GR 124, 125, 126. In eight solo games, only a single pylon spawn somewhere between 27% and 41%, usually on floor 2 or 3, no pylons beyond that point. I tried creating new games and closing and re-opening the game client. Something seems very wrong. I know the spawns are somewhat random but this isn’t random. This is they just are not spawning. Its strange that there is a low spawn rate starting at around GR120+, with a season theme tied to activating shrines and pylons.
Unable to verify that at this time, but it wouldn’t surprise me if something was amiss.
And this isn’t the first time I read a post mentioning this very scenario. But I can’t recall when the last one was that I saw and don’t feel inclined to search for it. lol
Just checking that you’re aware of the spawn mechanics.
https://maxroll.gg/d3/resources/greater-rift-explained#pylon-mechanics-header
As far a I’ve seen this season, these same mechanics still apply.
In general you get fewer pylons if you explore a lot of the rift before you kill the mobs that are there, which is why some experience fewer pylons at higher GR.
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Yeah, that makes more sense. Shrines won’t spawn in explored areas. And at higher GRs, players are more likely to farm up a group of monsters to kill in a pack.
This is probably why I often don’t play builds that rely on that playstyle. I find it off-putting to have to farm up mobs and then kill them. I understand it, but I don’t have to like it. lol
Shadow clones you get from Pylons lose their large impact against monsters around GR125 or so. So this checks out when you consider the current theme and how Pylons spawn chance depend on excess progress over timer.
As written in this forums several times, every 1% excess progress over the timer indicator increases your chance of getting a Pylon by 3%, as long as the patch of terrain of a potential spawn is not explored yet.
In a tight packed speed farm run, your expected experience is getting one by every 25% progress you have accumulated. At high pushes, these chances diminish because you are not scoring progress as often as a lower tier. Especially if you are not kiting small monsters to use them as beacons for area damage and run forward non-stop in a panic to reveal potential Pylon spawn areas, your attempt will spiral out of control really fast.
When you lack sustain on that extra Cube power, you rely on that Shadow to sweep monsters for you and their damage output will wane at high tiers. You can not rely on gimmicks to gain progress in high Greater Rifts. In short; you either speed farm more to stack Paragons or play really efficient as you will not kill fast enough in high tiers, unless you pay attention to fine detail for optimizing.
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Basically if one explores without killing stuff to make progress pylons don’t spawn. Pylon spawning is dependent on progress. So if I kill stuff between 27% and 52% across 2 floors, the 3rd floor could have a pylon. If I go from 52% to 77% across 2 more floors, how is it that no pylons are spawning? Next, 77% to 86% and still no pylons. So far I’ve NOT had to explore the entire maps to encounter elites so, if I drag one pack into another (relatively short distance) and kill them off along with all the trash between and around the 2 packs it gives progress, that should allow for pylon spawns.
edit:
Thank you guys for insightful and informative replies.
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lots of mistakes in this guide …
pilons spawn is random and there is no “spawn rate for them”, and they dont depend on Gr area if it is good or not.
Besides, YES !!! pilons spawn after RG apears, and i say that based on my personal experience. not 1 oe 2 times, but hundred of times.
I belive, if you can push 125++, it is time to push higher, idk what char you playing, if you doing necro, i realy understand you, because Nova necro need more targets in screen to finish RG faster.
another tip, when you enter a GR, and you got a strength pilon for example, save it. and dont take pilons immediately, more monsters you can drag around you to kill, i normaly save strength pilon, and in good areas, i wait to spawn 4 or maybe 5 elites to drag around pilons. best of luck for you.
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Yeah, so at 0% progression, you have a 1% chance to find a pylon when you explore a pylon spawn point. Exploring here means getting within 75 yards of it, which is a bit OUTSIDE of your screen, so the game decides to spawn or not spawn a little before you can see it on the minimap or screen. Each % progression after that increases chance of spawning a pylon at next explores spawn point by 3%. So if you explore a pylon spawn point at 10% progression, you will have 31% chance. And at 34% progression, you will have 100% chance to find a pylon at next spawn point you explore.
Note that some maps have very few pylon spawn points, notably spires, and for example also plague tunnels only have spawn points in roundabouts, not in the straight and branching tunnels, so on those maps its easy to go way past 34% without pylons, just because you’re not exploring spawn points.
What can also happen, is that a pylon spawns outside of vision on the side, but you then go in a different direction, and you never actually see it, although the game has generated it and reset the progression counter. So if you explore a known pylon spawn point after 34% progression and don’t get a pylon, then you’re 100% sure that you’ve missed one somewhere on the way.
I’m still not 100% on some aspects, like i’m not sure if the rules can change for third and fourth pylon. The maxroll page says that the probability is independent each spawn point you explore, but I’m not sure the author means that in an stats kind mathematical way…
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Besides the roundabouts, I always find one in a dead-end passage in the north (top) of the map. It’s one of those passages that looks like it leads to the entrance to the next Level, but it’s a dead-end with a Pylon.
It can be at the center top of the map or either side. But, it’s always near the top. (At least from my experience).
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The spawn rate is all on how good or bad you are doing. I have played this game coming up next year for 13yrs. I have seen it if you doing really good you could get what all 5 to spawn.
If you just keeping your head above water yes you get them too, but not that many. Now you are doing really bad you might not get any to spawn. This how the game has always been.
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Yes, thanks! Those are the pylons I will spawn, but not scout because I don’t go all the way into the dead end! Then I get confused later, wondering why I’m not getting a pylon. 
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After doing a bit more GR runs. I realized that I was getting spammed with a combination of:
- bad maps
- pylons that spawn a short distance from the exit
I’m also encountering garbage mob types:
- ghosts with shield flying into the walls of the terrain
- sedentary mobs like wretched mothers and slow moving zombies
- mobs that kite/run away
- sewer rats with fire chains that constantly spread out
All of the above slows kill speed. Slowing kill speed means falling behind with lower chance at pylon spawns. The shadow clones spawned from the shrines/pylons can also interfere with trying to gather mobs for Area Damage efficiency because the clones distract the nemesis bracer spawned elite. I encounter Fallen Overseers spawned by nemesis bracers/pylons with a high frequency. The fallen overseers spawned this way are very sedentary and are distracted by the shadow clone.
No complains. I just need to be better at spotting bad GRs and fish better.
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Nemsis bracer can ONLY SUMMON FALLEN OVERSEER from pylons in GR.
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Well, 100% spawn rate is high frequency.
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Playing bad floors is an excellent way of learning which floors are bad, and why! 
Also to some extent you might get better at dealing with bad floors, for example if you get a bad floor two after an excellent floor 1, and just need to get those last 10-20% progression at a decent pace.
Playing bad rifts, while educational, is unlikely to get you any clears though.
And playing good floors is an excellent way of learning how to play good floors, which probably is a more important skill for pushing.
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I don’t think speed matters. You can get all four pylons no matter if a GR is done in two or ten minutes.
About the rest of your issues with maps and monsters… Diablo 3 has always been like that 
…and the more you play, the more you’ll notice it. And because of the RNG you’ll have short periods where everything goes great and then periods (days) where everything seems bad and off.
Put a delay to your crowd control abilities for a small while and look for ways to lure or pull those mobs into a larger crowd for Area Damage. Kiting small and fast monsters on your tail instead of killing everything usually suffices at narrow pathways or low density areas. Some builds choke at narrow or small areas, which is a given when they prevail by utilizing AD%, so they may need to come up with a strategy or bail immediately.
Try not to get separated from your Follower, nor get them isolated away from you. You may need to stick to your Follower or teleport them away from small amount of mobs by moving away from them. Similarly, the shadow clone you spawned from the Pylon will teleport on your position if you move away as well. When you see a large crowd by Follower’s end, fall to their side instead so they can apply crowd control and you can attempt to clear from there by spreading collateral damage.
Yes, but sometimes mindlessly pushing forward will not be beneficial so you ought to await the right time to hit. Plan where do you want to position or lure them for the next volley of damage spikes.
Usually happens. I think they have a shriek that buff themselves and surrounding Fallen, no clue if it affects their health or not. You need to judge if it worth to take on the encounter or not by looking at their affixes and have you gathered enough of a crowd around it before taking Pylon.
Well, RNG = RNG, so you can get 4 pylons in any GR, but in practice, the faster you move the progress bar, the more likely you are to see more pylons. Doing speeds, 2-3 min runs, I generally always get 3-4 pylons. When pushing, 10-15 min runs, I generally get 1-2 pylons. This is especially true when the progress bar is trailing the time bar.
On a side note, nothing sucks worse than pulling 4-5 elites in godly map around the 10 minute mark, then finally getting a pylon and it is a channeling/speed pylon.
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bad maps and bad mobs, are very old problems, i honestly dont blame only the RNG, theres is another cause … and surly many of you know it.
i cant see any fun, to keep open close at orek, considering that alot of maps i just enter nd look, these caves garbage, keep depth, westmarch areas… totaly senseless. players could get far better progress if not these bad “mechanics”.
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Please don’t take this as criticism or a personal attack. The game is intentionally created like that - even though a lot has been done to make the player experience easier and better. The developers or the game directors have deliberately made it so that there will be lots of obstacles for us to overcome with all the layers of RNG before we from time to time get the experience of the “perfect maps” (this also goes for getting the “perfect drops” or rolls on items). At a certain point a player’s character will be able to speed run GR 90s, then later perhaps GR 110s and so on higher and higher maybe up into the 130s or so. But Blizzard sees no reason why player progress should continue upwards without running into challenges and obstacles in the form of poor maps, poor or bad mobs and other hindrances.
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