Ho, wanderer! Since our last content update, players have searched through the Devouring Mists, gained new Legendary Items, and reaped aplenty in the Temptation’s End Phantom Market. Our third major update of the year introduces the next chapter of the main questline Crucible of Justice, Vanguard co-op mode, new Legendary Gems, and much more.
The shattered Worldstone shards mar your body and mind, leaving you unable to wield the archangel Tyrael’s sword, El’druin. Steel yourself and prepare your most stalwart allies to face challenges in the new Vanguard co-op mode. Gain incredible power from felling vile monsters fight for your very soul before Diablo’s return in Crucible of Justice!
As with previous content updates, there will be server maintenance starting on September 10, from 5 p.m.–7 p.m. PDT for Oceania, China, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe servers, and on September 11, from 1 a.m.–3 a.m. PDT for servers in the Americas. After the maintenance has concluded, all items mentioned below will be live—specific dates for any features going live afterward are provided below.
Codex
Crucible of Justice Main Quest
Festival of the Ancient Moon Limited-time Event
New Chapters of the Hero’s Journey Await
Toil of Virtue Limited-time Event
Crucible of Justice Main Quest
Crucible of Justice is the next chapter of Diablo Immortal’s main questline, available to those who have reached Paragon level 30 and completed the final leg of the Southern Dreadlands main quest, No Salvation. After retrieving the angelic sword El’druin from the Dreadlands, you have been tormented by your inability to wield it. A torment now taking on a life of its own. The Sword of Justice rejects the darkness that has crept into your body and mind with the shattering of the Worldstone shards. To contain the evil festering within and to prepare for your confrontation with Diablo, you must travel to the icy, beast-ridden Cold Isles—home of the Tempests— and fight for your very soul.
Vanguard Co-op Mode
Hordes of implacable enemies have amassed in the Lidwinter Woods. As you look out at the seemingly endless ranks of invaders, their lust for power becomes palpable, so you quickly realize they will not waver easily and begin to weigh your options. To overcome such terrifying odds, you must band together with other warriors. Together, you have a shot at fending off this gigantic threat to Sanctuary.
Vanguard is a new co-op activity where you cull foes in parties of four across various objective-based runs. The objective your party is tasked with depends on the Vanguard Difficulty Tier you’re playing on. In total, there are 5 objectives, some of which will only unlock in higher Difficulty Tiers. Objectives may be tasks like escorting a Guardian Spirit, felling a Helliquary Boss, or halting a demon invasion, all to the tune of vicious demons clawing at you from every direction.
To bolster your strength, Vanguard skills empower your party to face these great challenges. Each can be upgraded and improved by playing through Vanguard, increasing your power through each successful triumph.
Join the Vanguard
To begin your co-op adventure, unlock Hell I and head to Deckard Cain’s basement. Once there, you’ll find the Vanguard portal within. Select it to begin, then bring your own 4-person party or matchmake to find eager allies.
Your chosen difficulty determines what challenges you’ll face within Vanguard, and there are several increasingly difficult obstacles that can only be overcome with cooperation. The two highest levels include facing off against a Helliquary Boss, who have returned to curse the land you walk and smite you down.
Upon triumphing within Vanguard, exit through the extraction portal to earn your final rewards. These rewards will increase based on the number of your party members that survive, and the higher your completed difficulty, the better the reward.
Hellish Power Ripe for the Taking
New tools are at your disposal to help you rise to the challenge ahead. Vanguard boasts mode-specific skills that will kick your character’s build up a notch. These skills can be acquired from various Vanguard Charms which are earned on successful Vanguard runs.
There are four different categories of Vanguard skills, with two skills in each category. Note that the skill values listed are based on a character with 35,000 Combat Rating and 10,000 Resonance. Percentage values and durations of these skills will not vary based off Combat Rating or Resonance Levels.
Vanguard Skills
Might skills focus on offense and helping allies deal maximum damage.
Valor’s Call (Might): Call upon inner strength to empower yourself and nearby allies and their summons, increasing Critical Hit Chance by 27% for 8 seconds.
Broadside (Might): Arm and empower yourself and nearby allies for 20 seconds, during which Primary Attacks fire additional piercing attacks that deal 51,627 damage.
Defense skills focus on helping everyone take less damage.
Aegis (Defense): Grant yourself and nearby allies a shield that absorbs 185,859 damage for 8 seconds.
Martyr (Defense): Selflessly bind yourself to nearby allies for 8 seconds, taking 27% of the damage they receive.
Heal skills focus on replenishing the team’s Life.
Healing Field (Heal): Conjure a Healing Field for 8 seconds that continuously heals all allies and their summons while they remain within for 15,488 Life per second.
Mending Orb (Heal): Conjure a Mending Orb for 8 seconds that tracks and follows allies, healing them and their summons for 15,488 Life per second while near the orb.
Bane skills focus on debilitating and de-buffing enemies.
Warpstrike (Bane): Call a Warpstrike down on a target area, dealing 51,627 damage to up to 12 enemies and reducing their Attack and Movement Speed by 27% for 8 seconds.
Blight Orb (Bane): Conjure a Blight Orb for 8 seconds that tracks and follows enemies, increasing the damage they take by 27% while near the orb.
Powerful Vanguard Charms
Fight through the Vanguard to successfully earn Vanguard Charms which provide new skills or can be used to upgrade other Vanguard Charms. These Vanguard Charms can be upgraded to a maximum Level of 20. Upgrading these skills initially increases the number of affixes on the skill, and eventually improves the quality and potency of those given affixes.
Vanguard Charms can also be broken down into Shards, which can then be used to upgrade any Vanguard Charm. Note that Vanguard Charms only function within Vanguard.
New Helliquary Affixes
New Helliquary Affixes put the formidable, sweeping attacks traditionally wielded by Helliquary Bosses in your hand. These Affixes can be found on Off-Hand and Main Hand items that you’ll receive as rewards for completing Vanguard runs on its highest 2 Difficulty Tiers. Helliquary Affixes can be used anywhere in Sanctuary.
There are three powerful Affixes to earn from Vanguard. For each of the following Affixes, during your Ultimate, each Primary Attack has a 10% chance to trigger a Boss Skill when hitting an enemy.
Twofold Barrage
Unleash the power of Iscea, Twofold Rebirth, releasing a barrage of projectiles that deals damage to surrounding enemies.
Deluge Maelstrom
Unleash the power of Yamnaal of the Deluge, conjuring a massive whirlpool that pulls in nearby enemies. When the whirlpool dissipates it bursts, dealing damage to all nearby enemies.
Flame-spun Eruption
Unleash the power of Lassal the Flame-spun, gathering immense strength before slamming the ground, dealing damage to all nearby enemies and shattering their armor, increasing the damage they take by 30% for 8 seconds.
New Legendary Gems
Three new Legendary Gems are coming in this update. All tremble before their awesome might. The below values for each gem reflect their power at Rank 10:
Wulfheort (Five-Star Gem):
Dealing damage grants you Savage Heart for 6 seconds, causing your attacks to mark enemies. At 5 stacks the marks are consumed and slash the heart of the enemy, dealing 95% base damage + 385. Marks can be applied and stacked again on the same enemy 0.3 seconds after they are consumed. Savage Heart also causes you to howl, granting 14% increased Attack Speed to you and nearby allies for 3 seconds. Savage Heart cannot trigger more often than once every 20 seconds. To unlock the full power of this gem, obtain the following five Resonance Gems:
- Maw of the Deep
- Void Spark
- Igneous Scorn
- Ironbane
- Pain Clasp
Cold Confidant (Two-Star Gem):
Dealing damage summons a pillar of ice at the enemy’s location with Life equal to 500% of your maximum Life. Enemies near the pillar are Chilled and dealt 85% base damage + 344 each second. The pillar persists for 6 seconds or until destroyed. Cannot occur more than once every 20 seconds.
To unlock the full power of this gem, obtain the following three Resonance Gems:
- Igneous Scorn
- Viper’s Bite
- Lo’s Focused Gaze
Entropic Well (One-Star Gem):
Increases Skill damage by 18%. Increases Skill Attack Speed by 4%.
To unlock the full power of this gem, obtain the following two Resonance Gems:
- Exigent Echo
- Blessed Pebble
Modify Your Drop Table
From September 11, 2:59 a.m.–October 2, 2024, 2:59 a.m. server time, players will have the option to enable a modified drop table for their Legendary Crests when running Elder Rifts. Once enabled, whenever you receive a Five-Star Legendary Gem as a drop, there’s a 50% chance it will be Wulfheort.
Legendary Gem Trial
The Gem Trial has returned for you to try out newly released Legendary Gems. From September 11, 2 a.m.–October 2, 2024, 2:59 a.m. server time, you can find the trial in Wynton’s Grand Marketplace, where you can read about the Legendary Gem’s powers and activate a one-time use trial of the gem to see it in action. This trial features the new Wulfheort Five-Star Legendary Gem. The Gem Trial is time-limited, does not raise your Combat Rating or Resonance, and cannot be used in competitive modes.
Festival of the Ancient Moon Limited-time Event
While defeated demonic forces lick their wounds and gather strength for a future assault, the people of Sanctuary have reaped their fields before the winter’s chill. Take care and share in the good cheer of this bounty. The Festival of the Ancient Moon celebrates the heart and tidings of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Earn Aspirant’s Keys by completing daily tasks to earn even more glorious rewards from Iben Fahd’s Sanctum.
From September 13, 2:50 a.m.—September 27, 2:59 a.m. complete daily and weekly tasks to earn resplendent rewards. Daily tasks include playing through Iben Fahd’s Sanctum, Castle Erebban and the Abyssal Verge to earn Runes, Moonrite Flora, Aspirant’s Keys, and more.
Weekly Tasks include levelling Runes, participating in the Rite of Cleansing, and more, to earn Telluric Pearls, Set Items, Legendary Items, and more.
Key milestones within the event will earn you Rare Crests, Moonrite Flora, Runes, and a Legendary Crest.
New Chapters of the Hero’s Journey Await
Tales are oft enjoyed with the wisdom of experience and sage knowledge of hindsight. Bask in the joy of these tales with new chapters of the Hero’s Journey.
Players above level 55—or those that have completed the Frozen Tundra main quests—will be able to unlock Chapters 5 and 6 of the current Hero’s Journey with this major update. You will not be able to make progress towards activities in the next chapter without having completed the previous chapter. Carve your way through tasks featuring some of Diablo Immortal’s newest additions while earning handy rewards and the Exalted Expedition Portal Cosmetic.
Complete each individual Chapter to review the following rewards:
Chapter 5
- 30 Aspirant’s Keys
- 900 Hilts
- 1 bound Legendary Crest
- 50,000 Gold
Chapter 6
- 36 Aspirant’s Keys
- 900 Hilts
- 1 bound Legendary Crest
- Exalted Expedition Portal Cosmetic
Additionally, in Chapter 2 of the Hero’s Journey we have updated the task of catching 1 Legendary fish to instead be 1 Rare fish instead.
Developer’s Note: We are updating this task because it was taking players longer to complete than expected from the randomness of getting a legendary fish. This update should make it a bit easier to complete.
Toil of Virtue Limited-time Event
To seek justice in a perilous land is to walk the knife’s edge; stray too far to either side and meet your peril. But this is your destined road.
From September 11, 3 a.m.–September 25, 3 a.m. server time, there are two separate lists of tasks to conquer. The first list has challenges that earn you Champions’ Commendations, which can be completed multiple times with no limit on task completions. You can earn 1,200 Champions’ Commendations each week, exchange these Commendations for rewards throughout the event.
Spend your Champion’s Commendations to earn:
- Telluric Pearls
- Bound Legendary Crest
- Legendary Items
- 10 Enchanted Dust
- 100 Scrap Materials
- 2,000 Gold
The second list of challenges requires you to party up and complete a separate list of Vanguard challenges with allies at your side. These tasks reset weekly and will earn you Gold, scrap, dust, and Battle Pass points.
New Prodigy’s Path Updates
A new Prodigy’s Path is upon us, wanderer. The new Seasonal Prodigy’s Path will run from September 12, 3 a.m.—December 13, 3 a.m. local server time.
The Seasonal Prodigy’s Path unlocks when players reach Paragon Level 140. Players can win rewards by increasing five Levels every time until all have been claimed. Unclaimed free rewards will be sent via in-game mail 14 days after season end. Once the Seasonal Prodigy’s Path has been purchased, all unclaimed—including locked—rewards will be sent via in-game mail 14 days after the season ends.
Returning Events
Trial of the Hordes
You may be experienced, but emerging victorious from the Trial of the Hordes is the true mark of a champion. From September 13, 3 a.m.–September 20, 3 a.m go head-to-head against another player while earning rewards and climbing your way through the event’s Ranks. Each player has an enclosed lane in which broods of demons will flood in waves—your goal is to cull the demons from Hell with steadfast dedication. For more information about this event, visit this article.
Infernal Knowledge limited-time event
In Sanctuary, few are capable enough to stand against the darkness and wager their life for the defenseless. But you, adventurer, have consigned your days to thinning out the ranks of the Burning Hells, ushering in safety where all hope was once lost. Your quest to serve the downtrodden grows in complexity—equip yourself with Infernal Knowledge to prevail.
From September 14, 3 a.m.—September 21 at 3 a.m. server time, completing daily tasks will unlock various milestone rewards for your heroics, such as:
- Complete 3 tasks: 1 random Legendary Item
- Complete 5 tasks: 3 Rare Crests
- Complete 8 tasks: 1 Telluric Pearl
- Complete 10 tasks: 1 Legendary Crest
Fractured Plane
In a place like Sanctuary, even those with the utmost mental fortitude can find themselves lost to the unrelenting darkness spread by the Burning Hells. Broken. Shattered. Trapped in the deepest recesses of their mind. Entering the Fractured Plane is the only way forward. This event will run from September 20, 3 a.m.–September 27, 3 a.m. server time. For more information about the Fractured Plane event, please visit this article.
Conqueror
An ancient fighting pit where the Fahiran aristocracy held brutal games has been uncovered in Shassar. Fight tooth and nail September 20, 3 a.m.–September 27, 3 a.m. server time during the Conqueror limited time PvP event to bring honor to your name and riches to your collection. For more information about this event, please visit this article.
Hungering Moon
The moon, underfed, demands sustenance… providing you with an upcoming opportunity to sate its seemingly endless appetite for blood!
The moonlit path you’ll take to heed your lunar overlord’s howl is ready to be travelled. Players can complete up to three tasks a day between September 21, 3 a.m.–September 28, 2:59 a.m. server time. For more information about Hungering Moon, please visit this article.
Feature Updates
New Tales of Sanctuary in the Adventurer’s Chronicle
A new tab for Tales of Sanctuary has been added to the Adventurer’s Chronicle. These are longer multi-part stories, which breathe life into the squalid splendor of Sanctuary.
When obtaining a readable item, selecting its banner will immediately open the item to be read if unlock conditions are met. If you have yet to unlock the contents, it will be added to the Adventurer’s Chronicle in Deckard Cain’s Workshop.
We also implemented a new hint system in the Adventurer’s Chronicle. If a Journal, Book, Letter or Note is available, visiting the ‘Tales’ tab in the Adventurer’s Chronicle can provide a hint for the location of the missing story.
Abyssal Verge Changes
We’ve made a few changes within the Abyssal Verge to make the mode more approachable. Abyssal Verge will drop the daily limited small gems when playing in a 4-player party. The boss’s final location will now be marked on the map, who also spawns much earlier in the mode. Additionally, footsteps will appear directing you towards the final boss location.
Castle Erebban Castle Difficulty Updates
We’ve updated the difficulty of Castle Erebban when playing in a group to scale by .6x difficulty rather than 1x.
- Solo: unchanged
- 2-person party: 1.6x difficult from 2x difficulty
- 3-person party: 2.2x difficulty from 3x difficulty
- 4-person party: 2.8x difficulty from 4x difficulty
Familiar System Quality-of-life Updates
We are introducing several updates to the Familiar system. The goal is to improve the overall system to make it easier to use and understand. The first part of those improvements focuses on improving mission guidance, levelling up Familiars, End Pack, Melding, and other daily tasks within the Familiar system.
Empowering Familiars has been adjusted to allow all Familiars that have not yet reached Level 30 to be upgraded simultaneously. Ending multiple Familiar Pacts has also been upgraded, allowing you to filter and select Familiars to end pacts based off their skill quality. Ending Pacts now has the option to provide a Conversion Stone shard when your pact with a Familiar that has six Magic traits. Earning two Conversion Stone Shards will automatically combine into a Conversion Stone.
A new option has also been added to Familiar Melding, which lets you directly use Conversion Stones to increase the number of Rare skills on the Familiar.
Plus, now you can see your primary Familiar on the character select screen.
Developer’s Note: We’ve heard community feedback that the current Familiars system is difficult to use. This is the first phase of changes we’re making to the overall system, and we have more planned to arrive with future updates.
Challenge Rift Changes
We are making several updates to Challenge Rifts. Upon completing a Challenge Rift, a Blacksmith will now spawn at the exit portal. You can now skip up to 10 levels at once when completing a Challenge Rift, depending on how fast you completed it. Combat Rating requirements are now displayed on the UI when entering the Challenge Rift so you know how difficult the monsters will be when entering. On selecting a Challenge Rift, we’ve now included buttons on both sides of the selected Rift to quickly toggle between the next available Challenge Rift or one of a lower level.
Fabled Wisps Stacking Updates
Fabled Wisps can now stack up to 9,999. Stash Tabs everywhere, rejoice!
Random Dungeon Finder Matchmaking Changes
When matchmaking using the Random Dungeon finder, you can now vote to remove a member of your party before inactivity is detected. Initiating a vote requires you to select a reason as to why the party member is being removed, and if all players vote in agreement that member will be removed.
Each player will be able to start a vote every 30 seconds. If someone is voting a third time in a single dungeon instance (regardless of who they’ve elected to remove), their cooldown to initiate a removal will be increased to one minute a vote.
Voting to remove a member from your party will not prevent the loss of the final 4 player chest. Additionally, the inactivity detection system will still be active under these updates. If a vote is enabled and the kicked already meets those conditions, the player will be immediately removed without a need to vote. This update also removes the ability for the party leader to kick players while using the Random Dungeon finder.
Weekly Battle Pass Points Updates
Battle Pass points earned towards completing the Battle Pass now have a rolling cap that increases by 2,400 each week. Previously, if you were unable to earn all your Battle Pass points within a given week, you would permanently lose the ability to earn those points.
For example:
If Week 1 of the Battle Pass ends, and you were only able to earn 2,000 of the total 2,400 points available, during Week 2, your cap will increase, and you will have 2,000 of 4,800 total Battle Pass points available to earn.
Developer’s Note: The goal of this change is to give you more freedom in completing the Battle Pass, and to give you a chance to catch up and claim all the rewards if you started late in the season.
Changes to Fading Embers in Elder Rifts
Elder Rifts now grants 10 Fading Embers, increased from 8. Crests continue to grant 1 Fading Ember towards the Bonus Fading Ember cap.
Once you’ve earned all 150 Bonus Fading Embers from using Crests, the 1 Fading Ember per Crest used will contribute towards the base Fading Ember cap. The base Fading Ember cap remains at 280, and Bonus Fading Ember cap remains at 120, for the 400 weekly total.
This change lets you continue to use Crests more quickly to efficiently earn your Fading Embers for the week.
If a group of four players all use 10 Crests, you can now cap your Fading Embers after completing 8 Elder Rifts, instead of what previously took 35 runs to complete.
Hilts Trader in Westmarch Changes
We’ve updated Lieutenant Fizriah—the hilt trader in Westmarch—to offer some merchandise on a weekly cadence instead of daily. We’ve also removed the requirement to have Hell I difficulty unlocked to purchase certain materials.
Each week, Fizriah now offers:
- 14 Rare Crests
- 35 Aspirant’s Keys
- 15 stacks of 50 Reinforced Scrap Materials
- 15 stacks of 5 Beguiling Dust
For Immortals, Fizriah offers:
- 14 Sigils of Dominance
- 7 Rare Crests
Elite Quests Adjustments
Taite, the Adventure Seeker in Westmarch, has received some improvements. Elite Quests can now be viewed if you are Level 20. Previously, they would only be viewable once you had reached Hell I.
All Elite Quests are now viewable at Taite and now display the requirements to unlock. The Adventure Seeker will now display an exclamation point when an Elite Quest becomes available.
Clan Leaders Name Changes
Clan Leaders can now change the name of their Clan at the cost of 1,500 Platinum. To prevent overuse, there is a 7-day cooldown period after a name change before another one can be purchased.
Bounties Party-Finding Pop-up
The prompt to ask players if they would like to look for a party has been removed from the Bounty Board. Instead, we’ve added a button directly on the Bounty Board if you would prefer to search for a party.
Level Boost for Returning Players
Returning Players will receive a free boost to Level 60. You’ll be able to access this boost through the ‘Return to Sanctuary’ event on Characters between levels 20 and 60. This free boost is optional, and stacks with daily log-in items and experience rewards available throughout this event.
Currency Description Pop-ups
When trading with a merchant, you can now select the different currencies listed in the top bar for more information.
Battleground Damage Reduction Changes
The damage reduction in Battlegrounds and Rite of Exile has been increased from 30% to 40%.
Developer’s Note: We’ve heard community feedback that many players deal too much damage and can often kill other players instantly in Battlegrounds. This adjustment is aimed to make duels last longer.
Blood Knight Skill UI Updates
We’ve fixed an issue which caused the Blood Knight’s Abomination subskills descriptions to be too small and unreadable. They are now displayed larger.
