Finishing the campaign in Diablo 4 is just the beginning. Once you complete every Act, a range of endgame activities and more challenging World Tier difficulties unlock to further refine your build. Among these activities, the Helltide stands out, offering your character a chance to battle the forces of Hell for slot-specific rewards and Forgotten Souls.

Compared to many endgame activities, the Helltide is accessible to almost all builds. Any character can participate and find something beneficial. This guide explains what the Helltide is, how it operates, and the rewards you can earn from it.

What Is The Helltide?

The Helltide is a unique world event lasting one hour, transforming a region of Sanctuary into a hellish landscape. Zones affected by the Helltide feature demonic enemies, meteors as environmental hazards, and increased monster levels—three levels above your character's. For example, if your character is level 50, every monster in the Helltide will be at least level 53.

Defeating monsters in the Helltide grants Aberrant Cinders, a unique currency only usable during a Helltide event. These cinders can open Tortured Chests scattered across the region, guaranteeing items of a specific slot type. For instance, a Tortured Amulet chest always drops an amulet, while Tortured Weapons chests always drop weapons. Aberrant Cinders expire when the Helltide ends, so spend them before the event concludes.

Opening chests and defeating enemies in a Helltide also have a high chance of dropping Forgotten Souls, an endgame currency essential for upgrading Sacred and Ancestral items. To fully upgrade your character's items, you'll need dozens of Forgotten Souls, making it crucial to farm the Helltide whenever it appears.

Participating In The Helltide

Season of Loot Reborn has significantly revamped the Helltide. All World Tiers now experience the Helltide, not just WT3 and WT4. After finishing the campaign, you’ll receive a side quest in Kyovashad explaining the Helltide mechanics.

Helltides are marked with a dark red outline on your map, similar to PvP zones. Each Helltide lasts 60 minutes before relocating. A Helltide is always active somewhere in Sanctuary, so if you miss one, wait a few minutes for the next to spawn. You can check the Helltide timer by hovering over its unique event icon on the map.

Rewards From The Helltide

Slaying demons in the Helltide yields several rewards:

Aberrant Cinders: Dropped by slain monsters and used to unlock Tortured Gifts. This currency expires at the end of the Helltide.

Baneful Hearts: Dropped by Tortured Gift chests and used to perform an Accursed Ritual, summoning a boss. This currency carries over between Helltides.

Collecting Aberrant Cinders

Your HUD’s top-right corner shows your Aberrant Cinders count. You lose half of your cinders if you die during the Helltide. Demons in the Helltide have a high chance of dropping Aberrant Cinders, which you can use to open Tortured Chests. These chests cost between 75 and 250 cinders each and can only be opened once per Helltide, necessitating the farming of thousands of cinders.

To maximize cinder collection, participate in world events within the Helltide. These events have high enemy densities, allowing you to amass cinders quickly. Accursed Ritual fights, Ravenous Soulspires, and Hellspires are also excellent cinder sources.

Helltide Threat

The top-right of your screen displays a pentagram with three segments, known as the Threat Meter. Actions within the Helltide generate threat, attracting demonic ambushes that grow larger with increased threat. Slaying monsters, opening chests, and completing rituals generate threat.

Filling each threat segment triggers an ambush with elite monsters, offering a great way to collect Aberrant Cinders if you can handle the difficulty. Maximum threat spawns a torrent of demons followed by Hell’s Champion, a formidable elite monster.

Hell's Champion

Reaching maximum threat and letting the meter decay to zero summons Hell’s Champion, an elite foe with a large health pool and high damage output. Defeating Hell’s Champion drops a Profane Mindcage, a consumable that increases Helltide monster levels by +10, boosting Aberrant Cinder drops and threat generation. Using this item before a Helltide increases your chances of earning high-level gear and opening every Tortured Gift.

Opening Tortured Chests

Once you have 75 or more Aberrant Cinders, open a Tortured Chest, marked on your map. The chest's name indicates its contents, such as a Tortured Gift of Amulets chest dropping at least one amulet. World Tier 3 chests drop Sacred gear, while World Tier 4 chests drop Ancestral items. These chests have a high chance of dropping Legendary items, making them ideal for slot-specific upgrades.

The best chest to open is the Tortured Gift of Mysteries, costing 250 cinders and marked with an orange icon. Only one spawns per Helltide, but another, the Tortured Gift of Living Steel, also costs 250 cinders and drops valuable endgame items.

Accursed Ritual

Every Helltide has an Accursed Ritual site, marked on your map. To start the ritual, provide three Baneful Hearts. This spawns a stream of demons, culminating in a tanky imp boss, effectively a Helltide world boss.

All players involved in the kill receive rewards, with those providing Baneful Hearts getting additional items. Lowering the boss's HP spawns more enemies and increases threat, so be prepared for a tough fight. Completing the ritual rewards you with Legendary items and high-quality affixes. There’s no limit to how many times you can fight this boss in the Helltide, so farm Aberrant Cinders, open chests, and use Baneful Hearts to summon challenging bosses.

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