What is Diablo 4 salvage?

Diablo 4 salvage is mentioned early in the game when begin gathering loot. However you won't be able to salvage gear and claim it until you've progressed to the first city and met the Blacksmith. So if you're looking this up because you don't know what to do yet, you probably haven't got far enough. 

You'll spend most of your time in Diablo 4 grabbing every piece of gear in sight, with the best weapons and armor getting equipped while the rest is set aside to be sold or broken down. If you check the descriptions then you'll often see the phrase "Unlocks new look on salvage", but what does that mean? Let's explain how to salvage gear in Diablo 4 and what this all means.

How to salvage gear in Diablo 4

To salvage gear in Diablo 4 you need a Blacksmith, which you won't be able to access until you arrive in Kyovashad (after that you should find one in most cities). So keep pushing forward through the campaign until you get there if you haven't already. Once you've arrived, you'll have two choices for what to do with all of your accumulated equipment:

1. Sell them to the Weapons and Armor Vendors in exchange for Gold
2. Salvage them with the Blacksmith in exchange for Materials

To collect Diablo 4 salvage interact with the Blacksmith then select the top 'Directly in Inventory' option to send individual gear to salvage. You can also mark multiple items as Junk then select 'All Junk' under 'Salvage by item quality' to process them all at once, and you can even elect to salvage all items in your inventory – though we don't recommend doing that unless you're absolutely sure you want a complete clear out!

By salvaging items you'll receive Materials such as Rawhide and Superior Leather, which can then be used in future crafting. You can't unfortunately see in advance what Materials you'll receive but the general rule is the better the item, the better the salvage. That "Unlocks new look on salvage" message also means you'll also add its appearance to your wardrobe for use with Diablo 4 transmog.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.