Awakening is a mechanic most F2P players won’t even know exists in Diablo Immortal. This feature is for whales only for a reason — it gives you huge boosts to your build and can only be purchased with Eternal Orbs. Eternal Orbs are one of two types of currency you’ll have to spend real money to earn. Platinum is the other type of currency — that can actually be earned through the Battle Pass, but Eternal Orbs can only be purchased. You’ll need to save your pennies to Awaken gear, and each time you swap gear, you’ll have to awaken it again. And everyone hates it.
So what exactly is Awakening? We’re here to answer that question. You won’t find mention of Awakening anywhere on the Blizzard Support Site, on the wiki, or anywhere else — its the dirty little secret that exists only for top spenders. After ranking up a Legendary Gem to Rank 10 (that’s the max) you’ll then be given the option to “Awaken” that piece of gear for 1,000 Eternal Orbs. At the lowest possible price, that costs $10 per Awakening — and that’s only if you purchase the biggest bundle for $100, which gives the most discount. That’ll give you a clue why people hate it. Let’s break down exactly how Awakening works in the guide below.
You can download Diablo Immortal for free now on iOS and Android.
More Diablo Immortal guides:
5 Beginner Tips | Is It Really F2P? | All Classes List | Best PVE Classes | Ancient Nightmare Event Guide | How To Join Immortals | How To Play On PC | How Long To Beat | How To Unlock Crossplay | How To Earn Free Legendary Gear | Compatible Smart Phones List | How To Beat Blood Rose World Boss | Reaching Library of Zoltun Kulle | Level 35+ Farming | Level 60 Farming | How To Join Hidden Lair Dungeons | How To Claim The Horadric Set | 9 Lamps Puzzle Solution | Laser Mirror Puzzle Solution | How To Get +5 Rare Crests | How To Get Hilts & Hilt Trader Location | How Combat Rating Works | All Daily, Weekly & Monthly Activities | How To Craft Legendary Gems | How To Unlock Elite Quests
How To Awaken Legendary Gems | Monetization Guide
Awakening is an endgame mechanic which allows adventurers to significantly upgrade skills. Legendary Gems can be slotted into Legendary Gear — you can only have 6 Legendary pieces of gear equipped at the same time. In addition to upgrading your Legendary Gear through the Blacksmith, you can also upgrade Legendary Gems. Once a Legendary Gem is upgraded to Rank 10 (the highest rank) you’ll unlock the ability to “Awaken” the Gem, giving you a huge boost to the skill connected to your Legendary Gear.
Awakening a Legendary Gem gives you a huge +10% boost to a skill. Usually this includes giving you +10% Faster Cooldown, or +10% Damage. In PVP, that gives you a massive adventure over everyone else. And only P2W players can access this feature. There is no way to Awaken a Legendary Gem as a F2P player.
- Awakening costs 1,000 Eternal Orbs. Eternal Orbs are only available by purchasing through the in-game cash shop and buying with real money. If you buy the $100 6,000 Eternal Orbs bundle, you’ll be able to awaken all 6 Legendary Gear items you can have equipped. At minimum, to fully awaken your character, you’ll have to spend $100. In practice, you’ll have to spend a lot more than that.
Why does everyone hate Awakening?: Because Awakening is a pure P2W (Pay-To-Win) system that can’t be accessed at all by F2P players. If you don’t spend money, you can’t access this system at all. It gives huge, huge advantages to players willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money and isn’t even a permanent upgrade. If you swap your Rank 10 Legendary Gem to a new piece of gear, you’ll have to awaken it again. Meaning that you’ll have to spend (at minimum) another $10. Players with a full set of Awakened gear can often have +20% Faster Cooldowns and +20% Damage compared to players that haven’t Awakened. That gives a massive, unbeatable advantage to PVP and if players want to climb the Leaderboards, they basically have to use this system.
Even some of the greediest F2P games don’t use blatant tactics like this. There’s a reason most players don’t even know what Awakening is. It turns the endgame / Cycle of Strife into a pure money game. Whoever is willing to dump the most money into their character is going to win. No exceptions.
This is just one mechanic among many that is driving the low metacritic scores for Diablo Immortal, but that’s no reason not to give this game a try. In the future, it is very likely that the developers will change this system — many F2P games start with an overly harsh F2P model, then slowly shift away to allow free players more access. This is another carefully crafted monetary move — just like the Awakening mechanic.
