Wave 6 in Infernal Hordes doesn't feel like a dungeon run anymore. It feels like you clocked in for a shift and the boss is yelling at you to move faster. You step into the Abyssal Verge, the room closes in, and your eyes stop tracking loot drops. You track Burning Aether. That counter is your whole run, and if you want the payoff, you build your route around it. Most people I know who farm seriously treat it like a sprint with rules, and they prep their Diablo 4 Items loadout the same way they'd prep a speedrun.

Why Aether Changes Everything

You learn pretty quick that "safe" choices don't pay. If you pick mild Banes and keep the screen calm, your Aether total stays sad. The runs that print currency are the ones where you invite trouble on purpose: more Hellborne, more Elites, more chances to get clipped by something off-screen. It's not subtle. You're hunting the enemies that actually drop chunks of Aether, even if it means pulling packs together and fighting in the mess. The mode rewards a player who can make fast decisions: clear this side, snag the spawn, dash out before the floor turns into a red carpet of death.

Build Pressure, Not Just Damage

The footage always looks flashy—lightning chains, frozen mobs, numbers popping nonstop—but the real check is control. Can you keep casting while repositioning? Can you avoid getting body-blocked when three elites stack on you? A lot of Wave 6 clears come down to boring stats: cooldown reduction so your movement skill is always up, attack speed so your core skill doesn't stall, and enough defense that you don't fall over to one bad overlap. People love glass cannon setups until the revive counter drops from 4 to 1 in about ten seconds, and then it's panic city.

The Loop People Actually Chase

No one's in there for the vibes. You're there for Masterworking materials, gold, and those moments when a good chest pops and you can feel your gear leveling up. It's a weird cycle: you need strong gear to farm the waves smoothly, but you farm the waves to push your gear from "good" to "mean." If you're chasing Greater Affixes, you also start thinking in priorities: 1) keep the run alive, 2) keep Aether high, 3) don't waste time looting mid-wave. The best clears look messy, but they're planned.

Making the Chest Worth It

The 60-Aether chest is why people tolerate the stress, but it only feels good when you earn it clean. That means knowing when to take a nasty Bane and when to back off, saving a defensive cooldown for the moment the room floods with telegraphs, and not chasing one last elite if it'll cost the run. You're not trying to be heroic—you're trying to be consistent. Get the Aether, cash it out, and then go upgrade the pieces that let you do it again with better odds and better D4 items in the mix.