Regions

Sanctuary is five regions, and on the surface they are built from the same kit: three strongholds each, a share of the 160 Altars of Lilith, a share of the 115 Codex dungeons, a world boss arena and a handful of waypoints. What separates them is the short list of things that exist in one region and nowhere else. That list is how this guide is arranged, because it answers the question the Renown totals cannot: why you would go back to a region once its collectibles are done.

Our coverage is a region hub for each of the five, Fractured Peaks, Scosglen, Dry Steppes, Kehjistan and Hawezar, with sub-pages for each region's altars, waypoints and strongholds, emote statue pages for three of them, walkthroughs for all fifteen strongholds, and two oddities that live here because they fit nowhere else. The counts below are the ones our pages publish, and they add up: 28 + 34 + 33 + 31 + 34 altars is 160, 23 + 25 + 21 + 23 + 23 dungeons is 115, and 7 + 8 + 8 + 6 + 6 waypoints is 35.

Two of those columns come from single pages: the herbs from the materials table, which marks one plant per region as found only there, and the arenas from our Wandering Death and Avarice pages, which list the five spots any world boss can appear. The cellar counts are the cellar map's and sum to 131.

Fractured Peaks: the town and the first capstone

The Fractured Peaks is where the game starts and, per our region page, where it keeps you until about level 20. Its exclusive is Kyovashad itself, the town that holds nearly every vendor and the Cathedral of Light, the level 50 capstone whose boss, The Curator, stands between you and World Tier 3. Biteberry grows only in these mountains, and the region has the fewest altars of the five, 28, which our altar page turns into a reason to start the collection here.

Its three strongholds are the game's gentlest: Malnok and Nostrava at level 18 and Kor Dragan at 25, the last of them also the recurring site of the Gathering Legions event. Of the 23 dungeons, five reward Necromancers and only three reward Rogues, the region page notes. The sub-pages cover its 28 altars by sub-zone, its seven waypoints including Nevesk, which only works once you have reached Kyovashad and come back, the three strongholds and the emote statues spread over seven sub-zones.

Scosglen: the Druid's stronghold

Scosglen is the largest region on our altar page's reckoning and the one whose exclusive belongs to a single class. Tur Dulra is a level 30 stronghold that a Druid has to conquer before Spirits of the Lost Grove will run, and no other class quest asks for a stronghold. Clearing it also opens the Underroot, the one dungeon our Scosglen page says needs the stronghold first, and a waypoint. Howler Moss is the herb found only here.

The other two strongholds are Hope's Light, a lighthouse at the region's northern tip, and Moordaine Lodge, whose clear also unlocks the Feral's Den and Twisted Hollow dungeons. Scosglen has 25 dungeons, more than any other region, and our region page walks them sub-zone by sub-zone with the aspect each one pays. The altar page counts 34 statues, six of them in the Highland Wilds, although the region hub's own prose says 32, which we have left for an editor. The eight waypoints, three strongholds and eight emote statues each have a page.

Dry Steppes: the second capstone and the first PvP zone

The Dry Steppes hold two things the endgame runs through. Chambatar Ridge holds the Fallen Temple, the capstone for World Tier 4, beaten at level 70 against Elias, and the first Fields of Hatred sits on the western border, the one our PvP guide tells newcomers to try first. Reddamine grows only here, and Ked Bardu is where a Barbarian collects the Masters of Battle quest.

This is also the only region with two waypoints locked behind strongholds: The Onyx Watchtower at level 33 and the Ruins of Qara-Yisu, which our walkthrough puts at 49 and the region page at 50. The Temple of Rot at 46 is the third. The 33 altars, eight waypoints, strongholds and six emote statues have their own pages, and the region's 21 dungeons include the Dark Ravine, whose Aspect of Might turns up in more of our builds than any other.

Kehjistan: the old capital

Kehjistan is a desert of cultists and abandoned ruins in the southwest, with a difficulty our region page puts at 20 and up. Its exclusives are places rather than systems: Caldeum, the fallen trade capital whose Imperial Library waypoint opens after the campaign and starts the In Desperate Times quest, Gea Kul, and the second Fields of Hatred. Lifesbane is the region's herb, and Seared Basin its arena. The Hidden Camp, a Diablo 3 easter egg in the Forgotten Overlook, is also here.

Kehjistan's strongholds are the highest-level trio on our pages: Alcarnus at 45, where Deckard Cain died, Altar of Ruin at 45 with its three Ritual Keystones, and Omath's Redoubt at 47, the one our writer calls a detective story. The region page counts 31 altars, 23 dungeons and six waypoints, and says Rogues are the class that gets only three aspects from its dungeons. Sub-pages: altars, waypoints and strongholds. Kehjistan and Hawezar are the two regions without an emote statue page.

Hawezar: the swamp with the tree

Hawezar is the smallest region and the last the campaign reaches, in Act 5. Its exclusive is the endgame's bounty board: the Tree of Whispers in the Writhing Mire is the only place to turn ten Grim Favors into a cache, and its waypoint is one of the region's six. Blightshade is the herb, the Fields of Desecration the arena, and the Ruins of Rakhat Keep an unusual cluster of three dungeons in one small area.

The strongholds are Crusaders' Monument, where three skulls must be recovered, Eriman's Pyre, which opens the Oblivion dungeon, and Vyeresz, whose waypoint is locked until the serpent cult is gone. Hawezar ties Scosglen at 34 altars despite its size and has the densest cellars, 30 at about four per sub-zone. The altar, waypoint and stronghold pages complete the set.

How the strongholds climb

Line the fifteen strongholds up by the level our pages give them and the regions fall into the order the story visits them: Fractured Peaks 18, 18 and 25; Scosglen 20, 25 and 30; the Dry Steppes 33, 46 and 49; Hawezar 35, 40 and 42; Kehjistan 45, 45 and 47. The two capstones sit at the same seam, Cathedral of Light in the first region at 50 and Fallen Temple in the third at 70. The full table with bosses and rewards is in the locations guide; what each stronghold's boss does is in the bosses guide.

Two of the fifteen walkthroughs disagree with their region page about that level, Moordaine Lodge and Hope's Light, where the walkthrough's 48 is a recommendation rather than the stronghold's own level. Our level scaling page explains why the number matters at all: most of the map follows your level, but some places never scale down, and a stronghold's floor is one of them.

The two pages that are not regions

The Secret Cow Level page collects the clues players have found for a hidden area Blizzard says does not exist: an Oxen Gods fountain, three quest items that were never in the live game, and a key. It is filed here because a hidden level is a place, if it is anything. The Shifting City used to sit here too and has been moved to the dungeons, where it belongs.

Frequently asked questions

Which region should I finish first for Renown?

Our altar page suggests the Fractured Peaks, because it has the fewest altars at 28 and its strongholds open at level 18. What that Renown buys, and which of it every later character inherits, is set out on the Diablo 4 hub.

Which region has the most dungeons?

Scosglen, with 25 of the 115 in our master table. The Dry Steppes have the fewest at 21. Every one of them pays a Codex aspect on the first clear, and the dungeons guide sorts all of them by what they ask you to do inside.

Do the regions have different crafting materials?

Only the herbs. Our materials table gives each region one plant of its own, Biteberry, Howler Moss, Reddamine, Lifesbane and Blightshade, while Angelbreath, Gallowvine, the ores, the hides and the monster parts drop everywhere.