Season of the Malignant

"A new form of Lilith’s corruption has spread throughout Sanctuary, creating Malignant Monsters that roam the land overtaken with this infectious turmoil, minds lost and killing at random. Only you can fight back and harness the power of this twisted corruption to uncover the source of the Malignance and put it to an end."

- Season description^(src)

Season of the Malignant is the first season of Diablo IV. It launched on July 20, 2023, and ended on October 17, 2023, where it was followed by Season of Blood.

Plot

"I am writing to you because although a great evil is receding from Sanctuary, a new festering curse now spreads its corruption across the land. More dangerous, more Malignant than I could have imagined. I have found a way to stop this plague, to rip the dark power of these monsters from their very core, and turn it to our advantage in destroying them. But I cannot do this alone. My allies are falling. My strength is dwindling. The Malignant are relentless and without mercy. I need help. I need...you."

- Cormond^(src)

Season of the Malignant takes place after the core storyline of Diablo IV. A deviant form of Lilith's sinister machinations has given birth to a new threat, Malignant Monsters. These decaying abominations roam Sanctuary in a frenzy, mindlessly attacking anyone in range without hesitation. The Wanderer allies with Cormond, a former priest of the Cathedral of Light, who trains them to capture the Malignant Hearts fueling the Malignant, and how to convert them into build-altering powers. The Wanderer must snuff out the malignancy at its source before all of Sanctuary becomes its thrall.

Gameplay

The player is tasked down with hunting Malignant Monsters, which are a type of Elite Monster. Once the player slays a Partly Corrupted Malignant Monster, a Malignant Heart will appear, and by interacting with it, a Fully Corrupted Malignant Monster, an empowered version of the Elite the player just defeated, will rise alongside other minions.

If the player defeats the Fully Corrupted enemy, an item called Caged Heart will drop, which can be socketed into jewelry items, granting the player a power that can rival or even surpass that of Legendary Items. Caged Hearts cannot be removed once socketed, but they can be replaced in the same piece of jewelry. Each Heart has a color type, and can only be socketed into jewelry with Infested Sockets, which can be purchased from a jeweler, or found on drops. There are three different types of color sockets and four different types of Hearts; the fourth Heart type is called a Wrathful Heart, and can fit into any color socket.

The player can only start the ritual on the Malignant Heart after obtaining an item called the Cage of Binding, which is given to the player by Cormond.

The Season also features a new type of replayable dungeon called Malignant Tunnels, which will be filled with Malignant Monsters. Malignant Tunnels can be accessed in specific portions where the corruption is stronger. Inside Malignant Tunnels, players can hunt down specific colors of Hearts by using Invokers, a new type of item which is crafted from a currency obtained by salvaging Caged Hearts; using the Invoker in an outgrowth, which can be found at the end of the dungeon, will summon a Malignant Monster with the specific color of the Invoker, and will guarantee that the Caged Heart dropped is of the same color as well.

A new boss debuts, Varshan the Consumed, which is expected to be the final challenge in the Season.

This Season's Battle Pass has 90 Tiers, 27 Free Tiers and 63 Premium Tiers.

The Season does not have a leaderboard.

Trivia

This section contains facts and trivia relevant to this article.

• Player reception to the season was overwhelmingly negative.

Statistics

By season's end:

• 581,826 level characters
• 109 million Unique Items were found
• 1.3 billion Elite Malignant Monsters were slain
• 5.6 million player deaths to Varshan
• Varshan was killed 51.1 million times

Images

Season 1 artwork (development image)