Introduction
Helltides are a feature of Diablo 4 that add more challenge and excitement to the in-game grind. They are region-wide events that occur randomly in the open world of any world tier difficulty. In this guide, we will explain what Helltides are, how they work, and what rewards you can get from them.
Additionally, you can check out our interactive Helltide Mystery Chest locations map to find the current mystery locations:
Helltide Mystery Chest Interactive MapWhat are Helltides?
Helltides are demonic events that affect the open world of Sanctuary. They are caused by the surge in demonic activity as the sky darkens, rivers run red, and meteors fall upon the mortal realm. The very ground of the mortal realm is morphed by the infernal energy, as the veil between Hell and Sanctuary is thinning.
Lilith’s demons, who are empowered by the Helltide, are out in greater force and number. The monsters in an area affected by a Helltide also have a higher level than the player, making them more difficult to defeat. However, they also drop more loot and Aberrant Cinders, which are a special currency that can be used to open Helltide Chests in the respective region.
Helltides last around one hour and occur randomly in the open world. Furthermore, there will be a 5-minute gap between each active Helltide. You can tell if a region is under a Helltide by looking at the map or the sky. A Helltide icon will appear on the map, as well as parts of the map being covered in red color, and the sky will have a reddish hue. Furthermore, you will see different icons for Helltide Chests on the map. One for jewelry, armor, and weapons, as well as one for mystery or living steel chests.
How to Participate
Players who have completed the campaign at least once on their account will be able to participate in Helltides on any characters at World Tier Normal. Once you arrive in Kyovashad, you will be able to access a quest that will unlock Helltides. Remember to use Waypoints to travel between regions that are under a Helltide!
After completing the introduction quest, you can explore any region in the open world and look for an active Helltide. Additionally, Helltides can either be completed solo or with other players.
In World Difficulty Normal to Penitent, all Tortured Gifts chests will be Mystery Chests, and will only cost 75 Cinders. Meteors and roaming bosses will have lower chances of appearing, and the overall monster density will be lessened compared to higher world difficulty Helltides.
Helltide Activities
After entering an active Helltide zone, you will be able to participate in various events and activities. The first thing you will notice is a threat bar next to your Aberrant Cinders counter. This bar will fill up when you kill monsters inside the Helltide or when you open Tortured Gifts.
There are three levels of threat. Your Threat progressively grows in proportion to the health of the monsters you defeat. Each time you reach a threat level, the spawn rate and danger of monsters will increase.
As your threat level increases, you may encounter Hellworms. The underground worm comes out of the ground and spits monsters for you to battle before disappearing again. These worms can do significant damage and knock you off your horse.
Reaching threat level Tier 3 makes you Hell-marked and spawns a monster ambush on you. Defeating all the monsters and the last Hellborn creature will end the ambush and reset your threat level to zero.
Hellbornes are the tortured souls of the most powerful champions in Sanctuary, and there will be five different variants to represent all classes. They can be rather tanky, but should not be very hard to defeat. Hellbornes drop Rare and Legendary materials and have a chance to reward you with summoning materials for Varshan, The Beast in the Ice, Lord Zir and Grigoire, The Galvanic Saint.
Grouping up with other players and increasing your threat levels simultaneously will spawn multiple Hellbornes, which will offer you more chances to get Boss materials.
If you die, the Threat level will be reset to zero.
In addition to Aberrant Cinders, you can also collect Baneful Hearts. These hearts can drop from Tortured Gift chests. The drop rate starts at 15%. Your chances to get a Baneful Heart increase every time you fail to get one and reset upon looting a heart. Defeating Hellborne and Helltide Assassins also works in a similar way and starts with a 1% chance to drop a heart. Helltide Commanders always drop a heart, and World Bosses spawning in a Helltide area will also drop 3 hearts.
Once you have collected three, you can head to the Accursed Ritual site.
Activating the ritual site will summon hordes of monsters as well as the Blood Maiden boss, an extremely powerful boss that will reward you with plenty of experience, legendary items, and different materials. To start the event, you will require 2 Baneful Hearts in Tier 1 or 2, and 3 for the tiers above.
Starting an Accursed Ritual sends a signal to nearby players, who can then join in the ritual.
Every player who used a Baneful Heart at the Accursed Ritual site will benefit from the following ritual, as the next Blood Maiden that is summoned will then drop more items.
In addition, you will come across a little event that resembles a ritual site with which you can interact. Upon completion, Doomsayer enemies will drop rewards containing various Legendaries and Temper Manuals.
You may also encounter Hellspires or Spires of Corruption. As long as you stay close to the Hellspire, enemies will spawn continuously, but the Hellspire will drain your life. If you move out of range, the event will end.
Furthermore, Whisper bounties within Helltides are a highly effective way to obtain additional gear and gold. There are always ten Grim Favours in the Helltide zone. As you progress from activity to activity, completing the Tree of Whispers is an excellent strategy to ensure you get more items at the end of the Helltide.
Rewards
The goal of participating in Helltides is to kill as many demons as possible and collect Aberrant Cinders. Cinders are a special currency that can only be obtained from monsters killed in a Helltide, and can be used to open Helltide Chests, which are scattered throughout the region.
Chest locations for Helltides are static, but not every location will have a chest during a specific Helltide event. Furthermore, you can find better rewards by opening the bigger Helltide chests, known as Tortured Gift of Mysteries. You can find all possible Helltide mystery chest locations by following the link below.
All Helltide Mystery Chest LocationsCinders are required to open Tortured Gifts – the chests we mentioned above – which can contain valuable rewards, such as:
- Legendary Items
- Unique Items
- Mythic Unique Items
- Crafting Materials
- Temper Manuals
- Cosmetic Items
These chests can contain items for specific slots, and to open such a chest, you need Cinders that can be obtained by slaying enemies within a Helltide zone.
Here is a quick overview of all available Tortured Gift chests that you can find on the map:
- Tortured Gift of Protection (Boots, Chest, Helm, Gloves, Pants; Requires 75 cinders)
- Tortured Gift of Jewelry (Requires 125 cinders)
- Tortured Gift of Weaponry (Requires 150 cinders)
- Tortured Gift of Mysteries (Requires 250 cinders)
- Tortured Gift of Living Steel (Requires 275 cinders)
Regarding the mentioned chests above, one particular chest stands out: the Tortured Gift of Mysteries. It is highly recommended to open and gather cinders for this fourth type of chest, as it offers a greater chance of containing legendary gear, as well as Uniques or Mythic Uniques. However, it is also important to weigh the risk and reward, considering that it requires a higher cost in Aberrant Cinders compared to other chests. Furthermore, it is worth noting that if you die during a Helltide event, you will lose half of the cinders accumulated up to that point.
- Tortured Gift of Living Steel (Requires 275 cinders)
The Tortured Gift of Living Steel is another Helltide Chest that was introduced with Season 2, the Season of Blood. You can check the location for those chests in our Living Steel Chest Locations guide.
Opening this chest will give you Living Steel (among other drops), which is a material that is needed to summon Grigoire, The Galvanic Saint. Furthermore, when fighting Grigoire, he will drop Shards of Agony. These Shards are part of the materials that are required to summon the Uber Boss version of Duriel, King of Maggots.
Helltide Leveling
Helltides are an extremely good way to level any character, alt character, or seasonal character, as they are available directly in Normal World Tier difficulty and beyond.
Leveling through Helltides allows you to get your characters from Level 1 to 60 in only a couple of hours. It is one of the most efficient ways to level a new character because it allows you to get a lot of experience, gold, crafting materials, boss items, and even legendary gear early on!
You can join other players or explore Helltide on your own. In Normal and Hard difficulties you can feel a little safer, with a lower risk of dying, while still gaining a good amount of experience and loot.
During leveling, you can choose to move from event to event and take advantage of those, followed by opening as many Mystery Chests as possible, as they only cost 75 cinders in world difficulty Normal to Penitent. Moreover, opening a chest will also reward you with Baneful Hearts, which you can use for the Accursed Ritual, allowing you to gain multiple levels during a single ritual by spawning a large number of enemies at once.
In any case, we recommend that you team up for the rituals, as the Blood Maiden remains rather powerful even in lower world tiers.
Profane Mindcage
Seasons will offer an additional item that makes leveling through Helltides even better! As you defeat Hellborne enemies during a Helltide, you may drop an item called 
Profane Mindcage. Using this item will increase the level of Helltide Monsters by 10 and boost your Aberrant Cinder drop rate.
You can stack the Profane Mindcage buff up to 3 times in function of your desired difficulty.
Summary, Tips, and Tricks
Helltides are not for the faint of heart. They require skill, strategy, and preparation to survive and thrive in. Here are some tips and tricks to help you make the most of your time inside Helltides:
- The Tortured Gift of Mysteries & Living Steel chests will have a distinct icon color to help you find it on the map. Look for the orange/yellow chest icon!
- Each chest can only be opened once during a Helltide, so time is limited for gathering Cinders and claiming rewards. It is important to plan ahead and prioritize which chests to open.
- Chests let you choose which items to farm – each chest matches a different item slot, which allows you to target farm items.
- Complete Whispers for an additional gear cache – each Helltide has enough Whispers to gain 10 Grim Favors. Redeem them at the Tree at the end of the Helltide.
- There are special chests found in Helltide areas that can be broken, and that have a chance to yield a significant amount of Cinders. Make sure to always open those:
- Wretched Souls and Tortured Souls also have a chance to drop cinders, so make sure to click on those as well.
- Engaging in normal Events is highly recommended, as they spawn numerous enemies and elites that drop Cinder.
- You can teleport to town to empty your inventory, as long as you return to the Helltide zone through the portal. This time-saving strategy prevents inventory congestion.
- Remember to open the chests before the end of a Helltide event. A countdown timer will indicate the remaining time, after which the event ends and the chests disappear. Make sure not to miss the opportunity to claim your rewards before time runs out!
- Dying has a penalty – you will lose some of your gathered Cinders upon dying or exiting the Helltide event area, so it is always better to spend them!
- Helltide locations will switch, and they are only active for about an hour each time, before a reset occurs.
- You can also get loot from monsters in Helltide – chests are not the only way to obtain gear.
- Use consumables: Consumables, such as Elixirs, are items that provide temporary benefits or effects that can help you survive or deal more damage.
- Team up with other players: Team up with other players participating in Helltides, and benefit from their help, buffs, revives, or loot sharing.
- Dodge: Look out for environmental hazards and dodge falling meteors!
We hope this guide helped you understand what Helltides are, and how to make the most of them in Diablo 4. Good luck, and good loot!