One in every of Diablo 4‘s essential endgame actions, Nightmare dungeons, will probably be completely modified come Season 9, as Blizzard seems to make them each more difficult and shocking going ahead.
As detailed in a brand new blog post, when Season 9 launches July 1, Nightmare dungeons will obtain some main updates. Most notably, there will probably be a brand new exercise inside them known as Horadric Strongrooms. Described as a “potent micro-dungeon,” strongrooms will probably be discovered extra incessantly on increased Torment difficulties and may also be reliably discovered through the use of a Nightmare dungeon sigil that ensures the looks of a strongroom.
As soon as gamers are contained in the dungeon, gamers can uncover a portal that may take them to the strongroom. In a system considerably just like Diablo 4’s Infernal Hordes exercise, gamers will be capable to choose from quite a lot of statues that add modifiers to the strongroom, growing the problem but additionally the rewards.
Gamers will then must attune themselves with the strongroom by slaying enemies inside the neighborhood of Horadric Pillars inside a time restrict. Those that full the attunement course of will probably be transported to the micro-dungeon’s last boss that when defeated will reward a Grand Horadric cache that scales its rewards primarily based on the quantity of attunement gamers earned. These caches will embody Obducite as a reward, an endgame materials wanted to Masterwork weapons and armor. Finishing the strongroom may also grant a buff that lasts for the rest of the Nightmare dungeon, which an opportunity to obtain extra XP from monsters, elevated status beneficial properties, elevated Obducite drops, 25% extra gold, or Horadric Phial drops (a seasonal merchandise that’s used to make Horadric Jewels).
There’ll, nonetheless, be one other new strategy to expertise Nightmare dungeons–Escalating Nightmares. This new endgame exercise is a sequence of three Nightmare dungeons that see dungeon affixes stack from one to the subsequent, with monster problem moreover growing for every subsequent dungeon.
To entry an Escalating Nightmare, gamers might want to discover Escalation Sigils from finishing Horadric Strongrooms. In pre-Torment difficulties, finishing all three dungeons will end the Escalating Nightmare. Nevertheless, these enjoying on Torment difficulties will as an alternative be transported to a boss battle, the place gamers will tackle a brand new model of Astaroth from the Diablo 4 essential marketing campaign. Gamers might want to defeat each Astaroth and his steed, which can turn out to be separate bosses over the course of the battle. Defeating Astaroth’s mount first will see it go right into a resurrection state, after which it’ll rejoin the battle if gamers cannot defeat Astaroth in time. Astaroth may also be modified by Nightmare dungeon affixes, making the boss battle much more difficult.
Final however not least, Nightmare dungeons will obtain new affixes. Every Nightmare sigil will sport each a optimistic and damaging affix. New optimistic affixes embody the assured look of particular shrines, elevated XP beneficial properties, the looks of Treasure Goblins, a assured strongroom, tools rewards, and foreign money drops.
Whereas the Nightmare dungeon adjustments will probably be everlasting additions to Diablo 4, Season 9 will moreover introduce new seasonal mechanics for a limited-time. Gamers will be capable to create and modify Horadric Spells to go with their builds, and might additional increase them utilizing new Horadric Jewels that may be slotted into amulets and rings.
Updates to Nightmare dungeons are simply the soccer everlasting adjustments to return as a part of a Diablo 4 season. Season 8 overhauled the game’s endgame boss ladder, whereas earlier seasons, like Loot Reborn, reworked Diablo 4’s complete gear development system. Diablo 4 Season 9 just isn’t, nonetheless, bringing adjustments to the sport’s new (and unpopular) Reliquary battle pass system, although Blizzard has said it’s listening to participant suggestions.