Diablo 4 Season 1 Gets a Release Date, Adds the Malignant

By Ricky Frech

Diablo 4 players have been beating down the minions of Hell for just over a month now, which means it's just about time for developer Blizzard Entertainment to drop the first season. Today, Blizzard announced that the first season will be called the Season of the Malignant, which will task players with helping a character named Cormond in his quest to fight the Malignant curse that's overtaken Sanctuary since the events of the Diablo 4 base game. We've known for a while that the season would drop sometime in July, but today Blizzard announced that Season 1 is coming on July 20.

Cormond's quest in Season 1 will provide several new challenges and powers that will let players build out their characters in new ways. The Malignant will be integrated worldwide, which means some elite monsters will now have the Malignant trait. If you beat them, you can open a Malignant Heart that spawns an even more powerful elite. If you can beat them, you'll get a Caged Heart, which is a new item that you can socket into your gear that gives your items supercharged abilities. Think a Legendary Item, but this one can be socketed into your favorite pieces of jewelry. There are 32 of these powers, which is where all of the new builds will come from.

Of course, the new season will come with new bosses, Legendary items, and Unique weapons. The items will also drop in the Eternal Realm, so you'll be able to continue to progress your character even if you don't want to hop into Season 1. Remember, you'll need to create a new character to start up the season. This is not a continuation of the main campaign, instead, Blizzard calls it a "side campaign." It'll also come with the Season Journey and battle pass, both of which give you new rewards and cosmetics. 

As mentioned above, you'll need to make a new character to start up Season 1 in Diablo 4. You'll carry over the Fog of War and all Altars of Lillith, which means you'll have that Renown waiting for you when you start the season. Players will want to make sure they log in once the patch goes live with the character they've progressed the furthest with to make sure that progress is carried over to the new season.

Diablo 4 is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms. The Season of the Malignant drops on July 20, but the patch for the Eternal Realm will bring some of those updates on July 18. Until then, make sure you've completed the campaign and uncovered all of the Fog of War and Altars of Lillith ahead of time to bring as much progress forward as possible.

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