Every new season of Diablo brings new content, modifications, and, of course, new action. Therefore, the launch of a new season is always exciting. This excitement is also visible among players since the Diablo 4 season 4 launch is just around the corner.
Many of you might be wondering what’s new in Diablo 4 season 4? I will not only try to answer that but also cover the changes.
Diablo 4 Season 4 Start date
After being delayed by close to one month, Diablo 4 Season 4 is finally launching on May 14, 2024. The season's name is Loot Reborn, which indicates the very first change you'll experience in this season.
What are new things you can expect from Diablo 4 season 4?
It's now time to understand what this season has on offer.
1. Better Loot System
The loot drops are widely expected to be more efficient and impactful. This means that you can get more powerful gear in loot, which can actually impact the direction of the game.
A similar update, Loot 2.0, was launched in Diablo 3 and was well-received by the gaming community.
If you look at the notes that Blizzard has released till now, loot drops will be less frequent (yes! You read it right), but the loot items will be more powerful. Not only that, items are likely to have conditional effects as well. It means a certain player can use the same item more effectively than others.
The conditional effect also means you need to determine the item's efficacy and align your character abilities to fulfill the conditions.
Right now, it might seem like the loot system is likely to be more complex, but in my opinion, its utility is surely going to increase.
2. Masterworking system
![diablo 4 masterworking system](https://www.boostingfactory.com/application/files/5917/1589/9570/diablo-4-masterworking-system.jpg)
One of the most significant changes in season 4 is the introduction of the masterworking system. The system can help you further increase the power of your gear.
Using this system, you can upgrade the weapons with the rarest materials found in mines and caverns. Masterworking is a crafting system that allows you to use the materials from The Pit of Artificers to upgrade the weapon's potency.
Not only is the weapon made more effective but at every 4th tier, the affixes to the weapon are upgraded as well. If you improve the same affix the color of the affix changes from blue to yellow to orange on subsequent improvements.
The good news is that if, after upgrading the weapon to max level, you have second thoughts, you can reset that weapon as well.
3. The Pit of Artificers
![diablo 4 the pit](https://www.boostingfactory.com/application/files/9717/1589/9630/diablo_4_the_pit.jpg)
As highlighted above, The Pit of Artificers will be introduced this season. It can help you find rare materials to upgrade weapons. Needless to say it comes with its own dangers as well.
Wondering how to get to this Pit?
The procedure is lengthy but easy to follow.
Enter World Tier IV, participate in the priority Quest, and complete Tier46-Nightmare Dungeon. Once you complete it, complete the Endgame activities to accumulate Runeshards. You can collect these at every move, such as when competing with World Bosses, completing Nightmare Dungeons, Whisper Bounties, Legion events, and more.
Once you collect enough Runeshards (if you need help grinding Runeshards, check out our
Diablo 4 Runeshards service), you can activate Obelisk in the region of Cerrigar, which provides access to the Pit. In the Pit, kill ample monsters before the 10-minute timer expires. Thereafter, the final boss is summoned. If you have done everything right, you'll notice a portal that teleports you directly to the arena, to compete against the boss.
Defeat the boss in time to gain those rare materials. Defeating the boss helps you progress to the next Pit tier.
You can enter the Pit with other players, but the player who spends Runeshards to open The Pit gains most of the loot.
The Pit Of Artificers certainly provides something new to look forward to. We can also
boost Diablo 4 The Pit with our boosting services, don't hesitate to check it out.
Read more in our:
The Complete Diablo 4 World Boss Guide (Timers, How To's)
4. Change in Affixes
Blizzard has stated that they want players to easily understand the difference between upgrades and regular items. In this quest, the first change is the number of affixes on an item. For Legendary items, this count is down to 3. For rare items, it is down to 2. Not only that, but the effectiveness of affixes has also gone up.
One way affixes have been made more powerful is by providing attribute boost across the board rather than condition based. Example of conditional boost include 10% damage boost to non-injured Elites. Unconditional attribute boost example is boost in Movement speed or Max life or Core skill.
Unconditional attributes make it easy to understand what benefit the item provides. The intricacies of item boosts have been moved to systems like Masterworking and Tempering. So those who want to get into the intricacies can use this system.
While more items have been made effective on a standalone basis, it also means the frequency of such item drops has decreased.
Blizzard wants you to focus on slaying enemies rather than spending valuable time understanding the items.
5. Codex of Power & Aspect Changes
A few changes have been made to Codex of Power. These changes mainly revolve around the extraction of Aspects and how they are stored. I will cover these changes below.
Aspects storage
![diablo 4 codex of power](https://www.boostingfactory.com/application/files/6817/1589/9750/diablo_4_codex_of_power.jpeg)
After you extract an aspect, it will no longer be stored in Inventory. Instead, it will be stored in the Codex of Power, which means you can use it indefinitely. Since you can now use an Aspect multiple times, extracting an Aspect becomes more valuable than in past seasons.
Not only that, you can also check all the available Aspects in a single place and use the one that provides maximum benefit.
Season End Reset
Players who have been playing the game for long might ask, what happens when the season ends?
After the end of the season, the Codex of Power will reset. The Affixes will be moved to the Eternal realm. If you already have that Aspect in the Eternal Realm, only the one that is higher in the hierarchy will be kept in the Eternal Realm.
Additionally, you can even favorite a particular Aspect.
6. Gain The Favor Of The Iron Wolves
![diablo 4 wolf's honor](https://www.boostingfactory.com/application/files/2817/1589/9793/diablo_4_wolfs_honor.jpeg)
In the South, the Iron Wolves are Mercenaries with their hearts in the right place. Their aim is to protect people in the Sanctuary and stay noble, unlike what many other Mercenary bands haven’t done in the past. However, they are at the receiving end, as their members are dying. Your aim is to catch the killer of The Iron Wolves members. If you manage to do so, you will gain their favor.
To embark on this quest, you have to rendezvous with Soudeh in Kehjistan. He is an Iron Wolves field commander with plenty of battle experience. While working with him to catch the culprit you also get plenty of opportunities to earn Tempering Manuals. These come in handy to boost the capability of various items you have.
The good news is that developers have already disclosed that Iron Wolf Helltide Events will likely continue past the current season's end.
The introduction of a new Mercenary Clan imbibed this deep in the story is sure to open more chapters, which will make things more exciting.
7. Introduction Of Greater Affixes
Up until now, Affixes seldom had a hierarchy. However, in this season, that is about to change with the introduction of Greater Affixes, whose power will be 1.5x the normal ones.
But where to find them?
Greater Affixes can be found on Ancestral Legendary items and Unique items.
To ensure players don't miss these Affixes there is an audio cue for players when they drop. They are also represented by a unique icon in the world and your Inventory.
When it comes to World Tier II and IV, there is some probability of converting Affixes to Greater Affixes.
8. Gem Changes
By and large, Gems are easy to use and have little to no learning curve. However, the upcoming season will impact gems in some ways.
Crude Gems will cease to exist. The crafting levels have been changed as well.
Availability of gems is as follows:
Normal Gems at Level 51
Flawless Gems at Level 71
Royal Gems at level 91
Attributes of certain gems have also been changed.
Diamonds now provide higher Resistance.
Topaz can now contribute to Intelligence.
Sapphire can boost Willpower
Amethyst can boost Strength.
Emerald can boost Dexterity.
9. Ability to Earn Rewards
![diablo 4 season journey](https://www.boostingfactory.com/application/files/7617/1589/9833/diablo_4_season_journey.jpeg)
The action in this season revolves around the elimination of foes along with Iron Wolves. In addition to the favor of Iron Wolves, you can also get rewards from Battle pass and Season Journey while slaying the foes.
Since the entire season is in form of different Chapters, it's easy to complete and keep track of. The rewards befit the role of the Defender of the Sanctuary.
Some of the rewards include:
Legendary Aspects
3 Scrolls of Amnesia (These provide a Skill Tree for free)
Ability to reset Paragon board
The favor, in turn, helps you advance in the Battle Pass Tiers. With 90 Rewards Tiers, there is a long way to go.
10. Perks Of Buying the Premium Battle Pass
Apart from the free tier rewards, when you buy a Premium/Accelerated Battle Pass, you also get:
Awoken Demigod Armor Sets
20 Tier Skips
Wings of Hell's Legion
In Free Tiers, you're also likely to get Smoldering Ashes. You can use these to get Season Blessings. 3 new blessings have also been introduced in this season which are:
1. Urn of Nightmares:
This blessing boosts Glyph XP that you earn in the Nightmare Dungeons.
2. Urn of Iron:
This blessing boosts your reputation among Iron Wolves.
3. Urn of Burning Obols:
Are you mostly disappointed when opening Helltide chests? This blessing will solve that by boosting the Obols you gain from such chests.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Season Blessings won't be carried forward after the season ends.
11. Shop Now Offers More
Blizzard will introduce more merchandise in Tejal's shop. Of Course, Blizzard hasn't revealed all the new merchandise you can buy, but some of it includes:
Equipment
Mount Armor
Accessories
Armor
Not only that, Blizzard has also indicated that not all the merchandise will be available right from the start. Therefore, you need to check the store frequently to discover new wares.
Only one rare merchandise has been disclosed. It's the Demon's Heart Bundle, which Barbarians can possess. This heart bundle consists of:
Demonheart Armor Set
2 Demonheart Weapon Cosmetics
One thing is certain: Tejal's shop will surely gain more prominence in the upcoming season.
12. Andariel Returns
For those who remember Diablo II, Andariel was the final boss. She is a lesser evil who makes a comeback in Diablo 4 Season 4.
She is placed at a similar boss hierarchy as her brother Duriel. It means you are just as likely to receive unique item drops on defeating her as her brother.
In the past, she has possessed Fire, Lightning, Shadow, and Poison attacks. While almost all of these attacks will be retained it remains to be seen if she brings anything new to the table. Not that she needs to, because she is already a formidable foe.
Wondering where to find her?
The location is east of Tasarak.
If you need help with killing her, try out our
Diablo 4 Boss Kill service.
13. Tormented Echoes Challenge
While the bosses are certainly tough to beat for newer players, there is a section of Diablo players who are demanding even tougher bosses. That's the reason Blizzard is introducing the concept of Tormented Echoes.
Tormented Echoes are nothing but summonable bosses, but they will be at Level 200, which means they are much tougher to beat.
The good news is that you can summon them by heading to their location and then choosing the Tormented Echo variant on summoning them. However, you need to procure the summon materials to do so. Along with Stygian Stones from the pit, there are a few other things you need as well. All of these can be found within the pit.
Apart from the excitement of defeating a much more aggressive boss you also get powerful loot on beating such a boss.
When you beat any Tormented Echo, you will get Level 925 items which means it would be much more powerful. Not only that, on defeating your first Tormented Echo, you earn a Resplendent Spark.
For those of you who don't remember, Resplendent Sparks are unique crafting materials.
14. Helltide changes
Helltide is undergoing a lot of changes as well. While I will be going into some of these changes below, Blizzard has clearly stated that in the current season, Helltide will receive inspiration from Blood Harvest in Season of Blood. In case you don't remember, the Blood Harvest event had much more action than most other events in Diablo. The more enemies you killed in that event, the more enemies you attracted.
Blizzard clearly stating that it's inspired from this event indicates that the action will be much higher this time around.
With each passing enemy, the difficulty level is also likely to rise. Due to this, Helltide isn't going to be an easy event, no matter how experienced you are.
15. Get Hell Marked
From season 4, Helltide events will be available to all players. However, there are more changes to these events.
Helltide requires you to kill hordes of enemies. As you kill those enemies, you will generate what's known as Threat. The more dangerous monsters you kill, the more Threat you will generate. Apart from slaying monsters you can also generate Threat by opening Tortured gifts during the events.
There are 3 Threat levels in total. Once you reach the highest level, Level 3, you will be Hell-Marked. Once hell-marked, you will attract some of the most difficult enemies in Diablo 4. This means the level of action and the difficulty in the game will both go up.
Not only that, the overall number of enemies you will attract will also go up. On eliminating all of them, a more fierce enemy named Hellborn will spawn. In total, there are 5 Hellbornes. The number is chosen based on the number of classes in the game.
Want to lower down the threat level? There are 2 ways to do so.
You can reduce the threat level when you embark on the Hellborne ambush.
Threat level resets when you die.
So, Helltide events are set to become more exciting and difficult simultaneously.
Read more in our:
Diablo 4 Story - Lore, How It Started, And Ending
16. Introduction of Accursed Ritual
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Accursed Rituals is another new addition in the current season. These are spots where you can summon Blood Maiden. Blood Maiden is a powerful entity in the Sanctuary.
These spots are marked by three dead, beheaded bodies on the ground, arranged to form a triangle with a summoning circle around them.
Once you reach this spot, you initiate the ritual by using the 3 Baneful hearts. You have 3 options to earn these, which include:
Tortured Gifts
Hellborn demons
Doomsayers
Once you complete this ritual, not only will Blood Maiden spawn but numerous enemies as well. Your aim is to defeat them all.
Defeating Blood Maiden provides excellent rewards, passives, and other drops.
17. Try the Profane Mindcage Elixir
It seems like Blizzard has decided to provide more control to players. Another way you can take more control is by using Profane Mindcage during Helltides. Once you use this elixir, every monster's level will be boosted by 10. Not only that, the Cinder drop rate exponentially increases as well.
Wondering how to get this elixir?
Defeat a Hellborn, and you get this elixir. You can store multiple such elixirs to farm XP.
Blizzard, however, has clearly stated the Elixir will be available only in this season and not the future ones.
18. Legendary Item Power Change
While at the lower levels there isn't much change when it comes to the power level of Legendary items but once you start defeating enemies at level 95+ the power of Legendary items buffs up to 925.
19. Boost In Glyph XP
In earlier seasons, players spent a lot of time in the Nightmare Dungeons to farm Glyph XP. In the new season, the Glyph XP rate has been boosted by 25%. This means you will have to spend less time and can spend more time in the Pit.
20. Class Based Loot
Above, I touched on some aspects in which the loot will change. However, that's not all!
Now in the Seasonal journey the loot will be based on the class you are playing. Of course,usage of those items is dependent on you. However, they will be more geared towards your class and the build.
While the build for each class varies each season, for this season the builds are:
Rogue: Barrage
Barbarian: Dust Devil
Druid: Pulverize
Necromancer: Minion Army
Sorceress: Incinerate
21. Paragon Board Changes
Numerous changes have been made to paragon boards. Since the boards and the Glyphs are an essential part of the game these are going to affect many players. Some of these changes include:
For the Marshal Glyph, the cooldown period is reduced to 2 seconds. Earlier, it was 4.
The Berserking bonus imparted by Blood Rage Legendary node has been reduced to 10% from 25%.
The Overpower damage for Crusher Glyph is reduced from 30% to 20%.
Similarly, the Overpower Damage for Dominate Glyph per 5 Willpower has been reduced from 39.9% to 14.9% at level 21.
When you kill an enemy, the Fury gain imparted by Seething Glyph has been increased from 3 to 5.
FAQs
How long does a Diablo 4 season last?
Usually, a Diablo 4 season lasts for 3 months each, which means there are 4 seasons a year.
What happens when the season ends in Diablo 4?
Usually the created characters, the progress and the items are shifted to the Eternal Realm when the season ends.
Conclusion
With so many exciting changes coming up in Diablo 4 season 4, it will surely be very exciting. Not only that, but the difficulty level control that the game developers provide to the players is sure to make the game more entertaining. So, watch out for May 14 and experience the new season as soon as it launches.
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