Diablo 4: The Ultimate Gear Progression Guide for Season 10
Whether you've just stepped foot into Diablo 4 for the first time or you're a veteran pushing deep into the Pit, one thing remains true-gear is everything. The right setup determines whether you're crawling through Nightmare Dungeons or shredding demons in Torment 4. This guide breaks down how to efficiently gear up from level 1 to endgame in Diablo 4 Season 10, covering item types, salvaging, crafting, Chaos Armor, and the best activities for loot.
Starting From Level One: Understanding Gear Types
When you first spawn into Sanctuary, your hero is wearing white items, the most basic gear tier. These provide no bonuses, serving only as placeholders. As you progress, you'll start to see color-coded item drops:
Blue (Magic Items): Contain one or two affixes. Great for early leveling.
Yellow (Rare Items): Contain up to three affixes and are a clear upgrade around level 10-15.
Orange (Legendary Items): Include powerful Aspects, unique modifiers that define builds.
Brown (Unique Items): Feature fixed stats and affixes-excellent during leveling, but more selective for endgame.
Once you reach level 60 and break into higher difficulties, Ancestral Items begin to drop. These are identified by a star icon and include Greater Affixes, rolling at 1.5x the strength of normal stats. The pinnacle of all loot is Mythic Uniques, endgame-only ancestral-tier items with guaranteed Greater Affixes and build-defining effects.
At a glance:
Item Power 750 = Max for standard Ancestral gear.
Item Power 800 = Ultimate endgame gear ceiling.
Understanding this hierarchy helps determine which upgrades are worth keeping as you climb through Torment.
When to Replace Gear While Leveling
A common mistake for new players is clinging to legendary gear far too long. While aspects are strong, raw stat upgrades often outweigh them during leveling. For example, replacing a level 25 legendary with a level 35 rare offering +25 extra Strength is worth it-even if you lose your aspect bonus.
To make smart comparisons, enable the in-game "Advanced Tooltip Compare" setting. This highlights stat differences directly on-screen, saving you from manual inspection and ensuring smoother progression.
Weapons are another critical focus. You'll replace them frequently because weapon power scales directly with skill damage. A fresh drop with higher DPS often outperforms even a legendary weapon with weaker base damage.
Salvaging vs. Selling Gear
Early on, selling gear for gold might seem appealing-but salvaging is the superior long-term strategy. Here's why:
White and Blue items yield basic crafting materials.
Rares and Legendaries provide Veiled Crystals and Forgotten Souls, used for upgrading and imprinting.
Uniques and Ancestral gear drop larger material bundles, including endgame reagents.
At the blacksmith, mark valuables as "Favorite" to avoid accidentally breaking them down. Always prioritize salvaging over selling; you'll accumulate the materials needed for future enchantments and upgrades-especially in the late game when crafting costs skyrocket.
Imprinting and the Codex of Power
Every time you salvage a Legendary item, its aspect is automatically stored in your Codex of Power. You can view this under your Achievements menu, categorized by class.
Each dungeon and drop corresponds to a specific aspect. Not only can you farm them manually, but by clicking "Pin on Map", the game will automatically mark the dungeon containing the desired aspect-making farming straightforward.
Once stored, these aspects can be imprinted onto Rare or Legendary gear at the Occultist, transforming them into build-enhancing items. However, note:
Imprinting doesn't increase the affix count (you'll keep two instead of three).
Salvaging an improved aspect doesn't auto-upgrade gear; you must manually reimprint the new version.
This system keeps your build flexible-salvage what you don't need and reapply aspects onto superior gear later.
Breaking into Torment: The Gear Threshold
After reaching level 60, your next big milestone is entering Torment difficulty. Here's the progression:
Normal → Penitent: Standard 750 item power cap.
Torment I-IV: Chance for Ancestral and Mythic gear, plus increased gold, XP, and material rewards.
Higher Torment tiers drastically boost drop quantity and quality. The tradeoff? You take increased damage due to armor and resistance penalties. Surviving these difficulties requires optimized defensive rolls-Armor, Resistances, and Damage Reduction are essential.
Torment 4 farming yields massive rewards, so it's worth pushing once your build stabilizes.
Efficient Farming Routes: From Grim Favors to Infernal Hordes
1. Grim Favors & Tree of Whispers
Grim Favors are collected from bounties scattered across Sanctuary. Completing these and returning to the Tree of Whispers allows you to claim Greater Caches-loot boxes that guarantee high-quality rewards:
Boots, Weapons, or Armor caches tailored to your needs.
Ancestral Caches with guaranteed ancestral drops and high Chaos Armor chance.
Pro tip:
If you can't handle Torment 4 bosses yet, farm Grim Favors on Torment 1, then turn in your cache on Torment 4 for maximum loot scaling.
2. Nightmare Dungeons & Escalating Tiers
Nightmare Dungeons remain a top-tier source for XP, glyphs, and gear. Season 10 introduces Escalating Nightmare Dungeons-chains of three dungeons ending with Asteroth, a tough boss who drops multiple ancestral and Chaos pieces.
Beyond XP farming, these runs are a great way to stock up on Infernal Horde Keys, crucial for endgame loot cycles.
3. Hell Tides
Hell Tides are returning champions for targeted farming.
After level 60, these open-world events let you spend Cinders on caches specific to gear slots-Weapons, Armor, Jewelry, or the coveted Tortured Gift of Mystery (200 Cinders).
These zones now include Season 10 mechanics that boost material and Chaos Armor drops, making them perfect for mid-game farming and resource collection.
4. The Pit & Infernal Hordes
While the Pit itself isn't the best raw loot source, running it grants Infernal Horde Keys. Using these opens Infernal Horde events, which scale through waves of enemies. At the end, you can:
Fight Bartuk, the end boss, for guaranteed ancestral gear and Chaos Armor.
Open the Greater Equipment Chest for 100% ancestral rewards.
Higher-wave keys (up to 10) increase difficulty, not loot quality-so choose based on your strength. Infernal Hordes are the best solo endgame farm this season.
5. Tribute of Radiance (Expansion Players)
In the Vessel of Hatred expansion, completing the Undercity and its Deeds of a Champion unlocks the Tribute of Radiance activity. This event offers guaranteed ancestral drops, Runes, and even Mythic gear based on the tribute offered-ideal for fast, repeatable farming sessions.
Chaos Armor and Seasonal Reputation
Season 10 introduces Chaos Armor, powerful endgame items that push your build's potential even further. The best way to farm Chaos Armor is through the Seasonal Reputation Board, earned by completing Chaos Rifts and Hell Tide demon hunts.
Once you max your reputation tiers:
Unlock Greater Infernal Caches.
Purchase Urns of Chaos under Seasonal Blessings to reach a 100% Chaos Armor drop chance.
Opening multiple Greater Caches with this blessing guarantees chaos pieces-making this the most efficient Chaos Armor farm in Diablo 4 right now.
Endgame Efficiency Tips
Always Salvage: You'll need thousands of crafting mats for upgrades and imprints.
Check Codex Regularly: Salvaging new aspects improves their stored power.
Farm Hell Tides during active events: Cinders drop faster and chests yield more ancestral pieces.
Focus on Chaos Armor early: The boost to Greater Affix rolls makes it worth prioritizing over standard ancestral pieces.
Push Torment tiers gradually: Each tier multiplies gold, XP, and drop rates-don't get stuck farming below your limit.
Season 10 of Diablo 4 has transformed the gear grind into a layered system of reward and progression. From salvaging your first magic drop to unlocking Chaos Armor from Infernal Caches, the loop feels more rewarding than ever.
By mastering salvage efficiency, farming Nightmare Dungeons, maximizing Torment rewards, and leveraging the Codex of Power, you'll streamline your path from a fresh wanderer to a pit-clearing powerhouse. As you journey, you will accumulate more and more Diablo 4 Gold and Diablo 4 Items, becoming more powerful.
So grab your weapon, step into the next Hell Tide, and remember-every drop counts in Sanctuary.
MMOexp Diablo 4 Team