Diablo 4: Opening the Cow Level – Step by Step

Step 2: Farm the rusty bardiche

For the second part, you need Vessel of Hatred. You need to farm the rusty bardiche in Nahantu and will need some patience. If you want to solve it yourself, you can find scrolls from Uacax with hints at the docks of Kurast, Kichuk, and Samuk. You can find the solution here. Once again, you need three items:

• the chatterstone
• the crooked staff
• and the rusty old bell

For the gem, you only need to travel to the gravesite of Onucha Ikha, a bit southwest of the docks of Kurast, and use the “Thank You” emote in front of three statues: first in front of the middle, then the northern, then the southern statue. The gem will then simply fall to the ground at the statue.

The crooked staff requires a tough fight. You must defeat an elite enemy (“Bloodbolt”) east of the hideout (the base of the mercenaries from Vessel of Hatred). However, you can only defeat him with the normal “attack” you have at the start of the game. To do so, you need to:

• send your mercenary away so they do not accidentally kill the mob
• unlearn all skills (i.e., reset all skill points)
• take off most of your gear if it grants you skill points somewhere
• Paragon does not matter and can remain unchanged

The skill bar should only contain the normal attack (no abilities!). It is advisable to fight the enemy on the lowest difficulty (normal). Once you have defeated the enemy, he will drop the crooked staff.

The last item, the rusty old cow bell, requires a scavenger hunt through the five hills in Nahantu. There you will find small statues resembling birds and very hidden. Approach these as close as possible and in the correct order:

Return to the start after the 12th bird, and the bell should be in front of you.

With the three quest items, you need to go to the east of Nahantu. North of Ichorfall, you will find “Cordyceps Zombies” standing at various positions quite isolated. You need to gather 3 of them – which requires a lot of “kite” work.

For safety, send your mercenary away and do not equip area spells to avoid accidentally killing the zombies. Isolate them and bring them to a spot. They must all die close to each other. They will then leave a small mushroom field. Drop the three collected items there and wait until they emit purple smoke – they are now corrupted.

Then bring the three corrupted relics to the Temple of Oka’bo southeast of Kurast. Right at the entrance in the southeast, you will find three braziers, two at the entrance and one near the statue a bit further. Interact with the braziers (you need the corrupted items for this), and you will receive the unusual key.

The key opens a hidden passage in the “Abandoned Structure,” a cellar west of Kurast. Defeat all enemies there. In the last room, a wall with overgrowth in the northeast glows faintly white as you approach it. Interact with the wall, and you will enter another area with many cows and corpses. Kill the cows and loot the rusty bardiche.