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Here are all of the much-awaited details for the Diablo 4 Season 1: Season of the Malignant including its release date, story, and trailer.
Diablo 4 Season 1: Season of the Malignant Release Date: July 20, 2023
Diablo 4 Season 1: Season of the Malignant starts on July 20, 2023, with pre-patch download beginning on July 18 with the release of Patch 1.04. The Season of the Malignant is expected to run for about three months or a quarter of the year.
Season 1 Features
Diablo 4's seasons feature new, self-contained stories that are told independently from other Seasons and even from the game's main campaign. Taking place after the campaign's story, a new threat looms over Sanctuary. With Inarius and Lilith both gone, new vile and corrupted beings make their way to the world of men, threatening society. Abominations called Malignants roam Sanctuary, attacking indiscriminately and in a frenzy. The former Cathedral of Light priest Cormond discovered a way how to contain this plague-like foulness, imprisoning the Hearts of the Malignants inside Cages of Binding. While the Malignancy has turned Hell's armies into mindless thralls, it is still for the benefit of Sanctuary to prevent this foul abomination from spreading. So, it's up to the Wanderer to contain this plague and prevent it from staining the entire world with its corruption.
Gameplay Changes and Upgrades
To be able to access Seasonal Content, players will have to have beaten the main campaign either through an Eternal Realm character or a Seasonal Realm character. Starting with a new Seasonal Character, players have the option to skip the entire main campaign of Diablo 4 and skip right into Season 1's story and campaign.
Season of the Malignant modifies Elites you find in the overworld into Malignants – more powerful versions of the Elites that are also buffed with additional traits. Upon death, the Malignant will drop a Heart of Malignant. Players can interact with this drop with the Cage of Binding to initiate a transmutation ritual, which will then spawn an even stronger, more frenzied version of the fallen Elite. Beat this newly-arisen threat to loot a Caged Heart, a powerful new item that you can socket into items like a gem, only with higher increased stats and Legendary ability level abilities.
Malignant Powers: Similar to Legendary Aspects, Caged Hearts will have unique abilities tied to them. Socketing Caged Hearts into your jewelry will allow players to develop or refine builds that will turn their characters into even stronger devastators of the Malignancy. In total, there are 32 new Malignant Powers that will be arriving once the Diablo 4 Season 1 release date rolls come around.
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Malignant Tunnels: Players will be able to hunt down Malignants for their powers in new modified dungeons called Malignant Tunnels. These dungeons will have a high density of Malignants for players to hunt down and add to their collection of Caged Hearts. In these tunnels, Varshan the Consumed awaits stone-faced players, a new Boss battle that will challenge all players who dare.
Invokers: Caged Hearts come in different categories, highlighted by their colors. All jewelry in the game for this Season will have colored sockets, and Caged Hearts can only be slotted in infested sockets of a matching color. There are three different types of colored sockets and four different Malignant Hearts. Invokers can be used to affect the color of the Malignant Tunnel you're entering, which will allow players to hunt for specifically colored Malignant Hearts.
Season Journal: Players will be able to keep track of their progress for Season 1. This will allow players to see the quests they've completed related to the Season, and see the prerequisites they have to complete before heading to the next chapter of the new Season. Diablo 4 Season 1 will feature seven chapters for its story quests. Completing new objectives will unlock Seasonal Rewards and add points toward your Battle Pass progress.
New Items and Equipment: Apart from the Malignant Powers, Diablo 4 Season 1 will add new Legendaries, Uniques, and Legendary Aspects to the game, rolling out on Eternal Realms as well. These Legendaries, Uniques, and Legendary Aspects will still be in the game even after Season of the Malignant is over.
Seasonal Blessings: Players can collect Smoldering Ashes and use them to purchase Seasonal Blessings that will give them various boons and bonuses, such as stronger elixirs, better loot chances, better selling prices, boosted XP rates, and better salvage materials. These seasonal blessings expire after the end of the Season of the Malignant, and each season is expected to have its own set of Seasonal Blessings.
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