Looking for Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 Season 1? In Diablo 4, there are a lot of activities to do in the world of Sanctuary. One of the newer ones added to the game are the Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons. These were slated by the developers as one of the main endgame systems that players would interact with.
You might be wondering how to make the best endgame build for Diablo 4, or looking at the best class to choose. But how do you unlock these endgame Nightmare Dungeons, and are they even worth running? Well, strap in, as we’ll cover those questions and more in our Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons guide.
How do you unlock Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4?
Here’s how to unlock Nightmare Dungeons:
- Complete the campaign
- Complete the Capstone dungeon
- Open World Tier 3
- Find a Nightmare Dungeon sigil
- Use the sigil to turn any dungeon into its Nightmare version
Unlocking nightmare dungeons in Diablo 4 is actually quite easy. There are a couple of requirements that you’ll have to fulfill. First, you’ll have to beat the campaign. Then you’ll have to complete your capstone dungeon to unlock World Tier 3. Once you’re in World Tier 3, you’ll have to find a Nightmare Dungeon sigil.
The easiest way to find these is to do a full Whispers of the Dead run. Upon talking to the Tree of Whispers and opening your cache, you’ll be rewarded with a sigil to a random tier-one nightmare dungeon. Clicking on the sigil in your inventory will turn that dungeon into a nightmare dungeon until you complete it, leave the game, or open a new sigil. Then you can click on the dungeon on your map to teleport to the entrance.
World tier 3 will drop tiers 1-20 of nightmare dungeon sigils, while world tier 4 will drop tier 21-100. These increase in monster level and affix difficulty. You will also eventually unlock the ability to craft sigils with the occultist in town.
How do you complete Nightmare Dungeons?
Completing nightmare dungeons is also pretty straightforward. Once you enter the dungeon, you’ll want to progress through the dungeon as you would normally. There is a set of objectives that you’ll have to complete on the right side of your screen. These will be different for each dungeon. You’ll know when the dungeon is completed when a large immunity bubble pops up around your character with a pedestal in the middle to upgrade your glyphs.
Nightmare Dungeon rewards
Outside of the loot that you’ll pick up along the way, each nightmare dungeon has random rewards that you’ll earn at the end. You’ll earn a random legendary item, which also has a chance to be a Unique item. You’ll also earn a level-appropriate sacred or ancestral rare item. Once the dungeon is complete, you’ll also be awarded the experience to upgrade glyphs that you put in your paragon board.
Best Nightmare Dungeons to farm in Season 1
There are 30 different nightmare dungeons in the game, with six per region. That being said, not all of these dungeons are going to be the best for farming.
There are four categories of farming that you’ll want to do in nightmare dungeons:
- Solo experience farm
- Glyph level farm
- Group farm
- High tier pushing
Best Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons in Season 1 for solo XP farming
The best Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons in Season 1 for solo XP farming are:
- Sarat’s Lair
- Mercy’s Reach
- Dead Man’s Dredge
- Norstrava
- Tomb of the Saints
- Komdor Temple
It’s worth noting that the Nightmare Dungeons have changed in Season 1. Fortunately, Diablo 4 YouTuber Raxxanterax has identified every new Nightmare Dungeon and has assembled a tier list in terms of how much experience they’re each worth.
Best Nightmare Dungeons for glyph leveling
Here are the best Nightmare Dungeons for glyph leveling in Diablo 4:
- Guulrahn Canals
- Maulwood
- Raethwind Wilds
- Aldurwood
- Witchwater
- Blind Burrows
- Sunken Ruins
- Lost Archives
- Earthen Wound
- Cultist’s Refuge
- Maugan’s Works
These dungeons are going to be the best to do if you want to level your glyphs quickly. The biggest factor here is the time to get in and finish the dungeon as fast as possible. This list also assumes that you’re going through quickly, and not necessarily full clearing the whole dungeon.
Best Nightmare Dungeons for group farming
Here are the best Nightmare Dungeons for group farming in Diablo 4:
- Aldurwood
- Champion’s Demise
- Maulwood
- Blind Burrows
- Lost Archives
- Raethwind Wilds
- Demon’s Wake
- Crusader’s Cathedral
- Guulrahn Canals
- Prison of Caldeum
- Witchwater
- Conclave
- Cultist’s Refuge
- Kor Dragan Barracks
- Sunken Ruins
- Zenith
These dungeons are the best to run if you’re playing in a group. These dungeons are just generally good to run, or will allow you to take advantage of the layout by splitting the group up to clear the dungeon faster.
Best Nightmare Dungeons for pushing
Here are the best Nightmare Dungeons for pushing in Diablo 4:
- Blind Burrows
- Dark Ravine
- Champion’s Demise
- Maugan’s Works
- Witchwater
- Feral’s Den
- Renegade’s Retreat
These dungeons are the best to run if you’re looking to push incredibly high tiers. We’re talking in the 75+ sigil tiers. These dungeons are going to be hard so this list is based on the difficulty of the monsters you’ll face and the likelihood of you getting to the end and finishing the dungeon. This is a generalization and might not necessarily be applicable to all builds.
And that’s our guide to Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4. While you’re here, be sure to check out our list of the best endgame builds that you can use to smash these dungeons. If you’re looking for the strongest Uniques in the game, we know where you can find the likes of Andariel’s Visage, and the Harlequin Crest, too.