12 July 2023 , 10:00
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In advance of Season of the Malignant’s arrival in Diablo 4 on Thursday, July 20, Activision Blizzard has offered a glimpse at the debut season’s new content – including its boss.
After what seemed like an age, Activision Blizzard finally rewarded the patience of Diablo 4 players last week by unveiling Diablo 4 Season 1 in a developer update live stream that offered countless details about what to expect. It's officially called Season of the Malignant and is set to arrive on Thursday, July 20, bringing with it all-new content – and the teasing has already begun.
The new Diablo 4 gameplay trailer released places emphasis on the new Malignant tier monsters, whereby players are encouraged to track them down and defeat them in order to acquire Malignant Hearts, which can then be slotted into fresh gear items unlocked as part of the Seasonal Journey. Said Seasonal Journey will be available to access for anyone who’s beaten the main campaign and is willing to create a new character.
Most interestingly in the gameplay trailer, though, is our first proper look at Varshan the Consumed, the big new boss battle coming as part of Diablo 4 Season 1. They appear to be a floating, ghoul-like figure capable of summoning an inky black wave of some sort – not too dissimilar to the boss fight against Lilith’s Lament that occurs towards the end of Act 1 in the main campaign. The snippet in the gameplay trailer is very short (glimpse it at the 0:23 mark) but it definitely fits in with the season’s theme of corruption.
Appetite for corruption
Teased on the official Diablo 4 Blizzard website are the “30 new Malignant powers to wield” regardless of the class you play as. These weren’t fully detailed during last week’s livestream, but will almost certainly come in handy when the time comes to fight Varshan the Consumed. And if the prospect of taking down a new boss doesn’t excite you, surely the addition of a 100-tier Battle Pass – 27 tiers of which being free to all – certainly will.
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Prior to Season of the Malignant’s arrival, Activision Blizzard has been open about an incoming patch, launching two days before on Tuesday, July 18, which aims to make the transition to Diablo 4’s first season as seamless as possible for players. During this time the game isn’t expected to suffer from any downtime, though the studio is yet to offer the specific time of day on Thursday, July 20, when Diablo 4 Season 1’s new content can be accessed.