Diablo 4 will constantly shower players with new gear to allow them to try new play styles. Using Aspects, you'll be able to pick which powerful upgrades are applied to your weapon, letting you decide exactly what your build will start to look like in later levels.
Aspects are powerful upgrades that are obtained through clearing dungeons. Aspects are categorized by offensive and defensive for your weapons and armor. Some of them can be used by any class such as Edgemaster's Aspect, but many are also class-specific, such as the build-defining Aspect of Berserk Ripping. You'll have the possibility of unlocking aspects for other classes, Regardless of the class you go with.
Updated On July 2, 2023, By Chad Thesen: This guide has been updated by adding some embedded links for some good example Aspects using guides available on the Dualshockers website. This includes the Edgemaster's Aspect, which is used in many builds for every class in the game, as well as a class-specific example using the Aspect of Berserk Ripping. Aspect of Berserk Ripping is unique to the Barbarian Class and several players utilize it as one of the important components of how some Barbarian builds get to their final damage numbers.
How To Get Aspects
Throughout the world of Sanctuary, there are many dungeons. Dungeons will have the players completing different tasks or simply clearing out all the enemies within to complete the dungeon. Doing so not only gives you renown for that region but will also reward you with an Aspect. It's important to get as many Aspects as possible to try and fill out your Codex to be able to build the perfect character later in the game.
How To Equip Aspects
After obtaining an Aspect, head to an Occultist in one of the major towns. Here, you'll be able to select the gear piece you wish to equip an Aspect on, only rare items or better. Defensive Aspects can only be equipped on armor pieces, while offensive Aspects can only be placed on weapons. No matter what class you're playing, as you can equip class-specific Aspects on gear, this would make it unusable for the other classes.
Inserting an Aspect onto a rare item will increase its rarity to Legendary, making the gear piece much more powerful. If needed, Aspects can be drawn out of gear, weakening the gear but freeing up the Aspect to be placed onto a different gear piece. Mixing and matching Aspects is one of the key ways players can round out their builds in the endgame content.
Extracted Aspects
Getting Aspects from dungeons is not the only way players can obtain them. Legendary gear you find already has an aspect equipped, and by going to the Occultist, you can extract this aspect from the gear piece. It will, however, destroy the gear in the process. This doesn't give you the usual aspect. Instead, it creates one in item form that can be found in the Aspects menu of your inventory. This disposable aspect can then be used by the Occultist to place it on another gear piece. While many of the stats of legendary gear pieces will begin to lag behind, this always allows you to pull off the best part and continue to use it where you see fit.
Viewing Your Aspects
After obtaining your first Aspect, you'll gain access to the Codex Of Power in your Collection menu. There are many Aspects to be found, and once you have them, they can be seen here in your Codex. This is a complete list of all Aspects of the game, allowing you to view Aspects even for other classes. Your Aspects are also shared across your profile, allowing you to gather Aspects for other classes before starting up a new character and using your Aspects to power them up quickly.