Nightmare Dungeons are Diablo 4's version of Greater Rifts, a highly successful loop of Loot and Challenge from Diablo 3. They are currently the best source of character Experience (for those sweet Paragon Points). They are also the only way to level up your Paragon Glyphs. To run this content, however, you'll need a steady supply of Nightmare Sigils.
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To the initial Nightmare Sigil, players will first need to fulfill a host of requirements and then farm the game's bounty system. However, after your first Nightmare Dungeon, several avenues will open up to you. Keep reading for the step-by-step process of how to get your first Nightmare Sigil, the best way to farm later Sigils, and everything you need to know about using them.
Your first Nightmare Sigil will come from The Tree of Whispers. The Tree of Whispers is the hub for a late-game bounty system that becomes available after completing the main campaign.
Make sure your character meets all of these requirements to ensure you have a chance of obtaining a Nightmare Sigil:
If you meet all of these requirements, you may just need to grind Grim Favors while on World Tier 3. It can take several Caches for a Sigil to drop.
Once you've looted your first Nightmare Sigil, it will go to your consumable inventory. You will then have a new Priority Quest available called: Nightmare Dungeons, which encourages you to complete your first one.
Once you've completed your first Nightmare Dungeon, several ways of obtaining future Sigils open up to you. Sigils can be looted from Elite and Boss monsters, found in chests, and crafted from Sigil Powder.
The most efficient way to farm Sigils, in the beginning, will be to farm them in Nightmare Dungeons, as the high density of Elites and apparently elevated drop rates will net you 3-4 Sigils per one used.
Once you've unlocked the ability to craft Sigils, you should use this as your primary method of obtaining them. This consumes Sigil Powder and gold, which drops much more frequently than full Sigils. You can also scrap Sigils whose Tier is too low for you to obtain additional Sigil Powder.
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Nightmare Sigils, in addition to triggering dungeons to spawn a much higher density of Elites, have four additional characteristics that differ from regular dungeons.
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The first is the presence of a Tier, which modulates the difficulty of the dungeon within the World Tier. There are 100 possible Tiers, with Tier 1 being the easiest.
Nightmare Sigils dropped by enemies and chests will have a randomly rolled tier based on your character level, but you will be able to choose the Tier of crafted Sigils. The higher the Tier of the Sigil, the harder the dungeon it will create. As is typical with these types of games, harder dungeons equal better loot, so it is advised to run the most difficult tier you can handle.
There are thirty known Affixes that can be rolled on a Nightmare Sigil, and these are always random. You should expect each Sigil to have two Negative and one Positive Affix.
Name
Effect
Type
Poison Damage
You deal 10% more Poison Damage.
Positive
Shadow Damage
You deal 10% more Shadow Damage.
Positive
Frost Damage
You deal 10% more Frost Damage.
Positive
Fire Damage
You deal 10% more Fire Damage.
Positive
Lightning Damage
You deal 10% more Lightning Damage.
Positive
Physical Damage
You deal 10% more Physical Damage.
Positive
Control Impaired Explosions
Being hit by Control Impairing Effects creates an explosion around you.
Positive
Increased Critical Strike
Your Critical Strike chance is increased by 6%.
Positive
Poisonous Evade
Using Evade leaves a pool of poison behind that damages enemies.
Positive
Increased Healing
Your Healing Received is increased by 10%.
Positive
Lightning Caller
You occasionally call down lightning strikes that damage nearby enemies.
Positive
Thorns
Your Thorns are increased by 249.
Lightning Storm
Lightning gathers above the player. Get into the protection dome to avoid severe outcomes.
Negative
Volcanic
While in combat, gouts of flame periodically erupt near players.
Negative
Nightmare Portal
While in combat, Nightmare Portals open randomly near players, pouring out dangerous monsters.
Negative
Drifting Shade
Drifting Shade chases players. Upon reaching them, it explodes for heavy damage and creates a Nightmare Field that Dazes victims.
Negative
Death Pulse
Killing a monster releases a deadly lightning pulse after a short delay.
Negative
Monster Vulnerable Resist
The duration of Vulnerable Effects vs Monsters is reduced by 45%.
Negative
Monster Fire Damage
Monsters deal an additional 15% of their Physical damage as dealt as Fire.
Negative
Monster Poison Damage
Monsters deal an additional 22% of their Physical damage dealt as Poison over 5 seconds.
Negative
Monster Shadow Damage
Monsters deal an additional 15% of their Physical damage dealt as Shadow.
Negative
Monster Burning Damage
Monsters deal an additional 22% of their Physical damage dealt as Burning over 5 seconds.
Negative
Monster Bleeding Damage
Monsters deal an additional 22% of their Physical damage dealt as Bleeding over 5 seconds.
Negative
Monster Lightning Damage
Monsters deal an additional 15% of their Physical damage dealt as Lightning.
Negative
Empowered Elites (Cold Enchanted)
Elites always have the "Cold Enchanted" affix.
Negative
Empowered Elites (Poison Enchanted)
Elites always have the "Poison Enchanted" affix.
Negative
Empowered Elites (Shock Lance)
Elites always have the "Electric Lance" affix.
Negative
Empowered Elites (Suppressor)
Elites always have the "Suppressor" affix.
Negative
Monster Shadow DoT
Monsters deal an additional 22% of their physical damage dealt as Shadow over 5 seconds.
Negative
Monster Cold Damage
Monsters deal an additional 15% of their Physical damage dealt as Cold.
Negative
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Crafting Nightmare Sigils can be done at the Occultist NPC in large city hubs. Here, you can use Sigil Powder and Gold to create Sigils of a Tier you decide on. However, the Affixes and location will still be random.
Nightmare Sigil crafting is unlocked by completing a Priority Quest with the Occultist. This quest becomes available once you've completed your first Nightmare Dungeon of Tier 3 or higher.
As a craftable resource, it makes sense that players wonder if Sigils can be upgraded. Unfortunately, there is currently no way to upgrade a Sigil to a higher tier. Instead, it is better to scrap low-tier Sigils into powder and then craft new ones.
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