Butcher

Butcher's profile portrait.

The Butcher makes a return in Diablo 3. The Butcher appeared in Diablo as the first quest boss. It's apparent, through datamining of Diablo 3 Beta files, that the Butcher will play a more important role in Diablo 3 as the Act One Boss.

Blizzard attempted to obfuscate the Butcher's identity in the game files during the Diablo III beta by assigning him a "code name", being "Withers", which like all of the Diablo III internal code names, was equestrian in nature. A "withers" is an anatomical term for a portion of a horse's shoulder area.

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The Butcher's Return

Many fans may wonder how a dead Demon can come back to life to plague the town of Tristram once again, but Diablo and the Skeleton King seem to have no issue doing so. The return of the Butcher, within the realm of the game world, is a deliberate action by Maghda and her Coven, through the use of her Cultists, to sacrifice the flesh and blood of living beings to resurrect this beast.

The Butcher's goal is to prevent the hero from moving on towards Caldeum with Leah and Tyrael. Maghda acts as an extension of Belial's will, and his will is to control the destiny of Tyrael. Magda is searching for his shattered blade in Act I, and she summons the Butcher to assist her in more physical means.

Beneath Leoric's Manor lies the Halls of Agony, home of the Butcher, where the Coven has been actively taking people they've abducted from New Tristram and Wortham to be sacrificed a gruesome manner.

The Butcher In-Game

There's lore entries leading up to his appearance as the final boss of Act I, as the player makes their way through the Halls of Agony, and Myriam will also warn players about the taste of rotten demon blood. That is, if Myriam is ever returned to the game.

From notes by a Triune torturer:

I need more bodies! You think my summoners can just conjure up a demon whenever it pleases them? We must have blood—fresh blood, mind you—and human flesh to bolster our magic. I will be expecting a reply from you shortly.

Second part:

Of all the abominable stalling! In case it was not clear, I need the sacrifices now. I have heard enough of your idle complaints that the villagers have fled from the Highlands, leaving no one left to sacrifice. You'd best come up with something or it's your hide we'll be flaying.

Gossip option from Myriam the Mystic, titled An Unnatural Beast:

Boss Fight Abilities

The Butcher's weaponary

He's been upgraded in his downtime since Diablo I, although it is still a fairly straight-forward fight.

The Butcher has x different types of abilities:

• Melee Attack - Like all bosses, the butcher has a basic melee attack where he grunts and throws his carver to the ground.

• Smash - This attack is a heavy-damage melee attack where he broadcasts it by hopping up and down a few times. The attack is easy to dodge, and his weapon will be stuck into the ground for a short time.

• Grappling Hook - The butcher will throw his sickle at the player, and if it connects, the player will be reeled in to him and stunned. He will then hit the player with a heavy melee attack from his axe.

• Spear - The butcher will throw out many medium-range Ancient Spear-like hooks to damage the player for a modicum of health. The player can be hit by more than one hook.

• Frenzy Charge - The butcher will rear up, turn bright red, and roar. After, he will charge, but the charge is broadcasted by a line of red fire-like substance along the ground, which is the path he will follow. After he charges, he will be stunned for a short while.

In addition, there is a hazard to his boss arena, being the fire grates built into the floor. The grates will activate on occassion, burning brightly, before sending up gusts of flame to damage the hero. There are two health wells on the northern end of the arena on a thirty second cooldown to help alleviate the damage this causes, but as the player advances in difficulty, the time between each fire grate burning is less to the point where, in Inferno, nearly all of the floor is burning at almost all times.

The longer the fight lasts, the faster the floor will light up to damage the hero. The butcher, in inferno, is the first real gear check in the game, where the player will have to balance between dps and defense.

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  Butcher in-game.

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  Stunned after the frenzy charge.

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  Butcher throwing out his grappling hook.

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  Fire grates in inferno difficulty.

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  Throwing out many hooks.

Butcher's Stats Per Difficulty

Difficulty	Max. Health	Min. Damage	Damage Delta	Run Speed	Level
Normal	4305	50	25	0.210	13
Nightmare	91,497	522	261	0.379	35
Hell	661,781	4,552	2,276	0.400	53
Inferno	2,271,171	18,040	9,020	0.419	61

The Butcher's Road to Return

The Butcher in Deckard Cain's Journal

Although he wasn't particularly difficult to kill if you were the right character level he has become part of Diablo's popular culture with his "Ahh, fresh meat!" war cry he issues on bursting through the door. Such was his iconic status Blizzard released one special Butcher t-shirt during Blizzcon 2009 and revealed another during a panel at San Diego Comic Con 2011.

In the second t-shirt, the Butcher appeared updated with huge horns and there was an entry in Deckard Cain's Journal with the same design of beast and these were enough to suggest that he will be making a return.

Once the Diablo 3 Beta went public and the files were datamined in earnest the image below was unnearthed. The image shows the portraits that the player earns after killing the four act bosses. The names were not displayed underneath but as the monsters are recognisable they were added for clarity.

In the premier league now - The Butcher - Belial - Azmodan - Diablo

There is a legendary item that bears his name, The Butcher's Carver. Blizzard maintain that the stats of Legendary items are subject to change but putting the statistics of the item aside, the graphic matches the other two images so it's likely that as his weapon and the weapon available to players are identical in look this could be one of your rewards for killing him. It would be disjointed to come by his weapon in some other manner.

The Butcher has two items associated with him in Diablo III, being the Butcher's Carver, and the Butcher's Sickle.

The Butcher in Previous Games

The Butcher appeared in Diablo as the first quest boss. He was found in a small square room somewhere on level 2 of the dungeon. Even before you open his door, a gruesome selection of bloody corpses can be seen hanging within, and most players make a thorough, wincing inspection of his room after the battle.

He did not appear in Diablo 2 giving him time to rest, recuperate and ready himself for Diablo 3.

Butcher Gallery

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  Blizzcon 2009 T Shirt.

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  Comic Con 2011 T Shirt.

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  The Butcher in Deckard Cain's Diary.

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  Boss Kill portrait.

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  The Butcher's carver in his boss encounter image.

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  Close up of his weapons.

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  The Butcher in Diablo I.

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  Fan art by ctmoney.

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  Fan art by Gildeneye.

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  Fan art by Brittain Scott.

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  Barbarian loosely holding the Butcher's Carver item.