Unlocking Torment Difficulty

Learn how to unlock Torment I-IV difficulties in Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred by completing Pit of the Artificer runs. Discover how to start runs, find Artificer's Stones, and upgrade Paragon Glyphs.

The Pit of the Artificer is a new endgame event in Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred. It involves completing timed Pit runs to earn loot, level up Paragon Glyphs, and unlock Torment difficulty levels. To participate, you must be Level 60 and find Artificer’s Stones to start runs. Pit runs have variable difficulty tiers that players can select. Defeating enemies quickly spawns a boss; defeating the boss rewards loot and an Awakened Glyphstone, which is used to attempt to level up Paragon Glyphs. Completing Pit runs at tier 20, 35, 50, and 65 unlocks Torment I - Torment IV difficulties.

After completing the main questline for the Vessel of Hatred expansion, you will receive the quest Deeds of a Champion, which introduces endgame activities like the Pit of the Artificer. This event is similar to the Rift runs in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, requiring players to navigate short dungeons filled with enemies within a time limit to summon an end portal. Success yields loot drops and an Awakened Glyphstone for upgrading Paragon Glyphs.

To begin a Pit run, travel to Cerrigar and interact with the Artificer’s Obelisk northwest of the waypoint. You will need three Artificer’s Stones and then select the desired difficulty tier.

Artificer’s Stones are required to open the rift to the Pit of the Artificer, with three stones needed per run. These stones begin dropping at Level 60 from various endgame activities, 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 and Nightmare Dungeons are considered the fastest ways to farm these stones, especially if you can complete objectives for the Tree of Whispers concurrently.

The difficulty of each Pit run is determined by its tier, selected before starting. Completing specific tiers unlocks Torment difficulties:

After completing a Pit run, the next time you interact with the Artificer’s Obelisk, you can start a run with a difficulty tier up to five tiers higher than your last. This allows skipping ahead to the next breakpoint for unlocking higher Torment difficulties. However, numerous Pit runs are generally required for upgrading Paragon Glyphs.

In addition to unlocking new difficulties, completing Pit runs allows you to level up Paragon Glyphs. After defeating the boss at the end of a Pit run, an Awakened Glyphstone appears. Interacting with it provides several opportunities to improve Paragon Glyphs. Leveling up Paragon Glyphs enhances their bonuses, increases their radius, and unlocks new effects, significantly powering up your character in the endgame. The chance of leveling up a Glyph increases when the Pit run’s difficulty tier is higher than the Glyph’s level. A sufficiently high Pit difficulty tier may even grant two Paragon Glyph levels per roll. Typically, you receive four rolls per Pit run to spend on leveling Paragon Glyphs.