Farming Crafting Materials

There are many crafting materials in Diablo III, and all of them are useful for either Crafting, Kanai’s Cube recipes, or both. The majority of these materials can be gained from random enemy drops, but there are ways to help you get each of the different types of materials quicker.

A great way to get a large drop of all materials is by completing a Challenge Rift (found in the Mode Selection screen while logging in). This can be completed once a week, and the Cache it rewards you with gives a bulk of every type of material.

Normal Crafting Materials

The normal crafting materials consist of Reusable Parts, Arcane Dust, and Veiled Crystals. These are the most commonly found and used materials.

  • You will get a number of one of these parts every time you Salvage a piece of gear at the Blacksmith.
    • The material gained will match the rarity of the piece you’re Salvaging – Common, Magic, or Rare, respectively.
    • Keep in mind that you cannot Salvage equipment purchased from a vendor.
  • Levels with a lot of Weapon and/or Armor Racks (such as Battlefields of Eternity in Act V or Halls of Agony in Act I) will usually drop Common quality items, making them a good place to farm pieces to salvage extra Reusable Parts.
  • Nephalem Rifts are a great way to get extra Veiled Crystals.
    • While you will find some of them through the Rift itself, completing the Rift will grant you a good amount of Blood Shards, which you can use to buy equipment from Kadala.
    • Most of the equipment you will get from her will be Magic, meaning it will be a great boost to your Veiled Crystals.
  • Take advantage of the 7th recipe in Kanai’s Cube, which will convert 100 of one of these materials into 100 of another type.
    • This is especially useful if you’re low on one, but have an excess of another.

Forgotten Soul

Forgotten Souls are similar to the normal crafting materials (they drop from enemies or can be salvaged), except they are Legendary quality.

  • You will get 1 any time you Salvage a Legendary or Set piece of equipment (with the exception of crafted Legendaries).
    • Ancient pieces will salvage for 3 Forgotten Souls, while Primal gear will salvage for 15.
  • The easiest way to farm these is to farm Greater Rifts at level 90 (once your build allows you to clear it quickly).
    • Greater Rifts drop many Legendaries when cleared, making this a quick way to build up Forgotten Souls.

Death’s Breath and Greater Rift Keys

Death’s Breath is a very important material, needed for many of the most commonly used recipes in Kanai’s Cube. Greater Rift Keys, on the other hand, are needed to access Greater Rifts, so you will need a lot of Keys if you want to farm these Rifts.

  • The best way to get Death’s Breaths (and the only way to get Greater Rift Keys) is to simply do Nephalem Rifts, preferably at Torment XVI.
  • You can craft armor Sets that will greatly increase dropped amounts of both of these.
    • 3 pieces of the Sage’s Destiny set will double the amount of Death’s Breaths that drop.
    • 3 pieces of the Cain’s Insight set gives a 25% chance for a second Greater Rift Keystone to drop every time one does.
    • Both of these effects Emanate, meaning you can equip them on your Follower and still receive the increased drops.
    • If you give your Follower the Ring of Royal Grandeur, they will only need 2 pieces of these Sets to gain the full effects, meaning they can equip both Sets at the same time.

Bounty Materials

These materials (Khanduran Rune, Caldeum Nightshade, Arreat War Tapestry, Corrupted Angel Flesh, and Westmarch Holy Water) are primarily used for Extracting and Reforging Legendaries at Kanai’s Cube.

The Vault

The Vault is a special level that comes with plenty of Treasure Goblins – it can get you all of these materials, except Greater Rift Keystones and the Bounty Materials.

  • To access The Vault, you will need a Puzzle Ring each time. This Ring has the same chance to drop from enemies as a typical Legendary piece of gear.
    • You can increase your chances of getting these Rings by spending Blood Shards at Kadala.
    • Using a level 31 character, there is a 1 in 3 chance (33.33%) for a Legendary Ring bought from her to be a Puzzle Ring.
  • Once you have a Ring, use it at Kanai’s Cube (no recipe) and a portal will open to The Vault.
  • If you use an Ancient Puzzle Ring, you will get an enhanced version of The Vault.
    • This version has a massive amount of Treasure Goblins, giving you an even bigger haul of materials than the normal Vault.

Primordial Ashes

Primordial Ashes are used to gain Legendary Potion Powers in the Alter of Rites, and upgrade Legendaries into a Primal using Kanai’s Cube.

  • The only way to gain this material is by Salvaging Primal pieces of equipment.
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