Pandemonium Event

The Pandemonium Event is a Battle.net only event introduced in of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Though entirely optional it is challenging to complete and famous for being the source of the unique Large Charm, the Hellfire Torch.

Unlike the other Battle.net only quests, the Pandemonium Event is quite complex and has a lot more fights with some very special bosses specially created for the quest. The event culminates in a showdown with Pandemonium Diablo.

Background

 * Note: considering that the Pandemonium Event is a Battle.net only quest and is not available in the Single player or even open Battle.net games, it is generally not considered to be a part of official lore.

After her legions of Succubi and strongest daughter Andariel were killed by mortals who successfully defended the Worldstone, Lilith, the Queen of the Succubi and matron of all demons, swore to personally intervene. She masterminded the revival of Diablo by manifesting herself in the mortal realm and performing a ritual of Dark Summoning. This ritual, long thought to be impossible by the most powerful mortal wizards, allowed Lilith to link with Diablo across realms, strengthening him until he was finally able to once again reincarnate himself in the mortal plane. Rage and a deep yearning for revenge boiled within the eyes of the Lord of Terror, and together he and Lilith resurrected the two remaining Prime Evils as well as Duriel and Izual, two of their strongest agents.

Diablo announced his grand plan - the Three were finally strong enough to spread Pandemonium throughout Sanctuary. Lilith could have easily conducted an assault on her own, but because she had been left severely weakened by the Dark Summoning ritual, she agreed to aid the Prime Evils and command some of their remaining forces.

The Keys
The initiation of the quest is pretty straightforward. It involves the collection of the three Keys that will open the portal to Uber Tristram, where the three Uber Prime Evils reside. But the key collection is in itself quite complex. The first step is retrieving three minor keys.

The Minor Keys
The Minor Keys are required to open the minor portals that will help you collect the major keys. There are three different minor keys, and to open any one of the minor portals, a complete set of three different keys are required. This means that the player will have to collect, in all, three minor keys of each type, which totals to nine keys.

To get the minor keys, the player has to kill one of the agents of the Prime Evils on the mortal plane. They are:


 * The Summoner (Mephisto)
 * The Countess (Diablo)
 * Nihlathak (Baal)

They need to be killed in a difficulty game in which they have a chance to drop the Keys of Hate, Terror and Destruction respectively along with their normal drop. They drop it quite rarely, sometimes dropping only one in 10-15 runs, but you can still run any one of them and continue to collect only one type of key. It is advisable to only run them for the three keys that are required for quest completion.

The Major Keys
Once you have a complete set of three different Minor Keys, go to Act V, Harrogath. Put them in the Horadric Cube and then transmute them. In a way, that is very similar to the Secret Cow Level, you will create a Portal teleporting you to a place where you would have to fight a more powerful agent of Evil:


 * Uber Duriel in the Forgotten Sands
 * Uber Izual in the Furnace of Pain
 * Lilith in the Matron's Den

They will drop, upon death, Baal's Eye, Mephisto's Brain, and Diablo's Horn respectively, the Major Keys that will help you create the Portal to Uber Tristram.

It is highly recommended that you collect all nine required Minor Keys and open all the three Portals within the same game. If they are opened in separate games, there are chances that the same portal is opened leading to a waste of three different Minor Keys.

Uber Tristram

 * See the Uber Tristram article for additional information.

Once you have all the three Major Keys, you can to go back to Harrogath and transmute them in the Horadric Cube. This will create the portal to Uber Tristram.

Uber Tristram has the same base structure as the regular Tristram but has a pack-load of hellish monsters, like the rare and powerful Balrogs. There are also a variety of unique monsters, champions and their minions along with the masters of the pack, the Uber Prime Evils themselves. The main objective when the player reaches Uber Tristram is to find and defeat Uber Mephisto, Uber Baal, and Pandemonium Diablo (because Uber Diablo already exists).

Über Mephisto has a Conviction Aura, which causes -125% to all of your resists, and summons Skeleton Mages and Archers everywhere, which can be challenging. Pandemonium Diablo is a "tank" for Baal. He has tons of life and summons Pit Lords which are immune to everything but Physical damage. Über Baal is pretty much the same as Hell mode Baal. He has a little more life and summons Ghoul Lords and Ghosts, which are both Physical Immune.

Once you kill them, the last one to die will give you the Hellfire Torch, a Large Charm that gives +3 to any one of a certain class' skills, and random resistances and attributes, and the Standard of Heroes. The Standard of Heroes is a symbol that shows that you have completed this quest successfully.

The easiest way to kill all three Ubers, as they are called in game, is a Smiter (a paladin who uses smite).

A fool-proof way to kill the Ubers is to run straight up when you enter the portal. Then go around to the left and go halfway down. Then slowly walk towards the center of Tristram. This causes Diablo and Baal to charge at you. Run away to the left and top again so Mephisto doesn't instant kill you. Then work on Diablo first because his Pit Lords can kill you pretty quickly. Baal comes next. It may take a few tries, but make sure you make your game permanent, so if you die, you can save and exit and come back. After the two easiest are dead, Mephisto is left. He is easily the hardest monster in the entire game. There are a few different ways to kill him.

Depending on your skill as a player, the fastness of your computer, and the ability of your build. The first way to kill him is to just charge in and attack like crazy. If life tap isn't cast within the first 10-15 seconds, you will die and have to start over again, though by going to the various magic vendors (such as Akara in act 1) you can buy a Wand with charges of Life Tap. Simply by having the wand in your second weapon set allows you to cast Life Tap before going in making all three bosses trivial and eliminating the luck factor involved with other methods. The second way to kill him is to trigger him, then run into a building AWAY from the portal, and let him follow you into it and get stuck. Then either teleport out (if you're wearing Enigma), die, or save and exit. Then after you're back in the game, run straight to the house and attack him. Since he is kept away from his minions his Conviction aura is less of a threat. This may take a few tries.

Warnings

 * Prevents Monster Heal does not work on any of the Uber Bosses, be it Duriel or the Uber Three.
 * Since their health regeneration is so powerful, players wishing to deal damage must have Open Wounds at a sufficient percentage at the bare minimum, lest they do nothing but frustrate other players.
 * Stack those resistances! Mephisto has a lv. 20 Conviction aura that greatly lowers your resistances, adding to Hell difficulty's already painful reductions.
 * It is recommended to have as much Life as humanly possible. All Uber bosses deal significant damage, often 100 with the capped physical resistance of 50%. Bring Full Rejuvenation Potions as well - the damage is too much for even a Super Healing Potion to cover instantly.