*Pictured above: all weapon cosmetics obtainable in the Dark Citadel.*

*32 items total: 5 pieces from the Khazra Armor Set, 5 pieces from the Greater Khazra Armor Set (not included here because everyone knows what they look like), 5 purchasable and 15 droppable class-specific weapon cosmetics, cat armor, and a trophy. There was also a cat mount (luckily I got it too), but it doesn’t count because it’s no longer obtainable. I made these pictures specifically for new chasers, because I’ve met lots of players who had no idea how many items there are in total. Some of them were convinced they had “all of them”, with “all” being just the Greater Set and vendor pieces.*

*\*\*\**

I started farming Khazra transmogs a couple of weeks before the end of the previous season and decided to get them all in this one. The stupidest decision of my gaming life. 

This was the worst season imaginable to farm the Dark Citadel, considering all the broken bosses with no loot. Alas, the goats persisted. Unfortunately for them, so did I.

Despite all the hate for DC I constantly see here, and my own deep hatred for the drop rates in that goat-infested hellhole, it was probably the most fun I’ve had with D4 in a long time.

Don’t get me wrong, sanctification was the best thing that has ever happened to D4, and it kept me engaged for far more than the usual 2–3 weeks. But its final loop of one-shotting helpless bosses for hours on end and attending the Azmodan snoozefest was not my idea of good times. I pushed the tower to 105 on my main necro with one or two good sancs, went to the red portal a couple of times, and called it a day. DC gave me a good reason to gear up all the other classes for the first time, which was especially easy this season, running from piñata to piñata, knee-deep in mythics. It also gave me a much-needed enrichment activity for all of them.

Raw DPS and, surprisingly, even speed mean very little in the Dark Citadel. There are checkpoints that force you to slow down and wait for others to progress, and bosses spend most of their time in an invulnerable state. You can’t just one-shot them like poor little Duriel. They’re more like pre-nerf Andariel, but less of a pain in the ass. Toughness, agility, and coordination mean everything, as most attacks and damage instances are stronger than average T4 content, and Gorshack can and will crack your arrogant, undergeared skull open in one or two hits. Then the pools of black death will do the rest. It was different, refreshing and, most importantly, I didn’t want to peel my face off from mind-boggling boredom like after an hour with Urivar.

True, it can be horrible with randoms. Mostly because there is no adequate tutorial or matchmaking, and the majority of players can’t read and won’t even try. Not the objectives, not the party name and tags, not even the chat where you’re painfully typing directions from a controller. But you’re always one kick away from peace and order. Natural selection will get the job done eventually. I made friends with many great players there and we’d hop into each other’s groups all the time. When everyone knows the drill, it’s an enjoyable, entertaining, and smooth gameplay loop. Don’t listen to the solo-bros’ BS about no one playing it. It’s just main-character-syndrome delulu: if they don’t like it and aren’t playing it, then no one does. Tons of players in DC, full parties almost all the time. Add the good ones to your friend list and you’ll always have company for runs.

The sweetest part was the dopamine hits that you rarely encounter in the loot-flooded endgame nowadays, with mythics coming out of your ears. Cosmetic drops are really, really rare. Maybe D2-rare. I got roughly 350k citadel coins total, and if we divide that by 500 (the median coin count for a wing), that’s about 700 wing clears. The real number is probably closer to 800–900, because you only get about a third of the coins from the two broken wings, and I often skipped coin guards anyway.

Rough estimate: about 150 hours.

And it was totally worth it. I was miserable when I didn’t get a single drop for two weeks in a row, but I would absolutely do it all again if Blizzard decides to add more raids and hunts like this. After all, perfect sancs will soon be lost like tears in the rain, but hard-earned cosmetic trophies are yours to keep, like little wearable fridge magnets.

Man, I want those Zagraal wings so bad.

Finally got all 32 Khazra cosmetics. It took me the whole season.