45 articlesThe Cow Level is a long-time tradition in Diablo, and Diablo 4 might have finally gotten its version with the Lord of Hatred expansion.
While the Cow Level was hinted at previously in Diablo 4 and the Vessel of Hatred expansion, the clues didn’t have a proper payoff until now! But whether or not it’s worth the effort, though… that’s up to you to decide.
In this guide, I’ll tell you everything you need to do to uncover the Cow Level in Lord of Hatred.
Gathering The Prerequisites
Before we go over how to unlock the Cow Level itself, note that there are two major prerequisites you must first complete.
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Now, while these can take a while to get due to the lengthy process they require, I’ll try to summarize things to get you up to speed as quickly as possible!
How to Get the Stamina Potion
For the Stamina Potion, you must enter The Forlorn Hovel in Scosglen and kill all 28 cows inside. However, you’ll need the Strange Key to open the hovel itself.
To get the Strange Key, you’ll need to gather the following relics:
- Musty Tome – Scosglen, Fractured Peaks.
- Bloody Wooden Shard – Kehjistan, Hawezar.
- Intricate Metallic Fragment – Dry Steppes.
To get one of these relics, you must kill 666 cows in the relic’s respective region. You’re guaranteed to get a drop of the region’s relic on the 666th cow, once per character.
After you obtain one relic, you can potentially get the other 2 as a random drop. You just need to go to that relic’s respective region and kill more cows! However, it is purely random, with a fairly low chance.
Alternatively, you can do this using multiple characters. After all, each character is guaranteed a relic on their 666th cow kill. So, you can do the 666 kills on different characters, making each character focus on a specific region.
Once you’ve obtained all 3 relics, cleanse them by dropping them into the fountain in Ked Bardu.
Then, offer them to the 3 Oxen Gods to obtain the Strange Key.
When you finally obtain the Strange Key, I recommend saving and quitting to ensure you don’t lose it. Then, just go to the Forlorn Hovel shown above and kill all the cows within to obtain the Stamina Potion!
Note that, should you happen to drink the potion, you can return to the Forlorn Hovel to get another one. Just kill all the cows again! That said, there’s no reason to drink it.
How to Get the Rusted Bardiche
For the Rusted Bardiche, you’ll need to find 3 more relics within the Vessel of Hatred expansion. Thankfully, there’s no massive grind to kill 666 cows this time! But that doesn’t mean it’s easy… regardless, let’s go over how to get the 3 relics.
For the first relic, the Jabbering Gemstone. It’s the easiest of the trio. You just need to go to the spot marked above, southwest of the Kurast Docks, and use the “Thanks” emote in front of the 3 different statues.
Next up, the Crooked Staff. For this one, you’ll need to first reset your character and dismiss your Mercenary. You need to be essentially untrained, with only the basic Attack left at your disposal.
Then, go defeat the Elite Blood Lightning to the east of The Den in The Great Shelf. Manage this feat and you’ll get the relic as a drop.
For the final relic, the Rusted Old Bell, you’ll need to run a lot. Follow the map shown above and quickly visit all 12 bird statues within the Five Hills. Do this in the right order and the final statue will have the bell, though some players report it spawning back at the first one.
Next up, find 3 Cordycepic Zombies in the spots marked on the map above. They are in eastern Field of Giants, Nahantu. Lure them all together and kill them to create a black mushroom mist. Drop the relics within the mist to corrupt them.
Moving on, offer the corrupted relics to the braziers at the entrance of Oka’bo Temple, southeast of the Kurast Bazaar. You’ll receive the Unusual Key as a reward.
Lastly, go to the Forlorn Burrow cellar west of the Kurast Bazaar and break the wall at the back of the cellar. You’ll find a hidden room full of cows. Slay them all to receive the Rusted Bardiche!
Obtaining Neyrelle’s Hand
Now that you have the Stamina Potion from vanilla and the Rusted Bardiche from Vessel of Hatred, you’re caught up! It’s now time to get Neyrelle’s Hand in Lord of Hatred.
For your very first task here, you’ll need to go to the spot marked above in Skovos. Interact with the Outcast’s Journal there to unlock new interactions in the world, starting this part of the easter egg hunt.
Next up, go to the Holy Cedar Tablets shrine in Kyovashad. It’s the same one from the start of the game! Whichever one you pick will start a related Sin Quest, and you’ll need to do all of them as part of the Cow Level unlock requirements.
Now, while you can technically do these in almost any order, provided you just do Greed last. Nonetheless, there’s a recommended order I’ll follow. So, to begin here, select to inscribe “Pride” into the wood.
Pride Quest
For this quest, you’ll need to destroy a Ballista somewhere in Skovos. It has two potential spawn locations, both of which are marked on the map above. Destroy it to collect the Amazonian Bolt.
Once that’s done, go to the Idyllic Reach cellar in eastern Skovos. Enter it to find an Unloaded Ballista. Interact with it to load it with the Amazonian Bolt. After it fires, interact with it again to traverse to a new area.
After using the rope from the ballista, you’ll reach a new area with the Heavenly Father statue. Interact with it and defeat the enemy that appears to get the Father’s Chains item.
With the Father’s Chains in your possession, go to the brazier at Antia’s Flame in northeastern Skovos. Interact with it to burn the Father’s Chains, completing the “Pride” step.
Anger Quest
The next quest I recommend doing is the one for Anger. Just in case, I recommend going back to the Outcast’s Journal if you wish to confirm it has been updated. Then, go to the Holy Cedar Tablets shrine and select “Anger” this time.
For this quest, you’ll need to get a full set of Amazonian gear. The order you get it in matters for the quest, so make sure to follow along.
For the first piece, you just need to head into The Training Grounds in Temis. Smack a Training Dummy around and it’ll randomly drop the Helm. It seems to have a random chance to drop it on every hit. Equip it once you get it.
Next, you need to go to the northernmost part of Skovos, just south of the Corrupted Archives. It’s the area I’ve marked on the map for you.
In this area, slay Corrupted Amazonian mobs and look for the pieces of Amazonian gear as drops. Make sure to equip each piece of Amazonian gear as soon as it drops. You should get them in this order: Tunic, Pants, Gloves, and Boots.
Once you have the full set of Amazonian gear equipped, find and defeat Vasha the Unbroken. You can find her at the spot marked above, east of where you farm the mobs. She’ll drop the Mother’s Rose item, grab it.
Next, go to the brazier at the Temple of Courage, marked on the spot above. Interact with the brazier to burn the Mother’s Rose, completing the “Anger” step of the questline.
Fear Quest
As before, you can go back to the Outcast’s Journal if you wish to check that it has been updated. Either way, you’ll need to go back to the Holy Cedar Tablets in Kyovashad and select “Fear” this time.
Once you’ve done that, go to the Ruins of Broken Reason in the southern part of Skavos. You’ll find a large crow there. Interact with it and I’ll start to fly.
Now, you’ll need to follow the crow. This is easier said than done, as it can take odd paths out of the map or fly through parts where it’s hard to see. You sort of need to predict its route so that you can keep up.
If you fail to keep up, the crow will just return to its starting point. However, it can sometimes glitch out doing this, so you might need to log out and log back in to make it appear again.
Either way, follow the crow and it’ll eventually drop the Hierophant’s Skull. Make sure to grab that as soon as you spot it.
When you’ve acquired the Hierophant’s Skull, go to the brazier at the Temple of Life in southeastern Skovos. Burn the Hierophant’s Skull to get the Hadopelagic Key. Pick that key up to finish this step.
Greed Quest
The last of the sin quests! As always, check the Outcast’s Journal again, if you wish. Then head to Kyovashad and select “Greed” at the Holy Cedar Tablets shrine.
For this quest, go to the Creaking Hulls shipwrecks between Fractured Peaks and Hawezar. You might remember it from the vanilla campaign. Either way, I’ve marked its location above.
Reach the end of the shipwrecks and you should notice a lighter set of wooden planks. Stand on them and try fishing to reveal a Locked Wooden Coffin. Interact with it to use the Hadopelagic Key and enter the coffin.
In the new area you entered, you just need to follow the linear path until you find the Bloated Calf at the very end. Interact with it to burst it open, obtaining Neyrelle’s Hand as a drop. Pick it up and you’re done!
Combining All of the Relics
Next up, you’ll need to return to Temis in Skovos. Use the Horadric Cube there.
Place the Stamina Potion, Rusted Bardiche, and Neyrelle’s Hand into the recipe section. Their placement and order don’t matter. Just select Transmute once all 3 items are in place!
As a result, you’ll obtain the Trophy of the Faithful. Pick it up and chuck it into your inventory.
Open your inventory and use the Trophy of the Faithful. You’ll get 3 things here: the “Moo” Emote, the “There Is No Cow Level” achievement, and the Torn Page item. The Torn Page drops at your feet, so pick it up.
Reading the Torn Page, you’ll notice it hints at a boat somewhere. To follow up on the clue, you’ll need to go to the eastern shore of Skovos, to the spot marked above. Interact with the Outcast’s Boat there.
The boat will take you to what’s colloquially known as the Cow Level Island. It’s a tiny island with bovine deity statues, a cellar, and other interesting things to see! You might even fish a cow out.
However, as far as I can tell, this is where the Cow Level secret for Diablo 4 ends. At least for now! There might be more found or added later on, but who knows what the future might hold…
Wrapping Up
Ultimately, the Cow Level secret in Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred is quite an involved one, to say the least. Also an extremely grindy one, thanks to the Stamina Potion, unless you get help from others!
You’ll need to collect 3 key items in vanilla, Vessel of Hatred, and Lord of Hatred. Combine them all together and they’ll lead to the Cow Level Island. That is where the easter egg hunt ends, at least for now.
Nonetheless, I hope this guide helped you see everything there is to see with this secret! Best of luck, particularly with the 666 cow kills.
