Once you have completed your basic gear setup in Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, reached higher Torment tiers, and stabilized your character's growth, you will naturally start aiming for endgame weapons. Recently, farming for these weapons via 'Ancestral Transmutation' has become a hot topic among players.

Ancestral Transmutation involves taking a legendary weapon with no specific desired stats and using transmutation to roll for a 'Gem Effect Amplification' affix. The goal is to obtain a weapon that lacks the 'Cannot Change Affixes' penalty, which is a low-probability outcome, before proceeding with further crafting. While this method minimizes the consumption of other resources, it requires a massive amount of ancestral weapons and transmutation materials due to the sheer number of attempts needed.

In this guide, we will cover 'Deep-Dive Runs' for gathering materials for transmutation, and 'Royal Runs' for farming the gems needed for your weapons and jewelry.

To craft endgame weapons via Ancestral Transmutation, you need large quantities of 'Murmuring Obols' (hereafter 'Obols') to acquire ancestral weapons and 'Raw Primal Dust' for the transmutation process. Deep-Dive Runs are the most efficient way to farm both resources simultaneously.

There are two prerequisites for Deep-Dive Runs. First, you must allocate points to 'Forking Paths' in the War Planning activity levels. This is essential for focusing your farming exclusively on Obols and crafting materials.

Second, equip amulets with the 'Increased Crafting Material Acquisition Chance' affix. Unlike 'Forking Paths,' this is not strictly mandatory, but your efficiency will vary significantly depending on how many such amulets you wear.

Once prepared, use a Legendary Deep-Dive Sigil to enter a Nightmare Dungeon. If possible, choose a dungeon with 'Obol Cache' or 'Material Cache' options. However, if the first dungeon doesn't have them, don't worry—these options can appear in the second or third dungeons of the chain, so any Legendary Deep-Dive Sigil will work.

Once inside a dungeon with Obol or Material Cache attributes, explore thoroughly and open every Horadric Chest you find. Opening these chests will drop large amounts of the corresponding Obols or materials.

If your Obols reach the cap while in the dungeon, return to town, buy the desired weapons from the Purveyor of Curiosities, store all ancestral-grade weapons (regardless of whether they are legendary or rare) in your stash, salvage the rest, and return to the dungeon.

If you have unlocked 'Forking Paths,' you will be given three choices after clearing a dungeon. Select the Obol Cache or Material Cache option, just as you did with the sigil. If none of the three options appear, simply enter any dungeon to proceed quickly.

After clearing three dungeons, you will face Astaroth's Lair. This encounter has a higher gear requirement than other content at the same difficulty level. It is time-consuming due to the boss' high health, so feel free to skip it by resetting the dungeon if you prefer. Afterward, simply use a new Legendary Deep-Dive Sigil and repeat the process.

At Torment 10, you can earn 5k to 15k Obols per Obol Cache dungeon. While the constant trips to town to empty your 2500-Obol cap are tedious, the resource acquisition speed is extremely high. You can also obtain additional Obols or materials through 'Boon of the Living' (selected via War Planning) or by defeating the Butcher, who appears with a low probability.

If you have enough materials and only need Obols, you can perform 'Obol Runs' by repeatedly resetting an 'Obol Cache' dungeon when it appears in War Planning. This is faster for Obols alone, but because the initial setup is more difficult and it is harder to farm other materials simultaneously, I recommend Deep-Dive Runs for most players.

Once you have successfully obtained the 'Gem Effect Amplification' affix through Ancestral Transmutation, you need to maximize its potential. The fastest way to collect high-tier gems is through Royal Runs.

Unlike Deep-Dive Runs, Royal Runs require no special preparation. Simply repeat the 'Seer's Touch' dungeon in the Scosglen region on Torment 1 or higher indefinitely.

The process is just a quick boss farm. Since it drops three Royal Gems consistently on Torment difficulty, you can speed up your farming by using movement speed gear or unique boots like 'Penitent Greaves' to ignore mob collisions. Occasionally, you may receive Flawless Gems instead of Royal Gems.

Creating a Flawless Horadric Gem via Royal Runs requires several hours of effort, making it more repetitive than Deep-Dive Runs. However, since there is no other reliable way to obtain gems in-game, this is the recommended method for those determined to get Flawless Horadric Gems.

Note that Flawless Gems provide the same 100k gem fragments as Royal Gems, so be sure to upgrade them via synthesis rather than salvaging them.