Diablo 4: Helltides Explained

Are you sick of running the same Nightmare Dungeon over and over? Are you running Tree of Whispers so many times that it has become second nature? If you answered yes to any of those, then you probably need to know about Helltides in Diablo 4.

What are Diablo 4 Helltides

Helltides are special events that can be found all over Sanctuary and run for one hour. They provide a massive amount of experience and some decent loot.

During those events, the demons of Lilith are much stronger as their level is scaled to be higher than yours. The enemy density also increases during the Helltides and they drop a special currency called Aberrant Cinders that is used to unlock chests tied to this event.

This is an end-game feature and is mainly used to farm specific Legendary and Unique items. You can also farm materials such as Fiend Rose and Forgotten Soul that are used to upgrade gear.

How to unlock Helltides in Diablo 4

To unlock Helltides, you must unlock world tier 3 as this event is not accessible in earlier world tiers. After moving to world tier 3 and reaching level 50, you will receive a priority quest called “The Helltide Rises”. The quest will ask you to head over to Kyovashad and speak to Doomsayer Pira which is located next to the Statue of Inarius.

Helltide locations

Helltides can be found randomly in The Fractured Peaks, Kehjistan, Scosglen, Dry Steppes, or Hawezar. To find one, open your map and look for a region that is highlighted in a scarlet red color.

You can also identify it by looking for the flame sword icon as seen in the image above, but you can’t know where the next Helltide will spawn before it actually starts

How long do Helltides last

Helltides last for one hour and have a cooldown of one hour and fifteen minutes.

Aberrant Cinders

Aberrant Cinders are a temporary currency that can only be looted during the Helltide event. You can collect a finite number of Cinders during the event, and they can be dropped from multiple sources:

• Elite monsters – 1 Cinder
• Normal enemies – Between 0 and 1 Cinder
• Treasure Goblins – Between 1 and 6 Cinders
• Event Chests – Between 3 and 6 Cinders
• Normal Chests – Between 0 and 1 Cinders
• Fiend Rose nodes – Between 3 and 4 Cinders
• Screaming Hell Vein nodes – Between 3 and 4 Cinders
• Damned Soul, Tortured Souls, and Wretched Souls – Between 3 and 5 cinders

You can see how many Aberrant Cinders you have collected by looking at the top right corner of your screen beside the mini-map.

Dying during a Helltide will make you lose half the Aberrant Cinders that you collected, and leaving a Helltide does not result in losing your Aberrant Cinders. However, It is recommended that you spend any Aberrant Cinders you have because as soon as the event becomes inactive, you will lose all the Cinders.

Tortured Gifts

Aberrant Cinders are used to unlock special chests called Tortured Gifts that are spread all over the Helltide. Those chests allow you to farm the gear piece of choice as each one of them is linked to a specific item. Those chests are connected to your own instance of the map, so you don’t have to worry about other players taking them from you.

There are four types of Tortured Gifts that can be seen on the map during a Helltide and they are:

• Tortured Gift of Protection
• Tortured Gift of Weaponry
• Tortured Gift of Jewelry
• Tortured Gift of Mystery

When you get closer to a chest, only then you can actually see which piece of gear it will drop. This can be identified by the name and icon that is visible above the chest.

Here is a list of all Tortured Gift possibilities, how much they cost, and what can they drop.

The most expensive Tortured Gift, also called Tortured Gift of Mysteries or Mystery Chest, costs 250 Aberrant Cinders for a good reason. Those chests are quite rare and limited because they can drop a significant number of legendary gear, gold, and materials. Those chests cannot be seen on the mini-map unless you are close to them.

You can find an interactive Mystery Chest map with real-time user feedback on their locations at helltides.com

Helltide Summary & Tips

This event is extremely beneficial for end-game progression, and being prepared before you participate in your first Helltide is a bonus. So based on all the time I ran those events, here are some tips and tricks that you might find useful.

• Spend all the Aberrant Cinders before the event ends.
• Use this event to farm as many Fiend Rose and Forgotten Souls.
• Avoid dying during the event as you will lose half the Cinders that you collected.
• Chests can only be unlocked once during the event.
• If you are not farming a specific piece of gear, then always aim for the Mystery Chests first.
• Damned Soul, Tortured Souls, and Wretched Souls can also drop Cinders, so interact with them.
• You can teleport outside the Helltide without worrying about losing your Cinders, but make sure to spend them before the event ends as they do not carry over to the next Helltide.
• Use Elixirs for that extra experience boost.