Diablo II: Den of Evil - Quest Guide
Den of Evil is the first quest in Act I of Diablo II. After meeting Akara, she informs you that a cave nearby is filled with demons and beasts, which she believes have an impending attack on the camp you are all staying. She requests you to go to that cave, the Den of Evil, and kill all the monsters inside.
- Quest Giver: Akara
- Quest Area: Den of Evil
- Act: Act I
- Goal: Kill all monsters in the Den of Evil
- Rewards:
- One free Skill Point
- One free Skill and Stat Reset
- Quest Priority: Optional, but among the best in terms of rewards.
This quest is optional and can be missed if you don't plan to talk to any characters in the camp and just rush the game up to beating the Act boss. However, you should not skip it as it has the best quest rewards in the whole game - you will get one free skill point and one free reset of your skill tree and character stats.
The Quest Begins
To begin the quest, you have to go out of the camp and enter the area called the Blood Moor. This is the starting area you will visit after the camp. The monsters you will meet here are all week and fit for your starting hero. They are all slow and do not attack aggressively:
The entrance to the Den of Evil can be found in Blood Moor. While searching for the cave, you can reach Level 1 by just killing any monsters you meet.
You can find treasure chests and shrines while in Blood Moor.
Enter the Den of Evil
Soon you will find a cave with some markings similar to above. It is the only cave in Blood Moor, so even if you miss those markings, you can be sure that this is the Den of Evil. Notice the demon painting on the rock just above the entrance of the cave.
Enter the cave and be ready to slay demons and beasts.
The Quest Details
To complete the quest, you have to kill all the monsters in the Den. The question here is, how many monsters are there in the cave? And how do you know if you have killed all?
You will get this answer from the Quest itself. The message shown above will change once you have killed most of the monsters and have only five remaining. For now, just keep on exploring the cave and slaying any monster you meet. Similar to those in Blood Moor, the creatures in the Den of Evil are all slow and weak.
Monster Fighting Tip
When fighting the Fallen monsters, they will typically run and get lost or go through the areas you already cleared. Or they can get revived by the Fallen Shaman in an area you have been through.
So it is always a good idea to not attack the Fallen warriors yet, but go and kill the Shaman first. This way, the warriors will not get revived, and you can clear the cave thoroughly without much effort.
Meeting Corpsefire
Corpsefire is a super unique monster and is a good introduction to you to the game's concept of fixed-location, farmable, mini-bosses. Later in the game, you will meet lots of these like Pindleskin, Eldritch, Radament, and more.
In normal mode, Corpsefire is easy and not threatening, but later in Hell mode, he will be true to his role as a super unique monster.
He will always drop better loot even this early in the game. Though he has a larger health pool, just beat him like a normal zombie in this cave.
Knowing the Remaining Monsters
Once you have killed a lot of monsters and have only a few left, the message in the quest details will change and will exactly tell you how many monsters are remaining.
The question now is - where do you find these remaining monsters? This is where the map will help you. Just check the map and observe which area have you not visited? Go to those areas, and most probably, you will meet the remaining monsters there.
Den of Evil Easter Egg
There is an amusing easter egg in the Den of Evil quest that players can easily miss. You have to follow these exact conditions for this to happen.
- The quest detail is already showing the count of the remaining monsters
- You still have a Fallen Shaman in the cave that can resurrect Fallen warriors
- The total count of monsters in the cave after the resurrections increased above five
If the conditions above are satisfied, then you will see the easter egg - the total count of monsters remaining becomes 666.
Completing the Quest
After you kill the last monster in the cave, rays of light will show around you, and you will hear your hero say something about it.
If you now check your quest details, it no longer shows the monster count, but it is asking you to return to Akara for some wonderful rewards.
Open a Town Portal so you can easily return to the camp and visit Akara.
Akara's Reward
Upon returning to the camp and approaching Akara, she will thank you for clearing the Den of Evil. She will reward you with a free skill point and a free reset for your skill tree and character stats.
Do not use the free reset yet, though. You can claim this reward even after you the finished game up to Hell mode, during which you would have decided on the kind of build you want.
These rewards are among the best in the game.
