The Diablo Developer Update livestream scheduled for today has just ended, and there's plentiful news to share for both Diablo IV and Diablo Immortal! We've taken the liberty of synthesizing all the new information into a beautiful list for your convenience. Without further ado, let's get to it.

Diablo IV: Seasons, Caged Hearts, Battle Pass

The Diablo IV portion of the livestream was heavily focused on promoting the upcoming inaugural season of the game, but also promised a new patch dropping later today! The only thing we know about it so far is that Helltide chests will not be able to drop Unique items.

Seasons:

  • Season 1 (trailer above) is called Season of the Malignant and will start on the 20th of July.
  • The season story focuses on a new threat emerging after the events of the campaign, a corruption that grows within the hearts of beasts and demons (or probably anything you can kill)
  • This is described as a "new form of Lilith's corruption", which sounds like a more virulent strain of... evilness?
  • Friendly neighborhood NPC Cormond will be there to guide the story content. Cormond is a former priest of the Cathedral of Light.
  • The season story will be accessible to those who've completed the campaign.
  • Seasons will last a minimum of 12 weeks, but may be longer.
  • The Malignant Season's mechanics are not planned to be added to the Eternal realm for now, but Blizzard reserves the right to change their mind later down the line.

Content Skips:

  • Once you have completed the Campaign on either Eternal or a Seasonal realm, any Seasonal character you make will start the game with the following:
  • 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 pre-patch is live, logging into your character with the most progress in those two areas will propagate that progress to the entire account.
  • Once a season ends, your Seasonal characters, their progress, their items and their stash will transfer to the Eternal realm.

Season Mechanic:

  • Malignant Hearts are a new "gem" that drops from seasonal content. They can be socketed into jewelry and have unique legendary effects much like Diablo III's legendary gem system.
  • Any Elite enemy in the game can spawn as "Malignant".
  • If you come across a Cage of Binding, you can trigger a ritual spawning a stronger version of the Elite. It drops a Caged Heart.
  • There are 32 different powers that can be found on the Hearts.
  • Hearts come in four colors, denoting which type of socket they fit in.
  • The fourth "color" fits into any socket, much like Prismatic gems in World of Warcraft.
  • The Jeweler can provide your item with a colored socket, but the color will be random.
  • Hearts you don't need can be salvaged into "Invokers".
  • Malignant Tunnels are dungeons that have a higher chance of spawning Malignant enemies.
  • Using an Invoker at the end of a Tunnel allows you to spawn specific Malignants for target-farming certain colors of Hearts.
  • Malignant content will only start appearing after one character on the account has finished the campaign.
  • New boss, Varshan the Consumed, can be found in Malignant Tunnels.
  • 6 new Unique items and 7 new Legendary aspects coming with the season patch.

Battle Pass:

  • The battle pass has 90 tiers, 27 of which are on the free track.
  • All cosmetics on the battle pass are class agnostic, meaning the can be used on any class. One exception are weapon appearances (no axe sorceress!)
  • Cosmetics in Diablo IV will be transferable between Seasons.
  • The Season Journey is separated into 7 chapters, each chapter boasting its own objectives, much like Diablo III.
  • Completing objectives in the Season Journey will earn you Favor, which is a fancy name for Battle Pass XP. It is also alluded Favor will be tied to additional unique rewards or boons.
  • Favor will also be gained through regular gameplay.
  • Everyone will be able to access the Seasonal Journey and the battle pass within the Seasonal realm. Only the other 67 tiers of the battle pass will be locked behind a purchase.
  • Smoldering Ashes can be earned as Battle Pass rewards. They provide account-wide boons when unlocked, such as increased XP gain and better chances for rare materials when salvaging items.

Other Additions / Changes:

  • New legendary items and powers, as well as new Uniques coming with seasons will also drop in the Eternal realm.
  • The date for the Season of the Malignant pre-patch is the 18th of July. New items and balance updates will immediately be available on the Eternal realm, with only seasons and the seasonal content itself locked until the 20th of July.
  • There are long-term plans to improve the 'flow' of respeccing.
  • Scroll of Amnesia is a new item that lets you completely respec a character for free. It drops in Seasons and there's one on the battle pass as well.
  • Once Seasons begin, expect balance patches to occur at more regulated intervals, with rare surprise patches only in case of emergency.

Diablo Immortal: Blood Knight, New Class!

Diablo Immortal has an interesting surprise for us as well, with a new class, the first actual new class in the franchise in nearly 10 years. That really only means "since the Crusader released in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls", but hey, it counts!

General Information:

  • The Blood Knight releases on the 13th of July.
  • The Blood Knight will be free to play.
  • Major improvement to class-changing: You can change into a Blood Knight on a one-day cooldown and revert back for free if it's not your thing. The Class Change cooldown will only be removed for the first three weeks since the Blood Knight's release.
  • "Crimson Plane" events will allow you to test-drive the new class.
  • The Crimson Plane event will last three weeks and will be similar like the Fractured Plane event, but everyone will be a Blood Knight. Rewards will include Blood Knight cosmetics and legendary items.
  • There's a new legendary gem being added.
  • Cosmetics purchased before the Blood Knight's release will not be transferable to the new class.

The Blood Knight:

  • Described as supernatural, monstrous and vampiric.
  • Doomed to eventually succumb to their thrall curse, they pledge themselves to pushing back the darkness as long as they can.
  • Gameplay style: Melee hybrid with polearms, complemented by Shadow and Blood abilities. Abilities can be either melee or ranged depending on your proximity to the target.
  • Limited mobility but has access to legendary essences to close the gap.
  • Makes use of lifesteal effects.
  • Can transform into an "abomination". Fill up a bar by killing monsters, transform and voila, you've got a new skill bar with new abilities while transformed.
  • New set of legendaries coming to accommodate the new class.
  • Blood Knights will have full voice acting for the entire campaign.

Blood Knight Skills:

  • Ravage: Unleash a barrage of polearm thrusts and sweeps, dealing damage to an enemy and 25% as much to all other enemies.
  • Annihilation (Ultimate of Ravage): Enhance Ravage for 12 seconds, gaining an additional polearm in your off hand that increases your range and causes the final attack to knockback enemies. While empowered, Annihilation deals increased damage. You also gain a shield that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum Life for 3 seconds.
  • Shadow’s Edge (Unlocked at Level 34): Wield a blade of pure shadow energy that can be used to slash at nearby enemies, dealing damage. If there are no nearby enemies the blade will be thrown a short distance, dealing damage.
  • Shadow’s Embrace (Ultimate of Shadow’s Edge): Enhance Shadow's Edge for 12 seconds, throwing a volley of 5 shadow blades that penetrate enemies, dealing damage for each blade that strikes an enemy. You also gain a shield that absorbs damage equal to 20% of your maximum Life for 3 seconds.

Well, things are shifting into sixth gear for the Diablo franchise this summer. What are you thoughts on Diablo IV's seasonal system? What do you think of Immortal's Blood Knight class, does it fit the game universe? Let us know in the comments below!