Terror's End

Quest Three: Terror's End

• Quest Name: Terror's End
• Triggered by: Finishing Quest One, or entering the Chaos Sanctuary
• Given by: Tyrael
• Location: The Chaos Sanctuary
• Reward: None, other than finishing the game and gaining you a new title in Diablo II. In the Expansion it allows you to progress to Act Five.
• Quest Priority: You must defeat Diablo to finish the game or move on to Act Five.

Diablo is found in the Chaos Sanctuary, and you must release him by opening the seals you find around the level. There are five seals in three locations. Three of the Seals will spawn a fearsome pack of boss monsters, and opening all five and killing all of the three seal bosses will make Diablo appear in the center of the pentagram of fire in the middle of the level.

The Chaos Sanctuary is among the most difficulty area in the game for most character types. Characters will want high resistances here, and it's especially dangerous for melee characters due to the Oblivion Knights casting Iron Maiden, a curse that will often cause an afflicted melee character to kill themselves with their next attack.

The Bowazon is the best suited for clearing out the CS solo, with her ranged attack and Valkyrie and Decoy to keep her from being swarmed or fired at too much. Her partying with a Sorceress with long range Static Field makes for a very fast clear. Necromancers are useful here too, with a Bowazon or Sorceress to kill while protected by his minions.

There is no reward for this quest other than what Diablo drops, though as an act boss, his loot is usually substantial.

Tips: The Seals that release the Seal Bosses are always the same, depending on the layout of the level. Lord de Seis always has one seal, so no wondering there. He used to appear right on top of it some times, but in the Expansion he's always over far to the left, in the hallway coming towards his Seal. The Grand Vizier of Chaos is always to the left -- if there is a single hallway with a corner there, the first Seal you reach will always release him. If there is a fork there, the Seal to the right will release him. For the Infector of Souls, if there is a single hallway with a Seal in the middle, and then a pair of right turns into a Cul de Sac, it's always the Seal in the back corner. If there is a shorter straight hallway with Seals on both sides, it's always the first Seal you reach. Knowing which Seal is going to release them is useful to get ready for their appearance.

All the seal bosses can spawn with MSLE on Hell, so be wary of them appearing close to you and spitting out lightning of death. They can't have MSLE on Nightmare, so there is less to worry about there. Besides, in v1.10 and later MSLE is no longer especially dangerous.

Diablo is a difficult fight for many characters. He dies more quickly than Baal, but can deal far more damage while he remains alive. Diablo was much more dangerous prior to the expansion, since his Firestorm ground flame attack could hit nearby targets many, many times, potentially killing almost any character in a blink. His pink lighting was very hazardous too, dangerous enough that D2 players dubbed it the LBoD, for "Lightning Bolt of Death." It too has been much nerfed in the Expansion (v1.07 and later) and is no longer lethal. It doesn't even hit characters at melee range, but it can hurt ranged attackers quite a bit, and most players quickly learn to run circles around Diablo when he fires this inferno-like spell and tracks it after his target.

Diablo also has a very high blocking rate, which makes him last a lot longer than you expect, and makes him seem almost impossible to hit at times. This is especially noticeable for ranged attackers, as arrow after arrow hits him and vanishes, with no damage being done.

Using Minions on him is very hard also, unless you spam Fire Golems, as he does seven times damage to minions, and his Fire or Lightning spells will usually kill every minion on the screen in an instant. He has a melee freezing hit also, and a charging slap attack, but it's the elemental attacks that most find so dangerous. He isn't immune to anything though, so any type of attack can kill him, eventually.