The Darkening of Tristram Guide
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December 31st at 4 PM PST: The Temporal Priests begin dropping Pages for the Cultist Pages Achievement.
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January 3rd at 4 PM PST: The Portal to Tristram appears in Act I, The Old Ruins.
You cannot get all of the Achievements in one run. But, An Eerie Red Glow Blurs Your Vision Achievement, Red Soul Shard and the Butcher Pet require the following:
- Create a new Level 1 Character. It can be Season or non-Season. (Or you can Rebirth a Character).
- Start in Adventure Mode.
- It must be a Solo game. (But, not necessarily a SSF game).
- DO NOT hire a Follower. (You don’t want them killing monsters before you enter the Portal to Tristram).
- You may equip a Cosmetic Pet. (No Skill Pets. But, at Level 1, you shouldn’t be able to).
- Do not enable Cube Powers. (Some may not matter. But some will, like Azurewrath, because they’ll kill monsters by just getting close to them. Especially on Normal Difficulty).
- Do not distribute Paragon Points. (This may not matter, but shouldn’t be needed).
- As soon as you enter the game, no matter what Act you start in, open the Map and click on Act I, The Old Ruins Waypoint. Head south (bottom of the area), to the destroyed well. There will be some monsters nearby. Ignore them. Do not attack, and instead, jump into the Portal to Tristram.
- Now that you are in Tristram, you can use Town Portal to return to New Tristram. Here you can hire your Follower, distribute your Paragon Points, enable Cube Powers and equip some decent gear. (Provided your new Character is not a new Seasonal Character at the beginning of a new Season. A new Seasonal Character will not have Paragon Points or Cube Powers extracted yet. And a new Character will only have starting gear or gear they find).
- Note: Starting in Season 30 you will have access to the Altar of Rites. If you’ve unlocked the Anointed Seal, your Blacksmith is Level 12, and you’ve found the Plans, you will be able to craft and equip Level 70 items.
- Use your Town Portal to return to Tristram. Head to the Cathedral and complete all Labyrinth Levels 1 through 16 in one session.
You will not complete all of the Achievements in one run-through. But, you can complete most of them. Concentrate on the following:
- Enter each Level, including the side dungeons. You don’t need to full clear them all. Just get credit for entering them.
- Kill the four main Bosses: The Butcher, Skeleton King, Arch-Bishop Lazarus and The Dark Lord (Diablo).
Once you’ve defeated The Dark Lord, you should get An Eerie Red Glow Blurs Your Vision Achievement, the Red Soul Shard and the Butcher Pet. (The Butcher Pet does not drop. It is automatically added to your Collection).
Now you can concentrate on completing the rest of The Darkening of Tristram Achievements, which include the following:
- Pssst… Over Here… : Starts with finding the Rotten Mushroom on Labyrinth Level 9. (Hang on to it. If you lose it, you’ll have to collect another one).
- The Cultist Pages: Kill the Temporal Priests that can spawn in any Act. (See Additional Information below for details). There are 7 Pages. Once you have one of each, 1 through 7, you will get the Achievement, I Sense a Soul in Search of Answers.
- Protector of Tristram: Kill the remaining Elite Bosses in the Labyrinth. This may take several more runs through the Cathedral’s 16 Levels in Tristram (not The Old Ruins Cathedral).
Good luck and have fun! 
Additional Information:
Here is a list of all The Darkening of Tristram Achievements and rewards and how to earn them:
Location: Achievements → Career → General → Special Events
Thank Goodness You’ve Returned!
Kill all 4 bosses in The Darkening of Tristram event.
- The Butcher
- Skeleton King
- Arch-Bishop Lazarus
- The Dark Lord
Achievement Rewards: Ogden’s Sign Banner Sigil and Ogden’s Brew Banner Accent.
Protector of Tristram
Kill all unique monsters from the Labyrinth.
(The numbers in parenthesis are the Labyrinth Levels where they’ll spawn).
| Nightwing the Cold (7) | Goldblight of the Flame (10) | |
| Viletouch (12) | Bilefroth the Pit Master (6) | |
| Baron Sludge (8) | Oozedrool (9) | |
| Shadowcrow (5) | Snotspill (4) | |
| Foulwing (5) | Gharbad the Weak (4) | |
| Deathshade Fleshmaul (6) | Bloodgutter (6) | |
| Blighthorn Steelmace (7) | Bloodskin Darkbow (5) | |
| Gorestone (7) | Zhar the Mad (8) | |
| The Vizier (15) | Breakspine (9) | |
| Bluehorn (11) | Blackstorm (10) | |
| Firewound the Grim (8) | Brokenhead Bangshield (3) | |
| Lionskull the Bent (12) | Graywar the Slayer (14) | |
| Rustweaver (13) | Steelskull the Hunter (14) | |
| Warlord of Blood (13) | Sir Gorash (16) | |
| Madeye the Dead (3) | Blacklash the Burning (4) | |
| Fangspeir (11) | Viperflame (12) | |
| Witchmoon (13) | Blackjade (UA) | |
| Red Vex (UA) | Stareye the Witch (14) | |
| Brokenstorm (9) | The Flayer (10) | |
| Shadowbite (2) | Rotfeast the Hungry (2) |
Achievement Rewards: Classic Demon Portrait Frame
I Sense a Soul in Search of Answers
Collect all the Cultist Pages from the precursor event.
- Cultist Page 1
- Cultist Page 2
- Cultist Page 3
- Cultist Page 4
- Cultist Page 5
- Cultist Page 6
- Cultist Page 7
Achievement Rewards: Classic Angel Portrait Frame
Pssst… Over Here…
Acquire Wirt’s Leg in The Darkening of Tristram event.
Achievement Rewards: This starts the hidden event, Map of the Stars, and yields the Royal Calf Cosmetic Pet. (See Mnemonic’s video, embedded below).
The Dark Passage
Visit the Dark Passage.
The Chamber of Bone
Visit the Chamber of Bone.
The Halls of the Blind
Visit the Halls of the Blind.
An Eerie Red Glow Blurs Your Vision
Kill the Dark Lord in a solo game starting with a Level 1 character in The Darkening of Tristram event.
Achievement Rewards: The Butcher Cosmetic Pet.
When you kill The Dark Lord he will drop the Red Soul Shard Legendary Gem.
Placing the Red Soul Shard Legendary Gem in any socketed Helm will give you the Red Soul Shard Helm Transmogrification.
Mnemonic’s The Darkening of Tristram Video Guide:
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