A special world event called a Helltide has a chance of showing up in Diablo IV at specific locations in Sanctuary, but players may only find these on their map for a limited time for an opportunity to earn rare rewards. The armies of evil essentially spill out into the world in a massive invasion during a Helltide, giving players far stronger enemies to farm gear and XP from. Available only on higher difficulties, tracking these events can take a lot of work.
Players have to finish the main story of Diablo 4 before they can access Helltides and have a character within World Tier 3 or higher. A higher World Tier has more difficult enemies that reflect the raised level and builds of characters in the endgame. A special quest seen after the story's conclusion at the Cathedral of Light challenges players to take on a Capstone Dungeon to prove their strength worthy to unlock the new World Tier.
Related: Diablo 4: How to Unlock World Tier 3: Nightmare (Higher Difficulty)
Similar to how the Fields of Hatred mark PvP zones on the map, Helltides mark regions in a dark red outline that players may see when looking at Sanctuary's different areas. Helltides show up at random times, but players will receive a notification when one is about to occur. These areas stick around for 60 minutes before disappearing, functioning like the same timer used for World Bosses in Diablo 4.
Enemies within the Helltide are always two levels above the player no matter what, making these areas slightly more difficult to challenge than a standard dungeon or Stronghold. Although there is no defeating a Helltide since no bosses are causing the event, players can use the active hour to farm tons of loot that otherwise would only rarely drop in Diablo 4's late-game content.
Objectives and side quests within a Helltide can drop new items named Aberrant Cinders in Diablo 4, which are collected from enemies and displayed in the upper-right corner of the player's screen. Aberrant Cinders are used as currency to open Tortured Chests, found everywhere in the Helltide, from dungeons to the main overworld. Five types of Tortured Chests exist inside a Helltide, each offering different gear types in exchange for Cinders.
Tortured Chest Type
Item Types Offered
Cost to Open
Tortured Gift of Protection
75 Aberrant Cinders
Tortured Gift of Jewelry
125 Aberrant Cinders
Tortured Gift of One-Handed Weaponry
125 Aberrant Cinders
Tortured Gift of Two-Handed Weaponry
150 Aberrant Cinders
Tortured Gift of Mysteries
175 Aberrant Cinders
Since players have to at least be in World Tier 3 to visit a Helltide, many of the gear pieces here could be Legendary or Unique, and perhaps even the fabled Sacred or Ancestral on the highest difficulty of World Tier 4. Other rare items like Fiend Roses and Forgotten Souls are only available in a Helltide, so players should take their time to collect as many rare items as possible here in Diablo 4.
Fiend Roses may be collected by picking the rare Fiend Rose plant within the Helltide, while Forgotten Souls are found inside Screaming Hell Veins scattered around the area.
Despite all these great items being at the larger locations of a Helltide, players lose half of their Aberrant Cinders when they die, encouraging caution while exploring these places. The rewards for going through these locations are huge, giving players tons of great items in Diablo IV for challenging the dangers of a Helltide at the right times.
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