The Darkening of Tristram (Walkthrough)

Everything here is related to The Darkening of Tristram event, which is a limited-time event in Diablo III. It occurs in January of each year starting with 2017, paying homage to the release date of Diablo I.

Rewards for completing the dungeon include banner elements (for killing all 4 bosses: Dark Lord, Archbishop Lazarus, and ), as well as:

Pets

 * The Butcher, obtained for clearing Anniversary Dungeon with a fresh character in one go.
 * Royal Calf, obtained through a semi-secret event line (see below).

Transmogrification weapons
There are two, modeled after The Butcher's Cleaver and Wirt's Leg.
 * The Butcher's Cleaver is looted from the Butcher (it's a Magic quality item).
 * is awarded for the same event line as Royal Calf.

Portraits
Two portraits are rewarded, angelic and demonic versions of Life and Mana orbs from the original game.

Cultist Pages
Classic Angel — A timeless guardian of order gazes upon you.

Cultist Pages are tomes needed to obtain a Classic Angel portrait from The Darkening of Tristram event in Diablo III.

All 7 pages are dropped by Temporal Priests. Each waypoint zone contains exactly 1 priest, and each priest drops a single page. They usually spawn at the end of a zone. These zones are as follows: See the relevant page for more details.
 * Act I: The Weeping Hollow, Festering Woods, Cathedral Levels 1, 2 and 4, Halls of Agony levels 1, 2 and 3
 * Act II: Dahlgur Oasis, Desolate Sands
 * Act III: Keep Depths 1, 2 and 3, Stonefort, Rakkis Crossing, Arreat Crater 1, Tower of the Damned 1, The Core of Arreat
 * Act IV: Gardens of Hope 1, 2 and 3, Silver Spire 1 and 2, Hell Rift 1
 * Act V: Westmarch Commons, Westmarch Heights, Paths of the Drowned, Battlefields of Eternity

Unique Monsters
Classic Demon — You are watched by a malevolent force from years past.

To obtain the Classic Demon portrait, you must kill all of the Unique monsters inside the Labyrinth listed bellow: (*) These monsters will always appear, in every game.
 * Level 1 — None
 * Level 2 — Shadowbite, Rotfeast the Hungry
 * Level 3 — Madeye the Dead, Brokenhead Bangshield
 * Level 4 — Gharbad the Weak (*), Snotspill (*), Blackash the Burning
 * Level 5 — Bloodskin Darkbow, Foulwing, Shadowcrow
 * Level 6 — Deathshade Fleshmaul, Bilefroth the Pit Master, Bloodgutter
 * Level 7 — Blighthorn Steelmace, Gorestone, Nightwing the Cold
 * Level 8 — Firewound the Grim, Zhar the Mad (*), Baron Sludge
 * Level 9 — Breakspine, Brokenstorm, Oozedrool
 * Level 10 — The Flayer, Goldblight of the Flame, Blackstorm
 * Level 11 — Bluehorn, Fangspeir
 * Level 12 — Viperflame, Viletouch, Lionskull the Bent
 * Level 13 — Warlord of Blood (*), Rustweaver, Witchmoon
 * Level 14 — Steelskull the Hunter, Graywar the Slayer, Stareye the Witch
 * Level 15 — The Vizier (*);
 * Unholy Altar — Red Vex (*), Blackjade (*);
 * Level 16 — Sir Gorash (*)

Each level is guaranteed to contain at least one unique monster and those already spawned do not prevent an additional monster from appearing. Statistically, it takes roughly 6-7 runs to collect all 40 of them.

Loot
Besides other loot, that can be found within the Anniversary dungeon, there is a guaranteed drop of these magic items.
 * Regular Magic Items
 * Archangel's Staff of Apocalypse
 * King's Sword of Haste
 * Godly Plate of the Whale


 * Quest Reward-Based Items
 * Ring of Truth from a Resplendent Chest in Dark Passage on Level 2
 * The Butcher's Cleaver from The Butcher on Level 2
 * The Undead Crown from Skeleton King in King Leoric's Tomb on Level 3
 * Harlequin Crest from Snotspill on Level 4
 * Arkaine's Valor after solving a puzzle on Level 5
 * Empyrean Band from Magic Rock on Level 5
 * Optic Amulet from a Resplendent Chest in the Halls of the Blind on Level 7
 * Griswold's Edge from Anvil of Fury on Level 10
 * Veil of Steel from Lachdanan's Corpse on Level 14
 * Red Soul Shard after killing the Dark Lord on Level 16

Level 1
"''The sanctity of this place has been fouled." ''— Ghastly Voice

Upon entering, ghastly voice of the hero from Diablo I can be heard as the music of Cathedral levels begins to play. Much like in the original game, player will soon find himself surrounded by various enemies.

Enemies in this dungeon bear strong resemblance to their Diablo I counterparts. Some of them do have their old abilities, and some do not. Those monsters, which do not have a direct equivalent in D3, use graphics of the closest possible match

Monsters

 * Fallen One
 * Scavenger
 * Skeleton Skeleton Captain
 * Zombie

Level 2
Second floor is where The Butcher can be found as well as the entrance to the Dark Passage.

It also introduces first two uniques which are mandatory for obtaining achievements Champion the Townsfolk and Protector of Tristram.

Loot

 * The Butcher's Cleaver from The Butcher
 * Ring of Truth from a Resplendent Chest in Dark Passage

Sub-zones

 * Dark Passage

Monsters

 * Carver, Devil Kin and Fallen One
 * Scavenger
 * Skeleton and Skeleton Captain
 * Zombie and Rotting Carcass

Uniques

 * The Butcher
 * Shadowbite*


 * Rotfeast the Hungry*

Level 3
Third level of the Cathedral.

Loot

 * The Undead Crown from Skeleton King in King Leoric's Tomb

Sub-zones

 * King Leoric's Tomb

Monsters

 * Black Death and Ghoul
 * Carver, Dark One
 * Burning Dead Skeletons, Corpse Skeletons, Skeleton Archer, Horror
 * Plague Eater and Shadow Beast
 * Fiend

Uniques

 * Skeleton King
 * Madeye the Dead*
 * Brokenhead Bangshield*

Level 4
Last cathedral floor. Three unique monsters, one of them with random chance to spawn, can be found within its nooks and crannies.

Loot

 * Harlequin Crest from Snotspill

Monsters

 * Dark One and Devil Kin
 * Rotting Carcass
 * Flesh Clan
 * Gloom

Uniques

 * Gharbad the Weak
 * Snotspill
 * Blacklash the Burning*

Level 5
"The smell of death surrounds me." — Ghastly Voice

Voice of the warrior from Diablo I can be heard for the second time as the music of Catacomb levels plays. Level 5 of Labyrinth is the first level of Catacombs, which uses slightly reskinned assets of Ruins of Corvus.

Arkaine's Valor can be found in a special chamber upon placing all three Blood Stones on Pedestal of Blood.

Loot

 * Arkaine's Valor after solving the puzzle.
 * Empyrean Band from Magic Rock.

Monsters

 * Overlord
 * Blink
 * Flesh Clan
 * Winged Demon

Uniques

 * Bloodskin Darkbow*
 * Foulwing*
 * Shadowcrow*

Level 6
Second level of the Catacombs, in which an entrance to the Chamber of Bone can be found.

Sub-zones

 * Chamber of Bone

Monsters

 * Fire Clan, Stone Clan, Flesh Clan
 * Horror Archer and Horror Captain
 * Hidden
 * Overlord
 * Familiar
 * Bone Gasher, Acid Beast

Uniques

 * Deathshade Fleshmaul*
 * Bilefroth the Pit Master*
 * Bloodgutter*

Level 7
In this catacomb level lies entrance to the Halls of the Blind. To get there, player must read the Tome of the Blind.

Sub-zones

 * Halls of the Blind

Loot

 * Optic Amulet from a Resplendent Chest in Halls of the Blind.

Monsters

 * Mud Man
 * Night Clan Khazra
 * Illusion Weaver

Uniques

 * Blighthorn Steelmace*
 * Gorestone*
 * Nightwing the Cold*

Level 8
Eighth level is where Zhar the Mad can be found, studying the Musty Tome. This mimicks the quest of the same name from Diablo I, Zhar the Mad. Upon entering, mage drops a few golds to get you walking away. Walking back and interacting with his tome breaks his concetration and makes him mad, thus attacking you.

Monsters

 * Blood Stone, Magma Demon
 * Toad Demon, Mud Man
 * Familiar
 * Gargoyle
 * Poison Spitter, Acid Beast
 * Night Clan

Uniques

 * Zhar the Mad
 * Firewound the Grim*
 * Baron Sludge*

Level 9
"It's hot down here." — Ghastly Voice

First level of the caves. In the darkness of this level grows Black Mushroom, needed for completion of the Royal Calf quest. It's an homage to Black Mushroom quest from the first game.

Loot

 * Black Mushroom

Monsters

 * Illusion Weaver
 * Night Clan
 * Mud Runner
 * Toad Demon
 * Magma Demon
 * Gargoyle

Uniques

 * Breakspine*
 * Brokenstorm*
 * Oozedrool*

Level 10
Second level of caves. Anvil of Fury, a tribute to the Anvil of Fury quest, can be found here. It drops crafting materials and Griswold's Edge upon clicking, and also spawns an ambush of enemies.

Loot

 * Griswold's Edge from Anvil of Fury

Monsters

 * Mud Runner
 * Toad Demon


 * Death Wing
 * Slayer
 * Night Clan

Uniques

 * The Flayer*
 * Goldblight of the Flame*
 * Blackstorm*

Level 11
Third level of caves harbors only two randomly spawned unique monsters.

Monsters

 * Death Wing
 * Guardian
 * Frost Charger
 * Cave Viper
 * Red Storm

Uniques

 * Bluehorn*
 * Fangspeir*

Level 12
Last level of the caves. The only challenge that awaits the player are three randomly spawned unique monsters.

Monsters

 * Storm Lord, Storm Rider, Maelstrom
 * Black Knight
 * Lava Maw
 * Fire Drake
 * Balrog
 * Flayed One
 * Obsidian Lord
 * Succubus

Uniques

 * Viperflame*
 * Viletouch*
 * Lionskull the Bent*

Level 13
"I must be getting close." — Ghastly Voice

First Hell styled level, which uses graphic assets of the Halls of Agony.

To get through the level, player must read the Steel Tome in order to open doors to the chamber of Warlord of Blood, who guards the stairway to Level 14, mimicking same named quest from Diablo I.

Monsters

 * Steel Lord
 * Maelstrom
 * Slayer
 * Succubus

Uniques

 * Warlord of Blood
 * Rustweaver*
 * Witchmoon*

Loot

 * Veil of Steel from Lachdanan's Corpse

Monsters

 * Counselor, Magistrate
 * Black Knight, Doom guard
 * Fire Drake, Gold Viper
 * Maelstrom
 * Hell Spawn

Uniques

 * Steelskull the Hunter*
 * Graywar the Slayer*
 * Stareye the Witch*

Monsters

 * Snow Witch, Soul Burner, Hell Spawn
 * Steel Lord, Blood Knight
 * Magistrate
 * Azure Drake
 * Balrog
 * Cabalist

Unique

 * The Vizier

Unholy Altar
Stylistic return to the Cathedral levels, features simple and unique layout.

Two Books of Lazarus are placed on both sides of the level, serving as a one-way portal to two chambers filled with monsters. Activating the second one always spawns Arch-Bishop Lazarus, transporting player to an obvious trap room filled with enemies.

It is a shortened version of the Arch-Bishop Lazarus quest from the original game.

Killing Arch-Bishop Lazarus results in opening a Red portal to Level 16.

Monsters

 * Advocate
 * Soul Burner

Unique

 * Arch-Bishop Lazarus
 * Red Vex
 * Blackjade

Level 16
Final level of Hell and last level of the Anniversary Dungeon. Within it the boss of the game and his minions await the player(s).

Monsters

 * Blood Knight
 * Advocate

Uniques

 * Dark Lord
 * Sir GorashDOOR SWITCH0.png