Diablo 4 – How to beat Vhenard
The early parts of Diablo 4 are somewhat basic, which is reasonable considering how little it requires you to work with and how unfamiliar you might be with how your chosen class works. When you reach Vhenard, one of Lilith’s servants and a misguided mother, the training wheels are off.
Vhenard’s arena is small, there are a lot of enemies, and there are additional sources of damage that are difficult to avoid. This guide will show you how to complete all three boss fight phases of Vhenard.
How to Defeat Vhenard, Stage One
Venards first phase is a tutorial for the next two. While you can deal direct damage to her, you must kill the enemies she summons to deplete her health bar. Here she only summons a pair of Hell Spawn, demons with lesser wings connected to Vhenard’s shield by a blood cord. Hellspawn alternately shoots glowing orbs from afar and slashes at you with their claws in close combat. While they’re not overly menacing on their own, they have plenty of health and you’ll need to kill both of them to advance to the next stage.
The real problem at this point and in all subsequent phases are the rotating beams of energy emanating from Vhenard’s blood shield. Not only do these drain your health, but they also grant you Vulnerable status, which lowers your defenses overall. You can dodge them or avoid them by moving. You must learn to do this quickly while dealing damage to the two Hellspawn.
I played Sorcerer for my fight and recommend either Ice or Fire as the former offers some survivability and crowd control while the latter deals pure damage.
How to Defeat Vhenard, Stage Two
The second phase of combat is an extension of the first. This time, three Hellspawn will spawn alongside five Hellion Beasts to power the boss’s shield. Remove the Hellions quickly as they are just a distraction. The Hell Spawn will now shoot out multiple electric orbs at once, and with three of those present, expect there to be plenty of them to avoid.
The spinning laser beams now consist of two lengths of energy connected by a central point. If you run into one of them, it will just disappear while the other keeps moving towards you. Vhenard emits two or three beams at once, and if you’re unlucky, they cover the entire width of the arena. Use your sprints liberally but carefully as you only have two and despite their short cooldown you don’t want to get stuck without movement skills.
How to Defeat Vhenard, Stage Three
Venards third and last phase is the messiest of them all. In addition to the three Hell Spawns, i.e. five Hellions, you now also have to deal with a Pit Beast, a mini boss whose mass takes up about a quarter of the arena. Concentrate fire on the Pit Beast and Hellions first, as the former is just waiting to slash you open with a giant cleaver, and one hit from him deals significant damage. Luckily, the Hellspawn don’t gain extra orbs on their ranged attacks.
However, the rotating laser beams have changed again. They now come out in groups of three connected to a single point, as if they were the rotating interior of a triangle. As before, hitting one beam can’t stop the others from spinning, and Vhenard emits two or three at a time.
To beat this third phase you’ll have to keep moving and, instead of keeping your eyes on the enemies, pay attention to the position of the lasers and the blood plumes between Vhenard and the Hellspawn. Use all of the AoE attacks in your arsenal if you have them and are more of a single target specialist, but take out the high-value targets – the Pit Beast and Hell Spawn – as quickly as possible.
Don’t worry too much if you die a few times trying to complete this stage. You have to do the fight all over again from the beginning, but I found the second instance of the fight much more manageable since I knew better when to heal, when to run, and when to attack.