How Helltides work in Diablo 4 and how to spend Aberrant Cinders

Hell tides are one of the coolest endgame features in Diablo 4giving you a reason to explore the areas of Diablo 4 that you have visited many times before, such as The Fractured Peaks of Scosglen. Even better, Helltides are an excellent source of loot, and you can spend special currency for a chance to get items in a specific armor or weapon slot.

In this Diablo 4 guide, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about Helltides, including when Helltides spawns, the Threat system and Helltides Assault events, the Accursed Ritual, and what loot you can get from mysterious chests.

Season 4 turns into Helltides in Diablo 4

Loot Reborn is the fourth season of Diablo 4 and introduces a host of changes and new content to the base game, mainly dealing with Helltides.

Helltides now appear on all world levels. Previously, you could only participate in Helltides if you had reached World Level 3. Now you can hunt demons even at World Level 1 or 2 in this returning event. On the other hand, you won’t receive the same types of rewards or the same density of enemies in the area. You also can’t find any wandering bosses. Finally, the chests are all mysterious chests.

You start seeing from season 4 onwards Helltides bountiesthese are Tree of the Whispers bounties with a small fire icon.

In addition to these changes, the Loot Reborn season also adds the Threat system and two new events taking place during Helltides: Helltide attack And Cursed ritualswhich we have described below. Less dramatic additions to the Helltides involve enemies like the Doomsayers, which summon Elite enemies after you interact with them.

How Long Do Helltides Last?

On all world levels, Helltides appears as a semi-permanent map feature. Each Helltide lasts about an hour in a single zone, reappearing in a new zone after a five-minute break.

When you open the map, Helltides are relatively easy to find, as an entire part of a region turns blood red, such as:

Within this zone you will find some higher level monsters and even some new resource nodes, such as Fiend Roses. When you kill enemies in a Helltide, or complete events, or basically do anything, you earn Deviant Embers. These little red shards are extremely valuable, as you can spend them to get better loot.

The problem here is that Aberrant Cinder chests are expensive and every time you die you lose half of your current Aberrant Cinders. The good news is that if you leave the Helltide area and come back while it’s still active, you’ll still have all your Cinders. Ember only expires when the Helltide you received it from disappears.

Helltides Threat System, Explained

Helltides became more dynamic from season 4 with the addition of the Threat system. As you interact with the contents by killing demons and opening Tortured Gift Mysteries chests, the Threat meter, located near the minimap, fills up.

The The threat meter has three levelsand for every game you complete, your experience during the Helltide will change. While the rewards get better as you fill the meter, the number of enemies you face increases and they become stronger. In the event that you die, in addition to losing your embers, you also lose the The threat meter goes back to zero and you have to start the whole process again.

But if you fill the threat meter completely and survive the Helltide, you’ll start the Helltide Assault event. At this point, in World Levels 3 and 4, you become Hell-marked and a wave of enemies appear. However, finishing it is not the end of this phase. After the wave, a new powerful enemy appeared, the Hellbornspawns. There are five variants of this enemy based on the classes available in the game, making each new attack a new experience. The Helltide Assault is over when you die or kill the Hellborn.

During the Red-Cloaked Horror’s Return event, running from November 19 to December 3 as part of the wider Return to Sanctuary event, you’ll have a chance to Red-cloaked horror instead of a Hellborn during his adventure in Helltide. This winter-themed demon can drop additional materials, including bonus Cinders, and will create a Gideon’s brew. This special Winter Elixir increases your damage and experience gain, and gives you additional resource rewards.

The Red-Cloaked Horror can also appear in the Infernal Hordes activity and in dungeons.

How to perform the cursed ritual in Helltides

The Threat meter and Helltide Assaults are not the only new features introduced in Helltides in Season 4. During Helltides you have the chance to… Cursed ritual.

During Helltides you may encounter a new item called Terrible heartwhich you will usually find as a drop from a Tortured gift of mysteries chest. Although less common, Baneful Hearts could also disappear Doom seekers And Hero-borne demons. In either case, there is no guarantee that a Baneful Heart will drop.

To perform a cursed ritual you will need three Baneful Heartsand more than one player can contribute with at least one heart. A marker next to your minimap shows how many hearts you have with you. With the exact number in hand, you need to search for the Cursed Altars which are indicated on the map by a demon head icon. Place one heart on each altar to start the invocation.

Completing the ritual will cause you to be overrun by enemies and summon a new powerful boss Bloodgirl. Due to how strong this enemy is, players within your subzone will receive a message about the ritual. They can join the battle even if they have not confidently contributed to the ritual. However, the players who performed the ritual and changed the Baneful Hearts always receive bonus rewards after Blood Maiden is defeated.

Different Cinders chest costs per World Level

As you travel through the Helltide – and if you just look at your map – you’ll see a variety of chests. At world levels 1 and 2, all chests have a name Tortured gift of mysteriesare the same type and you don’t drop endgame materials when you open them. On the other hand, at World Level 3 and 4 you will find weapon chests, while others are ‘protection armor chests’.

When you go to these chests, you will see a symbol floating above them, indicating what type of item (helmet, chest armor, one-handed weapons, etc.) will drop from the chest. You can also find them on the two highest World Tiers Living steel boxeswhich drops special endgame material.

At World Level 1 and 2, all chests cost 100 Aberrant Cinders to open, while at World Level 3 and 4, each type of chest costs a different number of Aberrant Cinders, as we explained below:

Each chest purchased will drop multiple pieces of equipment, and there’s a good chance you’ll get more than one Legendary when you open one. This is a great way to specifically improve an armor piece that you’re having a hard time replacing by running dungeons or completing other activities.

You may have noticed that one chest does not look like the other. The Tortured Gift of Mysteries (also known as the ‘mystery chest’ by the community) is actually the most valuable purchase during any Helltide. Our Tortured Gift of Mysteries guide can show you where to find them.