The expansion was first announced at BlizzCon 2023 and later during the Xbox Games Showcase. The expansion will be officially playable on October 8th with major changes also being introduced to the base game. Players can install it through Battle.net launcher while those playing on console or Steam will have to wait till October 5th to download and have access on October 8th.
Changes To The Base Game
It was reported around the end of August that the difficulty system in place would be revamped along with the endgame. Blizzard stated that it would be similar to the difficulty system that was in place with Diablo 3 with players working their way through Normal, Hard, Expert and Penitent difficulty after which they will have access to Torment 1 difficulty and so on with each difficulty will award the player with significant XP and gold.
The Torment difficulties will be tied directly to progressing through the Pit of Artificers endgame that was introduced with the Loot Reborn Update that was released in May of this year. With four Torment difficulties each with a more challenging and unforgiving task than the last. But players will only be able to unlock the Torment difficulties after clearing the Pit’s 20 tiers.
A New Class, “Spiritborn” Is Coming With This Expansion
There are 4 variants each having a unique animal with them, such as the Centipede, Jaguar, Guerilla and Eagle spiritborns, each having their own distinct identity and playstyle.
Centipede Spiritborn’s Poison And Crowd Control
The key skill of this class is the “Withering Fist” which is a dart that jabs enemies and inflicts poison on them. The second skill is “Stinger” which is an Area of Effect (AoE) that can be targeted and inflicts the enemies within with a set amount of poison. This variant’s ultimate skill is called “Devourer” which summons a giant centipede spirit that shoots poison towards any nearby enemies.
Jaguar Spiritborn’s Fire And Aggression
Jaguar spiritborns are wielders of fire and also have fast, multi-hitting attacks which can overwhelm and defeat concentrated groups of enemies. This class is perfect for those wanting to have an aggressive playstyle.
The “Thrash” skill is gap closer where the character can close distance and slash into the targeted dealing damage and its 3rd attack will be a multihit slashes. “Rake” is another skill that summons claws that can be used against groups of enemies ultimately ending in an explosion causing massive fire damage. The ultimate skill of this class is “The Hunter” where a fire jaguar is summoned that engages in combat by continuously hitting and dealing tremendous damage to groups of enemies.
This class encourages the aggressive style by introducing health regeneration and ability cooldown mechanics which increase as the player keeps attacking and defeating more and more foes.
Guerilla Spiritborn’s Shields And Brute Force
Guerilla spiritborns are the tanks that can take a lot of damage but also are capable of delivering high damaging physical attacks. This class embodies the playstyle of tanking hits and delivering massive damage in return. The “Rock Splitter” similar to the Jaguar spiritborn’s gap closer, this attack also charges towards enemies and delivers a hit to the targeted enemy, the 3rd of this attack is an AoE that hits surrounding enemies.
The “Crushing Hand” is an immediate AoE that creates shockwaves around you and the ultimate skill is called “The Protector” which summons a giant Guerilla spirit that grants periodic shields and AoE that hits the ground continuously crushing the enemies that got caught within.
Eagle Spiritborn’s Lightning and Agility
This spiritborn makes use of its affinity for lightning to quickly move around the battlefield and deliver extremely precise attacks. This class’s first attack is “Thunderspike” which is a piercing strike that also reduces your Evade Cooldown and its 3rd strike is an attack that pierces the farthest.
The next skill is called “Quill Volley” that shoots 5 feathers in an arc in front of the character that pierces enemies, does damage when returning and has a chance of inflicting critical strikes. The ultimate for this skill calls forth an eagle that creates a lightning AoE damaging and inflicting shock on enemies caught in the attack.
Its Shaping Up To Be A Worthy Expansion
Other than the new class being offered, players will have access to an entirely new area and campaign missions to play through and will also feature endgames co-op dungeons where it can be played with a minimum of two players but Blizzard themselves are recommending players go in with a full party of 4.
This dungeon will be split into 3 areas where players will have to complete the first area and defeat the boss of it before being allowed to progress to the next. The players will also get weekly challenges to complete that reward players with items that are exclusive to the Dark Citadel.
This expansion is no doubt introducing massive changes, improving or reworking systems that offer a brand new experience. It is proving to be the best time to jump back into Diablo 4 if a copy is owned.
