Introduction

Embark on a thrilling new quest in the world of Lilith as you confront the terrifying Malignant Monsters. These grotesque creatures, born from the twisted mind of Lilith, are wreaking havoc in Sanctuary, attacking anyone in their path. With the Church of Light in disarray, the desperate inhabitants of Sanctuary turn to a new hero for salvation. Join forces with Cormond, a former priest of the Cathedral of Light, as you delve into the depths of this mysterious malady. Cormond will guide you in capturing the Malignant Hearts that power these abominations, transforming them into powerful abilities that can alter your very build. The corruption that plagues Sanctuary must be stopped, and it's up to you to extinguish it at its source. To embark on this epic journey, you must have completed the campaign on the Eternal Realm or do so during the Seasonal Realm with at least one character. Once you're prepared to face this new threat, make your way to Kyovashad and begin your adventure alongside Cormond. Get ready to uncover the secrets of the Malignance and save Sanctuary from its impending doom.

INVESTIGATE THE MALIGNANCE WITH CORMOND IN A NEW QUEST

A deviant form of Lilith’s sinister machinations has given birth to a new threat, Malignant Monsters. These decaying abominations roam Sanctuary in a frenzy, mindlessly attacking anyone in range. Distraught and in panic without the Church of Light’s guidance, the denizens of Sanctuary have turned to new sources for hope. Wanderers will investigate this mysterious malady in a new Questline with the help of Cormond, a former priest of the Cathedral of Light, who trains you to capture the Malignant Hearts fueling these foul beasts and convert them into build-altering powers. The malignancy that’s taken hold cannot remain unchecked—you must snuff it out at the source before all of Sanctuary becomes subject to its corruption. To embark on the new Burning from Within questline, you’ll need to have already completed the campaign on the Eternal Realm, or do so during the Season on the Seasonal Realm with at least one character. Once you’re ready to take on Sanctuary’s newest threat, head over to Kyovashad to begin your journey with Cormond.

TRANSMUTE MALIGNANCE INTO VENGEANCE

To fight back against the relentless animosity of Malignant Monsters, you’ll need to turn their Hearts against them. Slaying Partly Corrupted enemies, a type of Malignant Monster, will drop a Malignant Heart. These can be captured by performing a ritual with the Cage of Binding, an item acquired during the Season’s Questline. Partly Corrupted enemies are an unruly sort and won’t go down easily. Trying to capture the Heart will cause the Partly Corrupted enemy to be reborn as a Fully Corrupted enemy. If defeated, these amalgamations of rot will drop a version of the Malignant Heart that can be placed into special Malignant sockets in your Jewelry in place of a Normal Gem.

A Heart for Every Type of Wanderer

This season introduces 32 Malignant Hearts that provide build-altering bonuses. The Hearts are broken into four categories, each with a corresponding color and unique keyword: Vicious (Orange, Offensive power), Brutal (Blue, Defensive power), Devious (Pink, Utility power), and Wrathful (Black, Super). Defeated Malignant Monsters will drop a Heart that corresponds to the monster’s color. The colors of each Heart also correspond to special Malignant sockets, which will replace the normal Sockets of Jewelry you acquire for the duration of Season of the Malignant. Wrathful hearts are a special case due to their rarity, and can be placed in any Socket. As you roam Sanctuary in search of Malignant Monsters to dispatch, keep an eye out for ones that match the color of the item sockets you’re looking to fill.

Creating and Salvaging Malignant Hearts

As you encounter more menacing Malignant Creatures, so too will the strength of their Malignant Hearts grow. Any Heart that you don’t wish to keep can be salvaged at Cormond’s wagon for Ichor of a corresponding color. Ichor is a resource that allows for the creation and upgrade of Malignant Hearts and can also be harvested from lesser Malignant Monsters. Salvaging each Vicious, Brutal, and Devious Heart will provide you with 5-15 Ichor, with Wrathful hearts providing 2-5 Ichor of all other Heart types. Creating a random Heart of a specific type costs 35 Ichor of the other two primary-colored Hearts. For example, if you wanted to craft a Vicious heart, you would need 35 Brutal Ichor and 35 Devious Ichor. In return, you would receive a random Vicious heart that scales to the Level of your character. The random Heart you create will always either be for your specific Class or Class-agnostic.

Harness their Power, Elevate your Build!

Each of the 32 Malignant Hearts pack a punch with the bonuses they provide you. Wielding the very core of the rot-infused husks you’ve slain across Sanctuary is essential to bringing about safety. Below you’ll find a full list of each Malignant Heart broken out by Class. For our example, the stats you see reflect what a Level 20 character would receive as a drop. As your Seasonal character grows in Level, so too will the power of the Malignant Hearts that drop for them. Unless specified, the Heart can be acquired by playing in any World Tier in the Seasonal Realm. General

• The Picana (Vicious, Offensive): Critical Strikes electrically charge the enemy for 0.75-2.50 seconds, causing lightning to arc between them and any other charged enemies dealing 68-136 Lightning damage.
• The Dark Dance (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III): Every 5 seconds while above 60% Life, Core Skills cost 68-51 Life instead of your Primary Resource. Skills that consume Life deal 10-20% increased damage.
• Tempting Fate (Vicious, Offensive-World Tier III): You gain 40-60% Critical Strike Damage but your Non-Critical Strikes deal 20-15% less damage.
• The Lionheart (Brutal, Defensive): You gain 10% Barrier Generation. You Heal 3-7 Life per second while you have an active Barrier.
• Revenge (Brutal, Defensive-World Tier III): 10-20% of incoming damage is instead suppressed. When you use a Defensive, Subterfuge or a Macabre skill, all suppressed damage is amplified by 250% and explodes, dealing up to 1360-2040 Fire damage to Nearby enemies.
• Prudent Heart (Brutal, Defensive-World Tier III): You become Immune for 2.0-4.0 seconds after you lose more than 20% Life in a single hit. This effect can only occur once every 110 seconds.
• Determination (Devious, Utility): Resource draining effects are 40-50% less effective. In addition, gain 3.0-8.0% increased Resource Generation.
• Retaliation (Devious, Utility-World Tier III): Deal 510-680 Fire damage to surrounding enemies whenever a Crowd Control effect is removed from you.
• The Calculated (Devious, Utility-World Tier III): After spending 150-200 of your Primary Resource, your next attack Stuns enemies hit for 2 seconds.
• The Malignant Pact (Wrathful, Super): Cycle through a Malignant bonus every 20 kills:
  • Vicious: Gain 20% Attack Speed.
  • Devious: Core and Basic Skills have a 15% chance to fully restore your Primary Resource.
  • Brutal: Every 21 seconds, gain a Barrier absorbing 85-102 damage.
• Creeping Death (Wrathful, Super): Your damage over time effects are increased by 30-40% for each different Crowd Control effect on the target. Unstoppable monsters and Staggered bosses instead take 110-130% increased damage from your damage over time effects.
• The Barber (Wrathful, Super-World Tier III): Critical Strikes and all subsequent damage within 2.0-4.0 seconds is absorbed by your target. Then, the absorbed damage erupts onto surrounding enemies. Stored damage is increased by 10% per second.

Barbarian

• Focused Rage (Vicious, Offensive): After spending 100-60 Fury within 2 seconds, your next Non-Basic Skill's Critical Strike Chance is increased by 20-30%.
• Resurgent Life (Brutal, Defensive): While below 40-60% Life, you receive 50-60% more Healing from all sources.
• Punishing Speed (Devious, Utility): Your Skills have a 20-30% chance to Knock Down all enemies for 1.25 seconds when that Skill's Attack Speed is higher than 35-20%.
• Ignoring Pain (Wrathful, Super-World Tier IV): Incoming damage has a 5-15% chance of being ignored and instead Healing you for 17-68.

Druid

• The Moonrage (Vicious, Offensive): Kills have a 5% chance to summon a Wolf Companion to your side for 20-30 seconds. In addition, gain +3 to Wolves.
• The Agitated Winds (Brutal, Defensive): When 8-13 Close enemies, automatically cast Cyclone Armor. This cannot occur more than once every 10-20 seconds.
• Inexorable Force (Devious, Utility): Up to 30-50 Distant enemies are pulled toward you while you have an Ultimate Skill active.
• The Unconstrained Beast (Wrathful, Super-World Tier IV): When you are hit with a Stun, Freeze or Knock Down effect, there is a 40-60% chance to automatically activate Grizzly Rage for 3 seconds.

Necromancer

• The Sacrilegious (Vicious, Offensive): Walking near a Corpse automatically activates an equipped Corpse Skill every second, dealing 40-30% reduced damage.
• The Decrepit Aura (Brutal, Defensive): When at least 5 enemies are near you, gain an aura that automatically curses surrounding enemies with Decrepify for 5-15 seconds.
• Frozen Terror (Devious, Utility): Lucky Hit: Up to a 10-20% chance of inflicting Fear for 2.5 seconds. Feared enemies are Chilled for 20% every second.
• The Great Feast (Wrathful, Super-World Tier IV): Each Minion drains 1.0-2.0 Essence per second but deals 50-75% increased damage. With no Minions, this bonus applies to you and drains 5 Essence per second.

Rogue

• Cluster Munitions (Vicious, Offensive): Lucky Hit: You have up to a 20% chance to launch 3 Stun Grenades that deal 26-32 Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.50 seconds.
• Trickery (Brutal, Defensive): When you use a Subterfuge Skill, leave behind an unstable Shadow Decoy Trap that Taunts enemies. The Shadow Decoy Trap will explode after 6.0 seconds dealing 680-1020 Shadow damage. Cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds.
• The Clipshot (Devious, Utility): Lucky Hit: Up to a 20-40% chance for your Cutthroat Skills to Slow by 40% for 3 seconds and your Marksman Skills to Knock Back enemies.
• The Vile Apothecary (Wrathful, Super-World Tier IV): Your attacks have a 5-15% chance to apply all Imbuement effects at 40-50% of normal potency.

Sorcerer

• Tal’Rasha (Vicious, Offensive): For each unique element you deal damage with, you deal 7-12% increased damage for 3-10 seconds.
• Spellbreaking (Brutal, Defensive): After taking Elemental damage, gain 20-40% Resistance to that element for 5 seconds.
• Spite (Devious, Utility): When you are afflicted with a Crowd Control effect, there is a 20-40% chance that the same enemy and enemies around you are also afflicted with the same effect for 3 seconds.
• Omnipower (Wrathful, Super-World Tier IV): Core Skills that launch a projectile consume all of your Mana. For every 45-35 extra Mana consumed, you launch an additional projectile, and the damage is increased by 3.0-5.0%.

Developer’s Note: Caged Hearts cannot be traded between players because we want Hearts to feel like an achievement for slaying challenging Malignant Monsters. However, Jewelry containing Malignant Sockets can be traded to ensure that there are multiple sources for Jewelry with Malignant Sockets that correspond to the Caged Hearts players have earned.

SEEK NEW POWER IN THE MALIGNANT TUNNELS

One of the best places to acquire Malignant Hearts are in the new Malignant Tunnels, highly replayable Dungeons teeming with fearsome foes to eradicate. While inside, you’ll need to risk life and limb to defeat feral Malignant Monsters while navigating this dank system of tunnels. In total, there are 6 dungeons spread across Sanctuary that make up the Malignant Tunnel system. After putting mobs of Malignant Monsters down, you’ll come across two Outgrowths—one will always be Wrathful and the other will be a different Heart type depending on the dungeon. Using Malignant Invokers, a special Item crafted at Cormond’s Wagon, players can interact with Outgrowths of the same type, causing them to summon a Fully Corrupted enemy. If you can overcome the summoned foe, you’ll receive a Malignant Heart that matches the monster's type.

Confront Varshan the Consumed

Rooting out the source of Malignant Monsters with Cormond will see you going toe-to-toe against Varshan the Consumed, the newest Boss battle. Varshan weaponizes his hatred in the form of malicious blasts, hurls globs of corruption are far enemies, and stabs and swipes with his meaty tendrils to eviscerate even the hardiest of wanderers.

HOW SEASONAL CHARACTERS WORK

With Season of the Malignant beginning on July 20, we wanted to take a moment to equip you with everything you need to know about Seasons. To participate in Seasons, a new character must be made on the Seasonal Realm. You do not need to purchase a Battle Pass or any add-ons to play the Seasonal content, but you must have completed the campaign on either the Eternal or Seasonal Realm with at least one character. Once you have completed the Campaign, any Seasonal character will start the game with:

• The option to skip the Campaign.
• Your Mount available immediately.
• All previously discovered Altars of Lilith unlocked, and the corresponding Renown for them.
• All previously discovered areas of the map revealed, and the corresponding renown for them.

Once the Season has ended, the character you made and its progress will be transferred to the Eternal Realm. All items you collected, including in your Seasonal stash, will be transferred too. You can take this character into Sanctuary whenever you please, but Season-specific features (such as Malignant Hearts) will no longer be accessible. Starting on July 18, we strongly recommend you log in to Diablo IV with your most progressed Eternal Realm character. Doing so ensures that the progress you made in the campaign, and with discovering the map and unlocking Altars of Lilith, carries over from your Eternal Realm character to your new Seasonal Realm character.

Our Beliefs Behind Seasons

Seasons provide us with an opportunity to introduce innovative gameplay mechanics into Sanctuary for a limited time. Because Seasons reset, we can create crazy, fun Season themes without needing to worry about balancing it with the mechanics introduced in past or future Seasons—we start from a strong Eternal Realm baseline and build on top of it. Seasons are also a place for players to explore and tinker. We encourage you to try a new Class or different builds for a Class you’ve grown fond of—our Seasons are a chance to get creative! Additionally, Seasons present an equal playing field. Our Seasons are designed for new characters to conquer the nightmarish challenges brought on by a Season’s theme and to progress through the Seasonal Journey together.

EARN REWARDS WITH THE SEASON JOURNEY AND BATTLE PASS

As you hunt down Malignant Monsters for their build-enhancing Hearts and partner with Cormond to discover the source of the corruption, you’ll earn rewards from the Season Journey and Battle Pass. The Season Journey is broken into Chapters with tasks to complete. As you progress through the Journey, you’ll earn rewards befitting Sanctuary’s defenders, such as new Legendary Aspects, a Mastery Title, and a Scroll of Amnesia, which provides a free Skill Tree and Paragon Board reset. The Journey also yields Favor—the resource used to climb through the Battle Pass’ Tiers—which is earned naturally by playing the game as well. The Season of the Malignant Battle Pass begins on July 20, 10 a.m. PDT and hosts 90 Tiers, consisting of 27 Free Tiers and 63 Premium Tiers. Smoldering Ashes are earned from the Free Tiers, which can be spent on Season Blessings that provide you with a bonus to earning experience, Gold, or Obols depending on the Blessing you choose. The bonuses gained from Season Blessings only last until Season of the Malignant ends. If you get the Premium Battle Pass, not only will the rewards of the Free Tiers be yours to wield as you choose, but Awoken Armor Sets, Mount and Mount Armor, Platinum, and more await you as well! All Cosmetics in the Battle Pass are Class-agnostic, giving you additional ways to showcase the fantasy of all your characters. The Premium and Accelerated Battle Passes do not contain any rewards that grant bonuses to power. If you purchased the digital Deluxe or Ultimate Edition of Diablo IV and want to redeem your Battle Pass for this Season, navigate to the Seasons section of the Shop and select the option to activate your Battle Pass. Players also have the option to skip Tiers by spending Platinum at a cost of 200 Platinum per Tier skip. Keep in mind that your Tier Skip might unlock a Tier that rewards Smoldering Ashes, but you must meet certain Character Level requirements to claim them.

ACQUIRE HELLISH NEW LOOKS FROM THE SHOP

We’re dialing up the heat in the Shop with new Equipment, Armor, Accessories, Mount and Mount Armor bundles that will have you slaying in style. Starting on July 20, you’ll want to browse Tejal’s wares—remember to check back often as she’ll update her stock throughout Season of the Malignant. One such rarefied find from the far reaches of Sanctuary is the elementally attuned Celestial Court Equipment bundle for the Sorcerer.

Patch Notes

Barbarian

• Azurewrath (Unique Sword): Lucky Hit - Your Core Skills have up to a 20% chance to Freeze enemies for 3 seconds and deal 0.75-1.5 Cold damage to them.

Druid

• Fleshrender (Unique One-Hand Mace): Debilitating Roar and Blood Howl deal 0.5-1.0 damage to Nearby Poisoned enemies.

Necromancer

• Lidless Wall (Unique Shield): Lucky Hit - While you have an active Bone Storm, hitting an enemy outside of a Bone Storm has up to a 5-25% chance to spawn an additional Bone Storm at their location. Each of your active Sacrifice bonuses increases the chance by 25% and the total number of additional Bone Storms you can have by +1.

Rogue

• Eaglehorn (Unique Bow): Penetrating Shot has a 30-80% chance to fire an arrow that bounces off walls and scenery. Hitting enemies from behind with Penetrating Shot will make them Vulnerable for 3 seconds.

Sorcerer

• The Oculus (Unique Wand): Gain the effect of the Teleport Enchantment for free. When you Evade using Teleport Enchantment, you are taken to a random location.

Developer’s Note: The Azurewrath and Fleshrender Unique Items have flat damage effects, which scale with power. For example, at 820 Item Power, Azurewrath deals between 3359-6718 damage.

7 New Legendary Aspects

General

• Audacity (Utility Aspect): When there are at least 5 Close enemies, Stun them for 2-4 seconds. This can only occur once every 20 seconds.
• Craven (Mobility Aspect): You gain 20-40% increased Movement Speed when moving away from Slowed or Chilled enemies.

Barbarian

• Ancestral Charge (Offensive Aspect): Charge calls forth 4 Ancients who also Charge, dealing 50-100% of normal damage.

Druid

• Subterranean (Offensive Aspect): Poison Creeper’s active also casts Landslide in a circle around you. Earth Skills deal 10-20% increased damage to Poisoned enemies.

Necromancer

• Gore Quills (Offensive Aspect): Blood Lance will consume Blood Orbs to also conjure lances from them. Each additional Blood Lance deals 20-50% of normal damage and prioritizes targeting un-lanced enemies.

Rogue

• Pestilent Points (Offensive Aspect): Every third cast of Puncture is Poison Imbued with 100-150% of normal potency.

Sorcerer

• Searing Wards (Offensive Aspect): After spending 200-100 Mana your next Firewall is free to cast and will destroy incoming Small Missiles.

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Bug Fixes

Accessibility

• Made various improvements from an accessibility perspective—primarily, many fixes to the Screen Reader where it failed to read specific elements.

Challenges

• Fixed multiple issues where specific Challenges wouldn’t provide the proper proper rewards or could not be completed.
• Fixed multiple issues where certain Challenges could be progressed through unintended means.
• Fixed multiple issues where players could gain progress for certain Challenges through the actions of other nearby players.
• Fixed multiple instances where activities that should count towards the criteria for some Challenges were not counted.
• Fixed an issue where players would not receive notifications for when one of their friends completed a Challenge.
• Fixed an issue where Feats of Strength were not accounted for when calculating Challenge completion percentage.
• The Feat of Strength, Final Slayer of the First Mother, now requires you to slay the Level 100 Pinnacle boss solo. The Silence is Hellish challenge remains unchanged.
• Fixed an issue where The Feats of Strength, One of the First and Earliest Experience, did not display all the titles they rewarded.

Cooperative Play

• Fixed an issue where the camera wasn’t functioning properly when players were far apart in Local Co-Op.
• Fixed an issue where NPC conversation boxes would overlap if multiple Local Co-Op players talked to the same NPC at the same time.
• Fixed an issue where the Rogue's Inner Sight would only fill up for one of the players in a Co-Op session.
• Fixed an issue where the Dark Potential challenge would be granted to both players when either player completed it, regardless of the other player's progress.
• Fixed multiple instances where quest progress would not properly synchronize, or quest progression could be blocked for Local Co-Op players.
• Fixed multiple issues that occurred during cutscenes for Co-Op players.

Dungeons

• Fixed an issue where the player would not be able to receive enough animus to progress through the Hallowed Ossuary dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where the Stone carving in the Fallen Temple capstone dungeon would duplicate.
• Fixed an issue where the Monster Regen affix in a Nightmare Dungeon would also affect structures in that dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where the Goatman and Shambling Corpse enemies would continuously respawn in the Forsaken Quarry dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where the Sentinel enemies would not have weapons in the Bastion of Faith dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where the Bastion of Faith dungeon could sometimes not be completed.
• Fixed an issue where the player could respawn behind a barrier in the Fallen Temple capstone dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where the map for the Crusader's Cathedral dungeon was incomplete.
• Fixed an issue where the Curse of Indolence and the Curse of the Weak would stack even while the player was dead in the Fallen Temple capstone dungeon.
• Fixed multiple instances where the Fog Door could not be progressed through in some dungeons.
• Fixed an issue where the Monster Thorns affix in Nightmare Dungeons was reflecting Physical damage, it will now properly reflect non-physical damage.
• Fixed an issue where Blood Boils would not properly spawn in the Kor Dragan Barracks dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where Traps would deal more damage than intended.
• Fixed an issue where level scaling in the Level 100 Pinnacle dungeon was inconsistent.
• Fixed an issue where the Awakened Glyphstone wouldn’t spawn if the party leader left the dungeon before the dungeon was completed.

Gameplay

Barbarian

• Fixed an issue where the number of enemies to defeat for the Barbarian Class quest Masters of Battle was not displayed.
• Fixed an issue where Iron Maelstrom could be cast more than 3 times rapidly casting War Cry.
• Fixed an issue where stacking the Berserk Ripping, Skullbreaker, and Anemia aspects would allow the player to deal extreme amounts of damage.
• Fixed an issue where the outer edge of the quakes granted to Hammer of the Ancients via The Aspect of Ancestral Echoes was dealing far more damage than intended.

Developer’s Note: We recognize this adjustment is a significant decrease to the Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian build, but we do not want its strength to be reliant on an underlying bug.

Druid

• Fixed an issue where Earth skills and the Pulverize skill would consume two Overpower buffs simultaneously.
• Fixed an issue where the bonus effect on Blood Howl from Nighthowler's Aspect would apply twice to Wolf companions but not at all for Ravens.
• Fixed an issue where Provocation passive stacks wouldn't update properly after adding more points to it.
• Fixed an issue where the automatic transformation from Insatiable Fury would cause the Ursine Strength key passive to not proc consistently.
• Fixed an issue where the Enhanced Pulverize buff would not remove itself while in town.
• Fixed an issue where seeking Tornados produced by Stormchaser's Aspect would not deal damage.
• Fixed an issue where Ravens' passive damage did not improve after the skill was upgraded.
• Fixed an issue where Rabies would deal no damage while standing very close to an enemy.
• Fixed an issue where Stormclaw's Aspect allowed Shred to do extreme amounts of damage.

Necromancer

• Fixed an issue where Necromancers could not obtain daggers from the Purveyor of Curiosities.
• Fixed an issue where the Necromancer’s Minions would have their life bonuses deactivated while in town.
• Fixed an issue where Bone Spear cast through Chilling Wind from an Elite enemy would increase the number of generated Echoes for that cast.
• Fixed an issue where Enhanced Bone Spear could cause erratic movement.
• Fixed an issue where cancelling Blood Mist when it's already off Cooldown would immediately recast it.

Rogue

• Fixed an issue where Shadow Step wouldn’t trigger the Aspect of Uncanny Treachery if the target was killed.
• Fixed an issue where Advanced Penetrating shot would not knock down other players in PvP play.
• Fixed an issue where Twisting Blades would not come back when the ability killed a Bloated Corpsefiend enemy.
• Fixed an issue where the Dash skill would not move the full distance if targeting an enemy while using a controller.
• Fixed an issue where the Eldritch Bounty Paragon node granted bonus resistances incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where Rapid Fire had an extra arrow VFX that behaved erratically.
• Fixed an issue where the Awakened Glyphstone wouldn't spawn for Rogue players using Improved Barrage.

Sorcerer

• Fixed an issue where the Firebolt Enchantment effect did not contribute to the Combustion key passive.
• Fixed an issue where the passive stacks generated by Align the Elements could partially reset in an unexpected way.
• Fixed an issue where casting Deep Freeze would prevent the Ice Shard Enchantment effect from triggering.
• Fixed an issue where Aspect of Control was applying its damage bonus 3 times for Staggered bosses.
• Fixed an issue where the Gravitational Aspect was appearing weaker on two-handed weapons or amulets.
• Fixed an issue where the Enchantment effect for Chain Lightning had no visual tracking bonus and could also unexpectedly drop off.
• Fixed an issue where Incinerate would immediately cost 30 mana when cast in addition to the consistent channeling mana cost. Incinerate now properly only costs mana as it is being channeled.

General

• Fixed multiple instances where players could unnaturally teleport during boss encounters.
• Fixed an issue where a chest in the Western Ways could be interacted with infinitely.
• Fixed an issue where the Eriman NPC couldn’t be interacted with in certain situations.
• Fixed an issue where otherwise breakable objects in the world would not be broken when evading through them.
• Fixed multiple instances where the player could avoid damage from bosses if they positioned themselves in a specific location.
• Fixed an issue where Forged Relics could not be interacted with.
• Fixed an issue where monsters with a Cold, Bleeding, Burning, or Corruption affix would freeze players in 1 hit in Nightmare Dungeons with the Cold Enchanted affix.
• Fixed an issue where Cold Enchanted monsters froze players more often than intended in higher World Tiers.
• Fixed an issue where a chest could spawn that would provide infinite loot.

Helltide and the Fields of Hatred

• Fixed an issue where the player could be damaged by the Helltide firestorm while standing in Jirandai.
• Fixed an issue where enemies resurrected by Shamans would continuously drop Aberrant Cinders in Helltide.
• Fixed an issue where Chain Lightning could bounce infinitely between the caster and other player characters standing in a Fields of Hatred town.
• Fixed an issue where Crackling Energy could hit other players in a Fields of Hatred town. (We know, shocking!)
• Fixed an issue where players could not see other players that they should when re-entering the Alzuuda Fields of Hatred Zone.
• Fixed an issue where certain areas in the Fields of Hatred would be incorrectly flagged as a Town, rendering players unable to cast Skills while still being able to be damaged.

Items and Aspects

• Fixed an issue where the Cost reduction bonus from the Ring of Starless Skies could unexpectedly drop off.
• Fixed an issue where the Aspect of the Protector would trigger its barrier effect after destroying a breakable object.
• Fixed an issue where the Ring of Misfortune had incorrect stats.
• Fixed an issue where the Ember Staff weapon didn’t apply the bonus damage to Crowd Controlled enemies, which is inherent for all Stave-type weapons.
• Fixed an issue where any character menu interaction would reset the bonus granted by the Inner Calm aspect.
• Fixed an issue where the Maximum Life affix on the Mark of the Conclave quest item was scaling improperly.
• Fixed an issue where Aspect power would also increase when upgrading an item at the Blacksmith.
• The level requirement for Sacred Items will now cap at level 60.
• The level requirement for Ancestral Items will now cap at level 80.
• Fixed an issue where the Mother's Embrace Unique Ring did not trigger properly with several abilities.

Monsters

• Fixed an issue where items of higher power than intended were dropping from rare monsters.
• Fixed an issue where the Warg's jumping attack dealt no damage when passing through the player.
• Fixed an issue where the Pitiless Gur monster would endlessly run around in circles.
• Fixed an issue where the lightning-enhanced Champion Goatman would fail to deal damage to the player.
• Fixed an issue where monsters with the Suppressor Affix would be immune to damage from abilities that started initially outside the immunity circle (Ex: when a Barbarian started a Whirlwind cast before getting within proper range of the Suppressor monster).
• Fixed an issue where clones of a monster with the Suppressor affix could also have the Suppressor affix.
• Fixed an issue where Treasure Goblins would behave erratically if initially engaged from a long distance.
• Fixed multiple other issues where monster behavior could not perform properly and could be exploited in some cases.

Quests and Events

• Fixed an issue where the progress bar could not fill during the Caravan Under Siege event.
• Fixed an issue where the Putrid Remains enemies could remain idle during the Defiled Ground event.
• Fixed an issue where Champion enemies could not spawn during the Ancient Obelisk event.
• Fixed multiple issues where using Traversals could cause Elite and Boss monsters to disappear during multiple events.
• Fixed an issue where Radiant and Greater Radiant chests would not spawn when completing the Fearful Bones event.
• Fixed an issue where the Cursed Chest event could not be completed.
• Fixed an issue where the Defiled Ground even in Hawezar would have a respawn point much further away than intended.
• Fixed an issue where unique drowned enemies spawned during events in the Forgotten Coastline could be invulnerable to damage.
• Fixed an issue where the Suppressor Monster Affix's effects would be active on containers and furniture inside the dungeon during the Remnants quest.
• Fixed an issue where the player could teleport through the Ancient Gate and block progression during the Storming the Gates quest.
• Fixed an issue where progression could be blocked during the Flesh and Blood quest.
• Fixed an issue where quest dungeons did not reset if the associated quest was abandoned.
• Fixed an issue where the quest tracker would be missing if the player re-entered the game during the Picking Through the Bones quest.
• Fixed an issue where not enough monsters would spawn to fulfill the requirements for completing the Hungering Necrolyte's Cache quest.
• Fixed an issue where an enemy was missing when progressing through the Lost Archives dungeon during the Legacy of the Magi quest.
• Fixed an issue where the Immemorial Inscription could not be read during the Augury of Bones quest.
• Fixed an issue where the player character couldn’t face to speak to an NPC when initiating dialogue for multiple quests.
• Fixed an issue where the ghost body of Bakira could remain visible after being defeated during the True Potential Rogue class quest.
• Fixed an issue where outside party members could influence the progression of the Bad Blood quest.
• Fixed an issue where the player could be blocked from reentering the boss’ area after dying during the fight against Elias in the Piercing the Veil quest.
• Fixed various other issues where quest progression could be blocked.

User interface and User Experience

• Fixed an issue where the mini-map didn’t accurately depict the game world during the The Blind Eye quest.
• Fixed an issue where the map was incomplete for the Loch Raeth region in Scosglen.
• Fixed an issue where a portion of the map was invisible in the Exalter Terrace dungeon.
• Fixed an issue where the Mad Bomber title would not display for enemies encountered through the Whisper of the same name.
• Fixed an issue where articles in the News Feed could not be opened using Mouse & Keyboard.
• Fixed an issue where the You have cross network play enabled message was being sent to chat each time a campaign quest objective was completed.
• The Cult Leader Paragon passive no longer appears above hostile Minions in PvP.
• Fixed an issue where the bonus from the Ballistic Aspect displayed +0 to skills instead of +2 on the bonus bar.
• Fixed an issue where Sigil sorting was inconsistent between Inventory and the Stash.
• Fixed an issue where the Social tab on the Action Wheel editing window would be skipped when navigating on Controller.
• Fixed an issue where the amount of gold would not properly display when trading gold in large quantities.
• Fixed an issue where item comparison numbers would be inaccurate if the item in question had a Gem socketed that granted a stat that was also present on the base of the item.
• Fixed an issue where images would not properly load in the News Feed on the main menu.
• Fixed multiple issues with Map Pin functionality.
• Fixed multiple issues where Quest and Whisper markers weren't displaying properly.
• Various improvements to the consistency and clarity of Messaging, Skill description, and Tooltips.
• Various other UI and UX Improvements.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an issue where the Completion music for defeating Avarice could start playing before the boss was defeated. (Always confirm your kills before celebrating, wanderers)
• Fixed an issue where players couldn't send Battle.net friend requests to friends playing on console.
• Fixed an issue where players could confirm if Hardcore mode was enabled after logging in with a new character.
• Fixed an issue where players that haven't unlocked a higher World Tier could be invited into a higher World Tier party.
• Fixed an issue where players couldn't transfer leadership of a Clan.
• Fixed an issue where the sender of the party invite would not be informed that the invite failed due to incompatibility with campaign prologue progress.
• Fixed an issue where Nafain's spear would duplicate in the cutscene where the player picks it up.
• Fixed an issue where Meshif's camel made no noises.
• Fixed an issue where there was no sound when Lorath kicks Meshif awake.
• Various other Improvements.

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Loading Screen Updates

We've added more dynamic loading screens with the release of Season of the Malignant. This includes adding more assets to the loading screen, such as your player character.

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Gameplay Updates

General

• Altar of Lilith Unlocks are now account wide.
• Map discovery is now account wide.
• Whispers will no longer reward Sigil Dust.
• Overall loot quality has been significantly improved for Silent Chests.
• The channel time for the Leave Dungeon ability has been increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
• We have generally reduced the tendency for many monsters to move around in combat, so that melee characters don't have to chase down their enemies as much.
• Added PS5 Dual Sense Edge Wireless controller support for PC.
• Renown Value Adjustments:
  • Side Quest Renown reward values increased from 20 to 30.
  • Dungeon Renown reward values increased from 30 to 40

Developer’s Note: This change is retroactive and the additional renown gain will be applied to characters who have already completed side quests and dungeons.

World Tier

• World Tier II has had the following bonuses added:
  • Bonus Gold: Increased from 15% to 20%.
  • Monsters now drop 15% more items.

Developer’s Note: We like where World Tier II has landed overall but are increasing its reward pace to better align with its difficulty.

• Level scaling inside dungeons and most overworld territories has been adjusted in World Tiers III and IV. Monsters will begin to trail behind the player in Level after a certain point (up to a maximum of 5 Levels behind). This change does not affect World Bosses, Legion Events, Fields of Hatred, Helltide, or Nightmare Dungeons.

Developer’s Note: We want to give players a better sense of their power progression and mastery over the world while still challenging themselves with structured End Game activities.

World Tier III Example:

• If the the player's Level is below 55, the monster's Level is 55.
• If the player’s Level is 56-60, the monster’s Level is 55.
• If the player’s Level is 61, the monster’s Level is 56.
• If the player’s Level is 62, the monster’s Level is 57, etc. (from this point the monsters will always be -5 until World Tier III's max monster Level of 70).

World Tier IV Example:

• If the player’s Level is below 75, the monster’s Level is 75.
• If the player’s Level is 76-80, the monster Level is 75.
• If the player’s Level is 81, the monster’s Level is 76.
• If the player’s Level is 82, the monster’s Level is 77, etc. (from this point the monsters will always be -5).

Experience

• Reward experience for completing Whispers in World Tiers III and IV has been significantly increased.

Developer’s Note: We have observed that the experience bonus rewarded for killing higher level monsters escalates too fast when compared to the relative challenge involved. We still want to reward players for taking on this challenge by encouraging them to participate in powerleveling together instead of one player killing enemies while another member of their Party waits at the dungeon’s entrance.

• We are adjusting bonus experience rewards for killing monsters that are a higher Level than the player.
  • Pre-Season of the Malignant bonuses:
    • 1 Level higher: +15%.
    • 2 Levels higher: +20%.
    • 3+ Levels higher: +25%.
  • Post-Season of the Malignant:
    • 1.5% bonus per Level up to 10 Levels.
      • Ex:
        • +1 level: +1.5%.
        • +2 levels: +3%.
        • +10 levels: +15%.
• We are also adjusting experience rewards for monster Level offsets for higher World Tiers.
  • Current World Tier Level offsets
    • World Tier II: Up to +3.
    • World Tier III: Up to +10.
    • World Tier IV: Up to +100.
  • We are changing this to
    • World Tier II: Up to +3 (Unchanged).
    • World Tier III: Up to +6.
    • World Tier IV: Up to +10.
  • For Example:
    • You are Level 1. Your friends bring you to World Tier IV and leave you at the entrance of a dungeon. They start killing Level 100 monsters.
      • Prior to Season of the Malignant, you get:
        • (Level 100 Monster XP) * (1 + 25%)
      • After Season of the Malignant, you get:
        • (Level 11 Monster XP) * (1 + 15%)

Helltide

Developer’s Note: We're looking to increase the danger in Helltide's risk-reward gameplay by making the monsters a bit more challenging and the Tortured Gift of Mysteries harder to open.

• Helltide monsters are now 3 Levels higher than the player instead of 2.
• The Tortured Gift of Mysteries chest has had its cost increased to 250 Aberrant Cinders from 175.
• All interactable objects in Helltide zones now have a small chance of dropping Aberrant Cinders.

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Balance Updates

Developer’s Note: As our community continues to battle the Burning Hells, the builds emerging from new players have shocked and delighted us. We've chosen to focus Season of the Malignant’s balance updates on clear itemization disparities over redesigns of Class features. The Class changes are largely focused on numeric increases to Skill Upgrades and Legendary Aspects that players haven't yet found compelling. Additionally, we're changing Critical Strike Damage Paragon Glyphs to empower all damage—instead of only Core Skills—to enable more build strategies. There are also a few Class stat decreases on sources which grant extreme amounts of damage, healing, or Unstoppable. In general, we prefer build-specific changes to be bonuses instead of decreases, but we feel these changes are necessary for the overall health of the game. Diablo IV is a game that is continually evolving through its Seasons, thus the adjustments we make will evolve with them.

The following balance updates apply to both the Seasonal and Eternal Realm.

General

Aspects

• Aspect of Disobedience maximum stacks reduced from 100 to 60, reducing maximum Bonus Armor % from 25%-50% to 15%-30%.
• Aspect of Retribution bonus damage to Stunned reduced from 20-40% to 10-20%.
• Exploiter's Aspect bonus damage to Unstoppable reduced from 20-50% to 20-40%.
• Starlight Aspect Resource restore increased from 10-20 to 20-40.

Items

• The Butcher's Cleaver Slow increased from 40-75% to 61-75%.
• Drop Rate Adjustments:
  • Increased bonus to drop Ancestral and Sacred items in Nightmare Dungeons from +5% to +10%.
  • Removed a 20% chance to drop an extra equipment item from Elite monsters outside of Nightmare Dungeons and Helltide.
  • Increased chance to drop an extra equipment item from Elite monsters in Nightmare Dungeons and Helltide by +10%.
  • Nightmare Dungeons now have a 50% chance to drop a 2nd Legendary item upon completion.
  • Nightmare Dungeons now give 3 rare items upon completion, up from 1.

Monsters

• Increased monster HP scaling from 85% to 100% bonus per extra player in a party.

Miscellaneous

• Adjusted the scaling of the Greed Shrine to improve its effectiveness throughout the game.
• World bosses now drop potions more often.
• There is no longer a limit to how many materials you can refine into higher materials at once.

Item Affixes

Developer’s Note: Many Affixes are too efficient and are outshining alternatives. We’re looking to refine the outliers, improve the number of meaningful choices on competitive slots, and increase the overall flexibility of items. We know these changes will reduce the total amount of possible power a character can possess, so we'll be monitoring how these changes affect players’ ability to conquer expected milestones throughout the Season.

We’re increasing the availability of the Affixes below to make them easier to include in different builds.

• Control Impaired Duration Reduction: Can now appear on Pants.
• Barrier Generation: Can now appear for all Classes. It will also begin dropping later in the game.
• Lucky Hit Chance while You Have a Barrier: Can now appear for all Classes. Reduced by ~12% when on Helm and ~20% when on Amulet or Offhand.
• Mastery Skill Damage: Newly added; can appear on Sorcerer Weapons. Scales identically to Core Skill Damage.
• Resistance to All Elements: Can now appear on Shields.

Developer’s Note: The Core Stat bonus on Weapons has been overperforming, so we're pulling back on this bonus.

• Strength: 50% Stronger when on Weapons -> 25% Stronger when on Weapons.
• Dexterity: 50% Stronger when on Weapons -> 25% Stronger when on Weapons.
• Intelligence: 50% Stronger when on Weapons -> 25% Stronger when on Weapons.
• Willpower: 50% Stronger when on Weapons -> 25% Stronger when on Weapons.

Developer’s Note: Cooldown Reduction affixes often felt mandatory due to their raw power. We imagine Cooldown Reduction will remain a highly desirable stat, but the penalty for not prioritizing it won’t be as harsh.

• Cooldown Reduction: Reduced by ~30%.
• Imbuement Skill Cooldown Reduction: Reduced by ~30%.
• Trap Skill Cooldown Reduction: Reduced by ~30%.

Developer’s Note: We're seeing Critical Strike Damage and Vulnerable Damage often viewed as a hard requirement for a build's success in Diablo IV. We believe this is a step towards allowing more builds to flourish and will continue to make changes in support of this goal.

• Critical Strike Damage: Reduced by ~17%.
• Lightning Critical Strike Damage: Reduced by ~17%.
• Critical Strike Damage with Bone, Earth, Imbued, and Werewolf Skills: Reduced by ~17%.
• Vulnerable Damage: Reduced by ~40%.

Developer’s Note: Disparities in inherent affixes can rule some Weapons out before the rest of their stats are even rolled. These are receiving harsher reductions than their normal affix counterparts to increase Weapon flexibility.

• Critical Strike Damage (Inherent on Swords): Reduced by ~50%.
• Vulnerable Damage (Inherent on Crossbows): Reduced by ~65%.

Developer’s Note: Damage Bonus to Crowd Controlled Enemies was overperforming relative to the ease of activating it versus stricter, Crowd Control type-specific affixes.

• Damage to Crowd Controlled Enemies: Decreased by ~30%.
• Damage to Frozen Enemies: Increased by ~20%.

Developer’s Note: We have seen that skillful players are frequently slaughtering monsters many levels above their own. We want to support this, but the current situation is beyond what we believe is correct for the long-term health of the game. To chase this goal, we're shifting power to many offensive Affixes from defensive Affixes. We know this will make our end game content more deadly, particularly for those chasing our pinnacle boss, an encounter not meant for the faint of heart. Overcoming the pinnacle boss will take every ounce of grit you can muster and all tools at your disposal. We will continue to evaluate feedback from the community and make changes to our combat mechanics.

• Physical Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Fire Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Cold Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Lightning Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Poison Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Shadow Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Non-Physical Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Physical Damage Over Time: Increased by ~40%.
• Fire Damage Over Time: Increased by ~40%.
• Shadow Damage Over Time: Increased by ~40%.
• Damage with Two-Handed Bludgeoning Weapons: Increased by ~25%.
• Damage with Two-Handed Slashing Weapons: Increased by ~25%.
• Damage with Dual-Wielded Weapons: Increased by ~25%.
• Damage with Ranged Weapons: Increased by ~25%.
• Damage with Skills that Swap to New Weapons: Increased by ~25%.
• Damage while in Human Form: Increased by ~25%.
• Damage while Shapeshifted: Increased by ~25%.
• Blood Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Bone Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Brawling Skill Damage: Increased by ~33%.
• Companion Skill Damage: Increased by ~33%.
• Conjuration Skill Damage: Increased by ~33%.
• Cutthroat Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Darkness Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Earth Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Frost Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Imbued Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Imbuement Skill Damage: Increased by ~33%.
• Marksman Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Pyromancy Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Shock Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Storm Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Summoning Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Trap Skill Damage: Increased by ~33%.
• Weapon Mastery Skill Damage: Increased by ~33%.
• Werebear Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Werewolf Skill Damage: Increased by ~25%.
• Total Armor: Reduced by ~30%.
• Attack Speed for 4 Seconds after Dodging an Attack: Increased by ~20%.
• Damage for 4 Seconds after Dodging an Attack: Increased by ~20%.
• Total Armor while in Werebear Form: Reduced by ~25%.
• Total Armor while in Werewolf Form: Reduced by ~25%.
• Damage Reduction from Close Enemies: Reduced by ~20%.
• Damage Reduction from Distant Enemies: Reduced by ~20%.
• Damage Reduction from Enemies that are Bleeding: Reduced by ~25%.
• Damage Reduction from Enemies that are Burning: Reduced by ~25%.
• Damage Reduction from Enemies that are Poisoned: Reduced by ~25%.
• Damage Reduction from Enemies that are affected by Shadow Over Time: Reduced by ~25%.
• Damage Reduction while Fortified: Reduced by ~25%.