Diablo 4: Aspect Imprinting Explained and How to Unlock the Occultist

Looking to have Aspect imprinting explained and how to unlock the Occultist in Diablo 4? New to this entry in the series, the Aspect system is a powerful and deep series of mechanics revolving around the unique effects tied to Rare and Legendary tier gear, and the Occultist is the NPC who facilitates it all. On this page, as part of our Diablo 4 guide, we'll explain Aspect imprinting and how to unlock the Occultist so that you can get the very most out of your gear.

Diablo 4: Aspect Imprinting Explained and How to Unlock the Occultist

While you can begin unlocking Aspects from the opening hours of the game, actually using them requires unlocking the Occultist, an NPC merchant who can be found in every major city in the world of Sanctuary. We'll use Kyovashad as our example, as the Main Story Quest requires players to go there from the outset and will be familiar to all players.

To be clear, you can beat the Campaign without engaging the services of the Occultists at all, and in many cases, it's worth waiting until you do before you start seriously investing in gear. This is because as players approach the Endgame (level 50+, Word Tiers 3 and 4), the rate at which you increase in level will dramatically slow, and the gear that drops in World Tier 3 (and especially 4) is exponentially more powerful.

Aspect Imprinting Explained

Aspect Imprinting is a process by which an Aspect from your Codex of Power or Inventory can be applied to an item permanently. This lets players bring forward build-defining abilities to more powerful gear, allowing for (amongst other things) a consistent playstyle while replacing older equipment.

Imprinting an Aspect will require a decent amount of Gold (dependent on the level of the item involved) and either Veiled Crystals or Baleful Fragments (gained by dismantling gear at the Blacksmith), depending on whether the item is under or over level 50.

Not all Aspects are created equal, however, and with the Occultist unlocked, so too is the ability to dismantle unwanted Legendary items into more powerful Legendary Aspects. The hunting for and crafting of Legendary Aspects is essential to taking your current Character Build to the next level. You can hold a total of 22 Legendary Aspects at any one time, and they can be viewed under the Aspect tab of the Inventory screen.

How to Unlock the Occultist

As mentioned above, the Occultist is an NPC vendor who will become increasingly more essential the further you progress in Diablo 4, assisting you with a variety of services revolving around Aspects and Legendary gear.

There are two ways to unlock the Occultist: by completing the associated Urgent Quest unlocked at level 25 or by unlocking the Codex of Power. In order to do so, you must clear one of the game's many Dungeons, earning an Aspect as a reward. The Codex of Power is how you view your Aspects and can be accessed via the Collections tab by pushing the Touchpad and navigating to it with L1 or R1.

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