Capstone Dungeons Guide

In order to go to World Tier 3: Nightmare and World Tier 4: Torment, you need to complete a Capstone Dungeon first. These Capstone Dungeons are challenging and feature unique mechanics and bosses for you to overcome. Prepare yourself Wanderer, for what lies beyond.

Unlocking World Tier 3: Cathedral of Light

Diablo 4's Endgame begins with completion of the Cathedral of Light. Completing this capstone dungeon is required to unlock World Tier 3: Nightmare, and it offers your first significant challenge beyond the campaign. Until now, most enemies in the world have scaled to your level, but not these foes -- they are bound to level 50, no more, no less.

Hardcore: A wise strategy is to outlevel this dungeon because the enemies do not scale beyond level 50. If you have trouble with the first boss, exit the dungeon and come back later because the final boss is a difficult challenge. Make sure you prepare survivability and don't forget an elixir too for extra tankiness.

First Completion Rewards
Unlocks Tier 3: Nightmare
Codex of Power: None

Information
Location: Fractured Peaks, Kyovashad, Cathedral of Light
Monsters: Knights, Skeletons
Bosses: High Council, Curator

Objectives
1. Collect Animus from the Revenant Knights
2. Defeat the High Council
3. Slay all enemies in the Reliquary of Erudition
4. Defeat the Curator

Bosses

High Council

The first boss fight has 4 mini bosses: Sacred Physician, Grand Inquisitor, Lord Commander, and Devoted Champion. You can defeat these in any order, but beware that when you defeat one, they summon a horde of enemies to swarm you. Depending on your build, this might actually be a welcome relief and help fuel your damage. So, you need to personally determine if your fight will go better by bursting them down one at a time, or lowering their health until you try to defeat them all simultaneously.

Curator

This is the true test of entry to Nightmare. The boss is slow to start so you can slam him with tons of damage right at the start of the fight. He deals high damage but has clearly telegraphed attacks that can be dodged. Make sure you dodge them! The main problem is that he can quickly cast his special attack three times in a row, which nearly covers the entire screen and is difficult to dodge without some quick reaction time. Make sure you keep your dodge or survivability skill off cooldown in preparation for his devastating attack, and you should be able to clean him up quickly.

Unlocking World Tier 4: Fallen Temple

Fallen Temple is the gateway to the far reaches of the Endgame in Diablo 4, and your path to the final level 100 boss challenge. Completing this capstone dungeon is required to unlock World Tier 4: Torment, and the best loot in the game that lies therein. Like the Cathedral of Light, enemies are bound to a certain level. Enemies in the Fallen Temple will always be level 70.

First Completion Rewards
Unlocks Tier 4: Torment
Codex of Power: None

Information
Location: Dry Steppes, Chambatar Ridge
Monsters: Demons, Cannibals
Boss: Elias, Hatred’s Remnant

Objectives
1. Enter the Antechamber of the Damned and choose your path
2. Complete the Trial of the Weak
3. Complete the Trial of the Indolent
4. Collect Animus from Animus Carriers
5. Defeat Elias

Debuffs in the Temple

During each Trial, you will gain a debuff that can be easy to miss. These are dangerous debuffs! Keep an eye on your debuff bar, and try to make it through as fast as possible.

• Curse of the Indolent - Every 5 seconds, Curse of the Indolent increases the duration of Crowd Control effects on you by 1%, stacking up to 50 times. Every time you kill an enemy, the stack is reduced by 1.
• Curse of the Weak - Every 5 seconds, Curse of the Weak increases the damage you take from enemies by 1%, stacking up to 50 times. Every time you kill an enemy, the stack is reduced by 1.

Hardcore: A wise strategy is to outlevel this dungeon because the enemies do not scale beyond level 70. The Animus Carriers and the boss here can be extremely challenging. Make sure you prepare survivability and pack a boss specific build and don't forget an elixir too for extra tankiness.

Boss: Elias, Hatred’s Remnant

Elias is a tough boss that can deal incredible damage if you are not prepared for his attacks.

• Cone of Fire - Elias covers a massive chunk of the screen in fire, which is telegraphed beforehand. When you see this, either dodge through him or run out of the cone. It does huge damage and can one-shot you if you aren't tanky enough.
• Fireballs - Elias fires a huge host of fireballs at the player, which can do huge damage. You can either outspeed these by running around him or you can block these projectiles if you have a skill to do so (like Bone Prison).
• Burning Star - A star shape of fire appears on the ground. This one is easy to avoid but it can do incredible damage, so make sure not to stand in the bad fire.
• Soul Burner Enemies - These minions that Elias summons aren't too great a threat, and in fact, depending on your build and class might be a welcome relief. Still, taking care of the adds is important if you're struggling with the fight. Otherwise you can just group them up and burst them down alongside Elias himself.

Credits

Written by echohack
Reviewed by Facefoot, ehtoka