Playing Diablo is all about grinding, looting, dungeons, and monsters. But something new in Diablo IV is the Strongholds. Strongholds are basically larger, fort-like dungeons that, instead of running them over and over again, you can clear once and improve the map. Because of this, they are harder than typical dungeons. So, let’s do a rundown of all Strongholds in Diablo IV Act I, Fractured Peaks.
Where are the Fractured Peaks Strongholds in Diablo IV?
There are three Strongholds in Diablo IV’s Fractured Peaks. These Strongholds are:
- Kor Dragan: Northeast of Menestad in Sarkova Pass
- Malnok: Directly East of Kyovashad through the Frigid Expanse
- Nostrava: Due North of Nevesk through the Pallid Glade
Each Stronghold functions as a sort of village/city made up of a specific class of monsters. These Strongholds each have their own unique objectives as you work through clearing the area. Typically, those objectives tend to be some sort of magical defense you have to dispel on the way to fighting a seriously tough final boss.
Depending on the Stronghold, some of them can turn into towns once you’re done. So if you’re missing any waypoints, they might be trapped behind a Stronghold clearing. For example, once you clear out Nostava, it becomes a functional village and waypoint.
How to beat each Fractured Peaks Stronghold in Diablo IV
Each Diablo IV Stronghold is unique from one another, with different monsters, objectives, and challenges. When looking at the three in Fractured Peaks, here’s the low-down on how each Stronghold works and how to fight through them:
Kor Dragan:
This blood-soaked fortress is all about the undead. Kor Dragan is a vampiric paradise full of ghouls, revenants, sanguine inquisitors, unsurprisingly, vampires.
To clear Kor Dragan, you have to destroy the Vampiric Incubators around the castle. There are three throughout the grounds, but you have to destroy three Vampiric Corruptions to access each one. It’s a lot of blood and guts. Once you destroy all Vampiric Incubators and Corruptions, you can remove the Vampiric Abberation to the right of the main hall and fight the big bad at the end.
The final boss of Kar Dragan is Nilcar, the Forgotten Bishop. He’s a larger version of a Blood Mage with a lot of annoying, frustrating spells. The worst of them is his control over his in-arena Vampiric Incubators. Each time he loses a large chunk of health, he will open one and send a new, unkillable Sanguine elite your way. With Nilcar, this fight is all about surviving his persistent attrition, so sustaining abilities will be helpful (life steal, shields, etc). Be smart while juggling him and the elites and you’ll be able to pull through.
Malnok:
In Diablo IV, Malnok is the ultimate Ice Clan playground. Here, a horde of Ice Clan Mauraders, Implaers, Shaman, Maulers, and more collect for an unholy ritual.
When you enter Malnok, you’ll see a large Ice Clan elite in the center of a storm, with three different magic beams heading to different clifftops. This is the magic of the three Stormcallers performing this ritual to summon their champion. You have to climb each clifftop to kill each Stormcaller and their minions. There’s a Stormcaller cliff to the Southeast, Northeast, and Southwest. Once all Stormcallers are destroyed, it’s time to fight the champion.
The final boss of Malnok is Frosthorn, the Ice Clan Champion. In a limited arena with tight walls, do your best to avoid his swinging axe and you should be okay. Otherwise, maybe switch up your build beforehand to pick more defensive abilities. Frosthorn hits like a truck, so don’t underestimate him.
Nostrava:
In Diablo IV, Nostrava is the most story-driven Stronghold of the bunch. After all, there are soft implications that this is one of the villages Lilith passed through before heading to Nevesk, where your character originally began their story. Now, after Lilith’s visit, Nostrava consists of Succubus, Oppressors, other demonfolk, and crazed villagers.
As you head through Nostrava, your goal is to explore the church and all the local houses, clearing out any and all demonic effigies and elites until you fight the local demon leader in the churchyard.
The final boss of Nostrava is Negala, a Succubus follower of Lilith. She has quite a few tricks up her sleeve, like summoning oppressors as well as other succubi, Torvala and Kirzira, to terrorize you in a fight. However, while there are a lot of projectiles in this combat, the arena is fairly spacious, so as long as you keep moving you’ll have a decent shot of surviving.
As mentioned earlier, once you clear Nostrava, it becomes a new waypoint village.
