Kurast Undercity

The Vessel of Hatred Expansion for Diablo IV comes with a new intense multi-stage, speed-based dungeon perfect for character progression called the Kurast Undercity. Unlocked around level 20, it helps you prepare for the endgame activities you face while also being an excellent method of target farming items in the endgame.

A brand new time trial-style activity, the Kurast Undercity is a targeted way to help you both level and gain advanced gear. You start with a timer when you enter, but as you fight afflicted monsters, you gain more time. As you fight these monsters and complete various events within the Undercity, you earn Attunement. You also encounter Tributes, which drop both in the Undercity and Sanctuary itself. Tributes are used to augment future runs and target-farm specific rewards.

If you finish fast enough, you face one of the all-new bosses in the Undercity and have to fight your way through them to receive your spoils! Higher quality tributes yield the highest spoils, and like all endgame activities in the new Vessel of Hatred, the rewards scale with your world Difficulty tier.

To access this new content, you must progress the Vessel of Hatred campaign until you get a priority quest sending you to explore the depths of Kurast Undercity. This quest introduces you to all the bosses at the end of the Undercity, and prepares you for the challenges to come. Finishing this quest permanently unlocks the Spirit Brazier, which allows you to travel into the Undercity at any point.

Tributes in the Kurast Undercity grant you extra rewards at the end of the run. Some of these extra rewards are Guaranteed Runes, Ancestral Legendaries, and some even reward the player with an increased chance of getting a Mythic Unique! But nothing good ever comes for free.

With great rewards come great risks, as players have to use speed farming builds to have a chance at clearing the Undercity in time and with at least Attunement Rank 1 completed. Players have to deal with the following in these more difficult runs:

• Reduced Starting Time
• Reduced time gained from slaying Afflicted enemies and transitioning to the next floor.
• Reduced frequency of potion drops.

This may sound like a piece of cake, but make no mistake, the reduced time in the Undercity is brutal and only the fastest builds can clear the most difficult versions of these Tributes. These Tributes can be found all over Sanctuary, with Tribute of Ascendance (Resolute) being able to drop from summoned bosses as well.

The Bargain system in the Kurast Undercity allows players even more control over rewards at the end of the run. This is a completely optional system that allows players to offer materials to the Spirit Braizer, and in return get specific rewards at the end of a completed run.

• Skill Ranks: Legendary Armor will always possess at least one Skill Rank affix.
• Passive Ranks: Legendary Amulets will always possess at least one Passive Rank affix.
• Core Stats: Legendaries will possess a flat Core Stat affix when possible.
• Primary Resource: Legendaries will possess a normal affix related to your primary resource when possible.
• Resistances: Legendaries will possess a Resistance affix when possible.
• Offensive Legendaries: Legendary equipment will possess an Offensive Aspect when possible.
• Defensive Legendaries: Legendary equipment will possess a Defensive Aspect when possible.
• Utility Legendaries: Legendary equipment will possess a Utility Aspect when possible.
• Mobility Legendaries: Legendary equipment will possess a Utility Aspect when possible.
• Resource Legendaries: Legendary equipment will possess a Resource Aspect when possible.
• Chaotic Uniques: You may find Uniques for any Class.
• More Weapons: You will be randomly rewarded 1-3 additional pieces of Equipment, all of which are Weapons or Offhands.
• More Armor: You will be randomly rewarded 1-3 additional pieces of Equipment, all of which are Helm, Chest, Gloves, Pants or Boots.
• More Jewelry: You will be randomly rewarded 1-3 additional pieces of Equipment, all of which are Rings or Amulets.

There are several mechanics in the Undercity that influence your decisions throughout the run. These mechanics are quite simple in nature, but have a massive impact on how you clear the Undercity efficiently for maximum rewards.

Timer

When you enter the Undercity, you are spawned into a large circle. This circle stops the timer from depleteing and appears at the start of every floor. Once you leave the circle, the timer begins to deplete over time, and depending on the level of Tribute you have placed in the Spirit Braizer, you start with a certain amount.

• No Tribute: 120 seconds starting time
• Rare Tributes: 75 seconds starting time
• Legendary Tributes: 60 Seconds starting time

You can extend your timer by slaying Afflicted enemies spread out across all three floors of the Undercity.

Afflicted Enemies

Slaying afflicted enemies allows you to extend the timer beyond the starting time and keeps the run from finishing before reaching the final boss room. There are a few types of afflicted enemies within the Kurast Undercity, all of which add different amounts of time when slain.

• Minions: +1 Second
• Generic Lesser Afflicted: +8 Seconds
• Named Lesser Afflicted: +14 Seconds
• Afflicted: +16 seconds
• Greater Afflicted: +30 Seconds

This bonus is reduced depending on the level of Tribute you have active during your run!

These enemies can spawn in every nook and cranny, so make sure to keep your eyes on the minimap for the skulls indicating where they are. The size of the skull on the minimap denotes which type of afflicted enemy it is, so plan your cooldowns accordingly!

Attunement

Attunement is the main mechanic of the Undercity which dictates how many rewards you receive at the end of the run. This is represented as a four-staged bar underneath your minimap. To receive the minimum rewards from your tribute, you must reach Attunement level 1.

There are three main ways of obtaining Attunement in the Undercity:

• Slaying Monsters
• Igniting Beacons
• Slaying Goblins

Slaying enemies grants you small amounts of attunement for each kill, but the main bursts come from igniting Beacons and slaying Goblins. Treasure Goblins rarely spawn within the Undercity. If you find one, slay it quickly as these Goblins jump through portals to avoid you for as long as possible to waste time.

When you ignite Beacons, you spawn enemies around it. All of these new enemies need to be slain for Attunement to be awarded to the player, so try to ignite it quickly before unleashing your attacks on all surrounding enemies.

When you reach the final floor of the Undercity, your timer disappears and you reach the boss of the Undercity. There are currently three different bosses in the game: Yoche, the Golden, Longtooth, the Wretched, and Alia, Kurast's End. These bosses have unique mechanics which forces the players to react accordingly to prevent death.

Yoche, the Golden

Yoche does a room wide AoE.

• As you do battle against Yoche, she does a big AoE attack which begins when the floor begins to glitter with gold.
• Run into the safe space behind one of the 4 pillars to avoid her room-wide AoE move.

• After she does her first room-wide AoE, she begins to summon some minions at each of the 4 pillars around the room.
• While the minions persist they channel, turning the area behind the statue lethal.
• You need to kill at least 1 minion before the next big AoE so you have a safe place to go.

• Yoche uses a charge attack. This move is not particularly dangerous, nor is it difficult to avoid.
• However, if Yoche hits a pillar with her charge she destroys it, leaving you with less safe space around the room.
• Position carefully to prevent her from charging into a pillar.

• From time to time, Yoche shields herself, turning her skin golden and giving her a protective barrier.
• Deal damage to break the barrier.

Longtooth, the Wretched

Fight Longtooth in the Eye of the storm.

• At the start of the fight, Longtooth summons a storm restricting the area you have to move around within the room.
  • Watch out for yellow circles on the ground, if you stand in them you get a debuff that deals damage over time.
  • Throughout the fight he summons minions, try to group these up to deal with them efficiently.
  • Many of Longtooth's attacks have an AoE component or leave behind a puddle, watch your positioning!

• As his health gets lower, Longtooth begins using a charge attack. During Longtooth's charge, focus on avoiding damage. You have plenty of time to damage him when the sequence ends.

Alia, Kurast's End

Red Shield

• Alia's core mechanic is the shield. Throughout the fight she charges the player with either a red shield, or a green shield. You are immune to mechanics of the corresponding color!
• If you have the RED shield, stand in RED mechanics, and avoid GREEN mechanics.
• When you have the GREEN shield, stand in GREEN mechanics and avoid RED mechanics.

• Alia summons waves that sweep across the room, you need to run through the area that corresponds to your current shield. This starts simply with 1 wave, but eventually, you need to deal with multiple waves.

• Alia does a room-wide AoE explosion. You need to stand in the area that matches your current shield to avoid damage.
• When the sequence starts, try to stand close to the boss so you don't have to run as far to get to the safe space.

• Throughout the fight Alia summons a sphere of either red or green energy which chases the player for a short distance before becoming a hazard on the floor. After this it fires projectiles corresponding to its color.
• You can stand in hazards that correspond to your current shield.
• Avoid hazards and projectiles which do NOT match your current shield.

• You can unlock the Kurast Undercity after progressing in the Vessel of Hatred campaign.
• Interact with the Spirit Braizer to enter the Undercity, and use Tributes and Bargains to tailor your rewards to your needs!
• Make sure to keep an eye on your timer and plan your route to slay as many afflicted enemies as possible!
• The attunement system requires you to slay a certain amount of enemies and interact with Beacons on each floor, this dictates what your rewards are in the end.
• Each boss has unique and dangerous abilities, damage is not always the best solution to countering them.

Credits

Written by Avarilyn