The Pit of the Artificer – Diablo 4 Guide
Welcome to our guide on The Pit of the Artificer, Demon Slayer! Here, you can find all the necessary information to learn everything about the newest pinnacle content in Diablo 4.
Introduction
We will start with general information about this new endgame addition and compare it to related content. Next, we will explain why this new system is necessary and discuss both the materials needed and obtained from it. We'll also present a list of the best builds you can utilize to clear the highest tiers of The Pit to obtain the best rewards and complete the tiers as fast as possible.
By the end of this guide, you will know all the mechanics of this new addition and all the pro tips and tricks to help you dominate the highest floors. Are you ready?
Table of Contents
Here is a little breakdown of our Diablo IV Artificer's Pit guide:
- Artificer's Pit Overview
- The Pit Particularities
- Artificer's Pit Requirements
- How to prepare for The Pit
- Artificer's Pit Difficulty
- The Pit Rewards
- Best Builds for The Pit
What is The Pit of the Artificers in Diablo 4?
The Pit of the Artificer is the newest addition to the Diablo 4 endgame, being a timed dungeon where you must fill up a progress bar by slaying enemies. Upon entering The Pit, the progress bar and the countdown timer will appear on the right side of the screen, so slaying everything inside as fast as possible is imperative.
Upon reaching 100% on the progress bar, every creature in the dungeon will disappear, making way for the boss portal. After teleporting, you will be placed in the arena, fighting one of the bosses to complete the run. At this point, the timer is still counting, so staying in the safe zone will only cause you more trouble.
Note: Clearing The Pit tier faster is very important because you will have milestones, and when you reach them, you will gain extra rewards. More on this in the Rewards section of our guide.
Comparison between The Pit and Greater Rifts in Diablo 3
There are not many differences between The Pit in Diablo 4 and Diablo 3's Greater Rifts, considering that The Pit is clearly inspired by the Greater Rifts. The core mechanics and design are the same, but there are also a lot of differences.
One of the main similarities is upgrading the Paragon Glyphs, which has been moved from Nightmare Dungeons, clearly being identical to the D3 Greater Rift Gem upgrades. Compared to the GRs, which have a few floors that you can clear monsters on, The Pit only has two, making the completion of the progress bar harder if you miss a small percentage of monsters or elites.
Comparison between The Pit and Nightmare Dungeons
There are many differences between The Nightmare Dungeons, which once represented the most challenging content in the game, and The Pit. The main differences are the monster level and the way you complete each activity, but there are also many similarities.
Compared to Nightmare dungeons, which scale only with the difficulty chosen(world tier), the Pit's difficulty starts at tier 1, going through the difficulties, as follows:
- Tier 1 - Normal
- Tier 5 - Hard
- Tier 10 - Expert
- Tier 15 - Penitent
- Tier 20 - Torment 1
- Tier 35 - Torment 2
- Tier 50 - Torment 3
- Tier 65 - Torment 4
Even if Tier 1 of the Artificer's Pit only requires the Normal difficulty, the Pit is only unlocked once you reach level 60.
Even if the way to progress through them differs, they both end with a boss fight. The Nightmare Dungeons don't award the player a glyph upgrade but offers masterworking materials.
Why should you play The Pit?
The Pit is the pinnacle of the endgame content in Diablo 4. With 150 tiers to complete, it is the newest challenge for players & their builds and comes with great rewards.
Aside from being an excellent test for the player, the rewards include chances to upgrade Paragon Glyphs, Legendary & Unique items, and Murmuring Obols.
Who can play The Pit?
The Pit is available for everybody, and there is no restriction on how you can play or how many players can join the same session; it simply has the same restrictions as any other activity. The type of gameplay has a few differences, as follows:
- Solo - The most used playstyle ensures the monsters will not have increased powers. You are not dependent on other players and will not be penalized for their mistakes.
- Group - A bit rarer, group play surely is more accessible, even with the monster power increase. Also, given the very high level of the monsters in the later tiers, their one-shot potential also increases, the penalty for dying being group-wide.
Is The Pit of the Artificer on both eternal and seasonal realms?
The Pit of the Artificer is available for Eternal realm and seasonal realm characters, being a permanent addition to the endgame content in comparison to the Abattoir of Zir.
Where is The Pit in Diablo 4?
The Pit Location is Cerrigar — The Emerald Chase, Scosglen. It can be accessed by interacting with the Artificer's Obelisk, which is found in the middle of the settlement. Click on it and choose the desired tier.
How to unlock & access Artificer's Pit?
In order to access The Pit, there are a few requirements that must be met. Here's a list of what you need to do before your first Pit run:
- Your character must be level 60.
- The Pit quest must be completed.
- You must have at least 3 Runeshards.
- Your elemental resistances and armor should be capped or close to it. This is not one of The Pit's requirements; it is just a suggestion, considering the power of the monsters you'll fight.
When you have accomplished these requirements, you are free to access The Pit through the Obelisk found in Cerrigar and do as many runs as you want, as long as you have the Runeshards required.
Runeshards
Runeshards are a type of material needed to access The Pit of the Artificer. When your character has reached level 60, you will receive a priority quest to interact with the Obelisk found in Cerrigar. Once completed, the player can collect Runeshards from most endgame activities and use them to access The Pit.
The best activities to farm Runeshards in Diablo 4 are:
- Whisper of the Dead
- Nightmare Dungeons
- Helltide
- Legion Events
As we have mentioned, Runeshards are ancient tokens used as a key to The Pit of the Artificers.
How to prepare for Pit of the Artificers
Before trying to attempt even the first tiers of The Pit, make sure you check out the following list so you can be prepared for what is waiting on the other end:
- Try capping out all the elemental resistances.
- Reach the armor cap of 1000, receiving 85% damage mitigation. The armor cap is different for each difficulty, so pay close attention before changing to a higher difficulty.
- Temper all your items.
- Pick an S-tier build.
How to play The Pit
Since everything from the layout to the monsters residing in the run is randomly generated, clearing tiers will be more challenging than other activities, so having a good, optimized build with adequate elixirs & incense will be essential.
Once inside, time matters very much, but so does completely clearing every mob found on the floor. If the player does not clear most, if not all the mobs on the first floor, the second floor has a chance to not provide enough enemies to fill the progress bar, and they will have to go back.
Mechanics
Considering that time is the most important dynamic of this endgame system, there's a mechanic directly related to it. With only 15 minutes at your disposal, if you complete The Pit run sooner, you will unlock up to 5 extra tiers.
Penalties
Compared to the Abbatoir of Zir, dying in The Pit will not result in the run ending but will result in a penalty, removing a set amount of seconds from your time, like so:
- The first death will remove 30 seconds from your time.
- The second death will take away 60 seconds from the Pit timer.
- Every other death will cut 90 seconds from the timer, with no limit to the death number.
Even if the timer running out will not kick you out of The Pit run, it will remove the chest reward from the boss kill. This means you will not be getting the Murmuring Obols at the end of the run, while also not unlocking new tiers.
Considering that time is essential for unlocking the higher tiers of The Pit, dying will significantly impact the player's progress.
If the player manages to complete the Pit run without dying, an extra Paragon Glyph upgrade will be provided as a reward.
The Pit Difficulty
Even if the Pit requirement is reaching level 60, the Pit starts with Normal difficulty monsters, meaning it will be populated with monsters from this specific difficulty. As we go higher into the tiers, after reaching the Torment 4 - tier 65 breakpoint, the monsters' difficulty will scale higher compared to the Torment 4 difficulty, reaching insane powers in the last few tiers.
How many tiers does The Pit have?
In its initial phase, Artificer's Pit featured 200 tiers, each with its own entrance fee. Even if this number changed throughtout updates for the live game and PTR, the Pit features 150 tiers in the Vessel of Hatred expansion.
Can you solo The Pit?
Yes. From our experience in the game, we strongly recommend playing Artificer's Pit solo for a few reasons:
- Monsters have their standard power, not increased by extra players. This means less one-shot potential, removing the loss of time due to deaths.
- You don't need to rely on other players to survive, slay their side of the map, or kill monsters.
- You can play on your own time for as long as you want.
Is The Pit harder than Abbatoir of Zir?
In the initial phase of testing for The Pit, the difficulty was not a problem, not even when it came to tier 200. The gear, combined with the tempering and masterworking, was enough to sustain the enemies' attacks while dishing out more than enough damage to kill them quickly.
The Pit Bosses
After filling the whole progress bar by slaying most of the enemies in the two floors of The Pit of the Artificers run, a new portal will appear at the current location, teleporting the player to the randomly chosen boss.
The boss "chamber" will also be randomly chosen, but it will feature a small safe zone where the player can wait for the skills to finish their cooldown period, use new elixirs or incense, or prepare any other way. However, beware: the timer is still ticking while outside of the fight.
How many bosses are in The Pit?
When it comes to the bosses, they are the same ones that can be found in any type of Diablo 4 dungeon, but with a very interesting twist. Even if these bosses might not seem that strong or have one-shot potential, they have a trick up their sleeve.
The new mechanic of the bosses is that they can spawn shades of other bosses to get help. These shades will use different skills that have tremendous damage, some with crowd-control, ready to kill the player at any time, so a lot of focus must be put into the fight.
The Pit Rewards
Completing the run will reward the player with Legendary and Ancestral Legendary items with 750/800 item power, materials, and Paragon Glpyh ugrades.
When completed under the 15-minute threshold, a Mastery Chest containing murmuring obols will be provided to the player.
Best builds for The Pit
The best builds for The Pit in Season 6 are:
Best Builds for Spiritborn:
- Quill Volley
- Crushing Hand
- Touch of Death
Best Builds for Rogue:
- Dance of Knives
- Rapid Fire
- Rain of Arrows
Best Builds for Barbarian:
- Mighty Throw
- Bash
- Leapquake
Best Builds for Sorcerer:
- Lightning Spear
- Firebolt
- Frozen Orb
Best Builds for Druid:
- Hurricane
- Boulder
- Companion
Best Builds for Necromancer:
- Bone Spirit
- Spirit Wave
- Blood Surge
The Pit of the Artificer - F.A.Q.
1. What is The Pit in Diablo 4?
The Pit is an endgame activity added in Season 4, with 150 tiers ready to be conquered.
2. What is needed to enter The Pit of the Artificers?
Aside from adequate gear and stats, the only requirement is having Runeshards.
3. What is a Runeshard, and how can you find them?
Runeshards are the materials needed to enter The Pit and can be obtained everywhere after completing the Pit quest.
4. What rewards can you obtain from The Pit?
The rewards include Paragon Glyph upgrades, legendary and ancestral legendary equipment of item power 800, Unique items, and materials.
5. Is The Pit of the Artificers the hardest content in Diablo 4?
Considering the amount of tiers available and the monster's power in the last ones, we can say that it is true.
6. Can you obtain Mythic Unique items in The Pit?
Yes, you can obtain Mythic Uniques in Artificers Pit, but the chances are the same as in the other open-world activities, so they are low.
7. What is the best build for Artificer's Pit?
The best build for The Pit is one that can sustain high amounts of damage, while also dealing a ton of it.
Update Log
29.10.2024 - Updated all the information in the guide to match the Vessel of Hatred expansion.
15.08.2024 - Updated all the information in the guide to match Season 5 - Infernal Hordes information.
08.05.2024 - Updated all the information in the guide to match the new pre-Season 4 information.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Diablo 4's endgame systems are constantly evolving, with new content added every now and then. By using our guide, you'll be ready to face the newest endgame content called Artificer's Pit and clear every tier available with ease.
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