A breakthrough in the hunt for Diablo 4's cow level has players racing to perform a secret cleansing ritual for the Oxen Gods

A Scottish Highland cow in Scotland
(Image credit: Paul Allen / Getty)
Survive Sanctuary with these Diablo 4 guides

Diablo 4's Lilith

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)

Diablo 4 guide: Everything you need
Diablo 4 mount: Race across the map
Diablo 4 waypoints: How to fast travel
Diablo 4 level unlocks: New vendors

Diablo 4's cow level isn't real according to Blizzard, but a group of players has discovered the existence of a ritual that they believe will lead to the fabled, supposedly non-existent level, and their evidence is convincing. The problem now is actually performing the ritual, which, if the level really doesn't exist, may be impossible. 

Cow-themed joke levels have been synonymous with the Diablo series after persistent rumors that one existed in the first game (it didn't). Since then, Blizzard snuck cow levels in Diablo 2, Diablo 3, and World of Warcraft.

According to Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson in an interview with Kinda Funny, Diablo 4 doesn't have a cow level because of its serious tone. But players have found a handful of strange items and locations in the game's files that suggest Fergusson's comment might not be totally true.

Everything hinges on a fountain surrounded by ox statues in the Ked Bardu location in Diablo 4. A message about cleansing offerings to "The Oxen Gods" appears when you click one of them. And now players are on the hunt to find items for the ritual.

Over on the D4 - Not Finding A Cow Level Discord server, which amusingly includes channel names like "secretcellar" and "all-cow-locations", there's a summary of the items players have found through datamining so far. The list includes the Metallic Fragment, the Bloody Wooden Shard and the Musty Tome. The Bloody Wooden Shard and the Musty Tome are both a reference to the Diablo 2 items used to access its cow level: Wirt's Leg and Tome of Town Portal.

(Image credit: Sylvus / Activision Blizzard)

Nobody has found the three ritual items in the game yet, but text found in the files suggests that they drop from a unique world event that can appear in different regions of the map. Other datamined info suggests that you'll be able to cleanse the items at the fountain and then be able to pick up a secret key. That key will open a secret cellar that houses a portal to the elusive cow level.

Despite having a vague outline for the unmarked cow level quest, players still haven't been able to find the world events mentioned in the files. World events happen in many locations around Diablo 4's open world map, making it hard to narrow down where to search.

"At the moment our focus is on Hawezar or Kehjistan to receive the first relic, however it is well known that the other two zones (Dry Steppes, Scosglen and Fractured Peaks) are also likely to drop relics two and three if we knew what the event was," one of the server's admins, Chef, wrote.

"I will primarily point out that this is not a very efficient method of finding which event we should run, but rather an extremely efficient method to determine which events we will be wasting our time grinding."

Elsewhere in the server, players have brought up that it's entirely possible none of the datamined info exists in the game yet, but that doesn't seem to have stopped everyone from continuing the search.

Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.

Read more
Diablo 4 boss loot tables - Duriel
Diablo 4 boss loot tables for the Season of Witchcraft
Diablo 4 Poison in the Roots - Tree of Whispers' coven
How to complete the Poison in the Roots quest in Diablo 4
An axe-wielding Enraged Headless Husk attacks a barbarian
Diablo 4 players pleasantly surprised to find the first boss of the new season is a challenge for once: 'it's nice to actually have to think and prepare for fights'
Diablo 4 spiritborn character with glowing eyes and holding a glaive
Diablo 4 is free until January and lets you play as its most busted class, so go on a rampage before Blizzard nerfs it
A raven holding a charm in its beak
Diablo 4 is getting its first bird pet in Season 7
Two goblins go for a joyride via the D.R.I.V.E system in World of Warcraft: The War Within.
WoW's new DRIVE system probably won't be used outside of its GTA-style goblin zone, but devs are 'going to think about' recycling its parts elsewhere
Latest in RPG
Alligator skull with glowing eyes on human body and cords coming out sitting at piano with "The Norwood Etudes" ready to play
My new most anticipated RPG let me be a kleptomaniac gourmand set loose in a noir city on a quest to make 'the perfect sandwich'
Rise of the Ronin review
Rise of the Ronin review
Wyrdsong concept art
Wyrdsong, the RPG from ex-Bethesda talent, isn't dead—but it's no longer an open world: 'We're down to a skeleton crew'
A lolporrit squeals in excitement while being driven in a moon buggie in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, patch 7.2.
Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.2's trailer has me finally hyped to get stuck back in—and to go to the moon and pilot some mechs, because why not
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 barbers change hairstyle - Henry sitting on a horse wearing armour.
How to find a barber and change hairstyle in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Latest in News
Aloy - Horizon
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
Crying laughing emoji with disturbing realistic elements for REPO
REPO's first update will add a new map and a 'duck bucket' so we can finally give that pesky quacker a time out
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games