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Diablo 4’s next season will see the return of some of the most iconic items from throughout the franchise’s history, including powerful rings like Stone of Jordan and Ring of Royal Grandeur.
The currently ongoing Season 14 hasn’t exactly been Diablo 4’s best season, but Blizzard is looking to give players an early preview of what’s coming in Season 15 with a playable public-test realm build available August 4-11.
As detailed in an official blog post, it’s a season that looks to introduce several new systems and changes. First and foremost is the arrival of fan-favorite items from previous Diablo games as Uniques. Blizzard announced a total of 10 items returning from the original Diablo, Diablo 2, and Diablo 3, and they are ones that will be “instantly recognizable to veteran players.”
Five of these “Legacy Uniques” will be usable by every class, while the other five will be available to a selection of different classes. These will all be permanent additions to the game. The full list of Legacy Uniques being added are:
- Leoric’s Crown (Helm)
- Nemesis Bracers (Gloves)
- Ring of Royal Grandeur (Ring)
- Stone of Jordan (Ring)
- Squirt’s Blouse* (Chest)
*Squirt’s Necklace from Diablo 3 incorporated into a Chest piece
Multiple Classes:
- Arioc’s Needle (2H Polearm) – Barbarian, Druid, Spiritborn
- Henri’s Perquisition (Offhand Focus) – Sorcerer, Necromancer, Warlock
- In-Geom (1H Sword) – Barbarian, Druid, Rogue, Necromancer, Paladin, Warlock
- The Furnace (2H Mace) – Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Paladin, Warlock
- Messerschmidt’s Reaver (2H Axe) – Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Paladin, Warlock
Items like Stone of Jordan will no doubt bring back memories for Diablo 2 players. Diablo 3 players, on the other hand, will likely remember Ring of Royal Grandeur, Leoric’s Crown, and Squirt’s Necklace.
Blizzard has not yet fully revealed each item’s Unique affixes for Diablo 4, but did give a preview of a handful. Leoric’s Crown, for example, will count as a jewelry item and increase the effect of socketed gems by 75-100%. Other Legacy Uniques like Henri’s Perquisition will increase Primary Stat equal to 85-115% of Dexterity. Meanwhile, the Nemesis Bracers will spawn an enemy Elite pack upon interacting with a Shrine.
Other new additions coming in Season 15 are more of what Blizzard calls “Overland” activities, such as challenge dungeons that can be discovered in the game’s open world as well as demonic ambushes. Players will also be able to use the same character for multiple seasons using a new “Rebirth” feature.
A new power system, Soul Splinters, will give players more options when it comes to choosing what to socket into their gear, though each powerful splinter also comes with a negative downside that must be contended with. An example of some of the splinters players will be able to choose from include one that increases max health but reduces primary resource, one that increases damage at the cost of 100% reduction in Critical Strike chance, and another that grants increased damage reduction at the cost of movement speed.
Blizzard made clear that what it’s choosing to show for Season 15 as part of the PTR isn’t everything that will be coming, as it’s saving some details and reveals for BlizzCon on September 12-13. Season 15 is expected to launch in September after BlizzCon.
Diablo 4’s current season brought massive changes to Mythic items that didn’t find many fans, though Blizzard has eased some of its major pain points in subsequent patches. For Season 15, Blizzard said it will continue to make improvements to Mythics, with the ability to craft Mythic items becoming more deterministic and less random.
