Cycle of Strife

"Standing in the ancient city of Corvus, Daedessa the Builder bestowed the Eternal Crown on her son, Kion. Fueled by the artifact's power, Kion formed the Immortals. And swore to protect Sanctuary from the Burning Hells. But he would not do so unwatched. Knowing that power corrupts, Daedessa charged her daughter, Akeba, with a heavy burden. It would be her job to ensure the Immortals were forever worthy of this gift. Should they ever fall to the Burning Hells, Akeba and her Shadows would take their place as the defenders of Sanctuary."

- The Unspoken^(src)

Cycle of Strife
Place:	Sanctuary
Outcome:	Ongoing
Combatants
Immortals
Shadows
Commanders
Kion (formerly) Akeba (formerly)
Akeba

The Cycle of Strife is the never-ending battle between the Immortals and Shadows.

Lore

"Once more, the Cycle of Strife ends in blood. And the power of eternity rests in new hands. The old order, and all its tainted glory, shall fade into history. While the victor assumes the crown's gifts, and its burdens. Thus the Immortals are born anew, and the wheel turns again. Will this new light resist the shadow once more? Must the Cycle of Strife end in blood?"

- The Unspoken^(src)

The first battle of the Cycle of Strife

The seeds of the Cycle of Strife lie with the formation of both groups. Per the orders of Daedessa, the Immortals were formed to guard Sanctuary against demonic threats, while the Shadows were formed to constantly test the Immortals. It was agreed that if the Shadows ever defeated the Immortals, they would become Immortals themselves. This came to pass, with Akeba becoming the next Immortal. However, not willing to rest on her laurels, she founded the Cycle of Strife, which has continued ever since, with the Rite of Exile reguarly being conducted, and beyond that, the Challenge of the Immortal.

The Cycle continues

The Cycle of Strife had been on for over a thousand years by the year 1270, though was escalating by this point.

Gameplay

The Cycle of Strife is a game mechanic of Diablo Immortal. It is based on clans competing with one another. Each clan has the ability to become a "dark clan", whose members are Shadows. If a Dark Clan defeats the Immortals in the Rite of Exile, the current Cycle ends, and a new Cycle begins. At that time, everything connected to the current Cycle resets. This includes all ranks, Eternal Crown levels, Path of Blood progress, and so on. Additionally, when a Cycle ends, participating heroes earn Deeds of Valor, special titles connected to their performance that Cycle. The former Immortal and their lieutenants will be engraved on the Wall of Honor, as a permanent place of remembrance to reflect on that group’s reign.

If the Immortals successfully defeat the Shadows, the Cycle continues as normal.

Schedule

Starting with the first week of the Immortal reign, the events of the Cycle follow a set schedule:

• On weeks 1, 2 and 3, Vigil of Blades is held. The Immortals cannot lose the reign at this stage, but the winning faction will earn a valuable buff.
• On week 4, Rite of Exile is held and the Shadows must win at least 5 matches to challenge the Immortal.
• On week 5, Rite of Exile is held and the Shadows must win at least 4 matches to challenge the Immortal.
• On week 6, Rite of Exile is held and the Shadows must win at least 3 matches to challenge the Immortal.
• On week 7, Rite of Exile is held but Challenge of the Immortal happens no matter how many battles the Shadows win. If The Immortal wins the challenge, the current Immortals earn a Blessed Reign, however the reign ends anyway and the Shadows will fight amongst themselves to choose the new Immortals.

Rewards

The reward for a blessed reign is a Blessed Reign Chest that contains 2 random Set Items, 3 random Legendary Items and 3 Legendary Crests. Furthermore, special cosmetics can be unlocked by accumulating 4 and 6 Blessed Reigns on a character.

Cycle's End

When the Immortal reign ends, the Cycle's End or Cycle's Turn is started. For the next week, a login reward can be claimed:

• Day 1: Mysterious main-hand weapon
• Day 2: 200 Hilts
• Day 3: Mystery Helm
• Day 4: 200 Hilts
• Day 5: 3 Rare Crest
• Day 6: Normal Gems (1 of each type)
• Day 7: 200 Hilts

Furthermore the Cycle's Turn Chest can be purchased from the Hilts Trader.

Server Merge

During a server merge, the alliance with the highest dominance is chosen to be the new Immortals. All other clans who were Immortals are reverted to Adventurers. The Cycle of Strife counter is set to the length of the reign of the Immortal alliance that was chosen to be the Immortals on the merged server.

If there was a reign change on the last Sunday before the merge, the Cycle's Turn daily rewards and the Cycle's Turn Chest option from the Hilts vendor are cancelled before their regular end date.

Deeds of Valor scores are set to the maximum for all players as part of the merge.

Development

This page contains obsolete content This article contains information that is no longer relevant to gameplay.

The Cycle of Strife initially functioned differently. There would only ever be one group of Immortals on a server, with up to 500 members. There was no limit as to how many Shadows could be active, and they would all be vying to displace the current group of Immortals. The Cycle was expected to reset each month.

Players could originally form Dark Houses. This was replaced by the "dark clan" system.

The 7-week cycle with a fixed schedule was introduced in the September 21 2023 update.

Trivia

This section contains facts and trivia relevant to this article.

• Khazra appear in the Cycle of Strife trailer for Diablo Immortal, showing ancient nephalem Immortals battling khazra and other demons. This is either an error (as the khazra were formed after the Mage Clan Wars), or indicative that the original group of Immortals (and therefore, the Shadows) were formed and/or were active well after the Sin War. This would place the implementation of the Cycle of Strife as being a relatively recent development in Sanctuary's history.