All Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR changes to the Helltide event

Blizzard is introducing a Public Test Realm (PTR) for Diablo 4 to introduce players to changes arriving in Season 4. One of these changes is a total revamp of the Helltide event, so what are all these changes coming to Helltides in the Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR?

Diablo 4: Season 4 PTR Helltide event changes

As most Diablo 4 players know, the Helltide is a region-wide event that arrives with World Tier 3 and allows players to fight hordes of enemies for plenty of rewards. But what are all the changes to the Helltide event in the PTR for Season 4 of Diablo 4? The PTR will introduce Helltide Threat, Accursed Rituals, and even more adjustments to make Helltides enjoyable.

Helltide Threat

The biggest new change to the Helltide event in Diablo 4 is Threat. You’ll slowly generate Threat as you battle enemies in Helltides. Anytime you die, it’ll reset your Threat level. Also, the amount of Threat you generate depends on the monster’s difficulty and how often you’re acquiring Tortured Gifts.

There are three Helltide Threat Tiers, and with each Tier you rise to, the danger and spawn rate of monsters will increase. Once you reach Tier 3 you become Hell-Marked, which will trigger a quick ambush of enemies.

This ambush ends once the final Hellborne creature spawns and your Threat will reset once the ambush initiates. Hellbornes are the tortured souls of the most powerful champions in Sanctuary, and there will be five different variants to represent all classes.

Accursed Ritual

We’re also getting new locations at Helltides called Accursed Rituals. Here, you’ll be able to use Baneful Hearts that you collect from opening Tortured Gift chests. Once you begin the Accursed Ritual and deposit three Baneful Hearts, you’ll be swarmed by a horde of demonic creatures.

You’ll know the fight is nearing its end once the Blood Maiden appears. She’s an extremely powerful demonic creature who will drop incredible rewards after you defeat her. Also, whenever you begin an Accursed Ritual, nearby players will be notified in case they want to help you out. You’ll also be alerted whenever another player starts this ritual.

Other significant changes

Written within this Diablo 4 blog post, Blizzard is implementing a few big changes, namely ones that affect Helltides on World Tiers 1 and 2. During the PTR you’ll be able to see these adjustments for these World Tiers:

• All Tortured Gifts are Mystery Chests.
• No roaming bosses or ambient meteors.
• Less monster density overall compared to World Tier III and IV.

This means that even if you’re not ready for World Tier 3 you can experience Helltides on an easier difficulty level. If you’re on World Tier 1 or 2 you won’t run into dangerous roaming bosses, nor will you get hit with meteors. There’s also a decrease in monster density on the easier difficulties.

Although you may be excited to jump into the Diablo 4 Season 4 PTR, if you’re still interested in playing Season 3 you should check out what The Gauntlet has to offer.