Diablo 2 Special Quests – How to Access Special Quests in Diablo II

In Diablo II, there exists some ‘secret’ levels which do not form part of the main storyline for the game. Instead they are accessed by collecting specific items, performing rituals and following a sequence of events. They are not available from any NPCs in the game and they are kept secret for a reason – they’re deadly!

This level was introduced into the game to pay homage towards the rumour of a secret cow level in the original Diablo game.

The Secret Cow level in Diablo II is fully playable and highly profitable, although it can be very dangerous (if somewhat amusing) depending on your character class. Activating the level is simple, but to do so you will need to collect Wirt’s Leg from the Cursed Tristram village and also have a book of Town Portal. The book doesn’t need to be full, so simply buy one from Akara to use.

Before you can access the level you will need to have defeated Baal (if playing Lords of Destruction) or Diablo, if playing the standard Diablo II game and be standing in the Rogue Encampment – make sure you complete the quest in its entirety, otherwise the level won’t open. To open the portal to the Secret Cow Level, you need to transmute the book of Town Portal and Wirt’s Leg in the Horadric Cube. Note, you can only open the portal to the Secret Cow Level once per Difficulty level.

Once you are in the level, you’ll notice there are a lot of Halberd-wielding Cows to defeat. It is not advisable to explore the level as you will very quickly become overwhelmed with Cows and you WILL die. Instead, take each section of the map very slowly and kill any Cows you come across before moving on. Patience is a mighty virtue to surviving this level and area effect spells are particularly useful.

This isn’t really a level as such, but instead introduces an upgraded and far more dangerous version of the demon lord, Diablo, into the game. He is created by the sale of a number Stones of Jordan (a unique, magical ring) on the specific game server a player is playing on Battle.net, and the new Uber Diablo replaces a randomly selected Super Unique monster in the game providing players are playing the game on the Hell difficulty setting.

Players must find and defeat Uber Diablo to obtain an Annihilus charm which grants the possessor:

• +1 to all skills
• +10-20 to all attributes
• +10-20 to all resistances
• +5-10% experience gained

If you found the standard Diablo hard to defeat, then Uber Diablo presents a far sterner challenge. He can only be found on Battle.net, in Hell difficulty, and is not available in the single player game.

Uber Diablo has a greater number of hitpoints and resistance scores than his Act IV counterpart; he can also deal out much greater damage as well as the ability to use a modified version of the Druid character’s Armageddon spell. Unlike other Super Unique monsters, Uber Diablo can regenerate hit points.

When Uber Diablo is activated in game, a message ‘Evil Walks the Earth’ will appear and Uber Diablo can appear in any of the five acts in the game.

This is a series of additional quests which were added to the game by a later patch. It is designed to be played by high level characters and represents a very difficult challenge for all. In the Pandemonium Event, there are three keys which must be recovered.

The first key can be found with the Countess from the fourth quest in Act One; the second is located with the Summoner in the Arcane Temple in Act Two, while the third key can be found with Nihlathak, from the Lords of Destruction expansion pack. Each key can then be used in the Horadric Cube to create portals to the Matron’s Den, Forgotten Sands and Furnace of Pain areas. To do this, you'll need to be in Harrogath, otherwise it won't work.

On each of these levels characters will encounter a stronger version of the original Diablo II game’s bosses – Uber Andariel (Lilith) in the Matron's Den, Uber Duriel in the Forgotten Sands, and Uber Izual in the Furnace of Pain. When defeated, each will drop one of three special items: Mephisto’s Brain, Diablo’s Horn, and Baal’s Eye.

When placed together in the Horadric Cube and transmuted, these items will open a portal to Uber Tristram where the toughest battle awaits – characters will face up to Uber Mephisto, Uber Baal and Pandemonium Diablo; three versions of the original boss monsters, only much more powerful!

Once defeated, the character will be rewarded with a unique large charm - the Hellfire Torch. This grants the bearer the following bonuses and is dropped by Pandemonium Diablo. Characters need to be level 75 or above to be able to use this charm.

• 25% Chance To Cast level 10 Firestorm On Striking
• +3 to random character class skills (varies)
• +10-20 To All Attributes (varies)
• All Resistances +10-20 (varies)
• +8 to light radius
• Level 30 Hydra (10 charges)
• Required Level: 75

The Pandemonium Event can only be played online via Battle.net – it is not available as a single player game or LAN game