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Diablo 4 - Nightmare Dungeons And Nightmare Sigils Guide

Obtain Nightmare Sigils to enter Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4.

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The Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons are a type of endgame activity. By obtaining special consumable items, you can turn your previously visited stomping grounds into more challenging delves, with better rewards than before. Here's our guide to help you with Nightmare Sigils and Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4.

How to Get Nightmare Sigils and Complete Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4

Nightmare Sigils and Nightmare Dungeons Requirements

The Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons and Nightmare Sigils become available as mechanics once you've cleared the Cathedral of Light Capstone Dungeon. You should also switch to World Tier 3: Nightmare.

While playing on World Tier 3, there's a chance that your loot drops include Nightmare Sigils. This can occur while you're doing Whispers of the Dead bounties, Helltide Events, good ol' freeroam exploration, and even while you're inside actual Nightmare Dungeons. All it takes is a bit of luck with the RNG drops.

Once you do have a Diablo 4 Nightmare Sigil and you want to activate it, simply head to the dungeon that matches the name (i.e. Blind Burrows Nightmare Sigil). Then, open your inventory and switch to the consumables tab. Use that sigil to turn the regular dungeon into its Nightmare counterpart.

Both images show Nightmare Sigils for the same Conclave dungeon, but they have different affixes/modifiers.

Nightmare Dungeon Modifiers

Generally speaking, a Nightmare Dungeon still follows the procedurally generated layout and fixed objectives of the regular dungeon. The difference is that there are additional modifiers based on the Nightmare Sigil that you used.

As you can see in the images above, we have two Conclave Nightmare Sigils, but these create different modifiers once used. To summarize, you can expect the following:

  • Since you're playing on Nightmare difficulty, enemies will be level 53+.
  • These Tier 1 Nightmare Dungeons only allow up to 12 revives. As such, you'll want to stay alive while you're doing the activity.
  • At least one affix/modifier is helpful, granting you a much-needed buff.
  • At least two affixes/modifiers are detrimental, which will pose a challenge.

Using the Blind Burrows as an example, we had Increased Healing (positive), Monster Shadow Damage (negative), and Drifting Shade (negative). That last one was particularly annoying, since we kept getting chased by a spirit orb that caused an AoE pool and explosion.

The Drifting Shade modifier made it a hassle to check the inventory to drop items since the exploding orb kept hounding our character until we cleared the dungeon itself.
The Drifting Shade modifier made it a hassle to check the inventory to drop items since the exploding orb kept hounding our character until we cleared the dungeon itself.

Paragon Glyph Rewards

So, why exactly are you even running these Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons? Well, for one thing, they're a great source of high-tier loot, such as Sacred and Unique items. Moreover, this activity goes hand in hand with the Paragon Board system. Once you've completed a Nightmare Dungeon, you'll be able to select a specific Paragon Glyph that you want to level up. In turn, this can be used to provide additional benefits to your stats and other related facets of your build.

Nightmare Dungeons are used to level up your Paragon Glyphs.
Nightmare Dungeons are used to level up your Paragon Glyphs.

Increasing Nightmare Dungeon Tiers: Sigil Crafting

As you continue to progress, you might acquire a Tier 3 Nightmare Sigil. Once you complete this activity, you'll get a Priority Quest from the Occultist. This will unlock a new Occultist function tab where you'll be able to craft Nightmare Sigils of higher tiers (all the way up to Tier 100). Each sigil you make does require a certain amount of dust, which comes from various post-campaign activities.

All in all, the idea is to grind Nightmare Dungeons at higher tiers to earn more rewards. Naturally, you'll be able to funnel more XP to your chosen Paragon Glyph to bolster it further.

Diablo 4 has numerous classes, mechanics, and activities. For more about the game, you can visit our D4 guides hub.

Jason Rodriguez on Google+

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