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Diablo IV’s Next Season Brings Back Diablo, Deckard Cain, Rebirth, and More

Blizzard has outlined what is coming next to Diablo IV, and the upcoming Season of Hell’s Legacy is shaping up to be one of the game’s largest seasons so far. The update will celebrate 30 years of Diablo by bringing back…

Update PathJune 26, 20269 min read

Diablo IV’s Next Season Brings Back Diablo, Deckard Cain, Rebirth, and More

Blizzard has outlined what is coming next to Diablo IV, and the upcoming Season of Hell’s Legacy is shaping up to be one of the game’s largest seasons so far. The update will celebrate 30 years of Diablo by bringing back familiar bosses, characters, locations, dungeons, items, and several long-requested features.

Among those returning characters are Deckard Cain, Tyrael, Leah, Griswold, and the big red demon himself, Diablo. Players can also expect Character Rebirth, changes to Mythic crafting, new Horadric Cube recipes, permanent Unique items, and Realm-wide War Plan progression.

There is quite a bit to unpack here, so let’s get into it.

Diablo Makes His Return

Despite his name being on the box, Diablo has remained missing from Diablo IV. That changes with Season of Hell’s Legacy, which will bring all three Prime Evils into the game as part of its 30th-anniversary celebration.

All three Prime Evils; Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto will appear through Waking Nightmares, recreations of memories belonging to characters who have returned from the dead. These are not time-travel missions, but distorted versions of important moments from previous Diablo games. Players will also encounter three Dark Wanderers who remain connected to the Prime Evils. After defeating them, players can collect Splinters of Evil and choose which Splinter they are willing to carry.

Each Splinter provides a signature power connected to one of the Prime Evils. The Splinter of Destruction, for example, gives the player access to one of Baal’s abilities, which can then be upgraded throughout the season. However, carrying that power comes with a risk. Using a Splinter can cause echoes of the Prime Evils to hunt the player, leading to unexpected boss encounters during other activities. Soul Splinters will also be introduced as socketable artifacts. These provide powerful bonuses similar to the Soul Shards from Diablo III, but they can also attract the attention of the Prime Evils.

Deckard Cain Also Makes His Return

Season of Hell’s Legacy will also mark the return of Deckard Cain, once again voiced by Michael Gough. Blizzard confirmed that this is not a ghost, illusion, or magical recreation of Cain.

He has returned as what Blizzard calls a returned soul, although his time in Sanctuary appears to be limited. Cain also believes it is still the year in which he originally died, leaving him understandably confused about everything that has happened since then. Cain will serve as the central figure guiding players through the season. He tasks them with redeeming the souls of the three Dark Wanderers while uncovering their continued connection to the Prime Evils.

While Cain has physically returned, not every familiar character is coming back in the same way. Leah, for example, appears as a memory rather than returning to life.

Other returning characters include Pepin, Griswold, Adria, and Tyrael in his angelic form. Blizzard has rebuilt their character models for Diablo IV while using voice recordings and music from the original games to make these encounters feel more authentic.

Waking Nightmares Recreate Classic Diablo Moments

Waking Nightmares will be one of the main activities in Season of Hell’s Legacy. These experiences recreate locations, enemies, and major battles from across the franchise using Diablo IV’s graphics and combat systems.

The Prime Evil Waking Nightmares take players through events leading up to battles against Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto. One recreates Act V of Diablo II, beginning at the Ancients’ Way and continuing through Mount Arreat, the Worldstone Keep, Baal’s waves, and the final confrontation with Baal himself. Another sends players through Travincal, where they must assemble Khalim’s Will, destroy the Compelling Orb, enter the Durance of Hate, and confront Mephisto. If you spent countless hours doing Mephisto runs in Diablo II, you already know this route far too well.

Blizzard has also recreated a large portion of the original Diablo. Players begin beneath Tristram Cathedral, descend through the Catacombs and caves, and eventually enter Hell to face Diablo. These missions will appear during the seasonal questline, with even harder versions beinging available as Capstone Dungeons. Blizzard is also introducing Pinnacle Capstones, which the team described as the largest and most difficult dungeons it has created. Pinnacle Capstones are being balanced around Torment 13, so Blizzard clearly isn’t expecting everyone to walk through them without a fight.

Standard Waking Nightmares will also be scattered throughout the world as regular dungeons. These include familiar locations and encounters such as Tal Rasha’s Tomb, the Den of Evil, the Halls of the Blind, and the Scouring of Caldeum. Smaller Waking Nightmare portals can also appear while players explore the world or participate in activities such as Helltides.

Entering one can lead to a wave-based encounter, boss fight, or another short recreation of a memorable moment from the series. Blizzard says it created approximately 30 Waking Nightmare experiences for the season. That is in addition to 20 bosses and 25 monsters pulled from throughout the franchise’s history.

More Familiar Enemies Are Also Returning

Season of Hell’s Legacy will bring back Blood Raven, Archbishop Lazarus, the Summoner, Nihlathak, Coldworm the Burrower, and several other returning bosses. Even Na-Krul from Diablo: Hellfire is making an appearance, proving that Blizzard dug surprisingly deep into the franchise for this season.

The monsters accompanying these bosses will retain many of the traits players remember. That includes the lightning-enchanted Scarabs and the annoying insect swarms that drain the player’s resources.

Going back to familiar locations is one thing, but filling them with the same enemies and sounds people remember should help these encounters feel like more than reused environments. Blizzard appears to be leaning heavily into nostalgia, but it is doing so with more than a few recognizable character models.

Classic Unique Items Become Permanent Additions

Several classic Unique items will return during Season of Hell’s Legacy, including Leoric’s Crown, Messerschmidt’s Reaver, and the Stone of Jordan. These items will retain the general effects players remember, with some changes made to account for systems that do not exist in Diablo IV. The important detail is that these are not season-exclusive items.

Once introduced, they will remain available in both the Seasonal and Eternal Realms, as well as future seasons.

Players will also be able to unlock the items as transmogs. Some will be offered as Unique Charms, allowing classes that cannot equip the original weapon to access its special effect through the Charm system.This should keep some of these items useful outside the classes that would normally carry them. It also gives players another reason to hunt them down beyond adding another entry to their collection.

Character Rebirth Is Finally Coming

Character Rebirth is another requested feature being added to Diablo IV. It allows players to take an existing character and rebirth it as a seasonal character instead of deleting it and creating another one. Anyone who has played through multiple seasons knows how quickly the character list can fill up.

Eventually, you are forced to decide which character gets deleted, even if you have used that character since the game launched. Rebirth solves that problem while allowing the character’s story to continue from one season to the next. It may not affect combat or itemization, but it is the sort of quality-of-life improvement that Diablo IV should have had much sooner.

Blizzard Is Changing Mythic Crafting

Blizzard is also responding to feedback surrounding Mythic items and Horadric Cube crafting. Instead of rerolling a Unique item to turn it into a Mythic, players will be able to upgrade the item directly. This allows players to perfect the Unique they want before applying the Mythic modifier as the final step. Due to the strength of this recipe, the crafted item tag will return, but it will only apply to this specific process.

Blizzard has also abandoned its plan to introduce regular Unique versions of iconic Mythic items. The developers admitted that the change painted with too broad a brush and risked making those Mythics feel less special. I know some fans are likely going to be upset over this, but honestly, it’s the right call. Especially with the entire point of Mythics are supposed to be incredibly special items, and putting this plan into place would cheapen that. Blizzard plans to evaluate iconic Mythics individually and find another way to address their availability. The Blacksmith crafting cache that specifically targets iconic Mythics will also return.

Unique Charms will have a small chance to become Mythic when they drop. This means any activity that rewards a large number of Charms will also provide more opportunities to find a Mythic version.

Two new Horadric Cube recipes will allow players to reroll affixes more precisely. One rerolls the base affixes on Talisman items such as Charms and Seals, while another rerolls equipment affixes without changing Greater Affixes, enchanted affixes, Tempers, or Transfigurations.

War Plan Progression Will Become Realm-Wide

Another requested change involves War Plan progression. Instead of starting over whenever players create another character, progress will become Realm-wide and carry across their characters.

Blizzard originally planned this change for Season 16 but moved it forward into Season 15. This will be particularly useful for players who enjoy experimenting with different classes and builds during the same season.

Future War Plan updates may include playlist customization, more seasonal variety, and additional endgame options. Blizzard sees plenty of room to expand the system beyond the changes arriving in the next season.

Diablo IV’s Seasons Are Building Toward Something Larger

Blizzard also wants future seasons to feel more connected. Instead of introducing a threat and throwing it away at the end of a season, the team is creating an ongoing story involving a Death Cult, ruptures into Pandemonium, and the emergence of a new Aspect of Death. The dead returning to life during Season of Hell’s Legacy is another part of that larger storyline. The following seasons will continue developing the Death Cult and its plans for Sanctuary.

Moving forward, Blizzard says its priorities include creating more build variety, expanding seasonal itemization, adding new Cube recipes, and improving the endgame. The team also plans to continue building on War Plans and the systems introduced with Lord of Hatred.

And with Diablo V already announced and despite the lengthy time until its release date, Blizzard is very well planning on bridging the gap from now and until the game is eventually released. So, we can expect to see more updates via seasons. Since there will be no more DLC introduced into Diablo IV.

Season of Hell’s Legacy launches on September 15, and there is a surprising amount of content packed into it. Diablo finally appearing in Diablo IV should be enough to grab everyone’s attention, but Character Rebirth, permanent Unique items, Mythic crafting changes, and Realm-wide War Plans may prove just as important to the game’s long-term health.

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