Very much when we expected it, Blizzard has officially revealed Diablo 4’s next major expansion at The Game Awards. Lord of Hatred delivers a new campaign that continues the mainline story, picking up from where Vessel of Hatred left off. Mephisto, the eponymous Lord of Hatred, has seemingly finally escaped imprisonment to rule over Sanctuary.
Lord of Hatred is the second Diablo 4 expansion, and it will be available on PC, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on April 28.
It’s always a big deal when we get a new Diablo expansion, especially for a game as starved of fresh (major) content as Diablo 4 has been. But perhaps the biggest piece of news out of the Lord of Hatred reveal is that the expansion is bringing not one, but two new classes to the game.
The first of which is The Paladin, whereas the second is being kept under wraps. Even more surprising is that The Paladin is playable right now for anyone who pre-purchases the expansion. This is a well-timed shadow drop, especially given that Diablo 4’s latest season has just kicked off.
The expansion adds a new region to the world: Skovos, which is where the events of the new campaign will be taking place. This is the first time Skovos has been in a Diablo game. The region is of major significance to the world and lore of the series, as it is the birthplace of the firstborn, home of Lilith and Inaruis.
Lord of Hatred brings a decent number of major systems to Diablo 4. The endgame is getting a big overhaul, headlined by the new War Plans feature. Through this, you can effectively design your own endgame grind, creating challenges based on the activities you like and earning rewards along the way.
Endgame activities now also feature their own skill trees, which can be progressed through by creating War Plans for your character featuring each activity. The new endgame activity, Echoing Hatred, is something of horde mode where you must defend against unrelenting waves of enemies.
None of that matters without loot, of course, and the upcoming expansion is bringing back the Horadric Cube, and adding set bonuses using the Talisman system. The long-awaited and highly-requested Loot Filter is also coming to the game with the release of the expansion.
Beyond itemisation, each class’ skill tree will grow with new bonus skill variants. In fact, the entire skill system is being reworked for all classes – though details are a little sparse at the moment.
You can also expect the level cap to go up, which is very likely necessary to fit all the new skills and various systems. Blizzard offered a deep dive into the new Paladin class, which you see on the official blog.
