Cigar Funhouse

[frappier]

Abhorrent Hearts are a bottleneck resource in Diablo 4’s boss ladder, so when efficiency matters, you want every run feeding directly into more keys and more Harbinger hoards. At a high level, efficient farming means minimizing dead time, favoring high-drop sources, and routing your activities so that every minute either earns Hearts or materials that become Hearts.

The core of any optimized strategy is Urivar. His hoard is the most reliable direct source of Abhorrent Hearts, so your baseline loop should be: generate lair keys and boss materials, then chain Urivar kills on the highest Torment difficulty you can clear quickly, not just survive. Aim for sub‑2‑minute runs; if a setup can’t do that, it isn’t efficient enough. Builds with strong mobility and screen‑wide burst (Twisting Blades Rogue, Lightning or Ball Lightning Sorc, rapid‑clear Necro or Barb setups) excel here. Stack movement speed, cooldown reduction, and any seasonal/mercenary bonuses that boost boss materials or general drops.

The “engine” feeding those Urivar kills is Undercity of Kurast. Tribute of Titans there is one of the best boss‑material farms in the game, and it also has a solid chance to spit out Abhorrent Hearts themselves. A highly efficient pattern is to run Undercity in tight, repeatable routes: skip unnecessary packs, beeline for objectives, and reset instantly. Think in cycles: several Tribute clears to stock lair keys and side materials, then a batch of Urivar kills, then back to Undercity when keys run low. This prevents you from ever sitting on materials without converting them into boss attempts.

When efficiency really matters, you also need to treat other activities as “fillers” rather than core methods. World bosses, Legion events, and Treasure Goblins can all drop Abhorrent Hearts, but they’re not predictable. Use them to plug gaps: if a world boss is about to spawn or a Legion event is live near your route, detour for the free loot roll; if not, don’t chase timers across the map. Treat these as bonus Hearts layered on top of the Urivar/Undercity loop, not as your main plan.

Conversion and crafting systems are your safety valve. If you’re drowning in other boss mats or high‑value currencies, look for alchemist recipes or seasonal exchange mechanics that let you turn generic boss materials or specific keys into Abhorrent Hearts or the items that lead to them. The goal is to avoid “stranded” resources—anything that can’t be turned into Harbinger attempts is inefficiency. Check vendors and seasonal hubs regularly to see if bartering or limited‑time trades temporarily favor converting some of your surplus into Heart‑related materials.

Group play dramatically amplifies all of this. A coordinated 3–4‑player party can rotate who opens Tribute chests and lairs, effectively multiplying the number of high‑value drops the group sees per hour. In efficient groups, each player specializes slightly: one drives route knowledge, one tracks timers and rotations, everyone runs fast clear builds. Use voice or quick pings to reset dungeons immediately and avoid lobby downtime. If you’re comfortable trading, you can also lean on the market: sell surplus boss mats from other ladders and buy Abhorrent Hearts or runs, effectively turning your time into Hearts even when you’re not directly farming them.

Constantly evaluate your own numbers. If an hour of your current route yields only enough Hearts for one or two Harbinger hoards, something is off—you’re spending too much time on low‑value content, dying, or clearing too slowly. Tighten routes, respec toward speed, lower the Torment tier if necessary, and keep iterating until each hour reliably translates into multiple Harbinger openings. When efficiency matters, the only metric that counts is how many hoards you unlock per session, and every change you make should push that number higher.