If you have been watching the Tower leaderboards in Diablo IV Season 11, you may have noticed something odd. Players are suddenly farming the Dark Citadel again. Not for Diablo 4 gear. Not for fun. But for a single consumable that can decide who hits rank one.
This is not casual optimization. This is pure leaderboard tech.
Here is what is going on, why it works, and whether it is actually worth your time.
The One Buff That Decides Leaderboard Runs
Inside the Dark Citadel hub, a vendor sells several exclusive consumables. The one everyone cares about is an Incense that grants +3 maximum potion capacity.
At first glance, that sounds defensive. More potions usually mean more safety. But in Season 11, potion capacity directly converts into damage through specific glyphs.
The Potion Glyph Interaction
Most classes (everyone except Rogue) have a glyph like Ember or Guzzler. The wording varies, but the effect is the same:
- You gain +5% damage per missing health potion
Normally, characters sit at around 4 potions, which caps this bonus at 20% when you are at zero potions. That is already decent.
Now add the Dark Citadel incense.
- +3 potions bring you to 7
- That raises the bonus to 35% damage
- Typical glyph bonuses are 10–15%, so this is massive
This alone is stronger than almost any other glyph choice for pushing.
How This Scales Out of Control
Things get even more extreme when you stack other sources of potion capacity.
Some builds can roll +potion capacity on pants. Paladin-style setups can hit numbers like this:
- Base potions: 4
- Pants: +5
- Dark Citadel incense: +3
- Total: 12 potions
At zero potions, that is a 60% damage multiplier.
That kind of boost is roughly equal to:
- One full Tower tier
- Or shaving 30–60 seconds off a high-end clear
At the top of the leaderboard, that difference is everything.
The Real Problem: Staying at Zero Potions
The catch is obvious. You only get the damage if your potions are empty.
For some builds, this is easy.
Builds That Love This
- Sorcerers using Temerity-style effects that let you drink potions at full HP
- Certain Spiritborn setups with shield-based sustain
These builds can spam potions constantly and stay at zero with no downside.
Builds That Struggle
Tanky melee or Paladin-style builds run into problems:
- You cannot drink potions at full HP
- Life on hit and passive healing constantly refills you
- Standing in damage on Hardcore is not exactly appealing
To solve this, some players deliberately change their skill bars. One example from the transcript is dropping defensive auras and using skills like Rally to spend life intentionally. That creates small HP gaps, allowing potions to be consumed.
This works, but it is clunky and risky.
The Unspoken Meta: Potion Macros
At the very top end, most players are not manually managing this.
They bind potions to macros that trigger instantly when they take damage. The moment HP drops by a pixel, the potion fires. This keeps them at zero potions almost permanently.
It is effective. It is also the reason many players hate this meta.
Whether you consider it clever or degenerate depends on how competitive you are.
Why Everyone Is “Running” the Dark Citadel Without Running It
Here is the funniest part.
The incense costs 1,600 Dark Citadel coins. Farming is slow and dangerous, especially on Hardcore.
Instead, players discovered a faster method.
The Coin Farming Trick
- Create a new character
- Unlock Torment (any tier works)
- Do the Dark Citadel intro quest
- Get ~890 Diablo 4 coins in about 5 minutes
- Delete the character
- Repeat
Two characters = one incense in roughly 10 minutes.
In a group:
- One booster
- Three low-level characters
- You generate three incenses every 10 minutes
Nobody actually runs the Citadel. They just farm the quest reward.
This works because Season 11 no longer requires a max-level character to enter Torment. It is likely an oversight, but for now, it is the optimal method.
Is This Worth Doing?
That depends on your goal.
Worth It If You:
- Are you pushing Tower leaderboards
- Care about rank placement
- Are competing within seconds or one tier of others
Not Worth It If You:
- Play casually
- Dislike potion-spam gameplay
- Do not want to rebuild defenses around a gimmick
Even the source of the transcript admits this system feels bad. It rewards automation more than skill and forces awkward gameplay choices.
Many players hope these glyphs are removed entirely in future seasons.
The Bottom Line
Season 11 turned potion capacity into one of the strongest damage multipliers in Diablo 4. The Dark Citadel incense is the key, and leaderboard players are abusing it to the limit.
If you want every edge, this is real, and it works.
If you want to enjoy the game, you can safely ignore it and lose nothing but a leaderboard number.
But now you know why everyone suddenly cares about a dungeon nobody actually wants to run.
