Diablo 3 gets a totally new talent system in Season 28: Rites of Sanctuary

The upcoming Diablo 3 Season 28 could be the last season the game has, because the Diablo 4 release date is is on the horizon — and if this is the last time we get to play a Diablo 3 Season, the team decided to go out with a bang because Season 28 adds an elaborate new talent tree system to the game. The Rites of Sanctuary is perhaps the biggest Season Theme we’ve seen, with an entirely new set of powers that combine in unique ways to significantly change up gameplay in Season 28. It’s essentially a completely new talent tree system bolted on to Diablo 3, the sort of thing you might expect to see in an expansion rather than as a Season Theme.

But it will be demanding to fully unlock the abilities in Season 28, so plan on spending plenty of time to really dig into the system if you want to make full use of the Rites of Sanctuary. The earliest tiers of the talent tree are fairly accessible, but you’ll find you need to dedicate increasing effort to unlock subsequent tiers. This is the first time I’ve looked at a Season and thought I don’t know if I can do this.

With the Rites of Sanctuary beginning February 24, let’s take a look at exactly what’s in store for us in Season 28.

How to use the Altar of Rites

The new talent tree includes 26 Seals and three Legendary Potion Powers, all of which are class-agnostic abilities that will provide power-ups no matter which class you play.  These abilities are accessed through the Altar of Rites, which you’ll find in the Festering Woods outside of Tristram. Starting at level 1, you can make sacrifices at the Altar to unlock its powers.

The first Seal is easy to unlock — it costs just 10 Reusable Parts — but after that Seals become more and more expensive. Expect to spend time farming up rare materials, unique drops, and plenty of Bloodshards to keep progressing. Fortunately these unlocks are account-wide, so if you play multiple Seasonal characters all of them will have access.

The Altar of Rites works like a standard talent tree: unlock the first Seal and then choose which path to progress down. There’s a fair amount of depth to this system, because the cost of unlocking Seals is based on how many you’ve unlocked so far, so you really need to think about how you progress down the tree. With the amount of time it will take to unlock higher level Seals, you’ll probably want to focus on getting the Seals that are best for your playstyle rather than rushing to unlock everything. The sooner you can get to your must-have Seals, the less they’ll cost.

Here are all of the powers in the Altar of Rites, and their location in the tree (as shown in the image above):

• A Your Kill Streak timer duration and reward bonus are doubled.
• B Pools of Reflection last for the entire Season and are not removed by death.
• C Items have no level requirement.
• D +200 Damage
• E +25% Missile Damage Reduction
• F +25% Movement Speed (Uncapped)
• G Increase damage against elites by 15%.
• H Picking up Health Globes grants a shield for 5% of your maximum health for 7 seconds. Max stacks 5.
• I +25% Melee Damage Reduction.
• J Increases your highest elemental skill damage bonus by 10%.
• K Increase damage against elites by 20%.
• L +10% Damage
• M Double the amount of Death’s Breaths that drop.
• N Critical hits grant resource: Mana: 15, Hatred: 5, Wrath: 5, Arcane Power: 3, Fury: 3, Spirit: 5, Essence: 5.
• O Double the amount of Bounty Caches that drop from completing bounties.
• P Progress orbs from Nephalem and Greater Rifts are picked up automatically.
• Q Reduces the damage taken from elites by 25%.
• R +15% Damage
• S Gain immunity to crowd-controlling effects.
• T Gain passability.
• U Pets pick up Death’s Breath.
• V Elite packs drop one additional progress orb.
• W Increase damage done to Bosses by 25%.
• X Pets pick up and salvage common, magic, and rare items.
• Y Increase your chance to Dodge by 15%.
• Z Double the chance to find a legendary item purchased from Kadala.
• Potion AA When you drink your health potion, you manifest one of three runic circles on the ground that grant increased damage, increased cooldown reduction, or increased resource cost reduction.
• Potion AB When you drink your health potion, all enemies within 25 yards deal 25% less damage.
• Potion AC When you drink your health potion, gain a random shrine or pylon effect.
• AD When a primal item drops, a second random primal item drops as well.

Here’s what unlocking each Seal in the Altar of Rites costs:

• Seal 1: 10 Reusable Parts
• Seal 2: 1 Flawless Diamond (or greater), 15 Arcane Dust, 20 Reusable Parts
• Seal 3: 1 Greater Rift Key, 10 Death’s Breaths
• Seal 4: Any class-specific Set helm
• Seal 5: 20 Forgotten Souls, 10 Khanduran Runes, 10 Caldeum Nightshade, 10 Arreat War Tapestry, 10 Corrupted Angel Flesh, 10 Westmarch Holy Water (a few Adventure Mode Bounties should cover this)
• Seal 6: Leoric’s Regret, 1 Vial of Putridness, 1 Idol of Terror, 1 Heart of Fright (very similar to what you need to craft a Hellfire Amulet)
• Seal 7: Reaper’s Wraps (crafted from a recipe Malthael drops)
• Seal 8: 30 Forgotten Souls
• Seal 9: 1,100 Bloodshards
• Seal 10: 1 Flawless Royal Ruby, 20 Death’s Breaths, Ring of Royal Grandeur
• Seal 11: 1 Flawless Royal Emerald, 30 Khanduran Runes, 30 Caldeum Nightshade, 30 Arreat War Tapestry, 30 Corrupted Angel Flesh, 30 Westmarch Holy Water (again, Adventure Mode Bounties should get most of this easily)
• Seal 12: 20 Greater Rift Keys, 1 Ramaladni’s Gift (this one made me wince, because this precious item which adds an extra socket to gear doesn’t drop nearly enough)
• Seal 13: 1,300 Bloodshards
• Seal 14: 1 Petrified Scream
• Seal 15: 1 Challenge Rift Cache
• Seal 16: 250 Forgotten Souls
• Seal 17: 1,400 Bloodshards
• Seal 18: Ancient Hellfire Amulet
• Seal 19: Never Ending Questions
• Seal 20: Ancient Puzzle Ring, 50 Khanduran Runes, 50 Caldeum Nightshade, 50 Arreat War Tapestry, 50 Corrupted Angel Flesh, 50 Westmarch Holy Water (this is a lot of Adventure Mode Bounties, as well as sacrificing the mountain of gold the Ancient Puzzle Ring could give you)
• Seal 21: 500 Death’s Breaths, 300 Forgotten Souls
• Seal 22: 1,500 Bloodshards
• Seal 23: Whisper of Atonement Rank 125
• Seal 24: Any Augmented Weapon
• Seal 25: Staff of Herding
• Seal 26: A somewhat anticlimactic 1,600 Bloodshards

Unlocking the three Legendary Potion Powers requires the new Primordial Ashes currency. In Season 28, you can salvage Primal items for 55 Primordial Ashes, which you can use to unlock these powers or upgrade Ancient Legendaries into Primal Ancient Legendaries. As with Seals, each Legendary Potion Power costs more than the last:

• Power 1: 55 Primordial Ashes
• Power 2: 110 Primordial Ashes
• Power 3: 165 Primordial Ashes

Unlocking every Seal and Potion Power doesn’t give any further power boost, but grants the Diablo-themed Wings of Terror cosmetic, above.

Originally published January 31, 2023. Updated February 20, 2023.