Diablo 4 Season 9 Endgame Character Improvement Guide: How To Increase Your Damage?

Posted: Aug 13, 2025 Views: 47

Posted: Aug 13, 2025

Source: IGGM

When players reach the endgame, their skill points and glyphs are nearly perfect. But when you face monsters, you'll find they're much tougher than in the campaign. If you're a Necromancer, you'll find your summoned armies of skeletons reduced to shattering skeletons.

So what's going wrong? Why isn't your build as damaging as other players'? How can you improve your damage? This requires analyzing Diablo 4's gameplay and mechanics.

Diablo 4 Season 9 Endgame Character Improvement Guide: How To Increase Your Damage?

1. Don't Focus On Attack

When you first enter the game, attack damage can provide a significant boost. However, once you reach Torment I, even with 60,000 attack damage, you still won't be able to destroy monsters. This is because attack damage becomes less important in the later stages.

What factors play a role in your combat? Attack speed, critical hit chance, lucky hits, and so on, and all of which are related to attack damage. If you focus solely on increasing your attack power, your damage will indeed increase, but the boost will be limited.

Suppose you have two amulets: one that increases attack power by 20% and critical hit chance and critical hit damage by 30%, and one that increases attack power by 50%. After damage testing, the first amulet will generally have higher damage. So if you constantly recharge your gear to stack attack power in the endgame, you're simply wasting your Diablo 4 gold.

Simply put, attack power is like the water in a pool. You can spray monsters for a whole day with a toy pistol, or you can just use a high-pressure water gun to cut them in half in a second.

2. Multiplicative And Additive

This brings us to Diablo IV's damage formula. In Diablo IV, addition and multiplication are the two primary ways character attributes and damage calculations are affected. Addition simply adds values together, while multiplication multiplies the base value.

Additive is typically used to stack attributes of the same type, such as multiple affixes that increase maximum health or multiple affixes that increase skill damage. The calculation method is to add the values of all additive attributes simply and then apply them to the base attribute. For example, if your character has two affixes that increase maximum health by 10%, the total maximum health increase is 20%.

Multiplicative is typically used to stack attributes of different types, such as increasing attack damage, critical strike chance, and critical strike damage. The calculation method is usually to multiply multiple multiplicative factors together and then apply them to the base attribute. For example, if a character has an affix that increases attack damage by 1.2 times and an affix that increases critical strike damage by 1.5 times, the total attack damage increase is 1.2 * 1.5 = 1.8 times.

On equipment, whether the affix is additive or multiplicative is marked with a symbol in front of the affix, making it easy to identify which affix is more effective. If you want to increase your damage, the most effective way is to focus on multiplicative affixes and maximize your specific abilities.

3. Equipment

Diablo 4 equipment is a major headache for every player. Besides equipment quality, you also need to consider its affixes. For players striving for maximum damage, the most worrying aspect is Greater Affix Gear (GA Gear). This gear tends to drop more frequently in Torment 4, and its affixes represent improved stats, allowing for higher damage. However, in most cases, a single piece of GA gear will suffice.

Horadric Knowledge

Let's first discuss how to get equipment. Your first choice in Season 9 is naturally Horadric Knowledge, which translates to Season 9 reputation. Mystery Archetype Cache provides Diablo 4 items relevant to your class, meaning everything in it is useful, even GA gear. The final Resplendent Cache provides items that allow you to craft Mythic items.

Infernal Hordes

In Infernal Hordes, besides exchanging Burning Aether for caches and obtaining Ancestral Legendary items, you can also obtain Scrolls of Restoration, which grant a chance to re-temper items that can no longer be tempered, preventing your gear from becoming bricked.

Nightmare Dungeons

Season 9's major change is Nightmare Dungeons. By completing both standard and upgraded Nightmare Dungeons, you can earn a considerable amount of Diablo 4 gold, materials, and gear. However, there's no guarantee of receiving Ancestral Unique items.

4. Build Guide

Many people prefer to experiment with their own builds rather than follow others' guides, which is certainly more fun. However, if you're looking for higher damage, referencing each season's meta builds may help you solve your problems.

The builds shared have been tested for damage and are guaranteed to deliver the desired damage. Ignore any builds that don't interest you and choose those that are close to your own builds as a reference.

5. Masterworking and Tempering

Masterworking and tempering are the final steps in upgrading your gear, each offering significant improvements. Masterworking and tempering are two separate equipment enhancement systems, independent of each other, but both significantly impact the stats and power of your gear. Masterworking primarily improves a gear's raw stats and adds additional attributes, while tempering modifies existing attributes to better suit your needs.

Masterworking requires materials such as Diablo 4 Obducite and gold, while tempering requires collecting Tempering Manuals. Collecting all the manuals is a bit tedious, and collecting and opening Whispering Tree caches to collect tempering manuals is a quicker method.

In short, to increase your character's damage, you need to understand Diablo IV damage multipliers and adjust your gear affixes and build accordingly.

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Diablo 4 Season 9 Earth Spike Druid Build: How To Fast-Teleport In The Pit?
Season 9 finally sees the arrival of an insane Druid build. This build lets you blink like crazy in The Pit, destroying every enemy within. The clearing speed of this build is top-notch; if you can replicate it, your only concern will be whether your computer can handle the rapid blinking.

This build has already destroyed 147 The Pit instances, and in the video, they dealt a staggering 2,957,400,000,000,000,000 damage to the boss—it'll take you a while just counting the zeros. This build relies on Horadric Spells in addition to Diablo 4 items, and let's take a look at the skills and items required for this build.

Pros And Cons

Earth Spike Druid build allows for unlimited teleportation and deals incredibly high damage, making it incredibly fast whether you're farming dungeons or Infernal Horde. This build has incredibly fast teleport speeds, much faster than Sorcerer or any other class build. If you're looking to have a good time before Season 10 arrives, you absolutely must try it.

Secondly, this build has numerous protective abilities, making it incredibly tanky and difficult to kill in most situations, making it well-suited for Hardcore mode.

This build does have some drawbacks, of course. First, its high damage is inherently unnatural; it exploits a bug, but this bug has been around for a long time and hasn't been fixed, so you can play for a while without worrying about it suddenly breaking.

You can exploit this bug to achieve a one-hit kill on bosses (few bosses can withstand such high damage, after all), but triggering the bug takes time, and if you're not able to protect yourself in time, you'll be killed by the boss.

Another drawback is its high gear requirements. Not only mythical items but also your other gear needs to upgrade by Temper and Masterworking system to get the affixes up to par, requiring a significant investment in Diablo 4 gold and affixes.

Earth Spike Druid Gear
- Helm: Vasily's Prayer (Bac and Xan)
- Chest Armor: Shroud of False Death (Igni and Qax)
- Gloves: Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast
- Pants: Stormshifter's Aspect (Sapphire and Sapphire)
- Boots: Hectic Aspect
- Weapon: Shard of Verathiel (Emerald)
- Amulet: Aspect of Adaptability
- Ring 1: Ring of Starless Skies (Elemental Brand)
- Ring 2: Aspect of the Rabid Bear (Luminate Eye)
- Offhand: Aspect of the Moonrise (Emerald)
This build only requires two unique items, but it's still quite difficult to obtain because you need to obtain two mythic items. Vasily's Prayer's main function is to convert your Earthquake skill into a Werebear skill, granting her the benefits of Grizzly Rage and Aspect of the Rabid Bear.

As for affixes, since you rely primarily on Earth Spike for damage rather than regular attacks, you'll want affixes like cooldown reduction and increased Earth skill damage. The better your gear, the higher your cumulative damage.

Earth Spike Druid Skills
- Debilitating Roar (Rank 1): Enchanced Debilitating Roar and Innate Debilitating Roar
- Blood Howl (Rank 1): Enchanted Blood Howl and Innate Blood Howl
- Cyclone Armor (Rank 1): Enchanted Cyclone Armor and preserving Cyclone Armor
- Grizzly Rage (Rank 5): Prime Grizzly Rage and Supreme Grizzly Rage
- Hurricane (Rank 1): Enchanted Hurricane and Savage Hurricane
- Earth Spike (Rank 5): Enchanted Earth Spike and Wild Earth Spike
Spirit Boons
- Deer: Wariness
- Eagle: Swooping Attacks and Avian Wrath
- Wolf: Energize
- Snake: Obsidian Slam
This build mainly relies on Earth Spike to trigger Catalyst skill for flash. Pulverize has higher damage, but since it requires a target to use, while Earth Spike doesn't need this, only Earth Spike allows you to frequently flash to other areas.

When paired with Horadric Spells for quick flashing, Earth Spike's damage is sufficient to kill most normal monsters. The remaining skills are primarily used during boss fights, where their primary purpose is to deal with them. Most of these skills are used to enhance survivability, making this build highly survivable.

Horadric Spells

Catalyst (Earth Spike)
- Cosmic Anomaly: Manifest up to 5 Anomalies, which emit particles that deal damage over 4 seconds. You can cluster Anomalies and implode, each explosion dealing damage. With 5 Anomalies, you become unstoppable.
Infusion
- Corrosive Vapor: Changes the damage dealt by your Cosmic Anomaly to poison damage and disables the life steal of monsters for 5 seconds.
Arcana
- Sapping Crux: Your Catalyst ability makes enemies vulnerable.
- Floaty Bobble: You can flash to the explosion created by Cosmic Anomaly and remove the debuff.
- Gleaming Conduit: Amplifies Catalyst abilities.
Horadic Spells are the core of this build. Simply cast Earth Spike to trigger Cosmic Anomaly and Floaty Bobble, allowing you to quickly teleport around the map. You can switch between the other two Arcanas based on your farming goals.

This is the most crazy Druid build that will make it easy to clear The Pit in Season 9. This build primarily exploits bugs, so some players might not like it. However, if you're looking to bid farewell to Season 9 and wait for Season 10, I recommend giving it a try before you leave, and it's a very enjoyable build.
Diablo 4 Season 9 Best Infernal Horde Farming Strategies: How To Harvest Burning Aether Efficiently?
While Diablo 4’s endgame isn’t as extensive as Path of Exile 2 and Last Epoch, it still offers a number of high-quality dungeons and activities for farming gear, materials, and leveling, such as Horadric Strongrooms, Kurast Undercity, and Infernal Horde in Season 9.

In terms of material yields like Diablo 4 Obducite, Infernal Horde falls short of the previous two, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad endgame activity. Because the Infernal Horde spawns many monsters, and leveling in Diablo 4 is based on monster counts, the Infernal Horde is an excellent leveling activity for players just reaching the endgame.

Leveling is only one aspect of Infernal Horde; don’t forget it also yields a significant amount of materials. To maximize your gains, you’ll need a good farming strategy.

Infernal Horde Guide

Infernal Horde is a wave-based survival mode where you face waves of monsters, culminating in a battle against three Corrupted Council bosses. Each wave begins with a 60-second timer. Unlike the timer in Kurast Undercity, you only need to survive for 60 seconds, not kill all the monsters within 60 seconds. Whether you survive or kill all the monsters, the wave ends.

The player’s primary goal is to earn Burning Aether by killing monsters. These are exchanged for Spoils of Hell at the end of Infernal Horde, which contain items such as Diablo IV Obducite, gold, and elixirs.

After completing each wave, players must choose one of three Infernal Offers, which affect the amount of Burning Aether earned each round, and the monsters encountered. Each Infernal Offer has both positive and negative effects. During each wave, you’ll also trigger Aether Events. Completing these events will earn you more Burning Aether.

Unlocking Infernal Horde events requires Infernal Hordes Compass, which is no longer craftable in Season 9. However, you can get it from dungeons, Helltide, and Whisper Chests.

Infernal Offers

To effectively utilize Infernal Horde, you need to understand the various Infernal Offer mechanics. Different combinations of Infernal Offers can affect Burning Aether drops, and some poorly chosen Infernal Offers can even lead to failure!

The types of Infernal Offers are as follows:
- The Aether Rush
- The Burning Hellborne
- The Burning Rain
- The Bursting Fiends
- The Bursting Masses
- The Corrupting Spires
- The Draining Spires
- The Enfeebled Wanderer
- The Exalted Council
- The Exalted Elite
- The Exalted Hellborne
- The Exalted Hordes
- The Exalted Masses
- The Exhausted Wanderer
- The Gorging Masses
- The Insatiable Spires
- The Invigorating Hellborne
- The Stalking Devil
- The Summoned Hellborne
- The Summoned Lords
- The Surging Elite
- The Surging Hellborne
- The Teeming Masses
- The Unstoppable Elite
- The Withered Wanderer
Preparation And Strategy

Since players have multiple arsenals, in addition to dealing with The Pit, Bosses, and Nightmare Dungeons, you’ll also need a build specifically for clearing Infernal Horde.

Strategy 1: Hellborne

Hellborne offers the most generous rewards, so to maximize your Burning Aether gains, you’ll want to choose Infernal Offers that are closely tied to Burning Aether. The Surging Hellborne is the best choice, but The Invigorating Hellborne doesn’t provide any Burning Aether benefits.

You can choose from the following Infernal Offers:
- The Summoned Hellborne
- The Burning Hellborne
- The Exalted Hellborne
- The Surging Hellborne
Strategy 2: Aether Fiends

If you don’t encounter any Hellborne-related Infernal Offers, you still have other options. Aether Fiends offer quite good rewards, and if you choose The Surging Elite, your Burning Aether gains will be second only to The Surging Hellborne.

The Infernal Offers you can choose from are as follows:
- The Exalted Elite
- The Surging Elite
- The Unstoppable Elite
- The Teeming Masses
- The Summoned Lords
Strategy 3: Fixed Rewards

Sometimes you may not receive any of the above Infernal Offers. This isn’t the worst of it; you still have some options. While their rewards are average, they’re also not too difficult.

The Infernal Offers you can choose from are as follows:
- The Burning Rain
- The Enfeebled Wanderer
- The Exalted Council
- The Withered Wanderer
- The Stalking Devil
Strategy 4: Optional

If you don’t receive any of the above Infernal Offers, Infernal Offers you should choose are mainly to make the next wave less difficult.

Infernal Offers you can choose from are as follows:
- The Exalted Hordes
- Invigorating Hellborne
- The Bursting Masses
- The Exalted Masses
Strategy 5: Bad Choices

Some choices will slow down your activity, add extra events, or even cause you to die mid-game. Avoid these.

The Infernal Offers you shouldn’t choose are as follows:
- The Gorged Masses
- The Corrupting Spires
- The Insatiable Spires
- The Bursting Fiends
Infernal Horde Rewards

Infernal Horde’s main rewards are Obducite and Scroll of Restoration. Caches also contain materials and even unique weapons. However, Obducite and Scroll of Restoration come from different chests. Scroll of Restoration comes from Spoils of Greater Equipment, while Obducite comes from Spoils of Materials.

The amount of loot varies across Torment levels. Below is the amount of Diablo 4 Obducite found in Obducite Caches at each Torment difficulty level.
- Torment 1: 40 Obducite
- Torment 2: 80 Obducite
- Torment 3: 160 Obducite
- Torment 4: 320 Obducite
This concludes your Infernal Horde farming strategy. If you have extra Infernal Horde Compasses in your inventory, you can just use them all and farm for materials by Infernal Horde.
Diablo 4 Season 9 Stormclaw Druid Build After Patch 2.3.1: Why Has It Become Stronger?
Ever since Season 9 PTR, Druid has been considered one of the weakest classes of the season because of multiple nerfs. Even with the class mechanics adjustments introduced with the season’s official launch, this situation hasn’t changed.

Clearly, this long-term trend would not only undermine Druid fans’ enthusiasm for the game but also hinder Diablo 4’s popularity and game balance. Fortunately, recent patch 2.3.1 has changed this situation.

Perhaps due to the game’s recent frequent patching to better prepare for Season 10, Druid became a playable class mid-Season 9, making Stormclaw Druid builds more reliable.

Below, we’ll explain the changes patch 2.3.1 brings to Druid and how to craft and utilize Stormclaw Druid builds.

Druid Changes In Patch 2.3.1

This patch was released on July 15th (the latest being Patch 2.3.2, released on July 29th). The main updates can be categorized as follows:
- Vessel of Hatred Balance Update
- Vessel of Hatred Bug Fixes
- Base Game Balance Updates
- General
- Bug Fixes
The changes related to Druid are included in the third section. While not only Druid, but the other five classes also received improvements, Druid has clearly received more attention due to its long-standing underdog status:
- Pulverize: Damage increased from 150% to 175%.
- Greatstaff of the Crone: Claw, a Storm skill, cast Storm Strike at 200-350% normal damage in the past, now casts Storm Strike and Claw at the same time, and Storm Strike with 100-250% increased damage.
This change means you can now farm Diablo 4 gold faster as a Druid in combat by using two damage-boosting sources. And as base skills, Claw and Storm Strike require no resources to cast.

On the other hand, the separation of the two damage sources and their multipliers means you can now deal more consistent damage with a higher cap when casting these abilities.

While this requires you to constantly farm bosses to obtain the unique item Greatstaff of the Crone as a premise, the ultimate reward is well worth the effort. The following bosses can drop this item in Season 9:
- Varshan
- Lord Zir
- Grigoire
- Echo of Duriel
- Urivar
Stormclaw Druid Build

This build’s key strengths include speed, ease of mastery, and tankiness. It features a melee playstyle, using the damage from Claw and Storm Strike provided by Greatstaff of the Crone to quickly dash into enemies and knock them down.

Available Skills

The following skills are primarily suitable for this build:
- Grizzly Rage: Transforms you into a Dire Werebear for a short period of time, increasing your damage output and damage resistance. The longer you maintain this form, the greater the damage bonus.
- Cyclone Armor: When an enemy in melee range attacks you, the wind has a 15% chance to knock them back, reducing damage taken by 15%.
- Hurricane: Creates a destructive hurricane around you, damaging nearby enemies over 8 seconds.
- Blood Howl: Transforms you into a Werewolf and lets out a furious howl, restoring a percentage of your maximum health.
- Claw: Transforms into a Werewolf and attacks a single enemy.
- Maul: Transforms into a Werebear and unleashes a devastating melee attack on the enemy in front of you.
Best Gear

While Greatstaff of the Crone is undoubtedly essential, a Stormclaw Druid build becomes even more powerful with the following additional gear:
- Helm: Heir of Perdition / Tempest Roar
- Chest: Shroud of False Death / Mad Wolf’s Glee
- Gloves: Aspect of the Rampaging Werebeast
- Pants: Dire Wolf’s Aspect
- Boots: Wildheart Hunger / Stormshifter’s Aspect
- Amulet: Aspect of the Rabid Bear
- Ring: Aspect of the Moonrise / Aspect of Adaptability
Best Spirit Boons

This mechanic allows you to unlock related passive skills by sacrificing them to animal spirits to gain their blessings. Once fully unlocked, you can also activate the final boon by Spirit Bonding with one of the four animal spirits.

To this end, we recommend prioritizing the following boons:
- Gift of the Stag - Deer: Gains 10 Spirit per second, up to a maximum of 30 Spirit.
- Avian Wrath - Eagle: Increases critical damage by 40%.
- Swooping Attacks - Eagle: Increases attack speed by 20%.
- Calamity - Wolf: Increases Ultimate Duration by 35%.
- Overload - Snake: When you utilize Storm Skills, Lightning Bolts, and Dancing Bolts to deal damage, they also deal an additional 20% poison damage over 5 seconds.
Other Useful Season 9 Druid Builds

Although Druid was unreliable before Patch 2.3.1, it’s still worth trying with the help of several other builds, including Pulverize Druid, Fleshrender Druid, and Companion Druid.

With the new Druid unique item Rotting Lightbringer added in Season 9, Pulverize Druid and Fleshrender Druid builds can deal more poison splash damage in combat.

As for Companion Druid, it can utilize many minions to help you clear Season 9 Escalating Nightmares and Horadric Strongrooms dungeons more quickly.

Thus, while Stormclaw Druid build has become more powerful, you can still choose the best build based on your needs as a Druid player. On the other hand, these Druid buffs may also mean that it will become a popular class in the middle of Season 9.

That’s all we have for this article. We hope you find it helpful and wish you the best of luck in your next Season 9 adventures!
Diablo 4 Season 9 Lair Boss Key Farming Guide: What's The Fastest Way To Collect Them?
For players reaching Endgame, farming for unique and mythic gear is essential to complete your build. Unique gear is easier to farm on Torment 4 difficulty, but the drop rate for mythic gear is very low.

Aside from crafting with Resplendent Sparks and Diablo 4 Runes, farming Lair Bosses is a common method. The catch is that to get Lair Boss rewards, you must first collect Lair Boss keys.

Lair Bosses

Lair Bosses have undergone some changes in Season 8, with the addition of a new boss, Belial, and the tiers of bosses being divided into three levels: Initiate, Greater, and Exalted.

Unlike previous seasons, you no longer need Lair Boss keys to Initiate boss fights, but you will need the corresponding Boss Keys to get the rewards. If you’re playing with others, everyone needs a Boss Key to open the chest after defeating the boss, and sharing is not allowed.

The rewards for Initiate Bosses include Boss Keys for Greater Bosses. After defeating any Initiate Bosses or Greater Bosses, there’s a chance you’ll encounter Belial’s Ambush. After defeating this sudden boss, it will drop Diablo 4 Betrayer’s Husk.

Here are the required keys and drops for all lair bosses:

Initiate Boss
- Varshan: 12x Malignant Heart (Requirement), Shard of Agony or Stygian Stone (Drop)
- Grigoire: 12x Living Steel (Requirement), Shard of Agony or Stygian Stone (Drop)
- Beast in the Ice: 12x Distilled Fear (Requirement), Pincushioned Doll or Stygian Stone (Drop)
- Lord Zir: 12x Exquisite Blood (Requirement), Pincushioned Doll or Stygian Stone (Drop)
- Urivar: 12x Judicator’s Mask (Requirement), Abhorrent Heart or Stygian Stone (Drop)
Greater Boss
- Duriel: 3x Shard of Agony (Requirement)
- Andariel: 3x Pincushioned Doll (Requirement)
- Harbinger of Hatred: 3x Abhorrent Heart (Requirement)
Exalted Boss
- Belial: 2x Betrayer’s Husk (Requirement)
How To Farm Lair Boss keys?

Relying on killing bosses to get keys for other bosses is inefficient, but thankfully, there’s more to it than just that. With the exception of Betrayer’s Husk, every material has other drop sources.

Here are the farming paths for each boss material:

‍Abhorrent Heart
- 1. Undercity of Kurast (‍Tribute of Titans)
- 2. Urivar
- 3. World Bosses
‍Betrayer’s Husk
- 1. Belial, Lord of Lies ambush encounter in Lair Boss
‍Distilled Fear
- 1. Kurast Undercity (‍Tribute of Titans)
- 2. Nightmare Dungeons
- 3. Bartering
- 4. Tree of Whispers
- 5. World Bosses
‍Exquisite Blood
- 1. Kurast Undercity (‍Tribute of Titans)
- 2. Blood Maiden (Helltide)
- 3. Bartering
- 4. Tree of Whispers
- 5. World Bosses
- 6. Legion Events
‍Judicator’s Mask
- 1. Kurast Undercity (‍Tribute of Titans)
- 2. Kurast Undercity (without ‍Tribute of Titans)
- 3. Bartering
- 4. Tree of Whispers
- 5. World Bosses
‍Living Steel
- 1. Kurast Undercity (‍Tribute of Titans)
- 2. Helltide
- 3. Bartering
- 4. Tree of Whispers
- 5. World Bosses
‍Malignant Heart
- 1. Kurast Undercity (‍Tribute of Titans)
- 2. Tree of Whispers
- 3. Bartering
- 4. World Bosses
‍Pincushioned Doll
- 1. Kurast Undercity (‍Tribute of Titans)
- 2. Beast in the Ice and Lord Zir
- 3. World Bosses
‍Shard of Agony
- 1. Kurast Undercity (‍Tribute of Titans)
- 2. Grigoire, the Galvanic Saint and Echo of Varshan
- 3. World Bosses
Kurast Undercity And Tribute

Among the above methods, Kurast Undercity is the most efficient dungeon, but it’s included in Vessel of Hatred, released in Diablo 4 season 6. This dungeon has a countdown, and you can extend the duration by killing monsters. The longer you persist, the better the rewards.

You can use Tributes in advance to change the rewards in Kurast Undercity. The rewards for different tributes are as follows:
- Tribute of Pride (magic): Legendary items
- Tribute of Mystique (magic): Magic runes
- Tribute of Titans (Rare): Boss summoning items
- Tribute of Refinement (Rare): Masterworking materials
- Tribute of Harmony (Rare): Runes
- Tribute of Radiance (Legendary): Ancestral legendary items
- Tribute of Ascendance (Unique): Several unique items, and increases the chance of receiving a Mythic unique item
Tributes can be gotten in a variety of ways, including defeating bosses and farming The Pit and Helltide. If you need to farm Obducite, replace Tribute of Titans with Tribute of Refinement. If you’ve accumulated a lot of Tribute in your inventory, use it quickly to convert it into resources.

Which Lair Bosses Are You Targeting?

The reward pools for different Lair Bosses vary. If you’re farming Mythic items, Duriel, Andariel, and Harbinger of Hatre have higher drop rates, so you can target them to collect the corresponding keys.

The highest drop rate is from Belial, but since collecting Diablo 4 Betrayer’s Husk is more difficult than with other bosses, it’s not as efficient.

This is a general guide to farming Lair Boss keys in Diablo 4 Season 9. The most recommended method is to farm Kurast Undercity. If you don’t have the DLC yet, it’s highly recommended that you unlock it. The runes, mercenaries, and other unique content included in Vessel of Hatred are key ways to increase the strength of your builds, while Kurast Undercity is one of the best dungeons in Endgame for farming various materials.
Diablo 4 Season 9 Obducite Farming Guide: What's The Most Efficient Method?

There’s been a lot of discussion about the best way to farm obducite, but with the dungeon updates in Season 9, the farming method has changed.

This material is primarily used to upgrade your Masterworking gear and is a late-game material. Therefore, the following information applies primarily to farming in Torment 4. The same method can be used in other Torment difficulty levels, though it won’t be as efficient.

1. Horadric Strongrooms

Dungeons are a must-do for many players. Whether you’re leveling, farming for gold, or anything else, you’ll spend some time in a dungeon. Diablo 4 Season 9 adds mini-treasure rooms to nightmare dungeons, known as Horadric Strongrooms. When you play a nightmare dungeon, you’ll notice a prominent Horadric Gateway on the mini-map. After activating it, you’ll need to defeat several waves of mobs before you can enter the Horadric Strongroom.

Horadric Strongrooms are small dungeons. Upon entering, you’ll need to choose your favors. Once you’ve chosen your Favors, you’ll enter a room filled with enemies and four Horadric Artifact Pillars.

You must kill mobs within a 90-second timer to refill your Horadric Attunement, similar to Kurast Undercity. When the timer reaches zero or your Horadric Attunement reaches maximum, the mobs disappear and a boss appears. Defeating the boss will drop a Grand Horadric Cache containing over 2,000 obducites. The exit will appear after you claim the rewards.

There are two choices to farm a dungeon containing Horadric Strongrooms:

Farming The Entire Dungeon

Farming the entire Nightmare Dungeon is the least efficient method. Clearing Strongroom first and then clearing the remaining Nightmare Dungeons will yield additional Obducites, but the farming time will be significantly longer. It takes about 5 minutes to earn an additional 800-1200 Obducites, while in a Strongroom, you can earn about 1200 Obducites per minute.

Farm Only Horadric Strongrooms

You should only farm and collect Nightmare dungeons with Horadric Strongrooms affix. Once you defeat the boss and claim the rewards, exit immediately. This is a relatively efficient method.

Sigil Powder can be crafted into Nightmare Sigil, which transforms a normal dungeon into a Nightmare dungeon. Using this with Sigil Powder will significantly increase your efficiency, but it will quickly deplete your Sigil Powder. Additionally, the location of Horadric Strongrooms will change with each new Nightmare dungeon, affecting your farming efficiency.

2. Kurast Undercity

Kurast Undercity is a true treasure trove. You need to use Tribute of Refinement here and then clear monsters as quickly as possible. This method yields about 1,100 Diablo 4 Obducite per minute. If you encounter Portal Pranksters (Goblins), you’ll get a bonus.

This method relies on consuming Tribute of Refinement, which drops in Nightmare dungeons and Infernal Hordes, so you can combine it with other methods. Furthermore, if you team up with three other players and enter Kurast Undercity, one Tribute of Refinement will give you all 2,000 Obducite, for a total of 8,000 Obducite, which is quite a bargain.

3. Escalating Nightmares

Escalating Nightmares are essentially three nightmare dungeons strung together, a new dungeon change for season 9. Each dungeon has affixes, and these affixes stack with the next dungeon. You can set the affixes for the first tier, but the subsequent two tiers are random. Dungeons with Strongroom affix can yield around 2,000-2,500 Obducites, while the appearance of these affixes in the other two dungeons is entirely a matter of luck.

Thus, ideally, you can earn over 10,000 Obducites per clear of Escalating Nightmare. That said, the larger the map, the more Obducites you’ll earn, but the longer it takes to complete them. Overall, this method is less efficient than the previous two methods.

4. Infernal Hordes

Infernal Hordes event has a high degree of randomness, making it the least recommended method. Furthermore, the optimal event also requires randomness. The boons you choose may not always spawn the enemies you want. On average, this method yields about 350 Obducites per minute.

However, Infernal Hordes isn’t an unwanted event, as Obducites aren’t its primary reward, and the large number of monsters makes this an excellent leveling activity. As long as you combine it with buffs like EXP Elixirs, Incense, and Mother’s Blessing, it’s even more efficient than The Pit.

5. March Of The Goblin (Limited Time)

March of the Goblin is currently ongoing. This group of goblins, each with its own unique color, offers incredible rewards. Whatever you farm, it’s likely in the bags carried by these goblins.

While their spawn rate is random, there are certain areas where they appear more frequently. You can plan a more targeted farming route to hunt these goblins. The Diablo 4 Obducite you get with this method depends entirely on your luck.

6. Masterworking Cache

The last important method is Masterworking Cache, which you can get by trading in Mercenary’s Den, and a Masterworking Cache provides approximately 1,000 Obducite.

This is how to farm Obducite in Season 9. The stronger your build, the more efficient you’ll be. If you think these methods are too time-consuming, you can also choose to trade with other players.
Diablo 4 Season 9 (4 Tips For March Of The Goblins Event): How To Maximize Rewards?
Recently, Diablo 4 Season 9 Patch 2.3.2 was released, which fixed some bugs and improved game balance. This patch also added March of the Goblins Event, one of the most anticipated events of the past season.

From now until August 5th, all players can participate in this event. During this event, Diablo 4’s Treasure Goblins will appear more frequently. They typically flee upon detection, making it difficult to kill them and claim their generous loot.

This March of the Goblins Event will increase the appearance rate of these highly mobile enemies, and this guide will provide you with tips to maximize your chances of defeating them and earning rewards, making your exploration much more efficient.

1. Pay Attention To The Mini-Map

Many players, while exploring Sanctuary in Diablo 4, only check the minimap when Helltide or other world events are active, and spend the rest of the time moving forward. However, this isn’t always safe; you’ll frequently be attacked and surrounded by enemies.

During these times, it’s difficult to see where Treasure Goblins spawn on the mini-map, leading to missed opportunities to kill them. Therefore, it’s important to keep an eye on the mini-map as much as possible, as these enemy icons are usually more visible on the mini-map than in the main world.

2. Actively Enter Helltides

If you had to choose a location for efficient Treasure Goblins farming, the Helltides would be the best choice. The enemy spawn intervals during this event are shorter than elsewhere in Sanctuary, and Goblins are no exception.

It’s important to note, however, that during March of the Goblins event, the number of enemies you face in Helltides is doubled, so it’s best to spend as much Diablo 4 gold as possible before embarking on your exploration to ensure your build is adequate in both defense and offense.

Additionally, PvP-filled Fields of Hatred offer a great opportunity to farm Treasure Goblins multiple times. If you’re solely focused on farming these monsters and their rewards, here’s a great way to avoid competing against other players: turn off cross-play.

3. Keep Nearby Greed Shrines Active

In addition to increasing the chances of Treasure Goblins appearing, directly increasing the rewards they drop is also a good way to optimize your gameplay experience. For example, activating every Greed Shrine you encounter can increase the bonus D4 gold awarded when an enemy dies.

Not only that, activating those Shrines also has a chance to increase the spawn rate of Treasure Goblins. Combined with the benefits provided by March of the Goblins event, this increases your chances of finding these elusive monsters greatly.

4. Identifying Treasure Goblin Colors

In Diablo 4 Season 7, Treasure Goblins underwent a major overhaul: they were divided into six different types, each with a unique color and rewards. This mechanic has been carried over to Season 9. Below is a list of their colors and the rewards they can drop.
- Odious Ector (Green) - Crafting Materials
- Gilded Baron (Yellow) - Tons Of Gold
- Glittering Prym (Diamond) - Gem Fragments, Runes, And Undercity Tributes
- Curious Murl (Purple) - A Pack With Large Amounts Murmuring Obols
- Gelatinous Syrus (Blue) - Legendary Gear, Gold, Materials For Lair Bosses, And Elixirs
- Fancy Old Fedric (Mythic Purple) - A Mythic Unique & A Resplendent Spark
By referring to this list, you can target specific colored Treasure Goblins during your exploration based on your loot needs. However, it’s important to note that Gelatinous Syrus will split into multiple goblins upon slaying, so be mindful of your combat power during the encounter.

Furthermore, the probability of these goblins appearing decreases from top to bottom. Fancy Old Fedric has a near one in a million chance of appearing, making it possible to spend over a month searching for it. Don’t confuse it with Curious Murl, because their purple colors are completely different upon closer inspection.

If you’re looking forward to quickly upgrade your build, it’s highly recommended to farm Glittering Prym, as Runes and Undercity Tributes it provides are crucial components for significantly improving your build. Curious Murl provides you with numerous Murmuring Obols, which you can save for higher-quality rewards from the Purveyor of Curiosities vendor.

Player Perceptions

When the developers launched Gift of the Tree event this season, players were already skeptical of the idea of useless rewards instead of improving the seasonal content. This sentiment hasn’t changed with March of the Goblins event.

Firstly, Season 9, Sins of the Horadrim, has been in the game for a month now, and most players are already very familiar with farming Legendary gear, even having all the gear they need. So the high-quality gear offered in both the interactive Gift of the Tree and the combat-based March of the Goblins is no longer as appealing.

Furthermore, the rewards of the former are completely random, while the latter prioritizes quantity over quantity. These issues prevent players from fully relying on them to obtain Uniques with multiple greater affixes, which can help optimize their builds and successfully explore the endgame content.

The above is a summary of Diablo 4’s latest March of the Goblins event and what players are currently thinking about it. In fact, according to the roadmap released by the developers at the beginning of the year, players are expected to enter Season 10 in September of this year.

So, it’s very likely that the next season’s PTR will launch in August. So, is this frequent release of new events a cover-up for the fact that the new season isn’t ready yet? We don’t know, we can only wait and see.