Diablo IV: Season of the Malignant drops later this month with new Legendary Aspects and Uniques

Blizzard has kept Diablo IV topped up with a steady flow of patches, balances and QoL updates. Other pressing issues, such as broken elemental resistances and a dedicated tab for Gems, will be added later down the line. Meanwhile, the developers talked at length about the game's upcoming season. It was clarified earlier that seasonal characters would reset every season, meaning that players will have to create a new one every season. Refer to the attached video for the complete developer livestream, which also includes some Diablo Immortal content.

Titled Season of the Malignant, Diablo IV's first season will kick off on July 20. However, the corresponding patch that (hopefully) brings balance changes and bug fixes will be clubbed with the seasonal content and rolled out on June 18. Seasonal characters carry forward all the renown gained from the Altars of Lilith/regions discovered. On the other hand, Strongholds might have to be cleared again, along with side quests.

Diablo IV: Season of the Malignant also introduces a new in-game mechanic- Malignant Hearts. They drop from "corrupted" enemies scattered throughout the map and in dedicated "tunnels" where one can pick between different coloured hearts, each offering varying bonuses. There are 32 types of Malignant Hearts up for grabs across the map. Furthermore, the bonuses granted increase linearly with difficulty. Lastly, some Malignant Hearts can only be slotted in special "corrupted sockets", meaning one might need to hunt for compatible gear first.

One needs to complete Diablo IV's entire story campaign before attempting to create a character in Season of the Malignant. The developers recommend that players log in to their character with the most world progress at least once before character creation. A new storyline has been teased too. Unfortunately, it doesn't expand upon the game's ending and is merely a different set of events.

To progress the seasonal battle pass, players will need to complete a series of in-game tasks to be rewarded with Smouldering Embers, which can then be redeemed for perks such as XP boost, longer Elixir duration, etc. The "Amnesia Scroll", an item that instantly resets all skills/paragon boards, can be unlocked by completing seasonal quests. Other rewards include Legendary Aspects, caches and gold/exp. There are a total of 90 tiers in the battle pass (27 free, 63 premium), offering a variety of cosmetics.

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