Quest 1 - Siege on Harrogath
Quest Giver: Larzuk the Blacksmith.
Begin by: speaking with Larzuk or exiting through the city gates.
Quest Location: Siege area outside the city, just before the Frigid Highlands.
Quest Reward: Larzuk adds the max number of sockets to any socketable item you have. Check our
armor or
weapon databases for exact socket info.
When you begin the Act, speak with Larzuk the smith on the right side of the town. He'll ask that you stop the siege happening outside the city gates by defeating Shenk, who controls the catapults pummeling the city. Basically, head up the hill through the endless fights, usually with swarms of monsters attacking a single barbarian. As you near the top, right before the entrance to the Frozen Highlands, you'll find the unique boss Shenk. He's not exactly tough, but does send exploding monsters at you, so be careful. When you finish him off, it's advisable to briefly head up the mountain to the Frigid Highlands and activate the waypoint there, which you'll find right near the entrance, then go and speak with Larzuk for your reward.
Quest 2 - Rescue on Mount Arreat
Quest Giver: Qual-Kehk.
Begin by: speaking with Qual-Kehk after completing Quest 1 or by getting close to a group of soldiers in the Frigid Highlands.
Quest Location: Frigid Highlands.
Quest Reward: The ability to hire Barbarian Mercenaries and a set of 3 runes.
Qual-Kehk asks you to rescue 15 warriors held in pens in the Frigid Highlands, the second area outside the city. When you're there, turn on the mini-map and proceed to scour the area until you find a white rectangle, housing 5 of the barbarians. Activate or attack the door to open it, a portal will appear and the captives will run through it. You're quest log will update saying you need to rescue 10 or 5 more. Rescue the captives from the three pens, and head back to Harrogath to speak with Qual-Kehk for your reward.
Along with the ability to hire Barbarian mercs, which make great punching bags for the monsters, you'll receive a complete set of three runes: Ral, Ort and Tal. Individually they give resistances. But together, in that order, Ral, Ort and Tal, they make up the rune word Ancient's Pledge. Check the
Rune Word page for more on Ancient's Pledge.
Quest 3 - Prison of Ice
Quest Giver: Malah.
Begin by: speaking with Malah after completing Quest 2, or by getting close to Anya in the Frozen River Cave.
Quest Location: The Frozen River, Crystalline Passage.
Quest Reward: +10 to all resistances from Malah, and a class-specific item from Anya.
Your objective, after conversing with Malah, is to rescue Anya, who is missing. She's in the Frozen River, so head past the Frigid Highlands all the way to the Crystalline Passage underground dungeon. Inside, you'll find another cave that's labeled "The Frozen River". Activate the waypoint in the Crystalline Passage before you find Anya. In the Frozen River, navigate the maze until you find a group of abominables, headed by a unique boss. After you destroy them, you'll find Anya on a small island encased in a block of ice. Your quest log will update telling you to speak with Malah. Fire up a town portal, and from Malah you'll receive a thaw potion. Go back to Anya and click on her to thaw. She'll thank you and head back to town.
After the thawing, fire up another town portal or make sure you activate the waypoint in the Crystalline Passage, as you'll have to be coming back this way. Go back to town and see Malah for your +10 resistance scroll, and then Anya for your class-specific item. Speak to Anya again for the next quest.
Quest 4 - Betrayal of Harrogath
Quest Giver: Anya.
Begin by: speaking with Anya after completing Quest 3.
Quest Location: Halls of Vaught, Nihlathak's Temple.
Quest Reward: Anya permanently scribes your name onto the item of your choice.
Anya, after completing Quest 3, will open up a portal to Nihlathak's Temple. When you enter, find the stairs down two levels to the Halls of Vaught, which resembles a giant plus sign, and search each one of the directions for Nihlathak himself. He's an easy boss with a tough spell, using corpse explosion on any enemies you kill, so run right up to him, and attack and kill him as quickly as possible. Return to Anya when you're finished for the ability to scribe your name onto any item of your choice.
Quest 5 - Rite of Passage
Quest Giver: Qual-Kehk.
Begin by: reaching the Ancient's Way passage and speaking to Qual-Kehk.
Quest Location: Arreat Summit.
Quest Reward: Huge experience bonus. Level 20 required for Normal, level 40 for Nightmare and level 60 for Hell.
After speaking with Qual-Kehk, you'll find that the path to the top of the mountain is blocked by the guardians called the Ancients. When you make your way through the Ancient's Way dungeon to stairs to Arreat Summit, you'll find three statues surrounding a pedestal. Activate the pedestal, and the three ancients will attack, each of them extremely tough. On Nightmare and Hell difficulties, this is the toughest fight of the game, but the reward is well worth it. You cannot proceed past this point without either playing a multiplayer game and by using someone else's portal into Worldstone Keep, or by defeating the Ancients in single player.
Every time during the battle that you cast a town portal, the Ancients are reset. And, likewise, every time you leave the area through the Ancient's Way, the area is reset. On Nightmare and Hell, the odds are that you'll get at least one of the ancients, perhaps two, with a huge physical immunity and stone skin, making them near impossible without magic damage or elemental damage. Town Portal out of the area if you think their mods are too difficult for you and try again. When you're done, they'll allow you through to Worldstone Keep and the last area of the game. First speak with Qual-Khek.
Quest 6 - Eve of Destruction
Quest Giver: Qual-Kehk.
Begin by: speaking with Qual-Kehk after defeating the three Ancients, or by discovering the Throne of Destruction level.
Quest Location: Throne of Destruction and Worldstone Chamber.
Quest Reward: Whatever Baal drops, the completion of the game, a new difficulty if not on Hell, and a new title.
Make your way through the Worldstone Keep after defeating the Ancients and speaking with Qual-Kehk, down to level 3, which is the Throne of Destruction. In the large room you'll see Baal on his throne, and after a speech, he'll begin throwing one unique boss and minions after another at you. Defeat one set and another comes after, until you defeat five of them. They increase in difficulty each time, and on Nightmare or Hell, some of them can be quite brutal. When they're all defeated, head through the portal at the back of the throne alter into the Worldstone Chamber where Baal resides.
Baal isn't very tough compared with Diablo or Duriel or pretty much any other Act Boss. Once he's defeated, speak with Tyrael to complete the game, watch the ending cinematic, advance in difficulty level and receive a new title!
Your titles are presented in this order in the
standard game:
Beating Normal Mode: Male or Female --> Slayer
Beating Nightmare Mode: Male or Female --> Champion
Beating Hell Mode: Female --> Matriarch, Male --> Patriarch
Your titles are presented in this order in the hardcore game:
Beating Normal Mode: Male or Female --> Destroyer
Beating Nightmare Mode: Male or Female --> Conqueror
Beating Hell Mode: Male or Female --> Guardian