Start with the Feature and Campaign Path You Need
On Vessel of Hatred's story route, the Undercity introduction, Rune introduction and Deeds of a Champion lead to different unlocks. First entering Kurast Undercity is an earlier milestone than finishing Sihek's introduction for Tributes. Penitent difficulty has its own current requirement: completing the Prologue.
The named VoH handoffs below follow its documented campaign route, introduced in October 2024. Current campaign choices and difficulty rules are included so a returning character can identify the relevant path before repeating story objectives.
Blizzard's 3.0 campaign overview lists these starting choices:
- Expansion 1 Start: Vessel of Hatred for its campaign.
- Expansion 2 Start: Lord of Hatred for the newer story.
- Story Complete: Endgame after completing Lord of Hatred. Existing characters can also use the campaign-skip option at Character Select.
For a Lord of Hatred owner who has completed that campaign, the Command Table in Temis opens War Plans, whose activities include the Undercity. Follow the activity entry and quests available to that character. The VoH story handoffs below describe that campaign's progression; they are not a requirement to replay Deeds on every endgame character.
Penitent Difficulty Now Opens After the Prologue
Complete the Prologue to unlock Expert and Penitent. Blizzard changed this requirement in the September 15, 2026 live 3.2.1 notes. The earlier requirement to finish or skip the base campaign is historical.
If difficulty selection is the feature you need, check Prologue completion and the available difficulty choices first. Completing the whole VoH campaign or Deeds of a Champion is not the current Penitent requirement.
Kurast Undercity: Finish Sihek's Full Introduction
In the VoH campaign route, complete Reunion, then speak with Ormus in Kurast about The Kurast Undercity. Ormus sends you inside to find Councilor Sihek. This starts the feature introduction; continue its follow-up quests after gaining first entry.
The launch walkthroughs describe this sequence:
- The Kurast Undercity: follow Ormus's objective, find Sihek and help him out.
- Undercity: Wail of the Forgotten: continue Sihek's investigation and the introduction to the dungeon.
- Undercity: The Specter of Travincal: complete the first introductory district run.
- Undercity: The Promise: finish the investigation and its next Undercity run.
- Undercity: Starving Pride: complete the remaining investigation and district encounter.
- Undercity: Sihek: finish the closing handoffs, including the Hand-Carved Slate and the Council Chambers conversation with Ormus.
Michael James's October 13, 2024 activity walkthrough identifies the final Sihek stage as the unlock for Tributes and Bargains. Jezartroz's original VoH unlock report separately notes that the introductory questline must be completed before Tributes begin dropping.
Being able to enter the dungeon did not mean the introduction was finished. If a character is still on this story route and lacks Tribute access, look for the next Sihek objective and its final turn-in. At the Spirit Brazier, inspect the available Tribute and Bargain options once the introduction is complete. Select a Tribute for a useful reward goal and read its conditions before committing it.
Deeds of a Champion: Follow Ormus's Handoffs
Deeds of a Champion follows Presaging Fate at the end of the VoH campaign. Start with Kalien, Messenger of Ormus, then visit Ormus in Kurast's Council Chambers. The campaign walkthrough places the tasks in a sequence, with returns to Ormus between them.
For the documented VoH route, work through these stages:
- Complete the Nahantu task group. Clear Kichuk, finish Tenets of Depravity and complete the requested three Nahantu dungeons. Return to Ormus when the objectives are satisfied.
- Follow the Sihek objective. Complete the requested Undercity encounter with the Terror of Five Hills, then return to Ormus. The launch quest list marked finishing the rest of that run as optional after the required encounter.
- Follow the Tree of Whispers handoff. Speak with the Tree, earn the requested Grim Favors in Nahantu and claim the reward. Return to Ormus.
- Finish the later Helltide and Pit objectives. Follow the quantities and Pit tier shown in the character's current quest log, then report back to Ormus. The original level-60 endgame has since changed, so an old Pit requirement should not be used as a universal current unlock rule.
The Whisper hand-in occurs before the later Helltide and Pit stages. Progress to the Tree objective when Ormus directs you there, rather than wait for the entire Deeds chain to be finished before attempting that step.
If the active version of Deeds asks for remaining Mercenaries, use the Den lookup below. Follow the objective currently displayed instead of adding every side quest in Nahantu to the prerequisites.
Find the Remaining Mercenary Quests in the Den
The VoH main story introduces Raheir and the Den. Blizzard's Mercenary overview explains that further companions are recruited through their own quests. Once the Den is available, these are the three remaining recruitment paths:
| Companion | Inspect in the Den | Recruitment quest |
|---|---|---|
| Aldkin | Archive of Kuo Chosah | A Nameless Mystery |
| Subo | Muddy Letter | A Feather on the Scale |
| Varyana | Brutal Note | Slayer's Retribution |
The objects and quest names are documented in Iain Wilson's Mercenary recruitment walkthrough. Complete the corresponding quest, then return to the Den to select the companion for the role you want. Finding a recruitment object starts that companion's route; it does not complete the recruitment by itself.
Runes: Finish Fundament of Faith and the Jeweler Introduction
Fundament of Faith is the Rune milestone on the VoH story route. It follows Madman, Crowned. Complete the Kurast Sewers objectives, speak with Maka and return to Ormus in the Council Chambers to finish the quest.
The original unlock report describes a Rune cache and a follow-up Priority Quest leading to the Jewelcrafter in Nahantu. Claim the quest reward and follow that marked introduction when it appears. Reaching Kurast or making an unrelated dungeon run is not the same story milestone.
This describes the VoH campaign introduction. A character created with a later story start or an available campaign skip should use the features and remaining Priority Quests actually offered to it; the older route does not establish that every such character must replay Fundament of Faith.
Kichuk Also Opens the Hawezar Road
Complete Kichuk Stronghold to open the second overland connection into Nahantu. The original VoH report describes the resulting bridge toward Hawezar, near Zarbinzet, alongside the earlier approach from Kehjistan.
That makes Kichuk useful for the Deeds objective and for travel. In northeastern Nahantu, complete Kichuk's objectives and its Kirma encounter, rather than assume simply visiting the stronghold opens the road. The bridge is an exploration shortcut, separate from the difficulty selection and Undercity introduction.
In the Undercity, Watch Time and Attunement Separately
Attunement measures reward progress; the timer measures the time remaining in the run. Blizzard's Undercity overview says killing monsters and completing events earns Attunement, while killing powerful Afflicted demons extends the time budget.
Build enough reward progress while preserving time to continue. Running straight past every encounter can leave a reward condition unmet; spending too long on an unhelpful fight can exhaust the clock. Use the active run's displayed objectives and any selected Tribute conditions to decide which encounters matter.
The October 17, 2024 2.0.3 changes increased an unmodified run's starting budget from 100 to 120 seconds, and 2.0.5 later fixed runs starting with the old value. Those were starting-run values. They do not establish a fixed 100 seconds per floor or a universal timer for runs modified by Tributes or War Plans.
Cover: a player beside a stone serpent head in Blizzard Entertainment's official Kurast Undercity gameplay image.
