It’s the holiday season, and Diablo 4’s world of Sanctuary is no exception to festivities. This guide covers everything you need to know about the Midwinter Blight event.
What is Midwinter Blight
Midwinter Blight is the name for Diablo 4’s vaguely Christmas-themed Winter event. Midwinter Blight will be active from 10AM PST December 12, 2023 until 10AM PST January 2, 2024, making this a three-week-long event.
This event is only available in the Seasonal Realm, meaning you will need a Seasonal Character to participate. Other than that, there are no requirements to access to the the event which is available from World Tier 1.
This event sees us helping a bard named Gileon to restore a Fractured Peaks tradition while fighting back against the Red-Cloaked Horror and his Blightfiends. This tradition honors those lost to the Blightfiends, and seeks to make this otherwise more dreadful time of year into more of a celebration.
How to Participate in the Midwinter Blight Event
The Midwinter Blight takes place in Fractured Peaks around Kyovashad, and covers the entire zone, similar to a Helltide. Unlike a Helltide though, the Midwinter Blight is always active for the duration of the event and replaces some monster spawns with Blightfiends, including those that spawn in events.
Defeating Blightfiends
Blightfiends will drop Blighted Fragments, one of three currencies that can be exchanged for Midwinter Proofs which can then be traded for unique rewards. Any Blightfiend can drop Blighted Fragments, but Elites will always drop them. Blighted Fragments will always drop in a stack size of 4-7.
Blightfiends replace many of the normal enemy spawns, meaning it’s very quick to collect high amounts of Blighted Fragments. Elite Blightfiends will also occasionally spawn as a result of destroying Frigid Husks.
Unfortunately, this common and high drop rate also means you require a high amount to trade in for a Midwinter Proof. You can trade in 300 Blighted Fragments for 1 Midwinter Proof.
Destroying Frigid Husks
In addition to these new enemy spawn, you’ll also find Frigid Husks. While these have health bars, they are not enemies. Upon destroying them Frigid Husks drop Lost Heirlooms, the second of the three currencies that can be traded for Midwinter Proofs.
Frigid Husks will drop 2 stacks of Lost Heirlooms, ranging from 2-3 in stack size. In World Tiers 1 and 2, you’re guaranteed to get a minimum of 2 Lost Heirlooms. In World Tiers 3 and 4, you’re guaranteed a minimum of 3 Lost Heirlooms.
In addition to dropping Lost Heirlooms, destroying Frigid Husk always results in some form of additional encounter. This can be a pack of weaker Blightfiends, an Elite Blightfiend, a Treasure Goblin, or an Undead enemy.
The Elite Blightfiends will always drop Blighted Fragments, while Treasure Goblins can drop additional Lost Heirlooms stacks. The Blightfiend pack can drop Blighted Fragments, but they’re not guaranteed. The Undead enemy unfortunately drops nothing.
Despite how common Frigid Husks are, you’ll only need to trade in 30 Lost Heirlooms for 1 Midwinter Proof.
Taking on the Red-Cloaked Horror
Finally, you can run into the Red-Cloaked Horror during a specific event in the Midwinter Blight. Defeating the Red-Cloaked Horror awards you with a Red-Cloaked Trophy, the final currency that can be traded in for Midwinter Proofs.
In addition to the Red-Cloaked Trophy, you’ll earn a ton of the other event currencies and he’ll drop 3-5 Legendary items himself making this event exceptionally rewarding.
The rarity of this encounter is beneficial to the exchange rate as well, as you can trade in 1 Red-Cloaked Trophy for 1 Midwinter Proof.
Midwinter Blight World Events
World Events are a big part of Midwinter Blight and will often be where you can earn the most of event currencies. In addition to the normal Fractured Peaks World Events, there are two additional events added just for Midwinter Blight, Frozen Alive and Midwinter Revelry.
All of the event gameplay clips and images below feature our Blood Lance Necromancer Build. This exceptionally powerful Necromancer build has great single-target damage and decent mobbing, which makes it ideal for the event.
Frozen Alive
Frozen Alive works very similarly to the Webbed Hatchery World Event. At the very start, the event will spawn six Frigid Husks, three of which contain Villagers.
After freeing the Villagers you’ll need to defend them for a couple minutes from waves of Blightfiends. If you keep all of them alive, you’ll get the Mastery bonus, which will spawn a Greater Radiant Chest.
Due to the nature of this event, it can be exceptionally rewarding to complete. With it spawning waves of Blightfiends and starting with a ton of Frigid Husks that will drop Lost Heirlooms and occasionally spawn Elite Blightfiends, it’s amazing if you get to it at the very start.
If you miss the initial Husks, it’s not bad, but still pretty good if you’re able to quickly defeat enemies as the Blighted Fragments can rack up very quickly
Midwinter Revelry
Midwinter Revelry is an entirely unique event, which can end with the Red-Cloaked Horror boss fight.
When you first start the event, the wagon will be surrounded by some weaker Blightfiends. Once defeated, you can set the wagon on fire.
Waves of Blightfiends will start spawning, with the Blightfiend Scamps attempting to prevent the fire from growing. If the fire goes out, it can be restarted by interacting with the wagon for a second, which if done fast enough will maintain the fire’s range.
As the fire from the wagon expands outwards, it will thaw and break the invulnerable status of the Frigid Husks. If all the Frigid Husk are broken on time, the Red-Cloaked Horror will spawn in, destroying the wagon.
The Red-Cloaked Horror has several AoE Physical Attacks like you’d expect of any Khazara. In addition to these physical attacks, he’ll spawn Frost Shards, which block your path as well as explode when you get near them. They can be destroyed or will detonate on their own if left alone.
If the build you’re running is light on defenses or mobility this fight can get hectic fairly quickly with AoE going off everywhere. However, with the Metamorphosis Vampiric Power being part of nearly every build this season, no build should be lacking mobility.
Midwinter Blight Event Rewards
There are two sets of rewards available from the Midwinter Blight, the Midwinter Tribute Tiers, and the Midwinter Proof Shop.
Midwinter Proof Exchange and Tribute Tiers
Midwinter Tribute Tiers aren’t the main set of reward, instead acting like a Reputation of sorts for the event. Reach each new tier grants a variety of rewards, with Tier 3 being the limit for additional rewards and also activating the Midwinter Ward, which enables the Event-specific Legendary Aspect.
Each tier up to three will grant some gold and a Greater Midwinter Spoils. This goodie bag will award you with one Legendary Gear item, 4 Rare Items, a Gileon’s Brew, assorted Herbs and Gem Fragments, as well as a small amount of Potent Blood.
You’ll increase this tier passively, as you’ll gain the Reputation for it by trading in the currencies for Midwinter Proofs. Each turn-in will grant a specific amount of this Reputation. Each rank requires a different amount of Reputation and grants different amount of gold:
| Tier | Rep for tier | Total Rep | Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 100 | Greater Midwinter Spoils, 10k Gold |
| 2 | 150 | 250 | Greater Midwinter Spoils, 25k Gold |
| 3 | 250 | 500 | Greater Midwinter Spoils, 50k Gold, Midwinter Ward |
The table below lists the event currency exchange rates, their sources, as well as how much Reputation each turn-in grants. All currencies will trade in for 1 Midwinter Proof, which makes some easier to turn in than others, but also requires less or more depending on their relative rarity.
| Currency | Source | Needed | Reputation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blighted Fragments | Blightfiends | 300 | 10 |
| Lost Heirlooms | Frigid Husks, Event Chests | 30 | 20 |
| Red-Cloaked Trophy | Red-Cloaked Horror | 1 | 30 |
Midwinter Proof Shop
The Midwinter Proof Shop is accessed by speaking with Gileon. This shop lets you exchange the Midwinter Proofs you’ve earned for cosmetics and other rewards. Below is a table of the rewards and their costs.
To obtain all of the Cosmetic offerings, you’ll need to get a total of 440 Midwinter Proofs, which is sure to be a tedious task based on our testing thus far. Thankfully the only thing other than the Cosmetics you might even care about are the Gileon’s Brews.
Gileon’s Brew is a special Elixir that grants 15% Maximum Life, 15% Luck Hit Chance, and 15% increased Experience gain for 30 Minutes (45 minutes with Seasonal Boon). This essentially combines the effects of an Elixir of Fortitude and Elixir of Combatant Fortune while also having triple the normal experience boost of any other Elixir. These Elixirs were confirmed to not expire at the event or season, meaning any leftovers can be carried over to the Eternal Realm after the season ends.
The Midwinter Spoils are unfortunately not worth grabbing unless you’re still gear hunting, but they’re relatively cheap so it won’t hurt to try a few as you’ll still get Brews as well. The Midwinter Purse can be a decent way of farming extra gold, but they don’t compare at all to the Whisper Caches.
How to complete the Midwinter Blight Event Quickly
While this event is still going to be a long grind even with our optimized method, it’ll be significantly shorter than doing it in a more casual or time-consuming manner.
The quickest method we’ve found is to use the old Helltide strategy of running between World Event spawns as quickly as you can. We also recommend smashing any pack with multiple Elite Blightfiends, a Frigid Husk, or otherwise large packs of Blight Fiends.
Frigid Husks are especially valuable here, as they spawn additional encounters that can generate additional event currencies. They even spawn Loot Goblins which can drop decent loot in addition to more currency.
You’ll only want to be looking to find the two unique World Events that came with the Midwinter Blight. Avoid areas that spawn Local Events at all costs, These events are unique to their respective zones and will not spawn Blightfiends.
Outside of the Midwinter Blight World Events, you’ll want to avoid events that don’t spawn a ton of enemies. This often means that only those two events are worth it, unless your build has a ton of AoE clearing power. If you do, Waves of Darkness and Caravan Under Siege can also be good as they still spawn Blightfiends.
You can refer to our Diablo 4 Events Guide, which can help you differentiate between Local and World Events, while also giving you a handy list of areas where Local Events spawn.
Doing this method can easily net you 20-30 Midwinter Proofs an hour with dedicated farming. A lot of the variance will come from how many events you can complete, and how often you run into the Midwinter Blight World Events.
That’s everything we’ve found for the Midwinter Blight Event. If any further discoveries are found, this guide will be updated accordingly.
