The Darkening of Tristram is here to celebrate Diablo's anniversary! During the month of January players will be able to take a portal into a familiar world from their first endeavors in Tristram. Taking a step back in time to the beginning of Diablo can satiate a player's need for nostalgia as we await the release of the future titles the franchise has planned. The event lasts through until the end of January and brings an assortment of objectives that can be completed for rewards like portrait frames, transmogrification effects, banner sigil and 2 different pets.
Disclaimer: This event only takes place during January!
Location
To find the portal take the Waypoint in Act 1 to the Old Ruins, then head left and go down to the center of town. The portal will spawn right in the middle near Griswold's Fine Weapons. Immediately you'll notice a change in the game visuals as you enter into the portal as you're transferred back in time. Your character and skills will remain true to Diablo III but the interface, enemies and items will all be from the past merging the two worlds together into one fun event. Explore the area thoroughly as there are many unique objectives to complete. Below we'll go over the objectives that are available and where you need to go to complete them.
Objectives
Adventuring Hero
Kill Unique monsters in the Labyrinth. This one can take a bit to complete but most of these enemies will be found if you go through the Labyrinth a few times. Once you've gone through a few times, skip to the floors with the remaining monsters you need to finish this achievement. Below you'll find the floor that each Unique Monster is located on, two of them are found in the Unholy Altar which lies between the 15th and final floor.
An Eerie Red Glow Blurs Your Vision
Kill the Dark Lord in a solo game starting with a Level 1 character in The Darkening of Tristram event. For this one you have to go in solo and must enter the portal at Level 1, so don't kill anything as you're making your way there. This is the intended and most fun way to experience this event, but you can instead go in with your level 70 character and smash through it. Keep in mind you can still use your Paragon points at Level 1 if you want to get through it as easily as possible. Find The Dark Lord at the end of the Labyrinth and slay him to get the Butcher Pet and Red Soul Shard. The Red Soul Shard is a Legendary Gem that can only be obtained in this event and gives you another Transmog as well. This is the only Legendary Gem that can be equipped into the players Helm as well.
I Sense a Soul in Search of Answers
Collect all the Cultist's Pages from the precursor event. The Cultist Pages drop from Temporal Priests which are new enemies that can be found with ease in Act's I, III and IV. Once you find one in an area move on to the next one as multiple Priest's won't spawn in the same zone, you can also leave game and check the same area again in a new game. Core of Arreat and Gardens of Hope Tier 1 both have the spawn point near the Waypoint, making these great options to quickly check. These Cultist's Pages are actually tradable so you can work with your friends or communities to get everyone what they need. Some areas you can find a Temporal Priest include:
The Weeping Hollow
The Festering Woods
Halls of Agony Level 1
Halls of Agony Level 2
Halls of Agony Level 3
Cathedral Level 1
Cathedral Level 2
Cathedral Level 4
Core of Arreat (Act III)
Gardens of Hope Tier 1 (Act IV)
Pssst... Over Here...
Acquire Wirt's Leg in The Darkening of Tristram event. This one is more time consuming than some of the other objectives but luckily it counts for this achievement and allows you to obtain the Royal Calf pet later on!
Obtain the Rotten Mushroom from the Black Mushroom on the ground on the 9th floor of the Labyrinth.
Take the Rotten Mushroom to Adria's Hut on the far East side Tristram, click the Cauldron and the Witch's Brew will drop on the ground.
Head back through the portal in the Old Ruins and locate the 4 corpses. Farnham's corpse to the South, Ogden's corpse to the North, Pepin's corpse to the West and Griswold's corpse to the East.
Click on these corpses in the following: South, North, West and East and take each item that drops to the next corpse. The final corpse will drop a Blacksmith plan for Wirt's Leg that you can learn with Headrig in town to craft the item.
Once you have acquired this item go ahead and salvage it (I know all that work and it's gone just like that). You should now have the "Map of the Stars" in your inventory.
Take the map East of Adria's Hut where you'll find 3 cow corpses on the ground. Click the cows in the following order: Center, Left, Right and enter the Abandoned Farmstead through the portal that appears.
Walk all the way through to the end and in the center you'll find Wirt's Stash which will drop the Royal Calf pet. Yay!
Thank Goodness You've Returned!
Kill all 4 Bosses in The Darkening of Tristram event.
The Butcher is on floor 2 in a room near the end of the floor, don't forget to pick up his cleaver transmog!
The Skeleton King is on floor 3. Enter the side dungeon Leoric's Tomb to find him.
Arch-Bishop Lazarus and The Dark Lord can't be missed if you complete the Labyrinth.
The Dark Passage, The Chamber of Bone, The Halls of the Blind
The Dark Passage is on floor 2 in the Labyrinth about half way through.
The Chamber of Bone is on floor 6 in the Labyrinth, at the very top of the map.
The Halls of the Blind is on floor 7 on the far left side of the map.
Rewards
Banner Sigil
Classic Demon Portrait Frame
Classic Angel Portrait Frame
Red Soul Shard & Transmog
Butcher Pet
Royal Calf Pet
Video Overview
Credits
Written by Facefoot Contributions by Kim, Rhykker Reviewed by Raxxanterax