Quick answer (TLDR)
Infernal Hordes is the single best multi-reward farm in Diablo 4 right now — it pays out gold, Obducite (Masterworking material), Forgotten Souls, Gem Fragments, and guaranteed Ancestral Legendaries from one activity. The loop: load an Infernal Compass, survive 6, 8, or 10 waves (60 seconds each), stack Burning Aether, kill the Fell Council, then spend that Aether on Spoils of Hell chests.
- Want gold? End every run on Spoils of Gold.
- Want to upgrade gear (Masterworking)? Take Spoils of Material for Obducite + Forgotten Souls.
- Want gear upgrades? Spoils of Greater Equipment (400 Aether) guarantees an Ancestral Legendary.
- The catch: runs are long, and if your build can't clear waves fast, Aether income is low and the loot feels thin. If you're short on time or stuck under-geared, a Diablo 4 power-leveling push or a gold top-up skips the grind entirely.
This guide covers how Infernal Hordes works in Season of Reckoning (the Lord of Hatred launch season, level cap 70), how to maximize Aether per run, and which Spoils to pick for your goal.
What are Infernal Hordes in Diablo 4?
Infernal Hordes is a wave-based endgame activity set in the Burning Hells. According to Maxroll's Infernal Hordes guide, "Hordes are an all-or-nothing, wave-based event that increases in difficulty and reward throughout, culminating in a Boss encounter." You enter with an Infernal Compass, fight escalating waves of demons against a 60-second-per-wave timer, and bank a special run-only currency called Burning Aether. At the end you fight the Fell Council and convert your Aether into rewards.
Three things make it the top farm in Season of Reckoning:
- It pays multiple currencies at once — gold, Obducite, Forgotten Souls, Gem Fragments, and gear, instead of one resource.
- You choose the payout. The Spoils of Hell screen lets you target exactly what you need (gold vs. Masterworking mats vs. gear).
- It scales with Torment. Higher Torment tiers (the live ladder now runs up to Torment XII) drop more and better loot, so the activity grows with your character.
Important season note: This is current for Season of Reckoning, the launch season for the Lord of Hatred expansion (released April 28, 2026), which raised the level cap from 60 to 70. Blizzard ships balance changes most seasons — always sanity-check exact numbers against news.blizzard.com patch notes before a big farm session.
How do you unlock Infernal Hordes?
You unlock the activity by completing the "The Eyes of the Enemy" questline, which grants your first Infernal Compass. After that, the Compass is a consumable key — you need one per run.
Where Infernal Compasses come from:
| Source | Notes |
|---|---|
| The Eyes of the Enemy quest | First compass (unlock) |
| Helltide Chests | Reliable drip while you farm cinders |
| Tree of Whispers Caches | Turn in Grim Favors |
| Nightmare Dungeons | Sigil clears |
| The Pit | Bonus alongside Glyph leveling |
Compasses cannot be crafted — you farm them as drops, so always run Helltides and cash in Whisper caches between sessions to keep a stack ready.
How does an Infernal Hordes run work?
Each Infernal Compass randomly rolls 6, 8, or 10 waves (pre-Torment versions roll 4). Every wave is a 60-second survival fight against demons.
The core loop per run:
- Open the Compass at the Infernal Hordes door and pick your difficulty (match it to your build — see below).
- Clear waves. Each wave is 60 seconds of killing as much as possible.
- Pick an Infernal Offer. Before the first wave and after every wave, you choose one of three Boons & Banes — modifiers that change your run. Boons buff your Aether income; Banes make the fight harder for bigger rewards.
- Bank Burning Aether. You earn Aether by killing Aether Fiends and Aether Lords, and by destroying Soulspires and Aetheric Masses.
- Kill the Fell Council. After the final wave you face three randomly selected members of the Fell Council; one is the Council Speaker with boosted abilities. (Since the Season 10 update you can instead spend 666 Aether to fight Bartuc, the Lord of Chaos for a higher-roll loot gamble.)
- Spend Aether on Spoils of Hell. Convert everything you banked into your chosen reward.
You have a limited number of revives per run (a small group revive pool), so dying repeatedly ends the run early and caps your Aether — survivability matters as much as damage.
Which Spoils of Hell reward should you pick?
This is the decision that turns Infernal Hordes from "meh loot" into a targeted farm. After the Fell Council, you spend all your Burning Aether on one (or a split) of four options:
| Spoils option | Aether cost | What you get | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spoils of Material | All remaining Aether | Obducite, Gem Fragments, Forgotten Souls | You're Masterworking gear |
| Spoils of Gold | All remaining Aether | A large gold lump | You're saving for rerolls/Masterworking gold costs |
| Spoils of Greater Equipment | 400 Aether | "At least 1 Ancestral Legendary, a bunch of Obducite, and often 1–2 Scrolls of Restoration" (Maxroll) | You're hunting upgrades / aspects |
| Bartuc, Lord of Chaos | 666 Aether | Boss fight with a chance at high-end drops incl. Mythic Uniques | You have surplus Aether and want a gamble |
Rule of thumb: spend down to whole chests. If you bank 950 Aether, you might take one Spoils of Greater Equipment (400) and dump the rest into Material or Gold. There's no benefit to leaving Aether unspent — it doesn't carry over.
In multiplayer, Burning Aether is earned and spent independently — your Spoils picks don't affect your party members' rewards, so you never have to "share" loot.
Why is Infernal Hordes the best Obducite farm in Season of Reckoning?
Obducite is the core Masterworking material — you need it to push gear quality ranks up to 25 (each rank adds ~1% to your item's stats, with a big random affix boost — the "Capstone" — at rank 25). Late-season, Obducite is the bottleneck that gates your character's power.
Here's the key 2026 update many older guides get wrong: The Pit no longer drops Masterworking materials. It now pays out Paragon Glyph leveling instead. So if you're still running the Pit for Obducite, you're wasting time.
The current best Obducite sources are:
- Infernal Hordes (Spoils of Material + Spoils of Greater Equipment) — best for bulk Obducite plus gold and gear in one activity
- Nightmare Dungeons
- Kurast Undercity (Tribute of Refinement)
- Mercenary bartering
Because Infernal Hordes hands you Obducite and Forgotten Souls and gold and an Ancestral Legendary in a single ~5–7 minute run, it's the highest "reward density" farm in the game right now.
How do you maximize Aether (and rewards) per run?
More Aether = more loot. The whole game of Infernal Hordes is engineering big Aether per run.
- Pick Boons that snowball Aether. Offers like extra Aether on elite/Soulspire kills compound across waves. Prioritize Aether-generation Boons over raw-damage ones once your build can already clear waves.
- Take Banes you can handle. Banes make the fight harder but raise rewards. If your build is tanky, eat the Banes for the payout.
- Don't ignore Soulspires. Soulspires and Aetheric Masses are free Aether — destroy every one. Standing on a Soulspire while clearing adds is the highest Aether-per-second moment in a run.
- Match Torment to your clear speed, not your ego. Aether income depends on kills, so the right tier is the highest one where you still clear waves fast and don't burn revives. Over-pushing Torment slows your kills and lowers total Aether.
- Build for AoE + survivability. Wave clear is about killing packs in 60 seconds, not single-target. A build that one-shots a boss but clears trash slowly farms Aether poorly.
A common community complaint is that Hordes feel "long, and the loot isn't worth it." That's almost always an Aether problem: low clear speed → low Aether → thin Spoils. Fix the clear speed (or your gear tier) and the loot follows. If you're stuck because your character is under-leveled or under-geared, that's exactly where a Diablo 4 power-leveling boost pays off — a higher-Paragon, properly-geared character turns every Compass into a full payout.
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Frequently asked questions
How long does one Infernal Hordes run take?
Roughly 5–7 minutes for an 8–10 wave Compass once your build clears waves quickly. Add the Fell Council fight and Spoils selection. Lower clear speed makes runs drag and cuts your Aether.
Can I farm Infernal Hordes in a group?
Yes. Burning Aether is earned and spent independently in multiplayer, so each player gets their own rewards — there's no loot competition. Grouping can speed up wave clears, which raises everyone's Aether.
Does Infernal Hordes drop Obducite?
Yes — Spoils of Material exchanges your Aether for Obducite, Gem Fragments, and Forgotten Souls, and Spoils of Greater Equipment also includes "a bunch of Obducite." With the Pit no longer dropping Masterworking materials, Hordes is the top bulk-Obducite source.
What's better, the Fell Council or Bartuc?
The Fell Council is the default and free. Bartuc costs 666 Aether but offers a higher-roll loot gamble (including a shot at Mythic Uniques). Take Bartuc only when you've banked plenty of surplus Aether and want the gamble over guaranteed materials.
Why does my Infernal Hordes loot feel bad?
Almost always low Aether. If your build clears waves slowly or you waste revives, you bank little Aether and the Spoils are thin. Raise your clear speed, take Aether-generation Boons, destroy every Soulspire, and run the highest Torment you can comfortably clear.
Do I need a "best build" to farm Hordes?
No — you need a build that clears packs fast and survives Banes. Any well-geared endgame setup works; the activity rewards AoE clear and survivability over single-target damage.
Facts in this guide were verified against the official Diablo IV site (diablo.blizzard.com, news.blizzard.com) and authority guides (Maxroll, Icy-Veins) as of June 9, 2026, during Season of Reckoning. Season mechanics change with patches — check the latest patch notes before a long farm session.
