Powerful gear won't be enough to level up in Diablo 4's upcoming speedrun dungeon, The Gauntlet.
Starting next week, The Gauntlet offers a permanent challenge unlike anything Diablo 4 has had before: the hunt for a high score to climb the leaderboard. Powerful equipment will play a role, but it won't be enough to charge through the dungeon just once. You need to perfect an efficient route before the end of each week when everything resets to zero.
Blizzard has cleverly kept the barrier to entry low. The enemies in The Gauntlet are all level 124, meaning most players should be able to tackle them at around level 80. Of course, you'll want to be level 100 and decked out in good gear to compete at the top of the leaderboards, but there will be easy-to-achieve legendary item cache rewards every week.
This is what it will look like:
- A new Gauntlet dungeon will go live each week with fixed enemy placement and layout
- You have eight minutes to race through the game collecting proofs of power from monsters to increase your score
- Certain enemies drop keys to open chests with more evidence of power
- Monsters don't drop loot, but bosses leave shrines for powerful buffs
- A new shrine brings monsters and bosses back to life, allowing you to do it all over again until time runs out
- Completing it will reward you with an item cache with an increased chance of dropping uniques
You can die in the Gauntlet, and that will cost you a third of your score and the time it takes to run back and regain your credentials of power.
Each week, Blizzard will set four increasingly difficult to track points that will determine the rewards you'll receive when the new Gauntlet launches. For each “seal” you receive for exceeding these points, you will receive a supply of legendary items. And you can repeat this with multiple classes or in a group to get more caches each week.
The leaderboards are broken down by platform, class, group size, and whether you're playing in Hardcore mode or not. The Barbarians' seemingly endless status as Diablo 4's kings doesn't have to ruin it for the rest of us. Players who make it to the top 100 in any category will receive a mount trophy, and anyone in the top 10 will permanently appear on the Hall of the Ancients leaderboard.
“The Gauntlet” is much more complex than I expected. It's not just a dungeon to complete quickly; It's a dungeon that you'll have to study every week and potentially build your character around. Players have complained about Diablo 4's simplified endgame since release, and I think we finally have something that requires a completely different approach than simply piling up more and more damage. Meta builds that take down one-shot bosses or rush through dungeons won't necessarily excel in The Gauntlet, which should increase the value of items that were otherwise ignored.
Diablo 4 needed a healthy alternative to power hunting and I think this is finally it.
The Gauntlet will go live next Tuesday alongside a massive mid-season patch.
