Strongholds are a major focus of Diablo 4, they’re former towns or forts that are overrun by enemies and should you be able to cleanse them, you’ll unlock their features as a town with vendors, sometimes a Waypoint or unlock access to new Dungeons, Events, or Side Quests. This page will guide you on completing the Malnok Stronghold in the Fractured Peaks.

Where to Find the Malnok Stronghold¶

Malnok is a Stronghold in the Fractured Peaks which will scale the level of the enemies with your own player level. You can find it in the middle of the eastern half of the Fractured Peaks. Your fastest way to reach it is by visiting Kyovashad and taking the eastern bridge exit. From there, continue east through the thin passes, and then head for the large area that surrounds the valleys. You’ll find a hill path from the south that will take you into the stronghold.

Search for the source of the storm¶

As soon as you enter this village, you’ll notice that a fierce storm rages in the area and that everything has frozen over. Your first task, then, is to locate the source of said storm and how you may put a stop to it. Packs of Ice Clan enemies will attempt to thwart your search, so be prepared for a fight at any moment’s notice.

As for the source, head into the center of the village and you’ll find a massive brute in the center, surrounding the ice with three rays of light shooting off in different directions. Looks like you’ll need to deal with those first before you can stop the blizzard.

Find and Slay Ice Clan Stormcallers¶

There are three Ice Clan Stormcallers located around this village, and you must work your way up to them and defeat them (they’re all Elites) to eventually bring down the blizzard.

Western Ice Clan Stormcaller¶

Begin by heading for the Stormcaller that is stationed to the west of the village. If you look southwest of the center of town, you’ll find a wall that you can climb up, do so and follow the path to the first Stormcaller.

It’ll be behind a barrier to begin with, so you’ll need to focus on dealing with the Ritual Guardian that goes by the name of Coldaxe. This is an Elite itself so be prepared for a difficult battle. Once it falls and the barrier is gone from the Stormcaller, it should soon die quickly and you stop the first part of the blizzard.

Southeastern Ice Clan Stormcaller¶

The next Stormcaller can be found in the southeast of Malnok. Make your way to the east of the village and then look to the southeast near a house to find another wall you can climb. Follow this path and you’ll come across a large group of Ice Clan again where you must first deal with Winterspear, another Ritual Guardian, before you can deal with the Stormcaller itself.

Northeastern Ice Clan Stormcaller¶

Two down, one to go, and you’ll find this final Stormcaller up on the east side of the village. Once you slide down from the previous Stormcaller, be sure to go into the nearby house now to loot a chest.

Once you’re done pillaging, head around the house and start going north to find yet another wall you can scale. As with the previous two Stormcallers, you’ll need to defeat Rimescar, a third Ritual Guardian, before you can deal with the Stormcaller once its barrier is gone.

With the blizzard now gone, all that remains is to deal with the threat at the center of town, be sure to use the Health Well to recover your HP and Potions and then prepare for the boss.

Slay Frosthorn, Ice Clan Champion¶

Your final obstacle in cleansing the Malnok Stronghold is taking down Frosthorn, a difficult boss in a rather limited arena. Frosthorn has long reach with his massive club and will utilize various ice-based attacks against you, so any resistance to Ice will pay off massively here.

Frosthorn has a variety of attacks available to him, and you can learn about them all below:

• Ground Pound: Frosthorn leaps into the air and slams his axe into the ground, dealing damage to anyone nearby and shooting off ice missiles in all directions.

• Cleave: Frosthorn swings his massive in front of him, dealing damage to anyone that is standing in the frontal arc. It will also shoot off ice missiles in the directions of the swing. He will sometimes perform two swings back-to-back.

• Icy Explosions: Once you bring him down to his first potion drop, frost explosions will go off in the center of the area and will continue to do so consecutively in a circle pattern. If you’re caught in this, you will be frozen in place and vulnerable to follow-up strikes from Frosthorn.

• Outer Icy Explosions Once you bring him down to his second potion drop, Icy Explosions will go off around the entire outer edge of the arena, one after the other so keep an eye for it and move inside when you spot it.

Frosthorn is a great example of a battle that starts off simple enough, but once you get him down below half his HP, it becomes chaotic. Look to save any ultimates for around this phase and try to burn him down as quickly as possible.

Movement is key for this battle, you’ll want to be on the move constantly and once chaos reigns in the final stages of the battle, you’ll need to be weaving in and out of the Icy Explosions that are happening around the outer edge and inside the center of the arena. Getting caught by one at this stage can often lead to defeat as you can get caught up in a constant chain of being frozen and getting struck by his axe.

Once Frosthorn finally falls, head over to the bell in the northeast of the village to cleanse this Stronghold.

Malnok Stronghold Rewards¶

So now that you’ve finally cleansed the Stronghold (or are reading ahead to see if it’s worth it), what are your hard-earned rewards? Unlike Nostrava, you won’t unlock a Waypoint, but you will see the return of vendors along with unlocking two new Dungeons, Anica’s Claim and Rimescar Cavern. On top of these unlocks, you’ll get the usual huge boost to your Renown.