Angelic Crucibles Mechanics in Diablo 3 Season 34

Originally introduced in Season 27 and now brought back for the duration of Season 34, this season's mechanic introduces a new type of consumable item called Angelic Crucibles. Once uncovered by the player, these heavenly artifacts can be used to Sanctify any equippable Legendary item. Sanctifying an item reforges it to have perfect Ancient-level stats on all affixes while also preserving the item's Legendary Power. In addition, this process adds one of three new powers unique to each class.

As season-specific consumable items, Angelic Crucibles share the following traits:

• Angelic Crucibles and Sanctified Items can only be acquired in Seasonal play and will not transfer to your non-Seasonal character when the current ends.
• Angelic Crucibles can drop anywhere in Sanctuary at Level 70.
• Players can obtain as many Sanctified items as they would like. However, only one Sanctified item can be equipped at a time.
• Sanctified items can be Sanctified again using another Angelic Crucible.
• No stats are preserved when Sanctifying an item.
• Only Level 70 equippable items can be Sanctified. Crafted items cannot be Sanctified.
• Followers cannot equip Sanctified items.

Sanctified items will salvage into one of the following resources, chosen at random:

• 15 Forgotten Souls;
• 2-3 Greater Rift Keystones;
• 128 BloodShards;
• 35-45 Death's Breaths;
• 1 Petrified Scream;
• 1 Westmarch Holy Water;

Angelic Crucibles can drop from any type of content and game mode, be it Bounties, Nephalem (Standard) Rifts, or Greater Rifts, starting at Level 70. They are reasonably hard to get (rarer than Legendary and Set items), but have a higher drop rate compared to the other legendary consumable in the game, Ramaladni's Gift.

On top of empowering the Sanctified Legendary item with perfected Ancient-level stats, Angelic Crucibles infuses the item with one of three unique, powerful, class-specific abilities. In the paragraphs below, we will explore those Sanctified powers class-by-class, as well as provide commentary and insight on their relative strength and usefulness.

The Sanctification power reads: " Whirlwind pulls in and holds all enemies within 25 yards." Its distinctive properties include:

• This Sanctification ignores the gradual build-up of Crowd Control immunity of monsters, making it the most reliable, pixel-tight pulling power in the game.
• Its effect counts as a Knockback, triggering relevant powers dependent on displacement (i.e. Strongarm Bracers).
• It can pull well over 50 monsters simultaneously, making for some truly impressive pulls.

The Sanctification power reads: " Hammer of the Ancients hits in all directions around the Barbarian. Every tenth cast of Hammer of the Ancients unleashes a powerful shockwave." Its distinctive properties include:

• The so-called Shockwave uses the visual effect of Seismic Slam.
• The Shockwave crits on a per-cast basis, dependent on the parent cast of Hammer of the Ancients.
• The Shockwave counts as being part of the Hammer of the Ancients cast, meaning it can proc effects; it mimics the proc coefficient of HotA itself. This ability to proc includes Area Damage
• The Shockwave deals Physical elemental damage.

The Sanctification power reads: "Hitting enemies generates stacks of Tempest Rhythm. Activating Wrath of the Berserker consumes 50 stacks of Tempest Rhythm and startles enemies within 16 yards, causing them to take 2% increased damage per stack for 20 seconds. Max 50 stacks." Its distinctive properties include:

• The Tempest Rhythm debuff provides an additive, non-stackable damage increase against affected targets.
• The maximum number of affected targets is capped at 10 monsters.
• The debuff range matches the range of the Arreat's Wail rune: 15 yards.

The Sanctification power reads: " Blessed Hammer now crackles with energy damaging enemies within 15 yards of its path. All runes but Dominion now throw the hammer in a direct path in front of the Crusader." Its distinctive properties include:

• The Sanctified Blessed Hammer reaches a 50-yard range in a straight line, and boomerangs after a brief, 2-second pause.
• The crackling energy mimics the arcing properties of the Thunderstruck rune, as it pulsates with energy that can strike a single target multiple times, depending on its hitbox — larger targets will be hit more than once.

The Sanctification power reads: "Every two seconds, call down Fist of the Heavens on a random nearby enemy. After casting Steed Charge, this effect occurs more rapidly for five seconds." Its distinctive properties include:

• The automated Fist of the Heavens have the same properties as a self-casted Fist of the Heavens, taking into account your current skill and elemental damage bonuses. They have a proc coefficient and can trigger Area Damage, as a normal FotH would.
• This Sanctification's standard delay of 2 seconds is cut down to 0.5 seconds after using Steed Charge, lasting for 5 seconds after using the mobility skill.

The Sanctification power reads: "After casting Falling Sword, you descend from the sky with two Archangels that can cast Consecration and Condemn." Its distinctive properties include:

• The Archangel's health and damage scale only off the current Greater Rift level.
• The Archangels last for 15 seconds. While they are active, they will predominantly use melee auto-attacks, interspersed with random casts of Consecration and Condemn.
• The Archangels are capped at two at a time; casting Falling Sword more than once while they are active will simply summon a new batch.

The Sanctification power reads: " Strafe now casts the last non-channeled Hatred spending ability casted." Its distinctive properties include:

• This Sanctification mirrors the 4-piece bonus of Gears of Dreadlands set — but instead of Strafe casting the last Primary skill you used, it casts the last non-channeled Hatred spending ability you used.
• Much like the GoD mechanic, Strafe will "cast" the Hatred spenders at a rate of 12 FPA. The Hatred spenders cast by the Sanctification have a proc coefficient and can trigger Area Damage, as any self-casted Hatred-spending ability would.

The Sanctification power reads: "Casting Vengeance unleashes a barrage of rockets that deal damage equal to a percentage of the maximum life enemies possess. The number of rockets fired increases over 30 seconds. Elites and Bosses receive less damage per rocket." Its distinctive properties include:

• The rockets shot by this Sanctification inflict percentage-based damage on the health of affected enemies; this effect is reduced on Elites and Rift Guardians.
• The rocket barrage builds in intensity over the 30-second period the Sanctification is active.
• Using Vengeance again while the power is active simply refreshes its duration, and can even have a negative impact — as the build-up period for the rockets is reset.

The Sanctification power reads: "Firing Cluster Arrow no longer drops explosive ordinance. Instead, it concentrates its explosive force into piercing rays of light." Its distinctive properties include:

• The rays of light produced by Cluster Arrow inflict the combined damage of the regularly cast Cluster Arrow, as well as any additional rocket- or grenade-based effects it may have due to your itemization or passives.
• The rays of light pierce through targets in a straight, 30-yard line in front of the Demon Hunter.

The Sanctification power reads: "Casting Wave of Light now summons a bell at the target location that deals damage when the caster attacks the bell. Up to five bells can be active at one time." Its distinctive properties include:

• The summoned bells are capped at five; any additional casts of Wave of Light will de-spawn the oldest bell. Bells will also expire on their own after a 10-second period, or if you move a screen's worth of distance from them.
• The summoned bells are tangible obstacles on the terrain and have collision with players and monsters.
• The summoned bells deal damage when they are attacked by any player and through any means, as long as the attack comes from a skill with a proc coefficient.
• The summoned bells retain some of the properties of their parent rune, i.e. Explosive Light-based ones will produce the radial burst when attacked, Pillar of the Ancients-based ones will tick for damage over time, etc.

The Sanctification power reads: "All Way of the Hundred Fists combo punches use the second stage combo punch. Consecutive hits from Way of the Hundred Fists increases its damage by 2%. Max 350 stacks." Its distinctive properties include:

• While it always uses the second stage combo punch, Way of the Hundred Fists will produce the third stage combo punch effect regardless, if held down long enough.
• The stacking buff of this Sanctification provides a multiplicative damage increase to Way of the Hundred Fists, for a total of 700%.

The Sanctification power reads: "The target of your Seven-Sided Strike is barraged with spiritual punches for 15 seconds. This can only affect one enemy at a time." Its distinctive properties include:

• This Sanctification's spiritual punches are produced on the particular initial target of your Seven-Sided Strike at a 12 FPA rate. The effect expires either after its natural 15-second duration, or if you move a screen's worth of distance from the target.
• The spiritual punches of this Sanctification behave like a self-casted Seven-Sided Strike in most respects — they benefit from the Lion's Claw legendary effect, renew the defensive buff of Binding of the Lost, trigger Uliana's Stratagem set bonuses, proc Area Damage, etc.

The Sanctification power reads: "Your Command Golem now picks up corpses within 20 yards. Each corpse it stores allows you to cast any corpse spending ability with the max number of corpses consumed per cast. Up to 30 corpses can be stored." Its distinctive properties include:

• The maximum number of Corpses stored by the Golem is capped at 30, and their origin — slain enemies, skill procs, etc. — does not matter.
• The pickup radius of the Golem is capped at 20 yards, and is unaffected by your own pickup radius stats.
• Using Corpse Lance, Corpse Explosion, or Revive while a Corpse is stored on the Golem will cast that skill as if the maximum number of Corpses the skill allows have been consumed.

The Sanctification power reads: "Enemies within 50 yards are constantly assaulted by the Army of the Dead Unconventional Warfare while this item is equipped." Its distinctive properties include:

• The Sanctified casts of Army of the Dead will behave as if they were self-cast, taking into account your current skill and elemental damage bonuses. They have a proc coefficient and can trigger Area Damage, as a normal AotD would.
• The range of this Sanctification — 50 yards — is exactly 1 in-game screen in Diablo 3, meaning anything on your screen will be assaulted.

The Sanctification power reads: "Hitting enemies with Death Nova five consecutive times adds a spirit that afflicts an enemy every fifth cast of Death Nova. Up to three spirits can be sent at a time." Its distinctive properties include:

• The spirits that afflict enemies hit by 5 consecutive Death Novas are effectively Bone Spirits — but in visuals only. The damage they inflict is based on their parent Death Nova.

The Sanctification power reads: "Enemies affected by Locust Swarm are also Haunted. When you cast Piranhas, all Haunted enemies within 60 yards are pulled into the pool. A lesser enemy stunned by Bogadile is instantly killed. Elites and Bosses stunned by Bogadile take massive damage." Its distinctive properties include:

• All enemies affected by Locust Swarm have a Haunt effect applied to them.
• The 60-yard range of the Piranhas pull is just slightly over the length of a screen inside Diablo 3, effectively meaning you pull everything in sight that has been afflicted by Haunt.
• While it will not outright kill Elites and Rift Guardians as it does with trash enemies, the Bogadile will inflict noticeable, percentage-based damage on these priority targets, making Witch Doctors wielding this power tremendously powerful.

The Sanctification power reads: " Horrify becomes an aura that causes enemies to receive 100% more damage and deal 15% less damage in addition to its other effects." Its distinctive properties include:

• The aura-like effect applied to Horrify extends to any rune you select as well.
• The buff of this Sanctification provides an additive damage increase against targets within the Horrify radius. The damage reduction effect is multiplicative in nature.

The Sanctification power reads: "You summon two Gargantuans and three Summon Zombie Dogs periodically. Gargantuans gain the effect of the Restless Giant rune. Summon Zombie Dogs gain the effect of all runes. Enemies hit by Sacrifice are Immolated, causing them to take 100% more damage from your Pets." Its distinctive properties include:

• The Summon Zombie Dogs and Gargantuans are cast at a rate of 1/second, until you reach the cap of 3 Dogs and 2 Gargantuans.
• The Immolation effect on enemies affected by Sacrifice provides a 100% multiplicative damage increase against them.

The Sanctification power reads: "Your Storm Armor charges over 30 seconds. Casting Storm Armor at full charge releases a powerful thunderbolt, instantly killing a random enemy within 30 yards. Bosses and Elites are not killed but take significant damage." Its distinctive properties include:

• The power of this Sanctification changes the way you play with Storm Armor, forcing you to track its 30-second wind-up period and re-cast it once it is charged. The reward is the insta-gib of a randomly chosen nearby enemy.
• Elites and Rift Guardians will not be killed immediately, but the thunderbolt will take ~10% worth of their health.

The Sanctification power reads: " Arcane Orb now periodically spawns up to four orbiting charges that will generate an additional orb when cast. All charges from the Arcane Orbit rune now detonate at the same time." Its distinctive properties include:

• The orbiting charges of Arcane Orb are capped at 4, spawned at a rate of 1/second. Casting Arcane Orb uses up all the stored orbiting charges, casting an additional Arcane Orb per charge.
• Arcane Dynamo applies to all orbiting charges released by the Arcane Orb cast.
• With this Sanctified power, the Arcane Orbit rune now detonates all its charges in quick succession, rather than its usual delayed cadence.

The Sanctification power reads: " Magic Missile fires 10 missiles and gains the effect of the Seeker rune." Its distinctive properties include:

• While you are granted the effect of the Seeker rune for free, the behavior and elemental type of the Magic Missiles you cast will be dependent on the rune you select on your bar.