Ideas to improve the Infernal Hordes
So Infernal Hordes have been discussed a lot on Reddit lately, I know, but I just want to add my own two cents on how to improve the gameplay. Infernal Hordes feels too repetitive and hard to understand for many players. I think a few changes could massively improve pacing, readability, and replayability.
1. Better pacing through Compass structure
Right now Horde runs can feel too long, and I think the number of waves should scale directly with Compass rarity:
Magic Compass (default): 4 Waves total and designed for casual farming and quicker sessions.
Rare Compass: 5 Waves total. Final Wave should give +100% Burning Aether gained and Monster Level +1
Legendary Compass: 6 Waves total. Final Wave should give +200% Burning Aether gained and Monster Level +1.
Mythic Compass: Same as Legendary but includes a free bonus chest at the end with a chance for a Mythic item.
This would create a much stronger “final wave jackpot” feeling instead of every wave blending together.
2. Bane/Boon choices need more gameplay variety
Currently, most Horde runs feel very similar regardless of what Offers you choose. The core issue across all trees: most banes are passive stat penalties (more health, more damage, more Hellfire) while most boons are passive stat bonuses (more Aether, more spawns). The Hellborne tree is repetitive where five of the six Hellborne offers share the same boon: "+1 Aether when Hellborne spawns." The system needs more noticeable gameplay-changing effects instead of mostly hidden math modifiers.
Some examples:
Last Stand: Every 75 kills summons a Fallen Knight ally for 30 seconds.
Potential upgrades:
- Knights deal splash damage
- Every active Knight increases your attack speed by 5%
- Spawn 1 additional Knight
The Watcher: A giant stationary demonic eye appears above the arena. Fires a giant beam every 10 seconds that damages both players and enemies.
Potential upgrades:
- Larger beam
- Faster attacks
- Instantly kills weakened enemies
These kinds of mechanics are easy to understand and give some sort of changing gameplay.
3. The current Offer system is too hard to understand
An issue right now is that many players don’t understand the following:
- which Offers synergize
- which paths are strong
- which mechanics unlock others
One player leaves with 200 Aether while another leaves with 2000 simply because the system is poorly communicated. We could use a visual synergy map after selecting an Offer. The UI should clearly show previous Offer choices.
Something simple like:
Hellborne: 3
Soulspire: 1
Aether Lords: 0
Aetheric Masses: 0
This would make it much easier to understand: “What am I supposed to build toward?”.
Or perhaps a stack tracker: On the HUD, show the current multiplier for Burning Aether alongside the number of active banes (e.g., “+120% Aether from Elites / +60% Elite Damage”).
4. Infernal Hordes needs more environmental variety
Even if gameplay stays identical, new environments alone would massively improve replayability. Some ideas:
Forgotten Tomb: Ancient crypts, Sand waterfalls, Thousands of candles
Prison of the Damned: Massive cages, Torture devices, Hanging chains
Eternal Battlefield: Endless piles of weapons, Broken siege engines, Angel and demon corpses
Infernal Hordes should eventually feel like we’re entering different layers of Hell instead of the same arena every run.
5. Better rewards
I'm thinking of bringing back the old aspect rewards from nightmare dungeons. Why not have a chest, and as with Belial where you could choose the drops, you could choose the aspect and a legendary item drops with that aspect?