With the open beta for Diablo IV about to begin, many new players are sure to encounter The Butcher, who will swiftly massacre them.

Diablo IV’s early access beta period ran last weekend, March 17-19, with thousands of players swarming into the game to test what is Activision Blizzard’s follow-up to Diablo III. While the game was met with mixed reviews, during this early access period, even more players are set to join the fight this coming weekend – March 24-26, as the game offers a free open beta. Although this has been confirmed to be a proper beta test, many are sure to delve into the depths of dungeons and possibly encounter one of the most frightful enemies of the franchise – The Butcher.

Having been an enemy ever since the first Diablo game, The Butcher has come a long way, and Diablo IV sees him butchering players when he randomly spawns into a dungeon. For some of the more lucky players, they might only encounter this devilish overlord much later in the game, when they have some gear and are max level (which is level 25 for the beta period). For the rest of us unlucky demon-slayers, The Butcher might appear when we are least expecting him. So, what do we do when we encounter The Butcher, you may be asking. Well, apart from attempting to run away as fast as possible, there are a few tips and tricks we learned from the early access.

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In terms of classes, we had only three in the early access beta period, so we cannot really speak for Druid and Necromancer, which will be available for the open beta this coming weekend. However, considering the strength of both of these classes in previous iterations of Diablo, it is very likely that they will be more than equipped to deal with the massive cleaver coming down on them. For the rest of us, those playing the Barbarian are likely to have the toughest time dealing with the enemy, especially with only melee available to them. With that said, as a geared melee rogue, I was able to deal with him via some quick dodges behind cover and clutch (lucky) uses of Dark Shroud.

All of that aside, ranged Rogue players as well as Sorcerers have had the best, and easiest, time dealing with The Butcher – especially with passive damage and being able to remain at a distance. As you can see above, thanks to Falcho, he found it quite easy to take him down as a solo Sorcerer. The absolute best way, it seems, to deal with the demonic overlord is to always be prepared by being in a party, as this will allow players to rotate damage phases and bring the boss down.

Upon slaying The Butcher, players might be lucky enough to see a rather familiar drop – and the only Unique item we have seen within the beta – The Butcher’s Cleaver. Although mostly underwhelming for the only Unique item currently in the game (it could be far more useful in a pvp situation), the challenge remains for all those wanting to take it.

For the rest of us, running away seems like a viable option, or simply get killed by The Butcher and he will despawn, leaving you to freely go about your dungeon delving antics. At the current time of writing, the open beta for Diablo IV is still a few hours away, and we are unsure if any tweaks or changes have been made to The Butcher. It is likely that he will remain the same for this period, but we do know that Activision Blizzard have added in increased drop rates and other such things only for the open beta – so we may never see The Butcher reach the full game release in June 2023.

The Butcher returns in Diablo IV