The Unwritten Rules of Diablo 4 Season 9’s Horadric Strongrooms Explained

The main draw of Diablo 4 Season 9 is the new Horadric Strongroom mechanic that adds an extra challenge to Nightmare Dungeon runs. While Diablo 4 players will likely experience these micro dungeons to some extent during the Sins of the Horadrim season since they are tied to the seasonal quest, farming Horadric Strongrooms later into the endgame can get confusing without an optimized strategy for clearing them. As such, there are some unwritten rules the community has developed to ensure players are maximizing the limited time they have to earn attunement and gain the best rewards Horadric Strongrooms have to offer.

Accessing Horadric Strongrooms in Diablo 4 Season 9 boils down to using a Nightmare Sigil with the associated affix and following the direction the Horadric Wayfinder points to once in the dungeon. Players will have to defeat the Gateway Guardians before selecting which Horadric Pillar buffs they want to activate and beginning the Strongroom proper. Once inside, players will need to collect as much attunement from slaying enemies as possible before time expires to earn the best rewards, but doing so is easier said than done when the dungeon throws so many different choices for players to parse through.

One Diablo 4 Build Puts the ‘Sin’ in Sins of the Horadrim

Diablo 4 Season 9’s Sins of the Horadrim theme is appropriate for one build that takes advantage of the game’s darkest class.

Diablo 4 Season 9’s Horadric Strongrooms Have Some Unwritten Rules for Success

Choose Horadric Pillar Buffs Carefully

The first choice players are faced with when starting a Hordaric Strongroom is which pillars to activate after defeating the Gateway Guardians. These pillars offer various buffs intended to help players complete the Strongroom as efficiently as possible, with some going so far as to include a drawback to counterbalance the buff. However, players are almost always better off selecting the pillars without these drawbacks, since they are far more of a hindrance than the buffs they offer are helpful. In general, buffs like more enemy ambushes or swiftness motes dropped are the best pillars to activate, since more enemy density and faster movement speed are crucial to maximizing attunement collection, and these pillars usually don’t come with any downsides.

Focus on Pillars Over Shrines

Once players have started the Horadric Strongroom and the timer is activated, they’ll find there are two types of interactable objects within the micro dungeon: Pillars and Shrines. Pillars spawn monsters and activate a temporary buff that increases the attunement players earn, while Shines simply spawn more monsters for players to slay. As such, it’s in the player’s best interest to focus on interacting with Pillars and avoiding Shrines if they want to earn the best rewards from this Diablo 4 Season 9 activity.

Builds With AoE Skills Will Be Most Successful

Since slaying as many enemies as possible within the time limit is the name of the game with Horadric Strongrooms, Diablo 4 builds that utilize powerful AoE skills will give players the most bang for their buck. Examples of good builds for Horadric Strongrooms include:

Hydra Sorcerer
Pulverize Druid
Minion Necromancer

Pulverize Druid can stomp enemies in a wide area thanks to Pulverize’s AoE damage when combined with the Shockwave Legendary Aspect. While not specifically an AoE skill, Hydra Sorcerer is useful since players can summon Hydras to attack groups of enemies while casting other skills like Inferno on a different group. Similarly, Minion Necromancers can use their minions to clear out groups of enemies while using an AoE skill like Blight to speed up the process.

Playing on Torment 3 or 4 Difficulty is Most Efficient

Horadric Strongrooms can be accessed by players on any Diablo 4 difficulty setting, but those playing on Torment 3 and 4 have access to options other players don’t. One pillar buff players can choose to modify the Strongroom with once they reach Torment 3 spawns a demon boss at tier 3 attunement earned. This boss is an Elite enemy—and can even be Diablo 4‘s terrifying Butcher—which grants a massive amount of attunement when defeated, so players should prioritize this pillar when possible for the optimal endgame Horadric Strongroom grind.