How to get Glyphs in Diablo 4 and how they work

The Diablo 4 Glyph mechanic is a little hard to understand initially, appearing as it does alongside many other endgame mechanics like your Paragon board, and that whole confusing process of working out how to start doing Nightmare Dungeons. These symbols can be very powerful, though, especially if you place them well and organise which Paragon nodes you unlock.

If you're about to reach the endgame or have just started, you might be curious about Sacred items, too, or how that whole Helltide event works. Either way, here's the best way to farm Diablo 4 Glyphs, how to use them in your Paragon board, plus how to level them to get a stronger bonus.

How to get Glyphs

The best way to get Glyphs is by doing Nightmare Dungeons, since they often drop from elites, chests, and the final boss. You need to be world tier three in order to access Nightmare Dungeons, which means completing the campaign, getting to level 50, and beating the capstone dungeon in Kyovashad. Once complete, you can change your world tier at the statue in Kyovashad's main square.

You'll also need to have found a Nightmare Sigil. Your best chance for getting one of these is completing Grim Favors for the Tree of Whispers to earn a loot cache, since these have a chance of dropping Nightmare Sigils. When you've got one, simply use it in your consumables to activate the dungeon. You don't really need to worry about getting more since Nightmare Dungeons drop other Nightmare Sigils, and getting one will unlock Sigil crafting in Kyovashad anyway.

How to equip Glyphs

Once you have a Glyph, you need to slot it into your Paragon board. You'll have to build a path to your first Glyph slot via unlocking nodes as you get Paragon points from levelling, and finally unlock the slot itself before you can place one in it. 

Each Glyph has both a Radius and a Bonus or set of bonuses it applies, which actively benefit from each other. For example, my rare Necromancer Glyph has a radius of three on either side, and for every +5 intelligence node I unlock in that area, my skeletal mages get a +3.7% damage bonus. Since it's a rare Glyph, it also has an additional fixed bonus when I have 40 intelligence unlocked in that radius. 

As you play and level, you'll unlock more class-specialised Glyphs and more Glyph slots through your expanded Paragon board, but generally, the key is placing a Glyph where its bonus can stack the highest based on the nodes available in its radius. In my case, there were more intelligence nodes in the radius than dexterity, strength, or willpower, so it made sense to use a Glyph there that stacked an intelligence-based bonus.

How to level Glyphs

If you really like a Glyph and want to make it stronger, you can by completing Nightmare Dungeons. After you finish the final boss, an Awakened Glyphstone will appear, allowing you to dump the XP you've earned into a Glyph of your choosing. As you level it up, its bonuses will get stronger, giving you more for each relevant node you unlock in the radius.