Horadric Cube – All Prisms & Affix Pools Explained

With Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, the Horadric Cube was introduced as a new crafting system.

One of the most important mechanics within this system are the so-called Tuning Prisms.

These Prisms help you influence crafting results in the Horadric Cube more precisely. Instead of changing an affix completely at random, you can use the right Prism to target a specific affix category.

What Do Tuning Prisms Do?

Tuning Prisms influence which type of affix is changed, removed, or rerolled when crafting with the Horadric Cube.

For example, if you want to affect an offensive stat, you use an Aggressive Tuning Prism.

If you want to affect a defensive stat, you use a Protector’s Tuning Prism.

This makes crafting more predictable and helps you work toward better items more efficiently.

Overview of All Prisms

| Aggressive Tuning Prism | Offensive Affixes | Damage, Crit, Attack Speed, Damage Multipliers |

| Protector’s Tuning Prism | Defensive Affixes | Life, Armor, Resistances, Damage Reduction |

| Chromatic Tuning Prism | Individual Resistances | Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison, Shadow, Physical Resistance |

| Resourceful Tuning Prism | Resource Affixes | Resource, Resource Generation, Cost Reduction |

| Pragmatic Tuning Prism | Utility & Mobility | Movement, Evade, Cooldown Reduction, Lucky Hit |

| Adept’s Tuning Prism | Skill Ranks & Attributes | Skill Ranks and Main Attributes |

| Entropic Tuning Prism | Safer Transfiguration | Safer Transfiguration with lower risk |

| Kullean Tuning Prism | Amulet Special Case | Adds a Legendary Affix to amulets |

Aggressive Tuning Prism

The Aggressive Tuning Prism targets offensive affixes.

Typical Affixes

• Weapon Damage
• Attack Speed
• Critical Strike Chance
• Critical Strike Damage
• Vulnerable Damage
• Damage Over Time
• Fire Damage
• Physical Damage
• Shadow Damage
• Total Damage Multiplier
• Thorns
• Willpower

When Should You Use It?

Use this Prism when you want to improve your item offensively.

Especially useful for:

• Weapons
• Rings
• Gloves
• Amulets
• offensive build optimization
• more damage in the endgame

Protector’s Tuning Prism

The Protector’s Tuning Prism targets defensive affixes.

Typical Affixes

• Maximum Life
• Life Regeneration
• Life on Hit
• Life per Kill
• Armor
• Resistance to All Elements
• Fire Resistance
• Cold Resistance
• Lightning Resistance
• Poison Resistance
• Shadow Resistance
• Physical Resistance
• Damage Reduction
• Dodge Chance

When Should You Use It?

Use this Prism when your character dies too quickly or when you want to improve your defensive stability.

Especially useful for:

• Chest Armor
• Pants
• Helmets
• defensive amulets
• builds pushing higher Torment tiers
• Hardcore players

Chromatic Tuning Prism

The Chromatic Tuning Prism targets individual resistances.

Typical Affixes

• Fire Resistance
• Cold Resistance
• Lightning Resistance
• Poison Resistance
• Shadow Resistance
• Physical Resistance

When Should You Use It?

Use this Prism when you are missing a specific resistance.

Examples:

• you have too little Fire Resistance
• you need more Poison Resistance
• your build is weak against certain damage types

Resourceful Tuning Prism

The Resourceful Tuning Prism targets resource-related affixes.

Typical Affixes

• Maximum Resource
• Resource per X Kills
• Resource Generation
• Resource Cost Reduction
• Lucky Hit: Restore Primary Resource

When Should You Use It?

Use this Prism when your build has resource problems.

Especially useful for builds that:

• often run out of resource
• have high resource costs
• want to spam skills consistently
• rely heavily on resource generation

Pragmatic Tuning Prism

The Pragmatic Tuning Prism targets utility, movement, and comfort stats.

Typical Affixes

• Movement Speed
• Attacks Reduce Evade Cooldown
• Maximum Evade Charges
• Evade Grants Movement Speed
• Potion Capacity
• Lucky Hit Chance
• Healing Received
• Cooldown Reduction
• Impairment Reduction

When Should You Use It?

Use this Prism when you want your build to feel smoother, faster, or more flexible.

Especially useful for:

• speedfarming
• movement builds
• cooldown-heavy builds
• builds with strong Lucky Hit scaling
• more comfort in the endgame

Adept’s Tuning Prism

The Adept’s Tuning Prism targets skill ranks and main attributes.

Typical Affixes

• +Ranks to specific skills
• +Ranks to Basic Skills
• +Ranks to Core Skills
• +Ranks to class-specific skill categories
• Strength
• Dexterity
• Intelligence
• Willpower

When Should You Use It?

Use this Prism when your build strongly benefits from skill ranks or main attributes.

Especially useful for:

• Gloves
• Amulets
• Helmets
• class-specific builds
• builds with important damage skills
• reaching breakpoints through skill ranks

Entropic Tuning Prism

The Entropic Tuning Prism is a special case.

It does not belong to the normal affix categories. Instead, it affects Transfiguration.

Effect

The Entropic Tuning Prism removes the riskiest, but also the strongest possible Transfiguration outcomes.

This means:

• less risk
• fewer extreme negative outcomes
• but also less chance for absolute top-tier results
• the item may become permanently unmodifiable afterward

When Should You Use It?

Use this Prism when you have a good item but want to reduce the risk of a completely bad Transfiguration result.

Kullean Tuning Prism

The Kullean Tuning Prism is also a special case.

It is mainly used in connection with amulets.

Effect

Kullean’s Prism can add an additional Legendary Affix to an amulet.

Important:

• only relevant for amulets
• not intended for Uniques
• can create a very powerful result
• especially interesting for endgame min-maxing

When Should You Use It?

Use this Prism when you want to further improve an already very strong amulet.

Especially useful for:

• perfect amulets
• endgame builds
• min-maxing
• builds that benefit from an additional powerful Legendary effect

Which Prism Should You Use?

If You Need More Damage

Use:

• Aggressive Tuning Prism
• possibly Adept’s Tuning Prism, if skill ranks are important

• Weapons
• Rings
• Gloves
• Amulets

If You Die Too Quickly

Use:

• Protector’s Tuning Prism
• Chromatic Tuning Prism, if you are missing specific resistances

• Chest Armor
• Pants
• Helmets
• Amulets
• defensive item slots

If Your Build Has Resource Problems

Use:

• Resourceful Tuning Prism

• Rings
• Amulets
• resource-heavy builds
• builds with high skill costs

If Your Build Feels Slow or Clunky

Use:

• Pragmatic Tuning Prism

• Boots
• Amulets
• Gloves
• speedfarming builds
• cooldown-heavy builds

If You Need Skill Ranks

Use:

• Adept’s Tuning Prism

• Gloves
• Helmets
• Amulets
• builds that scale strongly with skill ranks

Quick Summary

Protector = Life, Armor, Damage Reduction, Resistances

Chromatic = individual resistances like Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison, Shadow, Physical

Resourceful = Resource, Resource Generation, Resource Cost Reduction

Pragmatic = Movement, Evade, Cooldown Reduction, Lucky Hit, Utility

Adept = Skill Ranks and Main Attributes

Entropic = safer Transfiguration, but without absolute top-tier outcomes

Kullean = special amulet Prism for an additional Legendary Affix