Diablo 3: The Darkening of Tristram

The anniversary event, The darkening of Tristram, has returned this year. I’ve already completed the Diablo 1 inspired dungeon on my PC, but I also wanted to run the event on my Switch. This time, I rolled a Necromancer. It was good fun exploring the labyrinth once again.

I’ve made some notes for the future since some things are easily forgotten:

When you start, make sure you start a fresh level 1 character. Run straight from the Old Ruins waypoint to the portal for The Darkening of Tristram without killing any mobs on the way. Once passed through the portal, you run straight to the Labyrinth without clicking anything. Clicking the cows, dead bodies,… will come later when you have obtained the necessary items. They are important for getting certain achievements, pets,… during the event.

The Butcher pet was the first one I got by clearing the dungeon with a fresh level 1 character solo. This will grant you the ‘An Eerie Red Glow Blurs Your Vision’ achievement and the Butcher pet at the end.

The Ogden’s Sign, and Ogden’s Brew (both banners), Red Soul Shard (legendary headslot gem), and The Butcher’s Cleaver (transmog) are easily obtainable since they are guaranteed rewards from killing bosses in the labyrinth. You clear the entire dungeon once and you have all of these for sure.

The next one is more tricky since it was bugged once again. How to get the plans for The Wirt’s Leg (transmog) and The Royal Calf (pet):

• In Level 9 of the dungeon, you will find the Black Mushroom, click on it to obtain a Rotten Mushroom;
• Go back to Old Tristram and find Adria’s Hut. Throw the Rotten Mushroom inside the cauldron to obtain Witch’s Brew;
• Click the four corpses in town in this order: Farnham, Ogden, Pepin, and Griswold. The last corpse will drop the plan for Wirt’s Leg;
• Then you can teleport back to town and teach it to the Blacksmith. You’ll find the plans under the Maces section. Now here’s where you have to pay attention since it was bugged 2 years in a row: If the plan is blue in stead of orange (legendary) don’t craft it! It costs 1 million gold to craft and a blue one (the bug) won’t do it. It has to be orange! They fixed the bug a few days later, but the damage was already done, I had lost a few million trying to craft the right Wirt’s Leg. I also had to first log into another character and then go back to my necromancer before the plan appeared legendary.
• After you’ve crafted the legendary Wirt’s Leg, you have to salvage it so it offers up the Map of the Stars, which reads 2-1-3;
• Go back to Adria’s Hut and click on the cow corpses in this order: middle (2), left (1), then right (3). This will open the Abandoned Farmstead portal;
• Head through the portal and find Wirt’s Stash. Open the chest to get the Cow Pet Trinket and right-click it to earn the Royal Calf.

The Classic Demon Portrait is a reward for killing 40 unique classic monsters in the Anniversary dungeon, gaining you ‘The Protector of Tristram’ achievement. The full list of unique monsters:

• Level 2: Rotfeast the Hungry, Shadowbite
• Level 3: Brokenhead Bangshield, Madeye the Dead
• Level 4: Blacklash the Burning, Gharbad the Weak, Snotspill
• Level 5: Bloodskin Darkbow, Foulwing, Shadowcrow
• Level 6: Bilefroth the Pit Master, Bloodgutter, Deathshade Fleshmaul
• Level 7: Blighthorn Steelmace, Gorestone, Nightwing the Cold
• Level 8: Baron Sludge, Firewound the Grim, Zhar the Mad
• Level 9: Breakspine, Brokenstorm, Oozedrool
• Level 10: Blackstorm, Goldblight of the Flame, The Flayer
• Level 11: Bluehorn, Fangspeir
• Level 12: Lionskull the Bent, Viletouch, Viperflame
• Level 13: Rustweaver, Warlord of Blood, Witchmoon
• Level 14: Graywar the Slayer, Steelskull the Hunter, Stareye the Witch
• Level 15: The Vizier
• Unholy Altar: Blackjade, Red Vex
• Level 16: Sir Gorash

The Classic Angel portrait is awarded from the ‘I Sense a Soul in Search of Answers’ achievement. You can get this achievement by collecting all 7 Cultist’s Page items which are dropped by Temporal Priests. They can be found in the following locations:

• Act I: The Weeping Hollow, Festering Woods, Cathedral levels 1, 2 and 4, Halls of Agony levels 1, 2 and 3;
• Act II: Dahlgur Oasis, Desolate Sands;
• Act III: Keep Depths 1, 2 and 3, Stonefort, Rakkis Crossing, Arreat Crater 1, Tower of the Damned 1, The Core of Arreat;
• Act IV: Gardens of Hope 1, 2 and 3, Silver Spire 1 and 2, Hell Rift 1;
• Act V: Westmarch Commons, Westmarch Heights, Paths of the Drowned, Battlefields of Eternity.

There can only be one Temporal Priest per location, which may drop duplicate pages so, be ready for several runs. They also drop while doing bounties so, you don’t necessarily need to complete this achievement with the same character you started the event with. Beware that you can’t trade these pages with a seasonal character!

I just finished the event for the second time, and I hope that everybody had as much fun as I had. Meanwhile, season 16 has started, and I’m experimenting with a new Witch Doctor build. But, more about that later!