In this Diablo 4 Season 4 guide, I’ll show you everything you need to know before starting the new season, Loot Reborn. Whether you’re a new player looking to join Diablo 4, a returning veteran, or just want to review the seasonal updates, this guide will be for you. However, if you want to get a head start, it would be a wise choice to buy Diablo 4 gold in advance to be fully prepared for Season 4.
This time, the developers are looking to change a series of things, such as a complete overhaul of the core game system Itemization, a rework of Helltides, and the addition of a new endgame called Pit of Artificers, among others.
Additionally, it adds a new season theme, Iron Wolves. This is a company of experienced mercenaries designed to destroy demons. While it looks like seasonal content is taking a step back, this is a complete overhaul of the underlying game mechanics. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the patches first.
Itemization Changes
As Itemization changes, items will be changed to simplify identifying upgrades when items drop. Fewer affixes now drop, and conditional affixes only apply to damage in specific situations.
It is worth noting that some examples of unconditional affixes, such as Damage Bonuses, Intelligence Points, Summoning Damage, Core Ability Points and more, will no longer be dropped against non-elites. The values for all of these stats have been polished to make them feel more powerful.
Some may feel this brings the game down too much, and I personally feel a lot of the conditions are useless, so not having them in the drop pool is a welcome change.
Greater Affixes
New affix types can also be found on Diablo 4 items, some of which are Greater Affixes. These affixes, represented by stars, only appear randomly on Ancestral, Legendary and Unique Items in World Tier 3 and 4. These affixes are 1.5x more powerful than normal affixes, so they’re definitely worth keeping an eye on as they have tons of extra effects.
New Tempered Stats
In addition, the new season also adds new Tempered Stats represented by an anvil symbol. These can be crafted into non-unique items at Blacksmiths using Tempering Manuals found throughout World Tiers 1 to 4. Some of these Affixes are very special, such as Bone Spear, which has a chance to be cast twice. So these are very important for Itemization.
Masterworks System
In Loot Reborn, the upgrade system has been replaced by Masterworks System, which increases all affixes and base damage on a weapon, and on the fourth upgrade will massively upgrade one of your equipment’s affixes.
Since an item has 12 Masterwork levels, you can upgrade the affix 3 times for each Diablo 4 item. Keep in mind that you can upgrade the same affix all three times, so I think focusing on one affix might be more effective than spreading the upgrades around.
If you later regret any Masterworking choices you make, you can reset your Masterwork level to start leveling up from scratch again.
Codex Of Power Aspects
Another big change regarding items is Legendary Aspect system. Aspects will now be stored indefinitely in Codex of Power, rather than being extracted from legendary items for onetime use later.
However, rolls are still possible in some aspects, so you can add rolls to Codex until you get a maximum roll that can be used indefinitely. This is probably my favorite change because it means I don’t have to fill up my storage with armor items and Legendary Aspects that I want to use later, it’s just convenient.
Additionally, these changes to items also reduce enemy item drop rates, with the goal of reducing the time you spend sorting through loot and increasing combat time. Currently, materials obtained by salvaging and crafting have been adjusted based on drop rates, and the materials required for crafting at Blacksmith have also been reduced.
In my opinion, this is a tremendous change. Because one of my biggest complaints about games like this is that you get a lot of worthless loot, and lowering the drop rate of that loot would make things more valuable.
Changes To World Tier Drops
Now, the drops of different World Tiers are also clearly divided. Sacred items only drop in World Tier 3, while Ancestral items only appear in World Tier 4. Some unique items can now also drop in World Tier 1, and Diablo 4 Uber unique items will start dropping when fighting monsters above level 55.
Helltides Reworked
The reimagined Helltides are inspired by the critically acclaimed Blood Harvest from Season of Blood. As you fight and open treasure chests in Helltides, you accumulate Threat based on the difficulty of defeating monsters and how often you open Tortured Gifts.
This Threat is divided into three levels, which increase the frequency of enemy spawns and the level of danger. Once you reach the third level, you will become Hell-Marked, triggering crazy attacks from dense monsters, and finally you will face the ultimate boss here, Hellborn. This cycle resets when Hellborn is defeated or the player dies.
After killing Hellborn, you can obtain the special seasonal elixir, Profane Mindcage. This new Diablo 4 item temporarily increases the level of monsters in Helltides by 10 levels and increases the drop rate of Cinder. Note, however, that this effect diminishes as the player approaches the level cap.
It’s worth noting that Helltides is no longer the only location to farm Forgotten Souls, as they are now available from Whisper Bounties and as rare drops for any elite.
Another upcoming event for Helltides is Accursed Ritual. There are three pedestals on the scene, and a Baneful Heart must be placed on each pedestal. Once deposited, the player is ambushed by demons, and other players in the area are alerted to the ritual’s activation and can join the fight.
Note that as you add more Baneful Hearts to your ritual, you can earn more rewards. So it’s a pretty lucrative activity.
- Also Read: Rapid Fire Rogue Enhanced By The Scoundrel’s Kiss Is Unstoppable In Diablo 4 Season 4
New Endgame: Pit Of Artificers
Next, let’s talk about Pit of Artificers, another permanent change that will be added to Seasonal and Eternal Realms.
Once you reach World Tier 4, complete Tier 46 Nightmare Dungeon mission to unlock Pit of Artificers. To participate in the event, you need to find Rune Shards from various events such as Helltide Chests, Legion Events and Whisper Bounties.
Once you’ve collected enough Shards, you can head to Obelisk and begin a 10-minute challenge, killing hordes of enemies to produce the last boss. After you defeat the ultimate boss, you’ll gain the special materials needed to Masterwork your weapons, and you can continue to the next level of Pit, all the way to level 200.
Higher-level dungeons will reward you with Stygian Stones used to summon Torment bosses. A level 200 variant of the summonable boss in Season 4.
You might think that Pit of Artificers’ gameplay structure sounds familiar, and that’s because it’s a bit like Abattoir of Zir from Midwinter Blight.
Now, as a permanent event, you can enter Pit in groups of up to four players. But please note that every time the host or other team members die, your time to kill the enemy will be shortened. The first death reduces the time by 30 seconds, the second death reduces the time by 60 seconds, and subsequent deaths reduces the time by 90 seconds.
So you probably don’t want to carry any heavy baggage with you just to level up their character or something like that, as you might end up wasting all your Rune Shards.
Finally, I would like to remind you that only players who open Pit have a chance to obtain Stygian Stones. And the deeper you get into the levels of Pit of Artificers, the more frequently these Stygian Stones will appear.
New Seasonal Content
Now, let’s talk about Diablo 4’s actual seasonal content. Compared to Season 3, the developers have chosen to scale down the new seasonal content in favor of adding vast changes to the base game this season.
In this season, you will fight alongside Iron Wolves, a group of noble mercenaries founded in Kehjistan to protect the people of Sanctuary. You’ll work with Iron Wolves to investigate the mysterious deaths of their members and acquire special Tempering Manuals to add new affixes to your items.
Outro
That sums up everything that’s coming this season. As you can tell, Season 4 itself doesn’t have a lot of extra new content to do, but the basic concepts have been completely redesigned. Therefore, I definitely feel that jumping into Diablo 4 when Season 4 officially releases may feel like playing a completely different game.
Additionally, its drastic changes in Itemization shake up the stale formula nicely. Unfortunately, content this season is a bit lacking. But all in all, this is probably a good thing as we can expect more season-specific content in Season 5. Most importantly, having a new base mechanic should ensure that at least some players return to the game to check it out.
So what do you think of all these changes? Do you think these changes will extend the life of Diablo 4? In any case, please look forward to the arrival of Loot Reborn on May 14th!