Diablo 4's first season is set to arrive very soon, treating layers to three months of new endgame activities and reasons to carry on playing.
Long-time Diablo players will know that finishing the main Diablo 4 campaign doesn't mean that the hellish fun is set to end. Diablo 4 Season 1, officially named the Season of the Malignant only confirms this, which is set to provide even more endgame content outside of limited-time World Bosses and Helltide events. It's set to drop later this month if developer Activision Blizzard is to be believed, meaning players won't have to wait much longer to enter the Seasonal Journey and unlock unique rewards that come with the 100-tier battle pass.
Diablo 4 Season 1 is something Activision Blizzard had talked about even in the months leading up to launch. This is because seasons have also been a large part of both Diablo 3 and Diablo 2: Resurrected since they launch, both of which have been supported for years after. But if you're curious about how Diablo 4 Season 1 will operate and how you can best be prepared ahead of time, here's all the essential information you need to know before Season of the Malignant official arrives.
Diablo 4 Season 1: release date and start time
The Diablo 4 Season 1 release date is Thursday, July 20. It's officially called the Season of the Malignant, and sees the map of Sanctuary changed by an ongoing corruption that will have some enemies in the Seasonal Realm transformed into a malignant variant. Your main goal in the season is to defeat these malignants, because they will then drop malignant hearts that you are then able to insert into special types of gear. No official start time has been revealed by Activision Blizzard just yet, but it's expected to roll out worldwide simultaneously similarly to how the game launched back at the start of June.
Diablo 4 Season 1: Battle Pass
One of the few aspects of Diablo 4 Season 1 that has been detailed is the battle pass. Activision Blizzard continues to stress that the Diablo 4 Battle Pass isn’t a mandatory purchase for players who want to enjoy seasonal content, which was revealed in a Diablo 4 Campfire Chat livestream to be happening quarterly – once every three months. It made evident in a blog post made as far back as over a year ago that the developers insisted “you can’t pay for power in Diablo 4” with regards to seasonal content, meaning battle pass tier unlocks are purely cosmetic.
In an interview with MMORPG Activision Blizzard revealed that the Diablo 4 Season 1 Battle Pass – consisting of 90 tiers, each offering players a specific cosmetic reward – will take around 80 hours to fully complete. Similar to how other live service games like Fall Guys or Call of Duty handle battle pass content, the Diablo 4 Battle Pass will feature several free tiers. A total of 27 Diablo 4 Battle Pass tiers will be free to everyone in Season 1, while the remaining 63 will be exclusive to those willing to buy in.
Here's a breakdown of how much the Diablo 4 Battle Pass will cost:
- Free – free to everyone (27 reward tiers)
- Premium – £8.39 / $9.88 / AU$14.95 (63 tier rewards)
- Accelerated – £20.99 / $24.99 / AU$ /$37.45 (63 tier rewards, with 20 skips)
The Accelerated version of the Diablo 4 Battle Pass features the exact same 67 tiers as the Premium, with the exception that players have the option to skip through 20 tiers as and when they’d like. There’s also an cosmetic item exclusive to the Accelerated Diablo 4 Battle Pass.
Diablo 4 Season 1: starting requirements
In order to enjoy Diablo 4 Season 1 on day one, there’s a bit of preparation you’ll need to conduct ahead of time. You’ll need to have completed the campaign once on at least World Tier 1, although this character is not the one you’ll be able to play as during the first season. This caused quite the point of controversy when Rod Fergusson, general manager of Diablo, confirmed as such in a Twitter response to a fan. “To take part in the seasonal questline, mechanics, season journey and battle pass, you will need to create a new seasonal character,” he confirmed.
Fortunately, you won’t have to complete the entirety of the Diablo 4 campaign again to get started in the season. You simply need to start a new character class. At which point the map will mostly reset with strongholds, dungeons and some side quests refreshing, with the exception that when you complete them as part of Season 1 you’ll gain Favour. Favour is the currency you earn by gaining XP, which in turn is used to rank up the Diablo 4 battle pass.
Diablo 4 Season 1: new content
Diablo 4 Season 1 is confirmed to bring with it a plethora of new questlines and content in what’s known as the Season Journey – described as the 'North Star' that will help players keep track of seasonal objectives and the various tasks required. This mainly revolves around the new malignant enemies, which can be tracked down and defeated in order to let you slot their hearts into high-level gear.
Playing through the Season Journey would appear to be the most ideal way to unlock the Diablo 4 Battle Pass tiers organically. From the one screenshot released thus far, most of the tasks seem to be tied to crafting certain items, speaking to specific NPCs in the world and completing a set amount of dungeons. There are seven chapters featured in the Seasonal Journey in total.
So far the Season Journey looks a lot more freeform than the main Diablo 4 campaign, though it is said to culminate in a challenging fight.
