On January 12 at 11 a.m. PST, Diablo 4 opens the doors to a new endgame challenge in the Seasonal Realm: The Tower. Billed as a proving ground for the strongest Diablo 4 builds and sharpest players, the Tower arrives in beta form, with Blizzard openly asking for feedback. After analyzing early gameplay and community impressions, it’s clear the Tower has potential, but also some big questions to answer.
What Is the Tower?
The Tower is accessed through the Artificer’s Obelisk, the same hub used to enter the Pit. Structurally, it will feel familiar to anyone who has pushed high-end content before. You step into a starting circle, and the moment you leave it, the timer begins. From there, the goal is simple on paper: kill enemies to fill a progress bar, spawn a boss, defeat it, and move on to the next floor.
Mechanically, it sits firmly in the endgame. Early beta testing shows that Tower tiers roughly align with high Pit difficulty, making this content clearly aimed at optimized characters rather than casual leveling.
How Progress Works
Enemies drop progress globes that advance the completion bar, much like Greater Rifts from earlier Diablo titles. Certain elite enemies are marked on the map and are more likely to drop these globes, creating a priority target system for players who want faster clears.
There are also pylons scattered throughout each floor. These are powerful temporary buffs, including:
- Damage pylons, offering a large damage multiplier
- Speed pylons, granting unstoppable movement, attack speed, and collision immunity
- Channeling pylons, removing resource costs, and heavily reducing cooldowns
In skilled hands, pylons can dramatically alter a run. That’s exciting, but it also introduces variance that may matter a lot at the top end of competition.
No Loot, No Progression, Just Rankings
One of the most controversial aspects of the Tower is what it doesn’t give. There is no loot, no glyph experience, and no Diablo 4 materials. Completion rewards are tied almost entirely to leaderboard placement and cosmetics.
That makes the Tower less about character growth and more about performance measurement. In effect, it’s a stopwatch for builds. Clear speed, consistency, and execution matter more than farming efficiency.
For some players, that’s perfect. For others, it raises a fair question: why spend time here instead of the Pit, which still offers tangible progression?
The Leaderboard Focus
The Tower’s core identity is competitive. Leaderboards track solo and group clears, including two-, three-, and four-player parties. You can inspect top-ranked players, view their gear, and get a rough sense of how elite builds are put together.
In the current beta, leaderboard functionality is limited. Only one class is properly tracked, and several inspection features are incomplete. Still, the direction is clear. This is meant to be an in-game benchmark system, reducing reliance on third-party websites and giving players a clear, official way to compare builds.
A Mode for the Top One Percent
Right now, the Tower feels designed for the most dedicated players. Those with near-perfect gear, deep system knowledge, and the time to push for optimal runs will find something to chase. Cosmetic rewards and rank prestige will matter to that crowd.
For the average player, the experience may be brief. Many will try it once or twice, realize it plays very similarly to the Pit, notice the lack of rewards, and move on.
That doesn’t mean the Tower is a failure. It just means its audience is narrow.
Where the Tower Could Improve
Because this is a beta, there’s room to grow. A few changes could dramatically improve long-term appeal:
- More consistency: Fixed layouts, fixed pylons, and predictable bosses would reduce RNG and emphasize pure skill.
- Baseline rewards: Even small glyph experience or materials would give non-competitive players a reason to engage.
- Clearer identity: Right now, the Tower overlaps heavily with the Pit. It needs mechanics that make it feel distinct, not just harder or timed.
Final Thoughts
The Tower is a bold step toward structured, in-game competition. It gives Diablo 4 something it has lacked: an official way to measure performance beyond raw power level. For elite players, it’s a welcome challenge. For everyone else, it may feel like familiar content with fewer rewards.
As a beta feature, that’s acceptable. The foundation is solid. Whether the Tower becomes a lasting pillar of Diablo 4’s endgame will depend on how Blizzard responds to feedback and how much they’re willing to broaden its appeal beyond the top tier of players.
For now, the Tower stands as a test, not just of builds, but of Blizzard’s vision for competitive endgame content.
