Strongholds have been a part of Diablo 4 since the very start, and these allow you to unlock certain regions on your map that result in you having places to travel to and use services.
With the arrival of the Vessel of Hatred Expansion, we get a glimpse of Nahantu and within it are a new Stronghold for you to conquer.
Each of these Strongholds is unique from one another and will bring on a new experience when it comes to lore as well as discovering what else Nahantu has to offer.
Nahantu Stronghold Locations
There are 3 Strongholds that may be found in Nahantu and these are spread to the very far edges of the map but can easily be reached by riding a mount after fast traveling.
The following are the stronghold locations as shown in the image above:
- Kichuk – Located to the east of The Mercenary Den or the north of Ichorfall
- Chakhir – Located to the west of the Kurast Bazaar or north of Samuk (Unlocked later in the main quest)
- The Festering Dark – Located to the southeast of Kurast Bazaar or southwest of Ichorfall
All Nahantu Stronghold Walkthroughs
1) Kichuk Stronghold
Once you arrive at Kichuk, you will need to free the villages by destroying the cages that they are held in before joining the survivors and speaking to Akhin.
After speaking to Akhin, the Lacuni will begin to attack you and the survivors, and you must fight back against them until they are cleared up.
Speak to Keitseh afterward and your next destination will be the cave where you attempt to kill the Dweller in the Dark but later resort to destroying the pillars instead.
As you destroy the pillars, the Dweller in the Dark will continue to follow and attack you until all the pillars are destroyed, which allows you to finally slay the monster.
Head back to the other survivors, who are killed by a Lacuni Boss called Kirma, and slay them, which will allow you to conquer the stronghold afterward.
- Save the Kichuk Villagers from the Lacuni
- Free the Villagers from the Cages
- Reunite with the Survivors
- Speak with Akhin
- Defend Kichuk from the Lacuni
- Speak with Keitseh
- Enter the Caves
- Slay the Dweller in the Dark
- Destroy the Pillars to Collapse the Cave
- Escape the cave and find Keitseh
- Slay the Dweller in the Dark
- Find and talk to Keitseh
- Slay Kirma
- Slay the remaining Lacuni
- Rekindle the Wanderer’s Shrine to Conquer Kichuk
2) The Festering Dark Stronghold
The Festering Dark is a bit shorter than most strongholds as you mostly need to navigate through the cave until you reach the boss at the end.
To do this, you will need to head inside the cave and interact with the Rune of Trag’Oul to obtain the Reliquary Lantern, which is needed to light the Warding Braziers.
Once a Warding Brazier is lit, there will be an aura around it that you will need to stay inside as you follow it to its destination.
This needs to be repeated until each certain point in the cave, which includes going through the Skittering Darkness passage to reach the Forgotten Depths.
Once you enter the Forgotten Depths, there will be 2 Warding Braziers to choose from and you will want to interact with the one on the bottom to take the correct path.
Another set of Warding Braziers will be in the next area, you will want to take the second one coming from the bottom to reach the marked area.
Once you reach the marked area, you will need to fight Maleficium, the stronghold boss, and it can only be damaged within the area of a Warding Brazier.
Use the Reliquary Lantern to keep the Warding Braziers lit and you will be able to kill Maleficium when he steps into their auras.
After you have killed Maleficium, you may conquer the stronghold by rekindling the Wanderer’s Shrine, which can be found northeast of where you fought the boss.
- Investigate the caves
- Use the reliquary lantern to activate the warding brazier and open a way forward.
- Bring the reliquary lantern to the source of the hateful dark
- Slay Maleficium
- Use the warding braziers to slay Maleficium
- Rekindle the Wanderer’s Shrine to conquer the Festering Dark
3) Chakhir Stronghold
Arriving at Chakhir will reveal that the Dregs are up to something, and you may investigate this by heading to any of the 4 marked locations in the stronghold.
Once you reach one of the locations, you will discover they are brewing poison, and this requires you to head to each location to destroy the Brewing Cauldrons.
Each location will have slightly different objectives but these all lead to you destroying the Brewing Cauldrons to proceed.
Once all the Brewing Cauldrons are destroyed, make your way to the marked location to investigate the new poison and you will encounter Darm, who you must slay.
A path will be opened afterward to where Darm was standing, and you must head inside to destroy the Falo Blooms before you may proceed.
Upon the destruction of the Falo Blooms, the brothers Sinerat and Skerg will challenge you, which requires you to head to their location marked on your map.
Defeat both Sinerat and Skerg, which will allow you to rekindle the Wanderer’s Shrine to conquer the Chakhir Stronghold.
- Investigate the ruins of Chakhir
- Investigate what the Dregs are doing in Chakhir
- Destroy the Dregs Brewing Cauldrons
- Find the source of the Dreg’s new poison
- Slay Darm
- Destroy the Falo Blooms
- Confront Sinerat and Skerg
- Slay Sinerat
- Slay Skerg
- Rekindle the Wanderer’s Shrine to conquer Chakhir
Verdict
The Stronghold in Nahantu adds a whole new experience, giving you more lore to discover and challenges to face when conquering them.
Conquering all the strongholds in Nahantu will reward you with the Nahantu Stronghold Champion challenge being completed.
Progressing with the Nahantu Region requires that all of the strongholds are conquered, which allows you to obtain region rewards later.
