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A Flawless Horadric Gem is a brutal target in Diablo 4’s Lord of Hatred expansion. You need 25 million fragments of one colour, plus a pile of gold and Forgotten Souls for the crafting chain. It’s the kind of grind that makes some players browse Diablo 4 Items instead, but the Escalation loop can cut the farming time down hard if it still works.
Why the third floor matters
The trick isn’t about finishing Escalation Nightmare Dungeons quickly. It’s about reaching a loaded third floor, then refusing to finish the run.
Build the right setup first
Start with the Branching Pathways War Plan node. You need three portal choices between floors, otherwise you’re mostly stuck hoping the game hands you something useful. Make Escalation Sigils by transmuting five normal Nightmare Sigils in the Horadric Cube. Strongrooms can drop them too, especially at higher Attunement, though that’s less reliable. Clear floors one and two as fast as your build allows. The real check comes when you pick the portal leading into floor three.
Affixes worth chasing
1. Pick the exact Ruby, Amethyst, Emerald, or Diamond Reserve you need.
2. Take Dark Omen whenever it appears beside that reserve.
Generic Gem Reserve is nowhere near as good. A specific reserve concentrates the drops, while Dark Omen brings the ambush boss that makes this route ridiculous. You may burn several sigils finding both. Honestly, that setup can feel slower than the actual farm. Stick with it.
What each reset can pay
Once the third floor rolls correctly, open every Horadric chest and kill the Dark Omen attacker. On high Torment levels, chests can give huge stacks of the chosen fragments, and the ambush kill is the real jackpot. This is why players don’t bother clearing random nearby dungeons after setting up the loop.
Target Best source Why it matters
Chosen gem fragments Specific Gem Reserve Focused chest rewards
Large fragment burst Dark Omen boss High value ambush drop
Reset without ending the dungeon
The important bit is leaving in a way that refreshes the floor, not completing it. Don’t kill the end boss. Don’t take the exit portal. Teleport to town, enter a nearby ordinary dungeon, then use the Sanctuary map to teleport straight back to the active Escalation Dungeon. If the back portal has cleared properly, floor three should return with fresh chests and another Dark Omen spawn.
Keep the loop clean
1. Enter the normal dungeon only to remove the return portal.
2. Teleport back immediately instead of clearing that dungeon.
Crafting and the patch risk
After collecting the fragments, you still have the expensive conversion path: 25 Grand Gems, then 25 Horadric Gems, then one Flawless Horadric Gem. Keep Forgotten Souls and gold coming in, or you’ll hit a different wall. Also, this reset behaviour looks unintended, so it could disappear in a hotfix without warning. If you’d rather avoid the whole portal dance, checking cheap D4 items can save time, but players who enjoy testing strong farms should use this loop while it lasts.
Farming Horadric Gem fragments through Nightmare Escalations can be a proper time sink. For players who’d rather focus on builds and boss runs, U4GM has Diablo 4 items at https://www.u4gm.com/diablo-4/items, with options to help keep the adventure moving.