With Season 9, Diablo 4 has received new content and revised old mechanics. A particular feature has come into focus, as it has suddenly appeared more frequently and is seriously annoying players during loot and leveling.
Season 9 started in Diablo 4 on July 1, 2025 and has introduced new content into the ARPG. Among other things, there are Horadric spells to enhance your builds. The Nightmare Dungeons have also been overhauled: new affixes on the seals and so-called “Escalation Nightmares,” where you run through three dungeons consecutively.
But a pesky mechanic that you encounter in battles against monsters seems to have been revised. Players believe it is related to the seasonal feature.
Hellbinders slow you down in battles
Which mechanic is plaguing players? In Diablo 4, there are attacks from monsters that slow you down or completely impede you, including the so-called Hellbinders. They spawn directly in combat and chain your character to a sort of pillar. Before you can move on, you either have to destroy the pillar or use a skill that makes you “unstoppable.”
On Reddit, a user posts a picture of this very feature and asks, “Worst new feature in Season 9?” Their opinion: You already get frozen and slowed down, now there’s another affix. It feels like an artificial gameplay delay. The community explains: This feature is not new, but it is definitely occurring much more frequently now.
What do other players say about it? Other players in the comments of the post are also sure that Hellbinders spawn much more frequently than before. Actual_Class9995 comments, “I’ve only been here since the last season and I might have seen them a few times. Now I’ve experienced more of them in three days than in the whole Season 8.”
And Woozletania reports, “I did a Nightmare Dungeon today – four groups with Hellbinders. In a single dungeon. That’s a bit excessive.”
What can you do about it? Effects like “unstoppable” are currently worth their weight in gold. Other users advise: If you deal enough damage, Hellbinders won’t last long anyway. And TheRealMortiferus even suspects that this was intentionally designed by the developers so that you use Horadric spells to counter annoying control effects from enemies. These two spells are particularly helpful:
- Thunderous Particle (Infusion): Deactivates all opposing suppression effects for 8 seconds
- is very effective against Hellbinders
- Glowing Remnants (Infusion): Deactivates all opposing Frost Wind effects for 8 seconds
Horadric spells are the central seasonal feature in Season 9, and their buffs can significantly ease your life. Many of them make you unstoppable or break down enemy barriers. You can find out how to obtain these spells and what effects they bring here: Diablo 4 Horadric spells: How the mechanics work in Season 9
