darksiders 3 walkthrough
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Darksiders 3 walkthrough: how to plan Fury’s campaign from start to finish
Fury’s campaign in Darksiders 3 is short on story but dense in level design. You will move through five distinct regions, face a small roster of boss enemies called the Seven Deadly Sins, and chase a checklist of collectibles called Hollows. The campaign does not hold your hand: many doors are locked behind an elemental form, several side paths are easy to miss, and a few late-game fights punish players who ignored weapon upgrades earlier. A good darksiders 3 walkthrough treats the run as a back-and-forth between progression, combat tuning, and exploration rather than a single push from the opening cutscene to the final boss.
This guide is built around that reality. It breaks the campaign into the order Fury naturally unlocks content, lists the Hollows and weapon upgrades you should prioritize, and explains the build decisions that make each region easier. It is written for first-time players who want a clean run without spoilers, and for returning players who want a fast checklist they can keep open in a second window.
What this walkthrough covers
- The five main regions and the order to clear them
- Every Sin fight with mechanics and recommended weapon setup
- All 30 Hollows, with where to find them and what they actually do
- Weapon upgrade paths and which unlocks matter most for each encounter
- Exploration tips for finding the optional bonus dungeon, the Crucible, and the Maker’s Forge
- Common mistakes that lead to a soft-lock, a missed Hollow, or a slow late game
Before you start: difficulty, save points, and the systems that matter
Darksiders 3 has four difficulty settings, but only two of them change the game in ways a walkthrough needs to address. On Balanced, enemies hit for moderate damage and you have a reasonable window to dodge, block, and counter. On Apocalyptic, every attack from a basic enemy can chunk a third of your health, and most boss patterns have shorter recovery windows. If you are new to action games or to the Darksiders series, Balanced is the intended experience. If you want a challenge, Apocalyptic is fair but expects you to actually use the dodge and Havoc system, not just mash the attack button.
Save points appear in fixed locations. Each region has a handful of checkpoints, and you will return to the last checkpoint you touched on death. Death is a soft setback: you lose the Urich cores you were carrying if you die twice without recovering them, and your difficulty-based loot drops in that area. You do not lose story progress, but you can lose a run of collected crafting material if you keep dying in the same stretch. The lesson is to engage with each new enemy group conservatively the first time.
Core systems you need to understand
- Forms and elements. Fury unlocks four elemental forms: Flame, Storm, Force, and Stasis. Each opens a different set of paths and interacts with specific enemies. Stasis freezes objects and weak points; Force pulls and shoves; Flame lights braziers and breaks wooden barricades; Storm electrifies water and metal.
- Havoc gauge. Activating a form spends a portion of the Havoc gauge. You regenerate it by performing different actions: dodging, parrying, using the whip, or landing a fresh combat encounter. Don’t hold your form for the entire fight.
- Weapon unlocks. The first weapon, Chaos Fang, is always available. The other three unlock through specific story beats. Each one has a distinct move set and pairs better with certain boss fights.
- Creature Cores. Dropped by standard enemies. Spent at the Maker’s Forge to unlock health, Havoc, and weapon upgrades.
- Humanity. Found in chests, dropped by enemies, and rewarded for Hollows. Spent at Vulgrim for potions, equipment, and a few useful shortcuts.
Recommended opening build for first-time players
On your first run, do not try to specialize. Instead, pick the path that lets you stay alive. That means unlocking the Flame form first, learning the dodge timing, and ignoring the urge to spam heavy attacks. Most of the early deaths in the Darksiders 3 campaign come from overcommitting to combos in groups of three or more enemies, where one hit knocks Fury out of her animation and the rest of the group piles on.
Region 1: Adamantine Fortress and the road to the Sloth fight
The first region serves as a tutorial disguised as a hub. The Adamantine Fortress acts as your base between missions. Vulgrim, the demon merchant, sits near the gate and is your main vendor for consumables and equipment. The Maker’s Forge sits deeper inside the fortress and is where you spend Creature Cores on permanent stat increases.
The first real action takes place when the Charred Council sends Fury out to hunt the Seven Deadly Sins. The order you pursue them is technically your choice after the first, but the difficulty curve and story flow push you through Sloth, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, and Wrath in roughly that sequence. Wrath acts as the final boss, and Avarice unlocks as a side boss after Wrath is defeated.
Sloth: first Sin, first real test
Sloth is the easiest of the Seven, but the run-up to him is not. You will fight through a long stretch of stone corridors and face your first Urich-possessed enemy. These enemies cannot be damaged normally until you expose the Urich inside them. Flame form breaks their armor, Stasis freezes them, and Force pulls the Urich out, leaving a stunned humanoid core open to a finisher.
For Sloth himself, the fight has three phases:
- Phase 1. Sloth swings a giant stone arm in wide arcs. Stay close and dodge toward him rather than away. Each dodge into a melee gap lets you land two or three whip hits.
- Phase 2. Sloth’s arm breaks apart, and he drops to his knees. He now swings in alternating directions and creates shockwaves. Sidestep each shockwave and punish the recovery.
- Phase 3. The arena opens up. Sloth becomes slower but harder. Use Flame form to break his stone armor and a heavy weapon hit to stagger him before the next attack.
On Apocalyptic, the safer weapon choice is the first unlocked alternate weapon, which provides better reach. The reward is the Chaos Fang enhancement path and a permanent upgrade token for the Maker’s Forge.
Region 2: The Depths, Lust’s domain, and the underwater sections
The second region is where the game opens up. You gain access to the Depths, a connected network of caves, broken temples, and flooded chambers. The map is non-linear, with three or four major sub-areas that you can clear in different orders.
The Depths is also where you get your first real Hollow hunt. Hollows are demon-possessed humans scattered through the campaign. Each one gives a small backstory through a short monologue and rewards you with a chunk of Humanity and a useful buff. There are 30 in total, and missing a few will leave your mid-game undergeared.
Best Hollows to grab in the Depths
- The Hollow near the southern waterway. He drops a piece of the Flame form upgrade tree, which shortens the Havoc cost of your Flame abilities.
- The Hollow in the upper temple corridor. He unlocks a temporary parry window that you can re-use by spending a consumable.
- The Hollow in the optional cavern reached through a cracked wall. He boosts the drop rate of Creature Cores in the current region.
Lust: dodging the illusion phases
Lust creates a hallucinatory arena filled with copies of Fury. The copies do not behave randomly. They run specific patterns based on Lust’s last attack, which makes each one a moving telegraph. The trick is to ignore the copies and watch Lust directly. She telegraphs her main attack with a long wind-up that freezes the screen for a fraction of a second. The dodge timing is late, not early.
If you keep getting hit by copies, the issue is usually weapon length. Switch to the alternate weapon with the longest reach and stand on the edge of the arena. The copies have a maximum spawn distance, and that distance is just inside your longest reach.
Region 3: Haven, Gluttony, and the sky bridges
Haven is the most vertical of the five regions. The architecture borrows from the original Darksiders, with chained platforms, collapsing walkways, and a central spire that connects the major combat arenas. Gluttony sits at the top, and the climb to him doubles as a long platforming sequence.
The Storm form is most useful here. The region has a recurring puzzle pattern: a metal conductor that needs a charge to open a gate. Without Storm, you will backtrack repeatedly. With Storm, the puzzle solves in a single tap.
Gluttony: managing the stomach phase
Gluttony is a two-act fight. The first act is on solid ground, where Gluttony rolls in a straight line and slams his belly into you. The dodge is toward him, which feels unnatural but opens the back of his head for a whip combo. The second act triggers at half health: Gluttony swallows you and the fight moves into his stomach. The stomach is dark, with tentacles and slow-moving pools of acid. The safe path hugs the walls and waits for the central area to clear before crossing.
Inside the stomach, your best weapon is the alternate unlock with the wide horizontal swing. The tentacles can be dispatched in two hits each, and the recovery animation lets you reposition before the next wave.
Region 4: Scar, the demon stronghold, and the Envy fight
Scar is the largest single region in the game. The architecture is part factory, part organic growth, with brass panels and bone-like bridges. The vertical map is divided into three layers, and each layer has its own checkpoint. Envy is the boss at the top, but several long side paths branch off the central climb.
This is also where most players first see the Crucible, an optional challenge area gated behind a heavy door in the lower layer. The Crucible is not required for the main story, but it is the most reliable source of Creature Cores in the mid-game. If you have been under-leveled, this is where the Darksiders 3 walkthrough can save you hours of grinding.
Envy: the mirror fight
Envy fights by reading your inputs. The boss adapts to your dominant action. If you spam the heavy attack, Envy starts blocking at the right moment. If you spam dodges, Envy starts teleporting into your recovery. The mechanic is reset by switching weapons mid-fight, which forces Envy to relearn your pattern.
A reliable opener is to use your primary weapon for two or three combos, then switch to the alternate weapon the moment Envy begins to block. The new weapon’s moveset resets the prediction model, and you get a free damage window. On Apocalyptic, this pattern is the difference between a clean kill and a long, frustrating fight.
Recommended Scar exploration order
- Lower layer: clear the two minor sub-bosses for the Creature Core drop bonus.
- Middle layer: open the Force-gated path first, then the Stasis-gated path. This order unlocks the shortcut back to the checkpoint.
- Upper layer: pick up the three Hollows before engaging Envy. Each one gives a temporary buff that lasts into the boss arena.
Region 5: The Foundry, Wrath, and the final stretch
The Foundry is a single, long descent that drops you toward the final boss. The atmosphere is the most hostile of the game: constant lava, collapsing bridges, and groups of enemies that mix standard soldiers with Urich-possessed heavies. The pace is fast, and the platforming sections are unforgiving. A single mistimed jump sends you into the lava, and the checkpoint is usually a screen or two back.
Wrath: the final Sin
Wrath is the most mechanically complete boss in the game. The fight has three phases, and the third is the hardest because of the small arena. The first phase gives you the full arena and a slow, readable pattern. The second phase adds a sweeping fire attack. The third phase shrinks the arena to roughly half its original size, with a continuous fire effect that ticks your health down over time.
The recommended loadout for the third phase is the weapon with the highest single-target damage per second, paired with a Flame form burst to break Wrath’s fire shield. Do not overcommit to either form. Switching forms between phases lets you keep your Havoc gauge topped up and your burst options available.
Post-Wrath: Avarice and the rest of the campaign
After Wrath, the story pushes you toward a final confrontation with the main antagonist, but Avarice becomes available as an optional boss. Avarice is a fast, aggressive Sin that punishes slow reactions. He is also the gate to the strongest upgrade in the game, the final weapon enhancement, and the closing cinematic. The Darksiders 3 walkthrough treats Avarice as a real challenge rather than a victory lap, and several players report that he is harder than Wrath on Apocalyptic.
Weapon upgrades and which ones actually matter
The Maker’s Forge upgrades fall into three trees: combat, traversal, and survival. The combat tree directly affects your damage and stagger. The traversal tree reduces Havoc cost for your forms. The survival tree increases health, healing item effectiveness, and resistance to specific damage types.
On a first run, prioritize the combat tree until your primary weapon can two-shot standard enemies. Then shift to the traversal tree, because lower Havoc cost means more frequent form use, which in turn means better puzzle coverage. Leave the survival tree for last. Health upgrades are tempting early, but a one-shot from a boss hits just as hard regardless of how many heart containers you have.
| Upgrade tree | Best early pickups | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Combat | Whip combo extender, heavy attack finisher damage | Increases the damage window after a stagger, which is the core of the combat loop |
| Traversal | Reduced Flame Havoc cost, increased Storm radius | Lets you hold an element long enough to solve multi-step puzzles in one cycle |
| Survival | Damage resistance to fire, healing item effectiveness | Helps in the late game when most damage comes from arena effects rather than direct hits |
| Weapon enhancements | Primary weapon enhancement level 2, alternate weapon reach upgrade | Unlocks new combo enders and widens your hitbox, which makes group fights cleaner |
Collectibles checklist: 30 Hollows and what they actually do
Hollows are scattered through the campaign, and several are gated behind a specific form. The For additional context, list below groups them by region and by the form required to reach them. A full Darksiders 3 walkthrough treats the Hollow hunt as part of the route, not a separate task after the story.
| Region | Total Hollows | Form required | Typical reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adamantine Fortress and Sloth | 2 | None | Humanity, basic consumable unlock |
| Depths and Lust | 7 | Flame, Force | Form cost reduction, Creature Core boost |
| Haven and Gluttony | 6 | Storm, Stasis | Parry window extension, healing item drop rate |
| Scar and Envy | 8 | Flame, Storm, Force, Stasis | Weapon damage, Havoc regeneration speed |
| Foundry and Wrath | 5 | Storm, Force | Final combat upgrades, Avarice key unlock |
| Post-game | 2 | All forms | Cosmetic items, final weapon enhancement |
The two post-game Hollows are commonly missed because they are reached through a wall that only opens with the final form upgrade. If you finish the story and notice your Hollow count is at 28, those are the missing two.
Common mistakes that slow the campaign
Most players do not get stuck in Darksiders 3 because of difficulty. They get stuck because they skipped an exploration loop, missed a Hollow, or upgraded the wrong tree. The list below covers the patterns that come up repeatedly in community discussions and in our own walkthrough notes.
- Skipping the Crucible. The Crucible is optional but is the best source of Creature Cores in the mid-game. Skipping it forces you to grind basic enemies later.
- Upgrading health too early. Health upgrades do not reduce incoming damage. They only add to the bar. Stagger damage is the real survival tool.
- Saving consumables for the final boss. Late-game fights expect you to use healing items in phase 2, not in phase 3. Hoarding leads to a long, painful Wrath fight.
- Ignoring the alternate weapons. Each weapon has a unique combo string. Sticking to the first weapon only works until the first Sin that punishes short reach.
- Forgetting to use Stasis on environmental objects. Stasis is a traversal tool as much as a combat tool. Frozen objects can be jumped on, used as platforms, or thrown.
Combat pacing and the Havoc economy
The Havoc system is the core combat resource. Every form activation spends Havoc. Every dodge, parry, and fresh enemy extends the recovery window. The mistake new players make is to treat Havoc as a mana bar that you save for a big attack. It is closer to a stamina bar that wants to be kept between 30 and 70 percent at all times.
A reliable pattern is to use a form burst at the start of every encounter to stagger the group, then spend the next 10 to 15 seconds in your base kit. By the time the group is down to a single enemy, your Havoc gauge has regenerated enough for the next encounter. This pattern keeps the damage window consistent and avoids the “empty Havoc, full enemy group” problem that ends most early runs.
Dodge, parry, and the timing window
Dodging in Darksiders 3 has a generous invincibility window, but the recovery is long if you dodge into a wall or off a ledge. The clean dodge is into the enemy’s center of mass, which is rarely the instinctive direction. Parry is faster but the timing is tight, and the parry counter does less damage than a full combo, so use it as a tool to break a stagger, not as a primary damage source.
Exploration tips that the game does not explain
Several systems in Darksiders 3 are easy to miss. The walkthrough below is the short list. Treat each as a habit rather than a task.
- Every checkpoint has a hidden ladder or wall. Most checkpoints are designed as hubs with one or two hidden exits. Exploring the room for 30 seconds often reveals a shortcut or a Hollow.
- Locked doors can be re-opened with a different form. A Flame door can sometimes be opened by burning a chain that releases a Force-empowered platform. If a Flame door does not budge, walk around and look for an alternate path.
- Urich enemies have a tell before the reveal. Their eyes glow yellow for a second before the parasite emerges. This is your cue to switch forms early and skip the unarmored phase.
- Save consumables on Vulgrim for the late game. The merchant’s stock rotates with story progress. The late-game items are stronger than the early-game items at the same Humanity cost.
Apocalyptic mode: what actually changes
Apocalyptic does not change enemy placement. It changes the damage numbers and the recovery windows. Standard enemies die in the same number of hits, but each hit they land takes roughly twice as much health. Boss patterns have shorter pauses between attacks, which means the punishment for a mistimed dodge is higher.
The practical change for a walkthrough is that you cannot afford to be hit. The Havoc economy becomes more important, because every form burst that breaks a stagger is also a heal. If you can stay in the 30 to 70 percent Havoc range, the late game on Apocalyptic is more demanding but not unfair. If you cannot, the late game becomes a slow attrition fight that you will lose.
Apocalyptic boss priority list
- Sloth: keep your distance in phase 1, use the wall to break his charge.
- Lust: switch weapons every third combo to reset the prediction model.
- Gluttony: save Flame form for the stomach phase, where most of the damage comes from the boss, not the tentacles.
- Envy: bait the backstep with a fake dodge, punish the recovery with a heavy attack finisher.
- Wrath: do not enter phase 3 with full Havoc. Spend it in phase 2 to keep your health topped up.
Post-game content: Crucible, Maker’s Forge, and NG+
Once the credits roll, Darksiders 3 keeps the campaign in place and unlocks the post-game features. The Crucible opens fully, the Maker’s Forge gains a final upgrade tier, and a New Game+ mode becomes available. NG+ keeps your weapon enhancements, increases enemy health, and adds a small set of exclusive cosmetic rewards.
The walkthrough advice for the post-game is to finish the Crucible at least once on your current difficulty, then decide whether to start NG+ or move on. The Crucible rewards are good, but the time investment is real. NG+ is not a clean replay; it is a tuned re-run that expects a different weapon loadout than the first run.
What NG+ actually changes
- All enemies gain a percentage of bonus health, scaling with the difficulty setting
- Creature Core drops are doubled, which makes the Maker’s Forge upgrades faster
- New weapon enhancements unlock at the start of NG+ but require a specific path of materials
- The Hollow roster is the same, but their dialogue changes slightly to acknowledge the loop
Performance, platform notes, and accessibility
Darksiders 3 runs on the Unreal Engine 4 base. The PC release is the most stable version, with the widest range of graphics options. The console release has a 30 frames-per-second cap on the original generation hardware and a 60 frames-per-second cap on the updated consoles. There is no cross-save between PC and console.
Accessibility is limited. There is a remappable control layout, a single difficulty toggle, and a basic colorblind mode for the UI. There is no high-contrast mode, no caption scaling, and no narration of environmental cues. Players who rely on those features will need to plan around them. The Darksiders 3 walkthrough does not assume any accessibility feature is present, and the route advice works regardless of the input device.
Recommended control layout
The default layout puts the dodge on the bumper and the form switch on the trigger. Most players find it easier to invert those two: form switch on the bumper, dodge on the trigger. The reason is that the dodge needs to be pressed faster than the form switch, and trigger presses have a shorter travel than bumper presses on most controllers.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the Darksiders 3 campaign?
The main campaign takes roughly 15 to 20 hours for a first-time player on Balanced difficulty, including most Hollows and the main exploration. A focused run that skips optional content can finish in around 10 hours. A completionist run that includes every Hollow, the Crucible, and the post-game content takes 30 hours or more.
Which difficulty should I pick for a first run?
Balanced is the intended experience for new players. Apocalyptic is fair but expects the dodge and Havoc systems to be used actively. If you have played a previous Darksiders game or a similar action game, Apocalyptic is a clean challenge. If not, Balanced is the better starting point and you can replay the campaign at a higher difficulty with NG+.
Do I need to find every Hollow to finish the story?
No. The story ends when you defeat Wrath, and the Hollow hunt is optional. However, missing more than a few Hollows leaves your mid-game undergeared, and the late-game fights become a grind. Most walkthrough advice treats the Hollow hunt as part of the route, not a separate task.
Which weapon should I prioritize first?
The first alternate weapon, unlocked after the Sloth fight, is the best first choice for most players. It has longer reach than the Chaos Fang and a wider combo string, which makes the Depths and the Lust fight cleaner. The other two weapons are better for specific fights but are not as flexible.
Is the Crucible worth it?
Yes, especially on Apocalyptic. The Crucible is the most reliable source of Creature Cores in the mid-game, and the time you spend there saves you hours of grinding basic enemies later. The Crucible is also the only place to unlock a small set of cosmetics that are not available in the main campaign.
What is the best order to clear the Sins?
The intended order is Sloth, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath. The game does not force this order, but the difficulty curve and the story flow make it the smoothest path. Avarice becomes available after Wrath and is the optional sixth Sin. Skipping ahead to a later Sin is possible but not recommended because the path difficulty scales with story progress, not with the order of the menu.
Are there missable items in Darksiders 3?
Yes. The most common missable items are the two post-game Hollows, which are reached through a wall that only opens with the final form upgrade, and a small set of cosmetic rewards that are tied to specific boss kills. The story items are not missable; you can return to any region after the credits roll and collect the cosmetics then.
Does Darksiders 3 have a New Game+ mode?
Yes. NG+ keeps your weapon enhancements, increases enemy health, and adds new weapon enhancement paths. The Hollow roster is the same, but their dialogue changes slightly. NG+ is a tuned re-run rather than a clean replay, and it expects a different weapon loadout than the first run.
How does the Havoc system work?
Havoc is a resource that fuels your elemental forms. You spend Havoc to activate a form and regenerate it by dodging, parrying, using the whip, or landing a fresh combat encounter. The goal is to keep Havoc between 30 and 70 percent at all times. Holding a form for the entire fight leaves you empty for the next encounter, and the campaign punishes that habit.
Is Darksiders 3 connected to the other Darksiders games?
Yes, but the connection is narrative rather than mechanical. Darksiders 3 takes place in the same universe as the first two games, and several returning characters appear. You do not need to have played the earlier games to follow the story, but recognizing the references makes the late-game twists land harder.
For a broader look at how action RPGs design enemy rosters and behavior trees, the Monster Hunter series is a useful comparison point. If you want a different perspective on game tools and modern content workflows, that piece walks through how creators use cloud storage to manage large game builds. For context on the broader reception of the game, the Darksiders III Wikipedia article covers the production background and the original release reception, and the IGN review of the campaign breaks down the strengths and weaknesses of the combat and exploration systems.
