Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred hotfix makes endgame gear crafting much smoother

With Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred finally upon us, the PCGamesN team has all been working hard on perfecting our ideal builds in the new DLC for the Blizzard RPG. If you’ve finished the campaign, your journey has only just begun – now it’s time to get that endgame gear, earn your Paragon points, and take on challenges such as the Kurast Undercity and Dark Citadel. That’s a grind that can be quite a daunting task, but it’s just become a lot easier thanks to a new Diablo 4 hotfix providing a hefty buff to drop rates for one of its most necessary crafting materials.

As Lauren notes in our Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred review, the expansion is a fantastic upgrade to a game that was already one of 2023’s best RPGs. Along with its excellent campaign and a fantastic new class in the Spiritborn, the expansion builds heavily on the endgame – the aspect where Diablo 4 was most notably lacking at launch. It takes ideas introduced throughout the various seasons since release, and expands on them with some great new modes. Of course, to tackle them, you’ll want to make sure your character is upgraded as much as possible, but that can be quite the grind; after all, isn’t that what Diablo is all about?

This latest Diablo 4 update follows on from a previous patch that boosted drop rates for the materials used to upgrade your potions. Next on the checklist, then, is sorting out your gear. As you reach max level and start to equip high-end Ancestral gear, you’ll need increasingly rare resources, most notably Diablo 4 Forgotten Souls, to upgrade these items through the likes of Tempering and Masterworking at the blacksmith or Enchanting at the Occultist.

Farming Forgotten Souls, however, has proven a real problem in Vessel of Hatred. “We’ve heard feedback that Forgotten Souls have been incredibly hard to obtain compared to other materials in-game,” Blizzard community manager Adam ‘PezRadar’ Fletcher says. “We agree. They were a bit too forgotten.” As a result, the drop rates for Forgotten Souls have been massively boosted across the board.

You’re now guaranteed to see Forgotten Souls drop from dungeon bosses, Whisper caches, and lair bosses in Torment tiers. The amount you’ll get from Dark Citadel and wing bosses has been boosted, as well as the number offered per drop in each Torment tier. Finally, crafting materials (including Forgotten Souls) have been added to the rewards granted at the end of Kurast Undercity runs.

Here are the changes to the amount of Forgotten Souls you’ll earn per drop at each tier of Torment difficulty:

• Torment 1: 1 → 3
• Torment 2: 1/2 → 5
• Torment 3: 2 → 7
• Torment 4: 3 → 10

Diablo 4 patch 2.0.2 hotfix 4 is out now. It should hopefully make your life a lot smoother, especially if you’re rerolling over and over to try and turn a great piece of gear into the perfect complement for your best Diablo 4 builds in Vessel of Hatred.

Want to take that next step to optimizing your endgame? You’ll want to make sure you know how to get the Diablo 4 Rod of Kepeleke, the dream weapon for Spiritborn players, and what the best Diablo 4 runes and runewords are to use in Season 6 of the ARPG.

You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.