Diablo 4 Season 4 Tempering & Masterworking Guide (Stats Calaculate & How To Craft)

How will the Tempering and Masterworking work in Diablo 4 Season 4? With this guide, we break down everything you should know about the new crafting system with examples and new stats that you should pay attention to!

Diablo 4 Season 4 Crafting Guide: How To Craft Max Stats with Tempering & Masterworking

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on crafting in Diablo 4's Season 4, where we delve into the intricacies of Tempering and Masterworking. With the new itemization and crafting systems, players can achieve impressive stats like 23% cooldown reduction, 26% resource generation, and even 10,000 life on items. Let's break down what we've learned from the famous D4 Youtuber - Rob2627 and get into the details of creating the most powerful gear for your character in Season 4.

What is the Tempering & Masterworking in Diablo 4 Season 4?

Tempering and Masterworking are two new crafting systems introduced in Diablo 4 Season 4. These systems aim to address some of the issues surrounding late-game item acquisition and customization in the game. Let's take a closer look at each system:

Tempering Overview:

Tempering is a crafting system designed to upgrade your items in the late game. It allows you to improve the affix values on your items. The system involves using manuals that drop with a random affix recipe on them. You need to find items that match the item you want to temper and use them as ingredients. Crafting the items together will add the specific affix from the manual to your item. The quality of the affix may be affected by the quality of the item used for crafting. There are five chances to get the desired pair of random affixes on your item.

Masterworking Overview:

Masterworking is another crafting system focused on upgrading late-game items. Unlike Tempering, Masterworking also works with Unique items. It increases the existing affix values on an item. The system features a total of 12 Upgrade Ranks. Upgrade Ranks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11 improve all affix values by about 5%. Every fourth rank, Upgrade Ranks 4, 8, and 12, greatly improve one random affix by about 25%. The Masterworking system allows you to continuously try to improve your item without the risk of bricking it after 12 upgrades. Masterworking materials can primarily be found in the Pit, a new end-game dungeon challenge introduced in Diablo 4 Season 4

How To Craft the New Insane Stats with Tempering in Diablo 4 Season 4?

How does the Tempering crafting system work? Let's break down with an example:

1. Best Base Items and Legendary Effects

Firstly, the base item you'll be looking for is a Legendary since blues, whites, and yellows are less important now - they can't roll three affixes. Legendary items will always come with three affixes, and if you're fighting monsters above level 95, they'll roll with 925 stats. This simplifies the loot hunt - you just farm in the open world, tackle hell rifts, whispers, and you'll find items with stats like dexterity, life per hit, and critical damage.

Base Items with 3 Affixes

70 - 84 Dex

11 - 15% Attack Speed

40 - 50% Crit Damage

NOTE: Legendary starting mlvl 95+ always 925 IP

2. Greater Affixes and Their Impact

When you find an item, it has a chance to roll with Greater Affixes (Enhanced Individual Characteristics). These are essentially multipliers that increase a stat's value up to 1.5 times. For example, an item with 84 dexterity can roll to 126 with a Greater Affix. The dream item would have three out of three Greater Affixes, significantly enhancing its power.

Greater Affix - Chance to Roll Greater Affix x1.5

126 Dex

22.5% Attack Speed

75% Crit Damage

NOTE: Can have up to 3/3 Greater Affixes, Same for Uniques, x1.5 on each affix

3. Tempering (add 2 Affixes) Crafting Begins

Once you have a good base, you begin crafting. You’ll need to find plans in the open world, which will dictate the new affixes you can add. For example, a weapon plan could add cooldown reduction for a specific skill. You take these plans to the blacksmith and start tempering, which allows you to increase affixes from three to five. However, there's a limit to how many times you can temper before the item becomes unusable or "bricked."

Tempering Process:

• Take the item to the blacksmith.

• Choose to temper for offensive, defensive, or utility stats based on the item type.

• Apply one of the four random affixes from the crafting plan.

• Repeat the process until you hit the maximum number of affixes (usually five, but it depends on the item's durability).

Tempering  - Add +2 for total of 5 Affixes

126 Dex/Strength (Barb)

22.5% Attack Speed

75% Crit Damage

+

16.6% Charge Cooldown Reduction

17% Damage while Berserking

NOTE: Many different Recipie for each slot, 1/4 chance to get what you want up to 5 tries. Plans found in the open World. Unique items cannot be tempered, but they can roll with Greater Affixes.

How To Upgrade Affixes with Masterworking in Diablo 4 Season 4?

Masterworking is the next step, where you upgrade the affixes of your item. This involves 12 total ranks, each slightly increasing the value of all affixes by a set percentage, and every four ranks, a single affix gets a significant boost. Your aim is to upgrade the item to the best of your abilities to achieve the highest stats possible.

Masterworking is done at the same blacksmith and involves:

12 total ranks of Masterworking, each slightly increasing the value of all affixes.

For every fourth rank (4, 8, 12), a single affix is significantly upgraded.

Example Calculation:

A base intelligence of 84 could reach 141 after Masterworking due to added percentages per rank.

1. The Importance of Unique Items

It's essential to note that you cannot temper unique items, but they can benefit from base and Greater Affixes. While a unique item like Shako might start with four high-value affixes, a tempered Legendary can have up to 5 affixes, potentially offering more customization.

2. Masterworking for BiS Items with Max Stats Cap

To create the best in slot items, you'll engage in endgame activities like Rifts to gather crafting materials. Here, you'll work towards Masterworking all your items. Unique items can also be Masterworked and roll with Greater Affixes, adding to their potential power.

Still, take the Rapid Jambiya as an example, the tempered one will receive huge stats boosts after masterworking:

182 Dex/Strength (Barb)

32.6% Attack Speed

108% Crit Damage

36.5% Charge Cooldown Reduction (x3 Hit)

24.6% Damage while Berserking

NOTE:

• Huge jump every 12 Levels / mentioned 25% increase

• Might want to Masterwork before you Temper for higher odds

• Infinite tries if enough mats

• 9x5=45% for all Affixes & 3x25%=75% for hits

• Each 4 rank big upgrade (25% of base) for 1 random affix

• x2.2 on 1 affix x1.45 on rest

• Masterworking works for Uniques

3. Masterworking Stats Calculation

3. Trading in the New System

An exciting addition is the ability to trade legendaries and unique items. However, items that have been crafted, tempered, or Masterworked become account-bound and cannot be traded. Yet, base items with perfect rolls and Greater Affixes will be highly valuable in the trading market.

The new crafting systems in Diablo 4 Season 4 add layers of depth to itemization. By finding the right plans and carefully tempering and Masterworking your gear, you can create incredibly powerful items tailored to your build. Remember, the process can be long and RNG-dependent, but the potential for perfect gear is well worth the grind. Always keep an eye out for those Greater Affixes on gear and don't be afraid to reroll Masterworks for the best possible affix increases. Stay tuned for more updates and guides as we approach the release of Season 4.