Diablo 4's Tower beta is live, and it's the kind of thing that makes you stop tinkering with your stash and actually go test your build. If you've been hoarding upgrades, now's when they matter, especially if you're chasing faster clears and cleaner boss kills. I've already seen people swapping aspects just to squeeze out a few seconds, and it makes the whole mode feel like a proper proving ground for Diablo 4 Items and smart loadouts rather than pure luck.
How the rounds work
The schedule's simple, but it's easy to miss if you don't look. 1) Round 1 runs from January 12 to January 26. 2) Round 2 follows right after, from January 26 to February 9. Each round is a fresh two-week sprint, and when the last one ends, The Tower and Leaderboards disappear until the next season. So if you want your name on the board, you can't really "get to it later" because later might mean next season.
Progression that feels familiar
The biggest structural change is that Tower tiers now unlock like The Pit. That alone makes the climb feel less confusing. You push, you earn access, you push again. The floors still throw random patterns at you, but the path forward is clearer. And that's important, because leaderboards don't reward "almost." They reward repeatable runs. You'll notice pretty quickly that consistency beats one lucky clear, so most players are going to settle into routes, timings, and safe bursts instead of gambling every floor.
Bosses and pylons got a real tune-up
Boss fights should feel less like you're being messed with. No more nonsense like bosses going invisible or healing up mid-fight, and their health has been lowered to match Pit bosses, which cuts out the grind. Pylons are smoother too: the delay after breaking the cage is gone, and the cages aren't so tanky. The Pylon of Power got toned down from 4x to 3x damage, but Speed is the new toy—big attack speed, plus you can knock enemies down just by sprinting through them. Channeling pylons now drip-feed resource per second, which is huge if your build doesn't lean on cost reduction.
Small quality-of-life changes that save runs
Some fixes sound minor until you play with them. Orbs dropping instantly means you're not standing around waiting for a Fire Enchanted pop to finish before you can collect. If an orb lands far away, it'll appear at the corpse; if it's close, it snaps to you, which cuts the pointless backtracking. And dying no longer kicks you to the previous floor, so a single mistake doesn't wreck your rhythm. If you're planning to grind attempts and tighten your times, it's also a decent moment to sort your gear and think about Diablo 4 Items buy in U4gm options that actually fit how the Tower plays, not just what looks good on paper.