Starfield | Securing The Scientist
Diablo IV | Helltide Overview
Helltides are an event that occurs in random regions every so often in Diablo IV. They can be a great place to earn quite a bit of experience, legendaries, and needed materials for upgrading gear. They are something I look forward to running anytime one is up and playing.
Helltides themselves start 75 minutes after the last one has ended. They last a full hour. They are quite easy to notice on the map as they turn an area they are affecting blood red on the map. If you hover over the icon for one it will say how much time is remaining.
Acquiring Aberrant Cinders
There are a couple of different ways to get the limited-timed currency you need to spend to open chests during Helltides. Some ways are much better than others. A lot of this all depends on your overall gear, build, and the class you play. This is something you will have to test out to see which is best for you.
Farming Creatures For Aberrant Cinders
One method of acquiring Aberrant Cinders is killing creatures within the affected areas they can drop Aberrant Cinders. Once the Helltide ends all unspent Aberrant Cinders will be lost. This makes time management, understanding how quickly you can farm Aberrant Cinders, and where to spend them quite critical.
The best areas to look for are what I call death traps if you are just focusing on kills per hour. These are usually narrow corridors or choke points near high-value chests. They tend to have high density as if they are set up to try and kill or prevent a player from opening the nearby chest.
While this is not the highest farming yield for most players. If you find the right spot it can be well worth the stop and clear out. Even more so if you have a few connecting areas and some random players working together to clear out such areas.
The biggest hinder will be respawn times. So keep that in mind and further explore the areas for other things to hunt or even events to run while waiting for these high-density areas to respawn again.
Farming Objects For Aberrant Cinders
While running around you might find some strange and even evil-looking objects you can interact with. They can sometimes have a chance to drop Aberrant Cinders or other things. Keep in mind however they take a moment and often drop nothing at all.
There was once a point in time when these things always dropped Aberrant Cinders. People use to just run around on their horses farming them and ignoring everything else. This method then got nerfed into the ground as it was far too rewarding for the amount of risk involved.
I might interact with the many different objects in a Helltide if I’m already killing in an area. I however no longer go out of my way to try and get to one since they have quite a low chance now for Aberrant Cinders.
Running Events For Aberrant Cinders
During Helltide events usually dropping Obols are now also dropping a pile of Aberrant Cinders as well. Many events usually offer high-density killing, steams of creatures for a short duration that drop Cinders, along with a pile of extra Cinders and loot at the end.
Many grouped and solo players will run around focusing mainly on running a rotation of events during the majority of the time a Helltide is up. For most, this can be the highest method for gaining Cinders. It’s best to learn events spawn in a certain region and work with others even if you are solo to take them down to get giant boosts of cinders from all the creatures getting killed and the final chest reward.
Helltide Assassin For Aberrant Cinders
A Helltide can be quite a deadly place if you are not paying attention to the mini-map. There tends to be a Helltide Assassin running around that can quickly kill you. You will see them as a skull on the mini-map along with their lesser beings that span in from raining hellfire.
While Helltide Assassin drops a few cinders. Players are usually after the other drops such as Forgotten Souls and Fiend Roses. These are not something recommended if you are close to opening a chest you want as they can pose quite a high risk of getting killed.
Don’t Get Greedy
Just don’t get too greedy when farming for Aberrant Cinders. If you happen to get killed you lose half the amount you were currently carrying. On top of that once the timer for the Helltide hits zero any you had on you are gone for good.
Turning In Aberrant Cinders
While exploring around a Helltide area you will notice on the map quite a few map icons with a hint for most chests of what they might contain. Not all information is shown on the map itself so scouting around can often provide further details.
Since this is a limited event and taking too long to think can get you killed. It is best practice to know what you want to try and target the farm at the start. There are a wide range of chests from 1 handed weapons to mystery and many in between.
Most players go for the highest and most random chest called Tortured Gifts of Mysteries. While they cost the most at 175 Aberrant Cinders they are also the most rewarding for the cost.
These sought-after chests can drop on average between two to four legendary or better items depending on your world setting. On top of that they are an ok way to get some Fiend Roses and Forgotten Souls.
The biggest issue other than the high amount of Aberrant Cinders you need for the Tortured Gifts of Mysteries chests is they don’t show up on the map until you are rather close to them. The good news is they have a few different fixed locations they can spawn in each area.
There are quite a few websites that allow players to input information about where the current active Tortured Gifts of Mysteries chests are making them easier for others to find. That is however not a focus of this overview such information is bound to change a lot over time.
Keep in mind once you open a chest you can’t do so again unless a chest gets reset which happens every hour on the hour. This will also change the Tortured Gifts of Mysteries location to its alternative spot. Also don’t forget a Helltide takes place in two different areas on the map. So that means you have at least two chests before any reset and up to four if you are farming enough Aberrant Cinders.
If farming 175 Aberrant Cinders sounds like too much for just a random slot drop. You can focus on other chests as well. Just keep in mind they do not have to drop even a single legendary.
You can find things like rings to helm chests costing 75 Aberrant Cinders. Light weapons (1-handed and offhand), and Amulets costing 125 Cinder Aberrant). Heavy weapons (two-handed) 150 Aberrant Cinders.
Tips And Tricks
When in doubt take your time and think things out. The biggest cost of not reaching any goals you set for yourself in Helltide is getting killed. That is what often happens when you do something stupid.
If you just need things like Fiend Roses run around looking for the plant that spawns them. This will yield the highest amounts you can farm and there are usually a few of them up in an area.
Just because you found an event it does not mean you have to start it. Sometimes solo players will wait around or go check other nearby events to find where the herd of players is. You will get more Cinders, experience, and depending on the type of event if there are more players. No need to rush starting one alone. Not to mention it’s often safer to do them with others.
If you get killed or someone near you has been killed. Always get a revival or ask for one. Do not take the death penalty and get sent to town if you can help it!
If you don’t think there is enough time on the clock to farm the amount of Aberrant Cinders you need. Either adjust your goals to a smaller chest or call it. Nothing worse than being 10 short as the timer runs out or reaching the chests but having trash keeping you from opening it in time.
You can teleport back to town or even leave a Helltide area without losing Aberrant Cinders. Just keep in mind once the timer hits zero they are gone. I have even crashed and logged back into the game and still had my cinders on me as long as the event was going on that I earned them in.
Final Thoughts
Helltides can be a great way to break up the grind of running Nightmare Dungeons and doing other activities. Many times they even overlap with Tree Of Whipser's objectives. Allowing you to stack the number of rewards you are earning for being in an area with ease if you play your cards right.
Other Content
Information
Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Diablo IV. This was during the early access beta. Things are subject to change.
