Seasons in Diablo 4 is an optional game mode that lasts for a couple of months and forces the players to start a new character in order to participate. Each Season can bring new Weapons, Armor, Accesories, Items, Enemies, and more, providing a fresh experience and the opportunity to try new strategies. Seasons also makes for a fairer play, as all players participating have to start from the start.
Players participating on a Season will only be able to play and interact with other players participating on the same Season. Players won't be able to trade or receive help from characters outside the Season. Once the season ends, the character will be available to play in the normal mode and a new character will have to be created in order to play the new season.
This page will be updated as new information about each Season in Diablo 4 is released.
Seasons in Diablo 4
NEW SEASON OF DIABLO 4: SEASON OF THE MALIGNANT
Malignance runs amok in Sanctuary, with Season of the Malignant, the very first Season of Diablo 4. New features will go live on July 20, bringing a new Season Journey, Questline, Boss, Dungeons, Battle Pass, and more. The new season will feature new items such as Malignant Hearts, 6 new Unique Items, and 7 new Legendary Aspects. A new threat is once upon Sanctuary. After Lilith's defeat in Diablo 4, Malignant Monsters have come to wreak havoc. These abominations roam free and threaten the safety of the people. Wanderers must investigate the source of these Malignant Monsters with the help of Cormond, a new character added to Season of the Malignant. Check out the Season of the Malignant and Battle Pass Guide for more information.
To participate in Season 1 of Diablo 4, players must create a new character on the Seasonal Realm. This is a free feature offered to all owners of Diablo 4. However, players must have completed the Main Campaign on at least one of the characters on the Eternal Realm, or Season 0. Once the main campaign has been completed, Wanderers can now participate in Season of the Malignant. To begin, players will be given the option to:
- Skip the Campaign
- Mount is available immediately
- All Altars of Lilith are unlocked, and the Renown Points will be retained
- All previously discovered maps and the corresponding Renown Points will be retained.
Once the season ends, which is roughly 3 months, the progress that you have made on the Seasonal Realm will be transferred to the Eternal Realms. This includes all the items you collected on your Seasonal stash, but season-specific features such as the Malignant Hearts will not be carried over.
DIABLO 4 NEW SEASON: Malignant Monsters
In the new Season of the Malignant, players will face Malignant Monsters roaming the Sanctuary and have overtaken the land with its infectious turmoil. Defeat these monsters to gain a Malignant Heart and use it for your own gain. Malignant Hearts have 4 categories: Devious, Brutal, Vicious, and Wrathful.
DIABLO 4 NEW BOSS: Varshan the Consumed
The threat becomes even more imminent each day and there are also new dungeons to explore. The Malignant Tunnels is the newest dungeon featuring a dark tunnel and is the home to Varshan the Consumed, together with various Enemies and Elites. Try going head-to-head with the newest Boss in Diablo 4 if you dare.
DIABLO 4 NEW SEASON: NEW QUESTLINE
Cormond is a former priest hailing from the Cathedral of Light who will train you how to capture Malignant Hearts from these monsters and how to convert them into your own powers. Cormond needs your help, as his powers are dwindling.
Team up with Cormond in the new upcoming season 1 of Diablo 4 to defeat the Malignant Monsters roaming the Sanctuary.
DIABLO 4 SEASON 1: NEW POWER
In the new Season of the Malignant, players will gain a new power to harness the powerful and corrupted Malignant Monsters. Defeat these monsters to gain a Malignant Heart and use it for your own gain. Malignant Hearts have 4 categories: Devious, Brutal, Vicious, and Wrathful.
Malignant Hearts functions in a similar way to a gem and can be socketed into Special Infested Sockets in your accessories, replacing a traditional gem.
DIABLO 4 NEW BOSS: Varshan the Consumed
The threat becomes even more imminent each day and there are also new dungeons to explore. The Malignant Tunnels is the newest dungeon featuring a dark tunnel and is the home to Varshan the Consumed, together with various Enemies and Elites. Try going head-to-head with the newest Boss in Diablo 4 if you dare.
DIABLO 4 SEASON 1: NEW GEAR
It's time to go hunting again for new gear in Diablo 4 with the arrival of 6 new Unique Items, and 7 new Legendary aspects. Along your journey in the new Season of the Malignant, there will be more powerful options for each class.
Discover new equipment and pursue new options for your class in the upcoming Season 1 of Diablo 4. The first season will go live on July 20 and is available to all owners of Diablo 4.
Seasons in Diablo 4 have been revealed to feature brand new content, as well as consistent updates and balancing of already-existing content. Currently when a player logs in and starts the game with their character, they should be able to see an indication that they’re playing this character in the Eternal Realm. However, as mentioned above, players who want to participate in a Season will have to create a completely new character from scratch, and this character can initially only be played in the Seasonal Realm that each new Season will make available. Players will have to build up these new characters from scratch, keeping in mind the different mechanics, stat balancing, and possibly even new abilities and Skills for the particular Season they made the character in. All new features, mechanics, and rewards can only be accessed in this new realm. When the Season ends however, players’ characters that were created for that Season will be made available to play in the Eternal Realm, and certain other features, mechanics, and items may also become permanently transferred to the Eternal Realm, depending on how they were received by the community. When a new Season starts, the cycle will repeat, with players creating and building new characters once again.
Features of Diablo 4 Seasons
Seasons in Diablo 3 highlighted more a ranking system in the form of a Leaderboard, that was the main goal that players would strive towards. Players would get to race to the top and get the rewards, all while fairly starting from scratch. In Diablo 4 however, it seems that, at the very least for the first two Seasons, there will be no Leaderboard to speak of, and players will instead play seasonally mainly for new features, along with a new storyline every Season. The first Season for Diablo 4 has currently been said to be released a month and a half after launch, meaning players might be able to expect it in the third week of July.
Story in Diablo 4 Seasons
Seasons in Diablo 4 have been said to be following its own standalone story, followed by players through its own main questline running throughout the Season. These questlines will feature new characters, as well as old characters that players have already met, along with new dialogue and voice lines, and new NPCs. As the stories have been described to be standalone lore, it is unclear whether they will have any connection at all to the games main story, or if it will mainly be about certain characters. Each Season will also employ a linear chapter progression, which means players will only be able to move on to the next chapter by finishing the previous ones, while having the ability to go back to previous chapters if they would like to. As mentioned previously, this seems to be what the main goal of Seasons will be in Diablo 4, apart from just the plain challenge of starting and building characters from scratch, with new mechanics to keep in mind. Each chapter will have different objectives, which give players different rewards, including crafting Materials, items, and even Aspects.
Items and Balancing in Diablo 4 Seasons
New Legendary and Unique items, and the Unique Enemies that go along with them will also be created constantly for each new Season, in accordance with its different chapters. Alongside this, the game’s meta will also consistently be shifted and challenged, which we can presume to mean differences in certain ability mechanics, Affixes or item stats, or even new Skills altogether. There will also be new Legendary Aspects that are not at all obtainable in the Eternal Realm, which players can take into account as they build their new characters. As previously mentioned, these new mechanics will have a chance to be made permanent in the Eternal Realm when the Season ends, depending on how they were received by players.
Eternal Character vs Seasonal Character in Diablo 4
For players to join in Seasons, a new character must be made on the Seasonal Realm. This is a free feature for all Diablo 4 owners, and you do not need to purchase a Battle Pass or any add-ons to play the Seasonal content, but players are required to finish the Main Campaign on Eternal Realm with at least one character. Once you have completed the Campaign, any Seasonal character will start the game with:
- Fresh new slate character
- The option to skip the Campaign.
- Mount is available immediately.
- All previously discovered Altars of Lilith unlocked, and the corresponding Renown will be retained.
- Map Discovery progress and the corresponding Renown will be retained.
Once the Season has ended, the character you made and its progress will be transferred to the Eternal Realm. All items you collected, including in your Seasonal stash, will be transferred too. You can take this character into Sanctuary whenever you please, but Season-specific features such as Malignant Hearts will no longer be accessible.
Why Create a Seasonal Character in Diablo 4?
Seasons in Diablo 4 provides an opportunity to introduce new mechanics, features, and quality-of-life updates in the game. Each season features a reset, which allows a system to balance the mechanics created and introduced in the previous seasons. The Seasonal Characters will allow a leveled playing field for all players.
Seasons are also a place for players to explore and tinker. Players are encouraged to create a new Class and try out different builds for a Class, or simply experiment with something new. The system of creating a Seasonal Character is a chance to get creative while fighting demons.
What happens to a Seasonal Character when a Season Ends in Diablo 4?
Any new character created during a Diablo IV season will transfer over to the Eternal Realm when the season concludes. They change from a Seasonal Character and become an Eternal Character, that can be played on the Eternal Realm.
Battlepass in Diablo 4 Seasons
One completely new feature of Seasons in Diablo 4 not present in its previous iterations in the previous games, is the Battlepass. The Battlepass will be a progression-based mechanic that players will get to enjoy, which will be renewed every Season. The Battlepass will feature tiers that can be unlocked by players through accumulating points throughout the Season. These points can be garnered by completing different objectives during the Season. Whenever players unlock a tier, they will receive a corresponding reward, which can range from Premium currency, to cosmetic items and gameplay boosts. These tiers are divided between Free Tiers and Premium Tiers, with the latter only available to players who choose to purchase the Premium version of the Battlepass, which will cost Premium currency. Overall, purchasing the Premium currency will only give players the advantage of being able to collect more cosmetic items, which are arguably better than cosmetic items acquired through unlocking Free Tiers.
Free Tiers in Diablo 4 Season Battlepass
Free Tiers in the Battlepass can be unlocked by anyone through accumulating points, which players will naturally garner by playing through the Season and its objectives. Tiers can also be unlocked by purchasing them for a certain amount of Premium currency. Rewards for these tiers will include in-game items, cosmetic items, and Smoldering Ashes. Smoldering Ashes can then be used to activate or enhance Seasonal Blessings. Seasonal Blessings are gameplay boosts that will give players an edge in progressing their newly-created characters. Tiers that reward Smoldering Ashes cannot be purchased for Premium currency. The following Seasonal Blessings are available in the Battlepass:
- Urn of Aggression: Boosts the amount of Experience gained from killing Enemies.
- Urn of Bargaining: Boosts the amount of Gold earned from selling items to Merchants.
- Urn of Reclamation: Boosts the chance of acquiring rare Materials from Salvaging.
- Urn of Prolonging: Boosts the effect-duration of all Elixirs.
These Seasonal Blessings can be enhanced three more times after they are unlocked, to a maximum level of four. It’s important to note that as these are Free Tiers, Diablo 4 makes gameplay boosts available for all players, assuming they play through the Season naturally and accumulate the milestone points needed to unlock and improve upon them.
Premium Tiers in Diablo 4 Season Battlepass
Premium Tiers in the Battlepass can be unlocked by upgrading to a Premium Battlepass, which will cost 1000 Platinum. Each tier will still need to be unlocked by accumulating milestone amounts of points, or by purchasing with Premium currency, meaning players who purchase the Premium Battlepass will still either have to complete the different chapters of each season, and the objectives within them, to get to the higher tiers. Rewards for these tiers will include more cosmetic items. It is important to note that developers have made known that they are laboring to make it so that cosmetic items acquired this way are only marginally arguably better than cosmetic items acquired by unlocking Free Tiers. Nevertheless, unlocking the Premium Battlepass will mean acquiring a larger variety of cosmetic items at the end of the Season.
