Diablo 4 Season 1 is coming out on July 20, 2023 at 10 a.m. PDT and players are excited to experience everything that’s new including new uniques, aspects, features, items, and more. Many are also wondering if there’s going to be a new class and character in D4 in S1. This guide will walk you through all the major additions and content coming to the game in Season of the Malignant.
Table of Contents
In D4 Season 1, players can create a seasonal character (on the Seasonal Realm) which will be transferred to the Eternal Realm when Season 2 comes along. All items you collected during the season (including in your Seasonal stash) will also be transferred but the season-specific elements like Malignant Hearts will be gone.
So you have the entire duration of the season to level up your character and make the best OP build suitable for your playstyle.
Diablo 4 Season 1 New Content & Features Summary
Here’s what’s coming with the new Season 1 of D4:
- 6 New Unique Items
- 7 Legendary Aspects
- A Mastery Title
- A Scroll of Amnesia (this gives you a free Skill tree and Paragon board reset).
- Malignant Hearts to collect:
- Devious
- Vicious
- Brutal
- Wrathful
- Seasonal Journey
- 7 Chapters of Seasonal Challenges
- Complete Objectives to earn Favor
- Favor progresses the Battle Pass
The Season of the Malignant is almost here.
Here’s what you need to know for July 20. pic.twitter.com/meFzpmLM7B
— Diablo (@Diablo) July 11, 2023
New Threats (Enemies & Boss)
- Malignant Monsters
- New Boss Battle: Varshan the Consumed
Diablo 4 Season 1 New Class
There’s no new class that will be added in season 1 of D4. Blood Knight is a new class that’s coming to Diablo Immortal, but ni=. So the character you create for the Season of the Malignant has to be from Barbarian, Sorcerer, Druid, Necromancer, or Rogue.
New Questline involving Malignant Hearts
Players get to investigate with the help of Cormond, a former priest of the Cathedral of Light. He will “train you to capture the Malignant Hearts fueling these foul beasts and convert them into build-altering powers.”
Slay Partly Corrupted enemies to get a drop of a Malignant Heart. You can capture them by performing a ritual with the Cage of Binding which can be obtained during the questline of season 1.
Trying to capture the Heart will cause the Partly Corrupted enemy to convert/reborn to a Fully Corrupted enemy. When you defeat this version, you will get a special form of Malignant Heart that you can place into special ‘infested sockets’ in your Jewelry instead of a Gem.
Diablo 4’s Season 1 will have 32 Malignant Hearts across 4 categories to unlock new bonuses for players.
Season will have 32 Malignant Hearts across 4 categories. That is seasonal only starting 7/20.
6 new unique items + 7 new legendary aspects will be for everyone along balance updates/changes starting 7/18 with the update.
— Adam Fletcher (@PezRadar) July 8, 2023
New Location
- Malignant Tunnels – Replayable Dungeons to clear hoards of Malignant Monsters. This is where you will encounter Varshan the Consumed.
Diablo 4 Season 1 New Battle Pass
There is a free Diablo 4 Battle Pass where you can progress your Season Journey in the Season of the Malignant and unlock rewards like Mount armor and more. It includes 90 Tiers, 27 Free Tiers and 63 Premium Tiers.
There are quite a few rewards that can be unlocked if you purchase the Premium Battle Pass (such as Awoken Armor Sets, Mount and Mount Armor, Platinum). At a cost of 200 Platinum per Tier Skip, you can skip tiers and progress faster.
If you purchased the Digital Deluxe or Ultimate Edition of Diablo 4 and wish to redeem your Battle Pass for Season 1 – head to the Seasons tab of the in-game Shop and activate your Battle Pass from there.
New Resources
To climb through the BP tiers, you need Favor which you collect by playing the game during the season. You earn it by killing enemies, completing missions, etc.
Players earn Smoldering Ashes from the Free Tiers, which you can spend on Season Blessings. These Blessings give you a bonus related to Gold, XP, Obols etc based on the type of Blessing you select. These Blessings and their boosts are time-limited and will only apply during the current season.
Completing the Campaign is Mandatory
You don’t need to buy a Battle pass or any other add-ons to play the Seasonal content. You do have to complete the campaign at least once.
Once you have completed the Campaign, any Seasonal character will start the game with:
- The option to skip the Campaign if you don’t want to play it again.
- Your Mount will be available for use right from the beginning.
- All previously discovered Altars of Lilith will stay unlocked and the Renown you earned from them will be applied.
- All previously discovered areas of the map will stay unlocked and the Renown you earned from them will be applied.
As mentioned previously, players can create a seasonal character which will be transferred to the Eternal Realm after the current season ends, so you won’t lose your progress and effort. All items you collected during the season (including in your Seasonal stash) will also be transferred but the season-specific elements like Malignant Hearts will be gone.
Those were all the new additions, features and new content added in Diablo 4 Season 1. To stay up-to-date with the best builds for this season, keep an eye out on our D4 guides.