Nightmare Dungeons

Nightmare Dungeons are a modified, more difficult yet rewarding version of regular Dungeons in Diablo 4. They enable faster Character Leveling, reliably drop Glyphs, Masterworking material, and loot in general (Legendaries/Uniques). Farming and completing Nightmare Dungeons is one efficient way to progress your character in the endgame. This is partly due to greater monster density and partly due to the access to the Masterworking material Obducite. They require a key called a Nightmare Sigil to open them. Nightmare Sigils transform specific Dungeons, adding Afflictions that make them harder. Surprise surprise, farming the Nightmare Dungeons that these Sigils open is the best way to acquire additional Sigils.

Since Dungeons are somewhat static in their layout, monster population, and objectives, what you face in any given Nightmare Dungeon run is somewhat predictable. Read below to learn how to acquire Nightmare Sigils and all the juicy details regarding one of the most important Endgame Systems in Diablo 4!

Follow these steps to acquire your first Nightmare Dungeon Sigil.

1. Complete the entire main quest line in the Campaign.
2. Complete the Seasonal Journey.
3. Complete 10 Whispers in Nightmare Difficulty and turn them in at the Tree of Whispers for a reward cache. Learn about the Whispers of the Dead endgame system here.
4. After right-clicking the cache in your inventory, a Nightmare Sigil is given as one of the rewards. Pick it up!

There are four ways to acquire Sigils:

1. Completing Whispers of the Dead.
2. Finding them throughout Nightmare Dungeon runs and by completing Nightmare Dungeons.
3. Completing Events (Sigil Powder or the Nightmare Sigils themselves - open world and inside dungeons).
4. Defeating World Bosses in Torment Difficulties.
5. Crafting them at the Occultist using Gold and Sigil Powder. Acquire Sigil Powder by salvaging unwanted Sigils. To unlock Sigil Crafting at the Occultist, you must reach level 20.
   
   Note: There is no way to "re-roll" Sigils. Once a Sigil comes into existence, its stats including its Dungeon and Afflictions are final. Running optimized Nightmare Dungeons for your build requires crafting new Sigils from Sigil Powder, mostly from salvaging "bad" Sigils.

Monsters, including bosses, scale based on the difficulty you are playing in. Higher-difficulty monsters grant more Experience and have better odds of dropping more desirable loot. Defeating these monsters is quite difficult as they scale up their Life, Damage, and each Torment level adds additional penalties against your Damage Reduction from Armor and elemental resistances.

Here we outline steps for activating and traveling to a Nightmare Dungeon. Once inside, you are ready to farm and complete the Nightmare Dungeon!

Note: If you leave the game after activating a Nightmare Dungeon, you won't be able to enter it again, losing your Nightmare Sigil! Additionally, if you activate a Nightmare Dungeon while one is already active, the current one is replaced. You can only have 1 Nightmare Dungeon active at a time.

Activation

1. Select the Nightmare Sigil in your Consumables Tab. You can do this anywhere at any time in the open world, but it is usually easiest to do this in town.
2. Select "Accept" on the "Consume Sigil" pop-up.
3. You have now activated a Nightmare Dungeon!

Travel

1. After activating the Nightmare Dungeon, open the World Map by pressing Tab. If the map does not zoom in on the location of the Nightmare Dungeon automatically, check for it in the region that was noted on the Sigil next to the dungeon name. See the right image for a visual.
2. Select the Nightmare Dungeon icon on the map.
3. Select "Accept" on the "Teleport Confirmation" pop-up. This teleports you inside the newly activated Nightmare Dungeon.
4. You are ready to farm and complete the Nightmare Dungeon!

Completing a Nightmare Dungeon is almost the same as completing a regular Dungeon. Once you complete a dungeon's final objective, the dungeon is complete and you are given various rewards discussed below. Nightmare Dungeons are hard, but the rewards are worth toughing them out! In addition to the normal Dungeon completion rewards of Gold, Experience, and a Codex of Power Aspect, completing Nightmare Dungeons enables you to find Glyphs, grants even more Experience with scaling based on difficulty and boosted monster density, the Masterworking material Obducite, and guarantees you 4 Item Rewards.

Experience

Nightmare Dungeons are one of the main ways to power level in the endgame. It is one of the more efficient ways to level, as it gives you both regular Experience and Masterworking materials for each Dungeon.

Loot

It is easier to gain higher-rarity loot (Legendaries or Uniques) in Nightmare Dungeons than in the open world. This is partially due to higher monster density in Nightmare Dungeons and because you always get 4 Item Rewards upon completion. One of these items is guaranteed to be either of Legendary or Unique quality, while the other 3 can be Unique, Legendary, or Rare quality.

Afflictions or Dungeon Affixes as they are called on the tooltip, are what make a Nightmare Dungeon a nightmare. The intent behind them is to make running any particular Nightmare Dungeon a unique experience. There is always 1 Positive Affliction and 1 Negative Affliction.

Positive Afflictions

Previously, Positive Afflictions could improve your character's damage, but this has been changed to only give you one of two options:

• Gold Find - You find 30% more gold.
• Ancestor's Favor - You earn 10% more Experience gained while within this dungeon.

Negative Afflictions

The Negative Afflictions in the game are Empowered Elites, Monster Buffs, or Special. Special Afflictions are Negative Afflictions that define combat interactions within the dungeon. They are extra-annoying, powerful effects that challenge your ability to play around them. There is always one of these Negative Afflictions active at any given time.

Breakdown of Negative Afflictions

Most of the time, we expect people to stick to one build rather than make sweeping adjustments depending on the content they're doing. There are important considerations when it comes to Nightmare Dungeons, however:

• Do you just want to farm loot and Masterworking materials as fast as possible? Gather as much Movement Speed, Resource Generation, Cooldown Reduction, and Damage as possible to blitz through the runs.
• Are you trying to push the highest difficulties? Stack defensive stats (such as Damage Reductions, Total Armor, and Life) wherever possible to absorb or avoid hits. Alternatively, you can go full glass cannon on a ranged build to kill the monsters before they can attack you.
• Are you going to group up with others to tackle them as a team? Each member of the party should see what buffs or debuffs their class can bring to a run. Maximizing the number of unique buffs and debuffs bolsters team efficiency as a whole, which may require some small build adjustments. For example, if you have a dedicated trash mob killer, Elite killer, front-line tank/stat buffer, and crowd controller, you are likely to have a strong 4-person team. Division of roles and abilities is key to a successful group push!

Video Guide

Summary

• Nightmare Dungeons are modified versions of normal Dungeons marked by extra random Afflictions.
• Sigils are required to open Nightmare Dungeons. They can be awarded by the Tree of Whispers or Events, found in and by completing the Nightmare Dungeons themselves, or crafted at the Occultist using Sigil Powder.
• Important rewards include faster Experience gain, Masterworking Materials, and high-rarity loot.
• Nightmare Dungeons have boosted monster density compared to normal dungeons.
• Afflictions make these dungeons challenging. Avoid Afflictions that hard counter your build.
• Now go forth and conquer your worst Nightmares! Good luck!

Credits

Maintained by Avarilyn
Written by wudijo