In this article, we’ll take a look at everything we know about the Diablo 4 Season of the Blood, including its release date, new features, quality-of-life updates, and more.

Diablo 4 Season of the Blood: Release Date

Mark your calendars for October 17, 2023, as that’s when Diablo 4 Season of the Blood kicks off. The season will commence at 12pm CT / 6pm BST / 10am PT / 1pm ET (or on October 18 at 3am AEST).

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Vampiric Powers Breakdown

One of the central features of the Season of Blood is the introduction of Vampiric Powers. To wield these formidable abilities, you’ll need to collect Potent Blood, obtained from defeated foes. Spend this valuable resource in the Vampiric Powers tab within your Character menu to unlock new powers or enhance existing ones.

You can acquire Vampiric Powers through the Seasonal Questline and during the Blood Harvest Seasonal Event.

Power Upgrades

Once you’ve acquired a Vampiric Power, you can further enhance its effectiveness by investing Potent Blood to increase its level. Each power can be upgraded to a maximum of Level 3, and you can equip up to five powers simultaneously. Keep an eye out for symbols and numbers associated with each power; these are called Pacts, and they indicate their activation cost.

Pacts

There are three types of Pacts:

• Ferocity
• Divinity
• Eternity

To activate your Vampiric Powers, you’ll need gear that contains the specific Pacts required. Ensure that your equipped armor provides the necessary Pacts that match the activation cost of your chosen powers.

Pact Armor and Remedies

If you lack armor with the required Pacts, you have two options: Standalone Pacts and Cleansing Acids. Standalone Pacts can be used to add a specific Pact to an item of your choice, while Cleansing Acids remove a Pact from an item. You can find these items by looting Blood Seekers and as rewards from various sources, including the Blood Harvest Season event, Season Journey, Opulent Coffins, and the new Questline.

Endgame Bosses

Prepare for challenging encounters with five fearsome endgame bosses in the Season of Blood. While the names, abilities, and loot of these bosses remain undisclosed, they promise to test your skills to the limit. The list of endgame bosses includes:

• Grigoire, The Galvanic Saint (World Tier III & IV)
• Echo of Varshan (World Tier III & IV)
• The Beast in the Ice (World Tier IV)
• Dark Master (World Tier IV)
• Echo of Duriel (World Tier IV)

Renown Rewards

With the Season of Blood, rewards earned in previous seasons will now carry over to any character beyond the Altars of Lilith and Map Discovery. These rewards encompass Potion Charges, Skill Points, Oboi, Cap Upgrades, and Paragon Points.

Status Effects

Several status effects will undergo updates in the Season of Blood, including revamped Elemental Resistance systems and adjustments to damage-related effects such as Vulnerable, Overpower, and Critical Strike Damage.

Gem, Stash & Quality-of-Life Updates

The Season of Blood brings changes to Gems and Stash:

• Gems: Gems will no longer consume inventory space.
• Stash: The Stash will feature improved search and filtering capabilities.

The development team at Blizzard is committed to enhancing your gameplay experience with quality-of-life improvements. Among these updates, you can expect more efficient inventory management for Gems and the carryover of Paragon Points, Skill Points, Potion Charges, and Obol capacity upgrades into new seasons once achieved with an Eternal or previous Seasonal Realm character.

Blood Harvest Seasonal Event

For the best chance of acquiring Potent Blood and Pact Armor, participate in the Blood Harvest Seasonal Event. Completing Bounties, defeating Blood Blisters, engaging in World Events, disrupting vampiric rituals, and freeing prisoners will earn you Reputation as you progress through tiers and unlock rewards.

These rewards include crafting materials, items, Pact consumables, and more. You can also obtain Blood Lures, which summon Blood Seekers for you to defeat. Seeker Keys can be used to free prisoners or unlock Seekers Caches, which contain Pact Armor, Pact Consumables, and Potent Blood.

Diablo 4 on Steam

In a significant development, Diablo 4 is set to make its debut on Steam, four months after its initial release. Previously, the game was exclusively available through Blizzard’s Battle.net platform, but now it’s expanding to Valve’s storefront.

This announcement came during October’s Diablo 4 Developer Update video, which also provided insights into Season 2, Season of Blood. You can look forward to playing Diablo 4 on Steam starting October 17th, the same day Season 2 is unleashed.