Deep into Diablo IV's endgame, you'll start noticing that tiny holy orb over an enemy's head and think, "Alright, what am I supposed to do with this." I first brushed it off as background noise, then I tested it in tougher content and, yeah, it's a real mechanic with real payoff. If you're trying to sort out builds, trading, or just keep your setup moving, I've seen people use U4GM as a quick reference point while they're theorycrafting. Judgment, at baseline, is simple: mark goes on, it pops a few seconds later, and you get a chunk of weapon-based damage. Fine for stragglers, not great for speed.

What Actually Changes When You "Play" Judgment

The whole trick is that you don't want to wait. You want to force the pop, on your timing, while enemies are still stacked. That's where Udicator's Oath flips the switch. With it, core skills can detonate the mark early, which means you're not watching a timer anymore. You're making windows. Tap a core skill, the orb bursts, and suddenly it's doing work in a pack instead of politely finishing one target. The difference feels like going from poking to clearing.

Two Practical Styles People Fall Into

Most players drift into one of two approaches. 1) Active popping: you apply Judgment, then you immediately trigger it with the core skill you're already using, so the flow stays snappy. This is the one that feels best while leveling, farming, and blasting through general endgame loops. 2) Passive ticking: you still apply the mark, but you let the timer do its thing because your build is busy elsewhere and you're playing for steady uptime. That second style can work when you're pushing harder stuff and your hands are full managing cooldowns, positioning, and survivability, but it's pickier and you'll feel it if your gear isn't there.

Scaling That Matters and Mistakes People Keep Making

If Judgment feels underwhelming, it's usually because you're not scaling the detonation like a main damage source. The Aspect of Golden Hour is a big deal because it juices the pop and can help marks chain through nearby enemies, which is what turns "nice single target" into "where'd the pack go." Then you stack in something like Aspect of Dejudicator to push the blast further and make it more forgiving when mobs aren't perfectly clumped. Also, don't sleep on your shield stats. People obsess over flashy affixes, then run a weak shield and wonder why their output looks flat.

Party Play and Clean Credit

In groups, Judgment can get weird in a good way. The damage credit typically tracks back to whoever applied the mark, not necessarily the person who triggered the detonation, so coordination actually matters. One player can focus on painting targets, another can focus on popping at the right moment, and it feels almost like setting traps and springing them. If you're rebuilding to lean into that style and you don't want to overpay, it's worth keeping an eye out for cheap d4 gear that smooths out cooldowns and lets the loop stay consistent.