The new expansion, Lord of Hatred, announced for Diablo IV will include new characters and new features. Besides Talisman System, another highly anticipated system is Horadric Cube.
This system first appeared in Diablo II, but it's highly unlikely that it will return to its original form in Diablo 4. The developers will probably retain its core functionality while adjusting it to better fit the content of Diablo 4. Although information and screenshots about it are currently scarce, we can speculate based on official announcements.
Horadric Cube in Diablo II
To predict the new Horadric Cube's functionality, we must first look at its origins - Horadric Cube in Diablo II.
The original Horadric Cube was incredibly versatile. It wasn't just a core crafting system, and it also provided extra storage space. Players could craft items using a vast array of recipes, utilizing almost everything in the game.
You could combine a regular helmet, certain gems, and runes to create a new helmet with slots. It can also use deterministic formulas to upgrade lower-tier runes to higher-tier runes, whereas rune crafting in Diablo 4 was random.
Other functions include combining three low-tier gems into one high-tier gem, or repairing item durability.
While some of these functions may be introduced to Diablo 4, considering that modern ARPG crafting systems have shifted from simply replacing items to enhancing them, and the new Horadric Cube may not necessarily remain an inventory item - it might be placed in a specific location like a crafting table - features like instant repair may be abandoned.
The new Horadric Cube will likely focus more on equipment enhancement, that is, changing or upgrading equipment attributes, rather than the classic Diablo II model of crafting entirely new items using resources. However, the design of using various materials to transform low-tier or specific equipment into higher-tier or different forms of equipment may be retained.
Kanai's Cube in Diablo III
Kanai's Cube in Diablo III can be seen as a modern improvement on Horadric Cube, and many of its excellent features may serve as a reference for the design of new Horadric Cubes.
The most anticipated feature is the extract legendary powers system. In Diablo III, players can use Kanai's Cube to extract the special effects of Legendary items without equipping them.
This is equivalent to gaining an extra powerful unique affix, allowing players more flexibility in building their builds, although it requires consuming a Unique or Legendary item.
In addition, Kanai's Cube has a very important recipe: Caldesann's Despair. It allows players to use high-level legendary gems to add primary attributes to equipment, an essential feature for challenging Greater Rifts.
In Diablo IV, Glyphs system is similar to Legendary Gem upgrade mechanism in Diablo 3, and The Pit functions similarly to Greater Rifts. If the developers intend to utilize this design, the new Horadric Cube might add extra attributes to equipment, but this would certainly require consuming some particularly valuable Diablo 4 items.
Both of these functions are incredibly powerful, but they also contributed to the numerical inflation in Diablo III, so it's unlikely they will both appear as features of the new Horadric Cube. Besides these two functions, Kanai's Cube has several other very useful functions:
- Converting a set piece into another random piece from the same set.
- Completely rerolling the attributes of an item.
- Converting gem categories.
- Upgrading Legendary or set items to Primal versions.
Horadric Cube in Diablo 4
Whether in Diablo II or III, their Cubes are not single-function devices, but rather multi-functional complexes related to the crafting system. Therefore, Horadric Cube in Diablo 4 will likely inherit this feature, which is almost confirmed in the official description.
This might mean the new Horadric Cube itself will integrate multiple crafting functions, becoming a new crafting core. Whether it's an item to be carried in your inventory or a fixed crafting station in town, it will be a new core for players to craft and upgrade new equipment in the late game. (Perhaps Sanctification system from Season 11 will be integrated into its functionality.)
Since players accumulate a large amount of unused resources, runes, and common equipment in the late game, the new Horadric Cube might be able to utilize these redundant Diablo 4 items. Through recipes such as using materials to re-randomize the attributes of a rare item or combining multiple legendary items into a rare unique item, all drops will have potential value.
It might even make Rare quality equipment important again in the late game. There might be recipes that require rare equipment as a base, special enhancement within the cube, and then traditional Tempering and Masterworking. This would change the current situation where rare equipment is directly disenchanted.
In conclusion, Horadric Cube in Lord of Hatred expansion holds immense potential. It could either borrow key features from its predecessors or innovate upon and supplement existing systems in Diablo IV. While its exact form is still unknown, it will likely include features that allow build data to swell.
