Diablo 4 Season 4 will be a seismic shift in the game as players know it. With sweeping itemization changes and intricate crafting systems, Blizzard is completely overhauling the endgame. In this guide, we will show you the 8 best changes coming to Diablo IV Season 4 from the PTR.
Reworked Helltide
Many Diablo 4 players haven’t been all too impressed by the Helltide event as of late, but with Season 4’s upcoming Helltide rework, lots of players see themself enjoying the Helltide. Not only has the difficulty spiked, but there’s a whole new system in place. You slowly generate Threat as you battle enemies in the Helltide, and there are three separate Threat Tiers. At the highest tier, you’ll receive an ambush of enemies and will even have to face off against a tough Hellborne spawn.
Vendor Locations
Blizzard adjusted some of the shop locations in the main cities. While this may sound like a minor adjustment, it matters a lot more than you think. With locations like Gea Kul, shops, and vendors were so far apart that running back and forth between vital vendors was difficult. Now with Season 4, you should have an easier time accessing important vendors within a much smaller area so you’re not running all over town.
Tempering System
Tempering is one of the new crafting systems introduced for the Season 4 PTR. Now Tempering has added a new way to add affixes to your gear. You can use Temper Manuals an unlimited amount of times, and they come with more than just one affix, although you can attach them one at a time. If you’re unhappy with the affixes, you can reroll them up to their Temper Reroll limit. It took some time to get accustomed to it, but for now, it’s one of the more positive changes arriving with Season 4.
Greater Affixes
Greater Affixes are a new feature that is intended to add an element of surprise to item drops as they happen. When D4 items drop, one or more of its Affixes has a chance to be augmented significantly. The Affix that is upgraded to a Greater Affix will have its effect boosted by 1.5 times! Items that have a Greater Affix will have an enhanced particle effect while lying on the ground and the item’s name will be accompanied by a Roman numeral denoting how many Greater Affixes are present. While they only appear on Ancestral, Legendary, and Unique items, Greater Affixes can make certain item drops much more appealing. In addition, Legendary and Unique drops will no longer be soul-bound in Season 4, meaning players can buy Diablo 4 Items easily, including Legendary Armor and Weapons.
Masterworking System
Masterworking in Diablo 4 is a late-game crafting system that allows you to use materials earned from The Pit to upgrade your items even further. The Pit is also a new feature arriving with Season 4 for World Tier 4 players. What Masterworking does is essentially improve the value of your affixes instead of adding new ones. You can reach up to 12 upgrade ranks, and for every four ranks, one of your affixes gets a huge upgrade. All other ranks will just give a slight increase to your affix values. This system makes late-game gear upgrades a lot more enticing.
Early Unique Drops
One of the smaller updates for Season 4 is the ability to earn Unique items a lot earlier. This update will allow some Uniques to start dropping around World Tiers 1 and 2. This is a big change since Uniques were previously only able to drop on World Tiers 3 and 4, preventing players who prefer an easier difficulty to ever find a Unique item. Blizzard also allowed Uber Uniques to start dropping from monster level 55 at 925 item power.
The Pit
The Pit in Diablo 4 Season 4 is a new feature similar to Rifts from Diablo 3, with 200 levels of challenging gameplay. Players need keystones to access the Pit, which can be obtained through missions, Rune shards, nightmare dungeons, and more. The Pit requires players to defeat monsters and bosses within a timer to earn valuable materials and gear. Pets are now more powerful and effective in the Pit, adding a new dynamic to gameplay.
Changing Hair
Finally, one small but substantial update for Season 4 of Diablo 4 is the ability to change your hair and hair color after character creation. Typically, once you choose a hairstyle you’re stuck with it forever, though you could still alter your tattoos and piercings through the Wardrobe. Now the Wardrobe also lets you alter your hairstyle, color, and facial hair. Many players appreciate it as a player who may love a hairstyle during character creation but not once I leave it.