What Is The Darkened Way in Diablo 4?

Among the newly repurposed dungeons in Diablo 4, The Darkened Way is one of the most important. In Season 4, it’s where you can supposedly access the old and previous Seasonal bosses. However, The Darkened Way doesn’t exactly open up just for anyone, unlike the Malignant Burrow. I’ll explain what The Darkened Way is and how to access it in Diablo 4 Season 4.

The Darkened Way Explained in D4

[Updated on May 15, 2024 – Step-by-step process added along with Seasonal changes]

Initially, The Darkened Way is utilized in a campaign quest. It becomes available to you during the “In Her Wake” quest of Act I where you have to search for Lilith and Vhenard with Neyrelle in tow.

The Darkened Way is the name of the instanced dungeon area which leads to the ruins of Kasama. It’s located in the Fractured Peaks, northeast of the Yelesna Waypoint.

Once you’ve finished this quest, The Darkened Way will always be available and visible even if you skipped the campaign on a new Seasonal character. You can even visit it but it will be empty from World Tier 1-3 as it will be home to something more powerful later on.

The Darkened Way in D4 Houses Lord Zir

Come World Tier 4, The Darkened Way dungeon will be repurposed into the domain of Lord Zir.

For those who didn’t play the previous seasons of Diablo 4, Lord Zir is the final boss for Season of Blood and he’s a vampire overlord. Lord Zir is Level 80, thus, you need to be in World Tier 4 in order to summon him or find him in his new domain in The Darkened Way.

Getting to Lord Zir is quite the process, so here’s a step-by-step guide.

1. Again, ensure that you’re in World Tier 4 (it doesn’t matter what level you are, as long as you can handle it).
2. You need to collect 9x Exquisite Blood to summon Lord Zir in The Darkened Way. You might be able to skip the Seasonal questline if you’re after Lord Zir.
3. Farm Exquisite Blood from the following activities:
   • World Bosses
   • Legion Events
   • Blood Maidens from Helltides
4. Once you have 9x Exquisite Blood, head over to The Darkened Way and venture further into the Ancient’s Seat. Deposit the Exquisite Blood to summon Lord Zir.

There’s also a harder version of the boss called the Tormented Lord Zir (Level 200), but you’ll need 27x Exquisite Blood and 2x Stygian Stones to summon him in the same location. He’s tougher and deadlier, of course; it’s only fitting that for this vampire boss, the stakes are higher.

Diablo 4 is available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles.