Diablo III: story route through all five acts

Act I: New Tristram and the search for the Stranger

Order: The Fallen Star → The Legacy of Cain → A Shattered Crown → Reign of the Black King → Sword of the Stranger → The Broken Blade → The Doom in Wortham → Trailing the Coven → The Imprisoned Angel → Return to New Tristram.

Use New Tristram as your base. Cathedral and crypts lead to the Skeleton King; then follow the sword search and the path through Wortham to the cult. Later, traverse the Halls of Agony to the Butcher. After each objective check the quest tracker and dialogue before continuing to search the same area.

1. Skeleton King

   Step out of telegraphed attacks and use newly appearing enemies for healing and resources.

2. Butcher

   Leave burning floor sections early and sidestep the charge. Safe ground matters more than one final attack.

Act II: desert, archives and Belial’s deception

Order: Shadows in the Desert → The Road to Alcarnus → City of Blood → A Royal Audience → Unexpected Allies → Betrayer of the Horadrim → Blood and Sand → The Black Soulstone → The Scouring of Caldeum → Lord of Lies.

From the camp and Caldeum travel through the desert to Alcarnus, then complete Kulle’s search through the oasis, sand areas and archives. Several objectives belong to one main quest; the tracker identifies the next object. After Kulle return to Caldeum instead of searching completed archives for another exit boss.

1. Maghda and Kulle

   Account for adds and protective phases; do not spend your entire resource pool on an invulnerable target.

2. Belial

   Keep escape lanes open before large area attacks. The encounter changes the arena between phases: react to the new ground markers.

Act III: Bastion and Azmodan’s crater

Order: The Siege of Bastion’s Keep → Turning the Tide → The Breached Keep → Tremors in the Stone → Machines of War → Siegebreaker → Heart of Sin.

Secure the walls and keep first, then move through the Keep Depths. Outside, destroy the war machines, reach the bridge and descend into Arreat Crater. Towers and hearts lead onward to Azmodan. On narrow bridges, avoid multiplying encounters by rushing into several packs.

1. Ghom

   Preserve usable space as poison covers the arena. Do not exhaust healing and movement together.

2. Siegebreaker and Azmodan

   Sidestep directed attacks; do not turn dangerous ground effects into your permanent firing position.

Act IV: Heaven and the Prime Evil

Order: Fall of the High Heavens → The Light of Hope → Beneath the Spire → Prime Evil. The route leads through Heaven’s entrance and gardens to the Silver Spire and finally Diablo.

Rakanoth and Izual are separate encounters along the story path. Before Diablo, adjust your skills for a longer boss encounter: keep movement, resource support and an emergency defence. Through the changing phases, watch cages, directed attacks and safe movement lanes.

Act V: Reaper of Souls and Malthael

Order: The Fall of Westmarch → Souls of the Dead → The Harbinger → The Witch → The Pandemonium Gate → The Battlefields of Eternity → Breaching the Fortress → Angel of Death. This act requires Reaper of Souls or an edition containing it.

Survivors’ Enclave is your town anchor. From Westmarch’s streets, the story progresses through Urzael, the search for Adria and Corvus into the Battlefields of Eternity. Then traverse Pandemonium Fortress to Malthael. Building entrances and random events are not identical in every game.

1. Urzael

   Avoid fire zones and telegraphed cannon attacks; immediately find the safe side after arena changes.

2. Adria

   Read ground effects early and avoid being cornered at the edge. Attack during the openings after moving.

3. Malthael

   Start with movement and healing available. Read new-phase attacks before committing damage; a complete ordinary farming build is not automatically safe against every boss attack.

Side events, finds and collection goals

D3 side content largely consists of random events, rare dungeons, bounties, conversations and lore books. This is not a fixed D4-style side-quest register. For a missing target, note act, area, mode and required quest stage; starting a new game generates different layouts and events.

Cosmetic finds, lore books and crafting plans are not all guaranteed quest rewards. For a specific find, first establish whether it comes from a fixed object, a particular enemy, a random event or the general loot pool. A route must not treat these different acquisition methods as identical.