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Quick notes:
* There are very few [[shrines]] in Grifts and [[Pylons]] last only 15 seconds. There are no [[Conduit]] Pylons at all.
* [[Treasure Goblins]] are not found in Grifts. Early on the PTR they were present, and would drop [[Progress Orbs]] when killed.
* No loot or gold drops in Grifts, and there are no chests and very few destructibles.
* Greater Rift Level 1 = [[Normal]]
* Greater Rift Level 3 = [[Hard]]
* Greater Rift Level 4 5 = [[Expert]]* Greater Rift Level 6 7 = [[Master]]* Greater Rift Level 8 9 = [[Torment 1]]
* Greater Rift Level 12 = [[Torment 2]]
* Greater Rift Level 15 = [[Torment 3]]
* Greater Rift Level 17 18 = [[Torment 4]]* Greater Rift Level 20 21 = [[Torment 5]]
* Greater Rift Level 25 = [[Torment 6]]
* Greater Rift Level 25+ = Harder and harder.
GR30 was about the limit for a very well-equipped (softcore) character entering the Patch 2.1 testing on the PTR. Going higher than that required great gear and/or various exploits (many of which were patched during the PTR testing Shortly after players found tricks to reach GR100) or very good teamwork. Post Patch 2.1 Blizzard expects that characters players with top improved gear and Legendary Gems will be able began to clear up through GR35 routinely, with the first groups into the 30s or low 40s. Higher than that As gear and strategy improves, higher and higher levels will take real dedication and exceptional gearbe reached.
Prior to the introduction of the Realm of Trials, players simply found GRK 1 and started on level one, moving up quickly to higher levels via very quick completions of the low difficulty GRifts. This was boring for well-geared characters though, having to repeatedly rush through the equivalent of Normal difficulty Grifts, hence Blizzard implemented the Realm of Trials to provide higher level GRks that could be earned fairly quickly.
==Progress Bar and Rift Speed==
The progress bar in a Greater Rift looks the same as the bar is electric purple in a normal Nephalem Rift, with two added slider needlescolor, displayed above and adds an extra hourglass icon below the bar. The total bar coloured in orange, and showing the icon above it show your current progress towards completing progression of the rift15m timer. The icon below it initial design did not incorporate the bright purple coloration, and any colour can be seen in blue shows how fast you need to progress to complete the rift in timeimages here.
[[File:Greater-rift-progress-bar2.JPG|left|thumb|200px|Ahead of the progress time.]]
[[File:Grift-progress-bar1sml.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Behind the progress time.]]
When players are battling through a Rift that's just at the limit of their killing power, they will often see their progress dropping behind, or moving slightly ahead of the timer bar, depending on the monster density and their relative sleepdspeed. Since the Rift Guardian appears last and has very high hit points, players must be some distance ahead of the end time on the progress bar to have time to finish the Guardian as well, and most Rifts "fail" while players are locked in fevered battle with the GRG.
Since the speed will vary quite a bit depending on the monster spawn, players can get unlucky and fail to complete a Rift due to poor enemy density. The opposite can be true as well, and players are advised not to beat a Rift too quickly if they're approaching the limit of their ability. For example, if you get a very easy spawn on a level 20 rift, you might want to stall for a few minutes before beating the Rift Guardian, so your GRKs would rift key will only upgrade to level 21 or 22, instead of jumping all the way up to say level 25, where you'd be over your head and unable to complete in time. (Or in danger of death if you're playing [[Hardcore]].)
Players can judge their speed in a rift and know if they need to go faster or slower depending on the progress bar. Characters who are well ahead of the time but coming close to death should look to improve their Toughness and defensive properties/skills. Characters who are having no trouble surviving but are not killing fast enough to keep up with the timer should look to raise their DPS, perhaps by trading off some Toughness or defensive buffs. (These changes can not be made in any given rift, and must be made between games.)
When characters fail to complete a rift in time they can still earn the item and gold rewards for killing the Greater Rift Guardian. They just fail to earn more [[Greater Rift Keystones]] and thus can not progress to a higher level Rift. If they have no more GRKs they must restart at a level one GR (or go clear normal Rifts until they find a GRK) and work their way back up.
No gold or items are meant to drop (early in the PTR Patch testing some were still from destructibles) from normal or Elite enemies in a Greater Rift, there are no chests or clickables (loose floor tiles, dead bodies, armor/weapon racks, etc) and very few destructibles. Monster kills do grant experience as well as Rift Progress, but the gold and item and material rewards come entirely from the Greater Rift Guardian.
==Strategy Tips==
Greater Rifts require a balance of gear, since they must be defeated within the 15m time limit, and since dying means no restart from corpse option. Players thus can't die much (or at all solo), but players also can't be too conservative with lots of toughness but not enough killing power.
Each Rift Guardian is guaranteed to drop a Legendary Gem, if your character + stash does not have that type. LGems equipped on other characters on your account, or just in their inventories, will be dropped by Guardians. Players who want more than one of a given Legendary Gem, so they can level up a second one for another character or to have a spare (a wise precaution in Hardcore) must stick their first LGem on another character, to get a second one of that type to drop.
Players who want to get lots of LGems in a row, or repeated quality drops from the Guardian, often choose to advance slowly. For instance, if a player capable of clearing Torment 1 clears GR5 to 95% completion in just a few minutes, they might choose to wait until 10:30 or later to finish the rift, so their next GR Key will only be level 6. (Beating a rift by more than 4:30 will advance the GR Key more than one level. Players need not wait in the Greater Rift for the timer to count; they can portal back to town and go play elsewhere in the game while the Greater Rift timer keeps running. Their inventory and stash items will remain inaccessible while the Greater Rift is open, but they can complete bounties, pick up gold and items (just not put them down), upgrade gems with the Jeweler, etc... and then return to the Greater Rift to finish off the Guardian at 10:30 or later, get the item drops, and only advance to the next highest GRift level. (Rather than killing the GRG quickly and thus advancing multiple GR levels at once, thus reducing the total number of Grifts they can complete without needing to spend another GR Key.)
Be sure '''not''' to cast a town portal while clearing other areas, or it will replace the portal you left from the Greater Rift, and you'll have to run back through all the cleared out areas to find where you were when you first returned to town.
