With Season 11, the Sanctification came to Diablo 4, a crafting system that allows you to enchant items in unpredictable ways and grant them random effects. Many players take this step too early and thus “destroy” their loot.
This is Sanctification: Sanctification was introduced with Season 11 in Diablo 4 and represents the final step in the crafting process of your items. You grant an item a random effect, after which it can no longer be modified.
With Sanctification, you can:
- apply an additional legendary property,
- enhance an affix to a major affix,
- add an additional affix from a special set of Sanctification affixes,
- replace an existing affix with a Sanctification affix (not for Unique and Mythic Uniques!)
With a bit of luck an item can even gain a mythical property through Sanctification. One player showed on Reddit a legendary sword that gained the property of Harlequin’s Crown, namely damage reduction and +4 ranks to all skills.
Especially the fact that no further adjustments can be made after Sanctification currently causes frustration. Because this also means that you can no longer add gem sockets afterwards. A minor detail that makes a big difference in gameplay, as many are now painfully realizing.
Adding sockets is also a crafting process
What causes misunderstandings with Sanctification? Many players are now aware that Sanctification is truly the last step in crafting and that neither hardening nor perfection is possible afterwards. However, what is often forgotten: Adding gem sockets also counts.
A player therefore reminds on Reddit to think about sockets before Sanctification. He himself forgot this step and wants to prevent others from making the same mistake. Gems provide strong bonuses and it’s correspondingly annoying when you can no longer use them. However, gems that have already been inserted can still be swapped in sanctified items.
Other players additionally remind that you should also imprint the highest level of aspects on items beforehand, as this is also no longer possible after Sanctification.
Sanctification is not possible at any time
Another point causing confusion among players is that it is not possible to sanctify items at any time. Although you can use the portal to the Celestial Forge and the Sanctification Altar at any time in a major city, the altar cannot always be clicked. This is because you can only perform Sanctification if you:
- defeat a “Minor Evil” before the torment levels and spawn a portal – for example, when you have defeated Duriel in the Hell Flood.
- receive so-called Celestial Seals at the torment levels, with which you can teleport to the Celestial Forge.
When a portal to the Celestial Forge spawns, the following warning is displayed: “The Celestial Forge has enough power to sanctify an item. The forge loses its power as soon as the portal closes.”
For experimenting while leveling, for perfecting in endgame
This is how the feature is received: Overall, Sanctification has been positively received in the community so far. Many players see it primarily as an exciting feature for experimenting while leveling, before getting to the really important items. It is also practical that Sanctification costs nothing; you just need access via a random portal or a Celestial Seal.
Some players are bothered that the randomness principle from the hardening system was removed and shifted to Sanctification. Others counter on Reddit that Sanctification is designed exactly for making perfect items even stronger, ideally when you have a backup. Those who cannot afford this risk do not have to use the feature. It is optional, not mandatory.
After the PTR, the developers also made adjustments. Replacing existing affixes with Sanctification affixes is no longer possible for Uniques and Mythic Uniques. Previously, there were concerns that their strong, unique properties could be overwritten by useless effects.
Generally, players seem satisfied with the new Season 11 and the state of Diablo 4. The new class, which came as a surprise, is well received. The Capstone dungeons are also praised. You can read more about it here: Season 11 changes a lot of features of Diablo 4, players say: The game has never been this good
