History of Altars of Sorrow: Nightmares

Altars of Sorrow: Nightmares is a triumph: "Defeat Nightmares at the Altars of Sorrow." Kills count by defeating Nightmare enemies during Altars of Sorrow.

How to complete

• Run the event repeatedly in Sorrow's Harbor and prioritise killing Nightmares (you have to anyway to avoid sacrifices).
• Chain events back to back rather than returning to orbit.

Altars of Sorrow is a player-started horde-style public event in Sorrow's Harbor on the Moon, introduced with Shadowkeep. Teams defend altars against waves of Hive and Nightmare enemies (tiers I-V) before a boss tier. The description below reflects the Shadowkeep-era version of the event and may have changed since.

The event in brief

• Tiers I-II: 4-5 Nightmares. Tier III adds shielded Wizards that need cleaver drops from Accursed Swordbearer Knights. Tiers IV-V have 7-8 Nightmares and more Wizards.
• The timer starts at 60 seconds. Killing regular Hive adds 1 second, and a Nightmare that reaches an altar and sacrifices itself costs 10 seconds. Reported time gains from killing a Nightmare differ between reports; one gives 10 seconds.
• The final tier is a boss rotating daily: Nightmare of Phogoth (drops Blasphemer), Nightmare of Taniks (drops Apostate) or Nightmare of Zydron (drops Heretic). The boss becomes immune periodically and spawns Nightmares that must be cleared or they sacrifice at the altar.