War Plan Diablo 4: Complete Lord of Hatred Guide

Goblin-Inc is back with a comprehensive War Plan guide for Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred, and the message is clear from the start. The War Plan is not a system to overlook. It is actually one of the first things to rush at the beginning of a season, before diving into activity spam. The key is to choose the path that maximizes skill tree progression, not the one that promises the best direct rewards. Those rewards are minimal compared to what you gain through normal gameplay. The only exception: if a Mythic tier appears along the way, it is worth picking up.

Two basic rules apply consistently. First, avoid Infernal Hordes at all costs: this mode has no real value this season, it takes too long for near-zero returns and slows overall progression. Second, if the War Plan offered does not lead to the right activities or forces Infernal Hordes, reroll without hesitation by generating a new plan. A bad War Plan means less loot, more wasted time, and lost currency.

This guide details the optimal priority order for distributing points across each of the six War Plan trees: Lair Bosses, Pit, Undercity, Helltides, Nightmare Dungeons, and Tree of Whispers. Each tree has its breakpoints, its key nodes, and its place in the overall progression. Here is everything you need to know to avoid missing out on loot.

Which Trees to Prioritize in Your War Plan

Not all War Plan activities are equal. Goblin-Inc proposes a clear priority order for distributing your points efficiently:

• Bosses up to 5 points
• Pit up to 4 points
• Undercity up to 4 points
• Helltides up to 3 points
• Nightmare Dungeons up to 4 points, but the lowest priority among the five

These thresholds represent the breakpoints to reach first. Beyond that, two trees offer interesting continuous gains: Helltides up to 6 points and Undercity up to 7 points.

Lair Boss Tree: The Absolute Priority

This is where everything starts. The first point in the Lair Boss tree unlocks the Nemesis Layer. Bringing it to three points grants access to the Ultimate Nemesis Layer. These two tiers cause more loot to appear on Bosses, with a significantly higher chance of dropping a Mythical Seal. In practice, every Boss farm session becomes far more productive from the very first point invested. If you are looking for a build designed for this activity, the Shock Paladin build is particularly effective on Lair Bosses.

Spamming Bosses without these nodes means depriving yourself of loot. Boss farming is one of the best ways to progress quickly and accumulate resources. There is no reason to do it halfway.

The next two points are used to pick up Layer Runes, a mandatory but unremarkable stepping stone, and then Layer of Plenty, which doubles the loot obtained on each kill. The pace picks up, and the second chest regularly drops even better loot than the first.

The five nodes to take in order:

• 1 point: Nemesis Layer, more loot, increased Mythical Seal chance
• 3 points: Ultimate Nemesis Layer, loot bonus further enhanced
• +1 point: Layer Runes, transitional node
• +1 point: Layer of Plenty, loot doubled on every Boss kill

Rush this tree first before anything else. The gains are immediate and radically transform the profitability of Boss farming.

Pit Tree: Triple Your Glyph Pace

The Pit is the main endgame activity: leveling Glyphs requires dozens of runs, and these War Plan points will massively accelerate that process. Build choice matters a lot here, especially for pushing higher tiers. The best Rogue builds of the season rank among the top-performing options for spamming the Pit. One notable exception: the Sorceress can complete Pit 150 solo, which gives her some flexibility on prioritization.

Goblin-Inc identifies four nodes to prioritize in this tree:

• Current Haste: provides several additional chances to upgrade a Glyph per run. This is the foundation.
• Heart of the Stone: adds another upgrade chance and, most importantly, generates large quantities of Progress Orbs, reducing Pit completion time by roughly half.
• Curt's Blessing: yet another additional Glyph upgrade chance per run.
• Dan Thieves: generates even more Progress Orbs, further increasing completion speed.

Combined, these four points triple or quadruple the speed at which you level your Glyphs. That is why they represent the absolute priority in the Pit tree.

Undercity Tree: Target Farm and Goblins

The Undercity is the go-to place for target farming. Whether it is Talismans, Charms, Mythics, or Legendaries, this is where it happens.

The absolute minimum is to invest 3 points to unlock the Gutterfield node. This node activates the Better Filth node, which spawns goblins when you activate the blue beacons in progressive mode. Each goblin killed generates an extra chest, directly multiplying the loot obtained per run.

This is especially important with Mythic Tributes, which are extremely rare. With a goblin present, it is possible to obtain up to four Mythic items in a single run.

Goblin-Inc recommends 4 points rather than 3. The fourth point grants access to Initiative, which further increases the quantity of loot obtained.

But how do you have both Initiative and Gutterfield without spending seven points ? The answer is simple: the Undercity is done in groups, with players splitting roles.

• The person opening the Tribute must have Initiative in their tree.
• The person activating the blue beacons must have Gutterfield.
• Other players who simply open chests only need Initiative.

This workaround allows each player to invest only 4 points in the Undercity tree, without needing to spend seven to stack both nodes alone.

The Gutterfield carrier should ideally also have the Trials and Tributes node, which brings a bit more additional loot. It is not an absolute priority, but it is an interesting bonus if points allow.

Helltide Tree: The XP Machine

Helltides can be surprising with only 4 points invested. It is the absolute method for farming your target level, and nothing else comes close. According to Goblin-Inc, 6 points would be ideal, but 3 are more than enough in practice. Note that the latest hotfix brought several adjustments that also impact how Helltides play out this season.

The central node of this tree is Ran Rod. It spawns maggots that drop XP orbs in a bewildering quantity. That is the only valid reason to include Helltides in your War Plan.

Next comes Meat Brothers, which spawns Butchers. These Butchers drop Profane Mine Cages, stackable up to 3. Each stack increases your Power Level, which directly translates to more XP gained.

The key trick: Profane Mine Cages last 1 hour. All you need to do is farm 20, 30, or 40 cages depending on your target, then remove the Meat Brothers node. The power bonuses remain active for the entire duration of the cages. The Butchers themselves are not worth chasing. It is purely about the cages.

The complete strategy in three steps:

• Invest 3 points in Meat Brothers to spawn Butchers
• Farm Profane Mine Cages until you have your stock (20, 30, 40+)
• Remove the 3 points from Meat Brothers and keep the cage bonuses active for 1 hour

The remaining nodes in this tree serve to amplify overall XP gains, either by increasing the number of monsters that spawn or by raising their Power Level for more generous rewards.

Nightmare Dungeon Tree: Primordial Dust

Nightmare Dungeons are rarely a priority in any build. Most of the time they are not worth the trip, with one exception: farming Primordial Dust. This is a precious material for rerolling Vali, to be combined with Horadric Cube recipes to optimize your crafts. That is the only reason to invest here.

To optimize this farm, invest 3 points to unlock Fearless Conviction. This node grants more Primordial Dust per Elite killed. Combine it with Nemesis, which spawns even more Elites. The two nodes work perfectly together to maximize drops.

One point in Goblin Fall would be appreciated, as Stretcher Breaches have real value. It is clearly not a main priority, to consider only if points allow.

Tree of Whispers: The Lowest Priority

The last tree to consider is the Tree of Whispers. Goblin-Inc describes it as extremely passive: the available nodes have no significant impact on any build, and the choices made change very little in practice.

The image above shows the configuration chosen by the author, for reference. Do not spend too much time optimizing this tree. It is simply not a priority.