How to fix the Defeat Astaroth bug in Diablo 4

Like many others, I was one of the unlucky Diablo 4 players who encountered an infuriating bug after defeating Astaroth in the As the World Burns quest. It didn’t tick off the objective even though I turned him into demon dust, I couldn’t loot his corpse, and since he was dead, I wasn’t able to finish the quest and continue my campaign.

Notice I’m using past tense? That’s because I managed to fix it.

If you’re someone who is in the same boat as I was, don’t stress. It’s a quick and easy fix that can be replicated—as long as you know what to do. The same goes for other Diablo bugs, too. Here’s everything you need to know.

Diablo 4’s Defeat Astaroth bug fix, explained

To fix the bug and have another crack at defeating Astaroth, quit the game and log back in. Your character will be transported back to the area leading up to the fight. You’ll need to make your way back to him, but when you get there, he’ll be standing in the arena once again. If you’re in a party and it happened to everyone, you’ll all need to do it.

Related: How to fix Start Game Pending issue in Diablo 4

You’re not safe from the bug yet, though. It happened to me three times in a row before I figured out how to stop it from happening again. I found killing him too quickly or near a wall seemed to trigger the nasty little bug. In the video below, you can see a player encountering the bug after killing him close to a wall.

When I avoided doing these two things, it worked like a charm.

For that reason, I’d advise you to draw the Astaroth fight out for a bit longer than it would normally take and then kite him into the middle of the arena when his health is low before sending him to the shadow realm.

It’s only a matter of time before the Diablo developers release a hotfix to patch the issue, especially since it has been flagged on the forums, but you won’t have to wait for it if you follow these steps. Just bear in mind it could take a few attempts.