Sanctuary field notes

Diablo IV Field Guide

Researched, versioned notes on Diablo IV systems and decisions.

Reaching 666 Aether for Bartuc in Infernal Hordes

Scope: Season 15, live 3.2.1 build
Checked: September 27, 2026
Status: Published practical strategy. Offer mechanics draw on Blizzard patch notes; the War Plan compass shortcut is based on player bug reports and needs an in-game check.

The short answer

Start a 10-wave Infernal Horde with a compass, clear at a difficulty where you can rapidly kill both normal enemies and the Aether events they trigger, and choose offers that compound one another. Masses plus Puffing Masses are the most straightforward default; Fiends → Lords can be excellent if you kill Lords quickly. Take a Chaos Wave when its immediate payout outweighs the remaining value of a persistent offer, but do not build a plan around rolling Aether Goblins. Bank 666 Burning Aether per player before selecting Bartuc. If you also want the 400-Aether Greater Equipment chest afterward, aim for 1,066 before the boss choice.

There is no literal guarantee in every run: offer choices, Chaos Wave type, and combat speed vary. This procedure aims to make 666 routine on a capable character and diagnose runs that fall short.

Set up the run

  1. Check the wave count before entering. Use a 10-wave compass. The War Plan’s generated Horde typically has six waves. A six-wave run can reach 666 with unusually productive offers or Chaos Waves, but treating it as a reliable Bartuc run is unreasonable. Pre-Torment Fleeting Hordes have only four waves and are the wrong activity for this objective.
  2. Choose the highest Torment at which events die promptly. A higher difficulty that makes Lords, Masses, or elites linger reduces the number of events you finish during each timed wave. This is a throughput test, not a push-tier test.
  3. Set the Infernal Hordes activity tree for Aether generation and Chaos opportunities, where you have unlocked the relevant War Plans points. Read the actual node descriptions before spending; the tree and balance can change.
  4. Bring a pet and collect dropped Aether. Each party member has an individual Aether balance and must be able to pay 666. The first player to choose the final encounter sets the party’s choice.

Use your compass with a War Plan

  1. Select a War Plan path containing Face the Infernal Hordes at the command table and progress to that activity.
  2. Activate your 10-wave Infernal Compass from your inventory.
  3. Open the world map and look in Kehjistan, east of the Imperial Library waypoint, by Caldeum. The entrance is called the Abyssal Verge / Gates of Hell and the compass should activate its dungeon icon there. Select the icon itself to teleport, then enter and confirm the counter says 1/10.
  4. Do not use the War Plan’s Teleport button after activating the compass. Player bug reports say this shortcut instead launches the generated six-wave instance, overriding the compass destination. If you see 1/6, you entered the shorter instance; its Aether yield is not a test of the ten-wave strategy.

This sequence is based on multiple player reports in Blizzard’s bug-report forum, including a report from August 2026. Blizzard’s War Plans overview says the plan can generate a key when needed, which explains why its shortcut can create a separate run. Whether completing the compass instance credits the active War Plan should be checked in game; the player reports are strongest on the wave-count and teleport behavior.

If the icon seems absent: zoom in east of Imperial Library and check whether a Whispers or War Plans marker is covering the dungeon icon. Open the map filters and temporarily hide Whispers of the Dead; a player-reported workaround says that exposes the underlying entrance. If the icon remains unclickable, teleport to Imperial Library and approach the entrance on foot. If neither the portal nor the icon exists after the compass is consumed, this may be an activation or map bug rather than a hidden destination; do not use the War Plan shortcut expecting it to preserve ten waves. See the map-overlay bug report and Whispers overlap report.

Pick offers as an engine, not a tier list

Engine Start with Compound with When to avoid it
Masses Extra Masses at wave start, Masses reforming on death, or Masses creating another Aether event Puffing Masses, which raises Mass payout with your accumulated offers and doubles the contribution of Mass offers; Masses spawning Lords or Hellborne if those are already strong Masses take too long to destroy or the bane repeatedly interrupts your clear
Fiends and Lords More elites or Fiends, then offers replacing Fiends with Lords Colossal Fiends and Fiendish Legions together: Blizzard specifically fixed their interaction so the replacement Lords receive the intended Aether multiplier Lords take too long to kill; an extra event that remains alive is worth less than a smaller event finished repeatedly
Hellborne A way to spawn Hellborne, then additional Hellborne or extra Aether per kill Hellfire spawning Hellborne, or Masses spawning Hellborne, once the base engine is online The first offer only increases payout from enemies you rarely see
Spires Extra Spires and a strong payout multiplier A build that can pull enemies into the circle and finish it quickly You must chase enemies or spend most of the wave standing in an unproductive circle

Decision rule at each offer: favor an early spawn or event-frequency increase; then multiply the event type that is actually appearing and dying in your run. A nominally high payout per event is a trap if the event is rare or slow to finish. Exalted Hordes (faster Aether-event spawning from normal kills) is a broadly useful bridge before you have committed to one engine. Flat end-of-wave Aether, such as Burning Rain, can rescue a weak set of offers, but has a lower ceiling than a functioning repeatable engine.

A practical offer priority

  1. Waves 1–3: build a repeatable source. Take Exalted Hordes if offered early. Otherwise favor a Mass at the start of each wave (Bursting Masses), or an offer that produces additional Masses or Fiends. These choices pay off in every remaining wave.
  2. Once you have Masses: seek Puffing Masses. Its payout grows with all your selected offers and gives extra weight to Mass offers. Massing Masses (reform on death) and more guaranteed Masses create more chances to collect that improved payout. This is the simplest route to recommend before knowing your build.
  3. If the Mass chain does not appear: commit to Fiends → Lords. Fiendish Legions produces Fiends from elites; Colossal Fiends converts Fiends into Lords and multiplies their Aether. Take the conversion only if your build kills Lords rapidly. An offer that adds Fiend events or speeds event spawning improves this chain.
  4. If neither chain develops: build Hellborne or take dependable income. Get a spawn mechanism before stacking extra Aether per Hellborne. Burning Rain and similar end-of-wave awards provide a floor, especially late when few waves remain; they rarely replace a strong event engine by themselves.
  5. Compare a Chaos Wave with the persistent offer you would give up. Late in a run, a Chaos Wave’s immediate Aether usually has less future opportunity cost. In the first few waves, a strong persistent spawn or multiplier offer may be better, because it affects many subsequent waves. The Chaos outcome is random, and Goblins are rare.

Example path, if offered: early Exalted Hordes → Bursting Masses → Puffing Masses → Massing Masses → further Mass spawns or a compatible Fiend/Lord conversion. These are priorities, not a sequence the game promises to show you. Reassess after every wave using the Aether gained and how quickly you finished events.

Offer names and exact values in older tier lists can be stale. For example, Blizzard increased base Aether from Masses, Fiends, and Spires in patch 2.4, reworked Puffing and Massing Masses, changed Spire multipliers, and raised Burning Rain to 9–15 Aether per wave. Use the current in-game offer text for exact numbers.

Execute every wave for event throughput

  • Keep killing ordinary monsters: this advances the next Aether event. Do not wait for an event to spawn while standing still.
  • Complete events promptly. Destroy a Mass; kill a Fiend or Lord; fill a Spire by drawing enemies inside its area. Then resume clearing trash to generate the next event.
  • Move to the next event as it appears. If a build can clear enemies across the arena while handling an event, exploit that overlap.
  • Judge the offers by Aether gained per wave, not by the size of a single drop. If a Lord conversion sharply reduces completed events, choose a faster engine on the next run or lower the difficulty.
  • On a Chaos Wave, follow its specific objective. A random Chaos Wave is an opportunity, not an assured Goblin windfall. Blizzard reduced the frequency of Goblin Chaos Waves and adjusted Chaos Wave availability; do not depend on seeing one.

At the boss choice

Aether per player Decision
Below 666 Bartuc is unavailable; take the Fell Council and spend what you earned. Review compass length, missed events, and whether your offers formed a working engine.
666–1,065 Choose Bartuc if his fight and drops are the priority. His own rewards drop without another Aether payment, but fewer than 400 Aether remain for the Greater Equipment chest.
1,066+ Pay 666 for Bartuc; reserve 400 for the Greater Equipment chest if that is your desired additional reward. Spend any further remainder according to your material or gold goal.

Do not confuse 666 to summon Bartuc with 1,066 to summon him and open the 400-Aether chest. Party members should each check their balance before the first player selects the encounter.

Troubleshooting a 150–300 Aether run

  1. Only six waves? Activate a 10-wave compass and enter through its map icon, avoiding the War Plan teleport shortcut. More waves mean more earning time and more offers that can compound.
  2. Events rarely appear? Improve monster-clear speed or choose an offer that accelerates event spawns.
  3. Events appear but remain unfinished? Lower Torment, change target priority, or stop selecting expensive Lords and Spires your build cannot clear quickly.
  4. Offers point in four directions? Commit to a spawn source and its matching payout; do not select an isolated bonus simply because it has a large number.
  5. Expecting Goblins to save the run? Treat Goblins as upside. They are a rarer Chaos Wave outcome and their payouts have been adjusted.

Thanks to the Icy Veins contributors and players who documented the compass and map behavior that makes the ten-wave route easier to follow.

Still to verify in game: The exact Season 15 Infernal Hordes activity-tree nodes, whether a compass-launched run credits an active War Plan, and the map workaround on each platform. No offer or Goblin roll is guaranteed.