We’re here to talk about Nightmare Dungeons you want to do, and Nightmare Dungeons you want to avoid altogether. The best Nightmare Dungeons will have the highest mob density, the shortest distances between groups, and the most intuitive dungeon layout. Let’s start.

How To Unlock Nightmare Dungeons?

To unlock Nightmare Dungeons, you need to complete your first Capstone Dungeon and transition to World Tier 3.

The easiest way to get your first Nightmare Sigil is to turn in Grim Favors at Tree of Whispers and open Whisper Cache. You need to open your consumables tab to activate your Nightmare Sigil. Nightmare Sigil can transform normal dungeons into special Nightmare Dungeon variants.

How Do Nightmare Dungeons Work?

Enemy levels in Nightmare Dungeons are calculated by adding your World Tier, 50 Tier, and Sigil Tier. Nightmare Sigil has special affixes that can change the enemies in the dungeon or the dungeon itself.

Its most serious negative effects are Lightning Storm, Stormbane’s Wrath, and Drifting Shade. The best strengths are Quick Killer, Magic Find, and Increased Critical Strike.

Nightmare Dungeons are currently the only way to upgrade glyphs in the game, so running Nightmare Dungeons is a must.

Nightmare Dungeons Overview

Here’s a quick overview of Nightmare Dungeons in Season 2, with all the good and bad affixes included in one place.

Sirocco Caverns

Sirocco Caverns is the best Nightmare Dungeon yet. You’ll fight Spiders, Fallen, and Maggots on a narrow path, which is where the high monster density of this nightmare dungeon comes from.

It’s important to note that because Spider-type enemies explode, dealing toxic damage for a short period, this can be dangerous when too many Spider-type enemies are stacked on top of each other.

One of the main reasons this dungeon is so great is because every objective has a circular layout. This means you can easily eliminate all enemies without having to turn back, making farming Diablo 4 Gold much more efficient.

There are 2 objectives in this dungeon: just destroy Silken Spire and then defeat the special elite enemies called Spider Callers.

Flooded Depths

Flooded Depths is another great example of a simple layout and easy to accomplish goals. The first objective of this dungeon is to defeat a special elite called Plague Ship Rower and open the door to the next objective.

For the next objective, we just need to destroy 3 Drowned Bells, which are not only surrounded by elites but also spawn more elites.

The first part of this dungeon is a simple path, the second part requires a bit of memorization to make the most of.

Light’s Watch

Light’s Watch is a castle style dungeon in Scosglen that players need to complete Hope’s Light stronghold to enter.

In this dungeon, during Watchmen objective, you need to split in two directions. I highly recommend going in both directions and going around these loops to get as much experience as possible. This is the first dungeon on our list to feature a boss.

Belfry Zakara

Belfry Zakara is another dungeon where the first objective is to destroy Drowned Bell that spawns elites, and the second objective is to defeat the special elites to get the key to the boss’ room. Make sure to get the most out of the experience by fully completing these little loops on the map.

In higher-level versions, beware of Drowning Wench’s charge attack, which will create pools of water because eventually explodes. This will easily hit you at higher levels.

Jalal’s Vigil

Jalal’s Vigil is very reminiscent of the dungeons Maulwood and Aldurwood from previous seasons. Pay special attention to Chargers in this dungeon, as they have a charge attack that can kill you in one hit at higher levels.

You’ll need to remember where the loops are on the map, as they’re easy to skip and miss out on elite experience points. There is also a boss at the end of this dungeon.

Ghoa Ruins

Ghoa Ruins may be a glyph-upgraded Nightmare Dungeon. Ghoa Ruins is the first zero-objective Nightmare Dungeon in Diablo 4. This means you can skip right to the end, defeat the boss, and collect your glyph experience.

But if you’re looking for experience points, this is definitely a mistake. Because there are many opportunities to gain a lot of experience points in these areas of Ghoa Ruins.

Deserted Underpass

Finally, Deserted Underpass reminds me of Sirocco Caverns. It has a short layout, narrow passages, and extremely high mob density. Be sure to keep an eye out for this Nightmare Sigil.

EXP Farm Tips & Tricks

Next, I’ll tell you how to get the most out of Nightmare Dungeon by using practical tips.

Since the release of Season 2 patch, stocking up on Nightmare Sigil has never been easier. After completing each Nightmare Dungeon, you’ll automatically receive a new Sigil in the consumables tab, meaning you’ll never be without it.

Plus, you can salvage any unwanted Sigil at Occultist, which includes bad dungeons and even bad affixes.

But avoid using Nightmare Sigil to counter your primary damage type, as this will significantly slow down your clearing speed. Once you’ve salvaged all Sigils, try crafting new Sigils to replace them.

Completing Nightmare Sigil at level 30 or higher will drop a consumable called Distilled Fear. You can use 9 of them at Occultist to summon the new boss, Ice Beast. Here’s Ice Beast’s loot table, just in case you want to chase this boss later.

In Nightmare Dungeon, it is very important to touch every Golden Chest, Shrine and perform Healing Well. Each of these has a chance to become a cursed version of itself, leading to events that spawn large numbers of enemies. This will give you a lot of experience points for completing the mission and is well worth it.

Another wave type event I highly recommend you do is some of NPC activity you’ll find around Nightmare Dungeon. Only with time and experience will you learn what is fun and worth doing and what is not worth doing at all.

Make sure you understand the layout of each dungeon as you complete Nightmare Dungeon. You’ll want to do this so you don’t accidentally miss large numbers of enemies and elites. It’s not worth the long distance there and back, but it’s an easy point to experience when you’re already there. Good luck and have fun.