Diablo 4 continues the franchise trend of giving players tons of loot to sort through AND find the best gear to suit their build. With so much loot being given to you, you'll have lots to break down, but also a few you'll want to hang onto and upgrade at the blacksmith.
While gear can only be upgraded a few times, it is useful to make your character stronger and use gear slightly stronger than what's currently being dropped. Veiled Crystals are rare upgrade materials that any player will need a mountain of; here's how to find them.
Where To Get Veiled Crystals
Veiled Crystals are obtained by salvaging rare (yellow) equipment at the blacksmith. Each rare item you salvage will only give you one veiled crystal. You can also obtain veiled Crystals by salvaging legendary gear pieces, but over time you'll find countless rare items that are worth salvaging before you start breaking down legendary gear. As you level up, rare gear is fairly common through normal drops from enemies or chests.
To make rare gear more common, simply play on a higher World Tier. Even on Veteran Tier, rare gear is very common, and you can find it in almost every encounter around level 30. After obtaining rare gear, take it to the blacksmith, where the final salvage option will be to break up all rare gear in your inventory. This will not touch any of the gear you have equipped but will clear out your inventory of rare weapons and armor, turning them into Veiled Crystals.
How To Use Veiled Crystals
Players are able to use Veiled Crystals to upgrade rare and legendary gear pieces at the blacksmith. When upgrading rare gear, the first two levels won't require these rare materials, but the third upgrade will. Beyond simple upgrades, Veiled Crystals will be required for many of the other upgrades done on rare and legendary gear pieces. Putting Aspects onto rare and legendary gear pieces will require multiple Veiled Crystals. The occultist is also able to change the individual stats of a gear piece and will require additional Veiled Crystals to do so.
Each of these upgrades requires multiple Veiled Crystals to complete, making them very important material for late-game gear tweaks. While rare gear can be found fairly easily in the game, it is important to start salvaging them as soon as possible to stock up on Veiled Crystals.