Nightmare Altar is an Ascension Trial: a timed run you clear alone, room by room, up to a single boss, Divided Aponos. Every run ends with a score, and your best score of the season places you on the trial's season ladder. The panels above say which difficulties are open and what each asks of you. Below: how a run goes, what the boss does with every number from the game client, and what a run pays. For the other trials, see the Ascension Trial hub; for the other kinds of dungeon, the dungeon overview.
Open every other week. In the first season a single trial is open at a time: per the client's season schedule (provisional), Nightmare Altar takes turns with Sanctum of Loathing (Easy), and they swap at the weekly reset on Wednesday. The season guide lists the weeks. If the trial changes while you are choosing it, the client says the dungeon has changed and asks you to try again.
How a run works
The client's own objectives for this trial come in this order: open the entrance, defeat every monster in the room, open the entrance of the next room, and at the end defeat the boss. Each room is closed by an Altar Door. The screen shows the time left and how many deaths you have left; both limits depend on the difficulty and are in the table further down. Before the boss room you pass the Ascension Room Entrance portal. After the boss, the result screen adds up your final score.
- Along the way the client places pickups that work when you walk through them, drawn at random from Attack increase, Attack Speed increase, Max HP increase, Critical Hit increase, Reduces Skill cooldown and Defense increase: each room gets only a few of them, and they vanish soon after they appear, so take them as you pass. How much each gives is not in the client data this guide reads.
- The screen also offers extra objectives: clearing each of the first rooms within its time grants an Ascension Trial Trait, and another reads "Boss Dungeon Debuff received". What earns that objective is not in the client data. Each room also holds Void Helicoid targets that break after a set number of hits; they may be tied to these objectives, but the client does not say what they give.
- This season's dungeon debuff is Wrath: it raises the damage of every monster except the boss once that monster is low on health. Pull only a pack you can bring down together, and finish it fast instead of leaving several wounded monsters on you.
- The result screen counts the time left, your deaths and a difficulty bonus. How much each weighs is not in the client data, so a slow clear on a harder difficulty may or may not beat a fast clear on an easier difficulty: compare your own results.
Divided Aponos
Names in other regions: Korean
KR분열체 아포노스
- No enrage timer: the client sets none for this boss in any open difficulty. The trial's own timer is the only clock you race.
- Its boss level climbs with the difficulty, from 45 in Easy to 60 in Extreme, while your entry level stays the same: the item level the difficulty asks for is the real requirement.
- Staggered, it stays down for 5 s: keep your stagger skills ready and spend your strongest attacks in that window.
- It closes the gap by itself: Shadow Teleport puts it right behind you, or a short way in front of you, from up to 20 m away, so a ranged class cannot keep it at a distance for long.
- Most of its casts mark the ground first. Energy Explosion and Energy Cannon do not: for those, watch the boss, not the floor.
- The arena is guarded too: Ancient Document Protection Device devices stand on fixed spots around its edge, none close to the boss's starting spot, and you cannot target or destroy them. Some are hidden and keep dropping wide blasts on the floor, each marked shortly before it lands: keep the fight off those markers. Others are visible turrets: every few seconds they fire a slow orb that follows you and hits on contact, with no ground marker. The orb moves slower than you run and fades after a short distance, so keep moving, and do not get stunned or knocked down with an orb close by. Fighting near the boss's starting spot keeps you clear of the blasts.
Named mechanics
- Energy Explosion#1504240
- Cast
- 1.2 s
- Cast range
- 4 m
- Min. cooldown
- 10 s
- Area: sphere, radius 6 m
Aimed at a targetAdviceA burst of 6 m around the boss after a 1.2 s cast, with no ground marker. Ranged classes stay outside that radius; melee step out when the boss winds up.
- Meteor Blast#1504250
- Cast
- 2 s
- Ground marker
- 1 s
- Cast range
- 20 m
- Min. cooldown
- 15 s
- Area: sphere, radius 1.5 m · 4 hits on the same area
Aimed at a targetAdvice4 meteors of 1.5 m each, fired at you from up to 20 m away. They are homing shots that land a moment after they leave, and the client gives a ground marker to the first only, 1 s ahead: running may not shake them, so when the marker shows, use an evasion or a damage-reduction skill if your class has such a skill.
- Storm Fist#1504260
- Cast
- 1.2 s
- Ground marker
- 2 s
- Cast range
- 20 m
- Min. cooldown
- 15 s
- Area: circle, radius 2.5 m · 5 hits on the same area
Aimed at a targetAdvice5 small circles, each marked 2 s before it hits. They are aimed at you with homing shots, so the client data does not tell whether a step out of a marker is enough: if they still land on you, use an evasion or a defensive skill as the marker closes.
- Smite Ground#1504270
- Cast
- 1 s
- Ground marker
- 2 s
- Cast range
- 4 m
- Min. cooldown
- 15 s
- Area: circle, radius 6 m · 2 hits on the same area
Aimed at a targetStun2.5 s
AdviceIt pounds the ground 2 times, each time over 6 m around itself, reaching further in front of it than behind, and only the second pulse stuns, for 2.5 s. Leave the circle on the first marker and stay out until the second pulse has landed: walking back in early is how you get stunned.
- Energy Cannon#1504280
- Cast
- 2 s
- Cast range
- 12 m
- Min. cooldown
- 25 s
- Area: line 20 m long, 5 m wide
Knockdown3 s
AdviceA line 20 m long and 5 m wide, with no ground marker, that knocks you down for 3 s. The boss keeps turning to you through its wind-up (2 s), so a sidestep at the start is tracked: step sideways as the wind-up ends, or use your evasion then. Backing away along the line does not help.
- Shatter Ground#1504290
- Cast
- 1.2 s
- Ground marker
- 2 s
- Cast range
- 11 m
- Min. cooldown
- 20 s
- Area: circle, radius 2.5 m · 3 hits on the same area
Aimed at a target
Rewards: the score is the loot
An Ascension Trial has no Odyle Energy Cube and the boss has no loot
table. What a run pays depends on its final score: the client's clear-reward table for the trials
gives Enhance Stone,
Amplify Stone Fragment (Unique) (Bound),
Ascension Binding Chest (Bound) and
Growth Pet Chest (Bound), and the higher the score, the more of them you get. At the end of a season,
your season grade, set by your class rank and the Rank Points you accumulate, adds season rewards, titles among them.
- You have 3 entries a week, and the count is shared by all the
trials. It is spent when you enter, so a failed run costs an entry too: learn a new trial on
Easy before you take it to Extreme. Each
Ascension Trial Challenge Ticket (Bound) adds an extra entry on top of the weekly ones.
- Your class rank uses your best score, so a bad run never lowers it. The Rank Points you earn still add up over the season: they break ties, and your season grade, which sets your season rewards, depends on both your rank and those accumulated points. Use every entry: once you have a safe record, use the spare ones to push a faster clear.
Versions
- Entry level
- 45
- Item Level
- 1,000
- Players
- 1
- Time limit
- 18 min
- Death limit
- 5
- Weekly entries
- Boss level
- 45
- Entry level
- 45
- Item Level
- 1,500
- Players
- 1
- Time limit
- 16 min
- Death limit
- 3
- Weekly entries
- Boss level
- 50
- Entry level
- 45
- Item Level
- 2,000
- Players
- 1
- Time limit
- 14 min
- Death limit
- 2
- Weekly entries
- Boss level
- 55
- Entry level
- 45
- Item Level
- 2,500
- Players
- 1
- Time limit
- 13 min
- Death limit
- 2
- Weekly entries
- Boss level
- 60
The weekly count in the game's own words
Ascension Trial Entry CountEntry count will be deducted upon entrance.Basic count is deducted first and will be automatically recharged at every recharge cycle.The reset time is the client's server-time field, as of the data build named at the top of the page.
+2 versions · Later The client holds 2 more versions that EU/NA cannot enter yet; they are left out here. Boss HP per version is not in the client data.
FAQ
What item level do I need for Nightmare Altar?
Every difficulty opens at level 45. The item level is 1,000 for Easy, 1,500 for Normal, 2,000 for Hard and 2,500 for Extreme.
Can I run Nightmare Altar with a party?
No. The client lets in 1 player per run: an Ascension Trial is a solo test.
How many times a week can I enter Nightmare Altar?
3 times, refilled at the weekly reset, plus an extra entry for each
Ascension Trial Challenge Ticket (Bound) you use. The count is shared with the other trials and is spent on entry,
whether you clear or not.
Is Nightmare Altar open this week?
Every other week in the first season: per the client's schedule (provisional), it takes turns with Sanctum of Loathing (Easy), and they swap at the weekly reset on Wednesday. The season guide lists the weeks.
Does Divided Aponos enrage?
No. The client sets no enrage timer for it in any open difficulty. The trial's own time limit is 13 min in Extreme and 18 min in Easy.
What does Nightmare Altar reward?
A clear pays by final score: Enhance Stone,
Amplify Stone Fragment (Unique) (Bound),
Ascension Binding Chest (Bound) and
Growth Pet Chest (Bound), more of them for a higher score. Your best score sets your class rank;
your season grade, which sets the season rewards, also counts the Rank Points you add up.
How long does a Nightmare Altar run take?
The client only sets the time limit, from 18 min in Easy to 13 min in Extreme. It holds no data on typical clear times.
Try it
The tools that do what this guide explains, with the game client's own numbers.