Wretched Mother

"I, Deckard Cain, have spent many years traveling and writing about the strange creatures in our world, but the sight of the wretched mothers still haunts me. They are the remnants of Queen Asylla's slaughtered handmaidens, who were twisted by foul magic. Now they feast upon cadavers and regurgitate them as newly formed risen dead."

- Deckard Cain^(src)

The Wretched Mothers are a special type of Risen Dead.

In-game[]

Diablo Immortal[]

Wretched Mothers are encountered as enemies in Diablo Immortal in the Court of Madness.^[1]

Diablo III[]

Wretched Mothers are encountered early on in Diablo III, in the starting areas of Act I, and later in Eternal Woods in Act III and in the Briarthorn Cemetery in Act V. Some may also be encountered in Desolate Sands in Act II.

Their main ability is to spawn new Risen (often two or three at a time, but always in close proximity), though they have both ranged and melee attacks as well. Wretched Mothers are usually encountered in packs with other Risen dead, though they have a tendency to stay in the back of the group and attack from range. Their spawning rate is fast enough to quickly replace losses, so three or more Wretched Mothers can easily create an endless tide of zombies.

Spells/Abilities[]

Regurgitate Risen: the Wretched Mother belches up two-three new Risen undead, who shamble forth to attack the player.
Spit: the Mother launches a noxious glob at the player, dealing Poison damage.

Tips and Additional Information[]

Their unique ability of summoning new Risen makes the Wretched Mothers a priority target. Multiple Wretched Mothers can be encountered in the wilds, and leaving them unattended can result in huge swarms of Risen.

It's often best to ignore the weaker Risen and focus on taking out the mothers first. Their melee damage is negligible, but Wretched Mothers will flee from melee combat.

The spit-attacks can (and should) be avoided easily, but in a crowd, there will be less space for maneuvering.

Three of Wretched Mothers have to be killed to complete the bonus objective in the quest The Fallen Star.

Variants[]

The first variant is the Wretched Mother. It can be found spawning Risen in these locations:
1. New Tristram (one time)
2. Old Tristram Road (Quest on Part 1 of the location only)
3. The Old Ruins (Quest only)
The second variant is the blue Retching Cadaver. It can be found spawning Ravenous Dead in these locations:
1. The Weeping Hollow (also Champion/Rare)
2. Defiled Crypt (also Champion/Rare)
The third variant is the Deathspitter. It looks exactly like Wretched Mothers and can be found spawning one Decayer at a time in these locations:
1. Old Tristram Road (only as Rare minion on Part 1 of the location)
2. Damp Cellar (only as Rare minion)
3. Dank Cellar (only as Rare minion)
4. The Weeping Hollow (only as Rare minion)
The fourth variant is the green Spewing Horror. It can be found spawning Decayers in:
1. Decaying Crypt Level 1-2