diablo-immortal Diablo Immortal: New Expansion Coming December 14

[Staff 940]

The latest Diablo Immortal update adds Stormpoint (a new zone), 5 new Helliquary bosses, new Hell Difficulties, five new Legendary Gems to kick-off the Season 8 Battle Pass, and more.

(Source)

Good tidings, adventurer.

Welcome to Terror’s Tide, our second Major Update for Diablo Immortal. This update is packed with a slew of changes to existing content and systems, as well as new content, such as the Stormpoint Zone, Voidwound Helliquary, and much more!

Hoist up your courage, because you’re going to need it in Stormpoint, our first post-launch Zone. Players will sail to the salt-scrubbed prison island to investigate a sinister plot to harness the power of the largest Worldstone shard, which has overtaken the island. To find out how you can embark on this new Questline, and to watch our developers reveal more details about the island’s grim past, see our Stormpoint section.

We want to take a moment to thank you for helping us reach this monumental milestone—it is an understatement to say this would be impossible to achieve without you, our community, and the incredible feedback many of you have provided since Diablo Immortal launched six months ago. Here’s to many more Content Updates!

Before we dig into this Major Update, because of the incoming holidays, we will not release a Content Update in two weeks as we traditionally have. Our next Content Update will come in early January of 2023.

As with previous Content Updates, there will be server maintenance starting on December 13, from 4 p.m.–6 p.m. PST for Oceania, China, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe Servers, and on December 14, from 12 a.m.–2 a.m. PST for servers in the Americas. After the maintenance has concluded, all items mentioned below will be live. Specific dates for any content going live afterward are provided below.

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Codex

Feature Updates

New Zone and Questline: Stormpoint

Brumaltine Limited-Time Holiday Event

The Voidwound Helliquary

Five New Legendary Gems

Westmarch Barber

Recruit a Friend

Season Eight Battle Pass

Hungering Moon: Back For Seconds

Sacred Wilds Phantom Market

Bug Fixes

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Feature Updates

Introducing Hell Difficulties VI, VII, and VIII

Hell’s flames burn bright and hot, more now than ever before. Three additional Hell Difficulties have been added to aid players in raising their Paragon Level to never-before-achieved heights. In the Hell Difficulties menu, you will see that Hell Difficulties VI, VII, and VIII are new options. If battling the strongest nightmares to walk through Hell’s gates seems intimidating, don’t worry. Our new Sever Paragon Level experience and loot bonuses will elevate you to Hell VI promptly.

For more information on how to unlock all Hell Difficulties in Diablo Immortal, see our Voidwound Helliquary section.

Daily Activities

We have received a great deal of feedback from players stating they felt Legendary and Set items did not drop often enough. To address this, we are incorporating them seamlessly into daily activities so that players have more opportunities to receive these types of items. The following changes have been made:

• The Bounty chest now has a higher chance to drop Legendary items.
• Completing a Bestiary quest will now guarantee a Legendary item upon the first turn in each day.
• Completing three dungeons will now reward a guaranteed Set item once per day. The Set item will be rewarded via the Codex.

Below Server Paragon System

To help prepare all adventurers for the dangers awaiting them in the new Stormpoint Zone, we have made some adjustments to the experience of catching up in Server Paragon Levels:

• All servers below a Server Paragon Level of 320 will be set to a Server Paragon Level of 320.
• The maximum Experience rewards for being below Server Paragon Level has been increased from 400% to 800%.
• The chance to receive Legendary and Set items as a drop has been increased by 250% for players far below the Server Paragon Level—as a player gets closer to Server Paragon Level, these increased drop rates will decrease.

New Paragon Trees

Three new Paragon Trees are also arriving: Massacre, Brawler, and Duelist. We recognize that having new Paragon Trees locked behind specific Paragon Levels makes them feel more time gated and doesn't necessarily feel like you've earned them once they are unlocked. As part of this update, we are shifting Paragon Trees to unlock at different Hell difficulties to help Hell difficulties feel more rewarding and allow player skill instead of grind time to provide early access to new Paragon Trees. Players that have already unlocked existing Paragon Trees will have those trees unlocked after the update and in every case, players should be able to unlock new Paragon Trees sooner than they could prior to the update.

Massacre: Focuses on increasing your efficiency as you rack up kills and raise your streak counter.

Brawler: Focuses on bolstering your defenses against Elite enemies. While in a party, this benefit will be shared with others.

Duelist: Focuses on utilizing Skills to stack damage bonuses—you must avoid taking damage to maintain these benefits. In the event you do receive damage, all the power built up will erupt outward in a Static Discharge, damaging nearby enemies.

We have also adjusted the way Cheat Death works:

• Its cooldown has increased from 120 to 210 seconds.

Developer’s Note: Cheat Death's effect is extremely potent in PvP, and we want deaths to have more meaning. Our intention is that increasing the cooldown will lead to fewer situations where multiple Cheat Death effects all stack together to provide long periods of immunity to dying. This should lead to more consistent skirmishes during a Battleground where a player's death actually results in a death. This change should not have any real impact on other game modes where engagements won't last long enough to see a second use of Cheat Death.

Monk Skills

We recognize the Skill unlock order for Monk puts some situational Skills, such as Shield of Zen and Inner Sanctuary, too early in the leveling experience, and players often don't find a use for these Skills until late game. To address this, we adjusted the unlock levels for several Skills so that players can experiment with more offensive skills earlier in the leveling process. We hope this provides players with additional meaningful choices and allows them to experiment with their offensive skills to find a playstyle they enjoy.

• Wave of Light now unlocks at level 20 instead of 41.
• Exploding Palm now unlocks at level 28 instead of 20.
• Flying Dragon now unlocks at level 38 instead of 47.
• Shield of Zen now unlocks at level 41 instead of 28.
• Inner Sanctuary now unlocks at 47 instead of 38.

Additionally, we have tuned some underused Monk Skills to promote their usage and additional builds for this class:

• Flying Kick's range was increased, and the cooldown was reduced from 12 to nine seconds. This cooldown reduction will also apply to all Legendary affixes for Flying Kick.
• Cyclone Strike's charge time was reduced to half a second and the radius was increased.
• Wave Strike's charge time was reduced to half a second and the radius of its explosions was increased.
• Wave of Light's damage was increased.
• Exploding Palm's debuff now also causes the enemy to Bleed. The Bleed effect will be applied to all Legendary affixes for Exploding Palm.
• Deadly Reach's attack area was increased and does full damage to your primary target and 30% of that damage to all other enemies in the area.

Set Items

After a review of our current Set items, we determined the Vithu’s Urges four-piece set bonus provided double the Attack Speed compared to what its in-game description stated. We have fixed this set, so it now provides the intended 30% Attack Speed. Since this particular set was overperforming by significant amounts, we wanted to create more parity between it and our other sets.

In this same vein, we concluded a few other sets could benefit from tuning too. We have changed the following set bonuses to:

• Windloft Perfection (Two-Piece Bonus): Gain Thousand Winds when in combat, increasing your Movement Speed by 15%. Thousand Winds deactivates for two seconds if you take damage.
• Issatar Imbued (Two-Piece Bonus): Each time you defeat an enemy, gain 30% increased Movement Speed for three seconds.
• Feasting Baron’s Pack (Four-Piece Bonus): Increases damage done from all sources by 20% to enemies suffering under your loss of control effects.

Hero’s Journey

Following the maintenance windows for this Major Content Update, all current progress for Hero’s Journey Chapters One through Six will be paused and a new Hero’s Journey will begin. Only Chapters One through Four will be available for the new Hero’s Journey, with Chapters Five and Six coming later.

To ease Chapter completion, we have removed all Zone event tasks from Hero’s Journey. While completing their Chapters, adventurers will receive a bevy of rewards, and once Chapter Four is completed, they will receive the Boundary Walker Portrait Frame—a token of triumph.

This Hero’s Journey is planned to be available for about six months, similar to the first iteration—we will update you once we have an exact end date confirmed.

Shadow War

Players that become the Immortal in Shadow War will now experience a new Stamina mechanic. Whenever they move throughout the battlefield, the Stamina bar will begin to drain. When the Stamina bar is fully depleted, the Immortal will incur a movement speed penalty. The Stamina bar will begin to recharge only when the Immortal stands completely still.

Developer’s Note: As we took stock of the current state of Shadow War, we noticed that the main win condition for Immortal players comprised of constantly moving throughout the battlefield to kite the opposing Shadows as much as possible. The goal of the strategy was to limit how much damage the Shadows could consistently deal, hoping to ultimately time out the encounter. With the implementation of this Stamina mechanic, we believe this strategy will become less viable and should provide more opportunities for the Immortal to commit to fighting the Shadows rather than running away, making the encounter more dynamic for both sides.

Dungeons

• There is now a Blacksmith located at the end of all dungeons.
• Ancient Elites can now randomly appear in dungeons. Remember, your first Ancient Elite kill of the day guarantees a Legendary item will drop.
• A Waypoint has been added next to the Cavern of Echoes dungeon in the Frozen Tundra zone.

Charms

• Increased the chance to roll a +10% modifier while imbuing Charms.

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New Zone and Questline: Stormpoint

Once a player has reached Hell Difficulty III, has completed the Starsign quest, and is at least level 60, they may travel to Stormpoint, Diablo Immortal’s first post-launch Zone! Battered by rainfall and caked in mist, the island has long been used as a clandestine prison to house Sanctuary’s worst of the worst and political prisoners. Diablo’s servants—the Cult of Terror, are sieging Stormpoint Keep in an attempt to retrieve the largest shard of the Worldstone. Putting their sinister plan to rest requires your urgency, adventurer. But watch out, the behemoth Howling Terror watches your every move from the lightning-filled skies above.

This zone contains a main story Questline, 20 new monsters straight out of Hell’s depths, new bosses and minibosses, and a horde of crabs.

For a taste of the nightmares the Worldstone has conjured on Stormpoint island, watch our Developer Update video on Terror’s Tide.

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Brumaltine Limited-Time Holiday Event

With the moon as their witness, the townsfolk of Westmarch shuttered their businesses early. Some gallantly strolled, others bolted in a fit of excitement. “To Rakkis Plaza, quick!” a man carrying a hefty stone carving adorned with an archaic sigil yelled. The spectacle brewing in the town’s center was that of legends—the plaza was bathed in radiance and warmth oozed from nearby hearths, handheld lanterns, and unwieldy torches. A tree, barren of green, but teeming with crimson candles dominated the festivity’s center. As the plaza began to host numerous souls, presents of various ornamentation, and the exchanging of handmade cards, a cry rung about:

“May warmth fill your heart throughout the new year!”

From December 14, 3:00 a.m.–January 4, 3:00 a.m. server time you can show your adoration for continued warmth and safety during the Brumaltine limited-time holiday event. Each day, players can complete up to three daily tasks in exchange for snow-dusted rewards and progress towards grander rewards.

Each weekend, players can log in to receive celebratory Brumaltine gifts. Players can also participate in the Brumaltine tradition of trading greeting cards with friends. Visit the Brumaltine in-game menu for more details!

New Cosmetic Set: Grakkinskin

Stray too far into the night on Brumaltine, and you will only survive the cold as a Grakkin. Transform yourself into a winter-worn nightmare by purchasing the Grakkinskin Standard Cosmetic Set from the in-game shop for 1,000 Eternal Orbs.

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The Voidwound Helliquary

Long ago, witches of the Sharval Wilds sealed away demons of darkness. Now, the pieces of their damaged cage rain down, and their centuries-old machinations threaten Westmarch as well as the lands beyond. The new Voidwound Helliquary becomes unlocked by completing the prologue quest, The Chainbreakers, which is available at player level 60.

This expansion to the Helliquary brings with it some exciting changes:

• Helliquary Raids may now be soloed across all difficulties.
• The difficulty of each Helliquary boss will significantly increase with each Hell Difficulty. To triumph over evil, we recommend recruiting allies to your cause.
• To unlock new Hell difficulties in Diablo Immortal, you must defeat corresponding Helliquary bosses.
• Players may now party up across Hell Difficulties I–IV. Dungeon difficulty will scale to each party member’s respective Hell difficulty, as will any experience gains and loot drops.

Demonic Remains have also been reworked in the following ways:

• Demonic Remains will now drop after each Helliquary boss is slain. You will only receive remains for your first five kills following each Helliquary reset on Monday and Thursday.
• The Trophies tab of the Helliquary menu now contains various slots for you to assign Demonic Remains to. Each Demonic Remain provides various bonuses to Challenge Rifts when placed in a slot. Previously, you could only have one active Demonic Remains bonus, now you may now have up to five.
• The attributes provided by each Demonic Remain will scale to the Hell Difficulty you received it from—so, we challenge you to climb to higher Hell Difficulties for the best rewards.

Here's how to unlock Hell Difficulties I–V:

• Felling Lassal the Flame-spun unlocks Hell Difficulty I
• Felling Vitaath the Shivering Death unlocks Hell Difficulty II
• Felling Gorgothra the Claimer unlocks Hell Difficulty III
• Felling Beledwe and Gishtur unlocks Hell Difficulty IV
• Felling Izilech the Misshapen unlocks Hell Difficulty V

A hellish quintet of terror has run amuck in Sanctuary—meet your new lieutenants of Hell:

Ophinneb the Skin-Veiled: Ophinneb is alone among the Voidwound demons in her fascination with humanity. She wears and sheds lives like clothing--but to what end? Upon her arrival in Sanctuary, she laired in a long-forgotten fortress; over the years it accumulated decoration, and opulence. Does she aspire to be something else, or is she merely a hunter hiding in human skin?

Felling Ophinneb alone or with a party unlocks Hell Difficulty VI.

Catarag the Strangling Sun: Catarag’s crowning in the Black Abyss left behind a burning shadow that swallows up light. When it rose on Sanctuary as a smear on the sun, a circle of Sharval witches barely confined the demon at the cost of their lives. Centuries later, it seeks to bring about a shadowed age where the void of its birth can consume sun and moon, Heaven and Hell.

Dymdrail, Crawling Woe: Dymdrail's insatiability left it an easy mark for imprisonment by the Circle of Untamable Wilds--a performance of slow drowning was all it took to coax the demon from its lair. Yet Dymdrail contains multitudes within its folds of shadow, and with each soul it devours, it grows further legion.

Apothrus, Tamer of the Fallen: The claimant of Rattlebreath Hall traps and torments phantoms as they escape their bodies, leaving maddened haunts behind. No number of anguished dead can calm Apothrus’s fury at his imprisonment—his sole memory of humiliation in a primordial existence. While other Voidwound seek revelry or power, he remains focused on eternal vengeance.

Felling Apothrus alone or with a party unlocks Hell Difficulty VII.

Phangwrth, Warmth-Feaster: Phangwrth has lived a frigid existence since it crawled in shadowed form out of the Abyss. Any warmth it feels has been carved from the steaming entrails of its kills; centuries imprisoned have worsened its cravings. Freed to walk Sanctuary, it gnaws at frost and bone, inexorable as winter wind, and will soon turn to a feast of millions.

Felling Phangwrth alone or with a party unlocks Hell Difficulty VIII.

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Five New Legendary Gems

Legendary Gems are an integral part of a character’s build. To equip players with additional options, we have added five new Legendary Gems to Diablo Immortal. For three weeks after release, players will have the option to enable a modified drop table for their Legendary Crests when running Elder Rifts. With the modified drop table enabled, any time a five-star gem drops, it has a 25% chance to be the new Concentrated Will Legendary Gem or a 25% chance to be the Hellfire Fragment Legendary Gem.

We have seen players come up with some rather unique builds using previously released Legendary gems and cannot wait to see what the community cooks up with this batch. The below values for each gem reflect their Rank-10 values:

Heartstone (One-Star Gem): The duration of your absorb shields are increased by 36% and they also reduce the duration of Loss of Control effects by 24% while active.

Kir Sling (Two-Star Gem): You have a 15% chance when attacked to release a burst of light that Blinds all nearby enemies, reducing their vision and causing total Loss of Control for four seconds. Cannot occur more often than once every 20 seconds. You also deal 14% increased damage to Blinded enemies.

Volatility Shard (Two-Star Gem): When you defeat an enemy you trigger a volatile explosion dealing 90% base damage + 365 to all nearby enemies while granting yourself 8% increased damage for two seconds. Cannot occur more often than once every six seconds.

Concentrated Will (Five-Star Gem): Using a Dash skill calls a guardian angel to your aid, unleashing a blast of holy light in your direction dealing 135% base damage + 547 to all enemies in the path. When the guardian angel returns to the High Heavens, it blesses you, increasing your damage and Movement Speed by 16% for two seconds. Cannot occur more often than once every six seconds.

Hellfire Fragment (Five-Star Gem): Using a skill conjures three hellfire blazes around you to seek out enemies within six yards, exploding on them dealing 108% base damage + 510 to all nearby enemies. Enemies struck by multiple hellfire blazes take 50% additional damage from subsequent hits. Cannot occur more often than once every 20 seconds.

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Westmarch Barber

In need of a trim? Pay a visit to Yaira the Barber, located in Westmarch near Charsi’s Smithy. At Yaira’s shop he’ll employ the finest cosmetology techniques in all of Sanctuary to re-customize your character’s face, hair, and skin tone. Plus, a fourth face option has been added for each class. Players can receive a complimentary re-customization from Yaira every seven days—there are no options to pay to reduce this cooldown.

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Recruit a Friend

Hell’s servants number many and will stop at nothing to see Sanctuary crumble in their maw. You must rally allies under your banner if you wish to turn the tide in humanity’s favor, for friends who slay together forge unbreakable bonds.

From December 14, 3:00 a.m.–January 11, 3:00 a.m. server time, revel in the Brumaltine spirit with new friends at your heels by using the Recruit a Friend feature.

To recruit players, you must be at least level 20. Each player has a unique code that can be found on the Recruit a Friend event page. To be recruited by another player, you must be playing on a new character created on December 14 or after, be under level 20, and have completed the introduction to Diablo Immortal.

If you want to recruit a player who meets the requirements, share your code with them via the event page, and if they redeem your code, they are officially recruited. You may recruit a total of three players using this method. Both the recruiter and recruit will receive various awards as the recruit levels up and completes tasks around Sanctuary.

• Rewards for recruiters:
  • Share your code once: Two Enchanted Dust, 30 Scrap, and 5K Gold.
  • One friend redeems your code: Six Rare Crests and six Normal Gems.
  • One friend reaches level 60: One Legendary Crest, three Rare Crests, and six Normal Gems.
  • Two friends reach level 60: One Legendary Crest, three Rare Crests, and six Normal Gems.
  • Three friends reach level 60: Grim Fellowship Portrait Frame, two Legendary Crests, and nine Rare Crests.
• Rewards for new recruits:
  • Reach level 10: 10K Gold.
  • Reach level 30: One random Legendary item from your class.
  • Reach level 50: One random Legendary item from your class.
  • Reach level 60: Six Rare Crests.
  • Complete an Elder Rift while in a party: Two Enchanted Dust, 30 Scrap, and 5K Gold.
  • Complete a dungeon while in a party: Two Enchanted Dust, 30 Scrap, and 5K Gold.
  • Complete a Challenge Rift while in a party: Two Enchanted Dust, 30 Scrap, and 5K Gold.

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Season Eight Battle Pass

"There is life and warmth in the burning sun above—and greater power still to be found in its shadow."
-Westmarch Scholar

The Hidden Sun, a new Battle Pass devoted to powerful cosmic mystery, has eclipsed into Diablo Immortal, and with it, the Season Eight Battle Pass on December 22, at 3:00 a.m. server time. This Battle Pass hosts 40 ranks worth of challenges and rewards, such as Legendary Gems, Crests, Hilts, and more.

The Season Eight Battle Pass only runs until January 19, at 2:59 a.m. server time—begin slaying demons and climbing your way through the ranks today!

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Hungering Moon: Back for Seconds

Feeling underfed, the moon has doubled its demands, providing you with an upcoming opportunity to sate its seemingly endless appetite for blood!

The moonlit path you’ll take to heed your lunar overlord’s increased howl for sustenance is ready to be traversed. Players can complete up to three tasks a day starting December 29, 3:00 a.m.–January 2, 3:00 a.m. server time. Through completing tasks, you’ll gain Astrolabe Power—the power can be used to draw a Blessing of Magic or Blessing of Might, each with unique benefits, from the Astrolabe. Use the blessings to gain Moonslivers, which can be exchanged for lunar-laced rewards.

Visit here for more information on the Hungering Moon event’s mechanics.

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Sacred Wilds Phantom Market

Phantom Market, Diablo Immortal’s version of the Lucky Draw mechanic, is an additional way for players to acquire new Cosmetic Sets, Weapon Cosmetics, Emoji, and more. Using Obols, a new currency exclusive to Phantom Market, players will purchase the ability to draw one item at random from the available item pool. There are ten items total, and each can only be acquired once. Each time you draw an item, the cost of the next draw will increase. Performing 10 draws guarantees that you will receive all items available in the Phantom Market, including the Sacred Wilds Cosmetic Set. This is our first Cross-Class Cosmetic Set, which once acquired, can be used for all of Diablo Immortal’s Classes—this cosmetic also boasts a unique Cosmetic Emoji, tailored visual effects when you rack up a killstreak against Hell’s minions, and ethereal flourishes while moving and standing still.

Obols can be purchased with Eternal Orbs, and any unspent Obols will be converted into Platinum once the Phantom Market event ends on January 11 at 2:59 a.m. server time. All players will receive enough Obols for a free first draw—these are automatically added to your account.

Because items from the Phantom Market are acquired randomly per draw, we want to provide players with the initial draw rates for each item to aid in deciding if they would like to engage with the event past their first free draw. Do note, the drop rates provided below are for the first draw only and will adjust to reflect the relative probabilities of the remaining items in the Phantom Market item pool.

• Contempt Emoji: 30.00%
• Despair Emoji: 30.00%
• Battleground Brawl Amethyst Armor Cosmetic: 8.13%
• Battleground Brawl Amethyst Weapon Cosmetic: 8.13%
• Battleground Brawl Lapis Armor Cosmetic: 8.13%
• Battleground Brawl Lapis Weapon Cosmetic: 8.13%
• Winged Darkness Azure Armor Cosmetic: 2.57%
• Winged Darkness Azure Weapon Cosmetic: 2.57%
• Sacred Wilds Portal Cosmetic: 2.20%
• Sacred Wilds Cosmetic Set: 0.14%

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Bug Fixes

Looking for the newest round of hotfixes and bug fixes implemented for Diablo Immortal? Check here for all-platform fixes and our known issues blog for PC-specific fixes.

Happy Holidays!
-The Diablo Immortal Team

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