The Horadric Cube isn’t meant to be just some extra spaces in your inventory that hold items while you farm. There are many things this magical box can do — from upgrading gems to making new ones or changing their properties. However, Diablo 2 doesn’t give you any guide to help you. Which is why we’re here.

Last time, we looked into how to make Crafted Items and the recipes for specific crafts. Here, we’ll look into what else you can do with the Cube.

1. Upgrading gems

This is probably the simplest recipe for the Horadric Cube. If you have three gems of the same level and type, you can put them in your Cube and upgrade them to a higher level of that gem. The highest level is Perfect, and Perfect gems are used in many different ways, so make sure you collect all the gems you see.

2. Upgrading runes

At lower levels (rune levels, not hero levels), runes work the same way as gems. Up to the #10 run, Thul, you need three of the lower level to make the next one. After Thul, you need to add a specific gem, and after the #22 rune, Um, you only need two runes and a gem. In the original Diablo 2, you were able to upgrade runes after #15, Hel, only on ladder, but in Resurrected, these recipes can be used in any mode. 

And by the way, you need more than 14 trillion El runes to make a Zod rune.

3. Upgrading equipment

You can upgrade the level of an item — from normal to exceptional, to elite — through the Horadric Cube. This is mostly used on low-level unique items, but sometimes on rare equipment as well. This way, you can gain higher defense and damage, but as the item is getting upgraded, the required stats (Level, Strength, Dexterity) go up as well. One of the most frequently upgraded items is Magefist.

4. Changing properties on magic items

By using perfect gems, you can change the properties of a magic item and this method is used mostly on magic charms. The charms dropped by a high Treasure Class (TC) monster are said to have more potential for higher and better properties. Besides that, you can cube a magic weapon with three chipped gems to gain more gold during the early point of the game.

5. Crafting

Crafting is a method to create a new item using a magic item, perfect gem, a jewel, and rune. Depending on the craft, you can gain a mix of fixed and random properties, so if you get lucky, you can gain an end-game item. Most used crafts are caster belts and amulets, which have Faster Cast Rate as a fixed option, and Blood gloves, which have Crushing Blow.

Find more details in our Crafting Recipes Guide here.

6. Socketing

The Horadric Cube can also make sockets on normal items for you. Unlike Larzuk, who creates the maximum number of sockets possible, it’s random, but sometimes, that’s better. If you have enough perfect gems and have some non-socket items that need sockets, you can test your chances.

7. Unsocketing

When there are jewels, runes, or gems socketed in an item, you can also get rid of them. All you need to do is transmute the item, a town portal scroll, and a Hel rune in your Horadric Cube. Then all socketed material will be gone. However, this does not return the material that was in the item. It just gets rid of them, and you’ll be left with an item with clean sockets. If you have made a Rune word item, and you don’t like the options, you can get rid of the runes and try again — obviously, you’ll need new runes for it.

8. Repairing Items

You can also repair items through the Cube. With a chipped gem and Ort or Ral rune, the durability and charged skills will all be repaired to max level. If you just want to repair the durability, it works without the chipped gem. However, this does not work with Ethereal items.

9. How to enter the Cow Level

Everyone should remember the cow level joke from Blizzard. They actually made it in Diablo 2, and it’s back in Resurrected as well. You need to get Wirt’s Leg from Tristram and buy a Town Portal Book. Put those together in the Horadric Cube, and a red portal that leads you to the cow level will be opened. In the original Diablo 2, you weren’t able to open it again if you slew the Cow King, but in Resurrected, it doesn’t matter.

10. Pandemonium Event (Hellfire Torch)

The portals to the Pandemonium Event are also opened through the Horadric Cube. You need to find the Keys of Hate, Terror, and Destruction from the Countess, Summoner, and Nithlatak — three of each. From Harrogath, you can put one of each key in your Cube and open portals to Forgotten Sands, Furnace of Pain, and Matron's Den. It’s highly recommended that you do all three in the same game, as the portals opened will be at random.

After defeating the bosses there, you’ll be able to gain Baal's Eye, Mephisto's Brain, and Diablo's Horn. These are the keys to open the portal to Uber Tristram. In Uber Tristram, you’ll have to face Uber Mephisto, Uber Baal, and Pandemonium Diablo, and the last one you slay will drop the Hellfire Torch. 

11. Token of Absolution

The last trick of the Horadric Cube is creating the Token of Absolution. If you kill the Hell bosses of each act, you can sometimes gain the Twisted Essence of Suffering (Andariel, Duriel), Charged Essence of Hatred (Mephisto), Burning Essence of Terror (Diablo), and Festering Essence of Destruction (Baal). One of each put together gives you the Token of Absolution, which resets your stats and skills.