How to Prepare for Diablo 4 Season 3

Season Start Date and Time

Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One. Can be played cross-platform.

Note: Because seasons are usually large patches, an update will most likely be available for pre-download 1–2 days before release.

Season of the Construct is the third season of Diablo 4, and it will introduce a new campaign, as well as new content and challenges for players to enjoy.

The Season of the Construct will start on January 23rd, 2024, and will last for about three months. To participate in the season, you need to create a new character on the Seasonal Realm, which is separate from the Eternal Realm (the non-seasonal part of the game).

Here are some tips and tricks on what to do before and during season start, and what to look out for in general.

Before Season Start

This is comprised of steps you should ideally complete on either the Eternal Realm or the current Season, before the next season starts, allowing you to directly start the new seasonal content on the Seasonal Realm and/or save time.

• Complete the campaign
  This is required to access seasonal content. Completing the campaign beforehand allows you to directly start seasonal content on the Seasonal Realm (otherwise, you will have to first complete it there). However, you only have to play through the campaign once in order to unlock the skip for all future seasons.
• Unlock your horse
  This is a side quest that you can get from the campaign, and it will give you a fast way to travel around Sanctuary. Having a horse will save you a lot of time when leveling up and exploring the map.
• Uncover the entire map
  This will carry over to your seasonal characters, and it will make your map more functional and useful. You will also get a lot of Renown from discovering new areas and completing events.
• Discover all or as many Altars of Lilith as you can
  These are special statues that offer cool stat bonuses, and they will also carry over to your seasonal characters, so you only have to collect them once. There are 160 Altars in total, and they are scattered all over the map. You can use this guide to find them all.
• Decide which class you want to play by testing classes to find the best one to suit you
  This is a personal preference, but you may want to consider the season theme, the patch notes, and your playstyle when choosing your class. Each class has its own strengths, weaknesses, and skills, so you may want to experiment with different builds and see what you like best.
• One thing to keep in mind is that Softcore and Hardcore gameplay do not overlap in Diablo 4. This means that if you played Hardcore during Diablo 4’s launch phase or current season, and are planning on playing Softcore mode next season, you will have to discover everything (Altars, map discovery, etc.) again.

During Season

• Download or update Diablo 4 on your PC or console
• Create a new character on the Seasonal Realm 
  You can do this by selecting “Seasonal” when creating your character. You will start at Level 1 with no gear or skills, but you will have access to your horse, your map progress, your renown rewards, and your Altars of Lilith bonuses. If you have trouble picking, take a look at our Tier Lists.
• Remember to choose to “Skip the Campaign” (unless you want to play through it again).
• World Tier 1 vs 2 Choice
  You should always level up in World Tier 1. The difficulty can be changed at any time from the character select screen or in-game in Kyovashad at the World Tier Statue.
• Enable Enhanced / Detailed tooltips to see the full range of stats on items
  To do so, go to the options menu and select the “Gameplay” tab. Then, turn on the “Advanced Tooltip Information” option.
• Follow the seasonal campaign
  This is a new questline that will guide you through the seasonal content and reward you with exclusive items and achievements, as well as interesting new lore. 
• Item Power is a good way to compare certain pieces of gear early on
• Don’t forget to take advantage of Waypoints as you level up, since they will be visible from the beginning (assuming you discovered them on the Eternal Realm or previous seasons), and can easily be collected.
• Remember you can respec for free until Level 15!
• Pay attention to your gear’s stats for the best items, depending on your class and build.
• Use Elixirs
  They provide temporary buffs and a 5% XP boost for 30 minutes. Additionally, upgrade your Potions at Level 10, 20, 30, 45, 60, 70, 80, and 90. You can craft Elixirs at the Alchemist in town or get them from quests.
• Put Gems in your sockets
  You can also salvage items with Gems to get them back for free.
• Stash Legendary items for later use
  Extract the Aspect for other builds, or to share between characters on the account. Only salvage Legendary items if you have no use for them at all.
• Items in the Stash can be marked as Junk or Favorite. Make use of this feature, but be aware that marked items cannot be sold or salvaged!
• Level up your character
  The faster you level up, the sooner you can access the endgame content and challenges. After the campaign, you can level up by completing side quests, events, Dungeons, Whispers of the Dead bounties, and other activities.
• Find out where your preferred Aspects come from by looking inside the Codex of Power.
  Weapons are usually changed more frequently due to scaling with skills, so it is more comfortable to apply Offensive Aspects to Armor (or the Amulet).
  Tip: Click on an Aspect within the Codex of Power to pin it on the map, showing the Dungeon where it can be unlocked.
• Do the Capstone Dungeon around Level 50 to unlock World Tier 3
  Nightmare Difficulty (WT3) can be unlocked around Level 50, and Torment Difficulty (WT4) at Level 70, providing further challenges and better gear.
• Complete your Season Journey
  Complete seasonal challenges in season journey chapters to earn XP and battle pass rewards. Some items are free and some are optional, but they are all bonuses for your characters.
• Unlock Seasonal Blessings
  These Blessings are small bonuses that enhance various aspects of the gameplay experience, such as increased experience points, gold acquisition, elixir duration, and more.
• Optimize your Seneschal Companion with Governing and Tuning Stones!
• Complete Arcane Tremors and collect Pearls of Warding
• Complete Vault Dungeons and try to avoid traps! Each time you get hit, you will lose a stack of your Zoltun’s Warding Buff, which you can get by clicking on Zoltun’s Statue at the start of each Vault run. Try to collect enough Pearls of Warding first, so you can start your Vault runs with enough stacks of the buff!
• Keep an eye out for in-game announcements of upcoming World Boss spawns!
• Have fun!
  This is the most important tip of all. Diablo 4 is a game that offers a lot of variety and replayability, so you can play it however you want. You can explore different regions, try different classes and builds, join clans, or just enjoy the story and atmosphere. The choice is yours!

Season Roadmap

During the official season 3 campfire chat, Blizzard provided a nice overview of what we can expect during our season journey. Below, you will see two images. The first will list everything available at launch, while the second will show which content will only be released during the mid-season patch.

Season Launch

Mid-Season Patch