The Ultimate Guide to Diablo 4 Malignant Heart Types

Highlights

These Caged Hearts can be inserted into accessories like Amulets and Rings, providing players with potent effects. It is important to note that players can possess a maximum of three Caged Hearts simultaneously, but once socketed, they cannot be removed.

In Diablo 4's Season of the Malignant, a significant addition to the gameplay is the introduction of the Malignant Heart mechanic. Players now have the opportunity to face Malignant enemies in Sanctuary's dungeons, who drop a special item called a Caged Heart. These socketable items have the ability to provide valuable effects when placed in the appropriate gear. There are four distinct types of Caged Hearts, each offering its own unique set of effects for players to consider: Vicious Hearts for offensive abilities, Brutal Hearts for defense, Devious Hearts for utility, and Wrathful Hearts for powerful enhancements.

Vicious Heart

Upon obtaining a Caged Heart, players have the ability to insert it into compatible gear using an Infested Socket. These unique sockets can only be discovered on accessories such as Amulets and Rings, allowing players to have a maximum of three Caged Hearts equipped. However, once a Caged Heart is socketed, it cannot be removed and must be replaced by a new one, resulting in the destruction of the previous Caged Heart. To add Infested Sockets to these equipment, players need to visit a Jewelry Vendor located in one of Diablo 4's major cities. However, this process comes at the cost of one of the player's hearts, and the type of Infested Socket added is randomized.

Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 take on the form of Vicious Hearts, which possess offensive capabilities. These Hearts can be identified by their orange appearance. They primarily bestow effects that enhance the player's damage output and offensive potential. The Tempting Fate Heart, for instance, bolsters Critical Strikes by 40-60%, but at the cost of reducing non-Critical Strike damage by 15-20%. Such Hearts are well-suited for players seeking to maximize their damage-dealing abilities, although they should remain vigilant about the negative side effects accompanying these Hearts.

Brutal Heart

Devious Heart

In Diablo 4's Season of the Malignant, the defense-oriented Caged Hearts known as Brutal Hearts can be distinguished by their blue coloring. These hearts offer effects that enhance player survivability, such as the Prudent Heart. When a player loses more than 20% of their Life in a single hit, the Prudent Heart grants them Immunity for 2-4 seconds. However, this effect can only be activated once every 110 seconds. With the Season 1 update for Diablo 4, which increased the power of enemies, these effects have become even more valuable. This is particularly true for classes like the Sorcerer, which are more vulnerable.

The Diablo 4 Caged Hearts, known as Devious Hearts, are easily recognizable by their purple appearance. These hearts provide players with beneficial utility effects, ranging from improving resource management to causing status effects and crowd control options. For instance, the Determination heart reduces resource draining effects by 40-50% and increases resource generation by 3-8. This effect proves highly valuable when facing Nightmare Dungeons in Diablo 4, where affixes significantly enhance resource depletion. By mitigating the loss of resources, this heart greatly assists players in navigating these challenging dungeons.

Wrathful Heart

The final type of heart in Diablo 4 is the Wrathful Heart. It is considered the most powerful among the Caged Hearts as it offers exceptional effects, represented by the color green. These hearts possess stronger than usual effects, such as The Malignant Pact heart. This particular heart allows players to access different Malignant Heart bonuses every 20 kills. These bonuses include a 20% increase in attack speed, a 15% chance of resource restoration when using Core or Basic Skills, and the ability to gain a Barrier that absorbs 85-102 damage every 21 seconds. Essentially, the Wrathful Heart provides players with the best features offered by all the other types of Caged Hearts.

Diablo 4 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.