Smoldering Ashes aren’t just another seasonal currency-they’re the key to powering up your Season Blessings and shaping how fast you climb through Diablo 4’s new Battle Pass tiers. Knowing where to spend them can make the difference between a slow start and dominating the Season of the Construct.
Season Blessings offer powerful progression bonuses that allow you to level up your Battle Pass and character. These boosts range from the extremely useful (bonus XP) to the slightly less useful (bonus rewards), and it can take some serious time investment to get them all.
In this Diablo 4 guide, we’ll teach you how to get all the Smoldering Ashes in season 3 and tell you how you should spend them.
How to earn Smoldering Ashes in Diablo 4 season 3
Smoldering Ashes in Diablo 4 season 3 are gained passively as you progress through the seasonal content, primarily by advancing your Battle Pass tiers and leveling your seasonal character through regular play like killing monsters, clearing dungeons, and completing objectives and quests with a seasonal hero. Since all Smoldering Ashes sit on the free track, you only need to earn Favor and reach the required tiers and character levels to claim them, without buying the premium pass. Focusing on Season Journey challenges and other high-Favor activities speeds up Battle Pass progression, letting you reach the higher tiers that hold the final Ash bundles before the season ends.
Smoldering Ashes come exclusively from Diablo 4‘s Battle Pass. Thankfully, Smoldering Ashes are on the free track, so you don’t need to pony up some cash for the premium version of the seasonal Battle Pass.
In order to pick up Smoldering Ashes, you have to meet two criteria. The first is that you upgrade your Battle Pass to a certain tier level. The second is that your character level matches the level requirement of the Smoldering Ash. Following changes introduced back in season 2, you’re now able to max out your blessings at level 82 instead of level 100 (assuming you hit 88 on your Battle Pass, that is).
Here’s when you get each pile of Smoldering Ash:
- Battle Pass tier 8 and character level 28
- Battle Pass tier 18 and character level 44
- Battle Pass tier 22 and character level 49
- Battle Pass tier 28 and character level 53
- Battle Pass tier 32 and character level 55
- Battle Pass tier 38 and character level 58
- Battle Pass tier 48 and character level 63 (x2 Smoldering Ashes)
- Battle Pass tier 52 and character level 66
- Battle Pass tier 58 and character level 70
- Battle Pass tier 62 and character level 72
- Battle Pass tier 68 and character level 74 (x2 Smoldering Ashes)
- Battle Pass tier 72 and character level 76
- Battle Pass tier 77 and character level 78
- Battle Pass tier 82 and character level 80 (x2 Smoldering Ashes)
- Battle Pass tier 88 and character level 82 (x3 Smoldering Ashes)
If you want to level up your Battle Pass quickly, make sure to complete objectives in your Season’s Journey, as it contains a ton of Favor (XP). Just make sure to go back and grab any Smoldering Ashes you might’ve passed up earlier in the Battle Pass once you hit level 28 on your character.
Best Season Blessings order in Diablo 4 season 3
To maximize Season Blessings in Diablo 4 Season 3, prioritize Firestorm for its area damage boost against dense enemy packs, followed by Meteor and Ring of Fire for boss fights and sustained AoE output. Slot these into the three available Blessing tiers via the Season Journey menu after collecting Smoldering Ashes from Season-exclusive activities like Helltides and the Tree of Whispers. Adjust based on your class-Sorcerers gain most from elemental bursts, while melee builds favor survivability nodes like Worldburn. Experiment in the field to confirm the setup suits your gear and playstyle.
There are five Season Blessings for you to spend your hard-earned Smoldering Ashes on:
- Urn of Aggression – Bonus XP
- Urn of Helltides – Chance to receive an extra item in Helltide chests. The extra item will be Legendary or better
- Urn of Enduring Grace – Boost to the duration of Shrine effects
- Urn of Tuning – Chance to receive an additional Tuning Stone from Wardwoven chests
- Urn of Whispers – Boost the chance to receive a Greater Collection from Whisper rewards
These bonuses are, on the whole, a lot better than those of season 1 and 2.
You want to put all your Smoldering Ashes into the Urn of Aggression first, as XP is the most important commodity in Diablo 4 – even with the recent buffs.
Urn of Enduring Grace is your second best choice. Shrines are extremely powerful in Diablo 4, and are good at both low and high levels of play. The higher uptime you have on Shrines in Nightmare Dungeons or Vaults, the better.
The next three boons are all about the same level of quality, and we recommend you pick them based on how you spend your time in Diablo 4. Still, here are our recommendations if you need some help deciding:
- Urn of Tuning should probably be your third choice. Your Construct has a lot of power built into it, and you’re going to need a lot of Stones to max it out. With that in mind, upgrade the Urn of Tuning to upgrade your little buddy as fast as possible.
- Urn of Whispers is a solid fourth choice, as you’re probably going to end up completing quests for the Tree of Whispers as an afterthought while you do other things. It’s something that – if you’re playing optimally – should come up relatively frequently.
- Urn of Helltides should be your fifth and final investment this season. The power is good, but you only benefit from it while you’re doing Helltides. If you’re a big time Helltide player, it makes sense to push this up to third. But, if you only find yourself doing Helltides on occasion, you won’t miss the boon as much as you might miss the others.
Best Season Blessings to prioritize for leveling fast
Top Priority Blessing
Urn of Divine Favor tops the list for fast leveling, as it boosts Divine Favor gained from all sources like Helltides, accelerating Seasonal Reputation and unlocking more Divine Gifts early. This enables quicker access to stronger buffs and progression, especially since Helltides remain a core leveling activity.
Secondary Choices
Next, upgrade Urn of Reckoning for a higher chance of extra item drops from Elites and Champions, increasing loot density during rapid clears. Follow with Urn of Ancestral Whispers to improve Ancestral Cache chances from Tree of Whispers turn-ins, aiding gear upgrades alongside XP gains.
Upgrade Order
Start by maxing Urn of Divine Favor to level 4 using initial Smoldering Ashes, then Urn of Reckoning to 4, Urn of Ancestral Whispers to 4, and finally lower-priority ones like Urn of Sanctification or Urn of Calamity. Earlier seasons emphasized Urn of Aggression for direct XP, but Season 11 shifts focus to reputation for sustained speed.
Which Blessings give the biggest XP boost per Ash spent
Urn of Aggression Leads
Urn of Aggression delivers the biggest direct XP boost per Smoldering Ash spent, scaling from 2% at level 1 to 8% at max level 4, as it multiplies XP from all monster kills account-wide. Each ash invested here provides consistent returns across general play, Helltides, and dungeons, outperforming indirect blessings early on.
Efficiency Breakdown
At one ash, Aggression yields 2% XP immediately, rising linearly but with slight diminishing returns (e.g., +2% per level), making initial levels most efficient for rapid alt character leveling. Urn of Nightmares offers Paragon/Glyph XP boosts (up to 20% at max), but only post-level 50 in Nightmare Dungeons, lowering its per-ash value for fresh 1-50 grinds.
Comparisons
Other blessings like Urn of Divine Favor (reputation/XP indirectly via Helltides) or Urn of Reckoning (loot for gear/speed) provide secondary XP gains, but Aggression’s flat monster XP edge makes it optimal per ash until maxed. Prioritize it first from tier 8 ashes, refunding others if needed for pure leveling speed.
