Diablo 4 Drowned

The Drowned appear as enemies in Diablo IV. They are one of the game’s “monster families.” Befitting their name, they are found in the game’s coastal areas.

The Drowned are undead creatures that have crawled onto the shores of every area except Fractured Peaks, as it isn't connected to a sea. There's an obsession for reasons unknown with statues and bells (The brute likes to hit them with a log for what appears to be for fun). They're led by Merinth, also known as the Drowned Witch.

This Monster Family has 4 members. One's a brute called Man-O-War that wields a tree log that creates a flood of water when slammed into the ground. Wretch are mages that lob water bombs, while the other 2 are smaller melee mobs (Tide Walker and Deckhand). The former wields a small "glow in the dark" club while the latter wield hooks. They seem to have no strategy when approaching and aren't usually aggressive if you don't tread to close to the shores.

Common Item Drops: Pants, Scythes

Drowned D4

The Drowned are watery entities that can be found around the coasts of Scosglen. You won’t find them anywhere else in the world, and if you’re looking specifically to hunt them down, you’ll need to travel to find them. Each member of the family has a specialty or signature ability that synergizes with other members of that family, becoming stronger when they’re fighting together.

Diablo 4 Drowned

The Drowned are undead which emerge from Sanctuary’s coastlines to drag their victims to a watery grave. They currently dominate the entire coastline of Scosglen.

Five members

To have these creatures feel more sophisticated and robust, we designed them in what we call “monster families” and archetypes. Each family has a different combat style and feel. For example, the Drowned family has five members in various archetypes: bruiser, ranged combat, melee combat, swarmer, and dungeon boss.

Drowned Family Lineup in Diablo IV

Each archetype plays a different role in combat. Swarmers strike in groups, making AoE attacks feel satisfying. Bruisers are larger monsters with high health values, which will make damage over time abilities feel good. Melee combat units act as shields by standing in the way of projectiles for their ranged counterparts. Situations like this provide the player with interesting positional dilemmas if they want to focus fire on ranged units. When adding all of this together, each encounter with the Drowned will be slightly different with regards to player positioning and choice of attack. These rich and varied combat experiences are the power of a monster family.

List of Drowned Types

Drowned Challenges

NameDescriptionRewards
Drowned SlayerSlay 1000 Drowned.Rusted, Wretch(Player Titles)
Drowned DestroyerSlay 5000 Drowned.Salty, Mariner(Player Titles)
Drowned MassacreSlay 10000 Drowned.Drowned, Pirate(Player Titles)

Drowned Titles

Diablo 4 Gold, Items, Boosting

  • Diablo 4 Items for Sale (6% off coupon: vhpg). Fast and Safe Diablo IV Items. 5-star service, nice discount, instant delivery.
  • Buy Diablo 4 Gold (5% off coupon: VHPGMULE). Cheap Diablo 4 Gold. Payment: PayPal, Skrill, Cryptocurrencies.

Related Elixir

Name RequiresDescription
Elixir of Undead-Slaying Level 36 Increases damage against Vampires, Skeletons, Zombies, Ghosts, and Drowned by 20% and Experience gained by 5% for 30 minutes.
Elixir of Man-Slaying Level 36 Increases damage against Cannibals, Bandits, Knights Penitent, and Cultists by 20% and Experience gained by 5% for 30 minutes.
Elixir of Demon-Slaying Level 36 Increases damage against Goatmen, Fallen, Flies, and Demons by 20% and Experience gained by 5% for 30 minutes.
Elixir of Beast-Slaying Level 36 Increases damage against Spiders, Wildlife, Maggots, Snakes, and Werewolves by 20% and Experience gained by 5% for 30 minutes.

You may only have one Elixir active at a time.

Development

The Drowned are an example of the environmental storytelling used in Diablo IV, where their attacks are water and ship-themed. While players can obtain more information on the Drowned via quests and tomes, the idea is that the player should be able to understand the Drowned’s relationship to the sea just by looking at them.

Lore

The Drowned have always been a threat to Sanctuary. They come from bodies washing ashore (such as from ships lost at sea), bloating in the midday sun. After the first moonless night, after all other omens have passed, the Drowned will appear. When they attack, they infect the shores like a disease, and with them comes a thick brackish fog that encroaches in from the shoreline. Every time they attack, there’s the unyielding tolling of bells, a reminder to the living that the Drowned were rallying and coming for them.

The Drowned appear to have existed for quite awhile. They hoard the spoils of their raids in their hoards beneath the sea. These contain the relics of long-lost cultures.

By the Reign of Enmity, the Drowned had not been seen in generations, and most didn’t believe they existed. Nevertheless, they did remain in the cultural zeitgeist, as they were regarded as “terrors” that existed in the night that would come to kidnap people. Villagers would tell their children that if they didn’t behave, the Drowned would come and take them.

Unfortunately for the people of Sanctuary, the Drowned were real, and came to dominate the entire coast of Scosglen.

How do you balance telling an interesting and intricate story without bogging down players who just want to kill monsters?
McCree: We have some philosophy about this, which is “show don’t tell.” Environmental storytelling is very important for this. We like to use our lore and story as a tool to give context to the monsters you’re fighting, and if we do it right, you can glean some information about a monster family just by playing the game. The Drowned monster family, who we added for Diablo IV, is a good example of this. Players will find these monsters near the sea, and when you go out and encounter them, you will notice that their environment reflects their story – they use water attacks, they die in a watery way in some cases, and they use parts of ships for weapons. You don’t need to know their backstory to understand their relationship with the environment, but if you want to know, you can find lore books or pay attention to quests which deal with them specifically.

Can you give us some backstory on the quest with the Drowned queen from the recent BlizzCon demo?
McCree: This type of quest is a great example of the situation where an adventurer thinks they are dealing with one problem and they quickly find out things are worse than they even knew was possible. You find a sick boy in a village, and while trying to find a cure for him, you uncover the fact that his ancestors have put a curse on the family. Now instead of searching for a simple cure, you’re involved in a monster invasion from the sea while the boy and town both suffer. In Diablo IV, you’ll encounter situations like this, and often they will tie into a larger story we’re going to tell about Lilith and her return to this place.

D4 Guides & Tips