How to get Primordial Ashes in Diablo 3 Season 28 for your Altar of Rites

Diablo 3 Season 28: Rites of Sanctuary brought to an incredible theme to the table with the Altar of Rites where you can make sacrifices to unlock immense power. But patch 2.7.5 included a smaller — and no less impactful — change, introducing Primordial Ashes, a new crafting material that you’ll need to fully unlock the Altar of Rites.

Whether you’re just diving into Season 28 or you’re trying to unlock those last few points of power in the Altar of Rites, let’s talk about how to get Primordial Ashes.

How to get Primordial Ashes

Primordial Ashes are the new result of salvaging a Primal Ancient item at the Blacksmith. Instead of obtaining extra Forgotten Souls, you now receive 55 Primordial Ashes for each Primal Ancient item salvaged — just enough to cover the sacrifice cost for your first potion unlock at the Altar of Rites.

But before you can get Primordial Ashes, you need to have Primal Ancients to salvage. To unlock Primal Ancients, you have to complete a rank 70 Greater Rift (equivalent to Torment 15 difficulty). This target is definitely achievable, but to knock it out in seasonal play you should definitely have the full set from Haedrig’s Gift equipped for the run.

Technically speaking, any item that drops for you has a chance to be a Primal Ancient (and these drops will always be for your class), but The absolute best way to get them is running greater rifts. To maximize your drop rate, you ideally want to blasting a Greater Rift in the 85-95 range in less than five minutes. But they also have a chance to come from chests, Kadala blood shard purchases, crafting

While the unlock target is reachable, Primal Ancients are (quite frankly) a pain in the butt to farm — which makes Primordial Ashes equally frustrating.  The drop rate is a bit esoteric — for every legendary item you can get in game, you have a 10% chance for it to be Ancient and a 0.25% chance for it to be a Primal Ancient. Yes, roughly 1 in 400 drops will be a Primal Ancient item. fraction of the existing chance for any legendary item to be Ancient.

What are Primordial Ashes used for?

In Season 28, Primordial Ashes have two uses. First, you need them to unlock the three potion buffs in your Altar of Rites — 55 for the first, 110 for the second, 165 for the third. That means six Primal Ancient items in total, sacrificed for serious boosts.

Primordial Ashes can also be used for a new recipe in Kanai’s cube — Curiosity of Lorath Nahr. Named after the Horadrim member we see accompanying Tyrael, this recipe will take one Legendary item (does not have to be Ancient!) and, with 100 Primordial Ashes, upgrade it to a Primal Ancient version. You’ll have no control of which stats show up, but they will be perfect rolls. However, you can only equip one cube-upgraded Primal Ancient at a time, so make it count!

Frankly, Primordial Ashes and their accompanying recipe are another huge quality of life boost to send off Diablo 3 in style. Be sure to give both the altar potion buffs and new cube recipe a spin during Season 28 and earn your Taennin the Tiny pet. Happy blasting!