Since the Living Steel buff hotfix for Season 2, there’s now more reason than ever to farm up Aberrant Cinders during Helltides in Diablo 4! It’s an important step in your quest for Uniques and Uber Uniques.
Before the update, it wasn’t worth spending the 300 Aberrant Cinders to open Tortured Gifts of Living Steel Chests. They previously only gave a small amount of the Living Steel needed to summon and farm the Grigoire endgame boss.
However, with the recent buff, you can potentially collect up to 30 Living Steel per Helltide if you play your cards right!
To do this, you need to know the fastest and most efficient ways of farming Aberrant Cinders so that you can open as many Living Steel Chests as possible.
How to Farm Cinders
You need at least 300 Aberrant Cinders to open a Living Steel Chest. Here are the best ways to farm for Aberrant Cinders during a Helltide in Diablo 4:
- Defeat large packs of enemies in areas with a high mob density
- Mob density within Helltides received a buff in Season 1. More enemies means more Cinders!
- Complete and prioritize World Events that require you to kill a lot of enemies in a large area. These events will throw enemies at you until you complete the objective. The following World Events are worth your time:
- Waves of Darkness
- Ancient Syphon
- Jar of Souls
- Complete Legion Events when they show up
- When one appears, drop everything and do it immediately! Legion Events spawn a staggeringly large amount of enemies to defeat in a short space of time
You should be engaging in all the above activities at the same time as much as you can. For example, while traveling from event to event, make sure to defeat any dense mob packs you come across to get as many Cinders as you can.
Fastest Way to Farm Cinders
The fastest way to farm Aberrant Cinders in Diablo 4 is to defeat enemies in the highest-density areas within a Helltide zone for each of the five major regions.
Diablo 4 YouTuber Chronikz has helpfully highlighted the highest-density areas for Helltide mob spawns for each region:
Here are the specific zones to look out for in each Region:
- Fractured Peaks
- Southwest of the Frigid Expanse
- Scosglen
- Northeast and Southwest of Northshore
- Southwest of Deep Forest
- Dry Steppes
- South of Khargai Crags
- Southwest and Southeast of Untamed Scarps
- Kehjistan
- East of Amber Sands
- North of Ragged Coastline
- Hawezar
- Southeast of Dismall Foothills
- North of Fethis Wetlands
When a Helltide is active in any of the above regions, head to these high-density mob areas to acquire as many Aberrant Cinders as you can! After clearing one area, move on to the next and be sure to complete any events on the way for more Cinders.
Living Steel Drop Rate
Hotfix 3 for Patch 1.2.3 of Diablo 4 significantly increased the drop rate of Living Steel from opening Tortured Gifts of Living Steel Chests during Helltides. It’s a change that has been widely embraced by Diablo 4 fans.
Here are the increased drop rates from the patch notes:
- Living Steel Chest in World Tier 3: Increased from 1 to 2.
- There is an additional chance for 1-2 extra Living Steels to drop.
- Living Steel Chest in World Tier 4: Increased from 3 to 5.
- There is an additional chance for 5 extra Living Steels to drop.
- All other Helltide chests will additionally grant 1 Living Steel in World Tier 4.
In both World Tier 3 and World Tier 4 you should prioritize opening Tortured Gifts of Living Steel Chests during Helltides as these will give you the most amount of Living Steel.
If you’re looking to get the most out of your time, it may be worth waiting until you’ve reached World Tier 4 before you attempt to farm for Living Steel. This is because Living Steel Chests in World Tier 4 have the potential to give you 10 Living Steel per chest.
Additionally, all other Helltide chests are now always guaranteed to give you 1 Living Steel in World Tier 4, making this difficulty tier the best way to get this essential resource.
Make sure to check out our extensive guide on all Living Steel Chest Locations in Diablo 4 Season 2!
Living Steel Chests Spawn Times
Other than the Kehjistan region, there can only be two Tortured Gifts of Living Steel Chests active at any given time during a Helltide. In Kehjistan, there can be three active Living Steel Chests before the next rotation.
All Living Steel Chests spawn and reset their location on the hour in real-time. All Helltides last one hour.
For example, if a Helltide begins at 16:30, you’ll have 30 minutes to farm enough Cinders and open the two Living Steel Chests before the next reset. Once it reaches 17:00, the next set of Living Steel Chests are reset at another location in the Helltide.
It’s important to note that if a Helltide starts on the hour, Living Steel Chests will not reset within that particular Helltide.
If playing in World Tier 4, this would give you the chance to collect 30+ Living Steel from Living Steel Chests. Additionally, you can collect Living Steel from the other regular Helltide chests you open from any leftover Aberrant Cinders you may have!
How to Farm Uniques and Uber Uniques
To farm Uniques and Uber Uniques, you need to acquire the specific resources needed to summon endgame bosses and then defeat them. This is because endgame bosses are the only enemies in Diablo 4 that have Uniques and Uber Uniques in their loot tables.
Living Steel is needed to summon the Grigoire endgame boss at the Light-Touched Altar in the Halls of the Penitent dungeon.
You will need 2 Living Steel to summon Grigoire in World Tier 3 and 5 Living Steel to summon him in World Tier 4. You can acquire a certain selection of Unique items after defeating him in World Tiers 3 and 4.
He will also drop Shards of Agony in World Tier 4 only, which is an essential resource needed (as well as Mucus-Slick Eggs) to summon the Echo of Duriel endgame boss. Duriel is the only endgame boss that you can target to farm for Uber Unique items in Diablo 4.
For a detailed rundown, be sure to check out our guide on how to summon all of Diablo 4’s endgame bosses and their loot tables!