In Action RPG's (ARPG's), a new Season is an incredibly exciting time to play the game you love in new ways. Everyone starts off fresh during a new Season, with level 1 Characters and most of the progress from the Eternal realm wiped clean. This may seem like a confusing concept to new players in the genre, but I promise this is what allows ARPG's to stay fresh and fun for years to come. Each Season lasts for ~3 months, giving you plenty of time to enjoy all of the new content. Let's get through this Diablo 4 Season overview, so you can hit the ground running and jump into this rewarding gameplay experience.
How Do I Play The Season?
To participate in the Season, you need to make a Seasonal character. Diablo 4's first season goes live on July 20th at 1 p.m. ET. When this happens the ability to select Seasonal in gameplay options during character creation. If you've already completed the Campaign you can also select "Skip Campaign" to jump straight into the open-world with all game features fully unlocked and the ability to begin any Seasonal Journey and quest lines added to the new season.
Season 1 of Diablo 4 is the Season of the Malignant. The quest line and mechanics of this Season are only available during this time. While some very popular mechanics or content may eventually find its way into the base Diablo 4 experience, you should assume that you only get to play with these new mechanics during the Season they're featured in.
Season Quest Line
"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 without hesitation. Wanderers will investigate this mysterious malady in a new Questline with the help of Cormond, a former priest of the Cathedral of Light, who also trains you to capture the Malignant Hearts fueling these foul beasts and convert them into build-altering powers. The malignancy that’s taken hold of the Burning Hells’ armies cannot remain unchecked—you must snuff it out at the source before all of Sanctuary becomes its thrall."
Once your character is created, you want to enjoy the new content the Season has to offer. For Season 1 of Diablo 4 we meet Cormond in Kyovashad, the Capital City that new Characters begin in when they skip the Campaign.
What About Eternal Realm Characters?
Your Eternal Realm Characters, the ones you may have played during this first pre-Season experience, are still there... forever. That's what it means to be Eternal. All of your gear and progression stays there for as long as you keep them. Once you hit the end of a new Season, your Seasonal characters rotate into the Eternal Realm. Any special Seasonal mechanic based items you gain do not enter into the Eternal Realm. While all other progression, gear and materials/currency you accumulated does enter into Eternal collection.
Many people play Seasons to experience the new content and Seasonal themes/mechanics and to try out new characters or builds they have not played before. When these new characters rotate into the Eternal Realm, many players use them to build perfect versions of those builds. They farm or trade for Best-in-Slot gear, and typically end up testing their mettle in Player vs Player (PvP) content.
Some Renown Progress Carries Over
In Season 1 and beyond, a portion of your Renown transfers to all characters on your account once unlocked. This means you are significantly stronger and level faster. You need 200 Renown in each region to unlock +1 Skill Point, and 300 additional Renown to unlock +1 Potion Capacity. Having +5 Skill Points and +5 Potion Charges makes the early levels a breeze and in most zones you only need a few Side Quests, Strongholds, Waypoints, or Dungeons to reach 900 Renown and unlock another Skill Point.
This also means that for every Season moving forward, you never need to complete the Campaign, search for Altars of Lillith or fully explore the map ever again. Taking a lot of the grunt work out, so you can enjoy the Seasonal content faster! Keep in mind that Hardcore and Softcore character's progression is tracked separately. So if you're interested in trying out either play style later on, you should probably complete these three tasks on one of each character type.
| Zone | Areas Discovered (Renown) | Altars of Lillith (Renown) | Total |
| Fractured Peaks | 76 (380) | 28 (280) | 660 |
| Dry Steppes | 51 (255) | 33 (330) | 585 |
| Hawezar | 56 (280) | 34 (340) | 620 |
| Kehjistan | 54 (270) | 31 (310) | 580 |
| Scosglen | 70 (350) | 34 (340) | 690 |
For more information on the best way to reach 2000 Renown stay tuned for our upcoming Renown Speed Run Guide!
Season Journey
As you hunt down Malignant Monsters for their Hearts youl earn rewards from the Season Journey and Battle Pass. The Season Journey is broken into Chapters with tasks to complete. There are 7 chapters for the Season Journey, with a number of objectives per chapter to accomplish before moving on to the next. You DO NOT have to complete all objectives of a chapter to move to the next one. Rewards for completing a Season's Journey include new Aspects in the Codex of Power, in game currencies and materials as well as Favor which is used to level up the Battle Pass, a Mastery Title and a Scroll of Amnesia, which provides a free Skill Tree and Paragon Board reset!
Battle Pass
The Battle Pass plays a key part in taking your day-to-day progress in the world and translating that into rewards, unlocks and Season Blessings. Rewards from the Battle Pass include exclusive Seasonal Cosmetics, and Smoldering Ashes: A new currency used to unlock permanent bonuses to more grindy aspects of the game, during the Season. You can increase Gold gained from selling items, Experience gain, Elixir duration for putting attempts into the Pinnacle Boss and increasing the chance of getting more powerful Malignant Hearts.
The Battle Pass is completely FREE and the Smoldering Ashes are rewarded from the free track. There are also more premium Cosmetics which exist on a pay-walled track of the Battle Pass:
- Free Battle Pass - 27 Reward Tiers. (Smoldering Ashes are Free Tier Rewards only).
- Premium Battle Pass - Includes all the Free Battle Pass perks plus 63 additional Reward Tiers for a total of 90. All additional rewards are cosmetic only. Can collect Coldiron Armor Set for each class (Base + Awoken versions), Warded Mustang Mount (Base + Awoken versions) and Coldiron Barding Mount Armor (Base + Awoken versions) as well. Costs 1,000 Platinum (equivalent of $9.99 USD)
- Accelerated Battle Pass - Includes all the Free and Premium Battle Pass perks, as well as 20 Tier Skips and "On the Warpath" Emote. Cost 2,800 Platinum (equivalent of $24.99 USD).
Summary
- Seasonal Characters offer a new an exciting way to play Diablo 4, by starting off at Level 1 with new quest lines and mechanics to dig into. Try a new character or build you haven't before for even more variety!
- Eternal Realm characters stay there, eternally. When a Season ends, the Seasonal Characters rotate into the Eternal Realm with all of their gear and progression, minus any Season specific items they acquired during their play time.
- The Season's Journey gives a new progression path to help guide players through Seasonal mechanics and typically rewards you with new Codex of Power Aspects as well are Favor, used to progress the Battle Pass.
- The Battle Pass is a free feature, with a premium cost that only allows for unlocking exclusive cosmetics, and never in game power! Battle Pass progression gets your Smoldering Ashes, a unique currency used to level up bonuses to things like Gold and Experience gain to make the Season experience better and faster.
Credits
Written by MacroBioBoi
Reviewed by Raxxanterax