In Diablo 4 there are plenty of skins, not just for your clothing, but also for your skills – and they are even free. A player noticed a teammate’s unique color for their abilities, featuring a feature that was showcased before the game’s release but has since been largely overlooked.
What is this “secret”?
- On Reddit, a user shares a picture of a Sorceress channeling Incinerate, a long beam of fire.
- Normally, the skill looks like fire does: red, burning, like a flamethrower without any spectacular effects.
- However, the beam of the foreign Sorceress is almost entirely blue like a gas flame. The user asks how to obtain such a cool skin and receives answers.
Where does the blue fire come from? The answer is quite simple: You just need to get strong enough. Specifically: You need to reach a certain level for your skills. From a skill level of +10 (though some report +15), the abilities change their visual effect.
However, it’s not that easy to achieve since just leveling up gives you a maximum of skill points for one ability. You will get the others through:
- Effects on equipment that can boost the respective skill category
- Hardening
- the Harlequin’s Crown, or “Shaco”, which grants +4 to all skills
For the modified skills, it is purely a visual effect, and Blizzard showcased it several months before the release of Diablo 4. Somehow, it seems to have been forgotten.
Skills in Diablo 4 change their appearance when they become strong enough
If the level is high enough, an ability changes its visual effect. In the case of Incinerate – and most fire spells – the fire turns blue. Blizzard already showcased what else is possible in a video from 2021:
- The Sorceress’ Ice Armor gets a glowing ice effect
- The Earth Spike, Cyclone Armor, and Wind Shear of the Druid become larger and get additional, smaller effects
- The Barbarian’s Hammer of the Ancients becomes significantly larger and the effect area glows
The altered visual effects are meant to visually represent that you have become stronger and are no longer just any initiate of your class, but a master.
Ironically, skills themselves are not even all that important for most of the really powerful builds, but rather the effects they trigger. This ranges from class-specific additional effects like Dust Devils to mechanics that every class masters. However, this seems to slowly becoming a problem: One mechanic currently dominates the tier list in Diablo 4, and will be nerfed by 80% in Season 9
