Torment difficulty survived the difficulty changes in Diablo IV, albeit in altered form - it’s still the ultimate difficulty mode, where the endgame grind truly begins, but it’s now split into four tiers. Also, instead of having to defeat a boss at the end of a Capstone Dungeon, there’s a new way to prove you’re worthy of this challenge: the Pit of the Artificer. This page will discuss how to unlock Torment I difficulty in Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred as well as every subsequent Torment difficulty tier while also giving rundown of the Pit of the Artificer - how it works, what rewards you gain, and how to find Artificer’s Stones.
Page Breakdown¶
Pit of the Artificer Quick Look¶
The Pit of the Artificer is a new endgame event in Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred where you complete timed Pit runs to gain loot, level up Paragon Glyphs and unlock Torment difficulty levels. Some quick info about the Pit of the Artificer:
- You must be Lv60 to participate
- You need to find Artificer’s Stones to start Pit runs
- Pit runs have variable difficulty tiers, selected by the player
- Defeat enemies quickly to spawn a boss. Defeat the boss to earn loot and access to an Awakened Glyphstone
- Use the Awakened Glyphstone to attempt to level up Paragon Glyphs
- Complete Pit runs at tier 20, 35, 50 and 65 to unlock Torment I - Torment IV difficulties
(1 of 3) Once you’ve started a Pit run, kill mobs of enemies to fill up a meter before time expires,
Starting Pit Runs in Vessel of Hatred¶
Once you complete the main questline for the Vessel of Hatred expansion you’ll get the quest Deeds of a Champion, which basically introduces you to various endgame activities, including the Pit of the Artificer… assuming you didn’t stumble upon it on your own sooner, anyways. The Pit of the Artificer is a new endgame event very similar to the Rift runs found in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, in that it’s a timed event where you have to run through short dungeons full of enemies and kill enough of them to summon an end portal before time expires. Make it in time and you’ll get to fight a boss, and if you defeat said boss you’ll get various rewards, including good, old-fashioned loot drops and access to an Awakened Glyphstone, which allows you to upgrade your Paragon Glyphs.
Starting at character level 60, you can use the Artificer’s Obelisk in Cerrigar to start Pit of the Artificer runs of varying difficulty.
To start a Pit run, you’ll need to travel to Cerrigar and interact with an Artificer’s Obelisk northwest of the waypoint and use three Artificer’s Stones, then select the desired difficulty tier for the Pit run you’re starting.
Finding Artificer’s Stones¶
To open the rift leading to the Pit of the Artificer, you will need to expend Artificer’s Stones - three of them per Pit run. They won’t start dropping until you hit Lv60, but once you reach that goal you’ll start finding these things during just about every endgame activity, including:
- Opening Tortured Gifts during Helltides
- Cache Rewards from the Tree of Whispers
- Legion Event rewards
- World Boss drops
- Nightmare Dungeons
- Infernal Hordes
- The Undercity of Kurast
Running Helltides (especially if you can complete objectives for the Tree of Whispers while you’re at it) is perhaps the fastest way to farm them, alongside Nightmare Dungeons, if your kill rate is high enough.
(1 of 2) To start Pit runs you’ll need to expend Artificer’s Stones,
To start Pit runs you’ll need to expend Artificer’s Stones, (left), which can be obtained from various sources starting at level 60, including Helltide chests, Tree of Whisper caches and Nightmare Dungeons. (right)
Artificer’s Pit Difficulty Tiers and Rewards¶
The difficulty of each Pit run is determined by its difficulty tier, which can be selected by the player before starting the run. Completing Pit runs of certain difficulty tiers will unlock various Torment difficulties, as follows:
| Pit Difficulty | Difficulty Unlocks |
|---|---|
| Tier 20 | Torment I |
| Tier 35 | Torment II |
| Tier 50 | Torment III |
| Tier 65 | Torment IV |
Once you complete a run of the Pit, the next time you interact with the Artificer’s Obelisk in Cerrigar you’ll find that you can start a new run with a difficulty tier up to five tiers higher than the last one, so, depending on your performance, you won’t have to run through every tier if you’d rather skip ahead to the next breakpoint required to unlock higher Torment difficulties… but given the number of runs you’ll need to do to upgrade your Paragon Glyphs, you should expect to end up doing a lot of Pit runs, regardless.
(1 of 2) Completing a Pit run at difficulty tier 20, 35, 50 and 65 will unlock Torment I - Torment IV difficulties,
Completing a Pit run at difficulty tier 20, 35, 50 and 65 will unlock Torment I - Torment IV difficulties, (left), but you’ll also need to do numerous Pit runs to level up your Paragon Glyphs via the Awakened Glyphstone. (right)
Upgrading Paragon Glyphs in Vessel of Hatred¶
Unlocking new difficulty levels is obviously the main purpose of completing Pit runs, but you can also level up Paragon Glyphs by completing Pit runs, giving you incentive to complete Pit runs even if you don’t care to unlock a new difficulty. Defeat the boss at the end of a Pit run and a bubble of invulnerability will appear, and at its heart will be an Awakened Glyphstone. Interact with it and you’ll get several rolls to improve Paragon Glyphs.
Leveling up Paragon Glyphs will increase the bonuses imparted by said Paragon Glyph, increase the radius of the Glyph’s effects and unlock new bonuses, making this an important way to power up your character in the endgame. The higher the difficulty tier of the Pit compared to the level of the Paragon Glyph, the greater the chance that one of your rolls will actually level the Glyph up. If the Pit run’s difficulty tier is high enough, you may even get two Paragon Glyph levels for a single roll! You will generally get four rolls per Pit run to spend on leveling Paragon Glyphs, one roll, one chance to increase a Glyph’s level. Expect to do quite a few runs for every Glyph you wish to upgrade to legendary status (Lv45+).
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