If your Aura Paladin feels like it's doing a lot of glowing and not much killing, diablo 4 gear is where I'd start looking for a real power spike, because Sundered Night changes the whole vibe. The moment it's on your back, the build stops being "keep up buffs and hope" and turns into "walk forward and watch the room dissolve." You'll still swing now and then, sure, but most of the work gets done just by standing in the right place and letting the light do its thing.
Where it drops, and why people target farm it
You're not at the mercy of random dungeon luck here. If you want Sundered Night, you aim at Grigoire the Galvanic Saint. His lair sits south of Ked Bardu, and the fight's manageable once you know the beats. The annoying part isn't getting the kill, it's getting in. You need 12 Living Steel on you to open the reward chest, and if you forget and show up short, yeah… you just burned a run for nothing.
Living Steel loop: keep it simple
Living Steel means Helltides, no way around it. The cleanest routine is: show up early, build cinders fast, then be picky with your spending. A lot of folks pop every little chest they see and wonder why it takes forever. Don't do that. Focus on Tortured Gifts of Mysteries when they're up. They cost more, but they're the chests that actually move your steel count in a way you can feel. If the Helltide's crowded, stick near event clusters and rotate; you'll refill cinders without thinking too hard about it.
What the axe actually does for an Auradin
This is the fun part. With Sundered Night equipped, triggering any Aura skill also drops Consecration. Step into the field and your Aura Potency ramps hard, up to 180%, which is wild in practice. The circle isn't just pretty either: it damages enemies, helps keep your party topped off, and it comes with that tasty mix of extra damage and damage reduction. One thing you'll notice fast: the buffs don't stack, but the damage areas can overlap, so if you're rotating auras and keeping enemies pinned, they melt in place.
The tradeoff: no shield, so plan around it
It's a two-hander, so you're giving up shield-based scaling and any comfy block tricks you leaned on. On paper that looks scary, but in real play the healing and mitigation from Consecration covers a lot of mistakes. I've had better results pairing it with Arbiter of Justice style damage than trying to go full "pure aurabot," because you want things to die before they get messy. If you're trying to gear this setup without turning it into a second job, slipping in cheap Diablo 4 Items can smooth out the gaps while you keep farming Grigoire and dialing in your defenses.