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Rite of Passage
Recommended Level: 29-35
Quest Given By: Qual-Kehk
Location: Arreat Summit
Difficulty: Hard
Reward: Normal: 2 Million Exp; Nightmare: 20 Million Exp; Hell: 60 Million Exp
Main Objective: Pass the Rite of Passage
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Scaling the Summit:
Now that Nihlathak is dead, it's time for Quest five. Take the Waypoint back to Glacial Trail (found in the third quest) and explore the area for an exit to Frozen Tundra. During your search, you may find a side dungeon to Drifter Caverns, there's no need to explore that area unless you want some extra experience or gold.
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| You'd think that the Demons would be smart enough to avoid hurling firebolts and a big flaming golem… |
The Frozen Tundra
This snow-covered area is the final expansive outside area that you'll need to venture through in Act 5. It's not a pleasant area, and not exactly the best for experience or item drops either. The monsters featured are just tougher versions of the monsters you faced before. The Crush Beasts are back, and instead of imps, you'll find Demon Tricksters.
In addition, there will be two to three forts in the area, blocking the central passage. You don't need to siege these forts, and it is usually easier to simply skirt around by following either side of the tundra. Tricksters don't give much exp, so there's really no point in trying to kill them all. Tricks for fighting these guys were explained in the second quest
Necromancer Tip: While Blood Games are better in most respects, a Fire Golem is ideal here. Virtually every monster in this area attacks with fire, so your golem is basically invulnerable.
There's a waypoint near the end of the area. Once you've passed the second fort, it'd be a good idea to start looking for it.
The Ancient's Way
Once you reach the end of the Frozen Tundra, you'll find a cave that leads to the Ancients Way. Once you proceed inside, Quest 5 will be activated. While it's not necessary, you may want to talk to Qual-Kehk so that he can give you the quest.
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| There's nothing alien in the Ancient's Passage. They're just all old monsters with new names. |
The Ancient's Way is a huge network of tunnels, and one of the largest underground areas in Act IV. There may be a few randomly generated side dungeons for you to explore, which are identified by holes leading downwards, much like the entrance to Frozen River. What you're looking for, however, is a staircase leading upwards to the Arreat summit.
The monsters are again variations of those that you've alright fought. There's the Frozen Scourge (Tougher Frozen Creepers), Succubus (Tougher Stygian Hags), Death Slashers (Tougher Death Maulers), Reincarnated Horde (Tougher Rot Walkers) and Moon Lords (Tougher Blood Lords). Face them the way you did in previous encounters.
Item Hunting Tip: If you're willing to spend some extra time, then you might
want to try find a unique treasure chest located in the area. The chest is guarded by a Unique Monster called Bonesaw Breaker, and both he and the chest often give very useful items.
Although it may take a while, you'll eventually find the entrance to Arreat Summit.
The Rite of Passage
The Arreat summit is a tiny but stunning area. Before you start fighting, you may want to walk to the cliff edge and marvel and the spectacular view. You'll also notice that the two exits to the area, both the one you came through and the one leading into Worldstone Keep, are barred. There's no way out of here apart from Town Portals.
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| The Ancients Awake! |
In the center of the summit lies an altar, surrounded by three statues. When you're ready, activate the altar (click on it). After a short dialogue, all three statues will burst to life.
Lag Tip In Realm games, on slower systems, your computer may pause for a few seconds while it loads the graphics for the guardians. If you don't have a fast machine, it's suggested that the first thing you do is click on somewhere far away, so you're still alive when your computer catches up.
The three ancient ones are Madawc the Guardian, Talic the Defend and Korlic the Protector. All three are powerful fighters, and each will have access to nearly all of the Barbarian skills, including whirlwind. You'll find trouble targeting them due to their speed, and so area of effect spells will come in handy.
The trickiest part of this battle is that theirs is no escape. If you summon a town portal at any time, all three ancients will revert back to statue form. This means that you'll need to fight them all again at full health. The same thing will happen if someone joins the battle from town via a portal. Hence it is definitely a good idea to have everything prepared before you click on the altar; make sure everything's repaired and that your belt is full.
General Tip In Nightmare or Hell difficulty, each of the three Barbarians will spawn more magical modifiers, and these could well include Physical Immunity or Lightning Enchanted. In this case, you can conveniently summon a town portal to revert them back to statue form. When you click on the altar again, there's a good chance that they'll have less distressing modifiers.
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| Spells that don't need to be targeted, such as Poison Nova, are ideal in this situation. |
Sorceress Tip Before your 'speak' to the Altar, cast a series of firewalls to set the central platform ablaze. When the barbarians jump at you, they'll get a nasty burn.
When an Ancient is defeated, he'll transform into a Golden Statue. Once all three are defeated, you'll treated with another dialogue and your experience will take a leap. Expect to rise at least one full level.
Before you Quit:
Unless you want fight your way through the Ancient's Path again, you'll want the next waypoint before you quite out. Too bad this one's still 2 levels down in the Worldstone Keep.
The first two levels will again host tougher versions of monsters you've fought. These include Demon Sprites (Tougher Tricksters), Greator Hell Spawns (Tougher enslaved), Vile Witches (Tougher Succubi) as well a stronger versions of Blood Lords and Putrid Defilers. None of them should pose anymore threat than past variations that you've faced.
You should watch out for Frenzied Icespawns and Hellspawns. Like infested Terrans, they will charge at you and explode. In normal difficulty, each can deal up to 200 damage, so mages could possibly be killed in a single hit. When you see these guys, should them first.
The waypoint is located somewhere in the second level of the Worldstone Keep. Once you've reached it, you're free to quit out.
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