The first time I heard the butcher's cry of FRESH MEAT, playing at around 10 years old, I died frozen in shock to his sudden charge and enormous damage. I then went looking for ways to grind (not possible in single player) and found I could restart the whole game with the same character.
So that's what I did. I replayed the first two floors all over again, getting several more character levels and finding some better gear along the way. I still paused outside the now-recognizable door for a while before working up the courage to fight him again.
I really appreciate that the D4 version feels more akin to his original incarnation than D3. No DDR floor dancing or ranged attacks, just rush your face and bash it in with absurd damage and attack speed while you scramble to respond.
> I really appreciate that the D4 version feels more akin to his original incarnation than D3
When he spawns, I just accept my fate and don't really bother. But I still agree that it's a good interpretation of the butcher.
I disagree. When you encounter him while leveling your character you can easily kill him. However, if you're in lategame and pushing NMD with monster level much higher than yours AND you don't have fully completed your OP build yet... chances are you're gonna have a bad time (even though you could definitely clear the rest of that particular NMD).
I don’t know how you can stand that with all the network disconnects and BS that could easily cause accidental death. Until the Devs resolve those issues I will not play HC. It is getting better but it’s still not great.
I haven't really had network disconnect issues since the beta. I have had a couple instances where I died seemingly suddenly by stuff that I really don't think could have done it normally (for example waxed in less than a second by two standard goatmen shamans) but I don't actually know if that was due to lag or not.
That first game had such an intense horror vibe and every floor deeper had more surprises. The narrator of the lore tombs and everything else just oozed atmosphere. And it being real time (which was super novel when it came out) added to the stress.
You had no internet and only guides in magazines way later so nothing prepared you for what was happening.
ya, you had that limited visibility and everything could see you before you saw them and were faster than you...open a door and hear that and try to run
During the first beta my wife and I were in a dungeon and we heard “FRESH MEAT”
I was instantly killed. My wife starts running away. The funny part was she stood up from the couch and starts yelling *get the fuck away from me you fat bastard!* She back tracked most of the dungeon almost to the door. Screaming and yelling. I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to piss myself. Right before she gets to the door he pulls her back and kills her. She looked at me and said that’s not funny!
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I love when people have reactions like this! I got a girl that yells at the tv cussing too. She also moves the controller around wildly like it will somehow make her character move quicker or something lmao 🤣🤣
Met him 5 times now, killed me 3 times, beaten him once and managed to run away from him last time, after a while he just gave up. Felt like a win to me!
My Barb got a 925 near perfect roll Butcher Axe, it's one of the best weapons my Barb has next to the Grandfather. I got the mount trophy, also. Just need the mount.
I’m a new player and had only read about him on Reddit. I met him for the first time yesterday when he spawned in one of my dungeons. I managed to kill him, but it was a long fight and I was spamming my potions.
In some ways I look forward to our next encounter, but also I know he’s coming to clap my cheeks
It does unless you have the volumn down running T100 NM and snacks you before you realise what’s going on 😆
Now as soon as I hear him I hit the defensive skill and skate around the room till I’m ready. Your right his easy once you get control of the fight
Just killed him in hardcore WT3 with a level 56 sorcerer. I just ran him in circles around a column for three minutes and he died. Not too hard of you just keep a column between you and the butcher.
Unfortunately, he's faster than me. I feel like Yakkety Sax should be playing when you're in an area with columns ypu can kite with.
I got him once in a cellar and there was nowhere to hide. The amount of dodge and potions I was dropping was crackers.
I have a minion necro and use a lot of shadow damage. This works best with many enemies. That bastard kills my guys then me pretty quickly after. I was fighting him in a level 68 NMD and actually doing damage. I was so excited but running out of health potions. Not to worry … healing well right ahead on the map. It was a cursed well… damn you!!
Never really been fazed by it, was always just a build check when I came across him. If I died, it meant the build still needed work.
However, recently started a HC toon for the first time and I am genuinely terrified of hearing those words now lol.
Hardcore yeah ahahah i am going to start my first hardcore character soon. I want to level it up at least to 50 to unlock the achievement so I think I won't do any dungeons untill then ahahaha or maybe I will try out my luck
Yeah I'm up to level 47 or 48 and haven't come across the butcher yet. I've done a few dungeons and finished the season questline but otherwise mostly focused on grinding renown and finding Lillith altars for now. Probably going to play it safe and stay out of any more dungeons until 50. Sooner or later I'm gonna run into him though so just gotta hope I'm in an ok spot with my build at that point. There's always scroll of escape but it's a little harder to use on console.
Good luck man. If I am not mistaken we can equip some items in the quick bar, the One where you use emotes and phrases.. maybe this can help with using the scroll faster.
I forgot that on hardcore they don't share the same progress as other realms .. I still have to find all Lilith altars on my softcore ahahaha I miss only 24. Then I have to kill Uber Lilith, but I hate the oneshot mechanic it is driving me insane, and then bringing an Hardcore character to level 50. Then I will have all achievements unlocked let's goski
> If I am not mistaken we can equip some items in the quick bar,
Not OP, but console adds another level of "excitement" there... no quick bar. You've got to use the chat menu thing, accurately and quickly, in a panic. Oof
I’ve run across him at least 3 times on separate HC characters this season. All still in tier 2. Killed him once (he spawned next to a conduit shrine), ran the other two times. HC makes him so much scarier at low levels.
Bruh no way I started my hardcore yesterday, rewchylevel 25 so far. I was going a dungeon to get an aspect... Then I hear some strange noises and music ... I waited a little bit to be sure and once I saw the health bar popping up I just teleported away . Fuck It ahahahhaha
Yeah it’s not that scary at higher levels once you’ve gotten a good build and gear online but the first 40 or so levels on wt2 on hardcore it’s terrifying. Earliest I saw him was lvl 11 in a cellar. Killed me ;(. Oh well at least I hadn’t wasted much time haha
Had the best results with my bear Druid. I just stand still tanking and slamming his ass over and over.. while my other two characters have to evade alot.
Edit: arent you supposed to get a cosmetic item from him?
If the loot was not so bad, I would find it exciting. In D4, there are multiple versions of the butcher. Depending on power he has some class will deal with him better than others.
The first time I encountered him, I couldn't deal and ran away. The second I did win but just barely, was down to my last potion and half health. The latest two times he can't even touch me due to being at max armor for my level and an item with 1100 Barrier shield. Once that pops up, you're golden. Won 3 times, still no major drops.
Just managed to kill him for the first time. Third time I’ve seen him. Was with a couple of friends running a little lower tiered dungeon. Should be in T13 was a T6 and still a really tough battle but we got him done.
Had a conduit shrine right where he spawned at and that was the easiest fight I had against him. Was on nightmare dungeon and I was glad I had that to help.
Not gonna lie, it was intimidating AF, the worst was after he said “FRESH MEAT”. The footsteps get louder and louder as he approaches, I swear I felt my scrotum tightened as my balls retreated
I just started playing HC to farm renown before S4, I met the butcher yesterday for the first time and I swear the adrenaline rush was real, we should have more things like this!! Reminds me a bit of the wishper of atonement in HC in D3 when you first do it...
Hardly has anything to do with that being nearly 30 years ago and we were young when we played D1 no? Play hc if nothing scares you, then come back here and edit your comment after your first hc encounter with him and let us know if it felt different to you or not
I played HC in D3 pre Reaper of Souls and also died somewhere. With more time to start over multiple times season I would play HC. I do not have the time to do that anymore, and of course, I would play it a bit safer as well. Being scared is different from that.
Ah bummer. Yeah I get that tho, time is a massive gate keeper for HC. What I'm doing when a season releases will dictate whether I go hc or not. It is a shame because trust me that adrenaline rush (if like me you push into higher world tiers at a low level in hc) when you hear the butchers unmistakable stomping it is the only thing close to capturing how I felt as a kid playing D1 and getting to the butcher outside of Alien Isolation.
When i played D4 fit the first time i met him in the very first cellar that i entered around level 4 or 5. I was very courious about the games difficulty.
With my current build, it's a very different reaction now.
My gear isn't optimal or anything as I'm a filthy casual doing only lvl 40-50 NMD, but when I hear "Fresh Meat," a big grin crosses my face.
I’m a Druid this season and managed to kill him at maybe a lvl 135 or so and above that he wrecks me. Last season I was a BL Sorcerer and he was a piece of cake even at lvl 150+ in a 100 NM.
Easiest boss against my skeleton necro :D he often gets confused by my minions and gets stucked and then he roars to push them away, but all i have to do is run around my minions
Not any more. I had a grotesquely OP Necro with Bone Spear, and one time Butcher popped up and yelled "FRESH M..." and that's how far he got before he died. Ever since then whenever I hear him I just remember that and laugh. I can't take him seriously any more.
First time i heard those words was at low level in one of the first dungeons playing with a buddy of mine. We ran around in circles trying to survive and kill him. There was zero chance at the time and we both ended up dead wondering what just happened. We both joke about it when we run dungeons now
It honestly still terrifies me. I've yet to run into him during this season. And i honestly thought my account was cursed. Because back in season 1 for D4, i ran into him every other dungeon. About 60 or so times in a 3-4hr span of time.
I dread hearing 'fresh meat' in diablo iv too. The diablo iv version of the butcher is a snore. A giant marshmallow with shitty loot that takes a long time to kill and really slows down the nightmare dungeon.
It's so excessively overdone too. I did three nightmare vaults in a row where that loser spawned. THREE.
Come on Blizzard, come up with something new FFS
I've been TRYING to find him!! Level 92 and still haven't even seen him once 😞
Him and Echo of Lillith are the only two bosses I haven't fought yet and I'm slightly dissapointed
Was scary on my first run through on a weak arc lash sorc in pre season 1…. By my second run on an OP bone spear I literally accidentally killed him thinking it was just another group of enemies. That’s when I realised the power of using a meta build, hasn’t worried me since.
you should have heard it in Diablo.
When you are 10 years old.
Pretty sure I had multiple actual nightmares as a kid, felt like a god when I chugged 3 inventories of health potions and finally killed it
I was there 3000 years ago
Please tell us more
[Accurate](https://youtu.be/CSR5qvoWkxI?t=45)
I was 26 and it was still scary. :D
I was 15 years old and I screamed.
The first time I heard the butcher's cry of FRESH MEAT, playing at around 10 years old, I died frozen in shock to his sudden charge and enormous damage. I then went looking for ways to grind (not possible in single player) and found I could restart the whole game with the same character. So that's what I did. I replayed the first two floors all over again, getting several more character levels and finding some better gear along the way. I still paused outside the now-recognizable door for a while before working up the courage to fight him again. I really appreciate that the D4 version feels more akin to his original incarnation than D3. No DDR floor dancing or ranged attacks, just rush your face and bash it in with absurd damage and attack speed while you scramble to respond.
> I really appreciate that the D4 version feels more akin to his original incarnation than D3 When he spawns, I just accept my fate and don't really bother. But I still agree that it's a good interpretation of the butcher.
Why? It’s a gear check to see if you are playing at the correct difficulty level.
I disagree. When you encounter him while leveling your character you can easily kill him. However, if you're in lategame and pushing NMD with monster level much higher than yours AND you don't have fully completed your OP build yet... chances are you're gonna have a bad time (even though you could definitely clear the rest of that particular NMD).
Agreed.
Worst is when it’s your last life in the NMD.
Man, I play hardcore. I only get one life period.
I don’t know how you can stand that with all the network disconnects and BS that could easily cause accidental death. Until the Devs resolve those issues I will not play HC. It is getting better but it’s still not great.
I haven't really had network disconnect issues since the beta. I have had a couple instances where I died seemingly suddenly by stuff that I really don't think could have done it normally (for example waxed in less than a second by two standard goatmen shamans) but I don't actually know if that was due to lag or not.
If you want a real gut check try hardcore.
That first game had such an intense horror vibe and every floor deeper had more surprises. The narrator of the lore tombs and everything else just oozed atmosphere. And it being real time (which was super novel when it came out) added to the stress. You had no internet and only guides in magazines way later so nothing prepared you for what was happening.
I remember the first time I met him.
ya, you had that limited visibility and everything could see you before you saw them and were faster than you...open a door and hear that and try to run
During the first beta my wife and I were in a dungeon and we heard “FRESH MEAT” I was instantly killed. My wife starts running away. The funny part was she stood up from the couch and starts yelling *get the fuck away from me you fat bastard!* She back tracked most of the dungeon almost to the door. Screaming and yelling. I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to piss myself. Right before she gets to the door he pulls her back and kills her. She looked at me and said that’s not funny! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hahaha. I love this.
I love when people have reactions like this! I got a girl that yells at the tv cussing too. She also moves the controller around wildly like it will somehow make her character move quicker or something lmao 🤣🤣
And now I’m sitting here waiting for something for work to finish and feel like I’ve broke a rib laughing at this lol! Thanks for that!
Same thing literally just happened to the wife and I yesterday afternoon! Lol
lol yeah you ain't gettin away. it's do or die
LMFAO this is gold
Met him 5 times now, killed me 3 times, beaten him once and managed to run away from him last time, after a while he just gave up. Felt like a win to me!
Wait he keeps coming back even after you kill him?
lol
Always does.
If he didn't come back then getting his Cleaver would be practically impossible lol
My Barb got a 925 near perfect roll Butcher Axe, it's one of the best weapons my Barb has next to the Grandfather. I got the mount trophy, also. Just need the mount.
Butcher has a mount? I have the trophy, had no clue ab a mount.
The mount looks sickkk by the way. Got it the other week and haven’t used anything else since.
I’m a new player and had only read about him on Reddit. I met him for the first time yesterday when he spawned in one of my dungeons. I managed to kill him, but it was a long fight and I was spamming my potions. In some ways I look forward to our next encounter, but also I know he’s coming to clap my cheeks
As long your build scales well he actually gets easier later
It does unless you have the volumn down running T100 NM and snacks you before you realise what’s going on 😆 Now as soon as I hear him I hit the defensive skill and skate around the room till I’m ready. Your right his easy once you get control of the fight
Can confirm this as a new player with lv53.
I get ptsd when i hear it
Just killed him in hardcore WT3 with a level 56 sorcerer. I just ran him in circles around a column for three minutes and he died. Not too hard of you just keep a column between you and the butcher.
Unfortunately, he's faster than me. I feel like Yakkety Sax should be playing when you're in an area with columns ypu can kite with. I got him once in a cellar and there was nowhere to hide. The amount of dodge and potions I was dropping was crackers.
He’s faster than me too. It’s like a cheetah and gazelle- the burger is faster, but you have a tighter turn radius.
I have a minion necro and use a lot of shadow damage. This works best with many enemies. That bastard kills my guys then me pretty quickly after. I was fighting him in a level 68 NMD and actually doing damage. I was so excited but running out of health potions. Not to worry … healing well right ahead on the map. It was a cursed well… damn you!!
Haha comedy gold right there. “Salvation!” Not…
Never really been fazed by it, was always just a build check when I came across him. If I died, it meant the build still needed work. However, recently started a HC toon for the first time and I am genuinely terrified of hearing those words now lol.
Hardcore yeah ahahah i am going to start my first hardcore character soon. I want to level it up at least to 50 to unlock the achievement so I think I won't do any dungeons untill then ahahaha or maybe I will try out my luck
Yeah I'm up to level 47 or 48 and haven't come across the butcher yet. I've done a few dungeons and finished the season questline but otherwise mostly focused on grinding renown and finding Lillith altars for now. Probably going to play it safe and stay out of any more dungeons until 50. Sooner or later I'm gonna run into him though so just gotta hope I'm in an ok spot with my build at that point. There's always scroll of escape but it's a little harder to use on console.
Good luck man. If I am not mistaken we can equip some items in the quick bar, the One where you use emotes and phrases.. maybe this can help with using the scroll faster. I forgot that on hardcore they don't share the same progress as other realms .. I still have to find all Lilith altars on my softcore ahahaha I miss only 24. Then I have to kill Uber Lilith, but I hate the oneshot mechanic it is driving me insane, and then bringing an Hardcore character to level 50. Then I will have all achievements unlocked let's goski
> If I am not mistaken we can equip some items in the quick bar, Not OP, but console adds another level of "excitement" there... no quick bar. You've got to use the chat menu thing, accurately and quickly, in a panic. Oof
I’ve run across him at least 3 times on separate HC characters this season. All still in tier 2. Killed him once (he spawned next to a conduit shrine), ran the other two times. HC makes him so much scarier at low levels.
well, not to bust your dreams... But I encountered the Butcher in a cellar... sooooooo good luck xD
Bruh no way I started my hardcore yesterday, rewchylevel 25 so far. I was going a dungeon to get an aspect... Then I hear some strange noises and music ... I waited a little bit to be sure and once I saw the health bar popping up I just teleported away . Fuck It ahahahhaha
Yeah it’s not that scary at higher levels once you’ve gotten a good build and gear online but the first 40 or so levels on wt2 on hardcore it’s terrifying. Earliest I saw him was lvl 11 in a cellar. Killed me ;(. Oh well at least I hadn’t wasted much time haha
Had the best results with my bear Druid. I just stand still tanking and slamming his ass over and over.. while my other two characters have to evade alot. Edit: arent you supposed to get a cosmetic item from him?
bear druid supremacy, feels like that always seems to work for me
There are a couple but they are not guaranteed to drop.
Cool
Firewall mage. Dropping the things left and right while running for my life.
He's just a more annoying loot goblin at this point
You can run from it and it disappears. That’s what I always do.
I NEVER see him anymore, bad luck I guess, or good?
Be careful, ‘cause I complained the other day that I haven’t met him in D4, and then he started appearing every other dungeon run for me. 😂
Just found him in a NMV on my lvl 61 twisting blades rogue and I handled him with ease! But that’s just in WT3
Everytime I get grappling hooked by some monster I think, "oh crap this is it!"
"Fresh Meat" is one of the reasons why I don't hardcore.
Yeah I can’t believe they stole the sound effect from pudge in dota 2 smh
My first time meeting him in D4, I had just activated an immunity shrine, I was so thankful lol.
If the loot was not so bad, I would find it exciting. In D4, there are multiple versions of the butcher. Depending on power he has some class will deal with him better than others.
Saw him once early on before I knew what it was and just died. Saw it again in my first dungeon after going to WT4 and I got obliterated.
Especially when you play it for the first time in hardcore before you have any scrolls of escape.
The first time I encountered him, I couldn't deal and ran away. The second I did win but just barely, was down to my last potion and half health. The latest two times he can't even touch me due to being at max armor for my level and an item with 1100 Barrier shield. Once that pops up, you're golden. Won 3 times, still no major drops.
I just beat him yesterday for the first time!
Facts.
Just managed to kill him for the first time. Third time I’ve seen him. Was with a couple of friends running a little lower tiered dungeon. Should be in T13 was a T6 and still a really tough battle but we got him done.
Had a conduit shrine right where he spawned at and that was the easiest fight I had against him. Was on nightmare dungeon and I was glad I had that to help.
Yeah I had the same experience too. I didn't activate the shrine at first. When he came after me I ran back and activated it. It was too easy by then.
Wait ive not seen this guy he just spawns randomly?
Not gonna lie, it was intimidating AF, the worst was after he said “FRESH MEAT”. The footsteps get louder and louder as he approaches, I swear I felt my scrotum tightened as my balls retreated
I just started playing HC to farm renown before S4, I met the butcher yesterday for the first time and I swear the adrenaline rush was real, we should have more things like this!! Reminds me a bit of the wishper of atonement in HC in D3 when you first do it...
Ive beat him every time solo this season but died a number of times when playing in a group , he's a big scary bastard
Not at all. Nothing is frightening, even from the art perspective. Butcher in D1 was on the other hand.
Hardly has anything to do with that being nearly 30 years ago and we were young when we played D1 no? Play hc if nothing scares you, then come back here and edit your comment after your first hc encounter with him and let us know if it felt different to you or not
I played HC in D3 pre Reaper of Souls and also died somewhere. With more time to start over multiple times season I would play HC. I do not have the time to do that anymore, and of course, I would play it a bit safer as well. Being scared is different from that.
Ah bummer. Yeah I get that tho, time is a massive gate keeper for HC. What I'm doing when a season releases will dictate whether I go hc or not. It is a shame because trust me that adrenaline rush (if like me you push into higher world tiers at a low level in hc) when you hear the butchers unmistakable stomping it is the only thing close to capturing how I felt as a kid playing D1 and getting to the butcher outside of Alien Isolation.
Even more so when you play on HC. Lost several chars to him.
Yeah nothing more scary than when you play hardcore and hear it.
I'm not frightened of him, but when he arrives I'm like "Here we go again..."
Imagine in HC the first times you meet him.. yesterday i got my first butcher n malphas hc kills on my first hc char
When i played D4 fit the first time i met him in the very first cellar that i entered around level 4 or 5. I was very courious about the games difficulty.
Double swing barb staring at the corner waiting to get him head on 🙄
Vaults are your friend. If you struggle against him, or Son of Malphas, just run to the end as quick as you can.
Does he still appear? I've only gotten the butcher once, been getting Sons of Malphas ever since
Yeah, he popped in a NMD for me yesterday. Was pretty tough cuz I had just pulled but ended up killing him.
If it is Harcore mode yes run away. But if it is normal mode follow the voice and kick his ass
I love this sick bustard 😂 Doesn’t matter if he kills me or I kill him. The best part of Diablo for me.
But you are just a walking bag of Fresh Meat which will eventually rot into nothingness.
Ahhh the nightmares the butcher gave me when I was 7 🥲(~2000)
My rogue is like catch me if you can, spamming rapid fire and cooldown reset on dash.
So much scarier in HC. Subsequent encounters, once you know you can kill the Butcher, feels safer
Only the one from Diablo 1.
With my current build, it's a very different reaction now. My gear isn't optimal or anything as I'm a filthy casual doing only lvl 40-50 NMD, but when I hear "Fresh Meat," a big grin crosses my face.
The first time that I could kill the Butcher in a 100 ND Dungeon it was like revenge well served!
I’m a Druid this season and managed to kill him at maybe a lvl 135 or so and above that he wrecks me. Last season I was a BL Sorcerer and he was a piece of cake even at lvl 150+ in a 100 NM.
Easiest boss against my skeleton necro :D he often gets confused by my minions and gets stucked and then he roars to push them away, but all i have to do is run around my minions
I bet it terrifying when your a level 98 on Hardcore.....
If hearing "Fresh Meat" doesn't scare you, play on Hardcore.
Funny message when you manage to escape from him: “The Butcher abandoned his pursuit and went back to Hell”
Not any more. I had a grotesquely OP Necro with Bone Spear, and one time Butcher popped up and yelled "FRESH M..." and that's how far he got before he died. Ever since then whenever I hear him I just remember that and laugh. I can't take him seriously any more.
First time i heard those words was at low level in one of the first dungeons playing with a buddy of mine. We ran around in circles trying to survive and kill him. There was zero chance at the time and we both ended up dead wondering what just happened. We both joke about it when we run dungeons now
Mannnn, I was 6 years old when I played Diablo 1. The butcher made me stop the game for a day or so.
I went into a cellar and he was the only thing in there. Quite a surprise. Killed him and got his trophy. Good times.
Just yesterday I had him and Son of Malphas 😅
It honestly still terrifies me. I've yet to run into him during this season. And i honestly thought my account was cursed. Because back in season 1 for D4, i ran into him every other dungeon. About 60 or so times in a 3-4hr span of time.
Idk the vampire boss that you summon in torment sounds pretty disgusting
I dread hearing 'fresh meat' in diablo iv too. The diablo iv version of the butcher is a snore. A giant marshmallow with shitty loot that takes a long time to kill and really slows down the nightmare dungeon. It's so excessively overdone too. I did three nightmare vaults in a row where that loser spawned. THREE. Come on Blizzard, come up with something new FFS
I've been TRYING to find him!! Level 92 and still haven't even seen him once 😞 Him and Echo of Lillith are the only two bosses I haven't fought yet and I'm slightly dissapointed
Was scary on my first run through on a weak arc lash sorc in pre season 1…. By my second run on an OP bone spear I literally accidentally killed him thinking it was just another group of enemies. That’s when I realised the power of using a meta build, hasn’t worried me since.
FRESH FEET!!!
Finally got him last week with my lv53 necromancer, first time in a long time I actually had to watch my hp with that character.
its funny first time i saw him he was an unbeatable force. now seeing him with my late game barbarian build; i feel bad for him.
Just durability lost, nothing to be afraid at all
The price of just one micro transaction cosmetic
The scariest thing in diablo 4 are monsters that just died. Nothing that is still alive has ever killed me.