Diablo 4 expansion — Everything we know about Vessel of Hatred

GamesRPGDiablo 4 expansion — Everything we know about Vessel of HatredWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Blizzard)

Close up shot of the Diablo 4 expansion�s character Neyrelle

Jump to:Release dateWhat’s newSpiritborn classMercenariesCo-op dungeonRunewordsTrailersHow expansions workStory

Recent updatesOctober 1:I updated this guide with the Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred expansion’s exact release times for next week.

Recent updates

October 1:I updated this guide with the Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred expansion’s exact release times for next week.

TheDiablo 4 expansion, Vessel of Hatred, is almost here. The massive update to the action RPG will add heaps of new stuff, including a new campaign set in Nahantu, the new spiritborn class, runes, and mercenary companions. Blizzard will also launch the Season of Hatred, or season 6, right alongside it with plenty of reasons to stick around after you’ve finished the story.

In the last few months, Blizzardradically changed how Diablo 4 worksin preparation for the changes coming in the expansion. Loot is much more powerful than it used to be and classes, like the necromancer, have been dramatically reworked. The game is almost unrecognizable from the state it was in at launch, which will make the transition to Vessel of Hatred much easier when it drops in October.

Blizzard says it plans to release new expansions every year, each with a new class and a list of changes and features to the game, like the mercenary companions coming in Vessel of Hatred. You won’t be required to buy every expansion, but skipping them will leave you on the sidelines watching as everyone plays with the newest toys.

I liked a lot of what Blizzard added to the game and went into detail about that in myDiablo 4: Vessel of Hatred review. A particular stand out was the new spiritborn class, which is extremely intuitive to build and one of the fastest classes in the game.

When is the Diablo 4 expansion release date?

The Diablo 4 expansion release date is October 7, 2024on Steam and Battle.net for North and South American players, and everyone else will be able to play it on October 8, 2024.

Blizzard posted the exact release times for Vessel of Hatred onX. If you live in North America, you’ll be able to play it as early as 4 pm PDT on Monday, October 7.

Everyone who owns it on Battle.net can preload the game right now.Steam players, however, will have to wait until October 7.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Hatred awaits. Mark your calendar ⚔️🔥Here’s when you can play #VesselOfHatred. Get everything you need to know for launch:https://t.co/6JAxpej9qf pic.twitter.com/aLb2XvfETdSeptember 30, 2024

Despite now owning Blizzard, Microsoft hasn’t announced any plans to make Vessel of Hatred available on its Game Pass subscription service when it launches.The base game is availablethere, but it’s looking like you’ll have to buy the expansion along with everyone else when it drops.

Buying the expansion is the only way to access the new Nahantu region, the new spiritborn class, runes and runewords, and mercenaries. It’s also currently the only way to get a Nahantu leopard mount if you’re tired of horses.

What’s new in the Diablo 4 expansion?

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred mercenary companion characters stnading together in front of a dark background

The Diablo 4 expansion will mark a new chapter in the dark fantasy action RPG, continuing the campaign and updating its existing systems. Blizzard only just started to detail the new features coming with it in the last few months. The first major reveal was the newspiritborn class, which I recently had hands-on with at Blizzard’s campus in Irvine, California. The spiritborn resemble Diablo 3’s monks if they could also drop a giant centipede god on their foes. I’ll go into more detail on them below.

Here are the new Vessel of Hatred features we know about so far:

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s new spiritborn class work?

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s new class work?

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Diablo 4 spiritborn warrior wielding a glave preparing to attack

The Diablo 4 expansion will add the Spiritborn class to the game.They’re a martial arts class who use skills based on powerful animal gods from the spirit realm. They can dart around dungeons with quick dashes and call down spirit guardians to wipe out packs of monsters. Sort of like druids, spiritborn can specialize in a particular animal to gain their unique advantages. Jaguar skills, for example, increase your attack speed, while gorilla skills increase your defense.

Here are the kind of benefits and skills to expect from each spiritborn animal guardian:

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred Spiritborn class screenshots

Two new weapon types will be added to the game for the spiritborn: glaives and quarterstaffs. Although Blizzard recently expanded the types of weapons the existing classes can use, it hasn’t said whether or not they’ll be able to wield these too.

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s mercenaries work?

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred mercenary companion characters stnading together in front of a dark background

As you use each mercenary, you’ll gain trust, or rapport, with them. As your rapport increases, you’ll earn skill points to use in their unique skill trees, access to more item caches, and improve at bartering with them to buy items.

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s co-op dungeon work?

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred screenshot of a boss in the co-op dungeon The Dark Citadel

TheDiablo 4 expansionwill introduce the Dark Citadel, a challenging co-op dungeon that requires at least two players to enter.Anyone who has reached max level will be able to complete the dungeon every week for an item cache reward, but you can also repeat it for a new unique currency to spend on cosmetics and other items, like a scroll that lets you reroll tempering stats on a piece of gear.

The dungeon will be split into multiple wings, or sections, so you won’t have to finish it all at once. Blizzard says the bosses will be pretty tough and require you and your group to work together.

A party finder system will be added to the game to help you find groups to join for The Dark Citadel and many other activities.

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s runewords work?

(Image credit: Blizzard)

A screenshot of Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred’s runewords

More with runes(Image credit: Blizzard)Trading runes:All runes are tradeable between playersRune crafting:3 of the same runes can be crafted into a different rune (with the potential to be a higher quality)Mythic unique item crafting:You can craft a powerful Mythic unique with 1 resplendent spark and 10 identical runes from each rarity: magic, rare, and legendary.

More with runes

(Image credit: Blizzard)Trading runes:All runes are tradeable between playersRune crafting:3 of the same runes can be crafted into a different rune (with the potential to be a higher quality)Mythic unique item crafting:You can craft a powerful Mythic unique with 1 resplendent spark and 10 identical runes from each rarity: magic, rare, and legendary.

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Diablo 4 season 4 loot reborn key art of a barbarian rogue and sorceress on a bright background

Trading runes:All runes are tradeable between playersRune crafting:3 of the same runes can be crafted into a different rune (with the potential to be a higher quality)Mythic unique item crafting:You can craft a powerful Mythic unique with 1 resplendent spark and 10 identical runes from each rarity: magic, rare, and legendary.

The Diablo 4 expansion will addRunewords, which are new items that essentially let you create your own skills.Although they’ve existed in earlier Diablo games, Diablo 4’s version of runewords are unique.

Once you unlock runewords during the Vessel of Hatred campaign, runes will start dropping from enemies. There are two categories of runes: ritual runes and invocation runes. When you combine two in an item socket, they form a runeword. Half of the runeword will cause certain things you do to build a resource called offering and the other half will trigger an effect that uses up your offering.

Diablo 4 expansion trailers

Diablo IV | Vessel of Hatred | Official Release Date Trailer - YouTubeWatch On

Diablo IV | Vessel of Hatred | Official Release Date Trailer - YouTube

In case you forgot how brutal the world of Diablo can be, Blizzard made a Vessel of Hatred trailer that is so explicit, it needs a content warning for body horror and gore. Neyrelle, the young girl who ends the main campaign with a demon lord in her pocket, experiences a hallucination where her arms and legs are torn off. This three-minute nightmare might win the award for the most disgusting videogame trailer I’ve ever seen.

Thespiritborn class reveal traileris far less grotesque and gives you a peek at how the class works and what fighting in Nahantu looks like.

Diablo IV | Vessel of Hatred | Gameplay Launch Trailer - YouTubeWatch On

Diablo IV | Vessel of Hatred | Gameplay Launch Trailer - YouTube

Do you have to own the Diablo 4 expansion?

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Blizzard)

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred world map screen with Nahantu region

How Diablo 4’s seasons work(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)Diablo 4 has two ways to play:Eternal realm:This is the normal version of the game and where all seasonal characters end up after a season ends. All updates except those related to seasonal mechanics come to this mode.Seasonal realm:The seasonal version of the game features unique mechanics, like season 2’s vampiric powers, to spice up the experience for around three months. Seasons require you to start a new character from level 1 but are widely considered the most fun way to play Diablo 4.

How Diablo 4’s seasons work

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)Diablo 4 has two ways to play:Eternal realm:This is the normal version of the game and where all seasonal characters end up after a season ends. All updates except those related to seasonal mechanics come to this mode.Seasonal realm:The seasonal version of the game features unique mechanics, like season 2’s vampiric powers, to spice up the experience for around three months. Seasons require you to start a new character from level 1 but are widely considered the most fun way to play Diablo 4.

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Activision Blizzard)

Diablo 4’s Lilith

Diablo 4 has two ways to play:Eternal realm:This is the normal version of the game and where all seasonal characters end up after a season ends. All updates except those related to seasonal mechanics come to this mode.

Seasonal realm:The seasonal version of the game features unique mechanics, like season 2’s vampiric powers, to spice up the experience for around three months. Seasons require you to start a new character from level 1 but are widely considered the most fun way to play Diablo 4.

No, you don’t need to own the Diablo 4 expansion to continue playing after it’s out.Updates to the game will continue to be free for everyone.

But you do need to own the base game to play it. There’s aDiablo 4: Vessel of Hatred bundleyou can purchase that gives you access to the original game immediately if you’re completely new.

Blizzard hasn’t explained exactly which features you’ll miss out on if you don’t own Vessel of Hatred, but we can assume it’ll gate your access to the new class at the very least. Diablo boss Rod Fergusson has said in recent interviews that everyone will have access to season 6 when it starts alongside Vessel of Hatred’s release. I expect Blizzard will explain the difference between owning and not owning the expansion sometime before October.

Additionally, Blizzard told PC Gamer in an interview that players starting Diablo 4 for the first time with Vessel of Hatred will have an option to skip the main campaign and immediately jump into the expansion’s story. That implies you’ll be able to skip the campaigns individually so you won’t be behind if your friends are already exploring Nahantu.

What is the Diablo 4 expansion story about?

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Blizzard)

Diablo 4 cutscene still of a wolf with a skeletal face looming over a young girl

Warning:Diablo 4 campaign spoilers follow.

The Diablo 4 expansion story takes place in Nahantu, a jungle region at the southern end of Diablo 4’s world map. Diablo 2 players will recognize it as the Torajan jungle where the city Kurast is located—which you’ll be able to visit again in the expansion. Nahantu is the home of the spiritborn, and it’s also where Neyrelle, the young girl we meet in Act 1 of the campaign, has taken Mephisto, the expansion’s primary antagonist.

Mephisto is particularly bad news because he’s one of the series' ultimate villains known as the Prime Evils. These powerful demon brothers (Mephisto, Baal, and Diablo) are always scheming to destroy Sanctuary and never stay dead for very long. Neyrelle has Mephisto trapped in a soul shard but, as we see in the last trailer, he’s still able to manipulate stuff while he’s stuck in there. Given the expansion’s title, I think we can assume that the soul shard’s hold on him won’t last (they never do!).

Nahantu also happens to be a place where people used to worship the Prime Evils. I’m sure it won’t be a problem that Neyrelle is bringing the angriest one there in a Ziploc bag. I suppose Blizzard could be using Mephisto as a red herring for something angel-related happening, but so far there haven’t been any hints about what heaven is up to after the events of Diablo 3. The war between heaven and hell is called theeternalconflict for a reason, though, so I’d expect the expansion to either end in angels and demons fighting or to tease a spat between them for the next expansion.

TOPICSActivision BlizzardBlizzard Entertainment

TOPICS

PRODUCTSDiablo 4Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred

PRODUCTS

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When is the Diablo 4 expansion release date?#

When is the Diablo 4 expansion release date?#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

What’s new in the Diablo 4 expansion?#

What’s new in the Diablo 4 expansion?#

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s new spiritborn class work?#

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s new class work?#

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s mercenaries work?#

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s mercenaries work?#

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s co-op dungeon work?#

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s co-op dungeon work?#

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s runewords work?#

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s runewords work?#

Diablo 4 expansion trailers#

Diablo 4 expansion trailers#

Do you have to own the Diablo 4 expansion?#

Do you have to own the Diablo 4 expansion?#

What is the Diablo 4 expansion story about?#

What is the Diablo 4 expansion story about?#

When is the Diablo 4 expansion release date?

When is the Diablo 4 expansion release date?

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

What’s new in the Diablo 4 expansion?

What’s new in the Diablo 4 expansion?

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s new spiritborn class work?

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s new class work?

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s mercenaries work?

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s mercenaries work?

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s co-op dungeon work?

How does the Diablo 4 expansion’s co-op dungeon work?

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s runewords work?

How do the Diablo 4 expansion’s runewords work?

Diablo 4 expansion trailers

Diablo 4 expansion trailers

Do you have to own the Diablo 4 expansion?

Do you have to own the Diablo 4 expansion?

What is the Diablo 4 expansion story about?

What is the Diablo 4 expansion story about?