Season Of Blood in Diablo 4: Your Ultimate Guide to Success!

Greetings, adventurers of Sanctuary! As the seasons shift, a new and bloodier chapter is about to unfold. Welcome to the Season of Blood, kicking off on October 17. Curious about what’s lurking this time around? This Diablo IV guide is your beacon, shining a light on all the dark corners and secrets of the upcoming season. So, gear up, and let’s plunge into the mysteries that await!

Season of Blood: A Quick Overview

Sanctuary is no stranger to threats, but this season, a chilling menace casts its shadow. A newly turned army of ravenous vampires, under the command of their enigmatic dark Master, has set its sights on our beloved realm. But here’s the twist that’ll make your blood run cold: to defeat these bloodsuckers, we must become one of them.

In the Season of Blood, our mission is clear yet perilous. We are charged with hunting down and eliminating this new Vampire threat. And who better to guide us than Erys, a seasoned vampire hunter? Erys believes that it will take a special kind of hero to end this bloodsucking scourge. With vampiric powers at our disposal, we set off across Sanctuary, not just as hunters, but as the hunted.

Thus, this season we can expect:

The New Diablo 4 Mechanics: Season of Blood introduces a set of Vampiric powers we can wield, the Pact system, and a new currency, Potent Blood.
The New Villain on the Block: Meet Lord Zir, the mastermind behind the vampire uprising. His motives remain shrouded in mystery, but one thing’s for sure: he’s not here for a friendly chat.
A Questline Dripping with Danger: Embark on a unique questline that will take you through new Dungeons, each with its own flavor and challenges. From shadowy vampires to skeletal foes thirsting for blood, be prepared for a wild ride.
Fresh Faces… and Fangs: Encounter new enemies like the elusive Shadow Vampires, the menacing Blood Skeletons, and the relentless Blood Seekers. Each brings its own set of challenges, so strategy will be key.
Battle Pass & Season Journey: Dive into a revamped Battle Pass and Season Journey, complete with new objectives and tantalizing rewards. From mounts to cosmetic sets, there’s plenty to strive for.
New Unique Items and Legendary Aspects: New threats mean we need all the power we can get to defeat them, and luckily for us, new items and Aspects can provide us with just that.

That’s a snapshot of the features coming your way in the Season of Blood. Ready to sink your teeth into more details? Let’s move on! But first, let’s discuss the transition from the current Diablo 4 season.

Transition from the Previous Season

As the Season of the Malignant fades into the annals of history, players might wonder: “What happens to my hard-earned loot and characters?” Fear not, for the transition to the Season of Blood has been thoughtfully planned:

Your Character: Characters from the previous season will be transferred to the Eternal realm, and you need to create a new one for the Season of Blood.
Item Management: Items, both earned and found, from the Season of the Malignant will be transferred to a new “Withdraw Only Stash tab.” This ensures that none of your prized possessions are lost in the seasonal shift. You can retrieve these items whenever you want during the next season, but when it ends, they will be removed from the “Withdraw Only Stash tab.”

Battle Pass, Season Journey, and Season Blessings

The Battle Pass, Season Journey, and Season Blessings will work the same way they do in Season of Malignant; the only difference is the new objectives and rewards. Speaking of which, here are some of the rewards and cosmetics that will be available to all players:

20x Smoldering Ashes (used to acquire and upgrade Season Blessings)
5x Armor Basics (role-playing clothing)
5x Weapon Transmogs
1x Mount Trophy
1x Title (prefix and suffix)
1x Town Portal

Moreover, one of Diablo 4 changes is that Smoldering Ashes will have their level requirements reduced and now auto-unlock.

Season of Blood Questline

The new season introduces a new story we will be a part of, so let’s walk you through its details.

Sanctuary is in turmoil. The downtrodden and forsaken are being systematically slain, all meeting the same gruesome fate: throats torn out. Panic is palpable, and while the church turns a blind eye, those who dare to resist are overwhelmed. But as the dead rise and the vampire curse spreads like wildfire, a beacon of hope emerges.

Meet Erys, a seasoned vampire hunter. Having battled the undead for years, she’s come to a chilling realization. To eradicate this menace, Sanctuary needs heroes who can combat the vampires on their own turf. Heroes that are immune to the plague. Heroes like… well, us.

Before humanity, Sanctuary was home to the firstborn children of Inarius and Lilith, known as the Ancients. When Inarius’ actions led to the Ancients losing their powers, some, immune to true death, were imprisoned in the City of the Ancients, doomed to eternal slumber. But recent events have stirred them from their age-old rest. Led by the enigmatic Lord Zir, these Ancients aim to reshape Sanctuary into a realm dominated by vampires.

But there’s a twist. We, the players, are cursed with vampirism and possess unique vampire abilities. Yet, thanks to Lilith’s blood coursing through our veins, we’re not bound to Lord Zir’s will. Erys, having battled the undead long before Lilith’s return, recognizes this advantage. She enlists our aid in the fight against Lord Zir, marking the beginning of the Season of Blood.

With the stage set for an epic confrontation, are you eager to learn about the seasonal mechanics that will define our journey in the Season of Blood?

New Seasonal Vampiric Mechanics

In the Season of Blood, the lines between hero and monster blur. As players, we’re granted a unique power, one that could be our greatest asset or our ultimate downfall: Vampirism. Alongside it, we will be introduced to new mechanics: Vampiric Powers and Pact System.

Vampiric Powers

Despite being vampires with corresponding powers, we, nevertheless, have nothing to do with Lord Zir. Here’s the breakdown of our newly acquired powers.

There are a total of 22 powers, however we can have only 5 equipped.
All Vampiric Powers are class agnostic.
To enable the powers, you need a Pact, about which we’ll talk later. These are found in the equipment.
Vampiric Powers can be learned and upgraded via Potent Blood, a new currency you obtain for killing Vampire enemies.
The powers can be leveled to level 3.
There’s also a meta ability, Vampiric Curse: Killing an enemy affected by your Vampiric Curse stores their soul. Casting a Defensive, Macabre, or Agility Skill will unleash stored souls to attack nearby enemies. You can hold up to 8 souls.

The Pact System

Power always comes with a price. The Pact System is the key to activating our Vampiric Powers. All Chest armor, Pants, Gloves, Boots, and Helms will have a combination of Pacts. Here’s what you need to know:

There 3 types of Pacts, which are Ferocity, Divinity, and Eternity.
A specific combination of Pacts is required to activate the Vampiric powers.
You can add to or remove Pacts from gear.
Each piece of gear has a Pact limit based on World Tier.

This innovative mechanic adds a layer of strategy to the gameplay. It’s not just about wielding vampiric power; it’s about understanding its intricacies and making tactical decisions to maximize its potential.

New Season Event

The Season of Blood is not just about embracing our inner vampire; it’s also about confronting new challenges and adversaries that threaten Sanctuary. One such instance is the new Season World Event – Blood Harvest.

This new Season World event you will find on your map shares some resemblance with Helltide, though there are some key differences present:

The event is available at level 1.
Blood Harvest is always active, meaning that once one event ends, another starts immediately.
The event items don’t disappear the moment the active Blood Harvest ends.
During Blood Harvest you can collect Bounties, burst Blood Blisters, partake in new World Events, disrupt rituals, and free prisoners.
The event can appear in Dry Steppes, Hawezar, and Scosglen.
Blood Harvest is the source for Potent Blood and Pact Armor Drops.
You can summon Blood Seekers (the new Vampire adversaries) after you find Blood Lures.
To free prisoners or open Seekers Caches, you need to find Seeker Keys
You can earn Hunter’s Acclaim to gain reputation Tiers that reward crafting materials, Items, and Pact consumables.

In addition, the season introduces fresh events themed around Season of Blood. These events are scattered across the open world, and some existing Dungeons have been revamped to align with the season’s narrative. Expect to encounter the Master’s armies in these Dungeons, offering a slightly different experience than before.

New Monster Families

The Master’s vampires are unlike any we’ve seen before. Three new monster families represent this new breed: Shadow Vampires, Blood Skeletons, and Blood Seekers. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Shadow Vampires

These elusive creatures come with unique abilities, including dropping items that players must interact with to prevent them from using shields.

Blood Skeletons

These skeletal foes employ area denial abilities to trap and harm you.

Blood Seekers

These are the fallen heroes, once valiant warriors who tried to combat the vampires but succumbed to the Master’s influence. Now, they serve as formidable foes, using class-like abilities and serving as a prime source of Potent Blood.

New Endgame Bosses

Besides the Diablo 4 features we’ve mentioned above, the new season will introduce five endgame bosses that are available in Seasonal and Eternal realms. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Each boss offers a unique loot table and a high drop rate for Unique and Uber Unique items, making it easier for you to target certain loot.
Every time you want to summon the boss, you need to have summoning items. You can farm those in a group and trade them with other players.
The bosses have a strong elemental time, which means that you will need Elemental Resistance.
Each boss can drop a unique cosmetic item, which we’ll show next.

So, here’s the list of bosses, including their elements and cosmetic drops.

Echo of Varshan

Availability: World Tier III and World Tier IV
Location: The Tree of Whispers
Collection: Harvest Malignant Body Parts from Grotesque Debtors during Whispers and Whisper Caches. On World Tier IV a Malignant Heart is required.
Cosmetic Drop: Flesh-Weld Rod Trophy

Grigoire, the Galvanic Saint

Availability: World Tier III and World Tier IV
Location: Unknown
Collection: Collect Living Steel from Tortured Offerings in Helltides.
Element: Lightning
Cosmetic Drop: Demonbinder Mount Armor

The Beast in the Ice

Availability: World Tier IV
Location: Unknown
Collection: Collect Distilled Fear from Tier 30 or higher Nightmare Dungeons, then visit the Occultist to craft the Glacial Fissure Nightmare Sigil.
Element: Ice
Cosmetic Drop: Skull Torch and Fell Steed Mount Trophies

Lord Zir, the Dark Master

Availability: World Tier IV
Location: Unknown
Collection: Collect Exquisite Blood from World Bosses and Legion Events on World Tier IV.
Element: Unknown
Cosmetic Drop: Diadem of the Ancient Helm Cosmetic

Duriel, King of Maggots

Availability: World Tier IV
Location: Unknown
Collection: Collect Mucus-Slick Eggs and Shards of Agony from Grigoire, The Galvanic Saint, and Varshan in World Tier IV.
Element: Poison
Cosmetic Drop: Smoldering Brimstone Mount

New Unique Items and Legendary Aspects

Besides new challenges the D4 game Season 2 will introduce, there will also be new Unique items and Legendary Aspects that are designed to help you on your new journey. The items listed below can be obtained only on World Tier IV and in both Seasonal and Eternal Realms.

Unique Items

Tassets of the Dawning Sky (Generic Unique Pants): When you take damage from a Non-Physical damage type, you gain +6-10% Maximum Resistance to that damage type for 6 seconds. This effect can only apply to one damage type at a time.
Tuskhelm of Joritz the Mighty (Barbarian Unique Helm): When you gain Berserking while already Berserk, you have a 40-60% chance to become more enraged granting 15% (multiplicative damage) [x] increased damage, 2 Fury per second, and 10% Cooldown Reduction.
Dolmen Stone (Druid Unique Amulet): Casting Boulder while Hurricane is active will cause your boulders to rotate around you.
Scoundrel’s Leathers (Rogue Unique Chest): While you have unlimited Energy from Inner Sight, your Core Skills have a 60-80% chance to spawn Caltrops, Poison Trap, or Death Trap.
Blood Moon Breeches (Necromancer Unique Pants): Your Minions have a 3-7% chance to curse enemies. Enemies affected by at least 1 of your curses take 70% [x] (multiplicative damage) increased Overpower damage from you.
Blue Rose (Sorcerer Unique Ring): Lucky Hit: Damaging an enemy has up to a 30% chance of forming an exploding Ice Spike, dealing 0.25-0.35 Cold damage. Triple this chance if the enemy is Frozen.

Legendary Aspects

The Aspect below can be found on Boots and Amulets.

Aspect of Slaughter (Generic Mobility Aspect): You gain 20% Movement Speed. Lose this bonus for 2.5-5 seconds after taking damage.

The Aspects below can be found on Amulets, Gloves, Rings, and Weapons.

Aspect of Elements (Generic Offensive Aspect): Gain 20-30% (additive damage) [+] increased damage to a set of damage types for 7 seconds. This effect alternates between 2 sets:
- Fire, Lightning, and Physical.
- Cold, Poison, and Shadow.
Wanton Rupture Aspect (Barbarian Offensive Aspect): Your Rupture does not remove the Bleeding damage from enemies. This can occur once every 30-40 seconds.
Raw Might Aspect (Druid Offensive Aspect): After you hit 15 enemies with your Werebear Skills, your next Werebear Skill will deal 30-50% (multiplicative damage) [x] more damage and Stun enemies for 2 seconds.
Aspect of Artful Initiative (Rogue Offensive Aspect): When you spend 100 Energy you release a cluster of exploding Stun Grenades that deal 0.2-0.3 total Physical damage and Stun enemies for 0.5 seconds. Your Grenade Skills deal 15% [x] more damage.
Aspect of the Long Shadow (Necromancer Offensive Aspect): Lucky Hit: Your Shadow Damage Over Time effects have a 10-30% chance to generate 3 Essence. Damage from your Shadowblight Key Passive will always generate 2 Essence.
Battle Caster’s Aspect (Sorcerer Offensive Aspect): Lucky Hit: When your Conjuration Skills hit you have up to a 30-40% chance to gain +1 Rank to your Conjuration skills for 12 seconds. This can stack up to 3 times.

Other Updates

Alongside the additions of new mechanics, systems, challenges, and bosses, the major update will bring quality of life updates, including the ones for Dungeons, endgame activities, progression, and others.

For instance, in the livestream on October 10, the devs revealed that all five classes will be slightly reworked. While Rogues and Druids will see minimal changes due to their already optimal performance, Sorcerers, Barbarians, and Necromancers are set to receive notable enhancements, detailed further below.

A standout modification is the Necromancer’s pet identity. Since the game’s debut earlier this year, pet-centric builds, a quintessential aspect of Necromancer gameplay, have been underwhelming. The creators aim to rectify this by significantly enhancing minion durability and, in certain scenarios, amplifying their damage output twofold.

Regarding elemental resistances, Blizzard has overhauled the system, enabling players to strategically equip their characters with specific resistances in anticipation of forthcoming battles. This revamped approach is particularly beneficial when confronting the new elite endgame adversaries, each linked to a distinct elemental damage type.

In addition, Blizzard is revamping a majority of the game’s Unique items for Season 2. The development team has enhanced many of these pivotal items, ensuring they’re not only more potent but also have a heightened likelihood of activation in most situations.

Moreover, one of the biggest changes revolves around damage calculation. In the past, you could calculate Critical Strike Damage and Vulnerable Damage separately, which allowed you to combine skills with these traits for formidable damage results. The update will cap Critical Strike Damage at 50% and Vulnerable Damage at 20%. Rather than separate calculations, bonus damage will now be added together and then multiplied by these set percentages.

The devs aim with this change is to diversify the build options and prevent players from relying on high-damage skills. As outlined in the patch notes, Blizzard has tweaked monster scaling to ensure top-tier Class builds retain their potency, even with the general decrease in damage output. The goal isn’t to weaken the most potent builds but to elevate other builds to a comparable power tier. Additionally, the update brings new mechanics, encouraging players to explore stats beyond just Critical Strike and Vulnerable Damage for amplified bonuses.

Are You Ready To Embrace the Darkness?

These are the most notable additions and changes that are coming to the game in Season of Blood, for which you can start getting ready right now. We can’t wait to begin our journey with our new powers and face the formidable vampire enemies; how about you? We bet you’re also waiting for the time when you can put your new abilities to the test. Luckily for us all, the new season is just around the corner.

However, let’s not forget that with every new update comes new difficulties we have to deal with, like grinding (unfortunately). For instance, the leveling is usually quite a tedious and time-consuming process, which you might’ve skipped if you could, right? Well, actually, you can do just that with the help of LFCarry.

We know exactly how precious your time is and how much you want to jump straight to the endgame, and we are here to help you with that. Just visit our website, LFCarry.com, tell us what we can help you with via live chat, and we’ll take care of the rest. Let’s conquer the Season of Blood challenges together!

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Written by: Polly Gruse
Posted on: October 11, 2023

Diablo 4 Season Of Blood: Everything You Need To Know

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