At the end of April, the second expansion for Diablo 4 will be released: Lord of Hatred. A new video now offers insights into the new area and the fresh enemy types. And to make matters worse, at the beginning … the greatest evil makes its appearance.
In Lord of Hatred, your hero sets off for Skovos – the new area from Lord of Hatred:
- The Skovos Islands are located in the south of Sanctuary, a bit west of Nahantu.
- They are oriented towards Greek aesthetics but also have an important lore background: On the islands, Inarius and Lilith spent a lot of time and created the first civilization in the time of the Nephalem. It is the oldest region of Sanctuary.
- Players suspect that Skovos may be even 25% larger than Nahantu.
Spoiler Warning: Below we describe the beginning of the story of Lord of Hatred, including important details about characters. If you prefer to discover the story yourself, you should stop here.
In our article, you will find a spoiler-free overview of everything you need to know about Lord of Hatred.
Even before you reach Skovos, Mephisto addresses you. Without Mephisto, the entire story of Diablo would not have come to pass. And in the second expansion, he will be the great rival you face. Blizzard promises that there will be no more open ends this time.
An exclusive 12-minute gameplay video from IGN now shows the first story boss and initial impressions of the Skovos Islands:
Skovos, new enemy types, and an “old friend”
What does the video show? The Paladin embarks on a ship towards Skovos alongside Lorath. In a cutscene, Lorath explains that he never expected to return and speaks about his connection to Adreona, the Amazon Queen of Skovos, whose help you will need.
After a conversation with a “Hand of Akarat,” the first battle breaks out: Creatures from the sea and giant crabs board the ship – enemy types that blend well into the setting.
On deck, Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred and the oldest evil, finally makes his presence known. He immediately makes it clear that he does not believe you will survive the upcoming events. Shortly after, the battle against the first story boss, the “Hateborn Abomination” (roughly translated as Hassgeborene Abscheulichkeit), follows. It is truly a loathsome creature from the sea with interesting attack patterns.
After the boss fight, you continue your journey after a short dialogue with Lorath. The video ends with a cutscene showing Skovos.
The Paladin met Mephisto already in his announcement trailer in his “new form”:
“The summoning of this boss is madness”
This is what fans say about the video: In the YouTube comments, the sequence of Skovos combined with the music is particularly praised. On Reddit, the new monsters are well received. And some players speculate whether the ship could serve as a base or if there could even be boats as new “mounts.” Many are also looking forward to new skill trees and fresh content in Diablo 4.
Some players complain that the story boss is too quickly defeated on “Hard” with a character at level 20 – even if the Paladin is currently the strongest class in the game and can nearly oneshot the hardest bosses in the endgame. On top of that, this is a pre-release version and not the “finished” DLC, which will be released on April 28, 2026. There may still be significant changes to the fights and balance.
Another cutscene recently released by Blizzard about Lord of Hatred also impressively shows how dangerous Mephisto really is in Diablo 4. In the dark trailer, you can see how he manipulates Lorath’s spirit and what cruel effects that has. And it is just as dark as one would expect from the big boss.
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