Finally, the momentDiablo 4players have been waiting for is upon us. The time has come for new content, class changes, and whatever else is on the horizon.Season 1: Season of the Malignant launches on Jul 31, 2025, and with it comes familiarity for veterans of the franchise but jarring changes for new players.
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Of course, everyone is free to play games any way they’d like, but prioritizing some activities over others could prove beneficial. Although if you want to just keep playing your eternal, Season 0 character, you’re more than welcome.
10Create A New Character
As soon as the update is downloaded and you fire up Diablo 4, you’ll want to create a new character. If you’re a seasoned veteran, you already know why.
For new players, don’t worry; you’re not just undoing all your previous Season Zero progress for no reason. Seasonal characters are ones created specifically for each season.
Although you’re going to start from scratch, the process will be much quicker now that you know what you’re doing. Not to mention, a few buffs from the Altars of Lilith will already be applied to the new character.
Seasonal characters are the perfect opportunity to try out a different class if you’ve been considering it, but there’s no shame in sticking with the same class if you love it that much. After all, only one class can transform into a werewolf, and who would want to stop doing that?
9Complete The Campaign
Next, you’ll want to play through the Diablo 4 main storycampaignagain. If you’ve already done it, you know it’s not too long or difficult if you avoid side quests and activities.
Since you’ll need to level up again, the maximum experience gained will come from beating the main campaign, then hopping into endgame activities. As a result, you’ll probably want to leave those little blue exclamation points where you found them, as they’ll just be a distraction from leveling up.
Alternatively, if you don’t care about reaching a high level or the endgame quickly and just want to play through all the quests and explore again, no one is going to stop you.
8Collect Whispers for the Tree of Whispers
With the most recent Diablo 4 update available, the Tree of Whispers might be useful? Previously, collecting whispers and bringing them back to the tree was, to put it lightly, not worth your time.
After finishing a few dungeons, killing 100 enemies, or even defeating a small boss, you’d only get a cache that granted a small chance at a decent item. With it, you’d usually get some crafting materials and more useless items than you ever wanted.
Additionally, the experience bonus wasn’t very valuable. Thanks to the recent update, turning in whispers to the tree now offers players much more leveling experience.
The result is that the tree might be one of the best ways to level up post-campaign, though it’s still too early to tell.
7Nightmare Dungeons
Before season one starts, Nightmare Dungeons are the most efficient way to gain experience and loot in the endgame. There’s no reason to believe that’s going to change when the first season drops.
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Although the long list of patch notes will surely include some changes to the Nightmare Dungeon system, one thing remains the same. Running these dungeons with random modifiers on and a potion activated maximizes experience.
Additionally, finding a sigil that creates a dungeon three levels higher than your character is considered optimal for completing them and maximizing experience.
6Complete The New Story Content
For some, this might be the most interesting and important thing to make the list of things to do when season one launches. Diablo 4 had plenty of playable content at launch, but more is on the way.
TheSeason of the Malignantoffers a whole new enemy to fight and rewards to go along with it. Finishing the game’s campaign is required to jump into the latest content, and that’s likely only with a new seasonal character.
The Malignant plague infestation has spread across Sanctuary, and the story can begin by visiting Kyovashad post-campaign.
5Defeat Malignant Enemies
With some new story missions and a plague on the horizon, Diablo 4 is also getting new enemies. As you might expect, the new enemies will also offer new rewards.
A new boss called Varshan the Consumed needs defeating, and who knows what else awaits in the season of the malignant. Regardless, the developers promise that defeating tougher enemies during season one will offer players high-level loot, new rewards, and “stupidly broken builds.”
4Collect Caged Hearts
Caged Hearts are the newest item featured in the first season of Diablo 4. Like gems, they can be socketed into items, specifically jewelry, and offer excellent buffs.
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The hearts are how the developers expect players to become extremely powerful, as there are 32 different ones to find. While collecting them, they come in a few different colors, each of which corresponds with a different color socket they can be placed into.
Farming them is as easy as heading to Malignant Tunnel Dungeons.
3Farm Malignant Tunnel Dungeons
Want your character’s build to be as good as possible? Trying to find a way to reach level 100 and beat Uber Lilith? It seems like one of the best ways to do so comes with collecting Caged Hearts. To get them and create your “stupidly broken builds,” you’ll have to farm the Malignant Tunnel Dungeons.
Here, defeating unique malignant enemies and bosses will offer players a chance at Caged Hearts with various buffs. Happy farming!
2Get The Battle Pass
Another thing you can do as soon as you fire up Diablo 4 season one for the first time is to buy the battle pass. Or don’t; it really doesn’t affect the actual game.
For players interested in earning rewards (cosmetics only), the paid battle pass offers 100 items earnable throughout the season by completing challenges. According toRod Fergusson(SVP of Diablo), all battle pass rewards will be agnostic, so they apply to all classes, not just one.
For those of you who don’t wish to pay extra to get cosmetics, 27 battle pass tiers will be completely free, though we’re sure the best items won’t be part of those 27.
1Get Those Sweet New Items And Aspects
With all the bug fixes, content updates, and changes also come some new in-game loot. Recent Diablo 4 patch notes revealed brand new unique items, including a newUber Uniquethat grants shrine buffs.
Additionally, seven new legendary aspects are now available, with at least one pertaining to each class. These, of course, can be earned by your seasonal character or the eternal one you’ve already been playing to make your build that much better.
However, watch out for the buffs and nerfs to different skills and abilities, as your old build might be better (or worse) than ever before.
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