Here's everything you need to know about the Occultist, Legendary Aspects, and Codex of Power in Diablo 4

Diablo 4 - Legendary Aspects And Codex Of Power Guide

Diablo 4 Codex of Power, Legendary Aspects, and Occultist - Everything you need to know

The Occultist NPC

The Diablo 4 Occultist NPC can be found in most large cities and capitals, such as Kyovashad. This type of vendor is represented by an arcane rune symbol on your minimap.

When you speak to an Occultist, you'll see various tabs and functions, including a means of rerolling stat-based affixes on your gear. However, the two most important mechanics are related to Legendary Aspects: extracting and imprinting.

Checking the Codex of Power and clearing dungeons

Before we get to those functions, let's talk about one source of Legendary Aspects: the Diablo 4 Codex of Power. You can access this by opening the menu and going to the Collections tab. There, you'll see the entire Codex of Power, which shows all the Legendary Aspects that can be acquired from dungeon clears. You may also toggle the selection so that only the aspects for your class (as well as general ones) are shown.

Once you've selected a Legendary Aspect, you can pin the location so a marker appears on the world map. Use this to guide you toward the dungeon's location. Do take note that some of these areas will only become available after clearing a Stronghold.

Delve deeper into the dungeon, complete the tasks, and defeat the boss. Once you're done with this part, you'll unlock that particular Legendary Aspect in your Codex of Power. In any case, you can learn more about these activities in our dungeon locations guide.

Gallery
Left: The Sorcerer's Aspect of Conflagration in the Codex of Power; Right: Clearing the dungeon to obtain the Aspect of Conflagration

Extracting a Legendary Aspect from your gear

The other way to acquire Diablo 4 Legendary Aspects is by extracting them from a legendary item. This is done via the Occultist's tab.

For instance, let's say you picked up a level 25 legendary gloves, and you no longer want to equip the gear piece. Still, if the aspect itself is good enough, you can have this extracted. Doing this will destroy the item, and the aspect will be added to one of your inventory tabs.

Extracting a Legendary Aspect from a gear piece

Imprinting a Legendary Aspect: Codex of Power versus extracted variants

And, finally, it's time to discuss the all-important Diablo 4 Legendary Aspect concept: imprinting. Also done via the Occultist's tab, think of this as applying a legendary perk to another item, essentially turning it into a legendary as well. Here's the gist:

  • Aspects tend to have gear slot pre-requisites (i.e. some can only be used on weapons and off-hands, whereas others can be applied to rings and amulets). Take note of the icon or symbol, as well as the tooltip.
  • Generally speaking, aspects unlocked via dungeons (i.e., the Diablo 4 Codex of Power) can be used indefinitely. Just make sure that you have the required materials.
  • Aspects that are extracted from items, meanwhile, are single-use only, though it's also possible to have (a) duplicates depending on how often certain legendaries drop, and (b) higher/better rolls and stat coefficients.
  • While the Codex of Power and dungeons already offer a plethora of rewards, there are still several aspects that only come from item drops. Thus, they'll need to be extracted if you want to use them on other stuff.
  • The item that will have an aspect imprinted on it will retain the same power and stats. However, if it isn't a legendary item, then it will become one due to the affix.
  • After imprinting an aspect, you won't be able to extract it again. As such, the decision is yours on when you want to imprint something (in case you really need it on a more powerful gear piece), or if you'd rather save it for later just in case an upgrade drops.
Imprinting a Legendary Aspect on another item

All in all, the Diablo 4 Legendary Aspects and Codex of Power mechanics serve to bolster customization and theorycrafting when coming up with viable builds. You can learn more in our best Legendary Aspects guide series for the Necromancer, Sorcerer, and Rogue.

Diablo 4 has numerous classes, mechanics, and activities. For more about the game, you can visit our D4 guides hub.

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This story originally appeared on: GameSpot - Author:Jason Rodriguez