Diablo 4 Season 4: All Details Revealed By Blizzard
04.05.2024 - 13:32:40
Diablo 4 , Game Guides
Months since launching, Diablo 4 continues to struggle when it comes to finding the perfect update that will bring back the joy and love that the game should’ve maintained the past years. The good news is that Blizzard has been very keen on rekindling this love for the game and now, they’ve been more active when it comes to asking feedback from the fans.
There’s a new season coming up and this one seems like it could be the content drop that the game has been needing all this time. Now, Blizzard has unveiled everything that’s to come in the coming season and we’ve got all the juicy details.
Diablo 4 Season 4 Release Date
The fourth season of Diablo was supposed to launch last April but it was actually delayed. Now, the new season will arrive on May 14, 10AM PT. Blizzard has given us a taste of what’s to come during a short PTR released last month. Now, the season is raring to go alongside the changes made because of player feedback from the PTR.
What Is Diablo 4 Season 4 About?
The past seasons of the game centered on themes and a recurring title. The first season was Season of the Malignant. Season 2 was Season of Blood. While Season 3 was called Season of the Construct. The fourth season is taking a different approach, at least title-wise, as it’s called Loot Reborn.
The unique title of Diablo 4 Season 4 signifies the major changes being made to the game in general which focuses more on itemization and how the loot system works. Keep in mind that the changes being made this season won’t just be for this season as it will be a part of the game moving forward.
Diablo 4 Season 4: All New Details Revealed By Blizzard
The main purpose of the PTR last month was to get player feedback on the upcoming changes to come in Loot Reborn. Now, Blizzard is well on its way into releasing all of the promising new changes - with player feedback considered. Here’s everything coming to the game on May 14.
Itemization
While there are many changes coming this season, most of it will be focused on itemization. The loot system has been changed in a way that loot will be more rewarding on your end. It’s also going to be easier to find loot that will complement your build and will grow with you as you progress through the game.
Better Loot
One of the key changes in the upcoming season comes in the form of better quality loot. When the new season arrives, you’re going to get Legendary items with 3 affixes and Rare items with only 2 affixes. While the affixes are fewer, they have better quality as well which means they’ll add more value to your build.
The affixes themselves are going to work differently. For example, you’ll see affixes which are set to increase some of your based stats or ranks of Core Skill. In doing so, these abilities are going to be much more useful to you and can even be of value for a long period.
While the quality of loot has significantly improved, the new update will also reduce the number of loot that drops whenever you kill enemies in the game. Blizzard is basically going to impose a new system where you waste time simply by checking out everything that you’ve acquired during a farming run.
On top of that, Loot Reborn will also revamp the Salvaging and Crafting system but we’ll talk more about this later. One of the key changes makes it so that there are fewer materials needed when it comes to doing anything at the Blacksmith. The Gold you need to spend when re-rolling Enchanted items now has a ceiling price instead of the usual system where it increases by a set amount each time you re-roll. This makes it easier to improve and stay on with gear that you realy love.
Regarding the drops, the World Tier you are in will now significantly reflect the type of loot you earn. For instead, you can only get Sacred Items or higher while in World Tier III. If you’re in World Tier IV, you’re going to get Ancestral Items or higher. Lastly, you can now start finding Unique items starting on World Tiers I and II, and Uber Uniques will start dropping once you start fighting and killing monsters with a level of 55.
If you come across items that drop from level 95 enemies, the Item Power will now always be at 925.
Tempering
Tempering and Masterworking are both set to completely spice up how you build your characters from Diablo 4 Season 4 onwards. Let’s talk about Tempering first.
As you explore Sanctuary in the fourth season, you’ll eventually learn about Tempering Manuals. All Blacksmiths in the world can use this item to further enhance the current equipment that you have. In this case, Tempering is the process that let’s you add specific affixes to your gear.
The good news is that you can start finding the manuals anywhere once you start playing Diablo 4. The manuals are used pretty much like the Codex of Power whereas they can be used as many times as you want to once you learn the. The Crafting Manuals for Crafting can be split into different categories: Weapons, Offensive, Defensive, Mobility, Utility and Resource.
With the manuals in your inventory, all that’s left to do is to head to a Blacksmith to have your gear tempered. In doing so, you’re able to create the perfect gear that fits what you need for the build you’re eyeing. Ancestral items can have at least two unique Tempered affixes but it’s only possible if these are from different categories.
While you can use manuals as many times as you want, the items you use them on does have a limit referred to as Tempering Durability. This dictates how many times an item can be tempered. Also, keep in mind that the manuals earned during the Seasonal Realm will last up until that season ends. On the other hand, manuals from the Eternal Realm will stay in your inventory permanently.
Masterworking
Now we’re going to talk about Masterworking. While Tempering can be used at any point in the game, Masterworking can only be used during the end-game. The materials required to do this will be acquired through the Pit of Artificers which we’ll discuss later on.
To put it simply, Masterworking allows you to upgrade your end-game gear even further. It does so by improving the quality of your affexes on your weapons. Upgrades are calculated per tier and each time you Masterwork a gear the 4th time, you’ll receive a massive upgrade on one of the affixes that you have. Affixes that receive the major upgrade will turn blue and if it does so during the 8th and 12th time, it will turn yellow and then orange respectively.
What’s great about Masterworking is that you can reset the improvements you’ve acquired but this will not refund you the materials that you used in the process. Still, it’s great that we’re given the chance to redo any major upgrades for our gear.
Codex Of Power Changes
As of Loot Reborn, all of the Aspects that you get from Legendary items will now bw placed inside your Codex of Power which can then be used as many times as out like. What’s great is that the most powerful version of the Aspect you extract will be stored so the potential to create overpowered gear in the future will be a lot easier. You need to keep in mind however that there are limits to just how powerful a certain Aspect can get. Once you’ve found the max power of an Aspect, it will be highlighted with a yellow border.
In that regard, managing Aspects will be a lot easier in Season 4 as well. You can now set as favorite your preferred Codex. Lastly, the Codex of Power will reset and affixes learned during the Seasonal Realm will be gone while those acquired in the Eternal Realm will be kept. If you have two of the same Aspects, the game will only retain the one that’s more powerful.
Greater Affixes
The new season will introduce a new level of affixes called as Greater Affixes. These will only appear on the Ancestral Legendary and Unique items that you get. These are 150% more powerful compared to normal affixes making them an excellent addition to any builds given that the affixes compliment your current one.
To make them more distinct, you can hear a unique audio cue whenever there’s a loot with a Greater Affix that drops in your world. Once you start playing on World Tier III and IV, the affixes on the items you get has a chance to be a Greater quality. It’s worth noting that there’s no other way to get a Greater Affix other than to come across it in loot.
Gems
The last of the itemization updates has something to do with Gems. As per Blizzard, these are now going to be easier to manage and overall more effective. Once the new season drops, you can no longer get any Crude Gems and all of the crafting levels have been shifted back to the original.
Normal Gems are going to be at Level 51, Flawless Gems are going to be at Level 71, Royal Gems at level 91. The value of Diamonds have increased as well making them more effective when it comes to improving resistances. Topaz gems can now increase Intelligence, Sapphire for Willpower, Amethyst for Strength, and Emerald for Dexterity. Thanks to these changes, it’s now worth actually adding Gems to your sockets.
New Items
As usual, the new season will introduce a selection of new items for each class.
Revamped Helltide
Helltide Events are also going to be more exciting and rewarding once the new season arrives. If you’ve played the Blood Harvest event during Season of Blood, the changes for the Helltide this season might feel familiar to you as it’s heavily inspired by that. With the new changes, there’s even more depth to the difficulty of Helltide, thus making it a more engaging as a form of endgame content.
All New Threat Levels And Hell-Marked Status
One of the unique mechanics coming to the Helltied are threat levels. As you fight more enemies and kill them, you can generate Threat. The higher your Threat levels, the more difficult the Helltide is going to be. Of course, there will be better rewards as well. As of next season, there will be three threat levels. Hitting Level 3 unlocks a unique status called Hell-Marked.
Once Hell-Marked, you’ll find yourself facing off against even more enemies. There are only two conditions that will reset your Threat Level. The first being when you die and the second being when you summon a Hellborn. Hellborns are strong bosses based off one of the classes in Diablo 4. They’ll appear if you’re able to kill a set amount of enemies while being Hell-Marked. Kill the Hellborn and you’ll be rewarded heavily.
The Accursed Ritual
You can acquire Tortured Gifts while participating in the Helltide. You’ll have more of it even you have a higher Threat Level. Opening Tortured Gifts will reward you with Baneful Hearts. You can also get Baneful Hearts by killing the Hellborn. What are these hearts for?
As the Helltide happens, you can come across the Accursed Ritual. If you deposit three Baneful Hearts during the ritual, you’ll trigger an event wherein you’ll have to fight even more waves of enemies. If you kill enough at a certain time, you will summon the Blood Maiden which is an ultra powerful enemy that drops lots of rewards upon death.
This new mechanic adds a layer of difficulty to the already challenging Helltide. You’ll need to prepare all that you can for the Blood Maiden as she’s expected to be one of the toughest challenges in the game.
As this new Helltide is more challenging, Blizzard will now make the challenge accessible as early as World Tiers I and II. Of course, the Helltides in these World Tiers will be easier but less rewarding. Still, you’re at least able to practice out better strategies as you progress through the game.
Additional Changes
If you’re still not satisfied with the new depth of the Helltide, you can make things even more challenging. You can do so by using a Profane Mindcage. Using this item will help increase the level of the monsters in the even by 10. Your efforts will be rewarded though as it will also increase the drop rates of Cinders. This special item will only be available up until the end of Season 4.
You can also face off against the Iron Wolves throughout the Helltide. These are new enemies that are set to come with unique mechanics.
The Pit Of Artificers
Once you reach World Tier IV, a new Quest will task you with finishing at least a Tier 46 Nightmare Dungeon. Doing this unlocks the ability to do a new endgame activity called the Pit of Artificers. After beating the Nightmare Dungeon, you can start to get a new currency called Runeshards. They can be found in nearly everywhere from Helltide Chests to Whisper Bounties.
Once you have a lot of Runeshards, head to Cerrigar and interact with the Obelisk. Doing so will let you explore The Pit which is somewhat like a horde mode in Diablo 4. The Pit itself is littered with powerful enemies and a timed system that you shouldn’t fail at all costs less you want to waste the precious Runeshards.
Once inside The Pit, you’ll have to kill a certain amount of monsters within 10 minutes. This might seem simple enough but keep in mind that each time a player dies, 30 seconds will be removed from the time. A second death results in a 60-second penalty, while the third death and upwards will results in a 90-second penalty. You can do The Pit in parties of four.
If you manage to kill enough monsters within the alloted time, you’ll be taken to a boss arena. Your next goal is to then kill the boss within another set timer as well. Beating the boss will grant you with materials needed for Masterworkin, as well as new Tiers of the Pit. There are 200 levels of difficulty of The Pit and each one grants better rewards than the next.
Players who spends Runeshards to get to The Pit will earn more rewards than the others. Aside from the regular rewards, the Runeshard user will also get Stygian Stones which can be used to summon Tormented Echoes.
Andariel - Tormented Echoes
If you want even more challenge in Diablo 4 Season 4, then you should definitely take on Andariel’s new form. She joins as a new opponent in the boss ladder and she’ll be up to par with Duriel in terms of difficulty and Uber Unique drop rates. Andariel’s new form will use nearly all types of damages including her trademark Poison attack.
To fight Andariel, you must first farm materials from the Beast in Ice and Lord Zir. With the right materials, you can then locate Andarial’s summoning pool east of Tasarak, within the Hanged Man’s Hall.
Every boss that you can summon can now be fought at their strongest at Level 200 as a Tormented Echo. You can get he materials to summon these uber bosses on the Pit. While difficult and costly to summon, the Tormented Echoes bosses offer rewards far greater than any in the game. Beating any of the bosses for the first time will give you a Resplendent Spark.
The Iron Wolves
The season will introduce a new faction of enemies called the Iron Wolves, led by Soudeh the Anvil. These mercenaries are in the southern area of Sanctuary. While they may front themselves as noble warriors, there’s more to the Iron Wolves than meets the eye as there are murders within their ranks.
This Season’s new storyline will have you helping out Soudeh in Khejistan to uncover the mystery within their group. Progressing through the quest will reward you with coveted Tempering Manuals.
Miscellaneous Changes
Aside from there, there are loads of minor changes and adjustments made to certain items in the game. To give you a bit of a heads up with your preferred classes, here’s a list of changes being made to all Diablo 4 classes in the next season.
Diablo 4’s Future Is Looking Promising
Diablo 4 Season 4 is looking very promising. It seems as though the delay was well worth it as these coming changes to itemization and endgame could make the experience more fun for everyone once again.