Mystery Chests are the crown jewel of Diablo 4’s Helltides and probably the reason you’re wading through hordes of demons summoned straight from Hell (other than for the fun of it). Even after the Season Two patch, knowing where and when to find these Tortured Gifts of Mystery will make your life in Diablo 4 significantly easier.

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Killing enemies and completing activities in Helltides rewards you with Aberrant Cinders, a currency you can use to open chests while a Helltide is active, and Mystery Chests are certainly the most sought-after.

What are Helltides in Diablo 4?

Helltides are only available in World Tier three and above, and they’ll be a core part of the post-campaign activities in Diablo 4. They offer unique materials such as Fiend Rose and Forgotten Souls, which are required for upgrading gear. You can also get good equipment in general through Mystery Chests or target-farm items for specific slots using the rest of the chests.

Helltides are a regular occurrence but not a permanent one. The timer between Helltides is around 75 minutes, meaning you have to wait one hour and 15 minutes after the event finishes to hunt for more Mystery Chests.

In our experience, that wait is usually worth it. Helltides can be less tiring and more entertaining than Nightmare dungeons and serve as some variety in the repetitive endgame of Diablo 4. Plus, when we’re playing our slow-moving Necromancer, the fact that we don’t really have to worry about Cold Enchanted Elites or Teleporters is a huge boon since those have cost us a few Nightmare dungeon completions. We don’t get Glyph progress from them, but they’re fun nonetheless.

Keep in mind that enemies in Helltides will also be three levels higher than you, which should make them slightly harder to kill. That challenge can be worth it, however, because in addition to loot, you’ll get a lot of experience points for opening Helltide chests. With the arrival of patch 1.2 and the Season of Blood, Helltide chests now offer greater experience rewards when opened. In World Tier III, the experience has been boosted by 375 percent, and in World Tier IV, it has been boosted by 750 percent.

If you’re venturing into a Helltide and look in the right locations, you’ll soon find why Mystery Chests have that name (well, technically, they’re called Tortured Gifts of Mystery, but we won’t nitpick). Mystery Chests only appear on the map when you’re near them, so it helps to find their locations beforehand—or you may find yourself wandering aimlessly or missing them altogether. Here’s exactly where to find them in each region.

Exact Mystery Chest locations in Scosglen

There are eight spots for Tortured Gift of Mystery Chest spawns in Scosglen, all falling in the western portion of the Diablo 4 map. Half of those chests appear in the Northshore zone, with the other half found in the Deep Forest area just above the Dry Steppes. Make use of the Waypoints near Túr Dúlra (southwest) for the four chests on the bottom, and hop to Marowen (northwest) if you’re looking to chase the other Mystery Chests.

• First chest: Take the north exit out of Marowen and into the Abandoned Coast, then look for a small island with a shipwreck, which stands on the west side of the Northshore.
  • Closest waypoint: Marowen
• Second chest: Head through the Cursed Scarps until you climb into an area called Fothrach Castle (what’s left of it, anyway). Look for this chest inside the ruins.
  • Closest waypoint: Marowen or Braestaig
• Third chest: Close to the second chest, across from the entrance to the Sunken Ruins dungeon in Stormbreak Cove.
  • Closest waypoint: Braestaig
• Fourth chest: Take the road south of Marowen onto the Scourging Ings, then move east once the area changes to Writhing Brook.
  • Closest waypoint: Marowen or Braestaig
• Fifth chest: Exit Túl Dúlra from the main bridge, then head north into the Ancients’ Woods until this chest pops up on your minimap.
  • Closest waypoint: Túr Dúlra
• Sixth chest: From the main hub in Scosglen, take the narrow passageway in the southwest and continue along as if you were trying to reach the Kotama Grasslands in the Dry Steppes on the far west of the area. This chest will be close to the Webbed Lode cellar in Vasily’s Reach.
  • Closest waypoint: Túl Dúlra
• Seventh chest: Head south from the main bridge in Túl Dúlra, then head past the narrow traversable path and make a slight right to find this Helltide chest in an alcove.
  • Closest waypoint: Túl Dúlra
• Eighth chest: From Farobru, head north and make a right, then take the second right when the path winds. If the area changed to Issalia’s Rise, look for this Helltide chest in an alcove at the end of the zone.
  • Closest waypoint: Farobru (Dry Steppes)

Exact Mystery Chest locations in Fractured Peaks

There are four spots for Tortured Gift of Mystery Chest spawns in Fractured Peaks, the northeastern portion of the Diablo 4 map. Two possible spawns are located near the Forsaken Quarry and the Black Asylum right outside Kyovashad, while two are just north of Menestad and below the Mercy’s Reach dungeon.

• First chest: From Menestad, head north as if you were heading to the Mercy’s Reach dungeon. Take the traversable path that will appear on your left, leading to the Frosty Mine cellar, and you’ll spot this chest quickly.
  • Closest waypoint: Menestad
• Second chest: Again, head north from Menestead until you spot a traversable section on your left. Once you do, take the next right.
  • Closest waypoint: Menestad
• Third chest: Take the east exit out of Kyovashad and turn left as soon as you come out of the gate. You’ll find this Mystery Chest near an Altar of Lilith and a traversable passage.
  • Closest waypoint: Kyovashad
• Fourth chest: Take the east exit out of Kyovashad (again) and make a right. This chest is right by the Immortal Emanation dungeon.
  • Closest waypoint: Kyovashad

Exact Mystery Chest locations in Dry Steppes

There are four spots for Tortured Gift of Mystery Chest spawns in Dry Steppes, the western portion of the Diablo 4 map. These chests are somewhat spread out, so make use of waypoints if needed. We recommend making your way to individual locations and farming Cinders as you go so there isn’t much downtime.

• First chest: At the end of the Helltide area, almost exactly between the Onyx Watchtower and Hidden Overlook waypoints.
  • Closest waypoints: Fate’s Retreat or Onyx Watchtower.
• Second chest: In the Crucible of Cinder, a small, round area where sometimes events spawn. It’s on top of a bank you have to climb onto.
  • Closest waypoints: Fate’s Retreat or Onyx Watchtower.
• Third chest: Head east from Jirandai and look for this Mystery Chest almost by Alzuuda’s Fields of Hatred.
  • Closest waypoints: Jirandai or Ruins of Qara-Yisu.
• Fourth chest: In the far west of Jirandai, at the end of Desolation’s Reach. If you hear the Super Unique Zarozar the Mighty asking if no one will challenge him, you’re in the right spot.
  • Closest waypoint: Jirandai

Exact Mystery Chest locations in Kehjistan

Kehjistan is the best zone for farming Mystery Chests, since it has three spawns active at a time and seven total spawns and droves of world events happening during a Helltide. Fortunately for players, most of the spawns are somewhat close, with some nearby teleport spots. Make use of the Kehjistan waypoints, such as the Altar of Ruin, Iron Wolves Encampment, Gea Kul, or even Denshar, if you want to traverse this large area quickly.

• First chest: From the Altar of Ruin waypoint, head to the bottom of the west coast to spot this Mystery Chest.
  • Closest waypoints: Altar of Ruin or Iron Wolves Encampment
• Second chest: From either Altar of Ruin or Iron Wolves Encampment, look for a lone strand of land on top of the map, around where the Amber Sands and Ragged Coastline meet. This leads to an area called the Dimmed Grotto, which houses a Mystery Chest and an Altar of Lilith.
• Third chest: From the Altar of Ruin waypoint, head down and look for this Mystery Chest on top of a small hill, which requires you to climb into it. This hill has a distinctive map shape, so it’s easy to spot.
  • Closest waypoint: Altar of Ruin
• Fourth chest: In an alcove south of the third chest.
  • Closest waypoint: Altar of Ruin
• Fifth chest: By the Uldur’s Cave dungeon, almost in the middle of the Ragged Coastline area in Khejistan.
  • Closest waypoint: Iron Wolves Encampment
• Sixth chest: In the Southern Expanse, the bit of shoreline just below Gea Kul. Head all the way to the west of the shore to find this Mystery Chest on your map.
  • Closest waypoint: Gea Kul
• Seventh chest: Take the south exit out of Gea Kul and continue heading in as much of a straight line as you can, then make a right once the area shifts to Hakan’s Oasis. This Mystery Chest will be in the south of that zone. There’s a potential event spawn before the area change.
  • Closest waypoint: Gea Kul

Exact Mystery Chest locations in Hawezar

There are four spots for Tortured Gift of Mystery Chest spawns in Hawezar, the southeast portion of the Diablo 4 map, and they are all fairly spread out. Two are found in the Dismal Foothills, including one right on the border with Fractured Peaks, with the other two in the Fethis Wetlands sub-region.

• First chest: From Wejinhani, head as if you were going to Margrave, but make a right before you start the way to the Fractured Peaks. This chest will be at a dead end just below the Margrave waypoint, past the Heathen’s Keep dungeon.
  • Closest waypoint: Wejinhani.
• Second chest: From Wejinhani, head to the left as if you were heading to the Crusader’s Monument or Umir plateau. Once your location changes to Pilgrim’s Cave, climb up the wall to go further into the cave. This chest will be by the Feeding Den cellar.
  • Closest waypoint: Wejinhani
• Third chest: Spawn in either Rakhat Keep or Vyeresz and look for a bridge in the middle of the Fethis Wetlands area, which connects the Devouring Moor and Light’s Wane. This chest will be in the Moors.
  • Closest waypoints: Ruins of Rakhat Keep or Vyeresz
• Fourth chest: From Vyeresz, head to the southwest part of the Fethis Wetlands, before reaching the Fields of Desperation. Look for this chest in the far southwest, near an Altar of Lilith and the Cursed Cabin cellar.
  • Closest waypoint: Vyeresz

Diablo 4 Mystery Chests explained: Key things to remember

• Helltides last for an hour, with a 75-minute break between the end of a Helltide and the start of the next.
• Mystery Chests cost 250 Aberrant Cinders as of Patch 1.1, a drastic increase from the old price tag of 175. They grant you between two and five random Legendary drops, plus some Helltide resources. These drops can be either Sacred (World Tier three and above) or Ancestral (World Tier four). With some luck, Helltide chests can also drop Uniques, as of Patch 1.1.
• Mystery Chests don’t let you choose what you’ll obtain, but they usually come in more quantity and with better quality.
• Helltides can have up to two Mystery Chests up at a time (three if you’re in Khejistan). These chests reset every hour on the dot, letting you double-dip during your runs.
• Dying during a Helltide takes away half your Aberrant Cinders.

During a Helltide event, you might notice caches, barrels, or other destructible interactables that are glowing red. Bust these open, and there’s a chance that they’ll give you a few Aberrant Cinders.

Like in most aspects of Diablo 4, there is a method (and some math) to the madness of Helltides. Helltides last for an hour, and you can open up any of the available Helltide Chests during those 60 minutes. Whenever the top of the next hour rolls in, Mystery Chests will reset and respawn as if a fresh Helltide had just begun, according to helltide.com.

This means if you start a Helltide in the Dry Steppes at 7:30pm, two Mystery Chests will spawn as normal. Once the clock hits 8pm sharp, the chests in the area will despawn, and two Mystery Chests will reappear in different locations. This nets you half an hour to unlock the first two, then another 30 minutes to track down the new chests.

Since Helltides happen every 75 minutes, there’s a chance you’ll hit a Helltide that’s starting at an exact hour, which means you won’t get a reset. Likewise, if the event kicks off at a quarter to the next hour, you’ll only have 15 minutes to grab the first set of chests. Because of that, knowing how to farm a Helltide can be vital in getting as many Mystery Chests as you can.

As of patch 1.2 in season 2, Helltide chests now feature different icons on your map to show what type of loot you can expect to find in a given Helltide chest. There’s an icon to indicate Armor, Jewelry, and Weapons.

With the changes to Helltides in Patch 1.1, Mystery Chests are still important, but players who are farming for other items also have more to look for in a Helltide. If your build is lacking a specific Unique, for instance, you can try your shot at rolling those Uniques from the other chest types.

This is also an extra incentive for players who have Aberrant Cinders left over after obtaining all Mystery Chests in a given Helltide, since they could potentially find an upgrade for a Unique they need, in addition to the usual rewards. The rest of the Tortured Gifts are also cheaper than Mystery Chests, which makes it easier to spend your Cinders. We’ve also gotten mounts from regular Helltide chests, so that can be an extra incentive to farm some Cinders even after you’ve found everything you needed from that event.

Even though Patch 1.0.4 seemed to give Helltides some extra attention, Patch 1.1 took back most of that progress. After overall nerfs to most builds’ offense and defense, the team also touched on Helltide Mystery Chests, increasing their cost to 250 Aberrant Cinders (up from 175).

Helltide Farming Guide: How to farm Helltides in Diablo 4

You’ll need plenty of Aberrant Cinders if you’re trying to grab all Mystery Chests, and you probably won’t struggle too much to find a chest or two if you know their locations. If you’re looking to get as many Mystery Chests as you can in a single Helltide, though, we highly recommend farming public events and elite mobs, especially in a group.

Areas with high enemy density are the best way to collect Aberrant Cinders quickly, and in our experience, public events are the fastest way to fill up your Cinders and get ready to hunt Mystery Chests.

Events bring far more enemies than you’d find walking around the Helltide, and you’ll also get some Aberrant Cinders (plus gear and Murmuring Obols) from completing the event itself. That tactic has allowed us to consistently grab at least three Mystery Chests per event—and even more if they reset. We’re playing on World Tier IV, but the same principle should apply to World Tier III.

We recommend focusing primarily on events, barring any Elite mobs, Helltide bosses, or special enemies such as Treasure Goblins that may spawn. You can kill those quickly as you’re on your way to an event, but when we run a Helltide, focusing on events gives us far more Aberrant Cinders than we’d get otherwise. Kixxarth, the bug-like boss that sometimes appears, has a pretty sturdy health bar and doesn’t drop as many Aberrant Cinders, but can drop Forgotten Souls and other Helltide materials.

Farming in a group helps that process go by much more quickly. You can split up and cover more ground, with each player checking an area for events. Make use of portals to teleport to each other through the area hub, and don’t forget quick pit stops at the vendors to clear your inventory.

If you’re lucky enough to get a Legion Event inside a Helltide area, make the most of that opportunity. These events appear on your map five minutes before they begin, and they provide enough enemy density that we earned enough Aberrant Cinders to unlock a Mystery Chest once it was done.

Helltide Mystery Chest rewards

The Tortured Gift of Mysteries Chest (also known just as a Mystery Chest) can drop you a slew of random items, all with a higher rarity. In World Tier Three, we’ve usually found a few Rares and somewhere between two and five Legendaries per Mystery Chest, with the chance to obtain them as Sacred items. These Legendary items are random, but if your build doesn’t need anything in particular, this might be a good chance of getting some gear.

As of Patch 1.0.4, all Helltide chests can drop Unique items. The release of the patch caused an unforeseen issue that made 142 players get some Uber Unique drops, particularly Barbarians and Sorcerers. Since neither had a class-exclusive Unique at the time of the patch, opening a Helltide Chest that awarded helmets would guarantee them a roll of either Harlequin’s Crest or Andariel’s Visage, which have an extremely low chance of dropping. With a hotfix on July 7, developers made it so “Helltide Chests will now have the chance to drop any Unique and not be restricted to specific item slot limitations from any chest.”

The hotfix made Mystery Chests even more valuable. Since they drop more gear (both in quantity and quality), you have more shots at a random Unique item from there. We got another Mother’s Embrace from a Helltide Mystery Chest, so they are definitely still the gold standard for Helltides.

Gear isn’t the only reason to open Mystery Chests, though. Each will give you an assortment of materials exclusive to the Helltide. The chest can drop Fiend Roses and Forgotten Souls, which are necessary for upgrading specific materials.

Helltide works similarly in World Tier Four, though with sturdier enemies and level differences. These activities can also drop Ancestral gear, which makes them particularly good spots to gear up.

All Helltide Chest types

• Living Stell: 300 Aberrant Cinders
• Mystery Chest: 250 Cinders
• Two-handed weapons: 150 Cinders
• Amulets: 125 Cinders
• One-handed weapons: 125 Cinders
• Rings: 75 Cinders
• Armor pieces: 75 Cinders

As of Season 2, the Season of Blood, there’s a new Helltide chest that’s even more expensive than a Mystery Chest: the Tortured Gift of Living Steel. You’ll need 300 cinders to open these types of chests, and doing so will give you a new material called Living Steel. Using enough of that, you’ll be able to summon and fight Grigoire – The Galvanic Saint.

Mystery Chests aren’t the only items available in a Helltide. You can use your Aberrant Cinders to target-farm loot for specific slots, which can come in handy if you’re looking for something specific. Whenever we’re looking for gear for a specific slot, though, we usually just spend the Murmuring Obols we get from doing events in Helltides, and we save our Cinders for Mystery Chests.

You can also use your leftover Aberrant Cinders to crack open some of the regular chests. All Cinders on you will be lost when the Helltide ends anyway, so you might as well put them to use. These can drop Sacred and Ancestral gear if applicable. We’ve obtained mounts from both Mystery and regular chests in a Helltide, though, so players who are looking to round out their mount collection have a bit more incentive to open these chests.

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