Diablo 4 Compass to Carnage Event Guide

Blizzard's latest answer to "what do we do for week 8 of the season" is Compass to Carnage: a limited-time event that turbocharges Infernal Hordes until May 26th. More compasses drop. Chaos Waves increase. Burning Aether flows faster. Your time investment barely decreases. Classic.

The event doubles your Infernal Compass drops: every compass you earn grants a bonus one. If you're already swimming in them from Lord of Hatred Warplans, congratulations: you now have twice as many keys to a dungeon you were already ignoring.

The community has been asking for Infernal Hordes QoL improvements since Season 10. Blizzard's response: here are more compasses. Magnificent with Diablo 4 services.

Event Bonuses at a Glance

You enter via an Infernal Compass (T1–T8). Higher tier means harder enemies, more waves, better loot. Enemies attack in timed 60-second waves. Between each wave you pick one of three Infernal Offers: each pairs a buff with a penalty. These stack. Choose recklessly and your run becomes a disaster with excellent lighting.

Your main currency is Burning Aether: collected from Aether Fiends, Aether Lords, Soulspires, and Aetheric Masses scattered across the map. Do not leave it on the ground. After all waves clear, you face the Fell Council or: if you've banked 666+ Aether: the optional boss Bartuc, the Warlord of Chaos. Bartuc is always the better choice. His drops justify the toll.

Aether Spending Priority

1. Bartuc fight (666 Aether): best gear and material rewards in the mode
2. Spoils of Greater Equipment (400 Aether): guaranteed Ancestral Legendary with Greater Affix
3. Spoils of Materials: Obducite, Scroll of Restoration, masterworking fodder
4. Spoils of Gold: dump remaining Aether; 800 Aether converts to ~100M gold at Torment 4

Burning Aether expires at run end. Spend everything. Every time. No exceptions... but Diablo 4 seasonal offers

Picking Your Infernal Offers

The Infernal Offers optimization loop is the whole game inside the game. Each pick applies for the rest of the run. The wrong stack of banes will end you. The right stack compounds rewards beautifully. Here is what actually matters:

• Hellborne offers: baseline best. More Hellborne pressure, more Aether from Hellborne kills. Take whenever available.
• Chaos Waves: high value if your build survives. Sealing Chaos Rifts dumps bonus Aether. The event makes these even more frequent. Treat them as priority during Compass to Carnage.
• Colossal Fiends: take it on sight. Aether Fiends spawned via Fiendish Legions become Aether Lords when this is active. The synergy is obscene.
• Ruthless Lords: excellent, but only if your build handles the damage multiplier. Glass cannons, think twice.
• Hellborne offers (avoid): skip Aetheric Mass-focused picks if better options exist. The density isn't there.

AoE clears this mode. A single-target build staring at 200 clustered demons is a tragic comedy. Build for density before entering.

The Chaos Wave Problem: and Why This Event Helps

Normally, Chaos Waves are reliable but not guaranteed to appear often enough to build a full Aether economy around them. During Compass to Carnage, Chaos Waves appear more frequently per run. Each sealed Chaos Rift rewards amplified Aether. Runs that previously yielded 800–1,000 Aether can push 1,200–1,400 with proper offer stacking and wave management. That delta is the entire argument for playing this event seriously.

Gold Farming During the Event

This is the most compelling use case for casual players. At Torment 4, Infernal Hordes gold farming converts roughly 800 Burning Aether into 100 million gold per run. With Chaos Wave bonuses active, sustained 10–15 minute sessions can yield hundreds of millions. Dump excess Aether into Spoils of Gold after securing your Bartuc fight and equipment spoils. Stack Elixirs and Incense for passive XP on top.

Is This Mode Worth Playing Outside the Event?

No. That is the uncomfortable truth the event dances around. Diablo 4 Infernal Hordes rewards are structurally poor relative to time spent: the community has flagged this repeatedly. Warplans in Lord of Hatred already made compass acquisition trivial, so the doubled-compass bonus lands like a shrug. The Chaos Wave and Aether amplification are the only genuinely useful boosts here. Outside the event window, Pit pushing and Helltides offer better reward density for comparable effort.

If you have 1,000 ten-wave compasses rotting in your stash, this event is not rescuing you from that problem. It is giving you more of the same problem with better Diablo 4 gold.

Do not enter on a half-finished character. The mode punishes defensive plays and rewards high uptime. Pets help collect Burning Aether drops so you do not interrupt damage rotations chasing blue dots. Bring:

• An AoE-dominant build at your Torment tier
• Elixirs and Incense active before entering
• Movement skill with low cooldown: mobility solves Chaos Wave mechanics
• A pet: Aether pickup automation is not optional at high wave counts

Group Play Notes

In a group, each player earns and spends Burning Aether independently. The first player to select Bartuc commits the whole party. Coordinate before the final chest room. Assign roles: one player pulls and clumps packs (Barbarian ideal), one handles burst and boss (Sorcerer), one manages revives and utility. The Fell Council boss fight telegraphs clearly: it only becomes a problem if you let the Council Speaker buff go unchecked.