Chaos Sanctuary

"Proceed, hero, into Terror's lair. Know that Diablo's innermost sanctum is hidden by five seals. Only by opening each of these seals can you clear your way to the final battle."

- Hadriel


 * disambiguation: for the battle.net section which existed for Diablo II see The Chaos Sanctuary.

The Chaos Sanctuary was Diablo's seat of power within Hell.

Lore
Located in the Realm of Terror, the Chaos Sanctuary is set on a stone rising from a sea of lava, surrounded by rivers of blood. Both lava and blood have scorched the cathedral's exterior over the ages. It is an enormous cross-shaped building that resembles a shattered cathedral. Piles of skulls conceal the bottom of the walls, and inside, skulls lie scattered on the floor and are piled in cracks in the walls. Light comes from the glowing lava and from huge torches set in the floor, with souls chained around them. The Sanctuary is accessible from the River of Flame; statues mark the path. Deckard Cain wondered if they were the eyes of Diablo himself.

After parting ways with Mephisto and Baal in Travincal, Diablo resided in the Chaos Sanctuary. However, it was here that the group of heroes that had pursued him since Khanduras finally confronted and defeated the Lord of Terror.

In-game
The Chaos Sanctuary is the final zone in of Diablo II. Diablo himself is located in its innermost sanctum. It is hidden by five seals, and the Sanctuary itself is filled with numerous elite demons. Players should note that the nearest waypoint is found in the River of Flame, which divides the Sanctuary from the City of the Damned.

Three of the five seals release a super unique monster with a group of boosted minions. These are:


 * The Infector of Souls, a unique Venom Lord
 * Lord De Seis, a unique Oblivion Knight
 * The Grand Vizier of Chaos, a unique Storm Caster

Breaking the last seal while all the super uniques are slain will kill off the rest and summon Diablo.

Patch 1.10 also granted the Chaos Sanctuary status as a treasure class level 85 drop zone on Hell, so if one is doing Diablo runs, clearing out the monsters might prove beneficial. Ironically, Diablo himself and the seal monster packs are not TC 85 and thus cannot drop the highest possible treasure class items, The Sanctuary is well known for housing some tough enemies. Before the 1.13c patch, Oblivion Knights had the Iron Maiden curse, giving melee characters a serious disadvantage. In patch 1.13c, the curse was removed from the knights (not just those in the Chaos Sanctuary). Be wary that even without Iron Maiden these knights are strong and may come in a large pack (even in normal difficulty) sometimes composed of 6-8 knights and a group of Abyss knights, don't forget to re-stock potions when needed.

This area is also known to hand out one-hit kills even to players with very high health values on Nightmare and Hell difficulties. This may be due to a glitch in the game that allows all of the player's health to be drained to zero with one hit, thus killing the player. This is considered highly annoying, especially on higher difficulty levels where you lose experience points. Bring lots of Scroll of Town Portal and cast them before coming into the area again, thus saving the player a long run from the River of Flame waypoint.

Trivia

 * Knight statues are found in the Sanctuary. These use the models of Black Knights from Diablo I.