Find and defeat Dark Wood’s elusive purple elite monster, Zaerhud in Diablo Immortal.
Dark Wood is home to the Forgotten Tower, one of the premiere dungeons in Diablo Immortal. Within the Zone also lie multiple Hidden Lairs, a secret secondary boss, and a special Elite Monster named Zaerhud.
Zaerhud is an Elite Monster that you must kill to collect the Zaerhud Achievement in Diablo Immortal. To complete your Dark Wood Codex entry, you must know how to find and defeat Zaerhud.
We have outlined everything you need to know about Zaerhud, including how to find and defeat the Elite Monster in Diablo Immortal.
Who is Zaerhud in Diablo Immortal?
In every Zone in Diablo Immortal, you will find a unique purple-colored monster, Elite Monster. These monsters appear randomly and spawn at the same spot in a particular Zone. Officer Hagan, for example, will spawn randomly near the Mad King’s Breach in Ashwold Manor.
Elite Monsters are typically hunted down to complete specific Achievement Exploration objectives. Aside from that, players can also get some loot for defeating these Elite Monsters.
For Dark Wood, you must hunt down Zaerhud and beat him to check off the task and collect the corresponding Hilts’ reward.
Where to find Zaerhud in Diablo Immortal?
Zaerhud can be found near the Tree of Inifuss area North of Dark Wood. However, you must complete the Wanted Side Quest tied to the Zaerhud objective.
Keep an eye on the objectives window for a Wanted Side Quest and New Event pop-up. This will signal the imminent arrival of the Zone’s Elite Monster.
If you have been scouring the entire Zone for a few minutes, but Zaerhud still hasn’t shown up, leave Dark Wood and come back later, as there is no specific wait time for the next instance the Elite Monster spawns.
Zaerhud Battle Strategy
It is important to know that there is a big chance you will come across Elite Monsters that look much like Zaerhud. However, do not let their looks fool you; unless you have confirmation that you are fighting Zaerhud (Name tag above the health bar), you might face a different monster in Kodi or Arag. You will not get the Dark Wood Achievement by killing any other monster apart from Zaerhud.
Read: Diablo Immortal: How To Get Legendary Gear
With that out of the way, we can now focus on how Zaerhud likes to fight and his abilities in battle.
Melee Attack
Zaerhud is a bear-like monster that relies heavily upon its sharp claws to damage its enemies. Classes with long-range attacks and abilities will not take too much damage from Zaerhud’s normal attacks, but melee classes will inevitably have to trade blows with Zaerhud.
Fortunately, Zaerhud is pretty slow, which makes it easy to dodge his attacks and spells.
High HP
Zaerhud is not a challenging fight by any means, but his ability to absorb an insane amount of damage lets him stay alive longer and thus gives him more time to land those fury swipes and other abilities.
Take your time and learn Zaerhud’s attack patterns. Punish Zaerhud for using his very slow Ice Beam Attack.
Ice Beam
Zaerhud will occasionally throw a triple-beam ice attack. As cool as it looks, this ability can easily be dodged because of its slow travel time from the first point of impact through the last. Just move out of the way when Zaerhud starts using his Ice Beam to avoid taking unnecessary damage.
Purple Polar Bear From Hell
Despite being an Elite Monster, Zaerhud is still just a powered-up Corrupted Mauler with a slow movement speed. If you can learn Zaerhud’s attack patterns quickly, you can easily kill him, check off the Achievement from your Codex, and collect a small Hilts reward at the end of the battle.
