Even Diablo 4's lead dev struggled to beat Ashava

Diablo 4 Ashava — (Image credit: Blizzard)

Even Diablo 4's general manager seriously struggled to beat the recent open beta's world boss.

Diablo 4 held its "server slam" open beta over the past weekend, a final opportunity for excited players to try out Blizzard's game before launch next month. It turns out Diablo 4 general manager Rod Fergusson tried his hand at beating Diablo 4 Ashava, the intimidating world boss, in the server slam beta, and he had a tough time of it.

Ok so I'm 0-2 against Ashava so far. Thinking about trying World Tier 1 to see if I get a better result. First try was sooo close though, only 10% left.Ok, 25 mins till Round 3 - let's do this!May 13, 2023

Fergusson threw himself at Ashava repeatedly with a Druid build in the server slam, until he eventually prevailed on the fifth time. Ashava is a seriously tough boss in Diablo 4, even if it is only the open beta phase, and the Diablo 4 senior developer was granted the same fiery battle as every other player.

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Finally! Looks like fifth time's the charm on Ashava for me! For those of you that don't have it yet - only a few more tries left! #DiabloIVSERVERSLAM And we're only 18 days away from Early Access Launch!https://t.co/uYJSeNxzIgMay 14, 2023

The responses to Fergusson's tweet above are full of players congratulating the Diablo 4 general manager on his accomplishment. There are even some posting about how they were able to kill Ashava as well, with one plucky player even bragging that they killed the world boss in under five minutes. Talk about bragging rights.

Ashava has actually already gained notoriety among the Diablo 4 player base. Earlier this year in March, when Diablo 4 first went into open beta, Blizzard's statistics revealed for every player that felled Ashava, the boss felled roughly 94 players in return, an absolutely brutal kill-to-death ratio that Fergusson has now found himself very much a part of.

Diablo 4 launches next month on June 6 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One. Here's why Ashava is a nightmare we couldn't walk away from, a fun idea in desperate need of fine tuning for launch.

Check out our new games 2023 guide for a look at all the other major titles launching over the next month or so.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.