Nightmare Dungeon Season 2 Tier List

Discover the best Diablo IV Nightmare Dungeons for Season 2. Find out which dungeons offer the highest XP and Glyph XP with our tier list guide.

Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo IV are a core endgame activity, created by using Sigils to transform normal dungeons. These Sigils, obtained from World Bosses, Tree of Whispers caches, or other Nightmare Dungeons, increase enemy levels and apply modifiers to both enemies and players. The tier of the Sigil dictates the enemy level and the number of modifiers, generally making the content more challenging.

Players primarily run Nightmare Dungeons for their rewards, emphasizing clear speed. Not all dungeons are created equal; some feature more difficult objectives, complex layouts, tougher enemies, or lower enemy density, all of which can slow down runs, reduce XP and loot, and negatively impact Glyph XP gains. The most efficient Nightmare Dungeons are short, straightforward, and filled with easily defeated enemies.

The ranking of dungeons considers three key factors:

• Difficulty: Assesses the danger posed by enemies. This is subjective and depends on player build and resistances. Enemies like spiders, Nangari, and red wraiths are considered more dangerous due to debuffs and damage spikes, while drowned dead, goatmen, and fallen are generally less threatening.
• XP Farming: Primarily determined by enemy density and clear speed. Dungeons with simple layouts, easy objectives, and dense enemy populations (like drowned dead and spiders) are ideal. Labyrinthine dungeons with time-consuming objectives and sparse enemies are less desirable.
• Glyph XP Farming: Earned upon completing a Nightmare Dungeon, this metric heavily relies on difficulty and clear speed. Anything that hinders a run negatively impacts Glyph XP. While enemy density contributes to normal XP farming, it's less critical for Glyph XP compared to overall run efficiency.

Diablo IV Nightmare Dungeon Season 2 Tier List

Below is a tier list of the top Nightmare Dungeons for Season 2, categorizing them by their effectiveness:

S-Tier: Belfry Zakara

Belfry Zakara is often considered the fastest dungeon in the game. Its layout consists of interconnected square rooms and hallways, making it difficult to get lost. The dungeon is populated by dense groups of drowned dead, which are less dangerous than spiders. While Quartermasters and First Mates can hit hard, and the boss, the Drowned Seahag, has a damaging waterspout attack, these threats are easily avoidable. The lack of significant damage-over-time effects (aside from elite affixes) and its straightforward nature make it excellent for Glyph XP farming. Despite potentially having fewer elites than ideal, its simplicity and clear speed result in good loot and XP gains.

S-Tier: Flooded Depths

Despite its winding passages and flooded rooms, Flooded Depths offers a surprisingly fast clear time. Players can generally follow the minimap to progress efficiently. The dungeon features dense crowds of drowned dead. Although First Mates can deal significant damage with their AoE wave attack, the dungeon generally presents little threat. Its dense enemy population, fast runtime, and low danger make it ideal for Glyph XP and good for character XP, even with challenging affixes. The main drawbacks are potentially lower enemy density and fewer elites than optimal.

S-Tier: Sirocco Caverns

Sirocco Caverns is characterized by high difficulty, but offers great XP and Glyph XP farming potential. The first half of the dungeon is filled with spiders, which means a significant amount of poison damage.