On April 28, the second expansion for Diablo 4, titled Lord of Hatred, will be released. At the same time, Blizzard will launch Season 13 for the ARPG and a major update for the entire game, which fundamentally overhauls several core features. Even non-buyers will benefit.
Lord of Hatred will be released on April 28 at 1:00 AM German time, virtually at the same time as Season 13 and the accompanying update for Diablo 4. Most new content will only be available in the expansion.
The new DLC comes in different versions, with the cheapest one costing 40 euros, but it also includes the previous expansion Vessel of Hatred and thus the Spiritborn as a class.
However, even those who do not wish to pay will enjoy various innovations. On one hand, Season 13 brings new challenges, and on the other hand, Blizzard is polishing old systems for all versions – including the eternal realm.
The feature that is likely to have the most impact will be the new skill trees, which are currently being hotly debated in the community. Soon, with every character, you will have the opportunity to play completely differently than before.
You can find all information about Lord of Hatred and here all content related to Season 13.
All classes will be new, but you will not get the full potential
All classes will receive a revised talent tree and a higher level cap on April 28. This means specifically: Builds as you currently create them will no longer work.
Instead, you will gradually select more “expansions” for your skills that either directly enhance them or even completely change their effects. Passive effects can only be simply chosen, no longer enhanced. Only active skills will have more than one rank.
This will make it easier and clearer to build your character. Especially in the leveling process, you will be better introduced to the functionality of your class. With Lord of Hatred, the Warlock will come as a new class (for buyers), allowing you to easily start even without a starter build. In the stream, the developers provided some examples, such as:
- the ability for Druids to assign one of their forms – Werebear, Human, or Werewolf – to their skills
- various elements for the Sorceress’s spells
- additional effects for Barbarians, such as a short surge when performing kicks
- customization options for the Huntress, who can turn her shadow clones into stationary archers, for example
While testing Lord of Hatred, these new talents immediately caught my eye and were one of the reasons I didn’t want to stop playing. Leveling and skill allocation feels more intuitive, is clearer, and the new system encourages trying out new builds:
2 important features are included in Lord of Hatred
Although the skill trees will be available to all players, you will have limited use of them without Lord of Hatred, as the full functionality will only be available with the expansion.
While Blizzard improves the skill trees of all classes, there are – at least according to official graphics – “Bonus Skill Variants” in Lord of Hatred. During testing the expansion, it was possible to assign skills to other categories so that certain affixes would apply to them. We still don’t know which variants this will eventually affect.
Additionally, the Talisman will be introduced as a feature of Lord of Hatred. The Talisman is a new “inventory” where you can socket amulets or spells that look similar to those in Diablo 2. These spells will feature effects from Uniques or even set bonuses that activate when socketing multiple spells from the same set.
Similar to the runes from Vessel of Hatred, the absolute best builds in the game will require sets to function. So, if you want to play at the top level, you will still need Lord of Hatred. However, the Talisman will not be necessary for the pure gameplay.
Free updates make Diablo 4 better overall
Even without Lord of Hatred, you will receive further improvements to the base game on April 28, many of which have been requested by the community for years, including:
- a loot filter similar to Last Epoch, allowing you to filter practically all affixes and properties for items
- a map overlay like those from previous Diablo installments
- Pathfinding as a new feature, tracking you directly to your goal instead of having to look at the map
- new torment levels, now scaling up to torment 12
From personal experience, I can say that Lord of Hatred is worth it for the campaign alone. I have rarely experienced such a dark, sometimes brutal, and dramatic story in the series. Even if you cannot or do not want to buy Lord of Hatred, be sure to check out Let’s Plays starting April 28. Blizzard has already released an introductory teaser: Blizzard “removes” an important character from Diablo 4 with Lord of Hatred, sparking a debate over the story
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