyone who hoarded Ethereals from Season 24: you can augment them! Those ghostly weapons can become even stronger.
- Ethereal Augmentation Enabled: If you have an Ethereal gathering dust in your stash, you can dust it off and augment it for a stat boost. Give those spectral sticks some extra spectral juice.
Ethereals can be augmented.
If you’re feeling nostalgic or want to squeeze every drop of power from your Ethereals, augmentation is an option.
Obtaining Ethereals: The Hunt is On (But Seasonally Limited)
During Season 24, Ethereals dropped from many sources. Monsters, chests, and destructibles all dropped them. They were account-bound, meaning you couldn’t trade them. You couldn’t obtain them through Kanai’s Cube or Kadala.
- Monster and Environment Drops: Ethereals dropped from regular monsters, chests, and breakable objects. Anything that could drop loot could give an Ethereal.
Ethereals are account bound and can only drop from monsters, chests, and destructibles. They do not require your character to be level 70 to drop. Ethereals cannot be obtained through Kanai’s Cube or from Kadala.
- No Cube or Kadala Cheese: You cannot use Kanai’s Cube recipes or gamble at Kadala for Ethereals. Purely world drops only.
Ethereals cannot be obtained through Kanai’s Cube or from Kadala.
While Ethereals were seasonal, their ability to be augmented ties into broader item enhancement in Diablo 3. Keep watch for future seasonal items; they may be augmentable too!
Petrified Scream: Your Ticket to Nightmare Fuel
Finally, let’s discuss the Petrified Scream. This key item accesses the Echoing Nightmare. Petrified Screams are essential for obtaining Whisper of Atonement gems, which are great for augmenting. They act as your ticket to chaotic gem-farming.
Farming Screams: Speed is Key
How do you get Petrified Screams? Speed and efficiency in Greater Rifts are vital.
- Speed Greater Rifts: The fastest way to farm Screams is to speed-clear Greater Rifts. Run rifts at a level you can breeze through quickly. Efficiency trumps brute force.
To effectively farm Petrified Screams in Diablo 3, focus on speed-clearing Greater Rifts (GRs) at a level you can handle easily, prioritizing the highest GR level you can complete quickly since they have a 5% drop chance from Rift Guardians.
- Rift Guardian Drop: Petrified Screams have a 5% drop chance from Greater Rift Guardians. Not guaranteed but enough to farm effectively.
Petrified Screams have a fixed 5% chance to drop from Greater Rift Guardians.
The strategy is simple: run GRs fast, defeat the Guardian quickly, and hope for that sweet Petrified Scream drop. Repeat this until you have a stash ready for Nightmare runs.
Using Screams: Enter the Nightmare
- Echoing Nightmare Entry: Petrified Screams are required for entry into the Echoing Nightmare. Without a scream, no nightmare access. Simple as that.
Players must collect a Petrified Scream from defeated Greater Rift Guardians to enter the Echoing Nightmare.
- Kanai’s Cube Transmutation: Transmuting the Petrified Scream in Kanai’s Cube opens the portal to the Echoing Nightmare. It’s like using the Cube as a spooky doorman.
Transmuting a Petrified Scream in Kanai’s Cube summons a portal that allows players to face the horrors of the Nephalem’s past.
Transmute that Scream, step through the portal, and brace yourself for waves of enemies. Survive as long as possible and reap the rewards, including those crucial Whisper of Atonement gems for augmenting your gear. Good luck, Nephalem; you will need it in the Nightmare!
