It's worth stressing that the entire Season 1 story and mechanics can be enjoyed without purchasing the Season 1 battle pass. Blizzard has been keen to stress that there will be 27 free tiers to the battle pass which will allow you to earn cosmetics and Smoldering Ashes – a new resource which can be applied to the Season Blessing system, enabling you to invest in Seasonal Realm boosts such as more XP or improved Elixir effectiveness. The Diablo 4 battle pass is set to go live on July 20 alongside the Season of the Malignant. There are three socket colors but four different colored hearts, with the rare fourth being omni-color – as in, it can be socketed in any item and offer specific power sets that will change the way you pilot your character.

There are 32 new Malignant powers which can be unlocked each Malignant Heart you collect will have a specific color coding, with each corresponding to a socket color that appears on gear collected on the Seasonal Realm. These can be socketed into gear and offer an enormous amount of power – so much so that the Diablo 4 team has joked that 'broken builds' can be generated by being smart with the new item. The Diablo 4 caged heart is essentially a replacement for gems. This will summon Malignant enemies in the area and a powerful elite which, if defeated, can drop a new item called a caged heart.

Defeat it and it will expose a Malignant Heart which you can use a cage of binding on to begin a ritual. Regardless of whether you are exploring the open world with your original character or with a Seasonal character, you will always have a chance to encounter a Malignant enemy. Diablo 4 season 1 is introducing a suite of new mechanics, systems, and items – all stemming out of the plague spreading out across Sanctuary.

Diablo 4 blizzard release date