There are many reasons why you need to farm Helltide. The most notable reason being Helltide is the only way to obtain Living Steel needed to summon Grigoire The Galvanic Saint, which, depending on your class, will give you some of the best equipment for your build in the game.
Grigoire is also the boss you’ll need to farm in order to fight Duriel. The boss that has the best chances of dropping Uber Uniques, so you’ll want to farm Helltide as much as possible.
It’s also the only source in the game for getting Forgotten Souls and Fiend Roses. We need these for enchanting at the Occultist to remove unwanted gear affixes from equipment and upgrading our equipment to their maximum level at the Blacksmith. Of course, if you want to upgrade your equipment faster, it is also necessary to prepare a large amount of Diablo 4 Gold.
As for the best methods of getting the most out of Helltides, let’s get right into it.
Helltides
Helltides are unlocked after completing your level 50 Capstone Dungeon and getting into World Tier 3.
However, I feel like Helltide in World Tier 3 is a waste of time. Living Steel only drops 1 at a time instead of 3 at a time and Blood Harvest is better for farming Sacred Gear in Season 2. I would save this content for when you’re in World Tier 4.
Helltides are up for an hour and down for an hour. You’ll be able to see if a Helltide is active by its icon or the red glowing region.
Aberrant Cinders
Inside a Helltide area, you’ll have a new UI element in the top right. This is for your Aberrant Cinders.
Aberrant Cinders will randomly drop from enemies defeated in Helltide or from interactables, especially those with a red glow.
Dying in Helltide will cause you to lose half of your Aberrant Cinders. Be careful opening a menu like your inventory during Helltide because meteors can randomly fall on you.
Make sure to keep your health topped off. And if you get hit by a meteor, immediately use a potion so you don’t accidentally get two shot by a second meteor.
Tortured Gifts
If you open your map, you’ll be able to see the Tortured Gifts in your current area and the item slot in the chest will drop. The cost of each chest is associated with the item type and will be listed above the chest.
The Tortured Gift of Mysteries will be the most rewarding chest to open in terms of equipment for a total of 250 Aberrant Cinders, but will only show up on the mini map when you’re near it. The spawn locations for the chest of mysteries are at fixed but random locations.
In season 2, we received another chest with a randomized spawn called the Tortured Gift of Living Steel. This is what we’ll need to farm if we want to pursue either Grigoire or Duriel.
If you’re looking to farm Helltide, I recommend aiming for either the Tortured Gift of Mysteries for 250 Aberrant Cinders or the Tortured Gift of Living Steel for 300 Aberrant Cinders.
So far, I’ve been able to find a total of two or three chests of Living Steel total per Helltide, meaning you should get between 6 and 9 Living Steel per run if you complete your run sufficiently. But this also means you’ll need between 600 and 900 Aberrant Cinders.
Efficient Farming Strategies
Farming Aberrant Cinders is quite simple. I highly recommend using a speed farming build for this with good wave clearing ability. Helltide can expand further than just 1 region, meaning you can find multiple types of monsters in a single Helltide area.
If you can find a region that has a specific type of enemy that spawns in a higher density, focus your farming there. I prefer to farm cannibals, spiders, or vampire type enemies if they’re available. And I avoid ghost type enemies. They’re just too difficult to pin down.
Once you found a good spot, just defeat groups of enemies as quick as you can, just like you would in a Nightmare Dungeon and then mount up and move on to the next group.
Events in Helltide are pretty hit or miss for dropping Aberrant Cinders. Some are great. Some are a waste of time. If you come across a chest of Living Steel earlier than expected, just mark it on the map, since it will disappear when you’re far away. This way, you can easily come back to it later.
I never recommend holding on to two more Aberrant Cinders than you need to because it is devastating to lose half of your Cinders. If you run into Kixxarth, Helltide Assassin. I recommend just running away. He has a ton of health. His drops aren’t great and he’s overall just a pain of fight.
Once you have 300 Aberrant Cinders, head to the nearest Tortured Gift of Living Steel and interact with the chest the mini boss attached to it will then become active and vulnerable to attacks.
This mini boss is actually fairly easy to defeat. The real danger is any of the mobs nearby. When defeating the mini boss, be careful if it had any after-death affixes, like the exploding fire or poison affix.
Defeating the mini boss does not mean you spent your Cinders. So, if you die before opening the chest, you’ll lose half of your Cinders.
Opening a Living Steel chest in World Tier 4 will give you 3 Living Steel, Forgotten Souls, Fiend Roses and elixir.
While farming Living Steel chest, keep an eye out for Screaming Hell Veins. These are special environment resources only found in Helltide and are a good source of Forgotten Souls.
Another environment resource you’ll want to find are Fiend Roses. These will offer Aberrant Cinders and Fiend Roses. Both of these materials are important for minmaxing your equipment in the endgame, so you’ll want to collect as many of these as you can.
To see when Helltides are available, I like to use the website helltides.com. They will also list where the chest of Mysteries and the chest of Living Steel potential locations are, which takes out a lot of the guesswork and the need for running around.
