Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred launches with bare-bones Season of Reckoning

Blizzard's Diablo 4 expansion, Lord of Hatred, launches April 27 at 4 pm PDT (7 pm EDT), followed 30 minutes later by the Season of Reckoning at 4:30 pm PDT.

In a blog post, Blizzard describes the season as a "departure from past seasons," allowing players to create seasonal characters and level up without exclusive content limited to the next three months. The company promises a return to normal seasonal formats after this one ends.

To compensate, Blizzard offers extra rewards for completing seasonal objectives, including enough materials to craft at least seven powerful mythic uniques—typically enough for just one. Players earn free cosmetics like a hellish roots pet and crafting materials, most accessible without the $40 expansion. Paid access unlocks a seasonal reliquary and exclusive cosmetics.

The expansion features a new campaign, post-credits system changes, activity-specific skill trees, a new endgame mode, Warlocks and paladins joining the roster, reworked skill trees and items for other classes, and item crafting via the Horadric Cube.