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

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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.

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 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),