Diablo III

Complete Kanai's Cube guide for Diablo III — all 9 recipes with exact materials, power extraction, reforging, upgrading rares, augmenting Ancients, hidden portals, and best items to cube per class.

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Kanai's Cube Guide

By the DiabloBytes team · Updated April 2026

Kanai's Cube is the most powerful crafting tool in Diablo III. Named after the Horadric artisan Kanai, it allows you to extract legendary powers and equip them passively, reforge items for better rolls, upgrade rares into legendaries, convert set pieces, augment Ancient gear with main stat, and even open secret portals. Every endgame build in Diablo III depends on the Cube. This guide covers every recipe with exact materials, where to find the Cube, and the best items to cube for each class.

What is Kanai's Cube?

Kanai's Cube is a spiritual successor to Diablo II's Horadric Cube. It was added in Patch 2.3.0 and provides nine official recipes plus hidden portal recipes. The Cube sits in town once recovered and is shared across all characters on your account (separated by Seasonal and Hardcore status). You place items and materials into the Cube, click Transmute, and the recipe executes.

The Cube's most important function is legendary power extraction. You can equip up to three passive legendary powers simultaneously — one from a weapon or off-hand, one from armor, and one from jewelry. These powers always roll at their maximum possible value, making even a badly-rolled legendary worth extracting.

Where to Find Kanai's Cube

Kanai's Cube is found in The Ruins of Sescheron, an Act III zone accessible only in Adventure Mode. You must have completed Act V on at least one character to unlock Adventure Mode.

Step-by-Step

Open Adventure Mode and go to Act III
Select the The Ruins of Sescheron waypoint
Explore the ruins until you find the entrance to the Elder Sanctum (usually in a corner of the map)
Fight through the Elder Sanctum to the end
Click Kanai's Cube — it teleports itself to town
The Cube now appears in every Act's town for all characters on the account

You only need to find the Cube once per game mode. It carries over between Seasons as long as you retrieve it once that Season.

Extracting Legendary Powers — The Three Passive Slots

The Archive of Tal Rasha recipe lets you destroy a legendary item and permanently learn its power. Once extracted, you can equip it as a passive bonus without wearing the item. You have three slots:

⚔

Weapon / Off-Hand One power from any weapon, shield, mojo, source, or quiver

🛡

Armor One power from any helm, chest, belt, gloves, boots, shoulders, pants, or bracers

💍

Jewelry One power from any ring or amulet

Key rules: Powers are always extracted at their maximum possible value. A ring that rolled 150% out of a possible 150-200% range will still give you the full 200% power in the Cube. You can only extract powers from items your class can equip — a Demon Hunter cannot cube a Mighty Weapon because only Barbarians can equip those.

Once a power is extracted, it stays in your collection permanently. You can freely swap between any extracted powers in the Cube interface without additional cost.

All Recipes — Exact Materials

Kanai's Cube has nine official recipes. Each recipe appears in the Cube's recipe list and requires specific materials placed into the Cube before clicking Transmute.

Archive of Tal Rasha Extract Legendary Power

• 1 Khanduran Rune (Act I bounty cache)
• 1 Caldeum Nightshade (Act II bounty cache)
• 1 Arreat War Tapestry (Act III bounty cache)
• 1 Corrupted Angel Flesh (Act IV bounty cache)
• 1 Westmarch Holy Water (Act V bounty cache)
• 5 Death's Breath
• 1 Legendary item (consumed)

Extracted power is always at its maximum possible roll. You can only extract powers from items your class can equip.

Law of Kulle Reforge Legendary

• 5 Khanduran Rune
• 5 Caldeum Nightshade
• 5 Arreat War Tapestry
• 5 Corrupted Angel Flesh
• 5 Westmarch Holy Water
• 50 Forgotten Soul
• 1 Legendary or Set item (rerolled)

Completely re-randomizes all stats. Can produce Ancient or Primal (after solo GR70 clear). Cannot be used on crafted items. Smart loot applies.

Hope of Cain Upgrade Rare to Legendary

• 25 Death's Breath
• 50 Reusable Parts
• 50 Arcane Dust
• 50 Veiled Crystal
• 1 level 70 Rare item (consumed)

Result is always the same item type (e.g., a rare dagger becomes a legendary dagger). Class-specific items can drop. Can roll Ancient or Primal.

Skill of Nilfur Convert Set Item

• 10 Death's Breath
• 10 Forgotten Soul
• 1 Set item (consumed)

Converts a set piece into another piece from the same set. Cannot produce Ancient or Primal results. Does not work on 2-piece sets or crafted sets.

Caldesann's Despair Augment Ancient Item

• 1 Ancient or Primal Legendary item
• 1 Legendary Gem (rank 30+ for weapons, 40+ for jewelry, 50+ for armor)
• 3 Flawless Royal gems of the same type

Adds main stat equal to gem rank x 5. Ruby = Strength, Topaz = Intelligence, Emerald = Dexterity, Amethyst = Vitality. The Legendary Gem is destroyed. Applying a new augment replaces the old one.

Work of Cathan Remove Level Requirement

• 1 Gem of Ease (rank 25 or higher)
• 1 equippable item

Removes the level requirement from any item. The Gem of Ease is consumed. Mostly used to twink alt characters with endgame weapons.

Darkness of Radament Convert Gems

• 9 gems of any single type
• 1 Essence of the desired gem type (500,000 gold from Squirt the Peddler)

Converts 9 gems of one color into 9 gems of another. Essences: Essence of Amethyst, Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, or Topaz.

Iben Fahd Recipes Convert Crafting Materials

• 100 of one crafting material (Reusable Parts, Arcane Dust, or Veiled Crystal)
• 1 Death's Breath
• 1 Common, Magic, or Rare item (determines output type)

Three variants: Pleasure of Iben Fahd (white item = Reusable Parts), Regret of Iben Fahd (blue item = Arcane Dust), Wrath of Iben Fahd (yellow item = Veiled Crystal). Converts 100 materials at a 1:1 ratio.

Curiosity of Lorath Nahr Upgrade to Primal

• 100 Primordial Ashes
• 1 non-crafted Legendary or Set item

Converts an item to Primal Ancient quality with a reddish-pink tint. Only one Primal upgraded this way can be equipped at a time. Salvaging a Primal returns 55 Primordial Ashes.

Hidden Portal Recipes

These recipes do not appear in the Cube's recipe book. You must manually place the item into the Cube and click Transmute.

Puzzle Ring Opens a portal to The Vault — filled with gold, gems, and Treasure Goblins. Portal closes 60 seconds after Greed's chest is looted.

Ancient Puzzle Ring Opens a portal to The Ancient Vault — significantly more gold, gems, Death's Breath, and Legendaries than the standard Vault.

Bovine Bardiche Opens a portal to Not The Cow Level — Resplendent Chests, all shrine types, and 2 Pools of Reflection. Does not close until you leave the game.

Best Items to Cube Per Class

Every build has its own optimal cube selection. Below are the most popular cubed items for each class's top-tier build, based on current leaderboard meta and community build guides. These represent the most commonly used powers — always check your specific build guide for exact recommendations.

⚔️ Barbarian

Weapon Ambo's Pride — Rend is applied by Whirlwind — core of the WW Rend build

Armor Mantle of Channeling — 25% more damage and 25% damage reduction while channeling

Jewelry Band of Might — 80% damage reduction after Furious Charge or Ground Stomp

The Furnace (50% elite damage) and Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac are strong alternatives for push and speed setups.

🔮 Wizard

Weapon Tasker and Theo — Attack speed multiplier for pets — boosts Hydra tick rate

Armor The Magistrate — Hydras now cast Frost Nova periodically

Jewelry Ring of Royal Grandeur — Reduces set item requirement by 1 — enables Typhon + Guardian mix

Convention of Elements and Deathwish are common alternatives depending on build (Firebird, LoD Meteor).

🥋 Monk

Weapon Flying Dragon — Chance to double attack speed — massive DPS increase

Armor Lefebvre's Soliloquy — 50% damage reduction after casting Cyclone Strike

Jewelry Convention of Elements — 200% damage during your element's rotation cycle

Ring of Royal Grandeur is used when mixing Inna with Captain Crimson or Cain sets.

🏹 Demon Hunter

Weapon Dawn — 65% Vengeance CDR — enables permanent Vengeance uptime

Armor Aquila Cuirass — 50% damage reduction while above 90% primary resource

Jewelry Ring of Royal Grandeur — Enables Captain Crimson + Shadow set combination

Elusive Ring (60% DR after Vault) and Convention of Elements are strong alternatives for push builds.

🛡️ Crusader

Weapon Darklight — Fist of the Heavens has a 45-65% chance to also cast at target

Armor Khassett's Cord of Righteousness — Fist of the Heavens deals 170-200% increased damage

Jewelry Ring of Royal Grandeur — Enables Aegis of Valor + Captain Crimson combination

Convention of Elements and Avarice Band (speedfarming) are common alternatives.

💀 Witch Doctor

Weapon Echoing Fury — Killing enemies grants movement and attack speed stacks

Armor Aquila Cuirass — 50% damage reduction while above 90% primary resource

Jewelry Ring of Royal Grandeur — Enables Mundunugu + Captain Crimson set combo

Voo's Juicer and Warzechian Armguards are strong alternatives for push and group play.

☠️ Necromancer

Weapon Bloodtide Blade — Death Nova damage scales with number of nearby enemies

Armor Haunted Visions — Simulacrum lasts forever but drains 1% max life per second

Jewelry Krysbin's Sentence — 100-300% damage to slowed/stunned/frozen enemies

Nayr's Black Death (Poison skill stacking), Convention of Elements, and Ring of Royal Grandeur are alternatives for Inarius builds.

Reforging Strategy

The Law of Kulle recipe (Reforge Legendary) is the most material-intensive recipe in the Cube, requiring a full set of bounty materials plus 50 Forgotten Souls per attempt. Use it strategically:

• Reforge items you cannot efficiently target. Weapons with large drop pools and class-specific items that rarely drop are the best candidates.
• Use upgrade rare first. Hope of Cain is much cheaper. Only reforge once you already have the item but need better rolls or an Ancient version.
• Reforge on the right class. Smart loot applies to non-class-restricted items. Reforging a generic amulet on a Monk will roll Dexterity. Use this to your advantage.
• Batch your bounty runs. Complete all five acts in one session to maximize material efficiency. Split-farming bounties in a 4-player group is the fastest method.
• Primal chance exists on every reforge (after clearing solo GR70). The odds are approximately 1 in 400 per reforge, same as any legendary drop.

Pro Tip: Animation Skip Close the Cube window or switch recipes immediately after clicking Transmute to skip the 2-second transmute animation. This saves significant time when mass-upgrading rares or converting set items.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I find Kanai's Cube in Diablo III? Kanai's Cube is located in the Elder Sanctum, a sub-area within The Ruins of Sescheron in Act III. You must be in Adventure Mode. Travel to the Ruins of Sescheron waypoint, explore until you find the entrance to the Elder Sanctum, then fight through to the end where the Cube sits. Click it and it teleports to town. Once found, it appears in every Act's town for all characters on your account with the same Seasonal and Hardcore status.

What is the most efficient Kanai's Cube recipe for gearing up? Hope of Cain (Upgrade Rare to Legendary) is the most efficient recipe for targeting specific items. It costs 25 Death's Breath, 50 Reusable Parts, 50 Arcane Dust, and 50 Veiled Crystal per attempt. Because the result is always the same item type as the rare you put in, you can target items with small drop pools. For example, upgrading rare daggers on a Necromancer only has a few possible legendary outcomes, making it easy to hit the item you want.

How does the Reforge Legendary recipe work and is it worth the cost? Law of Kulle (Reforge Legendary) re-randomizes all properties on a Legendary or Set item, including the chance to roll Ancient or Primal Ancient. It costs 5 of each bounty material (25 total across all acts) plus 50 Forgotten Souls. Use it on items that are hard to target with the upgrade rare recipe, such as weapons with large drop pools or class-specific items you cannot efficiently gamble for. Each reforge is essentially a fresh drop of that same item.

Can I use Kanai's Cube powers from any class's items? No. You can only extract and use legendary powers from items that your current class can equip. For example, a Demon Hunter cannot equip two-handed maces, so they cannot use The Furnace's 50% elite damage power in the Cube. Class-restricted items like Mighty Weapons (Barbarian only) can only be cubed and used by that class. Generic items like rings and amulets can be used by any class.