Put Forgotten Souls at the Front of the Queue

Forgotten Souls deserve first place on your farming checklist because they're tied to so many costly gear systems. You'll need them when enchanting Legendary equipment, improving Ancestral pieces, working on Mythic gear, or resetting Masterwork progress after the wrong affix gets boosted. It's easy to burn through a decent stockpile in minutes. Don't wait until the Blacksmith refuses your next upgrade. Check your supply before starting a session and decide what you actually need. If Souls are low, focus on material rewards and salvage unwanted Legendary drops. Selling every item may bring in quick gold, but it can leave you short on components later. A mixed approach works better: salvage weak Legendaries and sell valuable rares or other gear that provides little crafting value.

Make Exposed Roots Work Harder

Exposed Roots are far more useful when they're treated as part of a dungeon setup rather than clicked the second you see them. Nightmare Dungeons with Shrine-related modifiers offer a particularly strong opportunity. Clear nearby monsters first, find the Shrine locations, and place or activate your Roots where the Shrine effect can influence the encounter. Then trigger the buff before killing the enemies spawned by the Roots. This small change can improve both clear speed and the amount of material you pull from each activation. Under the right encounter conditions, additional enemies may appear or return, which gives the Root more value than a rushed open-world activation. Don't scatter Roots across poor locations just to empty your inventory. Save them for a dungeon layout where several encounters can be handled quickly, preferably without long walks, awkward objectives, or constant backtracking.

Choose Escalation Rewards With a Plan

Escalation Nightmare Dungeons help remove some of the guesswork from farming because their reward portals let you respond to your current shortage. Material Reserve should usually be your pick when Forgotten Souls, Volatile Dust, or general crafting components are holding back your upgrades. Gem Fragment Reserve makes sense when socket work is the immediate problem, while Gold Reserve can rescue a character that's been drained by repeated enchanting rolls. Opal Reserve has its place too, especially when you're preparing for a broader farming session. The mistake players often make is choosing the same portal every time out of habit. Take a quick look at your inventory between floors. Your needs can change after one expensive Masterworking attempt. If you're playing in a group, talk about portal choices before charging ahead; a few seconds of planning beats ending the run with piles of materials nobody currently needs.

Keep the Farming Loop Practical

A reliable loop doesn't need to be complicated. Start with an Escalation Nightmare Dungeon, take the reward portal that fixes your biggest shortage, and use Exposed Roots when the dungeon and Shrine setup make them worthwhile. Pick up the valuable drops, but don't waste time inspecting every ordinary item in the middle of combat. Sort everything in town. Salvage Legendaries you won't use, sell pieces that are better converted into gold, repair, then spend only on gear that has a genuine place in your build. Weapons, core defensive pieces, strong Greater Affixes, and long-term Mythic options should get priority. Temporary equipment doesn't need perfect enchantments or a deep Masterwork investment. You'll replace it soon, and the materials won't come back. This rhythm also keeps Volatile Dust farming from becoming a separate chore, since it arrives alongside Souls, fragments, loot, and dungeon rewards.

Final Thoughts

The best Season 14 material farm is the one that solves more than one problem per run. Pair Shrine-enabled Nightmare Dungeons with carefully timed Exposed Roots, use Escalation portals to target the resource you're missing, and split unwanted loot between salvaging and selling. You'll build Forgotten Souls and Volatile Dust without ignoring gold, Gem Fragments, or useful equipment drops. Just as importantly, be picky about spending. There's no sense polishing a placeholder chest piece when your main weapon still needs work. Some players may choose to buy D4 items while filling gaps in a build, but material discipline still decides how smoothly those upgrades develop. Keep the route flexible, check your inventory often, and change reward priorities before a shortage turns into several wasted runs.