How to use Seals and Charms in Diablo 4’s new Talisman system

The new Talisman system introduced in the Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred expansion answers the recurring question from past Diablo 3 players — “where are the class sets?” The answer is that they’re now a collection of charms you can place into a Talisman, giving players a way to customize their set bonuses and powers.

Using the Talisman requires you to own the Lord of Hatred expansion, which makes sense, as the system is introduced in a quick side conversation with Lorath before you head to Skovos. The Talisman adds a new tab to your character screen, similar to past seasonal power systems. And like those seasonal systems, the Talisman lets you customize a unique power set: in this case, via Seals and Charms that you socket into slots in your Talisman.

What are Horadric Seals?

Horadric Seals unlock slots in your Talisman. Seals are required in order for you to use any Charms in your Talisman. You can only equip one of these hexagonal items at a time, and they have two major facets. The first is the number of Charm slots that are unlocked by the seal. Lower quality, early level Seals open three Charm slots, but as you progress, you’ll loot Seals that unlock up to all six slots. Additionally, Seals can have affixes on them like your gear and Charms.

Seals can be Magic, Rare, or Legendary quality items, although the starting one you receive from Lorath will be Normal quality. Your initial Seals dropped during the campaign should be Magic rarity and have one affix on them, like adding a percentage to all your stats. In general, Seals will only have one or two affixes, although Legendary Seals will also have their own bonuses to them to accompany its affixes. Think things like enabling you to equip multiple Unique charms.

What are Charms?

Charms are the strength behind the Talisman system, letting you add bonus affixes and effects to your build without swapping out your gear. There are three types: regular Charms, Set Charms, and Unique Charms.

Like your Seals, normal Charms drop at varying qualities, starting with Magic, and progressing up. Your very first Magic Charm, also received from Lorath with the system unlock, will be something like added Bonus Kill Experience. Per Blizzard, matching affixes on Charms will stack bonuses — so two Charms with +2% Bonus Kill Experience apiece will result in +4% Bonus Kill Experience when equipped together.

However, the real power is found in Set Charms. Set Charms are like their inspiration — Diablo 3’s set gear — in a few ways. There are general sets and class-specific sets that improve builds and abilities. Also, each Set Charm grants individual affix bonuses, but as you equip more of the set’s Charms you unlock more of the set’s bonuses.

Finally, Unique Charms correlate to Unique items. For example, they can be converted from Ancestral Uniques in the Horadric Cube, granting two affixes and the Unique’s power. These feel stylistically similar to equipping Legendary powers in Diablo 3‘s version of the Cube, and similar to that setup, you can generally only equip one Unique Charm unless you have a Seal equipped that expands this limitation.

You can mix and match charms as you like, customizing your bonuses to suit your build, and giving yourself different combinations of set bonuses.

One of the most exciting possibilities with the addition of the Talisman is that this may finally be the system that breaks us out of the borrowed power model for seasonal themes; after all, if you’ve got a power-up model already baked into your characters, you’re no longer bound to feeling like that’s the only option for themes — but we’ll see how seasonal themes develop when we get further into Lord of Hatred.

For now, enjoy your first initial explorations with the Talisman system in Lord of Hatred and Season 13.