How to create a seasonal character in Diablo 4

How to create seasonal character in Diablo 4 — (Image credit: Blizzard)

Wondering how to make a seasonal character in Diablo 4? Diablo 4 season 1 sees a Malignant threat spreading over Sanctuary, with a new storyline to enjoy, new gear to collect, and a new type of dungeon to raid. But if you want to enjoy all of that, you'll first need to create a seasonal character in Diablo 4 – and do a couple of things on the Eternal Realm to get a head start on leveling. So keep on reading to find everything you need to know on creating a Diablo 4 season 1 character.

How to make a season character in Diablo 4

From the main character select screen in Diablo 4 you need to go ahead and select the 'Create New Character' option. From there, you'll want to go ahead and select your class and customize the look of your hero. Once you've finalized all of this, you'll spot new sections on the final tab of the character creator screen. The 'Season Info' box in the top corner indicates that there is a season active, while the option to 'Skip Campaign' has also appeared. If you're wondering whether should you skip campaign Diablo 4 season 1, all this will do is allow you to start your adventure from level 1 in Kyovashad and begin to immediately access the new storyline and content.

Once you've made your selection and hit 'Start Game' you'll be asked to 'Select Hero Realm'. The Eternal Realm is where your main character lives (free of any of the seasonal content) so you will want to go ahead and select the Seasonal Realm and then hit continue. Remember: any Seasonal character that you create will be moved to the Eternal Realm automatically once the season ends.

Do you have to create a new character for season 1 in Diablo 4?

Sadly, the build you've been playing around with since June is bound to the 'Eternal Realm' so you do have to create a new character for Season 1 in Diablo 4. By doing this, you'll start from level one and without any of your hard-earned equipment, but you will gain access to a brand new storyline and the Diablo 4 Malignant Hearts – a powerful new socketable Diablo 4 gem which infuses certain pieces of gear with all new powers.

What to do before creating a seasonal character in Diablo 4

While your seasonal character will start from scratch, there are a few things you can move over from the Eternal Realm to give you a bit of a leveling boost. Before you go ahead and create a seasonal character in Diablo 4 you'll want to first log in with your highest level existing character – this will allow you to transfer all of the renown you've earned so far from uncovering parts of the Diablo 4 map, and all of the bonuses you unlocked from finding all of the Diablo 4 Altar of Lilith locations.

Remember, you need to have completed the main campaign on the Eternal Realm before you can access Season 1 content. Once you've done all of this you are free to go ahead and make a seasonal character in Diablo 4.

Season of the Malignant is now active, as is the Diablo 4 battle pass – so you'll want to begin collecting Diablo 4 Smaller Favors to begin progressing through it all.

Josh West is Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar+. He has over 18 years of experience in both online and print journalism, and was awarded a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Feature Writing. Josh has contributed to world-leading gaming, entertainment, tech, music, and comics brands, including games™, Edge, Retro Gamer, SFX, 3D Artist, Metal Hammer, and Newsarama. In addition, Josh has edited and written books for Hachette and Scholastic, and worked across the Future Games Show as an Assistant Producer. He specializes in video games and entertainment coverage, and has provided expert comment for outlets like the BBC and ITV. In his spare time, Josh likes to play FPS games and RPGs, practice the bass guitar, and reminisce about the film and TV sets he worked on as a child actor.