Diablo 4 Forgotten souls

Diablo 4 development team claimed they would surprise players at 2025 TGA, and they truly delivered. They not only announced the next DLC, Lord of Hatred, at TGA, but also introduced a new class for Season 11: Paladin.

Each DLC release brings significant changes to Diablo 4's gameplay. The official information regarding Lord of Hatred will be revealed gradually over the next few months, but let's first take a look at what this expansion pack brings.

Benefits Of Pre-ordering Lord Of Hatred

Lord of Hatred is currently available for pre-order. Only players who unlock it can play as Paladin in Season 11, and this will also directly unlock the 2024 DLC, Vessel of Hatred. This means that if you pre-order Lord of Hatred, you can experience 7 classes in Season 11!

Story Recap

Looking at the content of the past few seasons, the war between angels and demons in Sanctuary has intensified. The root of all this lies with Lilith and Inarius, the creators of Sanctuary, and each harbors a twisted plan.

Lilith's goal extends beyond granting power to humans, and her true intention is to devour her own father, Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, to seize his power. At the time, Mephisto was being reborn in Hell, weakened. The key to thwarting Lilith's plot is a wanderer who has drunk demon blood - the player-controlled protagonist.

Mephisto, too, has his own schemes. He sends his messenger to help Wanderer stop Lilith. Although the team tries to avoid making a deal with the devil, they are ultimately forced to accept.

Wanderer ultimately defeats Lilith, and Neyrelle, a member of the team, decides to seize the opportunity to bury Lord of Hatred completely. However, acting alone, she is quickly corrupted by Mephisto's corruption. Fortunately, Wanderer finds her and helps her resist the corruption.

Together, they find Tomb of Akara, the final resting place of the holy prophet. This was originally a prison from which Mephisto might never escape. Although Wanderer defeats Mephisto's messenger, Mephisto himself escapes and enters a new vessel - the body of the prophet Akarat (Vessel of Hatred storyline).

Thus, Lord of Hatred walks the lands of Sanctuary as the false prophet, and the upcoming storyline will culminate in Lord of Hatred DLC.

Confirmed Content

Lord of Hatred expansion introduces the new Paladin class, whose skill tree offers three enhancements to each skill, potentially indicating the direction for skill reworks in other classes. The official announcement also confirms that the expansion includes two new classes, with the next class to be released in April along with the expansion pack.

New Area

A new two-minute trailer has been released, showcasing some of the updated content. The expansion will also add a new area called Skovos Isles and a new campaign. This new area is Lilith and Inarius, the birthplace of human civilization.

This area was originally planned for Diablo III, but due to its art style being somewhat similar to Titan Quest, the decision was shelved. However, the development team has revived this area in Diablo IV.

Skovos Isles are currently ruled by a prophet and an Amazon Queen. If the new class in the DLC is related to this region, it might be a class like Hunter or Amazon.

New Features

The highly requested Horadric Cube will return in Lord of Hatred. First appearing in Diablo 2, it has many uses, including crafting equipment and resetting item affixes. While its role in Diablo 4 is currently unknown, it will likely be integrated with the current crafting system.

Additionally, the developers have confirmed the addition of loot filters to help players more efficiently locate target equipment from the massive loot drops, complementing the crafting system and collecting common quality base items.

New Skill Tree

The current skill tree in Diablo 4 is rather rudimentary, with only two upgrade paths per skill, but Paladins have three. This is the direction the developers intend to take for the skill tree rework.

Lord of Hatred will bring a completely new skill tree, with each skill offering more diverse upgrade paths, creating a vast array of build combinations. Additionally, skill enhancements may include transformation options that fundamentally change skills, such as Sorcerer's Ball Lightning potentially transforming into a Fireball. The current Enhancement system and passives may be integrated into the new skill tree.

The development team hopes to shift the core definition of build crafting toward the skill tree rather than legendary and unique Diablo 4 items, allowing gear to play a more supportive rather than essential role, thus providing more flexible and diverse deck-building possibilities.

Talisman System

A new Talisman system will be added, possibly similar to Idol system in Last Epoch or Charm system in Diablo II, to provide additional set bonuses or ability combinations.

Endgame Content

A new endgame system called War Plans will be added, perhaps somewhat similar to Atlas tree in PoE series, allowing users to customize the endgame events they want to participate in. Each event is expected to have its own smaller skill trees for customizing and enhancing gameplay.

Another new mode is being added called Echoing Hatred. This is likely a bullet hell endless mode, possibly inspired by Echoing Nightmares in Diablo 3. Mechanically, it may involve fighting increasingly powerful waves of monsters and includes an overwhelm mechanic, and failure to clear monsters quickly will result in failure.

Finally, and most importantly, fishing will be available in the waters of Sanctuary. This is not only relaxing but may also yield some particularly valuable items.

Diablo 4 Lord of Hatred is highly anticipated for both its story and new content, and it may bring about a complete transformation for Diablo 4.

At the recently concluded TGA awards last week, Diablo 4 lived up to expectations, revealing several details about its second DLC, Lord of Hatred.

Of all the announced content in the new DLC, the most appealing is undoubtedly the two new classes, and more importantly, one of them, Paladin, is now playable in Season 11 - provided you pre-order the new DLC immediately.

Unlike the previous new class, Spiritborn, Paladin is not new to Diablo series, having appeared and been very popular in Diablo 2. Now, it finally returns in Diablo 4.

Below, we will introduce the new gameplay and features this class will have in Diablo 4, helping you quickly get started with Paladin if you plan to play it.

Paladin In Diablo 4 Overview

In Diablo 2, the class's main combat style was to strengthen itself or its teammates through various active or passive auras to deal more damage or gain more defense. Its core builds, Hammerdin and Smiter, were both very famous.

In Diablo 3, although Paladin was temporarily absent, another class, Crusader, had similarities. Diablo 4 seems to have combined the strengths of Diablo 2 Paladin and Diablo 3 Crusader to create a more powerful Paladin.

In general, in Diablo 4, Paladin is a shield-wielding melee class, drawing strength from the ability of Faith, and capable of dealing holy, physical, and fire damage. It has a wide variety of weapons and skills available, and a unique mechanism called Oaths.

What Are Oaths?

All Diablo 4 classes have a unique mechanism that serves to embody the class's characteristics and provide additional combat bonuses.

Paladin's Oaths are unlocked after reaching level 15. After that, you can choose one of four Oaths with different bonus effects as your specialization, making yourself a more powerful and specialized Paladin. They are:

• Zealot: Focuses on fast, aggressive attacks and critical strikes.
• Juggernaut: Emphasizes defense and shield abilities, capable of dealing Thorns damage and gaining offensive conversion while defending.
• Judicator: You can apply Judgement marks to enemies and then detonate them to deal high holy damage and AoE damage.
• Disciple: Enhance your damage and mobility by transforming into Arbiter form.

These Oaths are not only a way to increase your power, but also provide possibilities for crafting more Paladin builds in Season 11 and Lord of Hatred, further expanding the gameplay of this new class.

How To Unlock This Class?

Although Paladin is essentially one of the new classes introduced in the new DLC launching on April 28, 2026, if you pre-order DLC now, you can play Paladin in Season 11, combining seasonal powers and dungeons!

In addition, you are expected to be able to continue experiencing this class in other new seasons before the new DLC is officially released. More importantly, pre-ordering Lord of Hatred also directly unlocks the first DLC, Vessel of Hatred!

Paladin Exclusive Items

All gear in Diablo 4 can be simply divided into general and class-specific types, and rarer items often have one or more corresponding exclusive bosses; focusing on farming them gives you a greater chance of obtaining item drops.

Based on this, after Paladin's addition, in addition to the still available general gear, Diablo 4 has also added several new exclusive unique items and Legendary Aspects for this class.

It should be noted that while Paladin unique items can already be obtained by farming the corresponding bosses, Legendary Aspects have not yet unlocked this channel and can only be obtained through random drops, such as Helltide chests or Whisper caches.

However, it is expected that after the new DLC is officially released, new dungeons or other related new bosses added through the new region Skovos will provide you with exclusive Paladin Legendary Aspect drop channels.

All Paladin-exclusive unique items and corresponding bosses are as follows:

• Light's Rebuke - Flail - Grigoire
• Sunbrand - Flail - Varshan
• Herald's Morningstar - Mace - Duriel, Andariel, Harbinger
• Griswold's Opus - Sword - Duriel, Andariel, Harbinger
• Supplication - Sword - Grigoire
• Sundered Night - Two-Handed Axe - Grigoire
• Red Sermon - Two-Handed Sword - Grigoire, Lord Zir
• Bastion of Sir Matthias - Shield - Grigoire, Lord Zir
• Cathedral's Song - Shield - Lord Zir
• Gate of the Red Dawn - Shield - Andariel, Grigoire, Varshan
• Herald of Zakarum - Shield - Duriel, Andariel, Harbinger
• Ward of the White Dove - Shield - Varshan
• Judicant's Glaivehelm - Helm - Lord Zir, Urivar
• Mantle of the Gray - Chest Armor - Grigoire, Lord Zir, Varshan
• Dawnfire - Gloves - Grigoire, Varshan
• Arcadia - Pants - Grigoire, Varshan
• March of the Stalwart Soul - Boots - Grigoire, Lord Zir, Varshan
• Sanctis of Kethamar - Amulet - Lord Zir
• Judgment of Auriel - Amulet - Not clear yet
• Argent Veil - Ring - Grigoire, Varshan
• Seal of the Second Trumpet - Ring - Grigoire, Beast, Urivar
• Wreath of Auric Laurel - Ring - Grigoire, Beast, Urivar

All Paladin-exclusive Legendary Aspects are as follows:

Offensive:

• Aspect of Ascension
• Aspect of Celestial Strife
• Aspect of Chastisement
• Aspect of Excellence
• Aspect of Exorcism
• Aspect of Holy Punishment
• Aspect of Jacques' Fervor
• Aspect of Lagera's Sovereignty
• Aspect of Lapa's Scripture
• Aspect of Proselytizing
• Aspect of the Golden Hour
• Aspect of the Judicator
• Aspect of the Juggernaut's Covenant
• Aspect of the Zealot's Covenant
• Aspect of Tyrael's Jurisdiction
• Aspect of Utmost Glory
• Aspect of Watkins' Law
• Revelator's Aspect
• Squire's Aspects
• The Penitent's Aspect
• Virtuous Aspect

Defensive:

• Apostle's Aspect
• Aspect of Angelic Masterwork
• Aspect of Firm Decree
• Aspect of Glynn's Anvil
• Aspect of Hale's Salve
• Aspect of Heavenly Strength
• Aspect of Loyalty
• Aspect of Militance
• Aspect of the Disciple
• Aspect of the Indomitable
• Aspect of the Light's Mending
• Aspect of Verdant Restoration
• Lord of Blood's Aspect

Utility:

• Aspect of Dazzling Light
• Aspect of the Northern Guard
• Aspect of Valiance

Resource:

• Aspect of Valiance
• Aspect of Contemplation
• Aspect of Dedication
• Aspect of Dominance
• Aspect of Pilgrim's Progress
• Aspect of Salvation

Mobility:

• Aspect of Swift Spirit
• Aspect of the Arbiter's Zephyr
• Aspect of Unstoppable Force

The above is an introduction to the basic content of Paladin class. More specific skills and builds will depend on the actual season/DLC dungeons or quest content. If you are curious about this class, why not pre-order DLC now and give it a try!

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