The Gauntlet will not be continued in Vessel of Hatred, Season 6. Blizzard stated that it will make a comeback some time in the future. However, until then, this guide will not be updated.
Introduction
The Gauntlet is a special dungeon that will challenge your skill, strategy, and speed in a race against time and enemies. The faster you complete your Gauntlet run, the higher you will rank on the leaderboards!
Location
The Gauntlet is only available on the Seasonal Realm and can be accessed through the Horn of Trials, located at the longest dock of the port in Gea Kul, Kehjistan. To enter, you must first reach World Tier 4.
Once you unlock the Gauntlet for the first time, you can quickly join future Gauntlet runs through the ‘Trials’ menu in the ‘Collections’ tab. This section not only tracks your individual progress within the Gauntlet but also has a ‘Start’ button, allowing you to start a new Gauntlet run from any location.
What is the Gauntlet?
The Gauntlet is a unique type of dungeon that can only be found in the Seasonal Realm. Participating in the Gauntlet will put your skills to the test against other players, as you will be ranked on the leaderboard based on your score at the end of every run.
The Gauntlet dungeon will change every week, and the leaderboards related to it will be reset.
It sets itself apart from regular dungeons in several ways:
- World Tier 4: To access the Gauntlet, you must first reach the game’s highest difficulty level.
- Eight Minutes of Mayhem: The Gauntlet is a race against time. You only have eight minutes to explore the dungeon and defeat as many enemies as possible. The more you kill, the higher your score at the end.
- Fixed Dungeon: The Gauntlet remains the same for a week, then resets. Every Tuesday, the dungeon will be unavailable between 09:00 am PST and 11:15 am PST, after which it will re-open with a new layout. Monsters, shrines, bosses, and chests remain in fixed locations for every player, challenging you to optimize your runs.
- Shrines and Respawn: Various Shrines can be found throughout the Gauntlet. Among the typical shrines, there are two new ones. The first will boost the amount of score you get from killing monsters for a certain duration, while the second one will respawn the monsters you have killed, giving you more opportunities to rack up points. Shrines can also spawn after killing certain bosses.
- Gear, Skills, and Paragon cannot be changed after entering the Gauntlet!
- Proofs of Might: Killing monsters and opening chests will reward you with Proofs of Might that will add points to your global score.
- Chests: The Gauntlet contains normal and golden chests. To open them, you have to find keys dropped by enemies or bosses. Underneath the icon next to the minimap, you can see how many keys you currently have. Gold chests will reward you with additional Proof of Might.
- Seals: You are awarded a Seal at the end of a run based on your score.
Gauntlet Pillars
In addition to the usual shrines, you will come across two new pillars inside the Gauntlet:
- The Pillar of Glory: This pillar grants you a score multiplier for its duration. This means that killing monsters will reward you with double the score. Use this pillar when the monster density is high to score a maximum of points.
- The Pillar of Proving: This Pillar will respawn all enemies in the area. We recommend only using those once you have killed a decent amount of enemies throughout the dungeon so that enough enemies respawn. If you use it after just a couple of kills, it will not be very useful. Furthermore, Boss Monsters that have been respawned by the Pillar of Proving will not drop a shrine.
Both pillars can be used together with other shrines! They are a great addition to the Gauntlet because they allow for a variety of strategies to be used in order to get the maximum achievable score.
Additionally, normal shrines can spawn from certain bosses. Here is a list of the shrines that can appear and which bosses can drop them:
- Artillery Shrine: can spawn from killing a Blood Bishop, Seething, Hivemaster, or Chief Marauder.
- Blast Wave Shrine: can spawn from killing a Scourge of the Land.
- Channelling Shrine: can spawn from killing a Spiritcaller of Flames.
- Lethal Shrine: can spawn from killing a Tomb Lord or Broodguard.
Seals and Proofs of Might
Seals will be awarded to you at the end of each run based on your total score, which is determined by how many Proofs of Might you collected. The Proofs of Might award different scores based on how they were obtained. For example: Elite enemies provide more points than smaller and weaker ones.
Players who earn a Seal of the Worthy for a given week in the Gauntlet have a 100% chance of being rewarded with a Unique Item.
- In total, there are four different seals:
- Seal of the Blooded
- Seal of the Steadfast
- Seal of the Iron-Willed
- Seal of the Worthy.
Once you obtain the Seal of the Worthy, you can compete for a spot in the Top 1000 on the respective leaderboard. Moreover, you can earn multiple Seals by engaging in different leaderboard brackets. At the end of the week, each Seal will award one or more caches filled with rewards.
Points
As previously stated, you will need to optimize your Gauntlet runs in order to earn the most points possible during the week. To do this, we put together a list covering the number of points you will receive by killing enemies or opening chests:
- Bosses award 9000 points.
- Elites award 1100 points.
- Small Chests award 3000 points for each chest opened.
- Large Chests award 8000 points for each chest opened.
Remember that the Pillar of Glory multiplies your score by 2.5, so make use of it when there are a lot of enemies around you.
Dying will cause you to lose a third of your total score, but you can return to the zone where you died and pick it up again. If you are in a group, one of your party members may also pick up your score.
Preparing for the Gauntlet
If you want to rank as high as possible, the Gauntlet will not be easy. To that end, here are some tips to help you prepare:
- Character Level: You can enter the gauntlet once you reach WT4, however, you should be at Level 100 and have optimized your character before entering to ensure you have plenty of power and a chance to battle every enemy inside.
- Survival Setup: If necessary, make sure to equip gear that improves your survivability. You don’t want to die in the middle of the Gauntlet!
- Season Journey Completion: Completing the season journey will earn you rewards, which can help you to further optimize your character.
- Glyphs: Level up glyphs, aiming for at least Level 15.
- Dungeon Difficulty: Practice by running Tier 90 dungeons. If you want to compete for the top ranks, you should also try Tier 100 dungeons, which are the hardest in the game.
- Unique Items: Obtain Uber Uniques to improve your build and character power.
- Don’t die! Dying results in a score penalty, so stay alive to keep your points. You can recover lost points by running back to where you died, but it will cost you time.
Leaderboards
The Gauntlet is both a personal and competitive challenge. The Leaderboard is updated weekly (with every dungeon change) and lets you compare your score and rank with other players.
The individual Leaderboards can be viewed in the Trials section, as shown in the image below.
From there, you can access all the leaderboards for different categories and see how you rank among competitors.
Solo or Group
There are different Leaderboards for each class, party size, and mode (Normal or Hardcore):
Solo – Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Rogue, Sorcerer
Group – 2 Player Duo, 3 Players, 4 Players (full Party)
The top 1000 players that earn the Seal of the Worthy will be listed on the leaderboard, and the top 10 players of each week will be immortalized in the Hall of the Ancients, a permanent leaderboard that showcases the best of the best.
Rewards
You do not have to worry about collecting loot during the run; your rewards will automatically be given to you at the end of the timer in the form of caches filled with loot. Completing a Gauntlet run earns you a minor loot cache, and with each weekly reset, you will receive a Cache of Trial.
This special cache is determined by your previous week’s final score and guarantees an Ancestral Legendary item. Achieving the Seal of the Worthy ensures these items have an item power level of 925. Moreover, players who earned a Seal of the Worthy for a given week have a 100% chance of being rewarded a Unique Item.
Additionally, you can get cosmetic rewards such as:
- Portrait Frame: Which frame you get is determined by the seal you earned.
- Mount Trophy: Exclusive to players within the Top 100 of a leaderboard.
Best Builds for the Gauntlet
The Gauntlet requires a balance of damage, survivability, and mobility. You must be able to kill enemies quickly, avoid death, and move around the dungeon efficiently if you want to earn a rank on the leaderboards.
Here are some of the best builds for the Gauntlet, based on the current meta: (The list is outdated and will be updated for Season 4 soon!)
Barbarian: HotA Charge – Gauntlet Build
Druid: Pulverize Shred – Gauntlet Build
Necromancer: Blood Surge – Gauntlet Build
Rogue: Barrage Rogue – Gauntlet Build
Sorcerer: Ball Lightning – Gauntlet Build
Summary
The Gauntlet is a challenge dungeon that you can access once you reach World Tier 4. It tests your speed, skill, and optimization in a dungeon that changes weekly. At the end of each run, you receive a score that determines the quality of the seal and the rewards you earn. The top 100 players will receive additional cosmetic rewards, and the top 10 players can also enter the Hall of the Ancients, a permanent leaderboard. Furthermore, the leaderboards are reset every week, along with the change of the dungeon.
