Diablo 4 Players Think They’ve Worked Out How You Can Tell When the Dreaded Butcher Is About

If you’ve played Diablo 4 for an extended period of time, you may have run into the Butcher, a super powerful enemy who seemingly pops up at random to ruin your dungeon crawling.

The Butcher is a mysterious and tough boss who spawns to scare the life out of players, particularly low level players or, even worse, Hardcore character players that have permadeath.

The Butcher can randomly appear in any dungeon in Diablo 4 so there is no way to guarantee the spawn. No way known currently by players, anyway. And while you can hear the Butcher stomping about and even breathing when he’s very close, it’s more a case of the Butcher finding you than it is you finding him.

But, as YouTuber GoinPostle2 has discovered, there is at least a way of knowing if the Butcher is about, skulking the corridors of a dungeon, waiting behind a closed door, ready to pounce. As GoinPostle2 notes, the music changes if the Butcher is in your dungeon, which means Blizzard dropped an audio clue to help players at least brace themselves for the carnage that is to come.

Diablo 4 is an action role-playing game designed around repeatedly farming dungeons in a bid to score incrementally more powerful loot, so it’s easy to tune out of the in-game music, or even turn it off completely in favour of a podcast or, if you’re like me, football commentary. Perhaps now, though, there’s one reason it’s worth paying attention to the music.

Anecdotally, players report the appearance of a treasure goblin inside a dungeon as a sign the Butcher may not be far behind. The few times I’ve encountered the Butcher, I’ve had a treasure goblin dash about the place, too. Perhaps there’s something to this, as well as the music.

This isn’t the first time Diablo 4 players have come up with a cool Butcher-related theory. In July, IGN reported on a cool theory that may explain why the Butcher sometimes appears enlarged.

Blizzard released patch 1.1.1 on August 8 and it appears to have gone down well after the disastrous prior update caused a backlash. Diablo 4 Season 1, which launched last month, is expected to continue into late October 2023. Blizzard has already released a lengthy roadmap and promised to continue addressing community feedback through Season 3 and beyond.

Diablo 4 was the best-selling game in June, and has maintained momentum despite its various controversies. For more info, check out our in-depth Diablo 4 Season 1 guide as well as our interactive map.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.