Occultist Guide for Diablo 4 (Season 5) - Icy Veins (2024)

Introduction

The Occultist is an important NPC during your adventures across Sanctuary. In this guide, we will explore the advantages of imprinting Legendary aspects into gear, alongside the art of enchanting, and the process of crafting and salvaging Sigils.

How to Unlock the Occultist

The Occultist can be unlocked through two distinct methods: Firstly, by using the character who acquires the initial legendary aspect from the Codex of Power, or alternatively, additional characters can unlock the Occultist once they reach Level 25.

For more information on The Codex of Power, Legendary Apsects, as well as how to Imprint Aspects, please refer to our dedicated guide below:

The Occultist can be found in any major town within each zone, easily identified on the map by a specific symbol, as shown below:

Legendary Aspects

The Occultist is easily one of the most significant NPCs, enabling players to greatly enhance their characters power.

Throughout your journey across Sanctuary, you will encounter a multitude of legendary powers known as Legendary Aspects. Each dropped legendary gear item will have a random Legendary aspect. Additionally, specific dungeons may yield certain Aspects, which will then automatically be added to the Codex of Power for future use.

These Aspects can be legendary or rare gear. Once an aspect is imprinted, rare gear will also turn into a legendary item. If you salvage a legendary item and the aspect was previously acquired, it will level up within the codex. The aspect’s stats will be increased based on its stats before salvaging the item. An aspect can be upgraded a maximum of 16 times.

It is also worth noting, that any Aspects acquired, and gathered within the Codex of Power, will be accessible across your entire roster of characters of the same realm.

Aspects are categorized into five distinct types, and they can only be imprinted onto specific gear slots, as follows:

• Offensive – Amulet, Weapon, Gloves, Ring
• Defensive – Shield, Helm, Chest, Pants, Amulet
• Utility – Shield, Helm, Chest, Amulet, Gloves, Boots, Pants
• Mobility – Amulet, Boots
• Resource – Ring, Amulet

Enchanting and Rerolling

The Occultist also offers the opportunity to reroll unwanted affixes on Rare or Legendary gear. However, be careful, because once an item has been enchanted (re-rolled), it becomes account-bound if it was not already.

When rerolling, one stat per item can be modified. Nevertheless, you have the ability to reroll it indefinitely. This system proves highly efficient during the endgame phase, allowing you to elevate good legendary items to top-tier status. For instance, if an item has three out of four perfect affixes, you can reroll the fourth affix to create a truly flawless item with all four affixes aligned.

Enchanting gear requires both gold and specific materials. Additionally, Rare items and Legendaries also need Veiled Crystal for enchanting.

It is important to note that certain affixes cannot coexist, so it is vital to avoid attempting to roll for a stat that cannot be obtained on a particular piece of gear. A list of possible affixes for re-rolling can be toggled on or off.

After enchanting, you are presented with the option to keep the modification or revert to the old affix. Regardless of the choice made, the materials will be consumed, and the item will be considered enchanted. However, in both cases, it is possible to continue re-rolling for a better affix on the same item.

Greater Affixes

Greater Affixes are new, more powerful affixes that appear on Ancestral Legendaries and Unique items in World Tier 3 and 4. They are 1.5x more powerful than normal affixes.

You will hear a distinct sound and see an icon (both on the item itself and in your inventory) indicating that the item that just dropped for you has a greater affix.

It is important to know that you cannot enchant an affix into a greater affix; they can only be discovered.

Nightmare Sigils

Sigils function as keys that come into play once World Tier 3 is reached, allowing access to Nightmare Dungeons. You can read more about Nightmare Dungeons and Sigils in our separate guide.

The Occultist provides the option to either salvage unwanted Sigils or craft new ones. However, before you can craft or salvage Sigils, you first need to complete a Nightmare Dungeon of Tier 3 or higher. The tier of Nightmare Sigils rewarded from Whisper Caches will always be within 5 Levels of the highest-level Nightmare Dungeon you have completed.

Please note that the Nightmare Dungeon Tier is distinct from the World Tier difficulty. The two are not related. However, in order to craft Sacred and Ancestral Sigils, you must first unlock World Tier 3 (for Sacred) and World Tier 4 (for Ancestral Sigils).

Through the use of Sigils, normal dungeons can be transformed into Nightmare Dungeons (remember to use it before entering a dungeon to transform it into a Nightmare Dungeon). This transformation then introduces specific “afflictions” to the dungeon, increasing its danger level while also boosting the rewards and their rarity. Sigil afflictions can impact the character, enemies, or the dungeon environment.

There are two types of sigils available, each corresponding to a specific tier (Sacred Sigils will provide World Tier 3 Nightmare, and Ancestral Sigils will open World Tier 4, Torment difficulty) of gameplay:

Sacred Sigils (Requires World Tier 3):

Ancestral Sigils (Requires World Tier 4):

Sigils can naturally be acquired while completing the Tree of Whisper quests or running Nightmare Dungeons. Each Sigil corresponds to a specific Nightmare Dungeon (the dungeon’s name will be indicated on the Sigil).

If you wish to farm a particular Dungeon as a Nightmare version or desire to upgrade to higher tier sigils, visit the Occultist to salvage old or unwanted sigils. Subsequently, you have the option to craft new sigils of the desired tier. This allows for sigil creation according to preferred dungeon choices, and desired difficulty levels.

Glacial Fissure

You can also craft two special Glacial Fissure sigils, which give you access to the Beast in the Ice Dungeon, including the Tormented version of the Beast in Ice. In addition to Sigil Powder, Distilled Fear and Stygian Stone (for the *Tormented Level 200 boss version) are required to create these sigils. Stygian Stones can be obtained from deep within The Pit.

*Defeating your first Tormented Echo drops one Resplendent Spark as a first-time reward (account bound).