Unleashing Chaos: What to Expect in Diablo 4's Season of the Malignant (Season 1 Revealed)

Quick Links

Malignant Enemies, Caged Hearts, And New Powers

Malignant Tunnels Manifest As New Dungeons In Season 1

Renown and Re-Speccing Updates In Season 1

Diablo 4 Season 1's Battle Pass and Seasonal Journey

Diablo 4 Season 1, known as the Season of the Malignant, is set to launch on July 6, 2023. This highly anticipated season brings exciting additions to the game, including the introduction of Malignant Enemies and their Hearts. These Hearts can be equipped in Jewelry slots, granting players game-changing powers. Additionally, Season 1 includes updates to enhance the overall gameplay experience, such as new Quality of Life improvements, Legendaries, and Uniques.

Malignant Enemies, Caged Hearts, And New Powers

A new menace looms over Sanctuary in the wake of the Diablo 4 events. This insidious force, known as the Malignance, corrupts all living beings, transforming them into mindless, bloodthirsty adversaries. Enter Kormand, a former priest of the Cathedral of Light, who takes it upon himself to unravel the mystery behind this malevolence. Realizing the depths of his predicament, he seeks the aid of the player in his quest.

During Diablo 4 Season 1, instead of encountering regular Elites, players may come across Malignant enemies dispersed across the entire Sanctuary. Upon successfully defeating these empowered foes, they will drop a Malignant Heart. Utilizing a Cage of Binding on this Malignant Heart will summon a more formidable Elite accompanied by a multitude of empowered enemies.

By defeating this more challenging foe and its minions, players will earn Caged Hearts, a powerful new type of equippable item that grants incredible new abilities.

What Are Caged Hearts in Season of the Malignant?

Caged Hearts function similarly to Gems, but with a key distinction - they can only be inserted into Jewelry pieces such as Amulets and Rings. However, these Hearts offer far more than a mere enhancement to stats: each Caged Heart holds a distinct power that is unlocked when inserted into a specialized Infested, colored Socket. This feature significantly enhances players' abilities and provides a wider range of playstyles compared to the original game.

There are 32 new Malignant powers, which essentially work like Legendary-like abilities that devs described as stupidly powerful, but hopefully balanced.

New Colored Sockets And Targeting Caged Hearts

There are three categories of new powers, each associated with a different color socket. However, there are four types of malignant hearts: Blue, Red, Yellow, and Colorless. All Rings and Jewelry obtained in Season 1 will have Infested Sockets in one of the three colors, including the ones from vendors. Blue, Red, and Yellow Gems can be used in their corresponding sockets, while Colorless Gems can be used in any socket (although they are more rare). Once a Caged Heart is placed in an Infested socket, it cannot be removed without destroying it.

Even if Caged Hearts drop early with low stats, they still have value later on as they can be broken down into new materials that are used to craft Invokers. These Invokers allow players to specifically target certain Hearts in the Malignant Tunnels, a new set of dungeons that will be introduced in Diablo 4.

Malignant Tunnels Manifest As New Dungeons In Season 1

As players progress and reach higher World Tiers, they will come across enhanced Malignant Hearts. Nevertheless, this innovative Season 1 Diablo 4 feature commences solely after completing the campaign with at least one character on their account.

The new dungeon in Diablo 4 called Malignant Tunnels is set to be introduced in Season of the Malignant. These tunnels have a significantly greater probability of spawning enemies of the Malignant variety, while also presenting players with a decision to make upon reaching the end. Malignant Outgrowths, located at the conclusion of each tunnel, are associated with one of the four colors and necessitate the use of a crafted Invoker to activate them.

Using an Invoker on a colored Outgrowth will cause an Elite boss of that color to appear, increasing the likelihood of obtaining a Caged Heart of the same color upon defeat. Players can strategically target different Malignant Tunnels to farm specific Heart colors they require. Additionally, other Elites within the Malignant Tunnel have an increased chance of having the Malignant modifier, making them ideal for farming new Diablo 4 Season 1 items once the campaign is completed.

Renown and Re-Speccing Updates In Season 1

Renown earned from Altars of Lilith and map discovery will be shared across all characters and seasons in the Eternal Realm. Zones already revealed on one character will remain revealed on others, granting 5 renown each. Altars of Lilith collected will also carry over, granting 10 Renown each. Players who have completed the map and Altars of Lilith on one character will start with each zone at approximately 2/5 Renown completion on new characters, along with five additional Potion Charges and Skill Points at Level 1.

Additionally, players will have the opportunity to reset their character's stats completely, and the best part is that it will be free of charge. In order to acquire a Scroll of Amnesia, players must successfully complete chapters of the Seasonal Journey as a reward for completing various steps throughout this Season-long adventure. While these scrolls may be difficult to obtain, they can be utilized only once, providing a much-needed and simple method to reallocate Paragon Points and Skill Points with just a simple press of a button.

Diablo 4 Season 1's Battle Pass and Seasonal Journey

The Diablo 4 community has been engaged in a lively debate about the integration of the Seasonal Journey, a common feature in most ARPGs, with a novel addition - the Battle Pass. Finally, during the developer stream on July 6th, new information regarding both elements was disclosed.

What Is Diablo 4 Seasonal Journey?

: Despite the presence of rewards that boost player abilities in both the Seasonal Journey and Free Battle Pass, Blizzard seems to have fulfilled its commitment to ensuring that all Premium Battle Pass rewards are solely cosmetic.

The Season Journey in Season of the Malignant offers players a chance to complete a series of challenges and earn exclusive rewards. This feature is available to all players and consists of seven Chapters in total. Each Chapter presents a set of increasingly difficult objectives, such as defeating powerful World Bosses, participating in intense PvP battles, accomplishing a specific number of Dungeons, and more. Players only need to tackle a subset of these challenges to complete each Chapter, unlocking the next one along with a fresh set of even more challenging objectives.

By accomplishing objectives and completing chapters in the Seasonal Journey, players can earn Favor. This, in turn, helps level up both the Free and Premium Battle Passes. Moreover, players can unlock exclusive Aspects for the Codex, which cannot be obtained through any other means in the game. These unique rewards are accessible to all Diablo 4 players, irrespective of whether they have the Premium pass or not.

Free Battle Pass vs. Paid Battle Pass for Season 1

Progression in the Battle Pass is exclusive to Seasonal realms, while playing in the Eternal Realm does not contribute to the Seasonal Journey or Battle Pass advancement. The Free Battle Pass offers certain items that provide power through the use of Ashes, granting Seasonal Bonuses. However, the Premium Battle Pass offers only cosmetic rewards such as new clothing, mount armors, and titles. Furthermore, the exclusive Season 1 weapon transmogs will be limited to specific classes, while all other cosmetics in the Battle Pass can be worn by any class.

Smouldering Ashes can be obtained through specific milestones on the free Battle Pass. These Ashes have the ability to enhance Seasonal Bonuses, which provide lasting advantages to all Seasonal characters. These bonuses include increased experience points, gold, materials, elixir duration, and a higher chance of obtaining Malignant Hearts. However, the use of Ashes is restricted by level, as they can only be exchanged starting at Level 40. So, players cannot immediately utilize this feature.

The Seasonal Journey and Free Battle Pass are available to all players at no cost. However, players have the option to purchase the Premium Battle Pass for $9.99 or pay $24.99 to instantly progress through 20 Tiers. Those who own the Deluxe or Ultimate editions will automatically receive the Premium Battle Pass for Season 1.

When Does Diablo 4 Season 1 Launch?

Season 1 of Diablo 4 has been highly anticipated by players, and though it may feel like a long time, it's only been about five weeks since its announcement. In the cinematic trailer for Season of the Malignant, the release date for Diablo 4's first season was unveiled as July 20th, 2023. However, the patch itself will be released on July 18th, with players being unable to create new Seasonal characters until the 20th.

After the seasonal patch is available, Blizzard recommends launching the game first with a character that has the highest completion level before delving into Season 1. This ensures that shared data, such as Renown and Altars of Lilith, can be transferred to new characters. Additionally, it guarantees that Diablo 4 recognizes your account's completion status for all future content.

The developer stream revealed that the fundamental gameplay changes will be implemented on the Eternal Realm on July 18th. These changes encompass quality of life improvements, the introduction of new Legendaries and Uniques. However, the seasonal Malignance mechanic and the central focus of Diablo 4 Season 1 will not be accessible until two days later. Diablo 4 can be played on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, as well as Xbox One and Series X|S.