When does Diablo 4 Season 4 start?

Diablo 4 Season 4 will start on May 14, launching adventurers into the Loot Reborn season, after a delay from the originally announced April release. Players' patience during this wait will be rewarded as there are massive changes being introduced for Season 4, which should improve some of the systems at the core of Diablo 4 and make the more intuitive to use. There are also invading Hellborne to deal with and the new company of Iron Wolves mercenaries to fight alongside, so read on for everything we know so far about Season 4 of Diablo 4.

Diablo 4 Season 4 release date and time

The Diablo 4 Season 4 release date is set for May 14, after being delayed from the previously announced date of April 16 so that there would enough time to implement feedback from the Public Test Realm sessions that took place in early April. The release time will be 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 6pm BST, with an update patch usually released an hour or so beforehand. As with previous updates, your existing Seasonal characters will be migrated to the Eternal Realm when the game shifts to Season 4, so make sure you've taken care of any outstanding business from the Season of the Construct before that time.

How to access Season 4 in Diablo 4

As is becoming a familiar process, you don't need to have completed the main Diablo 4 campaign on the Eternal Realm before accessing the fresh content for Season 4. After beginning the campaign on the Seasonal Realm for Season 4 and progressing through the Prologue to the point where you complete the Missing Pieces quest, you'll be presented with the option to skip the rest of the campaign so you can get straight in to Season 4. This also opens up the next Diablo 4 battle pass, which will include the regular 90 tiers of rewards divided into 28 free tiers and 62 premium tiers to unlock cosmetics and more.

Diablo 4 Season 4 biggest changes

As can be seen from the full Public Test Realm overview and follow up, there are hugely significant changes being made across Sanctuary that will come into play for Diablo 4 Season 4, and while they aren't all finalized just yet we can provide a broad look at what alterations are expected to be made.

Items are receiving a large overhaul under the banner of "quality over quantity", meaning you'll be juggling fewer items, resources, and upgrades but they'll be more meaningful. Sacred items will only appear in World Tier 3, with Ancestral Items limited to World Tier 4, but some Diablo 4 Uniques will start dropping in World Tier 1 and 2 while all of them can now drop in World Tier 3.

Crafting is also being updated, with a new Tempering system that lets you add affixes to items via the Blacksmith with a reusable item called Tempering Manuals. Those manuals are retained for unlimited use, giving you much greater control over upgrading your items. A fresh late-game crafting system named Diablo 4 Masterworking is also being introduced, which will use high-level materials to upgrade your affixes for even greater effect.

Diablo 4 Helltide events have also been revamped, so you'll now generate Threat as you progress through them and your Threat Tier will determine the frequency and danger of monster ambushes you encounter. At maximum Threat an ambush frenzy will be triggered, followed by the spawn of a hugely powerful Hellborne based on one of the five Classes. Should you die at any point during a Helltide event, or reach the final Hellborne ambush, your Threat is reset.

A new addition for Diablo 4 Season 4, the Iron Wolves are noble mercenaries based in the south and are lead by their battle-hardened commander Soudeh the Anvil. Their members are being mysteriously slain, so it's up to you to investigate and earn Diablo 4 Wolf's Honor to improve your standing with the Iron Wolves, which will unlock several Tempering Manuals to improve your gear among other rewards. To get started, head to Khejistan and meet up with Soudeh at the Iron Wolves Encampment.

Another big change for Diablo 4 Season 4 is the introduction of The Pit of Artificers, which will be available in World Tier 4. By collecting Runeshard, late-game players will be able to activate the Obelisk in Cerrigar and be transported to The Pit, where you must slay as many monsters as possible in 10 minutes and each death significantly reduces that timer. Slay enough monsters and a portal will appear to transport you to a boss arena, and should you kill that boss before the timer runs out you'll earn Masterworking materials and unlock the next tier of The Pit, with additional tiers unlocked if you have more than 4 or 6 minutes to spare. There are hundreds of tiers of difficulty in The Pit, so this should keep high level players busy for quite some time.

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