Blizzard has shared all the information about Diablo IV’s first season, Season of the Malignant. The new season is set to go live on July 20 at 10 am PDT. Season of the Malignant will bring with it a new Season Journey, Questline, Boss, Dungeons, Battle Pass, and more.
Season of the Malignant focuses on a new threat, Malignant Monsters, a deviant form of Lilith’s sinister machinations. These decaying abominations roam Sanctuary in a frenzy, mindlessly attacking anyone in range without hesitation. Players will investigate this new threat in a new Questline with the help of Cormond, a former priest of the Cathedral of Light. Cormond will also train you to capture the Malignant Hearts fueling the Monsters which can be converted into build-altering powers.
Malignant Hearts are captured by performing a ritual with the Cage of Binding, an item acquired during the Season’s Questline. Once these Monsters are eventually defeated, they will drop a version of the Malignant Heart that can be placed into special in your jewelry in place of Normal Gems. 32 Malignant Hearts across four categories will be introduced providing new, unique bonuses. As players encounter more menacing Malignant Creatures, more powerful Malignant Hearts will be available for players to equip. This Season also brings in Malignant Tunnels, highly replayable Dungeons teeming with fearsome foes to eradicate. These will be one of the best places to acquire Malignant Hearts as well as encounter the new Boss, Varshan the Consumed.
Players participating in Seasons will need to create a new character on the Seasonal Realm. In order to do so, the Campaign must be completed with at least one character on either the Eternal or Seasonal Realm. Once that has been completed, any Seasonal Character will start the game with the option to skip the Campaign, the Mount available immediately, all previously discovered Altars of Lilith unlocked, and the corresponding Renown for them, and All previously discovered areas of the map revealed, and the corresponding renown for them. Once the Season ends, the character and progress will be transferred to the Eternal Realm, including all the items that have been collected, including in the Seasonal Stash. Players can take these characters into Sanctuary whenever they please but Season-specific features such as Malignant Hearts will no longer be accessible.
Talking about its philosophy on Seasons for Diablo IV, Blizzard said “Seasons provide us with an opportunity to introduce innovative gameplay mechanics into Sanctuary for a limited time. Because Seasons reset, we can create crazy, fun Season themes in a vacuum without needing to worry about balancing it with the mechanics introduced in past or future Seasons—we start from a strong Eternal Realm baseline and build on top of it.”
“Seasons are also a place for players to explore and tinker. We encourage you to try a new Class or different builds for a Class you’ve grown fond of—our Seasons are a chance to get creative while demolishing demons.”
“Additionally, Seasons present an equal playing field. Our Seasons are designed for new characters to conquer the nightmarish challenges brought on by a Season’s theme and to progress through the Seasonal Journey together.”
Rewards can be obtained from the Season Journey and Battle Pass. The Season Journey is broken into Chapters with tasks to complete. As you progress through the Journey, you’ll earn rewards befitting Sanctuary’s defender, such as new Legendary Aspects, a Mastery Title, and a Scroll of Amnesia, which provides a free Skill Tree and Paragon Board reset. The Journey also provides Favor—the resource used to climb through the Battle Pass’ Tiers—which is also earned naturally by playing the game, whether it be killing demons, completing Quests, and more. The Season of the Malignant Battle Pass will come with 90 Tiers, 27 Free Tiers, and 63 Premium Tiers.