With the new Undercity feature in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred, you will be able to tackle a fresh batch of dungeons in the game. These areas are filled with enemies and house some of the harder bosses towards the end which will let you get your hands on some incredibly rare gear.
While you can use the Undercity to min-max your class in Vessel of Hatred, you will first need to unlock the new set of dungeons. The process of doing so is a bit complicated and the guide below goes over some steps that you will need to take to unlock the Undercity.
How to unlock the Undercity in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred
You will be able to unlock the Undercity in Vessel of Hatred only after you have completed the Main Story Quest in the game. Once you are done with the narrative the Kurast Undercity quest will pop up.
It’s a Priority mission and you will need to speak to Ormus in the Council Chambers. Burn through his dialogs and then make sure you follow these steps to unlock the Undercity dungeons:
- After his dialogs are over take the portal that leads to the Undercity where you will find a pack of enemies waiting for you, Kill them and then keep progressing through till you meet Councilor Sihek. Sihek is trying to cure the plague-ridden residents of the Kurast Undercity and you will need to help him out of the area. Once done, interact with him again and you will then meet him in Upper Kurast.
- Now make your way to the haunting site where a cutscene will play where Councilor Sihek is shown to be slowly taken over by the disease. He gets angrier and following his dialogs you will need to kill the spirits in the house and then inspect the items that you find there.
- Once done, come back to Sihek and then head to the Defaced Shrine with him. It’s just outside the town and when you find it interact with it. You will then be introduced to the spirit of Alia. Go back to Sihek again and talk to him, this time he will ask you to beat Alia. This starts The Specter of Travincal questline and you will need to interact with the white flames to be able to enter the portal.
- Once through, you will need to take out Alia. It’s a tricky encounter, and you wil need to watch out for her color-themed attacks. Just make sure you match the color to her aura and you will be able to take her out. When she is slain, head back to Sihek who will now ask you to survey the battlefield. This will then lead you to find the Golden Snakes in Nahantu. Find the Mage Clan ruins and then head back to Sihek.
- Burn through his dialogs and then head back to the Undercity. You will participate in a dungeon run again and you will find Yoche at the end of it. It can be a tricky encounter with all the minions that Yoche spawns while charging at you, and occasionally filling the room up with Gold. It will take some practice to beat the boss, but once slain, make your way back to Sihek again in Kurast.
- Start the Starving Pride questline and keep interacting with the NPC till you meet him outside the Sanctum. Here you will need to beat the Infected Lacuni Scout and then face off against Lacuni in the jungle in order to harvest their husks. Once done, head to the Abandoned Camp nearby, and search the area to gather information. Finally, report your findings back to Sihek.
- You will now do a final run in the Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred Undercity. This time head into the Cave District to beat Longtooth. It’s the hardest encounter in the question thus far, as the boss keeps dealing poison explosions and will combo you with powerful AoE attacks.
After you have completed all the steps above and have beaten Longtooth, you will have permanently unlocked the Undercity dungeons in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred.
How does the Undercity work in Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred
Every time you boot up the Undercity in Vessel of Hatered you will enter an instance that has a timer on it (starts at 100). The clock will keep ticking down, however, killing Afflicted Monsters and Structures will grant you an additional time bonus. Elite monsters will refund even more time and can even push it beyond 100.
The goal is to reach the District Boss within the time limit. If the clock runs out, your run stops immediately. You will also notice an Attunement Meter that goes from 1-4. This fills up as you progress through the dungeon. The number you have by the end of the run will determine the quality of the reward that you get after killing the District Boss.
There are also two other aspects of the Undercity that you will need to keep in mind during your runs:
Tribute:
You will be able to acquire Tributes during your run which can further boost the benefits of the Undercity in Vessel of Hatred. Tributes will let you adjust certain aspects of your run including increased exp gain, reducing the time penalties, and more.
With more Tributes, you will be able to make your Undercity runs more comfortable in Diablo 4 and the rewards by the end of them are amazing.
Bargain:
Along with Tributes, you will also be able to acquire Bargain in the Undercity. Using this you will be able to target-farm specific items as long as you have the material cost for them. These items include Weapon, Armor, Aspects, and more.
You will be facing one of the three bosses during a run:
- Alia, Kurast’s End
- Yoche, The Golden
- Longtooth, The Wretched
The goal will be to manage your time in a way where you are able to breeze through the couple of floors that lead up to the boss. So you will need to pilot a build that has amazing wave clear.
How to upgrade your Undercity loot chest
As mentioned, you will be able to upgrade the loot that you get by the end of your run by filling out the Attunement meter. You will need to have Attunement level 1 at the very least to get any reward upgrades.
The meter scales when you activate Beacons and Grand Beacons. You will find them throughout the floors, however, these Beacons will spawn hordes that are linked to them. So to activate the structures you will need to take them out.
With each Attunement level that you get the number of Beacons and Grands Beacons required will also go up significantly. The Undercity tests your greed and how willing you are to max out your Attunement meter when the clock is running against you.
