What are Capstone Dungeons in Diablo 4?

As the Early Access to Diablo 4 is already underway, fans who have bought the Deluxe and the Ultimate Editions have been exploring the demon-infested lands of Sanctuary. However, Blizzard has prepared some highly captivating content for the late-game enjoyers as the new Capstone Dungeons are some of the toughest challenges in the action RPG.

Although these dungeons are more or less similar to the others, there are some acute twists and varying mechanics present. Hence, keep reading as we dive deep into Diablo 4's Capstone Dungeons and find out more about them.

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Exploring Capstone Dungeons in Diablo 4

The biggest difference between normal dungeons in Sanctuary and the Capstone Dungeons is that the latter are unlocked after the end of the main campaign. This means that you will have to complete an entire playthrough of the game to unlock them.

These dungeons are heavily tied to the concept of World Tiers. If you did not know, these are basically the difficulty level of your world in the game. A higher tier will bring forth tougher enemies, with better loot, more gold, and XP.

You will only be able to unlock Capstone Dungeons after completing the current World Tier in the game. Once you complete these peculiar dungeons, you will unlock more tiers for your playthrough in Diablo 4.

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The first Capstone Dungeon - Cathedral of Light

As mentioned earlier, you will have to complete one full playthrough of the game's campaign in order to unlock Capstone Dungeons. Once you complete the epilogue quests at the end, you will be prompted with a new Priority Quest.

It is called World Tier 3: Nightmare and will take you to the first Capstone Dungeon of the game — Cathedral of Light. Make sure to have at least a character of Level 50 and the World Tier Level 2 before entering the location. Keep your healing potions topped up too.

The Cathedral of Light Capstone Dungeon is much larger than the others present in the game. The structural mechanics are also pretty much similar to the previous dungeons in Diablo 4. You will have to face enemies and complete certain objectives before heading to the final boss fight.

Your first task is to collect Animus from the Revenant Knights. This should be pretty straightforward for you as you just have to defeat enough of these until the bar on the top-right corner of your screen gets filled. However, the next leg of the dungeon is the real tough nut in the Cathedral of Light.

Your next task is to "Defeat the High Council," where you will have to fight and conquer four different bosses with health bars at once. These are Sacred Physician, Lord Commander, Devoted Champion, and Grand Inquisitor. Whatever your plans are for this fight, make sure to defeat and put the Sacred Physician out of the way before execution as it can revive the other bosses. If you have a good Sorcerer or a Necromancer build, it should help a tad bit for this fight.

The funny part is, this is not the final boss fight of this dungeon. Now you should probably be able to grasp the difference between normal dungeons and Capstone Dungeons in Diablo 4. Killing all the enemies in the next area after defeating the High Council will task you with the final objective in this dungeon. You will have to defeat The Curator, the final boss of Cathedral of Light Capstone Dungeon.

This is easily one of the toughest boss fights in the entire game, hence be ready for a tough time. It has devastating AoE spells and constantly summons additional enemies. Make sure to dodge its attacks and sneak in hits, or hit with spells from a range to complete this battle successfully. Completing this Capstone Dungeon will grant you the option to change the difficulty to World Tier 3: Nightmare in Diablo 4.

You can also try and complete the Capstone Dungeon in the Dry-Steppes to move up to World Tier 4: Torment for even more bonuses, better loot, and XP.