Blacksmith Guide for Diablo 4

Introduction

The Blacksmith is an important NPC that helps players with their progression and adventures across Sanctuary. This guide covers the benefits of upgrading and salvaging items, and how to utilize the Blacksmith’s features in Diablo 4 to enhance equipment and extract valuable materials. These features play a crucial role, allowing players to improve their gameplay experience and progress further in the game.

Every time a character dies, worn equipment also suffers a Durability blow, but paying a little bit of Gold to the Blacksmith restores its functionality.

How to Unlock the Blacksmith

Upon reaching Level 10, players will receive a priority quest objective to visit Zivek, the Blacksmith in Kyovashad, located within the Fractured Peaks. This quest requires the upgrade of a piece of gear, and completing it rewards the player with experience.

However, the true value of meeting the Blacksmith lies in the core progression loop of upgrading gear and salvaging equipment or extra loot for materials, and in the ability to repair damaged gear. These loops are essential to players’ progression advancement throughout the world of Sanctuary.

After completing the intro quest and unlocking the Blacksmith, the NPC can be found throughout the world in various outposts, towns, and cleared Strongholds. This allows characters to access the Blacksmith’s services conveniently and efficiently, without having to return to Kyovashad for every time.

How to Salvage

Salvaging a piece of gear grants players crafting materials necessary for upgrading items of the same type. The rarity of the item salvaged generally determines the quality of materials acquired. Additionally, salvaging upgraded gear enables players to get back some of the upgrade materials used on that item. For example, if an item has been socketed with a Gem, the Gem is returned to the inventory. Furthermore, salvaging an item also unlocks its Transmog appearance for the Wardrobe.

All items in the player’s Inventory can be quickly salvaged, but Legendary, Unique, and altered items (enchanted, socketed, transmogged) are excluded from this process. Individual items can be selected by using a hotkey, and these can then be salvaged with a single click when the player visits the Blacksmith. Effective inventory management is key to saving time between adventures.

How to Repair Gear

The Durability of gear decreases by 10% with each death, and at 0 Durability, item bonuses are partially disabled, making the player significantly weaker. Because of this, it is very important to repair equipped gear whenever necessary. Repairing an item requires the player to spend Gold. The amount of Gold required is dependent on the items’ rarity and Durability level.

How to Upgrade Gear

In Diablo 4, upgrading gear plays a significant role in character progression. During your adventures, you will encounter a variety of items that can be upgraded a limited number of times depending on their rarity. It is not recommended to upgrade common and magic items due to the increasing costs of gold and materials. Instead, it is best to focus on upgrading Rare, Legendary, and Unique items.

Upgrading gear provides several benefits, including a 5-point increase in item power, improved affix stats, and increased base armor and weapon damage. This is crucial in reducing incoming damage and boosting skill damage. Each item requires specific upgrade materials, and it is important to understand the purpose of each material. The list below provides more information on each upgrade material and its function.