How to solve the ‘Secret of the Spring’ side quest riddle in Diablo 4

“Secret of the Spring” is one of the trickier side quests in Diablo 4’s opening region, Fractured Peaks. Unlike most of the game’s quests that ask you to do what you do best — i.e. kill lots of stuff — “Secret of the Spring” instead asks you to use your noodle to solve a riddle. But before you do this quest, keep in mind that it’s best to unlock the horse before venturing too far off the beaten path.

In this Diablo 4 guide, we’ll show you how to find the “Secret of the Spring” quest and how to solve the note’s riddle.

‘Secret of the Spring’ quest location

Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon

You can pick up the “Secret of the Spring” quest just north of the Cathedral of Light, which is the central landmark in Kyovashad — the Fractured Peak’s capital city.

On the outskirts of town, go north until you need to climb over to a kind of elevated peak in the Frigid Expanse sub-region. To the northeast of the space, you’ll find some scaffolding and a piece of parchment with the tell-tale blue exclamation mark.

Click on it to get the parchment with the Secret of the Spring riddle, which reads: “Beacon of warmth in winter’s embrace, patience rewarded by nature’s own grace.”

Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon

This will activate the side quest and send you on a little adventure.

If you’re having trouble finding the area, locate the Forsaken Quarry dungeon on your map and travel south.

How to solve the note’s riddle

With the riddle in hand, follow the quest marker to the nearby hot spring, which is also located in the Frigid Expanse sub-region.

Patience is the solution to this puzzle, but it manifests a little differently than you might initially think — if you just AFK by the spring, you’re going to be disappointed when you return. All you actually need to do to solve the note’s riddle is emote in front of the hot spring.

But unlike the other quests like this in Fractured Peak, you may find that you don’t have an emote for patience or anything similar on your emote wheel. You’re looking for an emote called “Wait,” and if it’s not readily accessible, open up your emote wheel and hit the customization button on screen. This will pull up the wheel and a list of emotes for you to use. Assign “Wait” to a spot on your wheel and then close out the menu.

How to emote in Diablo 4

Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon

Now that you’ve got the emote you need locked into place, it’s time to actually use it:

• Open your emote wheel
• Change pages with the mouse wheel or bumpers until you’re on the same page as the “Wait” emote
• Select the emote with the wheel and hit the confirm button

As long as you’re in front of the hot spring when you emote, a treasure chest will pop out of the ground rather unceremoniously a moment later. Opening the chest will net you some gold and XP, alongside a few crafting materials of varying rarities. Most importantly, finishing the quest will give you +20 Renown for the Fractured Peaks.

These emote quests can be a little tricky, but are a very quick way to earn some bonus Renown if you know how to solve them. Use our helpful “Keeping the Old Traditions” side quest guide to quickly finish the emote quest in the Dry Steppes.