The Festering Dark is a Stronghold found in Nahantu in Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred (D4). Read on to learn how to clear The Festering Dark Stronghold, full walkthrough and its location, rewards for completing, as well as tips on how to beat Maleficium.

The Festering Dark Stronghold Location

Southwest of Ichorfall Waypoint

The Festering Dark Stronghold is located north of the Ichorfall Waypoint, next to the Restless Canopy area.

The Festering Dark Stronghold Walkthrough

How to Clear The Festering Dark Stronghold
Find the Lantern and Reach the Hateful Dark Use Warding Braziers to slay Maleficium Rekindle the Wanderer's Shrine

Find the Lantern and Reach the Source of the Hateful Dark

	Objective
1	Reach the Festering Dark stronghold and enter the caves. Pick up the Reliquary Lantern next to the corpse and begin exploring the caves. Equipping the lantern will render your skills unusable unless you drop the lantern by pressing any of the hotkeys assigned to your skills.
2	Head up the cliff and use the Reliquary Lantern to interact with the Warding Brazier. Follow the lantern and stay within range until it reaches a blockade. It will then destroy the blockade, forging a new path forward.
3	Follow the blue lines on the map above to reach the Source of the Hateful Dark. You'll have to bring the reliquary lantern to light up the warding braziers marked as a red circle on the map to remove the blockade. Once you reach the objective, a boss fight will begin immediately.

Use the Warding Braziers to Slay Maleficium

The Warding Braziers will allow you to deal damage to Maleficium. If Maleficium is outside the range of a lit brazier, it'll be immune to all damage, so make sure that they're always lit!

▼ How to Beat Maleficium ▼

Rekindle the Wanderer's Shrine

Interact with the Wanderer's Shrine to conquer the stronghold, earning renown and unlocking a waypoint.

How to Beat Maleficium

Lure Maleficium to Lit Braziers

Maleficium won't take any damage unless its physical form is revealed by being within the radius of a lit brazier. Light the warding braziers up and lure Maleficium toward them so you can deal damage.

Some of the braziers will be extinguished and cannot be lit for a certain amount of time. While the braziers are extinguished, unkillable enemies will spawn and deal long-ranged attacks in a straight line. These attacks can easily be avoided, but it can become dangerous if too many of the same enemies spawn.

The Festering Dark Stronghold Rewards

All Rewards

In addition to earning random loot and Renown in the region, you unlock the following rewards for completing the The Festering Dark Stronghold.

Unlocks the Betrayed Tomb Dungeon

Betrayed Tomb is one of the dungeons available to players after completing the The Festering Dark Stronghold.

All Dungeon Locations and Map

Unlocks the The Festering Dark Waypoint

Conquering the stronghold also unlocks the waypoint for The Festering Dark which gives you an additional 20 Renown for the waypoint after rekindling the Wanderer's Shrine.

Waypoint Map and All Locations

Diablo 4 Related Guides

All Stronghold Locations

All Strongholds By Region

All Nahantu Strongholds