The Prologue for Diablo 4 kicks off in style: “Sanctuary was never meant for humans. It was forged as a refuge from the war between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells”. Welcome to the Prologue of Diablo 4. In one of the best set ups in Diablo history, adventurers are immediately treated to some exposition and lore to put everything into context, making the fourth entry in the mainline series (Not you, Immortal) an accessible one.
Diablo 4 Prologue¶
Always take a coat.
As our chosen Hero passes through a savage snow storm, a mysterious entity stalks and sadly guts their horse. All hope is lost, with the adventurer finding their way to a cave for shelter. Chances are they’ll freeze to death, but they are saved by a mysterious Faceless Wolf. Rising to their feet, it’s time to grab our first taste of gameplay with Diablo 4.
Adventurers will instantly notice the yellow exclamation mark on their mini map on the top-right of the screen. This will lead to the nearest town, however various enemies such as 
Wargs and more plague the ruined snowscape between our Hero and safety. Just use basic attacks to clear the way, it’s nothing to worry about. After traveling East to the map marker, Adventurers will arrive at Nevesk, which is, for the most part, abandoned.
Just a mad person and two other people retraining him in the middle of a derelict town. Everything is obviously fine.
After taking in the (non)scenery in Nevesk for a few seconds, screaming can be heard from a nearby hut. This also completes the “Find the source of the voices” condition for the “
Dusk on the Mountain” main quest. A Villager names Oswan gives our Hero a cold welcome before his companion Vani steps in for a proper introduction. It seems they’ve managed to bind a wondering Delirious man babbling about “Demons flowing from the ruins”. When questioned, Vani takes our Adventurer to the nearby Tavern to explain more.
The ruins to the North of Nevesk have become overrun with evil entities, with the troubled Monk man falling victim to their madness. When walking into the Tavern, players will spot an Armor Vendor straight off the bad, which is quite refreshing for A-RPGs. Vani then asks our Hero to take care of their little pest issue in 
Icehowl Ruins, a condition for the “
Darkness Within” main quest. Start by heading out on Nevesk to journey North. Adventurers will encounter 
Skeletons, 
Bears and more on the way which can all be handled easily enough. Make sure to hit any breakables on the way fro Gold and loot drops. It doesn’t matter if the gear isn’t better than what’s equipped, we can sell it to the Armor Vendor after this quest has finished.
Prologue: Icehowl Ruins¶
Head North to the Tower Gate to enter Icehowl Ruins.
Heading to the most Northern point will take Adventurers to the Tower Gate. Open it to enter Icehowl Ruins, the first Dungeon experience in Diablo IV. What a prologue! Starting in the Abandoned Hall, navigate through the rooms, smashing up the place as our Hero goes for some cheeky Gold drops. Skeletons will begin to appear around five rooms in, so be on ones guard!
Hero’s should be hitting Level 3 by now, so don’t forget to hit the character menu and take a look at the abilities menu. There’s plenty of starting abilities for every build to get the edge over the 
Fallen opponents that lurk deeper in Icehowl Ruins. Make sure to keep an eye out for small brown chests with a slither of white light appearing from them. They contain some decent Hide Armor and potions which are all useful and provide more defense than the starter gear.
Make sure to time dodges well against X’Fal, The Scarred Baron.
The Skeleton crew start upping the ante with the appearance of 
Skeleton Captains, Shivering Skeletons and 
Skeleton Archers. Again, nothing that a quick bit of lightning or the blow of a sword won’t fix. Once Adventurers hit the Healing Well and begin their decent into the Hell-Touched Halls, Hellstompers waste no time laying into our Hero. Fallen and 
Fallen Shaman litter the ruined room, but still keep a keen eye for any Armor Racks and Chests for some good loot and Gold drops. The navigation of the Hell-Touched Corridors is straight forward, which means it won’t be long until Adventurers reach the Chamber of Calling.
A Monk is knelt down over a bloody symbol on the floor as players enter, which soon calls upon Diablo 4s first boss, X’Fal, The Scarred Baron. Once X’Fal has been defeated, head over to the wooden scaffolding at the back of the room to climb up to Icehowl Taiga. This will take players to a lookout point just North of Nevesk, so head straight South to enter the quiet town and into the Tavern to speak with Vani.
Prologue: Nevesk Betrayal¶
Iosef the bludgeoning Monk to the rescue!
Before doing so, make sure to offload any unwanted look to 
Isbel the Armor Vendor. After telling Vani the good news, she states that she doesn’t have any Gold to pay him. They settle on a booze up and a dance instead, which obviously leads to one too many for our Hero. Once he passes out, the party suddenly stops as the ever polite Oswen pops in with a cart to ship off our Hero. Perhaps all isn’t what it seems in Nevesk?
Oswen eventually drops the illusion of the backwater Town by taking our Hero into a blood and body-ridden barn where it’s quite clear that Oswen isn’t a full shilling. He then force feads “Mothers Blood”, something we’ll find out about later on. Suddenly, A Monk named “Iosef” sneaks to the rescue and bludgeons the lovely Oswen to death. He warns the whole village is coming and manages to wake up our Hero just in time. The end of this cutscene also marks the completion of the main quest “
A Hero’s Return”.
Slapping some crazy villagers about after dealing with beings literally created in hell is a cake walk. Once defeated, go and have a chat with Iosef, who is actually the delirious man from the shed. It looks like the compassionate villagers of Nevesk drugged him too. Before Isosef can explain anymore, our Hero decides to throw up Blood Petals, an evil ritual of which villagers should have no knowledge of. It seems the source of this knowledge is in the Chapel, which they of course kept locked up.
Vani seems to be nicer now she’s dead.
Find the corpse of Vani to retrieve the 
Chapel Key and follow Iosef. He’ll head past the Tavern towards the Chapel entrance, which needs cleansing in fire apparently. As we enter the Chapel, the same Blood Petals are scattered across the floor before the altar. Interacting with them reveals a cutscene showing how the villagers of Nevesk were exposed to the mania of Lilith and lost their minds. We won’t ruin it too much, but its a fun video to watch dependant on one’s disposition.
After regaining consciousness, our Hero warn of the Lords of Hell that are coming, withy Isoseff reporting to the Cathedral and our Hero learning of a hermit who can help to the North-East. Completing this conversation also finishes off the “Prayers of Salvation” main quest line. The next main quest, entitled “
In Search of Answers”, is marked by a yellow emblem on the main map and mini-map on the top-right. Simply head North-East and destroy everything breathing and otherwise along the way.
In Search For Answers¶
Altars of Lilith can be found all over the Fractured Peak.
Make sure to visit the Altar of Lilith to collect the Boulder Ridge Realm Power, which in this case is our Hero’s Murmuring Obol capacity being increased by 5. 
Spiders and 
Vampire Bats are some of the lovely critters players can expect to pet with their destructive magic and weapons, with Herbs and Ore piles lying shattered across the Realm of Fractured Peaks. Start collecting them now and thank us later.
Head to the Northern-most point of the quest area to find a treasure chest, then head to the centre of the area to find the Hermit Cabin. Interact with the bookshelf to find a secret room. Then inspect the strange skull to initiate a cut scene where the hermit introduces himself, who, by the way, is an absolute gent and sorts out a bit of supper. He explains “The Mother” is Lilith, the Demon Lord responsible for creating Sanctuary.
The next morning sees our Hero accompanying the Hermit Lorath to Kyovashad in the “
Rite of Passage” main quest. This kicks off by heading North-East down the Eastern Pass. Just an FYI, players should be well clear of level 5 by now, so make sure to use those ability points. Fallen and Fallen Shaman can be found along the way, just make sure to dispatch them as they approach. Running away will just build a horde of them that will eventually catch players up.
Lorath The Cheap¶
We’re still waiting for that 20 Gold, !Lorath. Find the cheapskate at the Stables in !Kyovashad.
Lorath will give us some lore details about the Holy Father of the 
Cathedral of Light, the angel 
Inarius and the long-time enemy of Lilith. Just to the left of 
Kyovashad should be an Event hot spot, which if completed drops some really cool gear. Heros will need to perform a “Spirit Cleanse” to enter Kyovashad, which is a tradition that Lorath is notoriously known to shun. Head straight to the stables on the left of the town entrance for a final goodbye from Lorath, who will send you to the merchant on the next street up to pick up Lorath’s Polearm, his old ornate blade. Players will also be given a 
Strange Amulet, but they’ll have to pay 20 gold for the Polearm.
Hero should then return to Lorath, who will apologize but not reimburse players for the Polearm, but will explain that the Strange Amulet is a mark of the Horadrim, an ancient order of scholars and mages sworn to protect Sanctuary from demons. After being directed to the Cathedral and another point of interest, Lorath heads to the Dry Steppes to find out the identity of the “Pale Man”. Oh, and Hero just so happens to be the key to stopping Lilith, because no one saw that one coming.
Who is this pale man called Elias, the child of Lilith? A complete mystery.
More Diablo 4 Content¶
That concludes the Diablo IV Prologue, make sure to check out our other Diablo IV related content, including our Interactive Map:
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