Soul Shards and Hellforge Ember for season 25
Soul Shards are new socketable items that are very powerful and will be available only during season 25. Hellforge Ember is exclusive to season 25 resource to upgrade Soul Shards. There will be 7 in total Soul Shards that are based on 7 great evils - 3 prime evils (Diablo, Ball, Mephisto) goes to helms and 4 lesser evils (Andariel, Azmodan, Belial, Duriel) that goes to weapon. You can't socket two shards if you dual wield. Both new items can drop anywhere in Sanctuary but Soul Shards have greater chance dropping from bosses. They can't be gambled or transferred (account bound) so you have to find them through grind. Every Soul Shard has base effect and can be upgraded 3 times. Base effect gives some benefit and drawback.After first upgrade Soul Shard gets effect bigger of every flawless gem socketed in that item.
For helms:
- +[23-25]% life
- Reduces cooldown of all skills by [12.5-15.0]%
- Reduces all resource cost by [12.5-15.0]%
- +[33-41]% Extra Gold from Monsters
- +[41-50]% Experience. ([4.1-5.0]% at level 70)
For weapons:
- +[270-300] Damage
- Critical Hit Damage Increased by [130.0-150.0]%
- Increases damage against elites by [20.0-25.0]%
- +[28.000-30.000] Life per Hit
- +[38.000-40.000] Thorns Damage
So in that point it's always better to socket Shard that any regular gem, with exception of Loric'c Crown that does not buff Soul Shards.
After second upgrade we unlock a random property (Strength, Intelligence, Vitality, Armor [375-390], All Res [55-62] etc.).
After third upgrade 1 of 3 random secondary legendary powers are unlocked.
Soul Stones can also be used in Kanai's Cube as material in Caldesann's Despair recipe.
Rank 0 Soul Stone is equivalent of level 50 legendary gem.
Rank 1 Soul Stone is equivalent of level 75 legendary gem.
Rank 2 Soul Stone is equivalent of level 100 legendary gem.
Rank 3 Soul Stone is equivalent of level 125 legendary gem.
You can find more information about Soul Shards in this video: