How to complete The Heretic and find Aneta in Diablo 4

You may encounter a frustrating bug on this quest.

Lillith stands in front of a veiled being in Diablo 4 promo art
Screenshot via Dot Esports

Diablo 4 is full of quests aside from the main storyline, including The Heretic side quest available for pick-up at the Umir Plateau. Like many other side quests in Diablo 4, players have not only had trouble completing this quest, but have found a prevalent bug hindering progress.

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To begin The Heretic in Diablo 4, you will need to travel to the town of Zarbinzet in Hawezar. Just south of the Zarbinzet Waypoint, you can find the side-quest giver named Vass. The quest itself is fairly easy, however players have had plenty of trouble finding Aneta, an NPC central to completing the quest. If you are trying to find Aneta, or just trying to figure out this side quest, this is everything you need to know.

The Heretic side quest Diablo 4 guide

Once you pick up The Heretic from Vass in Zarbinzet, you will need to venture to the northeast of town. You can find the Abandoned Ruins on the map below.

Related: Diablo 4 Iron Hold dungeon location and how to clear it

This side quest will require you to clear out the Abandoned Ruins of demons and search for survivors. Inside the ruins will be a mixture of enemies waiting for you, primarily demons. This encounter is fairly easy; I managed to clear out this small area of enemies in only a few minutes.

How to find Aneta in Diablo 4

The frightened girl, Aneta, will run from the ruins to a tree near the Abandoned Ruin’s entrance. Once all enemies are slain and Aneta stops running, you can speak with her to progress the quest further.

Image of Aneta's location near the Abandoned Ruins on the Diablo 4 map
You will find Aneta’s first location to the northeast of Zarbinzet | Screenshot via Dot Esports

From here, you will help Aneta gather the Withered Plant, Dying Plant, and Signed Plant in the nearby field. This area where you can find these flowers will be marked by a blue area on your map.

Once you have collected the flowers, you will escort Aneta back to Zarbinzet to complete the quest. This section will only require you to backtrack to the town. You can even use your Zarbinzet Waypoint to fast travel back and Aneta will appear. Once in Zarbinzet, venture to her home and watch the interaction between Aneta and her mother.

The next section of this quest chain is where most players have encountered a prevalent bug. After Aneta meets with her mother, you will need to find her once again in the Forgotten Cave. The cave’s entrance can be seen on the map below.

Image of Aneta's location near the Forgotten Cave on the Diablo 4 map.
Find Aneta agin in the nearby cave | Screenshot via Dot Esports

If you encounter this bug, you will not be able to locate Aneta inside of the Forgotten Cave dungeon. Normally, Aneta will appear below a waterfall, but whenever I first played through the quest I noticed she was nowhere to be found.

Though I was able to fix this bug by abandoning the quest and starting over, many others have reported this method has not worked for them. Unfortunately for those unlucky few, if you are not willing or able to completely restart this questline, you may just have to wait until Blizzard Entertainment fixes the issue.

After finding Aneta again and slaying the demons that spawn around here, you will complete The Heretic and begin the next side quest, A Price to Pay.

Author
Image of Blaine Polhamus
Blaine Polhamus
Staff Writer for Dot Esports. Avid gamer for two decades and gaming writer for three years. I'm a lover of anything Souls-like since 2011. I cover everything from single-player RPGs to MMOs.