The Pit of the Artificer - Best Builds and FAQ in Diablo 4

Welcome to Our Guide on The Pit of the Artificer, Demon Slayer!

In this guide, we provide all the essential information to help you understand everything about the newest pinnacle content in Diablo 4.

Introduction

We’ll begin with a general overview of this new endgame feature and compare it to similar content. Then, we'll explain why this new system is crucial, highlighting both the materials required and the rewards it offers. Additionally, we’ll present a list of the best builds that will help you clear the highest tiers of The Pit quickly and efficiently, ensuring you secure the best rewards.

By the end of this guide, you will be fully equipped with knowledge of all the mechanics behind this new feature, as well as expert tips and strategies to help you master the highest floors. Are you ready?

Here’s a quick 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 Diablo 4's endgame content. It’s a timed dungeon where your goal is to fill a progress bar by defeating enemies. When you enter The Pit, you’ll see the progress bar and countdown timer appear on the right side of your screen, making it essential to kill enemies quickly.

Once the progress bar reaches 100%, all the creatures in the dungeon will disappear, opening the way to a boss portal. After entering the portal, you’ll find yourself in an arena where you’ll face a boss to complete the run. The timer continues ticking, so staying in the safe zone will only cause you more problems.

Note: Clearing The Pit tier faster is crucial, as reaching milestones along the way grants additional rewards. More details about these rewards can be found in the Rewards section of our guide.

Comparison Between The Pit and Greater Rifts in Diablo 3

There aren't many differences between The Pit in Diablo 4 and Diablo 3's Greater Rifts, as The Pit is clearly inspired by Greater Rifts. The core mechanics and design are similar, but there are several key differences.

One of the main similarities is upgrading Paragon Glyphs, which has been moved from Nightmare Dungeons, closely mirroring the D3 Greater Rift Gem upgrades. Compared to Greater Rifts, which feature a few floors to clear monsters, The Pit only has two, making it more difficult to fill the progress bar if you miss even a small percentage of monsters or elites.

Comparison Between The Pit and Nightmare Dungeons

There are significant differences between The Pit and Nightmare Dungeons, which once represented the most challenging content in Diablo 4. The main differences lie in monster levels and how each activity is completed, though they share several similarities.

Unlike Nightmare Dungeons, which scale based on world tier difficulty, The Pit’s difficulty starts at tier 1 and increases 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 though Tier 1 of The Pit is only accessible on Normal difficulty, The Pit unlocks once you reach level 60.

Both activities culminate in a boss fight, but unlike Nightmare Dungeons, The Pit does not offer a glyph upgrade. Instead, it rewards players with masterworking materials.

Why Should You Play The Pit?

The Pit is the pinnacle of Diablo 4’s endgame content. With 150 tiers to complete, it’s the newest challenge for players and their builds, offering great rewards.

In addition to being an excellent test of skill, the rewards include opportunities to upgrade Paragon Glyphs, Legendary and Unique items, and Murmuring Obols.

Who Can Play The Pit?

The Pit is available to all players. There are no restrictions on how you can play or how many players can join a session, aside from the usual activity restrictions. The gameplay types are as follows:

Solo: This playstyle is the most common, where monsters don’t have increased power. You won't rely on other players and won't be penalized for their mistakes.
Group: Group play is rarer but still accessible, with increased monster power. Due to the high level of monsters in later tiers, their potential to one-shot players also rises. Dying will impose a penalty for the entire group.

Is The Pit of the Artificer on Both Eternal and Seasonal Realms?

Yes, The Pit of the Artificer is available on both Eternal and Seasonal realms, making it a permanent addition to Diablo 4's endgame content, unlike the Abattoir of Zir.

Where is The Pit in Diablo 4?

The Pit is located in Cerrigar — The Emerald Chase, Scosglen. You can access it by interacting with the Artificer's Obelisk, located in the center of the settlement. Click on the Obelisk to choose the desired tier.

How to Unlock and Access The Pit of the Artificer?

To access The Pit, you need to meet a few requirements. Here's a checklist of what to do before your first run:

Your character must be level 60.
You must complete the Pit quest.
You need at least 3 Runeshards.
It’s recommended to have your elemental resistances and armor capped or close to the cap, as this will help against the high-level monsters in The Pit.

Once these requirements are met, you can freely access The Pit through the Obelisk in Cerrigar and run as many tiers as you like, provided you have the necessary Runeshards.

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 throughout 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 in other ways. 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 Glyph upgrades.

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.

What is The Pit in Diablo 4? The Pit is an endgame activity added in Season 4, with 150 tiers ready to be conquered.
What is needed to enter The Pit of the Artificers? Aside from adequate gear and stats, the only requirement is having Runeshards.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

The Pit of the Artificer - Best Builds and Tips for Dominating in Diablo 4