History of Altars of Sorrow: Sorrow's Bane

Triumph: "At Tier V, clear all five phases in a row without a single sacrifice and then defeat the boss." The hardest of the Altars triumphs.

== How to complete ==

1. Run Altars of Sorrow and treat every Nightmare as the priority target; a single one reaching an altar fails the attempt.
2. Nightmares move along predictable lanes toward altars, so split fireteam members across lanes and learn the routes.
3. Keep a fast add-clear going so Wizard shields (tier III onward) break quickly with cleaver drops.
4. Defeat the boss without letting any boss-phase Nightmare sacrifice either. If an attempt fails, restart the event rather than finishing it.

Treat any sacrifice as a failure.

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.

== 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. Reports differ on whether killing a Nightmare adds time; one report says 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.