What is a Nightmare Dungeon?
Nightmare Dungeons represent one of the main endgame activities in Diablo 4, along with things like Helltides, and the Tree of Whispers.
Nightmare Dungeons are special versions of dungeons spread throughout Sanctuary, and accessed by using a Nightmare Sigil. They are harder versions of normal dungeons that will scale with your world tier selection, increasing in difficulty and rewards. The most important reward is Masterworking Materials, which you will need to increase your gear’s power.
Each sigil will have different affixes on it that will either hinder or help you as you try to complete the Nightmare Dungeon. You will find below tables that will show you the positive and negative affixes that can roll on your Nightmare Sigils.
With that in mind, you need to make sure that your build can not only kill the enemies, but also has enough defense to survive them.
How to Access Nightmare Dungeons
Accessing Nightmare dungeons in Diablo 4 is quite simple. Once you have managed to acquire a Sigil (as a reward from the Tree of Whispers, a drop from another Nightmare Dungeon, or by crafting it yourself at the Occultist), simply right click it and accept the prompt. This will open the Nightmare Dungeon, the entrance of which will be indicated on your map. Then, just teleport or travel to it and start your adventure.
Sigils are found in their own separate tab of your inventory.
Craft a Nightmare Sigil
You can start crafting Sigils right away by visiting the Occultist. Break down unwanted Nightmare Sigils to get Sigil Powder, the main material used to craft new ones.
Sigil Powder is shared across all characters in your Eternal or Seasonal Realm, but not shared between realms.
Check out our Occultist guide.
Sigil Affixes
Nightmare Sigils are the only way to get into Nightmare Dungeons. They can be dropped from Nightmare Dungeons themselves, Whisper Caches, or crafted at the Occultist.
Positive Sigil Affixes
Here is the list of all positive dungeon affixes that can roll on your Nightmare Sigils.
| Affix Name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Gold Find | You find 30% more gold. |
| Ancestral Awakening | You gain 10% more Experience. |
| Horadric Reserves | Spawns in loot chests with specialized rewards. Rewards Gem Fragments, Gold, Obols, Seasonal Currency, Resources |
| Equipment Delve | Spawns in collectible items which upgrade a cache of equipment when found. Rewards Weapons, Jewelry, Armor. |
| Power Shrines | Spawns in additional shrines of the specified type. Spawns the following Shrines: Artillery, Blast Wave, Channeling, Lethal, Protection. |
| Forgotten Wisdom | Experience will have a chance to spawn on kill, and an experience well will spawn somewhere in the dungeon. |
| Treasure Breach | A number of gilded gremlins will invade the dungeon. |
| Horadric Strongroom | Guaranteed Horadric Strongroom within the dungeon. |
Negative Sigil Affixes
Here is the list of all negative dungeon affixes that can roll on your Nightmare Sigils.
| Affix name | Effect |
|---|---|
| Avenger | Killing a monster enrages monsters near it, making them dealing more damage. |
| Blood Blister | Killing a monster has a chance to spawn a Blood Blister. After a short time, it explodes, dealing heavy area damage. |
| Drifting Shade | Drifting Shade chases players. Upon reaching them, it explodes for heavy damage and creates a Nightmare Field that Dazes victims. |
| Elemental Totems | Elemental Totems occasionally spawn in combat that buff Nearby Enemies until destroyed. |
| Empowered Elites (Shock Lance) | Elites always have the “Electric Lance” affix. |
| Empowered Elites (Poison Enchanted) | Elites always have the “Poison Enchanted” affix. |
| Empowered Elites (Suppressor) | Elites always have the “Suppressor” affix. |
| Monster Barrier | Monsters gain 85% of their Maximum Life as a Barrier |
| Nightmare Portal | While in combat, Nightmare Portals open randomly near players, pouring out dangerous monsters. |
| Stormbane’s Wrath | Stormbane’s Wrath chases players around, releasing deadly pulses when reaching a player. |
| Volcanic | While in combat, gouts of flame periodically erupt near players. |
Horadric Strongrooms
Horadric Strongrooms are fast-paced challenge rooms hidden inside Nightmare Dungeons. They are short, and packed with enemies. Even though they are optional, they could reward you with some interesting buff for the rest of your Nightmare Dungeon. For example, you could get an increase to Experience or Obducite gain.
Want to know how to find them, how they work, and what kind of loot to expect? Check out our full Strongroom guide here.
Horadric Strongrooms GuideEscalating Nightmares
Nightmare Escalation is a high-level challenge introduced in Season 9. It is a chain of three back-to-back Nightmare Dungeons, where each dungeon inherits and stacks affixes from the previous one, increasing the difficulty.
To start an Escalation, you will need an Escalation Sigil, which can drop from Horadric Caches or Horadric Strongrooms. You can also obtain your first Escalation Sigil from the Horadric Knowledge Seasonal Reputation track.
In pre-torment difficulty, the event will end after your 3 nightmare dungeons. However, starting in Torment I, the 3 nightmare dungeons will be followed by a boss fight with Astaroth. Astaroth’s Lair will also be affected by your previous dungeons’ affixes.
Here is how it works:
- Use the Escalation Sigil to activate the first dungeon.
- After clearing it, a Horadric Portal opens, showing you the affixes for the next dungeon.
- Complete all three, and you will be sent straight into Astaroth’s Lair.
Astaroth has his own unique mechanics. For tips on taking him down, check out our full boss guide:
Astaroth Boss GuideEscalating Nightmares have a chance to reward you with Ancestral Legendaries and Uniques, on top of experience, gold, and materials.
