Diablo 2 Walkthrough: Act 5, Harrogath to Baal

Part 5 is the final part of our Diablo 2 walkthrough. It covers Act 5, the Lord of Destruction act, from the besieged town of Harrogath up Mount Arreat to Baal in the Worldstone Chamber. At the end you'll find what to do next: Nightmare and Hell, your first runewords and Terror Zones.

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The whole walkthrough

Quests in Act 5

1. Siege on Harrogath
2. Rescue on Mount Arreat
3. Prison of Ice
4. Betrayal of Harrogath
5. Rite of Passage
6. Eve of Destruction

Rite of Passage and Eve of Destruction are required. The other four are optional, but three of them give rewards you will use for the rest of the game.

1. Siege on Harrogath (Shenk)

Larzuk the blacksmith asks you to kill Shenk the Overseer, who leads the attack on the town.

1. Leave town into the Bloody Foothills.
2. Fight along the path. Shenk stands near the far end with his demon minions.
3. Kill him and return to Larzuk.

Reward: Larzuk adds sockets to one item that has none. The number of sockets depends on the item. Save this for a good white (normal) armor or weapon you want to turn into a runeword.

2. Rescue on Mount Arreat (the barbarians)

Qual-Kehk asks you to free his captured soldiers in the Frigid Highlands, the next area after the Bloody Foothills.

1. Grab the Frigid Highlands waypoint.
2. Find three prison pens, each holding five barbarians. Break the door of each pen.
3. When all three groups are free, go back to Qual-Kehk.

Reward: three runes, Ral, Ort and Tal, and access to barbarian mercenaries. Keep those runes: they are part of some good early runewords.

3. Prison of Ice (Anya)

Malah asks you to find Anya, who has gone missing.

1. Go from the Frigid Highlands to the Arreat Plateau, then into the Crystalline Passage. Grab both waypoints.
2. Inside the Crystalline Passage, find the entrance to the Frozen River.
3. Anya is frozen in ice at the end, guarded by the unique Frozenstein and his pack. Kill them and talk to Anya.
4. Go back to town. Malah gives you a potion to thaw the ice.
5. Return to Anya and talk to her again. The potion frees her.
6. Talk to Malah and Anya in Harrogath.

Reward: Malah gives you a Scroll of Resistance: +10 to all resistances, permanently. Anya also gives you a rare item, usually made for your class. Always do this one.

4. Betrayal of Harrogath (Nihlathak)

Back in town, Anya opens a red portal to Nihlathak's Temple. The super unique Pindleskin waits right outside it.

1. Go down through the Halls of Anguish and the Halls of Pain to the Halls of Vaught.
2. Nihlathak stands at the end of one of the four arms. A pair of red eyes on the wall marks his hall.
3. His big attack is Corpse Explosion: he blows up dead monsters near you. Kill his minions away from him, or attack him from range.
4. Return to Anya.

Reward: Anya will personalize one item with your name. It is just cosmetic, so this quest is optional.

Warning: if you take the Halls of Pain waypoint, Anya's red portal closes for good on that difficulty. Many players skip that waypoint to keep the portal open for Pindleskin farming.

Waypoints worth grabbing

• Frigid Highlands, Arreat Plateau and Crystalline Passage (barbarians and Anya).
• Glacial Trail, Frozen Tundra and The Ancients' Way (the road to the summit).
• Worldstone Keep Level 2 (your start point for Baal).

5. Rite of Passage (the Ancients)

From the Crystalline Passage, go through the Glacial Trail, the Frozen Tundra and The Ancients' Way to the Arreat Summit.

1. Click the altar at the summit. Three Ancients wake up: Talic, Madawc and Korlic.
2. Talic spins with Whirlwind, Korlic leaps at you, and Madawc throws axes from range.
3. Focus one at a time and keep moving so all three can't hit you at once.
4. If you leave the summit or the fight resets, all three come back at full life. Bring plenty of potions so you don't need to go to town.

Reward: a big chunk of experience, and the path to the Worldstone Keep opens.

6. Eve of Destruction (Baal)

Go down the Worldstone Keep (three levels) to the Throne of Destruction. Baal sits on his throne and sends five waves of minions at you first.

The waves

• Each wave has a unique leader: Colenzo the Annihilator, Achmel the Cursed, Bartuc the Bloody, Ventar the Unholy and Lister the Tormentor.
• Bartuc's wave comes with Council Members, so expect Hydras again.
• Lister's wave is the hardest: big minions who hit hard. Fight them at the edge of the room, away from the throne.
• Cast a Town Portal away from the throne before the waves start, so you don't come back into a pack.

Baal in the Worldstone Chamber

After the fifth wave, Baal leaves his throne. Walk through the portal behind it into the Worldstone Chamber.

• Hoarfrost: a blue wave of cold that slows and knocks you back. His most dangerous attack.
• Tentacles: they burst from the ground when you are out of his reach.
• Incineration Nova: a ring of fire around him. Distance helps.
• Clone: he makes a copy of himself with the same attacks. Hit the real Baal. His name reads as a demon, not a clone.

Get cold resistance as high as you can, keep potions ready and don't stand still. When Baal dies, the game is beaten on that difficulty and the next one unlocks.

What next: Nightmare and Hell

Beating Baal unlocks Nightmare, and beating Nightmare unlocks Hell. You replay the whole story with stronger monsters and better loot. Key changes:

• Your resistances drop on each harder difficulty, so you need more resistance gear to stay capped.
• You lose some experience when you die.
• In Hell, many monsters are immune to an element. A build with only one damage type will need help from its mercenary or a second skill.
• All quest rewards come again. Do Den of Evil, Radament, Lam Esen, the Golden Bird, Izual and Anya on every difficulty.

Runewords, briefly

Runewords are runes placed in the right order into a normal item with exactly the right number of sockets. A few easy ones help a lot:

• Stealth (Tal + Eth) in 2-socket body armor.
• Steel (Tir + El) in a 2-socket sword, axe or mace.
• Spirit (Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn) in a 4-socket sword or shield, great for casters.
• Insight (Ral + Tir + Tal + Sol) in a 4-socket polearm or staff, given to your Act 2 mercenary for mana regen.

Use Larzuk's socket quest and the Countess's rune drops to make these early.

Terror Zones (D2R only)

Terror Zones came with D2R patch 2.5. Every hour, some areas become "terrorized": monsters there are raised above your level (up to a cap for each difficulty) and give more experience and better loot. To use them, you must kill Baal on that character and difficulty with an expansion character. Offline, turn them on with the Enable Terror Zones option in the game creation settings on the character screen.

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Playing D2R on console? A good wireless controller makes the couch-friendly controls even better.

Tips for this part

• Act 5 monsters are the toughest in the game. Upgrade gear from Larzuk, Anya and Malah before the Ancients.
• Socket a white item you actually want. A bad base wastes Larzuk's reward.
• Skip the Halls of Pain waypoint if you want to farm Pindleskin later.
• Don't fight Baal's waves in the middle of the room. Pull them toward the entrance.

My take

Act 5 is where Diablo 2 turns from a story game into the loot game people still play twenty-five years later. I always do the Anya quest first thing, because +10 to all resistances helps every fight after it. The Ancients still catch me out on a fresh character. Are you heading straight into Nightmare, or starting a new class?

FAQ

How long is Act 5 in Diablo 2?

Plan on three to five hours on a first run, including the Ancients and the Baal waves.

What level should I be for Baal?

Many players beat Normal Baal somewhere in the mid 30s to 40. Cold resistance and potions matter as much as level.

Why can't I enter the Worldstone Keep?

You have to finish Rite of Passage first by beating all three Ancients at the Arreat Summit.

How do I unlock Terror Zones?

Kill Baal on that difficulty with an expansion character. Offline, also tick Enable Terror Zones in the game creation settings.

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