Diablo 4 Season 2 Nightmare Dungeons tier list – rotation and affixes

Looking for Diablo 4 Season 2 Nightmare Dungeons? Diablo 4 is home to a dizzying variety of dungeons, complete with randomized monsters and loot. But once you finish the main campaign and stop Lilith, the game opens up even more unique tasks for you to perform. Nightmare Dungeons are one such challenge.

Before you head into Blizzard’s buffed-up dungeons, stay ahead of Sanctuary’s demons by learning how to solve the Secret of the Spring Diablo 4 riddle and how to get gold fast in Diablo 4. Check all the details in Diablo 4 Season 2 as well.

What are Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 Season 2?

Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 are modified variants of existing Dungeons, packed with extra rewards for endgame players. You need to be at World Tier 3 to unlock them so finish the Cathedral of Light Capstone Dungeon at World Tier 2 first.

Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons are unlocked by Nightmare Sigils that transform a Dungeon by adding extra modifiers. Nightmare Dungeons come in various difficulties and feature unique modifiers, determined by the Nightmare Sigil used to open them. They can be tiring to complete without the right set of gear and skills. Nightmare Sigils are keys that are used to unlock Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4. There are three primary ways to find Nightmare Sigils:

1. Competing Diablo 4 Whispers of the Dead tasks from the Tree of Whispers and getting reward caches from Grim Favors.
2. Finding them during a Nightmare Dungeon attempt.
3. Dropped from random enemies, especially Diablo 4 World Bosses.
4. Craft Nightmare Sigils at an Occultist with Gold and Sigil Powder (obtained from salvaging Sigils)

In addition to the three ways mentioned above, you can also get Nightmare Sigils from challenging world events but you’re better off trying the above steps to get them. Your set difficulty determines the max tier of Nightmare Sigils that you can access for Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons.

Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 Season 2

You can encounter monsters with unique affixes inside Nightmare Dungeons too. Here’s a list of all the new Diablo 4 Season 2 Nightmare Dungeons. These are split across all the regions of Sanctuary: Fractured Peaks, Hawezar, Dry Steppes, Kehjistan, and Scosglen. Since this rotation changes every season, don’t expect the same names like Betrayer’s Row, Heretics Asylum, and Kor Valar Ramparts to show up.

World Tier 3 Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 Season 2

• Forbidden City
• Lights Watch
• Sanguine Chapel
• Belfry Zakara
• Ghoa Ruins
• Steadfast Barracks
• Inferno
• Renegades Retreat
• Sepulcher Of The Forsworn
• Broken Bulwark
• Oldstones
• Vault of The Forsaken
• Bloodsoaked Crag
• Grinning Labyrinth
• Whispering Vault

World Tier 4 Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 Season 2

• Forbidden City
• Hallowed Ossuary
• Lights Watch
• Tormented Ruins
• Sanguine Chapel
• Belfry Zakara
• Endless Gates
• Fetid Mausoleum
• Ghoa Ruins
• Heathens Keep
• Leviathans Maw
• Steadfast Barracks
• Conclave
• Crusaders Cathedral
• Deserted Underpass
• Inferno
• Renegades Retreat
• Sepulcher Of The Forsworn
• Sirocco Caverns
• Broken Bulwark
• Flooded Depths
• Jalals Vigil
• Lubans Rest
• Oldstones
• Vault of The Forsaken
• Bloodsoaked Crag
• Buried Halls
• Carrion Fields
• Grinning Labyrinth
• Whispering Vault

Best Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 Season 2 for farming XP

Here’s a tier list of the best Nightmare Dungeons for XP in Diablo 4 Season 2:

Tier in Diablo 4	Nightmare Dungeons
S-Tier	Carrion Fields Deserted Underpass Flooded Depths Ghoa Ruins Sirocco Caverns
A-Tier	Hallowed Ossuary Heathen’s Keep Crusaders’ Cathedral Broken Bulwark Jalal’s Vigil
B-Tier	Tormented Ruins Buried Halls Leviathan’s Maw Oldstones Bloodsoaked Crag
C-Tier	Whispering Vault Forbidden City Luban’s Rest Inferno Conclave

This tier list prioritizes Nightmare Dungeons where you don’t have to backtrack often. What this means is that you’ll spend less time in an S-tier dungeon, making for an effective use of your time. High enemy mob density is another sweet bonus. While it’s worth clearing the A-tier and B-tier ones, we’d suggest avoiding the rest.

Nightmare Sigil Tiers in Diablo 4 Season 2

On World Tier 3: Nightmare difficulty, you’ll have access to Sacred Tier 1-20 Nightmare Sigils. World Tier 4: Torment difficulty lets you use Ancestral Tier 21-100 Nightmare Sigils. Tiers determine the level of the monsters you face (50 + World Tier 3/4 + Nightmare Sigil Tier) and your rewards.

You need to manually activate a Nightmare Sigil before heading to the specific Dungeon, now converted into a Nightmare Dungeon with Affixes (extra modifiers). Tiers 11 and above feature four dungeon Affixes instead of three and Tiers 21 and above raise it to five Affixes. Positive affixes like bonus lightning damage exist too. Tier 21 Nightmare Dungeons and above also restrict your revives to four (down from 12) before you fail a run and get locked out.

Nightmare Dungeon afflictions are not necessarily negative and some even help the player like boosts to certain types of damage. Use the right Diablo 4 gems to counter elemental attacks. While higher tiers can get frustrating, Nightmare Dungeons are worth the trouble. Higher Nightmare Dungeon tiers grant more Glyph XP that can be used to upgrade Paragon Glyphs socketed in your Paragon Board. They also grant Legendary and Unique loot, coin, and heaps of XP.

Nightmare Dungeon affixes changed in Diablo 4 Season 2

We’ve checked the patch notes and updated this section with the latest Diablo 4 Season 2 Nightmare Dungeon affixes changes. There are other changes like boosted glyph experience by 19%, less backtracking in general, and monsters in Season of Blood Nightmare Dungeons will spawn closer to the entrance. Nightmare Sigils will now be rewarded upon completing a Nightmare Dungeon, instead of only after defeating the final boss. Here are the changes to the affixes:

• Direct Damage from Major Affixes like Blood Blister and Death Pulse can now be passively dodged.
• Backstabbers – Close monster attacks from behind now cause you to become Vulnerable. Vulnerable damage taken is increased by X%.
• Death Pulse – No longer trigger on Zombie Brute, Spider Host, Fly Host, and poisoned Goatman as they already have death explosions. And these explosions won’t trigger over each other.
• Drifting Shade – Persistent duration reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds. Also, the respawn time is bumped up by 2 seconds.
• Lightning Storm – Avoiding shock damage in the bubble now grants 35% bonus Movement Speed for 5 seconds.
• Monster Critical Resist – Monster attacks reduce the damage of your next Overpower attack by a value, stacking up to a set value.
• Potion Breakers – Monster attacks from a distance increase the cooldown of your next Potion by X seconds, up to Y seconds.
• Poisonous Evade – Using Evade leaves a damaging pool of Poison under the first enemy you evade through or at your destination.
• Resistance Breaker – Sacred Monster attacks from a distance reduce All Resistances by -3% for 6 seconds, stacking up to -15%. This is increased to -5% and -25% for Ancestral monsters.
• Thorns – Now, after attacking an enemy, your Thorns are increased by X for 3 seconds, up to Y at max stacks.

Nightmare Dungeon affixes list in Diablo 4

Here’s a list of the Nightmare Dungeon affixes you may encounter. While negative affixes can slow you down, others can work with your build to devastate enemies.

Affix	Effects
Poison Damage	You deal 10% more Poison Damage.
Shadow Damage	You deal 10% more Shadow Damage.
Frost Damage	You deal 10% more Frost Damage.
Fire Damage	You deal 10% more Fire Damage.
Lightning Damage	You deal 10% more Lightning Damage.
Physical Damage	You deal 10% more Physical Damage.
Control Impaired Explosions	Being hit by Control Impairing Effects creates an explosion around you.
Increased Critical Strike	Your Critical Strike chance is increased by 6%.
Poisonous Evade	Using Evade leaves a pool of poison behind that damages enemies.
Increased Healing	Your Healing Received is increased by 10%.
Lightning Caller	You occasionally call down lightning strikes that damage nearby enemies.
Thorns	Your Thorns are increased by 249.
Empowered Elites (Cold Enchanted)	Elites always have the “Cold Enchanted” affix.
Empowered Elites (Poison Enchanted)	Elites always have the “Poison Enchanted” affix.
Empowered Elites (Shock Lance)	Elites always have the “Electric Lance” affix.
Empowered Elites (Suppressor)	Elites always have the “Suppressor” affix.
Monster Shadow Damage over Time	Monsters deal an additional 22% of their physical damage dealt as Shadow over 5 seconds.
Monster Cold Damage	Monsters deal an additional 15% of their Physical damage dealt as Cold.
Monster Lightning Damage	Monsters deal an additional 15% of their Physical damage dealt as Lightning.
Monster Bleeding Damage	Monsters deal an additional 22% of their Physical damage dealt as Bleeding over 5 seconds.
Monster Burning Damage	Monsters deal an additional 22% of their Physical damage dealt as Burning over 5 seconds.
Monster Shadow Damage	Monsters deal an additional 15% of their Physical damage dealt as Shadow.
Monster Poison Damage	Monsters deal an additional 22% of their Physical damage dealt as Poison over 5 seconds.
Monster Fire Damage	Monsters deal an additional 15% of their Physical damage as dealt as Fire.
Monster Vulnerable Resist	Duration of Vulnerable Effects vs monsters is reduced. Can also show up in Fire/Lightning/Overpower/Physical/Poison/Shadow/Vulnerable variants.
Blood Blister	Killing a monster has a chance to spawn a Blood Blister. After a short time, it explodes, dealing heavy area damage.
Death Pulse	Killing a monster releases a deadly lightning pulse after a short delay.
Stormbane’s Wrath	Stormbane’s Wrath chases players around, releasing deadly pulses when reaching a player.
Drifting Shade	Drifting Shade chases players. Upon reaching them, it explodes for heavy damage and creates a Nightmare Field that Dazes victims.
Nightmare Portal	While in combat, Nightmare Portals open randomly near players, pouring out dangerous monsters.
Volcanic	While in combat, gouts of flame periodically erupt near players.
Lightning Storm	Lightning gathers above the player. Get into the protection dome to avoid severe outcomes.

Monster affixes list in Diablo 4 Season 2 Nightmare Dungeons

And here are the affixes that monsters can have in Diablo 4 Season 2 Nightmare Dungeons:

Affix	Effects
Armor Breakers	Monster attacks from a distance reduce your Armor for 6 seconds. This can stack.
Avenger	Killing a monster enrages monsters near it, making them dealing more damage.
Backstabbers	Monsters near the player deal more damage when attacking from behind.
Barrier Breakers	Monsters deal more damage to Barriers.
Barrier Breakers	Monsters attack faster.
Potion Breakers	Monster attacks from a distance have a chance to disable healing potion for 2 seconds.
Resistance Breakers	Monster attacks from a distance reduce resistance for 6 seconds. This can stack.
Resource Burn	Monster attacks from a distance burn your Primary Resource.
Slowing Projectiles	Monster attacks from a distance have a chance to slow targets.
Unstoppable Monsters	Monsters become Unstoppable when life drops below a threshold.
Monster Barrier	Monsters gain a portion of their Maximum Life as a Barrier.
Monster Dodge Breakers	Monster attacks from a distance reduce Dodge chance for 6 seconds. This can stack.
Monster Life	Monsters gain extra life.
Monster Life Steal	Non-Boss monsters regen via Life Steal.
Monster Regen	Non-Boss monsters regen a portion of their Maximum Life per second.
Thorns	Monsters reflect some portion of Non-Physical damage.

While there are over a hundred dungeons in Diablo 4, only a few of them are designated as Nightmare Dungeons. Accessible by Ancestral Sigils and Sacred Sigils, these are scattered across the game’s five regions: Fractured Peaks, Dry Steppes, Hawezar, Kehjistan, and Scosglen. The developer stated that this will change over time so keep your eyes open for new Nightmare Dungeons for special modifiers and fresh loot drops.

If you’re looking for human opponents, check out how to PvP in Diablo 4 and the best Diablo 4 Barbarian build. Nightmare Dungeons are an important part of the game’s endgame replayability so start working on Nightmare Sigils right when you enter World Tier 3. Season 1 has Malignant Tunnels, a unique twist on these dungeons with Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts.

And Season 2 shakes things up with Diablo 4 vampire powers. These can be used with the right Diablo 4 vampiric pact armor. Take down the new Diablo 4 Season 2 endgame bosses now that Season of Blood is out on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Diablo 4 Nightmare Dungeons are well worth the grind.

What is the point of Nightmare Dungeons Diablo 4?

Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4 are a great way to gain XP and Sacred or Ancestral loot after finishing the campaign.

Can you solo Nightmare Dungeons Diablo 4?

Yes, you can solo a Nightmare Dungeon in Diablo 4