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History

History

Diablo IV

Diablo IV was announced at BlizzCon on 1 November 2019 and released on 6 June 2023, with early access from 1 June. It returns the series to a deliberately dark, grounded Sanctuary — a shared open world rather than a menu of instanced acts — and became Blizzard's fastest-selling game ever, taking $666 million in its first five days and passing 12 million players by August 2023.

  • Released: 6 June 2023 — Windows, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One and Series X|S. On Steam from 17 October 2023 and Xbox Game Pass from 28 March 2024.
  • Launch classes: Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Rogue, Sorcerer. The Spiritborn arrived with the first expansion, the Paladin and Warlock with the second — eight in total today.
  • World: Fractured Peaks, Scosglen, Dry Steppes, Kehjistan and Hawezar at launch, joined by Nahantu and the Skovos Isles.
The story

Fifty years after Diablo III, cultists call Lilith — daughter of Mephisto and mother of humanity — back to Sanctuary. The player, remembered as the Wanderer, is caught between her and the fallen angel Inarius, in a story told from the ground up: villages, refugees and ordinary people rather than the war in the heavens.

Design
  • A seamless open world, shared with other players, with world bosses, events and PvP zones.
  • Procedurally generated dungeons and Nightmare Dungeon sigils layered on top of hand-built regions.
  • Live service by design: a Battle Pass, quarterly seasons and a cosmetics shop, with expansions between them.

Expansions

Vessel of Hatred — 8 October 2024

The first expansion takes the Wanderer and Neyrelle south into the jungles of Nahantu, chasing the soulstone that holds Mephisto, Lord of Hatred.

  • The Spiritborn class, the first entirely new class in the series since the Necromancer pack.
  • The region of Nahantu, last seen as Act III of Diablo II, and the city of Kurast rebuilt.
  • Mercenaries — recruitable companions with their own skill trees and reinforcement calls.
  • Runewords returned to the series, this time as Rune of Ritual and Rune of Invocation pairs.
  • The Dark Citadel, the game's first co-op-only endgame raid, and the Kurast Undercity dungeon.
  • A level squish to 60 with the rest of progression pushed into a reworked Paragon system.
Lord of Hatred — 28 April 2026

The second expansion follows Mephisto himself. The Wanderer and Lorath Nahr find Neyrelle dead and learn that the Lord of Hatred is walking Sanctuary wearing the face of the prophet Akarat, bound for the Skovos Isles — the birthplace of humanity and homeland of the Amazons.

  • Two new classes: the returning Paladin, a holy frontline fighter, and the Warlock, who turns Hell's own demons against itself.
  • The Skovos Isles as a new region.
  • The Horadric Cube returns as a gear-crafting system.
  • An overhaul of endgame activities.
  • The campaign ends with Mephisto banished at the Pools of Creation, using a dagger forged from Lilith's bone.
  • Reception was strong — 84/100 on PC and 86/100 on Xbox Series X|S, with around 90% of critics recommending it.

Seasons

Diablo IV runs on roughly quarterly seasons. Each one opens a fresh Seasonal Realm where every character starts at level 1, adds a new mechanic and questline, and ships a free and premium Battle Pass track. When the season closes, seasonal characters move to the Eternal Realm and keep everything they earned.

How a season works
  • Seasonal characters start clean — no gear, no gold, no Paragon carried over.
  • The Season Journey guides you through the seasonal mechanic and hands out rewards along the way.
  • The Battle Pass has a free track and a paid Premium track; the Premium track is cosmetic and Smouldering Ashes-style boosts, not raw power.
  • The Eternal Realm keeps every past character and is never wiped.
Every season so far
  • 1 — Season of the Malignant: 20 July 2023
  • 2 — Season of Blood: 17 October 2023
  • 3 — Season of the Construct: 23 January 2024
  • 4 — Loot Reborn: 14 May 2024
  • 5 — Season of the Infernal Hordes: 6 August 2024
  • 6 — Season of Hatred Rising: 8 October 2024, launched with Vessel of Hatred
  • 7 — Season of Witchcraft: 21 January 2025
  • 8 — Belial's Return: 29 April 2025
  • 9 — Sins of the Horadrim: 1 July 2025
  • 10 — Season of Infernal Chaos: 23 September 2025
  • 11 — Season of Divine Intervention: 11 December 2025
  • 12 — Season of Slaughter: 11 March 2026
  • 13 — Season of Reckoning: 28 April 2026, launched with Lord of Hatred
  • 14 — Season of Death Awakening: 30 June 2026 — current
Season 14: Season of Death Awakening
  • Pandemonium Ruptures as the seasonal mechanic.
  • A top-to-bottom Mythic Unique rework.
  • Solo Self-Found mode, asked for since launch.
  • A new lair boss, the Corrupted Reaper, and a free Warlock trial for players without the expansion.

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