Diablo 4’s journey continues with its second expansion, Lord of Hatred, offering players a new narrative adventure, a new zone to conquer, two new classes to play, and countless updates to existing content. Here is a breakdown of all the exciting content you can expect in this expansion.
Release Date and Versions
Lord of Hatred released on April 28th, 2026 10 a.m. PDT / April 28th, 2026 7:00 p.m. CEST.
You can purchase the expansion in three different editions:
- Standard Edition – $39.99/€39.99 – includes the Paladin and Warlock Class, Vessel of Hatred Expansion, and access to the new region – Skovos.
- Deluxe Edition – $59.99/€59.99 – includes a new pet: Skorch(Mini Chimera), 1 Extra Stash Tab, 2 Extra Character Slots, 3 WoW Cosmetics, Infernal Apostle Warlock Armor, Premium Battle Pass, Skartaran Basilisk Mount.
- Ultimate Edition – $89.99/€89.99 – includes all Deluxe Edition rewards, and a second mount (Steed of the Shining Realm), as well as 3,000 Platinum, Umbral Knights Armor Bundle (Sets for all 6 classes), 2 Reactive Back Trophies, 2 Town Portal Skins, 20 Tier Skips for the Battle Pass.
New Region of Skovos
Homeland of the Amazons, players will journey to the region of Skovos to further confront the looming threat of the Lord of Hatred, Mephisto.
Past fans of the Diablo franchise are sure to know about the Skovos region, being mentioned all the way back during Diablo 2 when we got our hands on the Amazon class.
Skovos is the location where Lillith and Inarius first created the Nephalem, as depicted in the photo above. The Isles flourished until Inarius began to fear the Nephalem’s power, and ultimately began sinking parts of the islands into the sea.
Despite the isles being quite gorgeous and lush, players will see where Inarius’s paranoia affected the region, with desecrated locations showing the once-fate of the island.
Players will spend the majority of their time in the new expansion’s story within Skovos, offering a new city and portals to the various activities, new and old, to Diablo IV.
New Classes: Warlock and Paladin
The Paladin is an armor-clad warrior of the light, using holy magic to defeat the forces of hell. As a Strength-focused class, Paladins use a resource called Fervor to spend abilities with.
Their special class mechanic is the Oath System, with each one giving you a different holy path and playstyle depending on your choice.
- Zealot: The unhinged Oath of the Paladin, it uses stacks that grant attack speed and causes hits to echo before jumping into the fray with little regard for their own well-being.
- Juggernaut: This Oath is the defensive path, being the front line of conflict and bestowing the Paladin with the strength to face the onslaught head-on. It uses Armor and Block chance to scale their damage, while stacking Resolve to reduce damage.
- Judicator: The embodiment of the light, taking this oath turns the Paladin into a caster-melee hybrid, applying Judgement marks that can explode for area damage.
- Disciple: Full acceptance of their heavenly gifts, the Disciple Oath bestows upon the Paladin an angelic transformation, similar to how players have seen angels in the Diablo franchise history, giving increased stats and unique abilities.
The Warlock is the other side of the coin, as they embrace the darkness and use their demonic powers against the forces of hell. As the second Willpower class, Warlocks use both Wrath and Dominance as their resources, with Wrath being a much easier generator to fuel abilities such as Core skills, and Dominance being for the classes most powerful spells.
Their class mechanic is the Soul Shard system. Upon picking one, characters will bind in an unholy contract, connecting them with a specific demon’s soul shard.
- Shard of the Legion: Overwhelm the forces of hell with hordes of small demons, taking on a bond with the demon, “Ae’grom,” who will spew its children to fight for you.
- Vanguard Shard: Serving as a frontliner, taking this soul shard focuses the Warlock on using Hellfire abilities that synergize with their Demon Form, and being able to ride the fiery demon Abodian into the chaos before thrashing foes in melee range.
- Mastermind Shard: Become the nightmare by accepting this offer, as users step into the realm of shadow magic. Using stealth, players torment their foes without ever being seen as they sustain their Shadowform while being accompanied by the demon Laalish.
- Ritualist Shard: Focusing on devious and deadly Sigils, the demon Vollach binds with us to fuel our Overpower, allowing us to synergize with Hellfire and Abyss skills.
Story and Campaign
The story continues from the events of Vessel of Hatred. Mephisto, now free and assuming a new human form, begins his plan of ultimate takeover, pretending to be a prophet, yet little do his followers know that the man they worship as a guide to the light, is the Lord of Hatred himself.
Having our journey take us to Skovos, the campaign story gives an insight into the mortal psyche of the Diablo universe’s inhabitants. Promises of a better life, the path to goodness, and a meaning to it all by this so-called “Prophet”, yet none of these are the Prime Evil’s true intention. Mephisto is cunning, and we will find out just how dominant the words of lies and hatred can be.
To skip the story in future seasons, you must complete the Lord of Hatred campaign at least once. Additionally, new players are not required to play Diablo 4’s original campaign in order to experience this storyline. A brief summary is given prior to the beginning of the expansion.
New Gameplay Features
War Plans
As a new endgame content activity, War Plans allows players to put together a path from various other new and old endgame activities. Selecting a path, you will need to complete a specific activity, such as a Nightmare Dungeon, then continue to the next, which may lead you into Helltides. These paths will award a chest filled to the brim with loot once the path is completed.
Nearly every activity in the game can be offered with these War Plans. The Path begins short, with needing only a few activities to complete, but it will grow larger and larger as players complete more paths.
Activities
Activities are connected directly to War Plans. Completing a specific activity within a War Plan Path gives points towards a new reputation skill tree. Some nodes offer simple things, such as better rewards, while others have a chance to spawn full-fledged boss encounters mid-run, drastically altering each run a player might take. These Activity trees dramatically change what otherwise old content players have come to know.
Talismans and Charms
We’re getting a new gearing option in Lord of Hatred, being known and seen as “Set Pieces” during Diablo 3, Talismans offer unique powers and boosts upon completing the required set. We gain these bonuses from reaching a 2-piece, 3-piece, and even a 5-piece boost.
Set Bonuses aren’t the only thing coming with the new system. Now, specific Uniques may also be turned into Charms, opening up significantly greater gearing options.
Although these Talismans and Unique Charms are highlighted, Charms also come in Rare and Magic forms, becoming available very early in the leveling stage.
Hoadric Cube
The Hoadric Cube has returned, offering even more options for gearing and even rerolling Unique powers should the item drop with lower maximum potential. Sanctification from Season 11 makes a return in the form of Transfigure, opening possibilities for adding even more bonuses once a gear item is complete, but beware, once an item is Transfigured, it can no longer be modified in any way. This only mentions a few, as the new cube offers a ton of options.
Echoing Hatred
This is a new type of endgame content where players come into an arena similar to Infernal Hordes, yet instead of picking bonuses as you would in Hordes, you begin at a lower difficulty and climb to higher ones as you complete waves. With completely randomized enemy types, each run is something different, even past Bosses from all different content can show up to disrupt the player.
Death means game over in Echoing Hatred, and you’ll be rewarded for how far you progressed. Successful runs end at the final difficulty before giving a maximum reward chest.
Echoing Hatred requires a rare key, Traces of Echoes, to be able to do a run. Making it a special piece of content rather than something that can be spammed endlessly.
Skill Tree Rework
Skill trees have been reworked completely for every class in the game. Old passives are gone, replaced instead with one-point nodes that change how that specific skill functions. Modifiers have also changed drastically, with some even changing the damage or element type of a skill.
The former skill tree required a specific number of points to unlock the next set of skill nodes. Once specific nodes are unlocked upon reaching their specific level requirement, you no longer need points in old skills to use later ones.
Loot Filter
After years of being requested by players, a Loot Filter is finally being added in Lord of Hatred. This offers a way for players to specify what type of loot they wish to see when being dropped, in an easy-to-set-up and use format.
Fishing
That’s right, Diablo IV has received Fishing as a new activity! This offers a casual and relaxing way to spend your time in-game. Players can receive crafting materials and specific items that expand upon the universe’s lore, making it perfect for Diablo story lovers.
It’s quite simple, and a relaxing change to the usual chaotic gameplay. Simply cast out your line, then when the fishing icon appears above your head, reel them in. Considering the world they live in, the inhabitants of Sanctuary and Skovos deserve a little coziness.
Other Updates
The expansion also introduces multiple new or updated features, such as:
- Leveling adjustments: Level cap raised from 60 to 70.
- Enemy Affixes: Changes have been made to enemy affixes, both removed and newly added.
- New Torment Tiers: 12 new Torment difficulties.
- New Enemy Types: Including new models and families.
Changelog
- April 21st, 2026: Updated for Lord of Hatred
- January 15th, 2025: Updated relevant wording and information about Vessel of Hatreds release and content.
- September 2, 2024: Overview updated with Gamescom and Campfire Chat information.
- August 16, 2024: Vessel of Hatred overview created.
