Diablo 4Season 9 is making some exciting changes to the Nightmare Dungeon experience with the addition of Escalating Nightmares. This new feature will allowDiablo 4players to tackle consecutive Nightmare Dungeons with affixes from the previous dungeon carrying over to the next one, increasing both the difficulty and the quality of the potential rewards. However, Nightmare Dungeons may serve an even more important purpose in Season 9 than any past season, with a new affix that looks to break the leveling meta wide open.
A seasonal struggle ofDiablo 4is the requirement to create a new character at the start of every new season. Many players seek out the fastest leveling route in order to get their character to max level so that they can access the season’s new endgame content as soon as possible. While theoptimal way to reachDiablo 4’s max levelhas varied since the game’s launch, the Forgotten Wisdom Nightmare Dungeon affix being added in Season 9 could be the best farming route the game has ever seen.
Diablo 4 Season 9’s Escalating Nightmares Are Primed to Be the New Level Farming Route
The New Forgotten Wisdom Nightmare Dungeon Affix is a Leveling Game-Changer
ForDiablo 4players looking to reach level 60 as soon as possible in Season 9, hopping into Nightmare Dungeons early might be the way to go. In the past,Diablo 4’s Nightmare Dungeons have been locked behind the game’s highest World Tiers. However, after thechanges toDiablo 4’s difficulty in Season 6, Nightmare Dungeons can be completed at any level as long as players have completed or skipped the main campaign.
This change makes Nightmare Dungeons accessible immediately upon starting the season, provided players have aNightmare Sigilavailable. Sigils can be obtained before level 20 when the Occultist is unlocked via the Tree of Whispers, and players looking for a fast leveling system will want to hunt for ones with the Forgotten Wisdom affix. This new Season 9 affix adds a chance for defeated enemies to drop experience orbs that grant players additional experience on top of what they would normally earn from defeating the enemy, dramatically increasing the amount of XP they can earn in a Nightmare Dungeon.
For even faster leveling,Diablo 4players should always have an elixir active, since doing so grants an extra 5% increase to experience earned.
Diablo 4 Season 9 May Allow Players to Hit Level 60 Faster Than Any Previous Season
The Forgotten Wisdom affix can become even more useful in conjunction with the new Escalating Nightmares system, allowing players to complete three Nightmare Dungeons in a row with this XP bonus if they can obtain an Escalation Sigil with the required affix. Unlike typical Nightmare Sigils, Escalation Sigils can only be obtained from theSins of the Horadrim seasonal questline, or from Horadric Strongrooms, which can be found within standard Nightmare Dungeons. As such, players would be wise to complete Whispers until they find a Sigil with the Forgotten Wisdom affix, then run Nightmare Dungeons with that affix while searching for Horadric Strongrooms in order to obtain Escalation Sigils with the same affix.
Although this farming route has some random elements that may take some time to set up, the return on investment for the amount of XPDiablo 4players can earn makes it more than worth the effort. This leveling process has a much higher ceiling for the amount of XP players can earn than past Nightmare Dungeon leveling routes or even Helltide farming, making it the clear winner forDiablo 4players to follow. With Blizzard seeking to improve the Nightmare Dungeon experience in Season 9 through the addition ofEscalating Nightmares, it’s a welcome bonus that Nightmare Dungeons are set to become the premier source of experience farming this season as well.
