The Season 4 PTR has just recently ended, and we've been able to thoroughly test some of the new features we'll be seeing in the upcoming season. One of those changes is a complete overhaul of the Helltide event.

General Changes

First of all, a number of changes are happening on lower World Tiers. Helltides are now accessible from World Tier I. Up to World Tier II, all chests are Tortured Gift of Mysteries with a much lower Aberrant Cinders offering cost. There will also be no roaming bosses or ambient meteors and the monster density is much lower compared to Nightmare and Torment.

While the amount of Aberrant Cinders you get from enemies are generally reduced, the pick-up range is noticably improved and Cinders now carry over between Helltides! There will also be items that boost Helltide difficulty and drops, like

Profane Mindcage

Helltide Threat

Helltide Threat is a new wanted-style system with 3 tiers of increasing danger. By slaying enemies within the Helltide or opening Tortured Gifts you increase your Threat meter. Whenever you die, your Threat is reset.

Each level of Threat increases the amount of Ambushes reaching a peak at level 3. When you reach level 3, you become Hell-Marked. When Hell-Marked, a frenzy of Ambushes accur, culminating in a Hellborne spawn.

The Hellborne spawn has 5 variants, one for each of the 5 playable classes. When you defeat the Hellborne Ambush, your Threat level is reset.

Accursed Ritual

While playing through the Helltide, you'll be able to collect Baneful Hearts. These Hearts can be found by open Tortured Gifts and you need 3 of them to start the Accursed Ritual.

After sacrificing 3x Baneful Hearts at the Accursed Altars, the ritual starts. You will be bombarded by waves of demonic Ambushes. At the end of all the Ambushes, the Blood Maiden spawns.

The Blood Maiden is an immensly powerful demon that will challenge even the toughest of builds. During the fight, she will also spawn numerous Hellbornes to aide in the fight. When you manage to defeat her, you will be rewarded with an abundance of Legendary Items and Materials.

How does it feel?

While playing through the PTR and doing Helltides, the event felt much more alive and eventful. The random Ambushes and the Threat progress gives you a feeling that a lot is going on.

Looking back to Season 2's Blood Harvest, you notice that a lot of key features that people enjoyed are brought back in some way. We have the Bloodseekers returning as Hellbornes and the Blood Lure event returning as the Accursed Ritual.

Make sure to check out our Helltide Tracker to keep track of active Helltides and locations of Tortured Gifts.