Diablo 4 is making big changes to Nightmare Dungeons in Season 9, and we’re excited for it

The Diablo 4 team has given us our first look Season 9: Sins of the Horadrim and patch 2.3.0. Alongside the typical changes to class balance and a new Horadric Spellcrafting system that will be the highlight of the season, Blizzard is making major changes to Nightmare Dungeons. In patch 2.3.0, you’ll find Nightmare Dungeon Affixes have been modified (with neat buffs), Horadric Strongrooms hidden in dungeons, and Escalating Nightmares which lets you chain multiple dungeons back to back with increasing challenges. Best of all, some of these updates are coming to the base game, so you can enjoy improved Nightmare Dungeons even if you’re playing on Eternal realms.

Also Astaroth is back, but he’s not on the boss ladder. Instead, you’ll find him waiting at the end of your Escalating Nightmare Dungeons. We’ll come back to that, but for now let’s talk about how Nightmare Dungeons will be changing in the next patch.

Nightmare Dungeon Affix improvements

Nightmare Dungeon Affixes are being updated in patch 2.3.0 to make them more approachable, more fun, and more rewarding. The Diablo team has expanded the pool of positive Affixes and removed negative Affixes that were particularly punishing to specific builds, such as Affixes that reduced your ability to deal specific damage types. Affix updates will be available on both Seasonal and Eternal realms, though it looks like some Affixes are season-specific, like those that reward seasonal currencies or interact with Horadric Strongrooms.

Here are some Affixes the team previewed:

• Horadric Reserves: Special loot chests spawn that reward currency, gems, gold, obols, and resources.
• Equipment Delve: Special items drop that upgrade equipment caches. Armor, weapons and jewelry are the targets of this buff.
• Power Shrines: Spawns more shrines! Artillery, Blast Wave, Channeling, Lethal, and Protection will spawn far more often.
• Forgotten Wisdom: Increases experience motes on kill, and an experience well will spawn somewhere in the dungeon.
• Treasure Breach: Gilded Gremlins invade the dungeon!

Horadric Strongroom micro-dungeon events

Horadric Strongrooms are a new micro-dungeon exclusive to Season 9. These Strongrooms will sometimes appear within Nightmare Dungeons, though you can better your chances of finding them by increasing your Torment rating, upgrading your Wayfinder with seasonal currency, or using a Sigil with an Affix that guarantees a Horadric Strongroom. Look for the sound/flash of a Horadric portal opening: an enemy ambush will spawn when you approach, and then you can enter the Strongroom.

Once inside, you’ll see Horadric Artifact Pillars that you can activate to unlock challenges (and rewards). Each pillar offers a different challenge, and the more difficult pillars will improve your rewards. Some pillars have been corrupted by Astaroth and will be far more deadly — and the higher your Torment tier, the more pillars there are to choose from, so pick wisely!

Once you’ve selected a pillar, it’s rip and tear time! You have a limited amount of time to kill monsters in ways that satisfy the pillar(s) you activated, earning Horadric Attunement points that will improve your rewards at the end of the run. Shrines in the Strongroom will bolster your powers, but using them spawns an enemy ambush.

Once you’ve completed the required number of pillars, a boss will spawn — defeat it and collect your loot!

Escalating Nightmares dungeon challenge

Escalating Nightmares are a new endgame activity that are also exclusive to Season 9, challenging you to defeat three Nightmare Dungeons back-to-back-to-back. Each subsequent dungeon has the Affix of the previous dungeon as well as adding a new Affix, so dungeons get harder and harder as you get closer to your goal: defeating Exalted Astaroth.

Are you up for the challenge? To start Escalating Nightmares, you need Escalating Sigils from the Horadric caches you earn from completing Strongrooms — you’ll start seeing them at Torment 1. If you complete all three Nightmare dungeons in an Escalating Nightmare, you go on to face Astaroth.

Exalted Astaroth encounter

Once you’ve completed an Escalating Nightmare, it’s time for a rematch with Mephisto’s lieutenant and his pet Amalgam. But don’t expect the battle with Exalted Astaroth to be easy: as you continue the fight, Astaroth and Amalgam will split to become two bosses you have to face at once. If you kill Amalgam before you kill Astaroth, you had better finish the fight quick because Amalgam will revive after a certain amount of time. [Ed’s note: Remember the headache caused by the Core Hounds in Molten Core during vanilla WoW? This seems to be a lot like that.]

Astaroth won’t be joining the boss ladder — though it seems likely he could be added in future seasons — so this is an Escalating Nightmare-specific encounter. It’s sure to be a challenging fight, so bring your A-game.

The Season 9 PTR launches on May 27 if you want to check out these changes in advance (and offer your feedback). Otherwise, patch 2.3.0 is due to launch on July 1 with Season 9.