Gear Upgrade Guide: Affixes, Tempering, Masterworking, Uniques, and Mythics

Improve slot base values while keeping candidates that can satisfy required affixes after crafting.

Inspect weapon damage, Armor or Resistance, Item Power, Ancestral status, GA placement, and the four base affixes. Prefer a relevant GA over raw GA count.

Use upper Loot Filter rules to recolor the slot, required and optional affixes, GAs, and Ancestral candidates, then judge craftability after pickup.

Stop when multiple required conditions are missing and cannot be repaired through Enchanting plus Tempering.

If a gear affix supports a Talisman set or Charm condition, include that dependency among required slots.

Base-game-only builds use the same base-value and required-affix test, omitting only expansion-exclusive dependencies.

Preserve build activation before optimizing headline values.

Check the main skill's current tags, Aspect eligibility, required weapon, Critical, Vulnerable, Resource, defensive conditions, and Codex upgrades.

Classify requirements as mandatory, situational, or optional. Do not replace a mandatory condition until the new item supplies an alternative.

Stop when a Skill Variant changed element or category and the candidate's multiplier or Aspect no longer applies.

Recheck the third variant and Talisman Seal, Charm, and set thresholds together with gear tags.

Base-game-only builds preserve the same role through the available two variants, Aspects, gear, and Paragon.

Replace one missing ordinary affix needed to complete the base item.

Read the selected affix, candidate pool, escalating cost, and option to keep the original in the live Occultist panel. Do not expect a reroll to become a Greater Affix.

Use it when exactly one required affix is missing. Repair activation or a defensive hole before chasing an optional perfect roll.

Stop when the required affix is outside the pool or more than one mandatory base affix is missing.

Treat a Talisman-supporting affix as mandatory only when it actually benefits the main skill.

Base-game-only builds use the same one-affix repair, replacing expansion-condition affixes with ordinary damage or survival support.

Choose and add one build-specific affix from an eligible Tempering recipe.

Check slot, class, selected affix, roll range, and Temper charges in the live Blacksmith panel. On Ancestral gear, the Tempered affix can sometimes upgrade to a Greater Affix.

Choose a required or reliably active affix first. Current Tempering selects the desired affix rather than rolling randomly among affix types.

Stop when the recipe is ineligible for the slot or class, or the affix does not support the main tags and activation.

Match the post-variant element and category, and check whether the Talisman already supplies the same role.

Base-game-only builds use current Tempering with affixes for the available variants rather than expansion-exclusive tags.

Raise a keeper item's base and affix values through Quality, then target the final Capstone Bonus.

Quality caps at 25, each attempt adds 2–5 Quality, and every Quality level adds 1% to affix values. At maximum Quality, the Capstone Bonus raises one random affix by 50%.

Raise to a planned Quality first and reserve maximum Quality for keeper gear. The Capstone target can be rerolled without resetting Quality, but read the live material cost.

Stop before maximum investment in transition gear, missing-affix items, untempered candidates, or slots likely to be replaced soon.

If a Talisman or set completion will soon change the slot's role, finalize that configuration before maximum Quality.

Base-game-only builds use the same Quality path, concentrating investment in keeper Aspects and ordinary gear.

Replace an ordinary gear slot only when the Unique Power enables or materially strengthens the build.

Compare Unique Power, guaranteed and random affixes, GAs, Temper eligibility, and the lost Aspect or ordinary affixes. Since Patch 3.0, Unique and Mythic items can be Tempered.

Test Unique Power uptime against the same enemy and decide whether it justifies losing the ordinary Aspect and affixes. Use boss lookup for target farming.

Stop when the Unique Power misses the main tags, cannot maintain its condition, or fails to replace a mandatory ordinary-gear role.

When pairing with Talisman sets or Unique Charms, avoid overcommitting to the same trigger and include the opportunity cost of the lost slot.

Base-game-only builds use an available Unique or Mythic, or ordinary gear with an Aspect that fills the same role.

Layer expansion crafting after ordinary gear decisions without losing source items or set activation.

Read Cube input, output, cost, preserved name, slot, affixes, and GAs, plus Talisman Seal, Charm slots, and set thresholds.

Never consume equipped, well-rolled, GA-bearing, or last-copy set items. Craft one disposable duplicate at a time.

Stop when the output preview does not establish preservation or the change breaks a set threshold. Never test an unverified secret recipe with a valuable original.

This is the primary Lord of Hatred layer. Season 14 Upgrade to Mythic is a random same-slot conversion, not an in-place same-name upgrade.

Base-game-only builds omit Cube and Talisman steps, finishing through Enchanting, Tempering, Masterworking, and Aspects.