Boss Mode Conquest Guide

The first thing you need to establish before attempting the Boss Mode conquest is whether you have the actual character power to deal with the bosses in the necessary timeframe. In order to do this, do a quick run against some of the hardest and some of the easiest bosses as per the table below; i.e. Urzael and Kulle. If you can finish off the former within 45-60 seconds and the latter within 15-30 seconds, then the conquest should be doable. Remember that monster health and damage grow with additional players in the game, so if you plan on doing this conquest in a party (recommended), count a few seconds on top of your soloing power checks.

The bosses can be roughly divided into three categories: group one is both hard to find and take long to fight, group two is either hard to find or take long to fight, and group three is easy on both fronts. Note that this ranking does not take the actual difficulty of the fight into account, as this is a speedrunning achievement and it is assumed you comfortably overpower all the necessary bosses. For completeness of information, we also note which pre-boss areas can be navigated better with teleportation abilities (Wizard's Teleport, Monk's Dashing Strike); those that cannot are best left to characters with speed buffs (Barbarian's Sprint, DH's Tactical Advantage).

• Urzael — Residing in the Tower of Korelan area, you have to navigate the unforgiving winding Westmarch Heights streets before reaching this boss. Thankfully, the layout of Westmarch Heights is friendly to teleports and dashes. Urzael has forced dialogue and cinematic sequences, ensuring he takes extra time and cannot be oneshot. In a group, assign your best runner to this boss.
• Diablo — In order to reach The Crystal Arch where Diablo resides, you have to plough your way through the long corridors of The Silver Spire level 2. The layout of the level is friendly to teleports and dashes. Similarly to Urzael, Diablo has forced dialogue, scene transitions and cinematic sequences that prevent oneshots. This kill would also benefit from a great runner.
• Adria — Reaching The Great Hall, the home of Adria, requires you to delve into the Ruins of Corvus maze first. The numerous closed doors constantly bar the way through the level, making it unsuitable for teleport-based runners. Adria can be oneshot with no interruptions.

• Malthael — Before you reach Malthael, you have to brave the portals of Pandemonium Fortress level 2. With the updated waypoint in patch 2.5 however, you are set directly in front of the correct path to the boss and can simply start down the chain of portals. The level is not teleportation friendly due to the long distances between platforms. On top of that, Malthael is a longer and harder boss than any of the others, cannot be oneshot and has lengthy transitions. Assign a high damage runner to him.
• Aranae — To get to her, you need to find your way through a lengthy and annoying cave maze with multiple dead ends; at the very least, its corridors are straight and teleport-friendly. The fight itself is easy, but Aranae has an aggravating mechanic forcing her to run at specific health percentages. A high burst damage dealer can brute force the mechanic and one- or twoshot her — highly recommended.
• Belial — reaching Belial requires that you tread the linear path of the City of Caldeum waypoint. The boss resides in The Imperial Palace and fights for longer than most — having enforced add spawning mechanics first, then two forms with a transition between them. Make sure the runner for this boss comfortably overpowers him, since some of Belial's attacks (especially in phase 2) can chunk or outright kill unprepared characters, costing you the attempt.
• Butcher — Butcher's lair, the Chamber of Suffering, can be found after traversing the depths of Halls of Agony level 3, a dungeon of considerable length. Its corridors are only rarely punctuated with closed doors, marking the kill as still efficient for teleporters. Butcher can be oneshot.
• Izual — Similarly to Diablo, getting to Izual requires you to find your way through The Silver Spire tileset (but level 1 instead). The level is comprised of long corridors that are teleport-friendly. Izual himself resides in the next area, The Great Span, and can be oneshot.
• Siegebreaker — The path to the Siegebreaker is simple but long; you have to cross the span of Rakkis Crossing. The area is well suited to teleporting and dashing characters, since they can bypass under- and overpass transitions by simply jumping the gaps. The Siegebreaker can be oneshot.
• Cydaea — You will reach Cydea once you descend the winding stairs of the Tower of the Cursed, starting at the waypoint on level 1, going through level 2 and finally the Heart of the Cursed. This kill is best left to movement speed based runners, since it is a sizable distance that cannot be skipped with teleports. Cydea herself can be oneshot, but with insufficient DPS may retreat multiple times and spawn adds, similarly to Aranae. Send a burst damage dealer on this one.

• Ghom — Ghom resides in The Keep Depths level 3, a significantly shorter tier than the previous two. The area has a single dead end and a single correct branch, and you can get a hint for the latter if you encounter the Guard of the Keep NPC next to a door; continue forward to reach The Larder. Note that the area is unfriendly to teleporters due to its multiple closed doors. Ghom can be oneshot.
• Skeleton King — The Royal Crypts are a straightforward but rather long area that is suitable to teleport-based characters — they can bypass the broken passages in both the general crypt as well as the Skeleton King's. Despite his lengthy spawn animation, the Skeleton King can be oneshot.
• Azmodan — To reach Azmodan, you have to make a flight through The Core of Arreat, a mid-sized but completely straightforward area. Both the Core and the Heart of Sin areas feature lengthy running sections, and are best left to movespeed-based runners. Azmondan can be oneshot.
• Rakanoth — This boss is always forward and straight down the left path of Gardens of Hope 1st Tier. Rakanoth can be oneshot.
• Maghda — From the Road to Alcarnus waypoint you have to make a brief, C-shaped tour of the ruined city in order to reach the Lair of the Witch. Maghda can be oneshot.
• Kulle — The easiest boss to get to by far. Teleporting on the Archives of Zoltun Kulle waypoint lands you right across the entrance to the Soulstone Chamber where he resides. Kulle can be oneshot.

There are several items, class-agnostic and class-specific, that can help you successfully complete this conquest. On top of that, every class has one or more spells to aid both speed and utility.

• Class-agnostic — Wearing or cubing In-geom can nullify important cooldowns, most notably movement related ones like Spirit Walk or Steed Charge. You can further optimize by wearing or cubing Homing Pads, which prevent the interruption of teleporting to town at all times (important — read why below).
• Barbarian — Do not forget to use abilities like Sprint Marathon, Furious Charge Merciless Assault, or combos like War Cry plus Chilanik's Chain and the Bul-Kathos's Oath set ( Bul-Kathos's Solemn Vow and Bul-Kathos's Warrior Blood) plus Whirlwind. In your passives, consider Pound of Flesh. Strongly consider taking Wrath of the Berserker, since it prevents the interruption of teleports while it is active.
• Crusader — Combine the power of Steed Charge with Swiftmount and add Laws of Hope Wings of Angels on top. In your passives, take Long Arm of the Law to extend the effects of the movespeed law; Lord Commander can be considered but is not necessary. Strongly consider taking Akarat's Champion, since it prevents the interruption of teleports while it is active.
• Demon Hunter — Vault will be your bread and butter skill, combined with Tactical Advantage in your passives; Hot Pursuit can be considered, but is not necessary. Wearing or simply swapping into Danetta's Hatred set ( Danetta's Revenge and Danetta's Spite) can trivialize any long distance and makes you one of the best runners. Strongly consider taking Vengeance, since it prevents the interruption of teleports while it is active.
• Monk — You will primarily boost mobility with a combination of Dashing Strike Way of the Falling Star and Mantra of Conviction Annihilation, plus the helpful passive increase of Fleet Footed. We recommend using a Raiment set build, since its 4-piece bonus makes Dashing Strike a spender; another alternative is using the Jawbreaker. Strongly consider taking Epiphany, since it prevents the interruption of teleports while it is active. On top of that, it dashes you to targeted enemies for free within a considerable range.
• Necromancer — Your main mobility skill is Blood Rush, which should be augmented with Steuart's Greaves. Add to that Decrepify Opportunist in your active skills and Fueled by Death in your passives, and you should have a good foundation for success.
• Witch Doctor — The combination of Hex Angry Chicken and the worn Manajuma set ( Manajuma's Carving Knife and Manajuma's Gory Fetch) makes WDs one of the best runners for this conquest. You can augment that mobility even more by adding Spirit Walk Severance and Fierce Loyalty (of course, with one of the listed pets summoned) into the mix.
• Wizard — Teleport plus Aether Walker and Illusionist in your passives will provide the basis of your mobility. You can add a little extra on top with Storm Armor Scramble, but it is not necessary. Consider using an Archon-based build, since the skill prevents town portal interruptions (not to mention their natural mobility).

With ease in mind, soloing the conquest is not the recommended thing to do. Nevertheless, it is quite doable with a single character, and a fun way to challenge yourself. Any of the builds from the recommended section below can complete this conquest solo with a well equipped character. The boss difficulty tier list above is meant to acquaint you with the hard points of the run, not to enforce a particular order — you can stick to the list or do them on an act-by-act basis to keep things simple.

Organizing a party for this conquest will practically guarantee your success. You can either knock out the bosses using the difficulty order above, or do them on an act-by-act basis to minimize the necessary coordination (still quite doable). Since the conquest requires that all players be present for the boss kill to get credit, make sure to learn and remember to save your progress via teleports. When everyone in the group sets off to find a boss, inevitably someone will arrive before the others. At that point, everyone else MUST save their progress in the level by teleporting to town (default key: "T"), and accept the boss fight invitation. Once the boss kill is complete, return to town by opening the map (default key: "M") and selecting the town waypoint (and NOT via T!) — this will not overwrite your first teleport, so you can resume where you left off. This method saves a TON of time and is a dealbreaker for this conquest.

A sample distribution of bosses by relative difficulty would be:

Two Players

• Player One: Urzael, Diablo, Aranae, Butcher, Siegebreaker, Ghom, Azmodan, Maghda
• Player Two: Adria, Malthael, Belial, Izual, Cydea, Skeleton King, Rakanoth, Kulle

Three Players

• Player One: Urzael, Malthael, Butcher, Cydea, Azmodan, Kulle
• Player Two: Diablo, Aranae, Izual, Ghom, Rakanoth
• Player Three: Adria, Belial, Siegebreaker, Skeleton King, Maghda

Four Players

• Player One: Urzael, Aranae, Siegebreaker, Azmodan
• Player Two: Diablo, Belial, Cydea, Rakanoth
• Player Three: Adria, Butcher, Ghom, Maghda
• Player Four: Malthael, Izual, Skeleton King, Kulle

The following builds are not the only ones capable of getting Boss Mode done, but have been picked for their easy adjustment into the item recommendations above and their good speed and utility (key for the completion of the conquest).

• Barbarian: Whirlwind/Rend Build;
• Crusader: Fist of Heavens Build;
• Demon Hunter: Multishot Build;
• Monk: Wave of Light Build;
• Necromancer: Bone Spear Build;
• Witch Doctor: Spirit Barrage Build;
• Wizard: Flame Blades Build.