Season of Hatred Rising brings roaming bosses with a portal to another realm on their back to Diablo 4

Diablo 4 turns into even more of an MMO with the arrival of Season of Hatred Rising, thanks to a number of long-awaited new features and clever encounters.

Blizzard has officially unveiled Diablo 4’s sixth season, the appropriately named Season of Hatred Rising. Hatred, of course, is the major theme of the game’s Vessel of Hatred expansion, which arrives October 8 right alongside Season 6’s kick-off.

Season of Hatred marks a step forward in making Diablo 4 more of an MMO, with the full introduction of the previously revealed party finder system, and even a new style of encounter that’s entirely new to Diablo.

Season of Hatred Rising introduces roaming bosses to Diablo 4. Called Realmwalkers, these towering monstrosities can be found stomping around Sanctuary. They randomly spawn in one region, and begin roaming after a period of charging up. Players won’t be able to damage them directly during that phase, but they can still take away from their health.

As it roams, a Realmwalker will spawn Bloodbound Guardians to protect it while it searches for suitable ground. The more of its protectors you kill, the more chunks of its health will be removed. The next phase begins when the Realmwalker arrives at a ritual site, where it’ll then spawn three Hatred Spires.

Your goal now is to destroy the spires and prevent it from becoming even more powerful. Each spire destroyed opens up the Realmwalker for an attack. When all spires are destroyed, you can finally down the damn thing - but that’s not the end of it.

Realmwalkers also carry a sanguine portal on their back, which you can enter once the giant is felled. The portal transports you into a Seething Realm, which is a new type of dungeon. As you try to locate the Realm Gate within, monsters will begin spawning to try and stop you. If you make it to the gate, you’ll be given the choice to offer some materials in exchange for a Seething Opal, which will be yours once you finish the dungeon.

Seething Opals are powerful Elixirs that offer XP boosts and other bonuses while they’re active. There are five in total you can find within these dungeons. All except the Seething Opal of Socketables are available to all Diablo 4 players.

Look at him go! | Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment.

One Realmwalker will spawn in a random region of the world every 15 minutes. Owners of the Vessel of Hatred expansion will get even more opportunities to fight them, because every hour, a second Realmwalker will spawn somewhere in Nahantu (alongside the existing one).

To make the grind more interesting, the first Realmwalker of every hour will also be a Whisper, and every three hours for the one in Nahantu.

Where a Prime Evil is involved, Zakarum follows, which is why it won’t surprise you to learn that the Season 6 quest is centred around Zakarum Remnants. Having failed to locate the tomb of Akarat, they’ve found a new purpose in helping you take on the Realmwalkers. Your handler this season is Crusader Damond in Zarbinzet.

The Creeping Hatred quest ties into the appearance of Realmwalkers, and the Seething Realm. As you’d expect, the reputation grind of Season of Hatred Rising is all about defeating Realmwalkers and completing Seething Realm dungeons. The Seasonal quest is available after finishing the final quest in the main Diablo 4 campaign (or skipping it).

And there's a new battle pass, of course. | Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment.

The other major component of Season of Hatred Rising is patch 2.0, which brings dramatic changes to character progression, item power, core stats and many more systemic changes to gameplay flow that affect all players.

In particular, Diablo 3 players will be happy to see the return of Standard and Torment difficulties, as well as an overhaul to the Paragon system that, just like those difficulty options, is inspired by Diablo 3.

Finally, all classes have received a new active skill, and five new passives. All of these are reasons that make creating a new character and playing on the Seasonal Realm this time the better option. Catch up on of the full list of changes on the official blog.