Beginner Essentials: How to Get and Use S11 Items in Diablo 4
Dec-03-2025 PSTDiablo 4's Season 11 brings a wide range of new mechanics, items, and progression systems that completely reshape how players build their characters. For beginners—or anyone returning after a break—understanding how to get and use S11 seasonal items is crucial for starting strong and progressing efficiently. This guide breaks down everything you need to know about Season 11 items: where to find them, how they work, and the smartest ways to Diablo 4 Items use them throughout your journey in Sanctuary.
What Are S11 Items?
S11 items are special seasonal items tied to Season 11's theme, systems, and progression loop. These include:
Riftforged Items
Riftborn Cores
Ascendant Materials
Seasonal Uniques
Season-Exclusive Legendary Aspects
Dimensional Boons
Each of these helps support new builds, power-ups, and gameplay enhancements introduced in Season 11. Unlike regular gear, S11 items are only available during the season and can greatly accelerate your character's growth.
How to Get S11 Items: The Complete Breakdown
This section covers every reliable method beginners can use to start accumulating S11 items from Day 1.
1. Participate in Riftborn Incursions
Season 11 revolves around Riftborn enemies invading Sanctuary through unstable dimensional tears. Beginners will encounter these events early, and they are the best starting point for obtaining S11 items.
Riftborn Incursions reward:
Riftforged Items
Riftborn Cores
Seasonal crafting materials
Riftforged Boons
These events spawn throughout the open world, and the difficulty scales to your level. They are perfect for beginners because they provide fast loot without requiring high gear or complicated builds.
Tip: Always complete at least 3–4 Incursions per session for steady item flow.
2. Run Dimensional Tear Mini-Dungeons
Dimensional Tears are small seasonal dungeons with shifting layouts and unpredictable enemy modifiers. They drop:
High quantities of S11 materials
Seasonal Aspects
Early-game Legendary items
Riftborn Essence (used for crafting and upgrading S11 gear)
Beginners can run these quickly and repeatedly for fast progression.
Why they're excellent:
They scale to your power, making them beginner-friendly while still rewarding high-value seasonal items.
3. Complete the S11 Season Journey
The Season Journey is one of the most beginner-friendly systems in Diablo 4 because:
It offers guided objectives
It rewards you with guaranteed seasonal items
It unlocks seasonal crafting blueprints
It boosts your character without relying on random drops
Chapters 1–3 of the Season Journey reward:
Seasonal Aspects
Riftborn crafting reagents
Legendary caches
Gold and XP
New S11 item upgrade recipes
Complete these early for huge boosts that make the rest of the season easier.
4. Farm S11 World Bosses
Season 11 introduces Riftborn-enhanced world bosses that drop:
Seasonal Uniques
Ascendant crafting materials
High-tier Riftborn Cores
These fights are accessible even to beginners thanks to group participation. Just show up at the event time and contribute what you can.
Tip: Even low DPS players get full loot. Do not skip these bosses.
5. Run Nightmare Dungeons After Level 50
While Nightmare Dungeons are endgame content, Season 11's rework makes them more rewarding for beginners transitioning into mid-game.
Nightmare Dungeons drop:
High-quality Riftforged gear
Upgraded seasonal materials
Endgame Legendary Aspects
Ascendant materials for item enhancement
If you're new, start with Tier 1–10 and increase slowly as your gear improves.
6. Earn Rewards in Ascendant Trials
The new Ascendant Trials mode is a wave-based endgame activity that becomes accessible by mid-season. Even beginner-level characters can tackle the lower tiers.
Rewards include:
Rare Ascendant materials
High-level S11 Legendaries
Exclusive cosmetics
Riftforged Aspects
The Trials get harder as you progress, but even the early tiers provide some of the best seasonal items available.
How to Use S11 Items Effectively
Getting items is only half the problem—you must also use them wisely. Here are the best ways for beginners to maximize the value of S11 items.
1. Equip Riftforged Items Early
Riftforged gear is tailored to Season 11 mechanics. It often includes:
Mutating affixes
Seasonal damage multipliers
Extra survivability effects
Synergies with Riftborn Boons
Riftforged gear should be equipped as soon as you get it. Even if the stats aren't perfect, the seasonal bonuses outweigh small stat losses.
2. Upgrade Your Items Using Riftborn Cores
Season 11 introduces new upgrade tiers using Riftborn Cores. You can enhance:
Weapon damage
Armor values
Seasonal affix strength
Elemental multipliers
For beginners, focus on upgrading:
Your main weapon
Your chest armor
Your aspect-carrying offensive item
These offer the biggest power spikes for the least material cost.
3. Apply Seasonal Legendary Aspects
Season 11 adds multiple new Aspects that change gameplay dramatically. For beginners, these provide:
Easy power boosts
Automatic synergy with S11 items
Strong multipliers without complex mechanics
Always imprint seasonal Aspects first. They tend to outperform standard Aspects early and mid-game.
4. Use Dimensional Boons to Empower Your Build
Dimensional Boons act like temporary power-ups that support specific playstyles. Beginners should:
Choose Boons that match their main damage type
Avoid splitting investment between too many Boons
Upgrade only the Boons that directly improve their main skills
Smart Boon management can increase your damage by 30–50%.
5. Craft Upgraded Gear with Ascendant Materials
Ascendant Materials are the rarest S11 crafting items. Use them wisely.
Best items to craft/upgrade with Ascendant materials:
Your best Legendary weapon
High-roll chest or pants
Endgame-ready jewelry
Avoid spending Ascendant materials on low-level items—you'll replace them quickly.
Final Tips for Beginners in Season 11
Always complete your Season Journey chapters early
Run Dimensional Tears whenever you feel stuck
Equip S11 gear even if the stats are imperfect
Save Ascendant materials for endgame items
Join group activities like world bosses as often as possible
Focus on one build path instead of spreading upgrades across several
Conclusion
Season 11 introduces some of the most exciting and powerful items Diablo 4 has seen so far. For beginners, the key to Diablo IV Gold fast progression is simple: learn how to get S11 items efficiently and use them thoughtfully. By leveraging Riftborn events, Dimensional Tears, seasonal Aspects, and smart upgrading, you can create a strong character without needing expert-level knowledge.
