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Diablo IV

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How to Find Hidden Side Quests in Diablo 4

By
Nathan Garvin

After an unfortunate run-in with Lilith’s cult, you’ll find yourself chasing the Daughter of Hatred throughout Sanctuary in search of answers, with a prophecy portending the demise of Sanctuary itself hanging over your head. Those stakes aren’t dire enough to restrain you from getting distracted by the odd side quest, however, as characters you encounter are plagued by everything from missing eyes to cursed axes. More practically, completing side quests will often yield, XP, Gold, Renown and other treasure, not to mention whatever loot the miscreants and demons you’ll inevitably have to fell will drop. All side quests aren’t created equal, and finding them can be a bit of a chore if you don’t know what to look for, and in some cases, a matter of dumb luck even if you do. This page will cover finding and completing side quests in Diablo 4.

(1 of 1) As long as you’re in the same region, side quests will be marked on your map with blue exclamation points.

How to Find Side Quests in Diablo 4

Side quests have been part of Diablo from its very inception, albeit a surprisingly minor part compared to their status in most RPGs. With most side quest excised from the online version of Diablo 1 and the highly structured and limited side quests in Diablo 2 (most of which go ignored, save for a select few that offer noteworthy rewards), they’re not an aspect that immediately comes to mind when most people think of the Diablo franchise. Diablo 4 expands on side quests significantly, following modern gaming trends by having a large world map with quest-giving NPCs standing around, waiting for some hero to come and solve their problems for them.

Finding most side quests in Diablo 4 is a simple enough matter, just open your map and look for blue exclamation points. Note, however, that side quests will only appear on your map if you’re in the same region, so if you want to, say, find side quests in the "Frigid Expanse" iconFrigid Expanse, you’ll have to be in the Frigid Expanse when you open your map. Scanning your map from the safety of "Kyovashad" iconKyovashad ("Desolate Highlands" iconDesolate Highlands) will not help you find new side quests in other areas. Once you’ve started a side quest, however, their next objective will appear as a blue diamond, and they’ll be added to your journal, where they’ll be much easier to keep track of.

(1 of 2) As long as you’re in the same region, side quests will be marked on your map with a blue exclamation point.

As long as you’re in the same region, side quests will be marked on your map with a blue exclamation point. (left), and the consequences of your actions will follow through in the form of another, related side quest. (right)

Hidden Side Quests and Side Quest Chains in Diablo 4

While hunting region-by-region for side quests via your map will suffice for most of the game’s side quest, there are some that are a bit more obtuse. Some side quests require you to advance the main story and open up new areas, others require you to conquer strongholds and brave dungeons. The side quest Sight to Madness, for example, requires you to enter the dungeon Cultist Refuge, which in turn can’t be access until you conquer Stronghold Nostrava. None of this is mentioned during the quest, so innocuous-seeming tasks can easily snowball into larger endeavors.

Other quests are part of a quest chain, and you’ll have to complete earlier quests to unlock new ones. [Woodsman of "Nevesk" iconNevesk], for example, is a three-quest series that starts with the aforementioned eponymous Woodsman of Nevesk, after which you’ll be able to start the follow up quests [Chains of Possession] and ["Legacy Unmade" iconLegacy Unmade]. Follow up quests may be in the same location, or they may be in another region - in the former case, you may need to zone out and zone in to get the quest to spawn, and in the latter case you may have to search for them in the conventional manner (scan your map for blue exclamation points).

Some side quests can only be found through sheer serendipity - finding a quest item by kicking a random corpse, for example.

Finally, some side quests are just purposefully obtuse, and require you to just get lucky. The side quest ["Better Days" iconBetter Days] requires you to stumble upon a Faded Old Painting, an object we acquired by looting a random corpse (mostly an accidental click) during a mundane event we had cleared a few times already.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Blizzard Entertainment
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS4, PS5, XB One, XB X|S
  • Genre
    Action RPG
  • Guide Release
    15 March 2023
  • Last Updated
    11 November 2023
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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Diablo IV is the ultimate action RPG experience with endless evil to slaughter, countless abilities to master, nightmarish dungeons, and legendary loot. This guide for Diablo 4 currently contains the following:

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