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Diablo IV: Dark Citadel Guide — Vessel of Hatred
The new Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred expansion has brought many gifts for our Diablo fans. From an all-new story campaign to the improvised character level system, this new expansion feels like a whole other game. Fortunately for us, the game has maintained its replayability through special dungeons, continuous Realmwalker Rising Events, and, of course, the Dark Citadel dungeon.
The Dark Citadel is a new type of co-op PvE dungeon where players must group with party members to defeat powerful bosses and solve mind-boggling puzzles to yield previous rewards. Oh, and don’t expect it to be a walk in the park either, as this multiplayer dungeon will test you both physically and mentally. The only problem is that while everyone is talking about this new dungeon, no one dares to delve into the details. Therefore, in this article, we will provide a complete Diablo IV Dark Citadel guide, how to unlock it, and the best way to complete this event, let’s start:
Blogs Diablo IV: The Dark Citadel Dungeon
Dark Citadel is the first-ever multiplayer dungeon in Diablo IV. This dungeon can only be completed in parties with a minimum of 2 to 4 players. According to the lore, the Dark Citadel is a dark crater left behind after the devastations of the Mage Wars. This crater is filled with lost souls and the Khazra Warriors, who have been experimenting to revive an Ancient God. It is now up to your party to prevent the Khazra from succeeding in their endeavors.
However, unlike other dungeons, you can’t just storm the place through brute force. Instead, you must collaborate with all your party members, as most of the tasks, fights, and puzzles require some serious teamwork. This dungeon consists of three phases, each having a unique puzzle and a powerful boss that can only be defeated by joining forces with the rest of your party.
Blogs How to Unlock the Dark Citadel?
First things first, you must learn how to unlock and access the Dark Citadel dungeon in Diablo IV before you can access the party finder. Like everything else in Diablo IV, the Dark Citadel is hidden behind a huge list of prerequisites. For instance, you must complete the main story campaign, access the Tormented 1 tier, then complete the Vessel of Hatred, and finally complete a priority quest to unlock this multiplayer dungeon. Here is a list of all the requirements you must complete to unlock the Dark Citadel:
- Complete the base game’s campaign on any difficulty (just beat Lilith)
- Reach the max character level in season 6, i.e., 60.
- Unlock Torment 1 Difficulty
- Attempt while in a Torment 1+ World.
- Complete the Vessel of Hatred Campaign
Judging from the above requirements, the Dark Citadel is exclusively available for players who have purchased and finished the Vessel of Hatred expansion. Once you complete the above requirements, head to the World Tier Statue in Upper Kurast and speak with Priestess Cualli to start the Crater of Lost Souls Priority Quest. This location isn’t marked on the map, so you must manually find the Warrior’s Camp to start this questline.
After completing the quest, you will unlock the Rise of the Khazra marker in pretty much the same location as the quest; this marks the Dark Citadel’s entrance. Hopefully, you already have a party of 2 to 4 members ready to complete the Citadel dungeon. If not, then access the pause menu, navigate to the Social Tab, and use the Party Finder menu to team up with other solo players. Finally, head to the Dark Citadel entrance and enter through the Khazra doorway to start the Diablo IV multiplayer dungeon.
Blogs Important Dark Citadel Mechanics
The Dark Citadel is built around the concept of multiplayer co-op mode. So, everything you do inside the dungeon reflects your party’s success or failure. Here are a few key gameplay mechanics that you must master to complete the dungeon:
Difficulty Scaling:
First of all, all Dark Citadel dungeons scale with the number of players in the party and their respective character levels. So, completing the dungeon with a 2 member party will be far less challenging than playing the same dungeon with 4 players. However, a bigger party means that you can assign a different task to every member and complete the dungeon in record time. On the other hand, playing with a smaller party restricts multitasking and teamwork but the bosses won’t be as challenging. Therefore, it is important to judge your party’s skills and choose a calculated party size accordingly.
Reflecting Boss Attacks:
Some bosses in the Dark Citadels can only be defeated by reflecting their own attacks, i.e., all other attacks and skills won’t deal any damage. These bosses sometimes use such move sets that mimicking them requires the collaboration of the entire party. Similarly, some bosses require you to quickly grab an item while keeping the enemy engaged simultaneously. Therefore, teamwork is extremely important inside the Dark Citadel dungeons. These mechanics are purposefully designed to keep the combat intense and engaging for all participants.
Cooperative Puzzles:
As mentioned earlier, you can’t clear a Dark Citadel with brute force strategies. So, beyond the cooperative combat mechanics, all party members must engage in solving puzzles through strategic teamwork. It also means that different tasks must be assigned to the party members so that you can tackle these cooperative puzzles in the Dark Citadel.
Treasury Bar:
You will notice a Treasure Bar in the top right corner of the screen whenever you attempt the Dark Citadel. You can fill up this bar by killing the Elites that appear as skulls on the screen. The progress you make in this bar determines your reward tiers for the current playthrough. So, always prioritize killing Elites first to maximize your loot consistency.
Blogs How to Complete the Dark Citadel in D4?
The Dark Citadel is perhaps the most challenging dungeon in the entire Diablo universe. Apart from the enraged elites, players must solve difficult puzzles to make it to the next room. There are three wings in total in each Dark Citadel dungeon. Your job is to infiltrate, clear, and solve all three wings to make it to the end of the dungeon and unlock your weekly rewards. Oh, and you have complete freedom to choose and clear the wings in any order. Furthermore, you can also divide your larger party into two groups so that you can clear two wings at the same time.
Blogs Enclave of Strife
Reward: Helm of Khazra Cosmetic, Legendary Cache
The Enclave of Strife is located in the leftmost corner of the Dark Citadel. Once you enter this wing, you must use Ward Stones and Sealing Wards to make it to the boss fight arena. Furthermore, defeating the wing’s boss requires teamwork of two players as one must open the gateway for the other player.
- Enter the Enclave of Strife and defeat Ward Guardians to drop the Ward Stones.
- Look for color-matching pressure plates or Soul Siphons and use them to unlock the next rooms.
- Collect Realm Shards from mob enemies and place them at the gateway to unlock the Spirit Realm.
- At this stage, at least one player must enter the Spirit Realm, and the other must stay behind to bring the other one back.
- The player in the Spirit Realm must defeat the Ward Guardians and place the Ward Stones to dispel the Sealing Wards.
- Next, the Spirit Realm player must defeat the Fragmented Soul of Gorschak and acquire the Soul Essence.
- The player in the other realm should now open the gateway again and deposit the Soul Essence in the Conduit of Souls to make Gorschak, The First Ascendant, vulnerable to damage.
- Finally, defeat Gorschak and return to the main lobby to move on to the next wing.
Blogs Labyrinth of Souls
Reward: Gloves of Khazra Cosmetic, Legendary Cache
The Labyrinth of Souls is located in the right-most corner of the Dark Citadel lobby. This wing is pretty confusing as it includes all the mechanics from the previous wing and much more. Furthermore, you must now face and defeat two bosses to clear this wing.
- Enter the Labyrinth of Souls wing and search for Sigil Rooms.
- Next, defeat the Barrier Guardians to drop various Sigils and match them with their corresponding doors to progress any further.
- Next, pass through the Realm of Oblivions and use Soul Dampeners to deal with the Impending Doom debuff.
- After passing through the Oblivions Realm, players must now face Faeroch, The Incinerator.
- Find and use the Barrier Ward to create a safe zone bubble, as Faeroch has specialization in killing parties.
- Stand inside this safety bubble to dodge the boss’s Fire of the Hells and use the time between his attacks to retaliate before returning back to the safe zone.
- Finally, find more Sigils and match them with the signs around the battle arena to make Lorzuul, the Gorger, vulnerable to damage.
- Defeat this second boss to complete the wing and return back to the Dark Citadel lobby.
Blogs Dominion of Zagraal
Reward: Severed Head of Zagraal, Khazra Armor Cosmetic, Legendary Cache
The Dominion of Zagraal is the central wing in the Dark Citadel lobby. This wing is the hardest one so far, as it includes all previous mechanics. Furthermore, you must now face two additional bosses simultaneously in two different realms to clear the wing.
- Enter the Dominion of Zagraal wing and make your way to the Pedestals Puzzle.
- Stepping on the Pedestals simultaneously will dispel the barrier around the gateway.
- Enter the portals to defeat Spell Guardians and Ward Guardians to get Counterspell Stones and Ward Stones, respectively.
- Eventually, you will make your way to the boss arena, where you must face Vorshok and Hurstt at the same time.
- Additionally, you must defeat Spell Guardians and use the Counterspell Stones to deflect a Soul Orb from either boss and send him to the Spirit Realm.
- Next, enter the Spirit Realm and defeat whichever boss you managed to counter.
- Finally, return to the main realm and repeat the same steps to defeat the second boss in the Spirit Realm.
- Make your way deeper into the Dark Citadel dungeon to defeat the Zagraal boss by combining all the mechanics from previous wings.
Blogs The Dark Citadel Rewards
The Dark Citadel is perhaps the most rewarding activity in Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred. While it can be pretty challenging to complete all three wings of the Citadel dungeon, our Spiritborn Quill Evade build has proved to be the most efficient so far, despite the nerf. In any case, here is a list of all the rewards that you should expect from the different wings of the dungeon:
- Citadel Coins
- Gold
- Experience Points
- Forgotten Souls
- Khazra Horns
- Runewords
- Scattered Prisms
- Tempering Manuals
Completing the Dark Citadel will also yield weekly cache rewards that players can unlock to receive Legendary rewards, depending on your Treasury Bar. So, players should attempt the Dark Citadel at least once a week to get all the gear items for the current week. Furthermore, you can trade your Citadel Coins to purchase exclusive cosmetics. Special Scrolls, Incense, Elixirs, and Caches from the vendor just outside the Dark Citadel.
Blogs Conclusion
To sum it up, the Dark Citadel is a new PvP endgame dungeon in the Diablo IV Vessel of Hatred expansion. You can only attempt this dungeon in parties of 2 to 4 players, and the difficulty scales with the number of players in the party. Just don’t forget to maintain teamwork inside the Citadel, and you will end up victorious every time. Also, don’t forget to check our other blogs as we are regularly updating new guides on our database.
Blogs System Requirements
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Blogs PC System Requirement
| Minimum Specifications | |||
OS |
64-bit Windows® 10 version 1909 or newer |
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CPU |
Intel® Core™ i5-2500K or AMD™ FX-8350 |
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RAM |
8 GB RAM |
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Graphics |
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660 or Intel® Arc™ A380 or AMD Radeon™ R9 280 |
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DirectX |
Version 12 |
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Network |
Broadband Internet connection |
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Storage |
90 GB available space |
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Additional Notes |
*1080p native resolution / 720p render resolution, low graphics settings, 30fps, SSD Required |
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| Maximum Specifications | |||
OS |
64-bit Windows® 10 version 1909 or newer |
||
CPU |
Intel® Core™ i5-4670K or AMD Ryzen™ 1300X |
||
RAM |
16 GB RAM |
||
Graphics |
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970 or Intel® Arc™ A750 or AMD Radeon™ RX 470 |
||
DirectX |
Version 12 |
||
Network |
Broadband Internet connection |
||
Storage |
90 GB available space |
||
Additional Notes |
*1080p resolution, medium graphics settings, 60fps, SSD Required |
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