How to Lock Greater Affixes - EZ Cube Rerolling for BIS ITEMS | Diablo 4

I’ve been playing Diablo 4 pretty much nonstop since the Lord of Hatred season dropped, and let me tell you — this week has been wild. People are losing their minds over this one trick that lets you protect your Greater Affixes while you mess around in the Horadric Cube. I saw the Reddit post pop up yesterday morning, watched a couple of the new videos, and decided to test it myself last night on a 3GA weapon I’d been sitting on. It worked. First try. No joke.

If you’ve been scared to Cube your best gear because you keep watching perfect Greater Affixes get deleted, this changes everything. Here’s the real deal, written by someone who’s actually using it right now instead of just theorycrafting.

What Greater Affixes Actually Are and Why We’re All Obsessed

Greater Affixes are those juicy high-roll versions of regular stats that only drop on items out in the world. You can’t craft them. You can’t enchant them into existence. Once they’re on a piece, that’s it — unless you mess it up at the Occultist and turn them back into normal affixes (which also tanks your Tempering durability by one point per GA you reroll).

The reason everyone’s so hyped about locking them is simple: the Cube is powerful, but it’s also kind of an idiot. It doesn’t care which affix it hits when you do a Chaotic Reroll or a Remove. I’ve seen people brick 3GA items trying to fix one bad stat. That pain is real. This new method lets you tell the Cube “hands off this one” without actually changing the value.

The Lock Trick – Exact Steps That Work Right Now (May 6, 2026)

This is the part that went viral overnight. It’s stupidly simple once you see it.

1. Take your item to the Enchanter (the Occultist or Mystic lady, whatever you call her).
2. Select the Greater Affix you want to protect.
3. Click to reroll it like you’re going to change it.
4. Then immediately cancel or just don’t pick a new affix. Accept the “change” but keep the original roll.

That’s it. The affix now counts as enchanted. The Cube completely ignores it from that point forward. I tested it on a +18% Vulnerable Damage GA last night and ran five different Cube recipes afterward — it never touched that affix once.

The reason this works (and why you have to do it before any Cube use) is because the game treats anything that’s been through the Enchanter as locked, even if the number didn’t actually change. Community testing as of today confirms you can reliably do this with one GA per item. Trying to lock two is still iffy — some people report it works, most say it doesn’t. I’m sticking to one for now.

Why You’d Actually Choose to Lock Instead of Just Gambling

I get it — some people still think “I’ll just keep rerolling until I get lucky.” That worked fine when we only had 1GA or 2GA items. But in Season 13, with how fast we’re pushing Item Power and how many 3GA+ pieces are dropping, that mindset is expensive. The reason I always lock my highest-value GA first is because the Cube has a nasty habit of deleting the exact stat you care about most when you’re desperate for one more offensive roll.

Here’s a quick table of the main Cube recipes and the real reason you’d pick each one after you’ve locked your GA:

The reason I almost never use Chaotic Reroll on a locked item is because I’ve already decided what categories I want. Focused is just smarter once the protection is up.

Real Strategy – How I’m Actually Building BiS Pieces Now

I don’t just lock and pray anymore. Here’s the exact loop I’ve been running this week:

Start with any 2GA or 3GA rare that has at least one offensive GA I like. Lock that GA immediately. Then I use Focused Reroll (with the right Tuning Prism) to hunt for the other two or three stats I need. Once I have three good affixes plus the locked GA, I upgrade to Legendary and temper. Only then do I consider Sanctification.

The reason this order matters is because tempering durability gets reduced if you ever reroll a GA at the Occultist later. Do your tempering first, lock second, Cube third. I’ve seen too many people do it backwards and regret it.

For uniques it’s a little different. I’ll still lock the best GA if it has one, but I also use the Unique Power reroll recipe pretty aggressively. The reason I keep rerolling uniques is because a 4GA unique with a low-roll power is still better than most legendaries once you fix the power value.

A Couple Things Nobody’s Really Talking About Yet

One thing I noticed while testing: the lock seems to survive even if you upgrade the item to Legendary afterward. That’s huge for people who like to fish on rares first.

Also, this trick works on charms too, which most guides are sleeping on. I locked a Greater Affix on a set charm yesterday and it stayed protected through multiple rerolls. The reason that’s exciting is because set charms can roll Greater Affixes now, and being able to protect one while you hunt for the right set bonus is going to matter a lot for min-maxers.

I’m not saying this is perfect. There’s still RNG. You can still brick items if you get greedy. But the reason this feels like such a big deal is because it turns “I hope the Cube doesn’t screw me” into “I control exactly what stays and what goes.”

If You’re Short on Materials (Quick Note)

Look, not everyone has hours to farm Primordial Dust every day. If you just want to test this method on a fresh 3GA piece without burning through your stash, a lot of players I know grab extra materials and base items from U4GM.com to speed things up. No shame in it when you’re trying to figure out the new meta.

Final Thoughts – My Honest Take

I’ve been skeptical of a lot of “game-changing” tricks in Diablo 4 over the years, but this one actually delivers. The Horadric Cube was already strong, but being able to protect your best Greater Affix turns it from a gamble into a tool. I finished two BiS pieces last night that I probably would’ve given up on before.

The season is still young. We’re going to see more testing, maybe even some tweaks from Blizzard once they notice how many people are using this. But right now, as of May 6, this is the way.

So here’s my question for you: What’s the best GA you’ve found this week that you’re scared to Cube? Drop it in the comments — I’m genuinely curious what everyone’s sitting on. And if you try the lock trick tonight, come back and tell me how it went. I’ll be here grinding with you.

Stay safe out there, and may your rolls be ever in your favor.