Diablo 4 Season 11 marks one of the biggest transformations to the itemization system since launch. With the return of Tempering and the introduction of Sanctification, players now have far more control over the strength, versatility, and endgame potential of their gear. Whether you're pushing high-tier Pit difficulties, hunting endgame bosses, or min-maxing for leaderboard runs, understanding how these mechanics work is the key to unlocking your true power.

This guide breaks down Tempering, Sanctification, how the Diablo 4 Items two systems interact, the best strategies to upgrade your gear, and the mistakes you'll want to avoid as you build your perfect loadout.

What Is Tempering?

Tempering is a crafting system that allows players to add extra affixes onto rare, legendary, and even certain unique items. Instead of relying purely on random drops, Tempering gives you direct control over what your gear can become.

How It Works

Tempering uses Tempering Manuals, which drop from:

Endgame bosses

High-tier Pits

Nightmare Dungeons

Seasonal events

Whisper caches

Each manual belongs to a category—such as Marksman, Fury, Conjuration, Blood, Barbarian Weapon Mastery, and more. A manual contains a small pool of potential affixes, and when you temper an item, you choose one of the available rolls to apply.

Item Limits

Each item type has a number of tempering slots:

Weapons: 2 Tempered affixes

Armor: 1 Tempered affix

Jewelry: 1 Tempered affix

Once you roll an affix, you can reroll it—but you're limited by a Tempering Durability resource. If it hits 0, the item can't be tempered further. This prevents infinite rerolling and adds a layer of strategy to your choices.

Best Practices for Tempering

1. Perfect your base item FIRST.

Always upgrade, imprint, and reroll your item before tempering. Once the temper durability hits zero, you're locked in.

2. Use Tempering to fill gaps.

Missing Cooldown Reduction? Want Lucky Hit? Need Resource Cost Reduction?

Tempering is how you fix your build's weak spots.

3. Save rare manuals.

Some extremely powerful manuals—such as Critical Strike-focused or class-specific multipliers—are best used only on top-tier gear.

4. Prioritize scaling affixes on weapons.

Weapons benefit most from:

Vulnerable Damage

Core Skill Damage

Damage to Close/Distant

Lucky Hit resource or status effects

Conditional multipliers like Berserking or Overpower

Weapons are your highest source of offensive scaling, so tempering them correctly gives the biggest DPS increase.

What Is Sanctification?

Sanctification is Season 11's major new system that enhances items with powerful stat boosts and special effects, functioning similarly to past seasons' systems—but with more flexibility.

Sanctified items are endgame-focused upgrades that go beyond Tempering, pushing your item into the “best-in-slot” category.

How Sanctification Works

To sanctify an item, you need:

A Sanctified Spark

Gold

Crafting materials

When applied to an item, Sanctification grants:

A massive increase to item stats

One of several Sanctified Powers depending on your class

A visual glow to the item

This makes sanctified gear some of the strongest equipment in Season 11.

Sanctified Powers

Each class receives multiple potent effects. Examples include:

Barbarian: Supercharged shouts, Berserking enhancements, or dust-devil damage upgrades.

Rogue: Explosive arrow multipliers, permanent trap uptime, or enhanced combo points.

Sorcerer: Teleport upgrades, chain lightning enhancements, or elemental overload.

Druid: Spirit generation buffs, Pulverize enhancements, or stormpower overhauls.

Necromancer: Minion empowerment, Bone Storm multipliers, or Blood surge super-chains.

These powers can dramatically alter or enhance playstyles.

Tempering vs. Sanctification — How They Work Together

You're not choosing between the two—they're meant to complement each other.

A perfect endgame item in Season 11 will be:

Ancestral rare or legendary with maxed item power

Upgraded at the Blacksmith

Rerolled for best natural affixes

Tempered with optimal affixes

Sanctified for maximum stat boosts and a build-defining effect

Together, these systems allow you to craft items far stronger than anything previous seasons offered.

Best Gear Strategy for Season 11

To optimize your loadout, follow these steps:

1. Start With High Item Power

New high-tier content drops items with naturally higher rolls. Always begin with:

Ancestral 925 item power bases

Well-rolled core stats

Correct item type for your build (e.g., 2H over 1H if your build scales from weapon damage)

2. Reroll Before Tempering

Use the Occultist to fix:

Missing Damage buckets

Weak Core Skill rolls

Suboptimal defensive stats

Once the item is “clean,” you can safely temper it.

3. Apply Tempering Wisely

Always choose affixes that directly increase your scaling. For example:

Rogues should prioritize Vulnerable Damage, Combo Point Damage, or Damage to Close.

Barbarians benefit from Damage While Berserking or Weapon Mastery affixes.

Sorcerers want Lucky Hit, Mana Cost Reduction, or Core Damage.

4. Sanctify Only Endgame-Ready Gear

Sanctification resources are limited—don't waste them on transitional items.

Sanctify only:

Perfect 925 legendaries

BIS uniques like Harlequin Crest or Tibault's Will

Weapons with godly damage stats

Armor pieces with maxed defensive rolls

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Tempering before rerolling natural affixes

This can ruin a perfectly good item when temper durability runs out.

2. Using rare manuals on bad gear

Save your best manuals for high-tier items.

3. Sanctifying low-power gear

Sanctification should only be used on final-form items.

Final Thoughts

Season 11's overhaul of the gear system makes Diablo IV Items more rewarding and customizable than ever. Tempering gives you precision and control, while Sanctification gives your items unprecedented power and flexibility. Together, they form the core of the Season 11 meta—and mastering these systems is essential for any player aiming to dominate the endgame.

Whether you're climbing high-tier Pit difficulty, chasing leaderboard glory, or perfecting your favorite class build, mastering Tempering and Sanctification will define your success in Diablo 4 Season 11.