The Legacy of Cain
The Legacy of Cain is an early Act I quest in Diablo III.
This entry was written during the beta test and is subject to change upon release of the game.
- Warning: This article contains spoilers.
Contents
Quest Information
- Initiated by: Leah
- Pre-requisite: The Fallen Star
- Required to progress? Yes
- Lore items: Adria's Journal, Grotesque Bestiary Entry, Carrion Bat Bestiary Entry, Treasure Goblin Bestiary entry
- Leads to: A Shattered Crown.
The Legacy of Cain Walkthrough
This quest picks up directly after The Fallen Star and is initiated by Leah, who has tasked the hero with finding her uncle, Deckard Cain, who is startingly still alive despite the fact that he was already senile before dirt had the chance to celebrate its first birthday.
Old Tristram
- Objective: Go to the Old Tristram Gate
The player needs to return to the Old Ruins for this leg of the quest, and the nearby waypoint will do just the trick. Leah will follow the player through the waypoint and also act as a follower for a brief time, albeit not a very powerful one, and she only has a basic arrow attack.
In front of the waypoint, conveniently, is the Old Tristram gate that Leah needed to get to. Leah takes care of the lock, and the quest updates to "Find Adria's Hut", which sparks some conversation from Leah:
- Adria was my mother, but I don't know much about her. She died when I was very young. I was raised by Uncle Deckard.
In response to the player character's question about her father:
- I'm told he was a great warrior who was lost when Tristram fell to the demons.
If the player follows the path in Old Tristram, then they are likely to reach Adria's Hut before Leah can finish speaking. Leah then mentions, upon entering the hut, that she sees something, and a trap door in the floor of the hut becomes visible.
The player is then prompted to enter, and the quest updates to "Search Adria's cellar". Walking towards a large cauldron in the center of the cellar, Leah comments on how people said her mother was a witch, and how she didn't believe it, before being promptly cut off by the rude appearance by Captain Daltyn, a zombie superunique who rises from the ground with a small pack of minions.
The difficulty of the fight is not high, but Daltyn is frost enchanted, meaning that after he dies, a short animation will play before he explodes into an ice nova that does considerable damage. Afterwards, Leah finds what she was looking for:
- Here's the key...and my mother's journal. What I've seen of it is disturbing. I want to know more about her, but that can wait. We need to save Uncle Deckard first!
The player then given a lore entry for Adria's Journal, and also the next step of the quest--traveling to Tristram Cathedral.
Hunt for Cain
- Objective: Hunt for signs of Deckard Cain
Leaving Adria's hut and heading north a bit, the player will find the entrance to the Cathedral, which is a fairly faithful recreation of that from Diablo I. If the Cathedral in Diablo I had been hit by a meteor, that is. Some zombies will spawn near the front entrance, where the butcher quest giver used to be in Diablo of old.
Dispatching the zombies, the player moves into the cathedral, and enters through the gaping blue chasm left behind by the fallen star. The player character literally jumps down and lands on the first level of the cathedral.
This is the first actual dungeon of the game, and thus also the first chance the player will have to encounter a Treasure Goblin and snag its lore entry, along with a few other monsters along the way.
The objective of the quest is to look for signs of Deckard Cain, but as the first level of the Cathedral does not house prune juice or adult diapers, the player will descend down into Leoric's Passage.
The Legacy of Pain
- Objective: Save Deckard Cain
After taking a few steps into Leoric's Passage, the player will be greeted by something new to the Diablo franchise--a cutscene. This is not to be confused with a pre-rendered cinematic that Blizzard is renowned for, but an in-game cutscene used to deliver narrative.
In this cutscene, Cain will be spotted running from skeletal assailants past a ridge carved out by the fallen star, which collapses after he passes, dropping some skeletons into the chasm below. Cain looks back to see the ghost of Leoric materialize, who then speaks:
- The power of the fallen star awakened me, and soon, all will suffer as I have suffered. Guards, bring me his bones!
Leoric will then summon skeleton guards to attack Cain, who surprisingly attacks back with his walking stick, perhaps channeling his inner-Archivist. The player is then able to go down the stairs and assist Cain by dispatching a few waves of skeletons.
Eventually, a superunique named Headcleaver will spawn with a small posse of armed skeletal guards and attack the player. Headcleaver does not appear to have any unique abilities or pose any sort of real danger. Once dispatched, Cain will address the player, asking why the hero saved him, which in reply is told that Leah is looking for him.
Cain then leads the player to a secret passage which leads to the Cathedral Gardens with a convenient waypoint nearby as well.
Returning to town, the hero witnesses a sentimental reunion between Cain and Leah, before Cain gives the player the information they sought when coming to Tristram in the first place: knowledge of the fallen star, and what Cain can tell the player about it. Which ends up being, according to Cain...
- Not much, I'm afraid, though the Prophecy of the End Days surely points to it as a sign that the end has begun...
Which then signifies the end of the quest, rewarding the player with a pittance of gold and experience, and the warm fuzzy feeling from knowing that they helped an old, helpless friend, wandering sadly and listlessly in an old possessed cathedral.
The player must speak with Cain again to begin the quest A Shattered Crown.
Quest-Specific Bugs and Issues
- After the cutscene with Cain in the cathedral, if a Barbarian performs a Leap Attack from the top of the stairs, without walking down the stairs, the Headcleaver event will not trigger. The workaround for this is to return back to the foot of the stairs to trigger the skeletal spawn.
- Skeleton bestiary entries do not have audio attached. They can only be read in the bestiary.
Trivia and Easter Eggs
The quest name "The Legacy of Cain" may have been in homage to a game named "Legacy of Kain" developed by Silicon Knights/Crystal Dynamics.
Strategy and Tips
While in normal difficulty it isn't likely a player would need tips or tricks for strategy with The Legacy of Cain, it's worth noting a point or two for higher difficulties. As displayed in the video below, with some good timing and proper positioning, the player can use a dying Grotesque as a very potent area of effect attack. Once the grotesque "pops", it will deal damage to anything in its vicinity, including monsters.
The damage it deals can quite often kill a screen full of monsters in one hit, without requiring resource-heavy AoEs from the player.
Media
A video walkthrough of The Legacy of Cain is available:
| Quests & Events of Diablo III [e] Act I Act II Act III & Act IV Act V |
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