Breaking down everything coming in Diablo 4 season 1

By Kevin Colleran On Jul 20, 2023

Season of the Malignant is upon us

Players are not happy with the recent 1.1.0 patch for Diablo 4. Yet regardless of the controversy, the first season of Diablo 4, Season of the Malignant, releases later today. The patch was intended as a supplement to all the new features coming with the new season, so be sure to check out the patch notes if you’re interested in the gritty changes.

However, here we’re going to take a look at the new content and features introduced with Diablo 4 Season 1, Season of the Malignant.

Diablo 4 Cormond Quest — Image via Blizzard

All new questline

As Blizzard promised, the story will move forward with each season of Diablo 4. A new corruption has caused malignant monsters to emerge across Sanctuary. Players will team up with a former priest of the Cathedral of Light named Cormond who has a technique to capture the Hearts of the Malignant Creatures.

In order to embark on this new questline, you must have already completed the campaign. This counts whether you complete the campaign in the new season or if you have already finished it on a pre-season or Eternal Realm character.

You can find Cormond in Kyovashad to begin the new quest.

Diablo 4 Malignant Heart types — Image via Blizzard

Increase power with Malignant Hearts in Diablo 4 Season 1

As you capture these corrupted creatures, they will drop their Malignant Heart. Using a new quest item, the Cage of Binding, you can capture the Malignant Heart to gain its power.

This is the primary special feature of the new season. Each Heart will correspond with one of four unique colors and types. The orange Vicious Heart focuses on offensive power, the blue Brutal Heart on defensive power, the pink Devious Heart on utility power, and the black Wrathful Heart on super power. Each Malignant Heart will have its own effect with 32 possibilities. There are four unique Hearts for each class and 12 available to all classes.

Jewelry in this season will no longer have normal sockets but instead malignant sockets. These sockets will correspond with the colors of the Hearts, with the Wrathful Heart fitting in any socket.

Finally, you will be able to salvage the Malignant Hearts that are of no use to you into Ichor. This Ichor can then be used to craft new Hearts, allowing you to try and create one more tailored to your build.

Diablo 4 Malignant Tunnels — Image via Blizzard

Delve the Malignant Tunnels to find a brand new boss: Varshan the Consumed

New replayable dungeons have also popped up across Sanctuary in the form of Malignant Tunnels. There are six unique dungeons in total, each full of Malignant Monsters that need to be taken down. Inside you will come across malignant outgrowths. Using an item called Malignant Invokers, you can draw out a fully corrupted enemy from the outgrowth. Defeating the powerful creature will result in them dropping a specific type of Malignant Heart. This feature will allow you to attempt to farm a specific heart type, as opposed to relying entirely on RNG.

Once you’ve decimated enough Malignant Monsters you will draw out Varshan the Consumed, an all-new boss with Season of the Malignant.

Diablo 4 Season 1 Battle Pass — Image via Blizzard

Diablo 4 Season 1 debuts the Season Journey and Battle Pass

Diablo III players will recognize the return of the Season Journey. This feature is broken into chapters with tasks for you to complete while playing through the season. As you progress, you will unlock season-exclusive rewards such as titles and cosmetics. You will also receive rewards for your seasonal character to help jump-start your experience including Legendary Aspects and consumables.

Completing chapters in your Season Journey will also grant you Favor used to progress the battle pass. There’s a free track and a premium track of the battle pass. In total, there are 27 free tiers and 63 premium tiers. The free tiers grant Smoldering Ashes that you spend on Season Blessings which provide you with bonus experience, gold, or obols.

The premium track includes the rewards from the free track as well as some platinum and cosmetics including armor sets, mounts, and mount armor.

If you purchased the Digital Deluxe or Ultimate Edition of Diablo 4, you will have an unlock token for the premium Battle Pass. This token has one use, so make sure the rewards of this Battle Pass are of interest to you before using it!

That is pretty much everything that is coming in Diablo 4 Season 1. Season of the Malignant launches on July 20 at 1PM EST.

Steven Mills

Staff Writer – Steven has been writing in some capacity for over a decade now. He has a passion for story focused RPG’s like the Final Fantasy franchise and ARPG’s like Diablo and Path of Exile. But really, he’s willing to try anything.