Hot off the heels of the World of Warcraft Eternal War event, Diablo Immortal is taking things to the next level of inferno with Shattered Sanctuary. This brand-new event promises to deliver an epic showdown against Diablo, the Lord of Terror, in the new zone, World’s Crown.

Ahead of the launch of the event, we got to try going face-to-face with the prime evil himself, and even with a fully kitted character, the battle is tough and will give players a definite challenge.

Related – Read our Diablo Immortal Shattered Sanctuary Interview

First off, why is Diablo back? We talked to Diablo Immortal Senior Narrative Designer Ryan Quinn about bringing Diablo back and its meaning for the game. The team feels obligated to resolve it in a substantial way, not just fighting the big bad, but seeing the full effect of his power ever since they’ve been building it up since the beginning.

Diablo is looking to unmake Sanctuary, which, narratively, will give him near-unlimited power. Of course, we’ve come to stop that, but Quinn teases the aftermath.

“If we are able to defeat Diablo, and, no spoilers, but should that happen, there’s going to be a pretty big power vacuum here in Sanctuary, and there’s going to be a pretty big power vacuum in Hell.”

The journey to Diablo was quite amazing, going through a high-level area in Diablo Immortal called the World’s Crown, which is basically hell on earth, as Quinn puts it. It’s described as a “sweeping continent of horror,” and while playing through it, the views were just horrific. From tar pits to places where everything just looked like it was frozen in desolate time, the area was a great place to introduce players to what they would come face to face with.

There are a bunch of new monster families scattered in World’s Crown: a ton of new terror demons, the Viper makes a return, along with a handful of fan-favorite bosses from Diablo I and Diablo’s lieutenants that make this a very challenging zone.

Diablo himself is quite the boss, and you can definitely see all of the work put into this spectacle-filled affair. From the awesome intro cinematic to the actual boss fight, it really does feel like you’re up against a fearsome creature with the power of the Worldstone shard.

Senior Game Designer Nan Jiang says the team spent over a year working on this, so much so that where normal Diablo Immortal bosses only have one core mechanic, Diablo will have more than three. The fight itself will require players to be mobile because Diablo has sweeping attacks that cover a lot of ground, so the battle will be one of patience.

As you whittle down Diablo’s health, one phase of the match will cover the screen in darkness, and literally swarms of minions will come rushing to you. You’ll have to manage your cooldowns well as you clear a near-unlimited wave of enemies, but destroying them will charge up the legendary El’druin sword, which will fend off the waves of enemies and bring the fight back to Diablo.

The fight is actually pretty amazing and satisfying, but also rather tough. While it yields great rewards for the bravest warriors, victory doesn’t come easy. Thankfully, the activity is repeatable, which is sure to delight players looking for a challenge.

There’s more to the Diablo Immortal Shattered Sanctuary update than just the Diablo Boss fight, but of course, that’s a definite highlight.

A ton of new features and content are included in the update, ranging from new Helliquary bosses, the Brumaltine festivities for more rewards, and even a new AFK feature where you can send minions off to complete some missions and daily quests for you.

Are you looking forward to the Diablo Immortal Shattered Sanctuary update?