Greater Rift Question

I can’t find anywhere where it tells me what Empower Rift means. It is a check box in the dialog when you select Greater Rift before you enter the rift. Please tell me what it means. Oddly, I have played this game since it came out, but never messed with that, so not sure what it means or does. Thanks.

Empowering a GR means you get one extra gem upgrade attempt, if you successfully clear the GR.

Empowering costs about ~3x of the gold reward the GR gives which means it’s a good gold sink.

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Greater Rift Gem Upgrades
Complete within time 3 gem upgrades
Complete without dying 1 extra gem upgrade
Complete with empowering 1 extra gem upgrade

So, if you successfully complete the GR, you get a minimum of 3 upgrades and a maximum of 5.

The gold cost to empower the GR increases proportionally to the level of GR selected, i.e. it costs more to empower a GR100 than a GR70.

The gold rewarded upon completion of the GR is approximately two thirds of the cost to empower it.

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Click the empower box and it tells you below in the text field what it does.

Nefertiri is correct. However, the description in the Nephalem Obelisk is a bit vague. You get a 4th bonus for not dying and a 5th bonus for successfully* completing the Empowered Greater Rift. (See Meteorblade’s chart above).

The higher the Empowered Greater Rift Level, the more it costs, as Kirottu and Meteorblade stated.

The image below shows how much it costs to run an Empowered Greater Level 13 (left) compared to how much it costs to run it at Level 75 (right).

*“Successfully” completing a Greater Rift means before the 15-minute timer expires.

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Wow, so I could actually get 5 upgrades from correctly completing and empowering on 1 GR? REALLY??

Yes, if you empower it, don’t die and complete it in time, you get 5 upgrade attempts.

Just remember that you need to play at least 10 GR levels higher than the gem to get 100% chance to upgrade.
More like 15 levels if you want 100% on all 5 chances.

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If you’re leveling just 1 Gem.

I level my 3 equipped Gems first. I put all 5 chances on 1 Gem at a time. So, I probably am advancing 15 Levels instead of 10, but I use the target Rank of the Gem, not the current Rank. This is how I calculate it:

Example

I have 3 Rank 60 Gems equipped. I want to upgrade them to Rank 65.

I want 5 chances at 100% on the first Gem. They are currently Rank 60. I do not use that number. I want to get them to Rank 65, which is the number I use.

65 (Gem Rank) + 10 (GRift Levels) - 1 = GR74 (for 5 100% chances to upgrade 1 Gem from 60 to 65)

Example 2

I have a Rank 28 Gem. I want to run an Empowered Greater Rift and use all 5 upgrades on that Gem at 100% chance. To calculate what minimum GRift Level I need to run to do this I add 5 (chances) to the current Gem Rank. Then, I add 10 (GRift Levels) to that. Substract 1 to get the minimum GRift Level needed.

[(28 + 5) + 10] - 1
(33 + 10) - 1
43 - 1
42

I need to run a Greater Rift Level 42 to upgrade a Rank 28 Gem to 33 with 5 chances at 100% per chance.

Note

The higher the Greater Rift Level, the higher the Empowered cost (in Gold). So, it’s best, or more cost effective, to run the minimum Empowered Greater Rift Level possible to get 5 100% chances.

So, even if you can run GR120 with ease, but you’re upgrading a “new” Gem starting at Rank 0, it’s less expensive to start with a GR14 and bump up the GRift by 5 Levels until your Gem is upgraded where you want it.

Current Target Formula GRift Level
Rank 0 to Rank 5 [(0 + 5) + 10] - 1 = 14 GR 14
Rank 5 to Rank 10 [(5 + 5) + 10] - 1 = 19 GR 19
Rank 10 to Rank 15 [(10 + 5) + 10] - 1 = 24 GR 24
Rank 15 to Rank 20 [(15 + 5) + 10] - 1 = 29 GR 29
Rank 20 to Rank 25 [(20 + 5) + 10] - 1 = 34 GR 34

 
Your Gem is now Rank 25, both Powers are active and at minimal cost in Gold.

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The short version of that is you look at the gem’s current level, add 14 to that, and that’s the level of GR you need to run to get 5 100% upgrades.

Ok, I was off by One. :slight_smile:

I gave the answer, but teacher said she wanted to see the math.  

It’s fine, I gave you a like for “showing your working” too.

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Thank you to all for information. :grinning: Much appreciated.

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In Seasons that have the Conquests: On a Good Day and I Can’t Stop, we are required to upgrade 3 Legendary Gems to Rank 65.

This is an easy Conquest to get since the Season Journey Objective for the Guardian Chapter: Gem Fatale requires us to upgrade 3 Legendary Gems to Rank 70.

The chart below shows the minimum Empowered Greater Rift Levels you must do to upgrade a Rank 0 Gem to Rank 70. It also shows the minimum cost in Gold.

At the bottom I include the total cost of upgrading 3 Gems and the number of Greater Rift Keystones needed.

Note: This won’t be possible with a new Seasonal Character. It works best with alternates. I have included this chart merely for those who might be interested.

Empowered Greater Rifts: Minimum Cost to Upgrade a Gem 0 - 70

Rank
GRift Level
Cost
0 -   5
14
980,000
5 - 10
19
1,980,000
10 - 15
24
4,000,000
15 - 20
29
5,500,000
20 - 25
34
7,100,000
25 - 30
39
9,100,000
30 - 35
44
11,600,000
35 - 40
49
14,800,000
40 - 45
54
18,900,000
45 - 50
59
24,200,000
50 - 55
64
28,600,000
55 - 60
69
33,100,000
60 - 65
74
38,400,000
65 - 70
79
44,500,000
Total
=
242,760,000

To Level 3 Legendary Gems from Rank 0 to Rank 70 in Empowered Greater Rifts with 100% to upgrade on all chances, you need:

Keystones Gold
42 728,280,000

Remember: Don’t die.

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Especially important on hardcore. :wink:

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