How to Play Vessel of Hatred in Diablo 4 Season 9

Diablo 4's Season 9, "Sins of the Horadrim," introduces Horadric Strongrooms as a compelling new seasonal activity. These short, intense combat encounters are embedded within Nightmare Dungeons, offering a unique blend of enemy waves, timed objectives, and direct ties to the season's new Horadric Spellcraft and Jewel systems. Players can view them as Season 9's version of previous seasonal challenges like Rootholds or Hellbreaches, but with a distinct flavor and a preview of Vessel of Hatred-style gameplay.

Diablo 4 : Play Vessel of Hatred in Season 9

How to Unlock Horadric Strongrooms

To gain access to Horadric Strongrooms, players must progress through the seasonal storyline. Early in the questline, you will receive a special tool called the Wayfinder. This item acts as a narrative guide, marking the locations of hidden Horadric Strongrooms that are found within Nightmare Dungeons.Since Nightmare Dungeons are already a popular activity for leveling and loot grinding, players will naturally encounter Strongrooms as they progress through their seasonal journey. Strongrooms are not guaranteed in every Nightmare Dungeon, but their chances are increased at higher World Tiers (Torment I+). Some Nightmare Sigils can also come with an affix that guarantees a Horadric Strongroom will appear in that particular dungeon.

How Strongrooms Work

Upon entering a Horadric Strongroom, the challenge begins with a ritual. You'll activate a pillar, which summons multiple waves of enemies. After clearing these initial waves, you'll be presented with a choice of modifiers. These modifiers alter the subsequent phases of the Strongroom: some enhance your power, while others increase the difficulty in exchange for better rewards.The core objectives within a Strongroom are straightforward:

• Fight through waves of enemies: Continuously defeat foes that spawn.
• Build up "Attunement": This is a meter that fills as you kill enemies and complete specific objectives (like interacting with ritual pillars or Sacrifice Shrines).
• Defeat the final boss: Once enough Attunement is gathered or the timer expires, a boss will appear. You must defeat this boss before the overall Strongroom timer runs out.

The more Attunement you accumulate during the run, the better the quality and quantity of your end rewards.Throughout your Strongroom run, you may encounter Sacrifice Shrines. Interacting with these shrines provides temporary boosts that help you build Attunement faster and more efficiently, often by spawning additional enemy ambushes.

Rewards from Strongrooms

Completing Horadric Strongrooms offers a variety of valuable seasonal rewards:

• Arcana: These are essential components used to craft the seasonal HoradricSpells, allowing for deep customization of your character's abilities.
• Escalation Sigils: These special sigils unlock the new Escalating Nightmare Dungeon content, which provides multi-stage, increasingly difficult Nightmare Dungeon chains.
• Horadric Phials: The new seasonal currency used for upgrading Horadric Spells and crafting Horadric Jewels.
• Horadric Tomes: These items teach you recipes for crafting Horadric Jewels at the Horadric Lapidary in Cerrigar.
• High-Tier Loot: Including Legendary and Ancestral items, scaling with your Attunement and the Strongroom's difficulty.

Comparison to the Kurast Undercity

Players familiar with the Vessel of Hatred DLC might notice conceptual similarities between Horadric Strongrooms and the Kurast Undercity, one of the expansion's main endgame dungeons. Both activities involvecollecting "Attunement" and operating against a clock. However, theydiffer significantly in their execution and intended experience:

Feature	Horadric Strongrooms (Season 9)	Kurast Undercity (Vessel of Hatred DLC)
Length & Complexity	Short, single-arena encounters; simple mechanics.	Spans multiple levels; requires more time and planning.
Timer Pressure	You cannot "fail" a Strongroom run; rewards scale with Attunement collected.	If you don't finish in time, you lose all progress and rewards.
Extra Mechanics	Ritual Pillars (modifiers), Sacrifice Shrines.	Afflicted enemies (extend timer), Spirit Beacons (guide path), Tribute/Bargain options (influence loot).
Failure Risk	Beginner-friendly; low risk of total reward loss.	Punishes mistakes with total reward loss; high-stakes.

In essence, while they share the core concept of a timed, attunement-based challenge, the Kurast Undercity is designed as a high-stakes, demanding endgame experience for Vessel of Hatred owners. Horadric Strongrooms, conversely, offer a safer, more casual,and accessible take on this gameplay style, providing a "free taste" ofthe expansion's content even for players who don't own it.

Strongrooms are fast, engaging, and directly integrated into the core seasonalprogression, making them well worth your time whether you're chasingArcana for crafting, farming Escalation Sigils, or simply looking forsomething new and fun to do in Diablo 4.

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