Season of Death Awakening, explained : schillman.se

The season mechanic

Pandemonium Ruptures

Season 14 tears the wall between Sanctuary and Pandemonium. The seam shows up as Pandemonium Ruptures, and opening one is a small ritual rather than a click: you find a Death's Head Idol, kill the guardians standing around it, and the Rupture opens with a ritual ring on the ground.

From there it is a hold, not a clear. The Rupture wants to close, and two things keep it open: killing the monsters that pour out of it, and closing the Tears that keep appearing around it. The longer you hold it open, the more it pays. Patch 3.1 shortened the time it takes to close a Tear and made new Tears appear faster, which mostly means a Rupture is less likely to die while you are running between Tears.

The thing to internalise is that Ruptures are not one activity at one power level. There are three sizes, they spawn in different places, and only two of them can give you the boss that actually matters.

The three Rupture sizes and what each one can produce.
Rupture	Where it spawns	Realmwalker
Ruptures (Normal)	Anywhere in the Sanctuary overworld, but far more common inside a Helltide.	Never. Normal Ruptures cannot summon one.
Surging Ruptures	Inside a Helltide, in place of any local event.	A chance at one, but only if you finish the event with Mastery.
Colossal Ruptures	Only in the Fields of Desecration, the World Boss arena south east of Zarbinzet.	Guaranteed on completion.

There is a fourth way in that does not fit the table: Rupture Goblins. They can turn up anywhere, and they open extra Ruptures where they appear. Chase them.

Why this changes where you farm Helltides stop being a separate activity and become the venue for the season mechanic. A Helltide is where Normal Ruptures are dense and where Surging Ruptures exist at all, so time spent in an active Helltide zone does double duty. If you want a guaranteed Realmwalker instead of a chance at one, you leave and go to the Fields of Desecration.

The reward chain

Realmwalker, Deathtoll Chamber, Superior Lair Keys

Realmwalkers are back, and in Season 14 they are the gate rather than the prize. Killing one opens a portal to a Deathtoll Chamber: a one room mini dungeon holding a single Rupture activity to complete.

There are two doors into a Deathtoll Chamber. The obvious one is killing a Realmwalker. The second is a Nightmare Dungeon rolled with the Rupture affix, which opens a Chamber once you have closed enough Tears inside it. That second route matters because it folds the season mechanic into a dungeon you were probably running anyway, which is also where Escalations come in.

What you are there for is Superior Lair Keys. The Deathtoll Chamber is the best source of them in the season, and they are the only thing that opens the seasonal Lair Boss's Hoard at Torment 1 and above. Every step before this one exists to produce keys.

The Corrupted Reaper

The season's Lair Boss is the Corrupted Reaper, summoned at Zarbinzet in Hawezar at Torment 1 or higher. Opening its Hoard costs two Superior Boss Lair Keys. You have to beat it once through the seasonal questline before it becomes a repeatable Lair Boss.

It drops Pandemonium Fragments, up to two per kill since patch 3.1.1 and scaling with your Torment tier, and its Hoard pulls from the General Unique Pool on top of its own table, meaning items from other boss encounters can show up in it. That breadth is why it is worth building a farming loop around rather than treating as one more boss.

Currencies

Glints of Hope and Pandemonium Fragments

Glints of Hope Awarded for closing Ruptures, and worth more the longer you kept the Rupture open. They are spent on the season reputation board in Zarbinzet, a ranked reward track that pays out caches, experience tomes and Pandemonium Fragments. Community trackers put the board at 24 ranks with the requirements spiking around rank 16; treat the exact numbers as unconfirmed and read your own board.
Pandemonium Fragments The season's Mythic crafting currency. They come from the reputation board, from Resplendent Caches, from killing the Corrupted Reaper, and from sealing Ruptures.
What Fragments are for The Upgrade to Mythic function in the Horadric Cube. Each attempt costs 4 Pandemonium Fragments since patch 3.1.1 reduced it from 5, so think in blocks of four rather than counting singles. Banking fewer than four is banking nothing. The full breakdown of every route to a Mythic, and what each costs, is on the Mythic Uniques page.

In one paragraph

The loop

Sit in an active Helltide. Break Death's Head Idols, hold the Ruptures open by clearing monsters and closing Tears, and finish Surging Rupture events with Mastery for a shot at a Realmwalker. Go to the Fields of Desecration when you want a Realmwalker guaranteed. Kill it, take the Deathtoll Chamber, bank Superior Lair Keys. Spend keys two at a time on the Corrupted Reaper at Zarbinzet. Cash Glints of Hope on the reputation board along the way, and convert every fourth Pandemonium Fragment into a Mythic Unique attempt in the Horadric Cube.

The Season 14 Farming Ledger is the tickable version of that, broken into the 48 decisions it actually contains.

Corrections are welcome, and the contact page has the ways to send one.

Season of Death Awakening Guide, Maxroll, for Rupture types, Realmwalker conditions, Deathtoll Chambers and Fragment sources.
Corrupted Reaper Boss Guide, Maxroll, for the summoning location, key cost and Hoard contents.
Diablo 4 3.1.0 Patch Notes, Maxroll, for the Tear timing changes.
Patch 3.1.1 notes coverage, Icy Veins, for the Horadric Cube cost dropping from 5 Fragments to 4, and the Corrupted Reaper dropping up to two Fragments scaling with Torment.